Legal Era Rising Star Awards 2021: Winners Announced

Legal Era shines the spotlight on India's most promising young legal talent at the 6th Annual 40 Under 40 Rising Star Awards 2021

9th October 2021 marked a visionary moment in the Indian legal industry - the impactful conduct of an awards event dedicated to recognising the most competent young lawyers of India and celebrated their resilience and conviction, innovative solutions and fearless leadership, tech-savviness, and entrepreneurial adaptability to rising above the challenges of these unprecedented times.

As the 6th Edition of Legal Era - Legal Media Group's Annual "40 Under 40 Rising Star Awards 2021" unfolded, the who's who of the legal industry, the business world, the judiciary, and the government witnessed a stunning demonstration of the spirit of young lawyers to adapt and diversify in keeping with evolving expectations of the market. They saw how each of the 40 young achievers' mental mobility and resilience resulted in strategic legal services and fresh legal solutions, and leveraging new opportunities amid a fast-changing landscape.

Keeping alive the essence of the last five Editions, the 40 Under 40 Rising Star Awards 2021 continued to embolden a generation of young lawyers, who now know that they have a global platform to be recognized for the great strides they were making in the legal universe. The search for India's young and upcoming legal talent under the age of 40 years officially began 6 years back! Legal Era was the first organization to institute these young achievers' awards to recognize their outstanding achievements and professional excellence industry-wide. And that was exactly what happened at this Sixth Edition.

Even as the event was virtual, the energies and excitement, the crescendos of winning moments and the stories of agility and quick thinking, entrepreneurial spirit, and the attempts to redefine legacy methods of the legal industry were as real as could be.

A distinguished Jury chose the 40 Rising Star Awardees of the Year via a meticulous and herculean selection process. The awards were open to the under 40 age group of lawyers through both routes – self-nomination and peer-nomination. And certainly, they did not miss out on this exceptional opportunity to get on the stage and take the space that is truly theirs.

The Jury saw over 340 nominations, many extremely promising from trailblazing GCs under the age of 40 handling challenging global and pan-India roles. That was in line with Legal Era's vision behind 40 Under 40 Rising Star Awards - to motivate deserving millennial lawyers with recognition and coveted certificates of appreciation for transforming the legal industry and legal practice with relevance and timeliness, agility, and customized approach.

Going a step ahead, the event was not only about awards. It was also a forum for an intelligent exchange of thoughts as distinguished experts and doyens of the world of business and law stirred up conversations.

The Awards evening kickstarted with a visionist opening address by Dr. Lalit Bhasin, President, Society of Indian Law Firms took the lead with his Opening Address where he acknowledged that this was a unique event to honour eminent lawyers under the age of 40. He opined, "Yes, millennial lawyers are transforming the way the legal profession is being practiced.  "While adapting to new practices, don't forget the invaluable traditions – we have inherited from our first Prime Minister, our first President, our Father of the Nation, and Dr. Ambedkar who granted us the Constitution.

He also appealed to the awardees, "We have a duty to give it back to the society and play a role in the nation's service. Take on pro bono work, do service by way of legal aid, go and visit law schools and disseminate awareness among law students. Don't make the legal profession only a business. Let it remain a profession with all its nobility and greatness."

In his wisdom, Dr. Bhasin guided that after 40 years of age, the consolidation process began whereby we expand, develop specializations and expertise in various aspects of the law. It was an endless journey that ended only when as the most respected Fali S Nariman said once, "In India, we don't retire, we just drop dead when we have to."

Dr. Bhasin concluded his address by applauding Legal Era for taking the lead to recognize and encourage the 40 under 40 young lawyers besides so many other initiatives under the able leadership of the brilliant mind and founder Aakriti Raizada. It will serve as a motivation for all the young lawyers watching the event.    

Justice Gita Mittal shared her words of advice with anecdotes of her experiences, she said, Honesty, hard work, humility – that's what you need in court. Never raise your voice in court no matter what the provocation by the judges. Know when to interrupt. Don't have to be an unnecessarily aggressive lawyer. Do whatever you want to do – but do it well. Principled lawyering. Have the courage to say no. Follow the law. That's non-negotiable, especially in criminal cases. Don't try to pull the wool over the judges' eyes or make Smart Alec arguments just to win your case.

Justice JR Midha, Former Judge, Delhi High Court applauded Legal Era for making this credible attempt to assess and reward the young lawyers of the country and jokingly said, "I wish I was under 40 today!"While being successful under the age of 40 was very creditable, he shared nuggets of advice for the winners.

"One, a lawyer must know the art of how to live a balanced life. Two, the real wealth of a person is how much he would be worth if you take away all his money.. And three, knowledge of the law is only one-third of advocacy. The rest is communication skills i.e. the art of listening, the art of speaking with clarity and emotions, the ability to read the mind of the client, the judge. And rational and logical thinking."

Justice Midha said, The performance of a lawyer is in the public domain from day 1. He need not wait for 15 years to become a great lawyer. Perform like the top lawyer of the country from your first appearance!"

Rafique Dada, Senior Advocate, Bombay High Court shared his joy that Legal Era as a magazine had become an important landmark in legal journalism. He said,"When I joined the profession, long hours were spent in a futile search for legal issues but there was no chance to appear in courts. Juniors were not really looked at. However, it was important to study long hours and put all the effort to learn the law. The law is such a vast ocean and there is so much to learn that there is just not enough time in a lifetime. So every minute you spend with the law is important and someday it will come handy in the courts." He opined a couple of gems of wisdom. "One, respect your opponents. Two, respect the judge. Three, some things cannot be taught in books. You learn them from experience, And four, remember there's a lot of room at the top – and people at the top are waiting for you."

Amit Desai, Senior Advocate, Bombay High Court congratulated all the 40 under 40 winners. "They have worked hard to reach this hall of fame. You all carry forward the future of this great profession on your shoulders.You all will be shaping the destiny of this nation as we head towards the 100th year of independence. Some of you will enter the litigation world and, on your mantle, will rest the mantle of protecting the constitutional values. Some of you will continue transaction work and keep the engine of the economy chugging on. All the same, the digital age is upon us. Maintaining privacy will become imp to protect our Fundamental Rights. He concluded by recommending, "Facts are 3/4th of law, and maintaining the Rule of law is vital to our life and social order. And it rests on facts. As you march on, do not forget that."

Pravin Anand, Managing Partner, Anand and Anand congratulated the young winners and shared a couple of words of advice for the millennial lawyers: Observe – and that means to listen – listen to your client, the judge, your senior. Make notes. You may have a subject matter notebook or an electronic device or a combination. It's imp to make notes as you can learn from anybody and everybody. Read. Read whole cases and not just relevant paragraphs. Read Commentaries. Treatises. And all those materials that we don't get on the internet. You need to read and know at least a little about everything and every other subject. For example, we don't want judges saying "These IP lawyers don't know anything about CPC." And then absorb what you read into your vocabulary and learning. Maintain good behaviour. Even if you are the premier of the country, you cannot afford to be rude to anybody, even in a hotly contested matter.

