It has been a pleasure to shine a light on the talented, professional and highly innovative in-house lawyers based in India. As lead researcher for The Legal 500 GC Powerlist: India 2023, it was a pleasure and privilege to be able to interview the brightest in-house legal minds in the country, and delve into what makes a great in-house counsel and what is on the forefront of their minds as some of the leading corporate counsel in the region. The publication serves as a tribute to the remarkable contributions made by these incredible professionals to the business landscape in India. It stands as a testament to their unrivalled expertise, outstanding leadership, and unwavering commitment to excellence. 

This year’s edition shines a spotlight, not only on the most distinguished in-house lawyers in India, but also on the rising stars that one day will lead the best in-house legal departments in the country. The publication focuses on the exceptional accomplishments and innovated approaches adopted by chosen individuals, as they navigate the intricacies of the Indian landscape. In-house lawyers in this publication also shared what advice they would give to aspiring in-house lawyers or general counsel; this advice is second-to-none.  

There is a massive focus on innovation surrounding technology within the Indian legal market, with multiple individuals stating how they have implemented and rolled out new technologies in their business and stating the supreme benefit of doing such. For example, Priya Menon, executive director and general counsel of 3M India stated that ‘We created and rolled out an in-house power apps tool for wall-to-wall contract management, which automates the contract request from choosing templates to execution including approval workflow for seamless execution with different business stakeholders. This was built entirely in-house.’ It may be concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic aided the rapid increase of legal technology, as suggested by Sumit Kumar Singh, senior legal manager and company secretary at AB InBev GCC Services India: ‘With the changing world and work culture, technology has played a significant role. Everyone was stunned by the Covid-19 pandemic, after which, we automated most of our processes and brought innovation in all aspects. This has streamlined the processes, brought a lot of accuracy, and helped us in all compliance and reporting requirements. Because of the same, we were able to significantly reduce our costs, risks and brought visibility to the stakeholders.’ 

Despite the continuous economic uncertainty of global and local markets, esteemed counsel in this publication were delighted to share the most significant cases or transactions that themselves and their legal teams have been involved in within the past year. This brought up a massive variety of responses, some of these again focused on legal technology, but also spanning diversity and inclusion and ESG initiatives, significant mergers and acquisitions, and high-stake litigations. For example, Deepalakshmi Vadivelan, general counsel and vice president legal, global DPO at Quess Corp highlighted that her ‘dedicated litigation team is so conscious and confident in tracking, drafting, managing all the litigations, and constantly going beyond their role to identify right opportunities for settlement amicably or successful closure to minimise organisation’s risk and protect interest. We also introduced cloud-based software to track the court records and alert the internal system and external legal counsels to manage our litigations effectively.’ 

The advice that the in-house lawyers included gave to aspiring general counsel was truly inspiring, highlighting the crucial aspects and tips that guided them to be the best that they could possibly be. A lot of this advice highlighted the ever-evolving role of in-house counsel, and the importance of becoming central to the key stakeholders of the business. For example, Parag Mathur, group general counsel at PhonePe stated that ‘The legal role has evolved over time, from being a reactive function to a proactive function with a seat on the table along with business teams right from the start of a project, product design or service proposition,’ and therefore in-house lawyers should ‘Be business enablers, develop commercial understanding, thoroughly assess the underlying risks of any project or contract well, be hungry to learn, get involved and make mistakes, and challenge the status quo!’ 

I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to every single general counsel who participated in this edition of The GC Powerlist: India, 2023. Included within these pages are the most impressive in-house lawyers within the country, those who have utilised their legal knowledge strategically to provide business insights and contribute to their company’s success.  

I am extremely pleased to present this list of the most agile, innovative, and exceptional in-house lawyers in India. 

Elena Lewis | Senior Research Analyst: GC Powerlist India 2023 

Francisco Castro | Senior Research Analyst: GC Powerlist India 2023 

I am delighted that CMS is again partnering with Legal 500 and the GC Powerlist to recognise and endorse the leading general counsel as well as up-and-coming in-house lawyers in India. The GC Powerlist is now in its eighth year and we are proud to have been involved with the showcasing of legal talent in India from the beginning.

The CMS India Group is looking forward to celebrating the publication of this year’s GC Powerlist with the general counsels and legal talent who provide invaluable support to their businesses in an ever more complex and interlinked business environment.

Alongside their day-to-day business, GCs and their teams advise their commercial colleagues on the new legislation and regulation coming into force, both locally and in key overseas markets. In particular, India has seen the introduction of a very significant data protection law that will have a wide-ranging impact on the processing of data. In addition, GCs also support businesses with key issues such as managing climate change and the energy transition, with advising on ESG-related matters becoming an increasingly critical part of their role. The impact of ESG reporting requirements, both domestically and internationally, is likely to become more and more relevant for Indian businesses.

The in-house legal community plays an increasingly key role for Indian businesses and is becoming more sophisticated. The GC role in India is evolving and, now more than ever, GCs need to be trusted advisors for senior executive teams. Inclusion in the GC Powerlist is a strong endorsement of the key position that GCs have in the local and international legal and business environments that the businesses they support need to navigate.

