About

Known as a consistently high achiever with experience of both private practice and internal corporate legal work, Sujeet Jain has worked hard to foster a culture of excellence among the 52-strong legal team at Viacom 18, having built the department ‘from scratch’ since 2008. The legal team could be shaped to Jain’s liking after Viacom 18 was created through a joint venture between Viacom and the Network 18 Group, to operate various television channels of the Viacom group for the Indian viewer. Having this opportunity meant that Jain could create an environment that combines ‘in-house and law firm culture; this means every member is encouraged to [develop] into a good manager and technically solid lawyer’. The success of this strategy is evidenced by the excellent retention rate that the legal department at Viacom 18 enjoys; attrition has been ‘less than 5%’ over the years of the team’s operation. These achievements have not gone unnoticed in the market, and Jain was awarded the title of “General Counsel of the Year” by an industry publication earlier this year, to go along with the group accolade of “Best In-house Legal Team of the Year” that the department has won for the past four years running. Jain has been mindful of the regulatory pressures that affect the company’s work when building his legal team and planning its progression. When outlining what he believes to be the ideal procedure for dealing with regulatory challenges, Jain advises that one should be ‘constantly engaging with regulators and government, carefully planning regulatory changes and anticipating [these] in time for the business to incorporate that in [its] overall business strategy’. Throughout, Jain seeks to provide added value to the business as a whole as much as possible, advising that he is only satisfied when he has ‘contributed beyond legal advice and been [able] to solve business problems with efficiency’.