Birendra Saraf, Advocate, Bombay High Court shared life lessons that he learned the hard way so that the young Stars of the day may think about them. "Don't ignore family for work. That's not a badge of honour. Appreciate your partner Now is the time to give it back to them. Once you win the 40 under 40 awards, there will be enough people who will praise you. Beware of sycophants. Surround yourself with people who will keep you grounded. Also, guard your reputation and integrity. Conduct yourself in a manner that once you give your word, you will honour it. And give back to society. Give time for your health. You need to last long. Even clients will abandon you if you don't keep well. Don't lose yourself. Keep your interests and hobbies alive to prevent yourself from burning out.

Debolina Partap, Senior Vice President Legal & Group General Counsel, Wockhardt Group gave a spirited address and specially highlighted how performing and excelling as 40 under 40 was such a difficult proposition. Using an analogy with the components of a sandwich, she said "The lawyers under 40 are the dressing and the filling of a sandwich. The GCs can do without them. The juniors cannot do without them. The seniors cannot do without them. They are the brilliant bridge. They have to face business, clients. Cannon to the left, cannon to the right and behind them – they have to fight so well- these people really face that day in and day out. They are the foot soldiers without whom the generals would not have performed.

More so now as during the pandemic. Everything had to be learnt, re-learned, unlearnt, and thought fresh. A lot of lawyers in this mid-segment went without a job. They were most hit by the downsizing. Hence, it's really great that Legal Era is appreciating these mid segment lawyers."

Neera Sharma, CEO/CLO, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd, congratulated Legal Era for recognizing the backbone of the corporate and legal fraternity. She shared that all professionals should try to find out work opportunities to help them reach where they want to. "You have to make your way." To equip themselves, she shared a couple of key skills -Tech savviness, Emotional Intelligence - If you're standing in the court, you can make out many things if you're emotionally intelligent. Need to have strong common sense. Where to stop, where to start. Be street smart.Communication skills – That includes writing skills. Also, read as much as you can. Creativity - Remodelling complexities. Self-development is very important Learning agility - Always be on the spree of learning. Sharp focus. Commercial acumen. Leading with example. Comprehensive commercial knowledge. Understand the business. Every in-house counsel has done their bit so that GCs are on the board now. Women directors on the board. More productive work is happening. We have great respect now for in-house GCs at corporates and they are a part of the leadership teams.

The 40 Under 40 Rising Star Awards 2021 is not just another Awards ceremony. It has grown to become a remarkable and much-valued platform of repute to discover, meet, and celebrate professional excellence among trailblazing young lawyers who have contributed to the industry's growth and success. It has become an occasion to showcase powerful examples of young lawyers with a rich appetite for risk and innovation. It served as an inspiration for other millennial General Counsels watching the Rising Star Awardees take the stage.

By casting a spotlight on the extraordinary work of these 40 young lawyers, Legal Era has set yet another example for best practices not only in India's legal industry but other sectors too. And each of the 40 lawyers became winners of not only the most coveted and the most relevant certificate of competence in the Indian legal industry. Always keen to move with time, capture trends, foresee challenges and create occasions for meaningful collaborations, we can only imagine what new benchmarks of competence and dynamism will be established at the 7th Edition of the Legal Era Annual 40 Under 40 Rising Star Awards.

Here's the list of winners of the Legal Era - Legal Media Group's 6th Annual 40 Under 40 Rising Star Awards 2021.

Abhinav has over 13 years of experience in the capital markets practice. He primarily focuses on a variety of equity capital markets transactions including initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, rights issues, QIPs, preferential issues and a variety of secondary trades. Since graduating in 2008, Abhinav has been with Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (then AMSS) and has specialized in capital markets.

Abhinav is committed to developing strong interest of the larger legal fraternity in the capital markets practice. For the last three years, Abhinav has been a guest lecturer at the Government Law College, Mumbai teaching course on securities laws to working individuals and professionals. He is also on the advisory board of the Corporate Law Journal which publishes articles on contemporary corporate law and securities law related issues. He has also been assisting the Firm on various committees constituted by SEBI for introducing reforms in the Indian capital markets.

Aditi Subramanian is an Attorney-at-Law with ten years of practice. She has a bachelor's degree in law from the University of Oxford and an LL.M. from Columbia Law School. She has also passed the notoriously challenging New York Bar Examination on her first attempt in 2018. Trained by Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, top-tier IP lawyers Hemant Singh and Mamta Jha, and Australian Law Firm Davies Collison Cave, she is currently an Associate Principal at Subramanian & Associates (SNA), a Tier-1 boutique IP Law Firm in India. She is expected to be admitted into full partnership of the Firm in the next quarter of the year.

While Aditi's practice spans across general law, she specializes in contentious matters in the field of intellectual property laws. She also provides clients with strategic, customized and expert advice on data protection and cybersecurity. For close to a decade she has, along with her colleagues, successfully represented a large number of domestic and international clients in high-profile patent and trademark oppositions and appeals before the intellectual property office, as well as in litigation before various high courts. Notable among those are an appeal against the Controller's decision in respect of a microorganism based invention for Biogaia AG, where she successfully relied on published information to establish that the claimed subject matter was not naturally occurring. She has also appeared before NCDRC on behalf of home-buyers against Unitech and received favorable orders on every single matter. She has assisted the Managing Partner of the Firm in numerous contentious proceedings on behalf of Gilead Sciences, Inc., The Procter & Gamble Company, Cadila Healthcare Limited, Cipla Ltd., Honeywell International, Jiangsu Rotam Chemistry Co. Ltd, Verona Pharma Ltd, Gideon Rischter, Kohler Co., Michelin & Cie. and many others.

In addition to intellectual property and general law practice, Aditi is passionate about providing legal assistance pro-bono to those in need. Aditi has worked with several young women on cases relating to domestic violence, cyber-bullying and personal data privacy. A major milestone in Aditi's pro-bono work was her assistance of a school student who was a victim of revenge pornography. Due to the location and citizenship of the perpetrator of the offence, the matter involved prolonged co-ordination with lawyers and police in India and several States of the U.S.A., including the NYPD and LAPD, and was successfully resolved by Aditi's consistent and committed effort over several months.

Anjali Jain heads the Insolvency and Restructuring practice at Areness, a full services law firm. She has spearheaded several complex litigations arising out of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. Leading a versatile team of legal, finance and compliance professionals, she has guided several multinational corporations towards key turnarounds. Possessing a robust knowledge of statutory interpretation and being an ardent researcher, she is an active participant in development of the law on Insolvency, Corporate Restructuring, Debt Resolution.

