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

I am involved in an extensive restructuring of a large unicorn in India which was domiciled in the US. Since Indian regulations require a company to be first listed in India pursuant to listing plans the Company had to be redomiciled in India from US. This process involves a very large and complex restructuring involving regulators in India and US and evaluation of various legal and tax efficient structures.

I have spearheaded the secondary sale of a leading Indian Company involving a deal value of more than US$100m involving multiple buyers and complex negotiations with very short timelines. I have led and managed investments by the fund into new generation companies involved in new age sectors such as space tech and artificial intelligence.

What innovations have you made to the way your legal team works in the past year?

Our team has evaluated and implemented and is in the process of implementing legal tech solutions to manage and streamline the legal function. These include areas such as auto generation of documents, tracking of key risk areas of contracts, compliance and litigation management and integration of generative AI based managed solutions. These initiatives have helped us manage a large volume of work efficiently with a lean team.

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?

The Indian economy is significantly expanding and has become a growth centre for the world economy. Indian companies and an Indian based workforce are transforming several sectors and providing global capabilities and solutions. Adoption of technology has also significantly expanded. In this environment it is very important for General Counsels to be at the top of evolving trends and ideas. The legal sector has been relatively slow in India to adopt global best practices and service standards but there is a rapid shift happening where GCs are expected to manage and be a key stakeholder in business transformation. GCs should proactively assess business risks and add value specially with rapid changes in areas such as privacy, competition, digitalisation norms. GCs should also leverage and drive technological innovation such as adoption of generative AI to augment risk management.