What are the most significant cases or transactions that you have been involved in over the past year?

In the past year, we have worked on corporate restructuring to optimise and better organise ourselves in the financial services and digital payments sectors. Additionally, we have successfully settled large intellectual property rights disputes and obtained court decrees to ensure that our rights remain protected.

Based on your experience, what is the key to collaborating successfully with business partners?

The key to collaborating with business partners is to engage in discussions with an open mind and to understand the business you operate in well. Legal professionals are considered enablers in the current age and participate on equal footing when an idea or product is being conceptualised, which means we have to think like business leaders and entrepreneurs.

How do you motivate and manage the other members of your legal team well?

It is important to delegate with ownership and encourage the team to learn quickly and fail fast without fear. The legal profession is one where real-life experience teaches better than just theoretical scenarios, and therefore, providing opportunities early on to become responsible and accountable is key.

India is an economy that is rapidly growing and expected to be one of the economic powerhouses of the 21st Century. How do you see the role of GCs there changing in this environment?

General counsels are now regarded as business leaders, often holding a seat on the board, and are expected to look beyond just legal risks. I observe a greater involvement of the business in not only seeking the opinions and views of GCs before commencing any business operations or launching a new idea or product, but also an increase in the weight given to legal perspectives. It is no longer simply a matter of business sign-off being above legal sign-off. Understanding the business and all the risks associated with it is crucial for GCs to enable and fuel business growth while also ensuring protection and minimising any downside risks, including regulatory exposure.