A practising advocate and an alumnus of National Law University, Delhi and Lady Sriram College for Women, University of Delhi, Anjali is also a columnist and resource person for the IBC for leading names in the country. A member of INSOL International, she is one of the youngest faces at several national and international forums and discussions on law.

Ankur Singhi is a Senior Partner with S K Singhi & Co. LLP.

Ankur was designated Senior Partnre of the firm in 2016.

In his current role, he practices Corporate and Legal Advisory, chairing the Insolvency & Restructuring Division of Firm. He looks after Finance and Taxation, Legal Due Diligence, Compliances etc. He appears before various judicial and non-judicial forums including the Supreme Court of India, High Courts, Arbitral Tribunals, NCLT, NCLAT etc. He has developed and implemented processes to drive business of firm. He has introduced digital platform and systems in firm's processes.

Prior to his current role, he was Consultant with Singhi IP Solution Private Limited, New Delhi, National Capital Region Before that, he was Director with Singhi Capital Finance Private Limited, Kolkatta, West Bengal

Ankur is a professional entrepreneur having 10 years of experience in managing and handling a full-fledged law firm having multi-city presence and global alliances.

Ankur has a LLB from Utkal and a B.Com (Hons) Finance from St. Xaviers College, Kolkata

He is a qualified Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a Company Secretary with the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

His practice includes both contentious and non-contentious matters in intellectual property and corporate-commercial law.

Specifically, he handles patent, trademark and design application preparation and prosecution, oppositions (pre-grant and post-grant) and invalidations (cancellations, rectifications, and revocations). He has also handled appellate matters at the Intellectual Property Appellate Board. Additionally, he is regularly involved in litigation before different Courts in India for matters relating to patent, trademark and design infringement, and unfair competition claims such as passing off, disparagement and defamation. He is also actively involved in advising on issues relating to protection of trade secrets, confidential information, data and privacy. He also handles complaints and disputes related to consumer protection and advertising. From time to time, he also counsels and provides opinions on infringement and invalidity of patents, trademarks and designs, applicability of biodiversity laws, and other related legislations. He also has hands on experience in handling breach of contract claims in litigation and arbitration. From time to time, he is also engaged in conducting due diligence, structuring, negotiating and preparing agreements such as NDAs, joint ventures, M&As, business transfers, distribution, agency, licensing, franchising, technology transfer, employment, and so on.

Prior to practicing law, he worked as an analyst in an investment firm in the US. He also spent time in the lab doing research and development work, for which he also received recognition as an author in different journals and scholarly publications. Holding degrees in the sciences, engineering and law and training in legal and technical areas, he has amassed cross-functional expertise. Anshul holds a Master's in Engineering (Biotechnology) from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, a Bachelor's in Applied Sciences (Biochemistry) from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, and a Degree of Law from the Government Law College, Mumbai University. Anshul is registered to practice at the Bar Council of India and the Indian Patent & Trademark Office.

Apart from his work at the firm, Anshul also serves as a Member of INTA's Unfair Competition Committee, AIPPI's Standing Committee on Trade Secrets and as a Member Executive Council of the LES India Chapter. He is also an active member of several reputed organizations such as APAA, AIPLA, IBA, IPBA, and ABA. Anshul also frequently lectures at different seminars, conferences and universities on intellectual property and other commercial legal issues. He has also published numerous articles on these subjects in national and international legal publications.

Anshul has also received several accolades including Asia IP - Leading IP Lawyers India 2021, Forbes India Legal Powerlist 2020 - Top 100 Individual Lawyer (Below 10 years' experience), ALB India Super 50 Lawyers 2021.

Anupam Sharma is the Head of Legal for Vivo Energy PLC in London, UK.

He has broad expertise in commercial contracts, corporate compliance, complex negotiations, company secretarial, strategic transactions, M&A, Oil & Gas contracts, antitrust, trade control, risk management, international litigation, corporate governance and legal department strategy and management. He is a strategic thinker with strong analytical and communication skills.

Anupam has had a 15+ years' commercial career which includes working with a top UK firm and top tier Indian law firms. He has been a key contributor to the senior leadership team of companies and a trusted advisor with broad based expertise gained from overcoming a wide variety of challenges in numerous legal regimes globally.

Anupam is a dual qualified lawyer (India and UK) with corporate and commercial expertise across Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia.

Aparna Mehra is a merger control specialist and has led and obtained approvals from CCI in a large number of high profile merger control matters. She has been deeply involved in the finalization of the Indian merger control regime in April-May 2011, wherein she worked closely with the Government of India and the CCI in relation to the draft Combination Regulations and associated exemption measures.

Prior to joining Shardul Amarchand, Aparna was at AZB & Partners for 8 years and was involved in various landmark deals.

With razor-sharp technical abilities, Aparna is extremely hard-working, industrious, solution-orientedand always available.

She is a "go to person for merger control" in India with abilities to navigate the regulatory landscape with tenacity.

Most recently, Aparna has been involved in proposing amendments to the merger control regime to the CCI in light of the introduction of the time-bound insolvency resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016.

Aparna (along with the CCI) has spearheaded the organisation of advocacy roadshows across India on various topics in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad.

SAM Managing Partner, Mrs. Pallavi Shroff is a member of the Competition Law Review Committee, set up by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to revamp the Competition Act. Aparna has supported this exercise, in research and deliberations on proposed amendments for merger control.

Aparna devotes and contributes her time to deliver sessions to train young students to develop their interest in Competition Law. She has also co-authored several competition law publications.

Aradhana's expertise and focus areas are Private Equity, M&A, Oil & Gas, Retail and Manufacturing. She holds a master's degree in business laws.

Aradhana has enormous experience in transactional advisory including cross-border transactions, and has advised clients like Resilient Innovations Private Limited, Exerfit Wellness P. Ltd., Whiz Technology Holding Limited, Vikas Telecom Limited, Unicon Group, Dhanvarsha Finvest Ltd., etc. with respect to their acquisition & private equity deals. She is adept at negotiating and drafting the underlying documents like share purchase agreements, share subscription agreements, escrow agreements and other contracts.

Aradhana, has extensive knowledge in the Oil and Gas Sector, undertaking several challenging assignments for Fortune Global 500 Companies like ONGC, Gail India Limited, Engineers India Limited, Indraprastha Gas Limited on the public-sector side, and Leighton India Contractors Limited, Minergy Resources Ltd. And Ras Gas Ltd. on the private-sector side. She has advised clients on bid process management, negotiating and finalization of Regasification Agreements, Asset Transfer Agreements, Gas Supply Agreements, Gas Transmission Agreements, Pipeline Agreements, Joint development and Operating Agreements, and also advised on various issues related to restrictive trade practices and structuring of transactions.

