Details of participating speakers will be updated shortly. 

For speaking details, please contact Willy at willy.leonardi@thomsonreuters.com

Panel: Driving Excellence and Innovation for Lawyers: How to Succeed and Add Value to your Organizations

Moderator:

Rajeev Chopra, Managing Director – Legal, Accenture

Rajeev, is currently in his 25th year of his legal career out of which the last 16 years has been inhouse, where he has held leadership positions at LG Electronics, Bharti Airtel and Dell before moving to Accenture in 2007.  In his current role as Managing Director – Legal, Mr. Chopra oversees legal matters across Accenture Global Delivery Centers. Rajeev has been conferred with several accolades that includes:

(i)Cheavening Scholarship by the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1996

(ii)“Best In-House Legal Team” (IT) by Legal Era for two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018

(iii)“GC powerlist for In-House Lawyers and team in India by Legal 500, since its India Inception from 2016

(iv)Recognition by ICCA in 2017 & 2018 in “Trailblazers: India's Finest and Trusted In-House Counsels", as one of the finest “In-House Lawyers” in India  

(v)Best use of Technology in 2017 organized by Biz Integration 

(vi)Recognized by Legal League Consulting for “Professional Excellence and Distinguished Service” in 2018

(vii)Recognized by Legal League Consulting for “Excellence in CSR through Technology’ 

(viii)Recognized by ICCA and The Law Society of England and Wales as one of the top 25 Senior in-house counsels 

(ix)Jury Special Choice award at the 4th edition- India Legal Summit & Awards 2018   

Panelists:

Abhijeet Tople, Dy. General Manager, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (Head Legal for Jio Financial Services)

Abhijeet is having 13 years’ experience as an advocate & In-House Legal counsel and 5 years in core sales, marketing, manufacturing as sales manager, production engineer etc. 

Abhijeet is expert in Contract drafting, vetting and negotiations including in Joint Ventures, Compliance, BOT, EPC, Concession Agreements, M&A, Civil, Criminal & Consumer litigation & arbitration, legal advisory, IPR, Recovery of Amounts due, Recovery litigation, Liaising etc. Abhijeet is available for the business 24 x 7 for providing legal services. He has drafted, vetted, negotiated and got executed 700 agreements in just 2 (two) years i.e. approx. 30 agreements every month. He has drafted, vetted, negotiated legal documentation/agreements for the deals worth up to 2000 crores. He regularly speaks at various events on agreements, legal recovery of amounts due, litigation etc.

Abhijeet has provided legal services to the corporates like Reliance Jio Infocomm, Reliance Capital, CIBIL, Kotak Mahindra Prime, Bharat Forge, Thomas Cook, UTI, Electronica Finance, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance Communication as In-House Counsel or an advocate. 

Dipen Vijay Gadkari, Vice-President, Citicorp Service India Private Limited

Throughout his legal career of 14 years, Dipen has handled civil, commercial, and criminal litigation and thereafter, worked for law firms where he handled individual clients as well as national and multi-national clients. He has also worked with reputed corporates as their in-house counsel. 

Dipen’ s area of expertise ranges from advising on financial, banking, commercial and regulatory laws and undertaking transactions relating to banking, finance, real estate, employment laws, intellectual property and information technology laws.  

Dipen currently works as an in-house lawyer for Citicorp Services India Private Limited with their innovatively set-up legal team, created to support Citi’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) business for the APAC region. His role requires him to advise the TTS business on legal matters, update them on the applicable laws and help mitigate legal risks. More importantly, as a part of a dynamic business, his team collectively work towards resolving the challenges in innovation faced by the TTS business and support each other in their joint endeavor. Dipen has studied law from the Government Law College; Mumbai and has a Master’s degree in law from the Mumbai University.

Siddhartha Patnaik, Jt. General Manager & Head Counsel, Corporate Legal, Essar Power

Mr. Siddhartha Patnaik is the Jt. General Manger & Head Counsel of Essar Power, a part of Essar Group, established to develop, construct & operate Power Projects in Indian subcontinent. Mr. Patnaik is having an overall experience of around 18 years as a practicing advocate in Supreme Court of India, various High Court, Tribunals, Law Firms, and also have the experience of being an In-house Counsel in various Indian & Multi National Companies like Etisalat Telecom, Vodafone India & Reliance Power etc.   

