Firm Profile > Phoenix Legal > New Delhi, India
Phoenix Legal Offices
1-3 floor, 254 ,
okhla phase 3
NEW DELHI
110020
India
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Phoenix Legal > The Legal 500 Rankings
Banking and finance Tier 2
Phoenix Legal’s 'approachable and knowledgeable' team is active in a number of refinancing mandates on the side of lenders and demonstrates a strong focus on debt issuances in the infrastructure space. Practice head Sawant Singh acts for a number of banks and financial institutions, advising them on asset reconstruction, project finance and debt restructuring. In a recent instruction, Singh advised Sojitz Corporation on its $156m loan to Archean Chemical Industries, in the form of equity and debt, for refinancing purposes.Practice head(s):
Sawant Singh; Abhishek Saxena
Key clients
Sojitz Corporation and Sojitz Asia
Deutsche Bank AG
CredAble
Piramal Capital & Housing Finance
HDFC Capital
Corporate and M&A Tier 2
Acting for domestic and international companies, Phoenix Legal has experience advising clients on joint ventures, inbound and outbound investment, corporate and commercial contracts, debt restructuring and structuring matters in sectors such as energy, manufacturing, infrastructure, oil and gas, roads, mining and ports. Abhishek Saxena is a very active member of the group, bringing particular expertise in relation to joint ventures and shareholding acquisitions, including advising clients on buybacks of shares, transaction structuring and due diligence. Pranav Srivastava stands out for his ability to act for clients in domestic and cross-border transactions and represent them in commercial arbitrations.
Practice head(s):
Manjula Chawla; Saket Shukla; Abhishek Saxena; Sawant Singh
Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘Phoenix Legal is a leading law firm in India blessed with a team of first class lawyers who provide clients with excellent user-friendly advice on foreign direct investment, corporate M&A, private equity, project finance, regulatory, tax and general commercial matters.’
‘Saket Shukla is one of the best Corporate M&A lawyers available – he has a first class intellect and helps clients structure transactions efficiently whilst navigating the myriad of Indian laws and regulations with consummate ease. He is a pleasure to work with.’
‘Sawant Singh is recognised by clients and peers as one of the top financing lawyers in India. He impresses clients with his ability to make difficult transactions seem simple and provides clients with first class advice.’
‘Pranav Srivastava is an excellent transactional lawyer – very commercially focused, razor sharp and a pleasure to work with.’
Key clients
L-Brands
Ciena Corporation
Sojitz Corporation
Sulphur Mills Limited
Jones Lang Lasalle Property Consultants India Private Limited
Dell EMC
Visteon Corporation
Koch Industries, Inc.
Covance Inc.
Dispute resolution Tier 2
Phoenix Legal’s 'resourceful' litigation practice has strength in complex competition law and economic crime mandates, including those concerning alleged cartel activity, in addition to a track record of handling corporate, civil and white-collar crime matters throughout India’s court circuit and notable expertise in debt recovery matters. The 'brilliant' Mrinal Ojha handles commercial disputes in a diverse range of sectors in India’s high courts and the Supreme Court, and has additional expertise in insurance disputes. Recently, he successfully represented a federation of 4 Indian airlines in a challenge to the order for the conversion of all vehicles at Delhi airport to run on compressed natural gas fuel.
Practice head(s):
Jyoti Singh; Mrinal Ojha; Trinath Tadakamalla; Abhishek Saxena; Saket Shukla; Manjula Chawla; Vasanth Rajasekaran; Debarshi Dutta
Testimonials
‘Mrinal Ojha handles pressure well and gets the work done within strict timelines.’
Key clients
IFFCO Tokio General Insurance
Federation of Indian Airlines
Dakshin Bharat Gateway Terminal
ARG Outlier Media Asianet News
Pioneer India Electronic
Consortium of lenders of Gitanjali Gems Limited and Nakshatra World
ICICI Bank
Projects and energy Tier 2
Project financing, development work, regulatory advisory, corporate transactional matters and project-related disputes are all typical instructions for the team at Phoenix Legal. The practice advises on the legal aspects of the entire supply chain of crude refined products, gas and LNG, power generation (from wind, hydro, biomass to solar projects), as well as power transmission and distribution. Abhishek Saxena focuses on cross-border deals and projects in diverse sectors including IT, industrial, manufacturing, hospitality and aviation; while Sawant Singh is experienced in project finance. Pranav Srivastava acts for clients in transactions and high-value commercial disputes in relation to infrastructure projects.