Additionally, Aradhana has extensively advised clients like Jindal Stainless Steel Ltd., Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd, Falcon Group, Jinko Solar Import and Export Co. Ltd, UEM India P.Ltd., CelPvt.Ltd., etc on legal issues emanating from general day to day operations of the company and drafted contracts like NDA, MOU's, Settlement Agreements, Services Agreements, Distribution Agreements, Sale Purchase Agreements, Job Works Agreements, etc along with general day to day corporate advisory. She has also advised leading retail & manufacturing players like Major Brands India Limited, Inditex S.A., BBI Fitness Services P. Ltd and Pandora Group with regard to Master Franchise and Distribution Agreements, Framework Agreement on marketing, franchising and distribution and Joint Venture Agreements.

In addition, Aradhana has authored an academic course material for Oil and Gas sector for a leading publication house. She has written articles on 'Introduction of Real Estate Investment Trusts in India', and 'Fractures in India's fracking debate', which have been published in leading publications.

Arvindh Gupta is a transaction attorney with more than 15 years of varied Global experience primarily in Oil & Gas projects, representing contractors providing Engineering and Construction Services.

Responsible for providing legal support to geographies including the Asia Pacific region (India, China, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Middle East) and Australia. As APAC regional Senior Legal Counsel of Fluor Corporation, he advises on pursuits in EPC, EPCM, FEED and other ancillary study contracts inter alia in Energy & Chemicals business, in Lump Sum/ Reimbursable environment.

He collaborates with horizontal functions such as business management, sales and commercial, finance & treasury, procurement & logistics, commercial strategies on strategic and legal issues. He leads the contract negotiations for various LSTK/ EPC/ PMC contracts with varied legal and technical complexities.

Having lived and worked in various western jurisdictions has given him exposure to working cultures and across jurisdictions to deal with varied aspects of the Energy & Chemicals business.

He has worked with Leighton Contractors India Private Limited; Nishimura & Asahi, Tokyo; Hero MotoCorp Ltd, India; and Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Company.

Arvindh is a BSL, LL.B from Symbiosis Society's Law College, University of Pune, India (2000 to 2005). He has also completed an Executive Programme in Business Finance from IIM Ahmedabad – 2019.

Ashwin Bishnoi is a Partner with Khaitan & Co. at their Delhi office.

He is leading lawyer in the field of Corporate laws including M&A and Corporate restructuring focussing on some of most complex such transaction includng the largest ever India De SPAC transaction and the first ever distressed acquistion under India's new bankruptcy code. Prior to joining khaitan & Co., Ashwin worked at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP for 4 (four) years in their New York and London offices.

Asmita Abhijeeta Nayak is currently with SM Legal, Advocates & Consultants.

Prior to that, she was with Suman Khaitan & Co.,New Delhi. She has worked with the likes of K K Anand & Associates (Advocates and Solicitors), New Delhi; Swamy Associates, Chennai; and has even practiced independently for a while.

In the long span of 16+ years of practice, she has made successful appearances in over 500+ cases before various judicial forums i.e. The Supreme Court of India, High Courts, Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) Principal & Zonal Benches, National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Principal & Zonal Benches, Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) Tribunal and so on.

Her pan-India clientele includes Honda Cars Pvt. Ltd., Noida; Jet Lite India Ltd. (Jet Airways), New Delhi; Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), New Delhi; Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, New Delhi & Mumbai; IndusInd Bank Ltd., Mumbai; KMG Group, New Delhi; Jubilee Sports Technology International (Asia) Ltd, New Delhi; Oswal Vinyl Industries Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi; Kalindee Rail Nirman Engineers Ltd, Gurgaon; Ramnath Group, Mumbai & Nagpur; BSNL, Madhya Pradesh; Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd. (BALCO), Chhattisgarh; Tuticorin Port Trust, Tuticorin etc.

She has also been Legal Advisor to various reputed Start-ups like ROYZEZ (E-Commerce Website), Gurugram and INDIGENOUS ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGIES PVT. LTD. (INDI ENERGY), Roorkee.

She has a B.S. L. LLB from the Symbiosis Society's Law College, Pune University (2005)

Hails from a family of five generations of lawyers. Completed law from Amity Law School. Worked as a Junior Counsel in 2G spectrum scam cases etc. before co-starting KIAA LLP.

Was part of the founding team of KIAA, LLP and mostly handles litigation in the firm. Was a founding member of the global think tank GCTC (Global Counter Terrorism Council) and was instrumental in establishing the legal frame work of the organization.

Chayan was awarded the Alumni Achievers Award by his alma mater, Amity Law School in the year 2017. Extensively argued as well as assisted in a Letters Rogatory case before the Hon'ble Delhi High Court. Chayan Was instrumental in arguing before NCLT, NCLAT and the Supreme Court of India and making the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 applicable even to unincorporated joint ventures, eventually changing the legal position on the said subject in the country.

Chayan also successfully argued on behalf of the real estate allottees in the challenge to the Section 5 (8) (f) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. Chayan was also instrumental in getting the ex parte bail orders in the Kashh Coin crypto currency scam cases from the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. Currently handling the Writ Petition in the Hon'ble Supreme Court as well as appearing as the lead counsel in the trial court.

Chayan also started the social initiative by the name C@LL (Care @ Legal) during the first lockdown in 2020 for providing free legal aid to the underprivileged.

Chayan continues to mentor students from several law schools and has also been invited as a guest speaker to address the students in several subjects of law by various law schools.

Chayan predominantly handles civil, criminal and insolvency matters and frequently appears before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, Hon'ble Delhi High Court and before the Hon'ble NCLT & NCLAT. Chayan has also appeared before High Courts of other states as well. Chayan handles litigation for both corporate and private clients across all forums.

Chayan has also written for New Delhi Times on several social and legal issues. Apart from practice in law, loves to do theatre as a hobby whenever given an opportunity and has acted in several plays across Delhi NCR.

Deeksha Manchanda is a Partner with Chandhiok & Mahajan.

She specializes in advising clients on all aspects of competition law. She has extensive experience in representing clients in merger control, cartel investigations and abuse of dominance cases before the Competition Commission of India, National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, the erstwhile Competition Appellate Tribunal, and the Supreme Court.

She combines her knowledge of competition law with her litigation experience, and has acted for clients before various high courts in jurisdictional and due process challenges. This includes India's first challenge to the legality of a dawn raid.

Deeksha advises clients on commercial agreements, especially on issues relating to exclusivity, and restrictions on online sales, rebates and discounts. Deeksha's experience on merger control includes advising and acting for clients in relation to the notification and approval process in India.

Deeksha also co-leads the Data Privacy Practice at Chandhiok & Mahajan. With her knowledge of law and understanding of technological concepts, clients find her best placed to advise them on various aspects of data protection law.