Mr. Patnaik has been a Corporate Generalist Attorney with substantial experience on providing preemptive legal support to the business by keeping focus on pre-defined procedures in the areas of contract management, litigation, corporate laws, domestic & international commercial arbitration, including various regulatory issues and legal compliance etc. 

Mr. Patnaik also has the experience in successful Litigation Dispute Management and handling high stake litigation's in South Asian Countries while formulating appropriate legal strategy in consultation with the business team to avoid exposures in issues relating to financial, legal, environmental & product and personal liability matters. 

Anupam Sharan, Senior Director, Sutherland Global Services

Anupam Sharan, Director, Sutherland, is a senior attorney managing strategic legal, contractual and commercial programs globally for over $4 Billion spend per annum. He has extensive legal and contractual experience in drafting, negotiation, corporate, commercial including International law, M&A, government affairs, risk, governance, change, compliance and privacy matters. He seeks to channelize business and operational insights to provide thought leadership within the industry and contribute to shape laws, regulations and public policies. He brings experience across multiple industries such as consulting, banking and financial services, telecom, outsourcing, IT, ITES, steel, power and construction. He has good experience in working closely with Operations / stakeholder functions and helping build appreciation to the contractual obligations and commitments.

He is a regular speaker at various conferences, with many articles and white paper published to his name. He has dual qualification of Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering (B.E.) and Bachelor’s in Legislative Law (LL.B.) with Master’s in Business and IPR Law (LL.M) added with various certifications. He also serves as the Editorial Board member at IACCM (International Association for Contract and commercial Management), USA. He is also a certified Director from IOD (institute of Directors).

Raghunath Rath, Senior Director – Legal & Compliance and Company Secretary, Par India Operations

Raghunath Rath is a seasoned Legal & Compliance professional with an overall experience of 20 years in Legal, Compliance and Corporate Secretarial domains. Mr. Rath is a Corporate Lawyer and a qualified Company Secretary from New Delhi. Mr. Rath had a Pan India work experience in various Multinational Companies across India. At present Mr. Rath is heading the Legal and Compliances division of the India Operations of Par Pharmaceuticals, an Endo International Company, USA. His previous assignments include Pharmaceutical Multinationals like Pfizer, Hospira and AstraZeneca in various leadership roles. Mr. Rath is a seasoned speaker at various knowledge forums on legal, Corporate Governance & Compliance matters.

Panel: India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code – Latest Legislations, Trends, Challenges and Future Opportunities

Moderator:

Mohit Saraf, Senior Partner, L&L Partners

Mohit Saraf heads the corporate practices at L&L Partners. With over 25 years of experience across sectors & industries, he has advised major global and Indian companies. Recommended as one of Asia’s top Corporate lawyers by ALB HOT 100, Chambers & Partners and IFLR. 

He has been recently appointed on the National Executive Committee of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry), a non-government, not-for-profit organization, which is the voice of India's business and industry. 

Mr. Saraf has also been appointed as Co-Chair of the FICCI Committee on Corporate Laws. 

Chambers & Partners describe him as ‘a dream lawyer for corporate transactions’ because he balances the legal and commercial aspects of a transaction”. Awarded the ‘Shaurya Chakra’ (a national peacetime gallantry award by the Indian President, Mr. R. Venkatraman); he is also a recipient of various national & international awards.

Panelists:

Nilanjan Sinha, Head Legal, ICICI Bank

Nilanjan started his career with Exide Industries, a battery manufacturing company. He then moved to financial services, and worked as Chief Manager, Corporate Legal, ICICI Bank and then as President & General Counsel, YES Bank before joining GE Capital India in 2010 to head legal, compliance & government relations functions for its financial services businesses in India. In April 2017, he joined Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd as Head – Corporate Advisory. In May 2018, he re-joined ICICI Bank as Head - Legal, India & South East Asia  

After earning Bachelor’s degrees in Commerce as well as Law, Nilanjan studied to become a Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. In 2006, he read for his Masters’ Degree in Commercial Laws (LLM) from the University of Bristol (UK), with specializations in Comparative Corporate Governance, Banking, Intellectual Property and International Disputes. 