Practice head(s):
Abhishek Saxena; Saket Shukla; Sawant Singh; Manjula Chawla; Vasanth Rajasekaran; Pranav Srivastava; Aditya Bhargava
Key clients
I Squared Capital
Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Company of Manila
HPCL Shapoorji Energy Pvt. Ltd.
Adient India Private Limited
Restructuring and insolvency Tier 2
Phoenix Legal advises on corporate restructuring and business reorganisation, namely demergers, amalgamations, and schemes of arrangement with creditors and stakeholders. Other areas of expertise include providing support in relation to voluntary liquidation and dissolution of companies. The practice is also instructed by insolvency professionals, financial and operational creditors, and corporate debtors in IBC proceedings. Jyoti Singh has over a decade of experience in insolvency, recovery and enforcement proceedings; another key practitioner is Abhishek Saxena, who focuses on cross-border deals.
Practice head(s):
Abhishek Saxena; Manjula Chawla; Saket Shukla; Vasanth Rajasekaran; Jyoti Singh
Testimonials
‘Abhishek Saxena is an exceptionally good lawyer who is able to advise and guide clients through the maze of Indian litigation, insolvency and restructuring. He is commercial, pragmatic and gets the job done.’
Key clients
Axis Bank Limited
KPMG
Groupe Veritas
Deloitte India
Antitrust and competition Tier 3
Phoenix Legal ’s antitrust and competition offering provides merger control advise to corporate clients for M&A transactions, joint ventures, distribution and supply arrangements and asset-purchase transactions.
Insurance Tier 3
Phoenix Legal’s commercial and dispute resolution lawyers enjoy a healthy flow of insurance-related disputes for domestic and international insurers and reinsurers. Core instructions include a mix of coverage disputes and litigation surrounding insurance claims, with cited sectors of expertise including pharmaceuticals, auto, IT and financial services. The team also provides advice on India-specific insurance regulation for clients entering the market.
Practice head(s):
Saket Shukla; Trinath Tadakamalla; Mrinal Ojha; Debarshi Dutta
Key clients
Bharti Axa General Insurance Company
New India Assurance Company
Labour and employment Tier 3
The labour and employment practice at Phoenix Legal offers advisory services pertaining to policy audits, restructuring, internal investigations, regulatory compliance and the drafting and reviewing of employment contracts. The firm's corporate lawyers — including Manjula Chawla and Saket Shukla — advise on retrenchment exercises and other resultant employment issues arising from M&A transactions. Assistance with responding to misconduct allegations is also provided.
Practice head(s):
Manjula Chawla; Saket Shukla; Abhishek Saxena; Sawant Singh
Testimonials
‘The team is highly professional and always maintains timeliness in its responses.‘
‘The team has a high quality of in-depth knowledge and gives good insight to relevant case laws.‘
‘Sawant Singh is always at hand to provide the client with quality and practical solutions He has a very pleasant interactive style which is a big positive.‘
TMT Tier 3
Phoenix Legal is particularly active in the fields of media and entertainment, for which the team handles film investment ventures, broadcast licensing, contract negotiations, operational contracts and other agreements. The team applies its strong knowledge of telecoms regulations to significant cross-border transactions in the sector as well as facilitating SaaS agreements for a number of conglomerate clients. Software brands are also prominently featured on the client roster.
Practice head(s):
Manjula Chawla; Saket Shukla; Abhishek Saxena; Siddharth Hariani; Sriram Ramachandran
Key clients
Ciena Corporation
Dell EMC
L Brands
Real estate and construction Tier 4
Phoenix Legal advises various participants in the real estate sector on foreign direct investment, conveyance deeds, and the registration of documents, as well as construction and engineering contracts. The firm is regularly involved in the structuring and negotiating of lease deeds, and is also adept at advising on real estate financing, developments and related contentious matters. Siddharth Hariani, who is based in the Mumbai office, is experienced in foreign direct investment in the real estate sector, as well as acquisitions and property development.