Some of the clients that Deeksha has provided assistance to include, Whirlpool India Private Limited, Chanel India Private Limited, EM3 Agri Services Private Limited, RoundGlass India and JCB India Private Limited.

Deepak has received several in house awards at NITYA Tax Associates, for his outstanding performance and extra ordinary knowledge in the field of Indirect Taxes. Deepak supervises and leads the Updates Team (Team responsible for preparing all external updates) at NITYA. The Team sent 200+ updates on recent changes and developments in Indirect Tax laws including weekly booklet on Legal Precedents of preceding week. Deepak has an experience of over 9 years in advising clients on complex Indirect tax issues, structuring business models and planning supply chain in the field of Indirect taxes. Deepak regularly delivers lectures at various industry forums, associations and industry workshops. Prior to NITYA, Deepak has worked with Lakshmikumaran and Sridharan and Price Waterhouse Coopers in their Indirect tax practice. Deepak has experience in handling clients (including Fortune 500 Companies) from varied manufacturing industries including automobile, automobile parts, pharmaceuticals, chemicals etc.

Dhruv Desai is Vice President (Transaction Management), Issuer Services, Citibank N.A. India. His current responsibilities include: leading all activities for Escrow; drafting/reviewing product-related papers, standard agreements and managing product risk; providing assistance with deal structuring, FEMA (FDI) related matters to clients/intermediaries; conducting FEMA knowledge sessions internally and externally; managing internal and external stakeholders; negotiating agreements for marquee cross-border transactions with time criticality involved; and managing documentary and regulatory risks, ensuring zero transactional loss.

Prior to this, he was SVP & Head Transaction Management, Issuer Services, HSBC (India) wherein he led the team and collaborated in successful closure of more than 150 structured deals; organized and streamlined required documentation to cut TAT by 75%; liaised with regulators on policy matters; managed internal and external stakeholders etc. He was also Vice President, Transaction Management, Issuer Services, HSBC India; Manager, Corp. Finance, Comm. Banking, International Trade Finance, ICICI Bank; Advocate – Real Estate, Civil and Commercial with Rohan Lifescapes Mumbai; and Associate with Divya Shah Associates, Mumbai.

Dhruv has significant experience in corporate legal, transaction banking over a period of 12 years; and has managed several domestic and cross-border transactions and championed various marquee projects. He has been leading a highly skilled team for over two years with the objective of augmenting business. He has been consistently recognized for exceeding client expectations.

Dhruv has a LLM in International Commercial Law from the University of Nottingham and a LLB from the University of Pune. He also has a Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration.

Dipti has 15+ years of PQE with diversified work experience as a Partner at top tier law firms as well as a General Counsel at an MNC in a highly competitive Indian corporate market advising several international and domestic companies across several industrial sectors across the globe including business set-ups for multiple corporate houses. He has held top positions like being Managing Partner, DLS Law Offices, General Counsel of Azure Power (NYSE listed large solar power producer), Partner at Luthra & Luthra Law Offices (now, L&L Partners), Head of Corporate at Wadia Ghandy & Co., New Delhi. In 2011, Dipti had moved from Mumbai to successfully Set-up and Head the Corporate Practice of Wadia Ghandy's Delhi offices.

Currently, Dipti is Partner & Head of China, Singapore, HK & Taiwan Desks as well as Corporate Co-ordinator at HSA Advocates. Here, his focus is Corporate M&A, PE & VCs, Renewable Energy, Infrastructure, Projects, Start-ups, Electric Vehicles, Data & Fintech etc. Recently, on multiple deals and advisory related matters, he has advised Adani, Allana Group, Renew Power, Mumbai International Airport, Eden Renewables, Oriental Engineering, Coromondel Group, Ashriya Group, Mytrah Energy, I Squared Capital, REC, GAIL, PolyCab Cables, GG Innovation UK, Veken Technology China, Wuhuan China, ByteLearn, Hyve Group UK, Huaqin Technology Hong Kong, Acme Solar, Acme Africa, NITI Aayog, DHI, Start-up Association of India & Invest India & Government of India on several fronts. Some of them include ColdLove IceCream, ANSH, Ceres, ETO Motors (EV), MPL, HK Bada (Rummy), Green Affiliates, InstaSolv, Quesba, KarzaTech, PayMix, PanyuanTech/AGFinLease, DSF (EV), VentureGurukool, JPWInfraTech, NuPhi, ISDI (film-school), MetisPay, Nidhivan, TransWeb, PracticeLeague, LayOverSocial (musictech), PointsforPeople, StrategicCaravan, WiseCabs, Credila, Green Affiliates, etc.

Dr. Shivani Shrivastava is a registered patent and trademark agent with an experience of over 15 years handling intellectual property matters. She has a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics with an LLB degree. She works closely with clients and advises them on building and protecting IP. She has expertise working with individuals, start-ups, SMEs. She handles projects related to patentability searches, freedom to operate analysis, drafting and filing the patent applications, patent prosecution, trademark filing and prosecution, industrial designs registration, copyright filing, etc. Apart from managing the IP portfolio of clients, she also assists them in IP valuation, due diligence, technology transfer, and IP licensing.

She is also impanelled with the Government of India as a facilitator under the start-up India scheme to advise and assist DPIIT recognized start-ups. She has assisted start-ups filing more than 400 applications under SIPP (Scheme for Intellectual Property Protection).

Ms. Firdouse Qutb Wani, Managing Partner, LCZF, (Law Firm) is first Kashmiri Muslim woman to be an Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India and to add to that she qualified the same in first attempt. She is also the first woman to have been awarded the 'M.K. Nawaz Memorial Gold Medal' by the Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi, in the year 2008 for excelling in International and National IPR Laws.

In 2020, after working tirelessly for several years, and obtaining favorable orders of eviction against Unauthorized Occupants occupying prominent Public Premises, she was appointed as Additional Standing Counsel of Delhi State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC); which. again, was a first one for a woman belonging to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, and was also the youngest lawyer to achieve this feat. She was also appointed as an Amicus Curiae for the Hon'ble National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission in the same year.

A Law Graduate from Jamia Millia Islamia, additionally having a Diploma in Corporate laws from Indian Law Institute and a Certificate of specialization in IPR Laws from Indian Society of International Law, and with an experience of more than a decade, Ms. Wani has expertise in Commercial Litigation, Corporate Advisory, Arbitration, Land Acquisition laws, Maritime and Shipping laws, IPR litigation, Laws of Public Premises, Writs, Tender and Contract laws, Consumer Laws, Service & Education laws & POSH Act.