Nilanjan was named by Indian Corporate Counsel Association as one of “India’s Finest In-house Counsels” and included in The Legal 500 GC Powerlist: India 2016 and 2018. 

Raju Dodti, Chief Executive, Special Situation Group & Group General Counsel, L&T Financial Services

Mr. Raju Dodti is Chief Executive - Special Situations Group and Group General Counsel at L&T Financial Services. He is a member of Group Executive Committee & serves on the Board of Group entities. He is in-charge of resolving stressed loan assets & managing exit of equity investments of the Group. 

In his capacity as Group General Counsel, he is in-charge of & provides leadership to the group legal (advisory, transactional & litigation) and regulatory compliance (advisory & regulatory inspections) functions.

Mr. Dodti holds a Bachelor's degree in law from Government Law College, Mumbai University, and a Bachelor's degree in Commerce from Mumbai University.

Himanshu Dodeja, India General Counsel, Blackstone Group

Himanshu Dodeja is a Managing Director, and Head of Legal, of Blackstone India, based in Mumbai. Mr. Dodeja focuses on mergers & acquisitions, private equity, capital market initiatives of the firm, and on all the legal matters. Mr. Dodeja is also on the board of various companies in India.

Before joining Blackstone in 2016, Mr. Dodeja was a partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas in Mumbai, where he focused on private equity, M&A transactions, special situations, and advised many other marquee private equity investors. Mr. Dodeja is licensed to practice in India and in New York. He also holds an LL.M. from NYU School of Law.

Bikash Jhawar, Partner, L&L Partners

Bikash’s practice focuses primarily on rendering corporate legal advisory, and assisting clients undertaking investments, Joint Ventures and M&A activities in India, or Indian clients looking at similar activities offshore. 

He has a vast experience of Indian foreign investment regulations & practices, and is sought out for advice on structuring investments into India. His work has covered multiple sectors including Logistics, Infrastructure, Media & Technology, Renewable Energy, Real Estate, Stressed Assets, Financial Services and Asset Management. 

Bikash, as part of the Insolvency and Restructuring Practice, has acted on mandates on behalf of resolution professional, committee of creditors and prospective and successful resolution applicants in the restructuring and resolution of companies undergoing corporate insolvency resolution process. He also assists Indian and foreign clients in legal risk management, and continuous legal review & support of their operations in India.

Presentation: Changing Arbitration Landscape in India - Effective Dispute Resolution Mechanisms and Best Practices 

Tejas Karia, Partner, Head, Arbitration, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

Mr. Tejas Karia is a Partner and Head of the Arbitration Practice at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas. He has wide experience in handling International and Domestic Commercial Arbitrations across sectors involving disputes relating to Oil & Gas, Shareholders’ Agreements, Joint Ventures, Construction and Infrastructure, Insurance, Real Estate and Private Equity. He has represented multinational and Indian corporations in ad hoc and institutional arbitrations involving major arbitration institutions like - LCIA, ICC, ICA, ICADR, RSA, ICDR and SIAC seated in India, Paris, London and Singapore.  

He has been part of committee of Law Commission of India for recommending amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and also of High-powered Committee for Institutionalization of Arbitration in India.

He acted as Sole Arbitrator in an arbitration under ICC Rules having seat at New Delhi. He has been recognised as “Leading Lawyer in Dispute Resolution” by Asialaw Leading Lawyers, mentioned in Legal500, ranked by Chambers & Partners and listed as a “future leader” Who’s Who Legal 2018. 

He is a member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR, Vice-Chairman of Society of Construction Law – India, Fellow of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a Director of India Branch of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He has co-authored a number of publications on Arbitration and spoken at various conferences and seminar on arbitration in India and abroad. He is also a member of a member of the Task Force by Commonwealth Secretariat to conduct a study into the challenges of accessing commercial arbitration across the Commonwealth and the potential solutions.

Rishab Gupta, Partner, Arbitration, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

Dr Rishab Gupta is a Partner at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, and leads the firm’s arbitration practice in Mumbai. He is qualified to practice in India, the US and the UK (where he is a solicitor advocate with higher rights of audience). His practice focuses on domestic and international arbitration, commercial litigation and public international law. Before joining Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Rishab worked for several years at Allen & Overy in London and Debevoise & Plimpton in New York.