Practice head(s):
Saket Shukla; Siddharth Hariani; Abhishek Saxena; Manjula Chawla
Key clients
CLP Wind Farm (India) Private Limited
Sandvik Asia Private Limited
HDFC Capital Advisors Limited
Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Limited
Indospace
Tribeca Developers LLP
Tax Tier 4
Direct tax matters at Phoenix Legal are handled by Abhishek Saxena, whose experience involves tax efficient transaction structuring (including joint ventures and M&A), foreign investment and Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement compliance. Pranav Srivastava leads on indirect matters and also brings his tax expertise to commercial disputes.
Practice head(s):
Abhishek Saxena; Pranav Srivastava
Phoenix Legal > Firm Profile
The firm: Phoenix Legal was founded in 2008 by Ms. Manjula Chawla, Mr. Saket Shukla, Mr. Abhishek Saxena, and Mr. Sawant Singh. It is a full-service Indian law firm offering transactional, regulatory, advisory, dispute resolution, and tax services. It advises a diverse clientele, including domestic and international companies, banks and financial institutions, funds, promoter groups, and public sector undertakings. It now has 13 partners and 65 lawyers at its two offices (New Delhi and Mumbai) making it one of the leading law firms of the country.
It is committed to developing strong client relationships, engaging capable and dedicated professionals, and investing in technology. Enthusiasm, energy, and a drive for excellence influence the way the firm works. It invests time in understanding clients’ businesses, which enables it to provide commercially oriented and innovative legal solutions to achieve clients’ goals.
It believes that its lawyers are its greatest resource and its philosophy is to attract and retain quality professionals. It encourages entrepreneurship to enable its people to fully realize their potential. Its belief is that clients will benefit from the success of its people.
A few characteristics which set it apart from a conventional firm are a high degree of partner involvement and availability; top-quality commercially-oriented legal advice; attention to detail; and responsiveness.
Areas of practice: The firm is a full-service Indian law firm offering transactional, regulatory, advisory, dispute resolution, and tax services and has regularly acted on some of the most complex and cutting-edge work in different practice areas. Many of the firm’s deals and transactions have made headlines. The firm has acted on transactions with a value in excess of $1bn nearly every year of its existence. Even the deals and transactions that are not high-value, and therefore may not make headlines, involve complex and innovative structuring and regulatory issues. The firm has significant experience in advising its clients on deals and transactions in heavily regulated sectors, such as insurance, financial services, mining, pharmaceutical, multi-brand retail, infrastructure, and natural resources.
The firm’s clients include some of the largest and well known global corporations including Fortune 100 companies. Apart from the above factors, the firm believes its approach to client service to be superior to its peer firms and makes it stand out and justifies its better ranking. Partners at the firm have substantial or complete involvement in any client work that is undertaken by the firm. Additionally, it is aggressively responsive and always available to clients, provides commercial advice in a language that the client can understand and provides advice that is legally enforceable but without the legalese.
The solutions that we provide to our clients to help them achieve their business objectives have their basis in intense and detailed legal research. While we do keep abreast of market practices applicable to legal interpretation, they are adopted and recommended only if they are supported by a prevailing legal and regulatory framework.
In a sense, we don’t fully believe in a precedent-based approach. While we have a database and do pass the benefit of our experience to our clients, we do tend to tailor our advice to meet our clients’ requirements and do not believe in offering templatized solutions.
Towards this end, we continue to grow our team of qualified professionals with experience in diverse areas of law and the capability to provide fully integrated services to support all our client’s legal needs.
