The Legal 500

Seth Dua & Associates provides comprehensive, ‘efficient and accurate’ advice to major telecoms companies. The team displays ‘tremendous 
insight and knowledge on telecom regulatory matters’, and acts on many transactions for a raft of foreign telecoms providers including 
Vodafone, Nortel and Verizon. The team is 
advising Seacom on business structuring
and the regulatory needs associated with the construction of a 15,000km submarine 
cable system that would connect South and East Africa to Europe and South Asia. Team head Atul Dua is praised 
for his ‘willingness to go beyond the terms 
and go that extra mile when asked for’.

AZB & Partners has been involved in some of the largest TMT M&A in the market, 
advising Bharti Airtel on its $10.7bn acquisition of Zain’s African operations from MTC Telecommunication, and representing 
American Tower Corporation on the $450m acquisition of Essar Telecom Infrastructure.

A leviathan of the Indian legal market, Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co is regularly involved in significant transactions for major TMT clients, such as 
Gunjan Shah’s leading advice to Aircel Group on the $1.4bn sale of its telecom tower 
business to GTL. The team has also recently 
been advising developers of 3G technology 
options. Amit Kumar advises numerous 
media clients on deals and recently represented Astro on its $21m acquisition of New Delhi print media business Getit Infoservices.

FoxMandal Little handles a range of advisory, transactional and litigation work for domestic 
and international clients. Recent highlights include advising Verizon on a range of matters 
including data protection. Practice head 
Salman Waris is noted for his expertise concerning cyber crime and online gaming.

HSA Advocates focuses on the media and entertainment sector, and recently advised Valuable Group on the legal and regulatory framework governing broadcasting and cable television services in India. Payal Chawla heads the team.

J Sagar Associates handles transactional, regulatory and disputes work for media, telecoms and IT clients, including Verizon, Blue Coat Systems, Aircel and Accenture. Amit Kapur advised Actuate Corporation USA on telecoms regulations including security regulations governing supplies to telecom operators.

LexCounsel provides ‘personal service and in-depth analysis’, advising on potential acquisition and day-to-day needs. Seema Jhingan has ‘excellent knowledge of the telecoms and satellite arenas’ and recently advised Devas Multimedia on the contractual issues arising from the termination of its contract with Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation. Orange is also a key client.

Link Legal advises media and IT clients on issues including regulatory approvals and IT licences. It also has a thriving sports law practice, advising the IPL cricket league on various matters and representing GMR Sports on licensing, sponsorship and branding agreements. Anand Srivastava heads the team.

Luthra & Luthra regularly handles M&A for blue-chip corporate clients within the telecoms and media industry. This includes recently handling some significant litigation, such as its representation of Etisalat DB Telecom as one of the parties in the high-profile “spectrum scam”. Other clients include Sony, ZEE TV, AT&T, Unitech Wireless and Nokia.

Niche technology firm Pavan Duggal Associates Advocates handles contentious and advisory work but ‘excels at IT litigation’ and, in the form of managing partner Pavan Duggal, has a practitioner ‘of considerable repute’ for cyber law and e-commerce. Recent highlights include securing a landmark judgment regarding the privacy of information stored on a laptop.

S&R Associates is a ‘great team to work with’, and is comfortable handling big-ticket transactions. Rajat Sethi has ‘an ability to drive a deal forward’, and recently advised Sutherland Global Services on its acquisition of business process outsourcing services provider Adventity Global Services.

Rodney Ryder left Kochhar & Co in March 2010 to form new firm Scriboard, which specialises in technology and cyber laws, as well as IP matters. The firm has picked up some excellent instructions and is quickly gaining market recognition. Ryder is regularly involved as an arbitrator in domain name disputes.

Trilegal has an excellent reputation for telecoms regulatory work, although the Bangalore office handles the bulk of work.