Ms. Wani has been successfully representing Reserve Bank of India, Delhi Government, DSIIDC and Delhi Waqf Board before Hon'ble Apex Court, Delhi High Court, District Courts and the Tribunals in several cases of great significance as a Panel Counsel. She also represents Private sector Corporates across the country and has been representing high profile establishments such as Siemens, Eureka Forbes, Ansaldo, and likes for several years now.

In the year 2010, Ms. Wani was appointed as the Local Commissioner by the Hon'ble Mr. Justice Madan B. Lokur, Hon'ble Judge, Supreme Court of Fiji, (Former Judge, Supreme Court of India), in a matter of "Court on its own motion vs. Govt of NCT and Another" pending before Hon'ble High Court of Delhi, to prepare a report about a Government Shelter where shelter less were accommodated as per the Govt policies, and issue of lack of amenities was raised. Her appointment was reported in the local News papers. This was the turning point of her illustrious career, post which she never looked back, and has only strived hard towards new challenges and success every day.

Ms. Wani is regular on various televised & radio programmes and webinars, on a myriad of pertinent issues of legal importance and also discussions to empower females to pursue Law and join litigation. She is routinely invited as a guest Lecturer in educational institutions. She is a 'POSH' expert and acts as an External Committee Member of the Internal Complaints Committee in Several Corporate organizations. She has several publications to her name, such as, "Capital Punishment: Justified or not", published in the Book "Death Penalty" by Mr. Janak Raj Jai, Advocate - Supreme Court of India, Z selected by Department of Law & Justice, Parliamentary affairs, UTI, J&K to be part of its List of books for the Department and also by the Kerala Judicial Academy.

Ms. Wani has been vocal on several important issues of the society concerning the rights of the citizens, and due to her unwavering commitment to rights of the common people, Ms. Wani often voices her opinion for various talk shows and interviews through television, online platforms, and radio channels, and is also invited as a notable speaker in online conferences. Ms. Wani also handles several Probono legal matters concerning welfare of women and children across the country. She has consistently sponsored education for underprivileged children and marginalized communities through LCZF.

Another feather in her bouquet of accomplishments is her enlistment in the Forbes Legal Powerlist 2020-2021 as one of the top individual lawyers. Ms. Wani is a stellar example of a self-made, independently accomplished, talented individual who is a positive icon for her juniors and members of the legal profession.

Gaurav is a transaction lawyer and focuses on corporate and commercial matters such as mergers and acquisitions in the private and public space, strategic alliances and joint ventures, and investments by private equity and venture capital investors. He joined the Mumbai office of DSK Legal in 2012 and was associated with Khaitan & Co, Mumbai and J. Sagar Associates, Mumbai before joining DSK Legal.

Gaurav advises multinational and domestic clients on various matters including structuring, documentation and negotiating complex commercial transactions, more particularly those relating to acquisitions, corporate restructuring, strategic alliances, and other similar transactions including through mergers, demergers, slump sale and asset sale. He actively advises clients on various capital market transactions including offers for sale, qualified institutional placements, and open offers, and is well regarded for his general corporate advisory services to clients in connection with a wide spectrum of laws including company law, securities law, exchange control regulations, takeover regulations, and competition law.

Gaurav's experience is spread across various sectors such as pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, logistics, healthcare, infrastructure, retail, manufacturing, media, microfinance, etc. Gaurav has been recommended as a key lawyer in India for Mergers and Acquisitions by Legal 500. Clients describe Gaurav as "agile and aggressive" whilst acknowledging his "good drafting skills." – Legal 500 Asia Pacific.

Mr. Ish Jain is a Senior Partner at Regius Legal LLP and is a member of the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa since 2009. He also worked as an Independent Counsel at the Bombay High Court and was associated with few of India's top-most leading law firms at the beginning of his career.

Ish possesses rich expertise in litigation - civil, criminal and regulatory and arbitration across diversified areas of banking & finance, corporate and commercial, real estate and construction, and technology. He regularly appears before the Supreme Court of India, High Courts of various states, NCLT and Appellate Tribunals amongst other forums.

He is an expert in conducting trials and cross-examinations in high stake civil and criminal cases. He has handled several disputes involving multiple litigations and parties with conflicting and complicated pleadings.

Ish is an Independent Arbitrator and has been empanelled as an Arbitrator by the Bombay High Court.

Prem has been associated with the firm Anand and Anand since the year 2006 and has extensive experience in trademark prosecution, opposition and rectification.

Prem, a partner at Anand and Anand practices exclusively Intellectual Property law since 2006 and having more than fifteen years of rich experience in litigation and prosecution. Over the years he has advised and managed large portfolios of several Indian based multinationals in the field of Alcohol & beer Industry, Pumps, FMGC and Fortune 500 companies engaged in diverse industries including paints, Tobacco products, automobile and consumer goods. He counsels clients on assignments, licensing, co-existence, franchise and other transactions related to intellectual property. He has travelled extensively even to remote locations in the Northeast region for Intellectual Property matters. He appears for various major US and UK based clients before the Trademark Office and has obtained several favourable orders.

What is most striking about Prem's work is the variety it displays -- From advising and managing large portfolios for diverse industries to engagement in prosecution and litigation, involving complicated matters running into 50 opposition proceedings, 10 IPAB proceedings and criminal matters. A notable area of his work is his travels to the remote locations in the northeast region for IP matters and his engagement in drafting and prosecuting Geographical indications matters before the GI registry. Prem is a wonderful colleague and an equally amazing human being well-deserving of this recognition by Legal Era.

Moiz Rafique graduated from Nirma University with his Bachelors in Law Degree with Hons focus on Constitutional Law in 2014; further went on and completed his Masters in Law in Space and Telecommunication Law in 2017 securing First Rank and completed his Masters in Law in Security and Defence Law in 2021, acquiring both from NALSAR University of Law.

Moiz after a few years of apprenticeship started his own firm Privy Legal Service LLP in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. With a sharp mind and keen commercial sense, Moiz grew from strength to strength appearing before almost all judicial forums as on a wide range of subjects including Constitutional, Civil, Criminal, Commercial and Corporate matters. Moiz further solidified his name in the fraternity by defending causes requiring attention of Hon'ble Courts and further acquiring immediate protection. He has argued issues uncommon and has succeeded to get reliefs not limiting to such achievements; he has also achieved to negotiate with financial institutions and settle debts in manner unprecedented.

Moiz has also earned reputation in bottling and beverage industries, bottling machine manufacturing industries, ceramic industries, die and mould industries, cigarette manufacturing industry, and pesticides industry. Moiz also renders his pro-bono services to many religious and charitable trusts, solely to up keep the institutions of good virtues unfettered from vexatious litigation. Moiz has been engaged by several families to settle their family partitions.

Moiz believes in knowledge acquisition and has been objective driven since day zero. Moiz has also been a contributor to several international journals and is also an active columnist for several reputed dailies. His work has been striking par excellence; resultantly he is frequently given opportunities to represent firms based outside Gujarat.