Rishab is the only Indian arbitration practitioner to serve on the arbitration committees of multiple international arbitration institutions, including the young practitioners committees of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) and Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA). He has been recognised by Who’s Who Legal 2018 and 2019 as a “future leader of arbitration” under the age of 45. He is consistently ranked as a leading disputes lawyer by various other publications, including Legal500 and AsiaLaw.

Rishab regularly represents clients in international arbitrations, seated throughout the world (Singapore, London, the Hague, New York, Mumbai etc) conducted under different arbitration rules (SIAC, LCIA, ICC, UNCITRAL, ICSID etc) and different laws (Indian law, English law, Singapore law etc) across a wide range of industries (energy, oil & gas, healthcare, infrastructure etc). In these arbitrations, Rishab typically does his own written and oral advocacy, making him one of the very few practitioners in India with such expertise.

In addition to commercial arbitrations, Rishab is among a handful of lawyers in India with a strong experience in investment treaty arbitration. He regularly acts for foreign investors against States under various bilateral investment treaties, as well as free trade agreements. Finally, he has extensive experience of domestic arbitrations and related litigations, and regularly appears before tribunals and courts all over India.

Panel: Corporate Ethics and Compliance in India – How can In-House Lawyers Work Better 

Moderator:

Vasu B. Muthyala, Partner, Kobre & Kim

Vasu Muthyala is a U.S. trained lawyer based in Hong Kong and focuses on international government investigations, and regulatory matters, with an emphasis on anti-corruption/FCPA, U.S. Sanctions, and securities fraud. Mr. Muthyala’s work and international experience with matters relating to cross-border government investigations have garnered awards from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the Global Investigations Review and he has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and other print media.  

Before working with clients in Asia, Mr. Muthyala spent over a decade with the U.S. Government at the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a senior prosecutor in the Fraud and Public Corruption section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, Mr. Muthyala was also a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Group of President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, focusing on financial crimes relating to the financial crises and economic recovery efforts. As an enforcement attorney at the SEC, Mr. Muthyala investigated and litigated cases arising under U.S. securities laws. While at the SEC, Mr. Muthyala provided training in Mumbai to members of the Securities Exchange Board of India, National Stock Exchange of India, and the Mumbai Stock Exchange through a U.S. sponsored Capital Markets Training Program.

Panelists:

Sandhya Vishal, Chief Counsel, Nielsen Company

Sandhya joined Nielsen in March 2016 as the Chief Counsel and Integrity Leader for South Asia, after spending many years in banking and consulting. As the Chief Counsel she is also the part of Nielsen's South Asia Leadership Team. In her role she supports the business in all legal matters, including policy creation and enforcement, government relations/affairs, privacy support, governance support, litigation support, M&A, Ombudsman and Compliance initiatives for South Asia. 

She joined Nielsen from ANZ Banking Group Limited where she was previously the Head of Legal for India. Her experience in ANZ over 8 years covers assisting the business set up their operations in India, providing legal and regulatory support on various products and assisting in strategic business initiatives. She has also handled high value litigation's and managed senior regulatory relationships and complex regulatory matters for the Bank in India. 

Prior to joining ANZ, Sandhya worked for PwC for around 5 years heading the legal practice within the Tax and Regulatory team and advised clients on a host of corporate and commercial issues. She has been a recipient of Legal 500 GC Team Award, Legal Era Rising Star Award and regularly speak at conferences on various issues including topics like compliance, ethics, investigations and diversity. Sandhya is also a member of the Diversity Council in Nielsen.

Shujath Bin Ali, Senior Director - Legal and Risk Management and Company Secretary, India Ethics & Compliance Officer, PAREXEL International

Shujath Bin Ali serves PAREXEL International –India as Senior Director- Legal and Risk Management & Company Secretary as well as India Ethics & Compliance Officer. He leads Corporate Legal, Governance, Compliance and is provides strategic legal advice and operational legal support for India Operations and is a member of PAREXEL India Leadership Team. He worked in diverse industries like Pharma, Information Technology, and Professional Services & Manufacturing with an exposure to multi cultured work environment. Before joining PAREXEL Shujath served as Senior Legal Counsel & Corporate Secretary for International Paper-India and was providing leadership oversight on Legal, Compliance & Corporate Governance matters.  