CMS has a long history of working with Indian businesses and their legal teams, supporting them with international growth and the challenges that they face. These include entering into new markets and jurisdictions, acquisitions and joint ventures, compliance with ever-changing legislation and best practice or dealing with commercial disputes.

Our multijurisdictional India Group has been visiting India for many years to strengthen and grow our relationship, and is often our first port of call to the wider CMS organisation, which now includes over 5,800 legal experts in 45 countries. We are proud to offer deep local understanding with a global perspective.

Congratulations to all the GCs and in-house lawyers who are included in this year’s GC Powerlist. We look forward to continuing our association and working with many of you in supporting your businesses over the coming years. Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Babita.Ambekar@cms-cmno.com and Bill.Carr@cms-cmno.com.

Dr Duncan Weston Executive Partner CMS

INDUSLAW expresses its heartiest congratulations to the winners of the Legal500 GC Powerlist India 2023.

In the ever-evolving business ecosystem of today, General Counsels are faced with several challenges which require them to don multiple hats including those of the gatekeeper, compliance champion, strategist, defender and guardian of the conscience. INDUSLAW salutes your accomplishments, and recognizes the kind of rigour, excellence and quality each of you demonstrate in your respective roles. Your commitment to excellence has not only set a high standard but has also positively impacted those around you. INDUSLAW is also pleased to have this opportunity again this year to honour the distinguished GCs recognised in the coveted Legal500 GC Powerlist of 2023. We are proud to promote the ‘Thought Leadership’ and the resilience of the leaders in you.

INDUSLAW is a top-tier full service Indian Law Firm, the 6th Largest* in India, providing legal services to a wide range of International & Domestic clients across a variety of sectors on legal issues relating to their business, strategy, litigation and transactional goals. With over 450 lawyers including more than 60 Partners spread across Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi & NCR, Hyderabad & Mumbai, INDUSLAW has been fortunate to partner with and contribute significantly to many established businesses and new economy companies. Our multi-disciplinary teams work across offices to provide seamless and focused advice and to assist clients in taking informed decisions and reaching effective outcomes.

The Firm and its lawyers have been consistently recognised across practice areas, by all leading legal and industry specific publications (including the following accolades):

· Asialaw Profiles – Client Service Excellence Award 2020

· Chambers & Partners India Awards 2019 – Client Service Firm of the Year

· IBLJ Indian Law Firm Awards 2023, 2022 & 2021 – one of the Best Overall Law Firm 2023, 2022 & 2021 (included amongst the top 7 Law firms in India*)

* ALB NOVEMBER 2023 (ASIA EDITION) (legalbusinessonline.com)

Vahura has been a proud supporter of the India GC Powerlist since its inception.  After the enforced hiatus of the pandemic years, we are excited to see the launch of this 5th edition of the India GC Powerlist 2022.  Our heartiest congratulations to all the General Counsel (GC) and teams recognised in this Powerlist. It is wonderful to see your critical work and innovation being highlighted by a reputed international platform such as Legal 500.

Through our market leading executive search and consulting work, we are privileged to have a ring side view on the rapidly evolving role of the GC and corporate legal function. Through our affiliate Counselect, we have a panel of lawyers who are seconded to In-house legal teams for specific projects. We take this opportunity to share some of the recent trends that we have observed from these vantage points.

It is an exciting time to be part of an In-house legal team. As business leaders across industries are increasingly focused on risk management, in-house legal teams are being called upon to play a more proactive role in identifying and mitigating risks, where traditionally the focus was on responding to risk after the fact, rather than proactive prevention.

The writ of the GC has broadened to encompass public policy and government relations, compliance, regulatory and corporate affairs. The GC is increasingly leading a multi-disciplinary team of professionals that includes lawyers, policy and communication specialists, CAs and compliance professionals.

India is playing an increasingly important role in the global legal teams of MNCs. Extended legal teams of high quality lawyers are being built in India to take on frontline roles across multiple jurisdictions.

For Indian conglomerates and growth companies, as their business becomes more international, legal is guiding their expansion into new markets and product lines.

GCs are now more influential in the boardroom and their value is being recognised by the chairman, independent directors, and the CEO. By playing the role of business enablers and making commercially savvy decisions, GCs bring a transformative edge to the business.

The best legal teams are harnessing legal technology and the data flowing through legal to create internal efficiencies and more value added integration across the organisation. The adoption of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) is one such example, with India setting the global standard.

The potential for better compensation, more dynamic roles, and the success stories of in-house general counsel are inspiring many bright lawyers at all levels to move in-house. This signals an elevation in the role of the in-house counsel within the corporate structure.

Every person featured in this Powerlist plays a key role in making these positive trends a reality. Kudos to you and your teams for the important role that you play within the organisation and beyond. Congratulations once again and best wishes for the future.

Warm regards,

Ritvik Lukose

Co-Founder and CEO

Vahura