Mumtaz has over 13 years of experience in the field of litigation and dispute resolution. She has been recognized as a Global Legal Falcon by LexTalk World at its 2021 Conference in Dubai in April, 2021. She started off her practice in June, 2008 as a Junior to Late Shri. Arun Jaitley, Senior Advocate and Former Finance Minister of India, where she assisted him in matters before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India and the Hon'ble Delhi High Court.

After a brief stint of about a year at Chambers of Shri. Arun Jaitley, she moved on to L&L Partners Law Offices (formerly known as Luthra & Luthra Law Offices) where she handled Dispute Resolution and Litigation. She was highly rated within the firm and was given out of turn promotions for every designation. She became a Partner Designate in 2016 and became a Partner in 2017 being one of the youngest Partners during her time.

Mumtaz specialises in Domestic and International Arbitrations. She has a considerable amount of experience in the aviation sector, medical sector, real estate, construction, and civil-commercial sector, with her being the preferred choice for several domestic and international clients. She also possesses a wide range of experience in civil trial, criminal trial, appeals, consumer disputes, domestic and international arbitration. She also specialises in conducting compliance workshops for Companies and is a Speaker at various conferences and events.

She has advised and represented several multi-national companies and organisations regarding appropriate strategies to be adopted at various stages of litigation and arbitration. She is liked by her clients for providing them with effective and quick solutions for every issue.

Mumtaz usually argues her own matters and regularly appears before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India, various Hon'ble High Courts across the country, District Courts and quasi-judicial forums. She also appears before various Consumer Protection bodies such as National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, New Delhi (NCDRC), State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC).

She has been instrumental in procuring several favourable orders, on issues where the law is rigid, for a number of clients from several judicial and quasi-judicial authorities in India. Mumtaz is actively involved in drafting pleadings and various negotiations with respect to settling a number of complex disputes before they reach the contentious stage. She has an in-depth experience of Aviation laws, PMLA, Contract laws, Commercial Arbitration, Civil & Criminal procedure, Real Estate laws, Mines & Minerals disputes, Oil & Gas disputes, Medical Laws, Regulatory Disputes and Property disputes.

Neha is a Partner at LexOrbis Mumbai. With over 9 years of experience, Neha has acquired proficiency in drafting and prosecution of patent applications in the Biotech, Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical domain and regularly advises national and international clients on filing and prosecution strategies in India. She has advised and assisted several clients in obtaining permissions from the National Biodiversity Authority.

Neha also regularly advises clients in managing their national and international brand portfolios. She is responsible for large IP portfolios from various industries including Pharmaceuticals, Hitech, Software, Automobiles and Liquor. She also works with several upcoming startups and guides them with securing their IP and with all their legal and contractual requirements. She is a registered Patent Agent and a Lawyer registered with the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa. Neha has a Masters in Intellectual Property from University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, USA. She has a BSc (Hons) degree in Biochemistry and Pharmacology from University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK.

Pooja is the Legal & Integrity Leader at Grace note A Nielsen Company (affiliate of A c Nielsen). Her role at Nielsen encompasses handling legal matter for India, Jordan& Bangladesh businesses. She also heads Internal Complaints Committee at Nielsen.

She has over a decades' experience in the media industry. Prior to joining gracenote Pooja has had enriching stints with Shemaroo, Star India & Evalueserve.

During her professional tenure, Pooja has worked on variety of matters including Mergers, Strategies (both domestic and cross border) Key Clients Management, Contracts Drafting & Negotiations, IPR, Business Advisory, Real Estate Transactions, Legal Compliances and Training Associates on policy matters, amongst others.

Pooja's leadership and ability to carry the team with her persistence and calm nature during the most stressful times during the entire transaction has been recognized at global platforms within the Nielsen system. During her stint in Nielsen. She played a pivotal role in demerging of Nielsen business in Sri Lanka.

Pooja has been successful in quickly gaining support and confidence of all internal and external stakeholders. Her adaptable nature to manage to work with multiple stakeholders in different jurisdiction and time zones, during the lock down has been highly appreciated

Pooja has completed her LLB in the year 2010 from Bharati Vidyapeeth (deemed university) Pune.

Rajeev Vidhani is a Partner in the Banking & Finance and Insolvency and Restructuring practice group in the Mumbai office. Rajeev has been with Khaitan & Co for almost 12 years except for a brief stint with the Global Loans team of Ashurst, Sydney Office in 2019.

He has represented leading banks, financial institutions, AIFs, Mutual Funds, family offices and other investors and corporations on documenting financing transactions, syndicated lending (both secured and unsecured) transactions, inter-creditor and subordination issues, guarantees, security, debt issuances, and other aspects of domestic and cross-border financing transactions.

He has also been advising clients regularly on insolvency, enforcement and restructuring issues including those relating to SAFAESI, the Insolvency Code, the Prudential Framework for Resolution of Stressed Assets introduced by the Reserve Bank of India on 7 June 2019 and other analogous schemes issued from time to time.

Some of his recent representations include advising Vedanta Limited on its successful resolution plan under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) for debt aggregating to approx. INR 140 billion, TCG Group on its successful resolution plan under IBC for Garden Silk Mills Limited for debt aggregating to approx. INR 20 billion, Numetal on its resolution plan for debt aggregating to approx. INR 500 billion, resolution professional of Essar Power MP on the CIRP of the company, advising various creditors of IL&FS on its insolvency process before NCLT, consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India for part funding the acquisition of Ruchi Soya by Patanjali Consortium and SSG on its investment into an AIF platform for acquisition of wholesale real estate loan portfolios from IIFL Group.

Rupesh is Executive Director – Legal (Private Equity) at Everstone Capital (Bangalore, India). He joined Everstone Capital in August 2014 after a stint of approximately 7 years at Khaitan & Co (Mumbai/Delhi, India). He possess more than 14 years of post-qualification experience.

Highlights of his career include working on some complex and marquee transactions in India as well as overseas (including in China, Singapore, Mauritius, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Germany, Switzerland, UK and the USA) and across sectors (including education, retail, real estate, IT, data centres, food and beverages, financial services, healthcare and pharmaceuticals).

As a lawyer, he aspire to move beyond the narrow technician tag and be a proactive and trustworthy partner rather than someone who is reactive and deals with a problem when they arise. He perceive his role as more about serving the relevant stakeholders everyday by engaging with the business partners to find solutions to maximize the business opportunities within the organisation's risk appetite and add value by being a business enabler, while retaining the focus on risk management, compliance and good practice.

He has a strong inclination towards legal research, analysis and writing. His various publications in leading international and domestic law journals, magazines and newspapers best demonstrate this. These publications, among others, have helped him address topics of contemporary relevance and also share his thoughts and perspectives with a wider audience.