Prior to International Paper-India, Shujath served for 9 years as Associate Vice President-Legal & Corporate Secretary for Deloitte US-India offices and was heading the Legal & Corporate affairs function. He has overall 16 years’ experience in the areas of Governance, Compliance, Risk Management, Corporate & Commercial Laws, Employment laws & Litigation. Shujath was awarded with one of "India's Finest In-House Counsels" recognition by Indian Corporate Counsel Association supported by Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Law & Justice, Government of India and also named as one of the “Top 100 General Counsels” in India by Legal 500.com.

Shujath Bin Ali is currently a Member of Secretarial Standard Board, He was former Chairman of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India-Hyderabad Chapter and also a Founder & Member of Executive Committee of Indian Corporate Counsel Association, Former Member of Corporate Law, Legal, IPR of Federation of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and actively participates in thought leadership initiatives. He regularly speaks at the national and international conferences and presents white papers for professional journals on topics relating to Governance, Risk & Compliance Management.

Brajesh Rajak, Ass. Vice President, Legal, AU Small Finance Bank

Brajesh Rajak is currently looking after the legal affairs of AU Small Finance Bank (a scheduled commercial bank). At AU Small Finance Bank, he strives towards ensuring easy access to banking products for the marginalized and downtrodden by shortening and streamlining the process and documentation while ensuring legal and regulatory compliance. He has worked with YES Bank and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited in the past.   

He is also an alumnus of National Law School of India University, Bangalore and author of 2 law books published by Universal Law Publishing (Now Lexis Nexis). He is also the editor of a Book titled, “Women, Caste Inequality and Social Work” published by Anmol Publication. He has written articles in many international journals including “World Affairs- The Journal of International issues.” 

At National law school, Bangalore, he was a member of the Uniform Legal Citation Committee. He has delivered a lecture on “Gender Inequality and Social Exclusion in India” in an international conference organized by European Commission in Trieste, Italy. He writings revolve around the theme of Public Policy and Gender Inequality in India.

Rajiv Mohapatra, Senior Counsel, Regulatory Affairs, Asia Pacific, Mastercard

Rajiv Mohapatra is a corporate legal professional having experience of nearly 2 decades in managing legal and regulatory issues in banking and financial services industry. In his current assignment as Senior Counsel-Director at Mastercard he manages the regulatory affairs across Asia Pacific. Prior to this, he had worked with Vodafone M-Pesa, HSBC Bank, Citi Financial, in various leadership roles. Before moving into corporate legal role he was having Private Practice in High Courts and Supreme Court of India. He is a life member of Bar Association of Odisha, India and International Bar Association, London.

Panel: Corporate Frauds and Governance in India

Moderator:

Krishnava Dutt, Managing Partner, Argus Partners

Krishnava Dutt’s experience encompasses the entire repertoire of corporate commercial practice including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, banking and finance and commercial disputes. Krishnava has closely worked with several large corporate groups, investors, private equity funds and renowned banks and financial institutions. He has also worked closely with both the government at the centre and state governments in India while advising on several transactions including disinvestments of public sector undertakings and framing of policies. Clients have deeply appreciated his strong financial, accounting and business acumen, which helps in providing a well-rounded commercially prudent legal advice to clients. 

Krishnava has been identified by India Business Law Journal as one of India’s top 100 lawyers and is mentioned amongst the India A-List lawyers of 2017 and 2018. Describing him as “a sharp, distinctive individual who has made the most of the booming Indian infrastructure market” RSG Consulting (London) has identified Krishnava as being amongst the leading second generation of Indian corporate lawyers. Chambers and Partners has identified Krishnava as a leading lawyer in India. Recently, Krishnava received the Legal League Leadership Excellence Award for his contributions in the Restructuring and Distressed Assets Practice from the former Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. 

Krishnava serves as an independent director on the board of directors and committees (including as Audit Committee Chairman) of several internationally reputed listed companies. Krishnava started his legal career at Calcutta High Court. After a short stint at the high court, he joined ICICI Bank in Mumbai where he gained several years of experience in handling transactions involving stressed assets and the international banking sector. He joined Amarchand Mangaldas in 2005 and was made partner in 2007. He retired from Amarchand Mangaldas in June 2009 after which he founded Argus Partners.

