About

The 11-person EY India in-house legal team has experienced significant growth since starting with only two lawyers five years ago. As national director for legal and general counsel for India and Bangladesh Amar Kumar Sundram explains, ‘now almost all non-litigation work is done in-house with full research and case laws. In essence, we are a mini law firm with a highly competent team’. The team has spearhead a number of high profile contracts for the Indian arm of EY’s global professional services empire. ‘We have concluded two very high valued contracts with global clients which were proving problematic’, Sundram explains. ‘A complete review of the clauses that were holding up the deal was done together with business leaders, and a strategy chalked out; the deal was finally sealed’. Sundram is unequivocal about the talent that the team has individually. ‘While every member of the general counsel office has contributed immensely to the success’, he says, ‘the three outstanding members are as follows: Anusuya Chakravarty – she has led the entire business to be compliant on data privacy being the India data privacy officer; Tarak Roy – he has handled some very complicated questions of law and in a true team spirit, together with the business team, helped the organisation close many high valued global deals; and Sandeep Anand – ensured that all third party vendors, sub-consultants and sub-contracts are truly compliant with the anti-bribery provisions of the organisation’. All in all, Sundram is proud of what he and the rest of the team has achieved in a short time: ‘As the organisation has grown both in terms of revenue and head-count, new challenges are faced every day which are aptly handled by each team member. The team has got wide exposure, and in a five-year period, the India general counsel office has made itself visible and has established itself as a critical function within a global consultancy firm as large as EY’.