He enjoys running, playing table tennis and volleyball and watching action and sci-fi movies in his leisure time. He is passionate about animals and nature. He believes that it is our duty to preserve them for the future generations. He does not have a favourite book, but he does read books based on history, travel or real life events. These interests he believes help him in his life and even in his thought processes and he tries to find time to pursue them.

Sandhya has been associated with Anand and Anand since the year 2006 and has significant experience as a trademark practitioner and a brand specialist. She handles large volumes of client portfolios and specializes in providing tactical advice on handling global trademark portfolios, advising on brand guides, providing advice on brand adoption, monetization, protection and enforcement, advising on various commercial transactions and related disputes. She renders opinions on Trademark law to various industries with particular emphasis to Automotive, FMCG, Consumer Electronic, Fashion and Food companies. She has advised companies in several sectors in relation to protection, growth, visibility and sustainability of their brands. She has also advised various companies in relation to infringement and protection of their brands including trade dress, colour combination and shape of goods including the well-known BIRKIN BAG Shape mark.

She has valuable experience in drafting various commercial Agreements including Franchise Agreement, Placement Agreement, and License and Service Agreement and has advised various companies in relation to establishment of their business. During the pandemic she is also actively working with several Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in establishing and growth of their Intellectual Property in India and SAARC region.

She has also advised clients on issues relating to Intellectual Property in advertisements and has appeared on behalf of clients before the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).

She has also successfully handled several contentious matters and Appeals before the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB). Her success rate before the IPAB in Appeals against the refusal order of the Trademarks Office has been very good and she has so far won all cases which were listed before the abolishment of the Board including marks such as LIFESAVERS; PARAMOUNT; THE HALAL GUYS; SPICE FACTORY; TAIWAN EXCELLENCE; ZINKOTE, etc.

She has also attended a vast number of hearings at the Trademarks Registry in relation to prosecution of trademark applications and oppositions/rectification proceedings.

Sandhya's experience also includes recordal of trademarks with the Customs Authority for monitoring the infringement of brands and further includes giving opinion on copyright infringement and issues pertaining to plagiarism. She also has experience of handling domain name disputes and has counselled client related to such issues.

Sandhya is a member of International Trademark Association (INTA) and is currently serving on the Well-Known Trademarks Committees of INTA.

Sapna Chaurasia is a Partner at TMT Law Practice and leads the Mumbai operations of the firm. She has more than 15 years' experience working with law firms and in-house. Her primary areas of expertise are Intellectual Property, Dispute Resolution, Media and Entertainment, employment issues and internal compliances by companies. In her current role, she advises clients on pre-production, production and post-production of cinematographic film, television shows and web-series and provides end-to-end transactional support including legal review of script, due diligence, structuring, drafting and negotiating development agreements, production agreements, artist agreements, amongst others. She advises clients in relation to acquisition and syndication of content for satellite and/or digital exploitation.

She advises clients on arbitration including initiation of arbitration, securing interim reliefs and representing clients before arbitrators. She advises clients and represents leading broadcasters on issues relating to amendments introduced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, royalty issues under the Copyright Act 1957, and proceedings seeking to regulate content available on OTT platforms.

She also advises clients on commercial disputes including initiation or defending proceedings before Court; conducts due diligence of immovable property and drafting Sale Deed, Lease Deed, amongst others; and advises clients on compliance requirements under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Act, 2013.

Shahezad Kazi's practice includes commercial and real estate litigation, domestic and international arbitration, regulatory matters including before the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Securities Appellate Tribunal, as well as the National Company Law Tribunal.

Prior to joining S&R, Shahezad practised before the Bombay High Court and has previously worked with A&L Goodbody in Dublin.

Siddharth Mody is a Partner with Desai and Diwanji, Mumbai.

In his current role, he looks into mergers, amalgamations, asset and business purchases and sales, securities sales and purchases, buy-outs, joint ventures and strategic buyouts with advice extending to corporate governance issues, transaction structuring, anti-trust and competition laws, FDI issues and SEBI regulations. The sectors he covers include Healthcare, hotels and hospitality, auto and auto ancillary, real estate, pharmaceuticals, media & entertainment and power/ roads in infrastructure. His mandate is to act on the buy/sell side in primary and secondary market transactions. He has advised both strategic financial investors and Indian promoters.

His practice areas include mergers and acquisitions, co-investments; private equity, venture capital, joint ventures and foreign investment; general corporate advisory; arbitration; real estate, power and infrastructure.

He has a LLB from the Government Law College, Mumbai.

Tushar is a 2007 graduate from NLU Jodhpur. He has worked at Wipro, Google and Airbnb and consider himself to be an in-house counsel with significant expertise in the technology space.

He was on the ALB Rising Stars List in 2020 and have featured in Super lawyer. He has also won the Business Enabler Award at the Legal Era Awards in 2019.

His last role was with Airbnb as their country counsel for India. In this role, he was responsible for building the legal function for them in India and looking at all their legal issues end to end. He was also the legal counsel for Airbnb's Capability Centre in India and instrumental in it taking shape in India and establishing its legal function.

He has also recently written an article in Super Lawyer on 'Tips for Cracking Job Interviews', which was very well received.

Vandana Seth, Vice President- TATA 1MG.She is currently heading the complete legal, secretarial and compliance vertical of TATA 1MG Group. In her role, she end to end manage the entire legal, regulatory, compliance, secretarial, fund raise, IPR and certain operational aspects. Prior to joining 1MG, she was part of Deloitte (M & A team) and Themis group (VC and PE investments). She has comprehensive experience of all fields across.

She has completed her graduation, CS and post-graduation in the year 2007, 2009 and 2010 respectively. She has 10 years of post-qualification experience in managing the transactions and mergers/acquisitions streams. She is a part of the women leadership team at 1MG Group as well as for multiple entities/group companies. Key specialization areas i.e. legal compliance policy/regulatory process validation and implementation IP, fundraise, acquisition telecommunication, legal process automation, POSH matters and secretarial function.

Vineet is a Partner in the General Corporate, M&A and PE/VC group in the Mumbai office of Khaitan & Co. He has advised several clients on strategic acquisitions, private equity and venture capital investments, promoter exits and sales (especially on bid situations), corporate restructurings, foreign investment laws and general corporate law advisory. He has also advised various start-up and growth stage companies on investments.

He is a partner in the Japan desk of the Firm and was on secondment to the Tokyo office of Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu in 2010, where he was responsible for advising Japanese clients on India entry as well as acquisitions of/investments in Indian companies. He continues to advice Japanese companies on Indian law.

Here's the list of winners of the Legal Era - Legal Media Group's 6th Annual 40 Under 40 Rising Star Awards 2021.

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