Panelists:

Shuva Mandal, Group General Counsel, Tata Sons

Shuva Mandal is Group General Counsel of Tata Sons Private Limited, the holding company and promoter of the Tata Group. In a career spanning about two decades in India’s leading law firms, Shuva’s corporate practice has focused on mergers and acquisitions, securities laws, shareholder issues, PE investments and corporate litigations. His experience spans sectors that major operating Tata companies are active in today – steel, mining, retail, financial services, aviation, media, consumer goods and automobiles.

He is a director on the boards of Tata group companies and a member of the CII National Committee on Regulatory Affairs and the Lex Mundi Client Advisory Council. He is also involved in academic initiatives regarding the Insolvency Code.

Shuva has been recommended as a top M&A / corporate lawyer in India. Since 2011, he has been consistently ranked by Chambers Global, IFLR 1000, Legal 500 as a leading corporate and M&A lawyer in India. In 2015, Shuva was selected by The Economic Times - Spencer Stuart in the prestigious '40 under 40' list of India. Shuva completed his B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru in 2000. He is admitted to practice law in Maharashtra and Goa, India.

Pramod Rao, Group General Counsel, ICICI Group

Pramod joined ICICI Bank as its Group General Counsel on August 16 2018 and oversees the legal function for the ICICI group. Previously, Pramod had served as General Counsel for Citi India cluster (July 2013 till mid-August 2018), and was responsible for the Legal & Secretarial functions within Citi India cluster (incorporating Bangladesh & Sri Lanka). He also oversaw Citi Security & Investigative Services (CSIS), and chaired the Citi India Diversity Council and was a member of various internal management and oversight committees.

Pramod previously worked with Induslaw, a law firm as a resident partner, overseeing its Banking and Finance practice. He joined IndusLaw in 2012 and was instrumental to setting up the firm's office in Mumbai. Prior to Induslaw, Pramod worked with ICICI Bank for over 15 years. In August 1996, he joined the erstwhile Industrial Credit & Investment Corporation of India Ltd (eICICI, which subsequently in a reverse merger became ICICI Bank) upon obtaining B.A.LL.B (Hons) degree from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore (NLSIU) after a brief stint at Mulla and Mulla Craigie Blunt & Caroe. He then rose to become the General Counsel of ICICI Bank in December 2005 and served in that capacity until April 2012. During the course of his career at ICICI Bank, Pramod has overseen the legal function for all segments of the Bank. During his time there, he also advised the Board of Directors and various Board constituted committees and served on the Board of Directors of various ICICI group companies.

Pramod presently serves as a member of Board of Directors of ICICI Securities Ltd, ICICI Prudential Trust Ltd and ICICI Trusteeship Services Ltd. Pramod also serves as a member of the Legal & Banking Operations Committee of Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and of the National Committee for Regulatory Affairs constituted by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). 

Sudhir Jha, Head Legal, HDFC Ltd.

Presently, General Counsel of HDFC Limited, a Corporate Lawyer, being a qualified Lawyer from Campus Law Center, University of Delhi and with a specialization in International Trade And Finance from Oxford University and Master’s in Financial Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai University. Currently also a Research Scholar, pursuing his Doctorate Fellowship from XLRI Jamshedpur in interdisciplinary aspects of Finance, Law and Economics. He is a corporate lawyer having varied experience in the field of manufacturing, NBFC, banking, insurance, asset reconstruction and real estate sectors. Has been placed as one of the top 100 GC’s in India by Legal 500 UK and also a recipient of Star Echelon Award 2017 in the Indian Leadership Award 2017.

Samir Paranjpe, Partner Risk, Grant Thorton

Samir heads Forensic & investigation practice of Grant Thornton and is based out of Mumbai. He brings over 18 years of consulting and industry experience out of which more than ten years has been in the forensic consulting and investigations space. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Samir was a Director at a Big 4 firm.

Samir specializes in carrying out large complex investigations in diverse sectors such as financial services, media and telecom, manufacturing, automotive, real estate and infrastructure. He is also a financial services sector specialist with experience across the different sub-streams of financial industry landscape such as banking, insurance, capital markets and private equity across India, the Americas and continental Europe. He has been involved in sensitive, high profile and marquee engagements which have involved working in close coordination with the different regulatory agencies such as SEBI, RBI as well as the Enforcement Directorate and CBI.

