About

After 13 years of working at IDBI Bank, the Indian government-owned financial institution, Debolina Partap joined Wockhardt, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company headquartered in Mumbai. She joined as head of legal for Wockhardt Hospitals before being appointed as general counsel at group level in 2011. With a team of 11 reporting into her, Partap has introduced legal knowledge technology tools for speedy provision of solutions to various internal and external customers of the legal department. This system has also proved effective for intellectual property and brand protection, and enhanced litigation management for the company. Reporting to the chairman and managing director, Partap is also a member of the company’s corporate strategic governing council, which decides business strategies and risks of the Wockhardt Group. Through her senior management position she was able to assist in overcoming the group’s financial problems through effective litigation management; the legal team was able to add to the company’s bottom line through enforcement and avoidance of claims. Following routine US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) laws and good management practice matters, Partap’s time has been increasingly focused on compliance. She sums up her approach to the role by saying ‘as a general counsel, the first thing that I see is the business requirement, and then I provide an effective but compliant legal system or solution that achieves the same’.