Main Contacts
| Department | Name | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ms. Manjula Chawla | manjula.chawla@phoenixlegal.in | +911149830000 | |
| Mr. Saket Shukla | saket.shukla@phoenixlegal.in | +911149830000 | |
| Mr. Abhishek Saxena | abhishek.saxena@phoenixlegal.in | +911149830000 | |
| Mr. Sawant Singh | sawant.singh@phoenixlegal.in | +912243408500 |
Lawyer Profiles
| Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
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Aditya Bhargava | Aditya is a partner based in the Mumbai Office of the Firm… | View Profile |
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Ms Manjula Chawla | Manjula is the co-founding partner of Phoenix Legal and concentrates in the… | View Profile |
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Debarshi Dutta | Debarshi is a partner based in the New Delhi office of the… | View Profile |
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Ritika Ganju | Ritika is a partner based in the New Delhi office of the… | View Profile |
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Mr Siddharth Hariani | Siddharth, a partner based in the Mumbai office, focusses on the firm’s… | View Profile |
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Mrinal Ojha | Mrinal Ojha specialises in commercial dispute resolution (litigation/arbitration/ADR). His areas of focus… | View Profile |
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Vasanth Rajasekaran | Vasanth is a partner based in the Delhi office of Phoenix Legal.… | View Profile |
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Sriram Ramachandran | Sriram Ramachandran is a partner in the Mumbai office of Phoenix Legal.… | View Profile |
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Mr Abhishek Saxena | Abhishek Saxena is a co-founding partner based out of New Delhi office… | View Profile |
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Saket Shukla | Saket Shukla’s practice specialises in M&A, JVs, private equity and complex corporate… | View Profile |
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Mr Sawant Singh | Sawant Singh is a co-founding partner based in the Mumbai office. His… | View Profile |
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Trinath Tadakamalla | Trinathis a partner based in the New Delhi Office of the Firm. Trinath… | View Profile |
Staff Figures
Number of lawyers : 65 at this office : 40Languages
English Hindi TamilDiversity/Community
Introduction to Diversity Policies of the firm:
- Brief description: Gender Diversity Policy: The Firm is committed to enhance its performance by recognising and utilising the contribution of diverse skills and talent from its workforce. The Firm defines diversity as recognising and valuing the unique contributions made by people because of their diverse skillset, distinctive background, experiences and outlooks. Diversity may result from a range of factors including but not limited to- age, gender, ethnicity, cultural background or other personal factors.
- Work Life Balance: Maintaining an effective orientation program and mentoring practices for all new lawyers, managers and administrators;
- Anti-Harassment Policy: The firm desire to promote a healthy and congenial working environment irrespective of gender, caste and creed, social status or class of the members of the firm. Therefore, the firm has zero-tolerance for sexual harassment and any act of harassment will invite serious disciplinary action. It is essential that each member deals with their colleagues and third parties with complete fairness and respect and realizes that his/her behavior will be attributed to the firm and can affect its inward and outward reputation. A substantive part of the Anti-Harassment Policy is our prevention of sexual Harassment Policy, which has been formed to prohibit, prevent or deter the commission of acts of sexual harassment at workplace and to provide the procedure for the redressal of complaints pertaining to sexual harassment.
The session will be intended to sensitize new members about the diversity, stress on work- life balance and intolerance to harassment within the firm. This initiative has been proposed with an objective to generate confidence among the new members about the support and positive environment that the firm assures its members. The sessions are proposed to be a platform for interaction, where the firm would be happy to share its experience to address the concerns of its new members, if any.
Notable Cases
Client name: Federation of Indian Airlines (comprising (1) Interglobe Aviation Limited (2) Jet Airways (India) Limited (3) Go Airlines Limited (4) Spicejet Limited)
Description: The case involves multiple commercial entities challenging an order for conversion of all vehicles at the Delhi airport to run on CNG. The Firm regularly handles disputes for large corporates over commercial matters before various courts.
The Firm instrumental in driving litigation strategy where large number of stakeholders are commercially affected by directions passed by Government authorities. The Firm achieved success in the matter through an unconventional strategy of approaching the Supreme Court rather than seeking a review before the National Green Tribunal. The strategy was formulated keeping in view the firms experiences and knowledge base regarding the functioning of the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court.
The Firm secured an interim stay on the National Green Tribunals direction for conversion of all vehicles and equipment at the IGI airport to CNG. The Firm also secured permission to file an appeal against that direction, when the clients were not parties to the underlying proceedings before the National Green Tribunal. All client airlines can continue to run their vehicles on their usual fuel and operations at the IGI Airport will not be hampered.
Client name: Federation of Indian Airlines
Description: The firm is representing the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) (comprised of leading air carriers in India IndiGo, Spicejet, Jet Airways and Go Air) in its intervention in a disposed of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and consequent reconsideration of an Order passed by the Delhi High Court in that PIL which prohibited exemptions, extensions or variations of Flight Duty Time Limitations of pilots in India. The Federation of Indian Airlines (or any of its member airlines). Due to the prohibition, rigid adherence to flight duty time limitations was causing industry-wide problems in exigent circumstances such as inclement weather and runway closure. The firm was instrumental in securing FIAs intervention, a reconsideration of the prohibition (which is pending) and pendente lite relief of carving out exceptions to the prohibition.