Samir’s relevant experience consists of leading numerous forensic assignments and fraud investigations, including sensitive, high profile and marquee engagements which have involved working in close coordination with the different regulatory agencies. He has led a high profile, sensitive and complex investigation potential diversion of Funds at a healthcare company in India. He has led a review to determine the eligibility of resolution applicant for a stressed company under new insolvency and bankruptcy code. He has led multiple forensic audits of non- performing assets (NPAs), which required ascertaining money trail and end use of funds granted by lenders. Exposure to banks exposure to Banks ranged from INR 40,000 crores to INR 1,000 crores. He has also led multiple background checks on the companies, their promoters, their families, etc. to comprehend undisclosed negative information compliance with the requirement of the law, etc.

Samir has completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce and had a post-graduate degree in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode. He has also attended a management development program at INSEAD, France.

Presentation: Reputation Risks - Managing Businesses & Responding to Crisis in India

Dr. Manoj Kumar, Founder & Managing Partner, Hammurabi & Solomon Partners

Alongside leading Hammurabi & Solomon Partners (ranked as a top20 amongst Indian Law Firms by the Asian Legal Business) as its founder and managing partner, Dr.Kumar is also a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), editorial board member of Thinkers 50 India and independent director on Corporate Boards.

An ace lawyer, Dr.Kumar has been acknowledged by reputed clients for his outstanding leadership, strategy and ability to find alternate solutions to most critical and complex challenges related to strategic support, policy & regulation, corporate governance, corporate and M&A, cross-border transactions, disputes, crisis & reputation management & strategies, real estate, infra projects, IPR management & protection, project finance, business re-structuring and legal & regulatory compliance across geographies. 

Amongst many accolades, notably Dr.Kumar is a recipient of the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi Samman awarded at the House of Lords, London. He was named as one of the 100 Legal Luminaries of India, published by LexisNexis in 2016 and was named in India Business Law Journal’s A-List of top 100 lawyers of India for 2017 as well as in 2018. 

Dr.Kumar is a distinguished author, strategist, columnist, thought leader and called upon by top-of-the-line institutions including the World Bank, IBA, ABA, CII, SILF, Society of Construction Law, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, Bar Council of Kerala, Cochin Institute of International Arbitrations for counsel, discussions on various key issues. Dr.Kumar is also the past guest editor of the fall 2017 Issue of American Bar Associations’s (ABA) India Legal News, patron of Doctors For You and founder of the India Strategy Group, International Legal Advocacy Network and India Unites Foundation.

Panel: Preparing General Counsels for the Evolving Roles of Tomorrow - From In-House Lawyers to Strategic Business Partners

Moderator: 

Atul Gopalkrishna Juvle, General Counsel, Compliance Officer & Company Secretary- India & South Asia, Schindler India

Atul Gopalkrishna Juvle joined Schindler India in July 2014 with over 30 years of experience including 18 years as a General Counsel and has achieved great successes year on year. At the Schindler he is  Leading a young vibrant team of eight qualified lawyers covering contract, commercial, compliance, legal, code of conduct and company secretarial responsibilities.  Juvle and his team not only achieved, but  surpassed  the Targets for the Legal team,  year on year, for last four years. 

His past experience includes working with a premier public sector Bank (Bank of India) , a NBFC & Merchant Banker (Shriyam Securities) , the Tata group- manufacturing & export House ( TATA International Limited) , US MNC- (Elevator company)- manufacturing & service company, HDFC Life Insurance company, Godrej Agrovet Limited & currently employed with Schindler India Private Limited for over last four years. 

He was recently ranked in the Top 100 Powerful General Counsels List India for 2018 and previously in 2016 as well published by Legal 500 UK and is currently heading a Legal Team which ranked in Top 100 Legal Powerful Teams in India 2017 list published by Legal 500 UK.

