Team size:  27

What are the most significant cases, projects and/or transactions that you and/or your legal team have recently been involved in?

During a period of intense litigation, we were required to run and accelerate to acquire complex and highly regulated business.

The task became adversely tough, as the acquisition had to be completed within an aggressive timeline of two weeks. There were potential due diligence challenges, pending CP, quantified demands from regulatory authorities and mandate not to keep the sale consideration in escrow.

Seeing the situation, we structured ourselves into smaller SME teams assigning roles and responsibilities, with periodical meeting and updates. The transaction document was much debated and negotiated culminating to closure, were we incorporated CPs, assigned values including the potential and continuous risk. To mitigate, we adopted the waterfall mechanism enshrined in IBC to adjust cash flow.

My leadership abilities, deft management of team and seamless and timely deal closure was highly appreciated and acknowledged.

How do you approach managing legal aspects during periods of instability or crisis to ensure the organisation’s resilience? 

Crises are not uncommon in the corporate world, and such situations bring high pressure, differing opinions and conflicts stemming from misunderstandings or overlapping roles.

My personal experience is that smiling faces and warm gestures are a cure for most conflicts. I make it a priority to create an environment where team members feel heard, respected and supported, thus promoting a culture of “People-First”.

As a mentor, I ensured that the team understands the company’s vision, business plan, and performance goals. I hold regular briefings which help team see the “why” behind their work, thereby creating ownership and accountability for business results.

Based on your experiences in the past year, are there any trends in the legal or business world that you are keeping an eye on that you think other in-house lawyers should be mindful of?

Over the years, I have closely observed two trends shaping our industry — the rapidly evolving regulatory environment and increasing complexity of business acquisitions.

In the food industry, compliance is no longer adhering to laws, in a much demanding and social platform with digitally driven citizens/netizens, consumer trust and credibility have direct impact on consumer choice and business sustainability.

As GCs, we need to create ‘moral value’ by various measures, namely significantly reducing regulatory friction, safeguarding brand reputation, ensuring innovation, compliance and consumer preferences move together.

In parallel, the acquisition landscape has become more dynamic and more challenging. The mode and mechanism of acquisitions have seen a sea change.

As GCs, who are now seen as strategic business partners, emphasis is on impact assessment, value creation, and legal leadership focusing on enabling sustainable growth while safeguarding long-term governance and ethical standards.

What factors influence your team’s decision to use external legal services versus handling matters in-house, and what criteria are used to evaluate their performance?    

In my experience, the decision to engage external counsel versus handling in-house is always a strategic one, guided by the nature, complexity, and business impact.

Our in-house team is structured to manage areas where a deep understanding of the company’s operations, culture, and risk appetite makes a real difference — day-to-day compliance, contract management, strategic advisory work where speed and business alignment are critical.

However, when we deal with high-value acquisitions, complex litigation, regulatory investigations, or specialised areas such as ESG, competition law, or data privacy, we turn to external experts to optimise from their specialised knowledge, independent perspective and market insights.

While selecting external counsel, I focus on practicality, clarity, and partnership. Beyond legal competence, I expect advisors to be responsive, commercially minded and cost-conscious — offering solutions that are pragmatic, not just legally sound.

Looking forward, what trends do you foresee in the legal landscape over the next 5–10 years that companies should prepare for? 

The next five to ten years may see structural reforms, digital transformation, new way of thinking (be it employee or consumer) and challenging financial sustainability.

AI, though in nascent stage is progressing sharply towards magnificent revolution, Gen Z will impact work culture, consumption and spending pattern. Companies will be under immense uncertainty for sustainability and growth – we already have numerous examples of lay off and retrenchment.

GC and legal will have to play significant and path breaking role in collaboration with the business teams to make the company compete in global and digital world, synergize M&A activity to accelerate growth and bring scale of economics.