Panelists:

Badrinath Durvasula, Vice President & General Counsel, Hindustan Construction Company

Mr. Badrinath Durvasula is currently the Vice President & General Counsel at Hindustan Construction Company Ltd ("HCC Ltd"), Mumbai. He was previously Senior Vice President & Head Legal for Adani Group, a $16 Billion conglomerate, with world-wide interests in Mining, Power generation and transmission, Private Ports, Trading in global commodities. He has over 28 years of rich experience in Mergers & Acquisitions, International Contracting, Contract Management, Strategy, Compliance, Arbitration, and Litigation.

Prior to joining Adani, he is a known face as the Legal Head of L&T, which is into Infrastructure management, Oil & Gas Projects, Defense Production, Power and Mining. He also had the experience of working with United Phosphorous, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, Dr Reddy’s Labs and General Insurance Corporation of India. He carries with him over 28 years of rich experience in Mergers & Acquisitions, International Contracting, Contract Management, Strategy, Compliance, Arbitration and Litigation. 

He travelled extensively in Europe and SE Asia due to the M&A activity he is involved in, all over the world on Legal & Financial due diligence, firming up transaction documents, long term supply agreements and ancillary agreements. He also attended in a number of legal matters in Australia, USA, GCC Nations and the Supreme Court of India. His niche areas are: International Contracting, joint venture formation, production sharing contracts & Intellectual Property.

Sujay Banerjee, Head of Legal, Siemens Mobility

Sujay is presently working for Siemens as Head Legal for 4 Businesses and has an overall 18 years experience with about 12 years in the infrastructure space. Initially he worked as a litigation lawyer and have worked with law firms like MKA Legal (Manilal Kher Ambalal) and later with Doijode Phatarphekar & Associate. Subsequently he moved in-house and worked with renowned infrastructure player Hirco (Real Estate). He has also previously worked as a GC with an Austrian Company VA Tech WABAG (in water and waste water space).

Pavithra Anand Chugh, Head - Corporate Legal, Decathlon Sports India Pvt. Ltd.  

Pavithra joined Decathlon Sports India as a legal advisor after two years of law firm experience in Bangalore. In her eight years at Decathlon, she has been a part of the India journey from 1 B2B Store in 2011 to 69 retail Stores across India and e-commerce in 2019. She currently leads a team of lawyers, labour compliance officers and Payroll managers in India. She represents Decathlon India at the European Business Group and Chair the Retail Sector Committee of the European Business Group. 

In her role as Legal Counsel for South West Asia, she has had the opportunity to support Decathlon Sri Lanka to open their first retail Store in Colombo. She also supports the production process of Decathlon Bangladesh and Decathlon Sri Lanka. Pavithra is an alumnus of London School of Economics and Political Science where she did her LLM in Corporate and Commercial Laws. 

Satyajit Gupta, VP-Legal, Star India Pvt Ltd

Awarded for my Corporate/ M&A expertise, Satyajit is a dual-qualified lawyer (India and England) with over 15 years' work experience in top law practices, and now in-house with one of India's best in-house legal teams at Star India. His work has encompassed general corporate/ M&A advisory, banking and strategic/ PE investments, across industry sectors. He has also had considerable experience drafting and negotiating high value commercial contracts. As a former finance lawyer, he brings knowledge of debt and expertise dealing with insolvency/ restructuring matters.

Presentation: Building Your Legal Technology Stack

Jane Lewis, Head of Professional, ASEAN and North Asia, Thomson Reuters

Jane is Head of Professional division for the Thomson Reuters business in ASEAN and North Asia (ANA) which spans Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. 

As Head of Professional for Thomson Reuters in ASEAN and North Asia, Jane Lewis is responsible for developing and executing the go to market strategy for content, technology and expertise to help Legal professionals succeed.  An accomplished and innovative leader, Jane has held management roles within the information industry in the UK, Europe and Asia and has a proven track record of growing, transforming and managing successful business units. As part of the Senior Leadership Team she is adept at leading multi-national, cross-functional teams and developing and promoting talent. 

Passionate about diversity and inclusion, Jane is co-chairperson of the Women@ThomsonReuters network for Asia Pacific and a member of the Regional Diversity and Inclusion Council.

Amit Sethi, Legal Solutions Consultant, Thomson Reuters

Amit is responsible for working Legal and Corporate professionals solution sales in India and is an expert on Thomson Reuters products including Legal Tracker, Contract Express, Mattersphere & Elite.