In-house counsel

When a call from the makers of Johnnie Walker interrupted an evening of drinks for Mamta Sundara four years ago, she had to politely ask them to introduce themselves beyond their name, which she’d never heard of. Click to continue reading about Sundara’s multifaceted career and role heading up Diageo’s legal team in India…

Phoenix Legal principal associate Arun Madhu will join India-focused venture capital (VC) fund Nexus Venture Partners as its first general counsel (GC) tomorrow.

After joining The Walt Disney Company India as associate principal counsel from J Sagar Associates (JSA), Naina Chhugani was quickly disabused of the notion that in-house is nothing but a post box. Instead, as studios and TV content head, she now knows the media business “inside-out”, practices cutting-edge law and has seen a half-billion dollar takeover first hand.

And Disneyland is apparently not half-bad either.

Exclusive: ICICI Bank general counsel Pramod Rao is due to leave the bank by April end to enter private practice, according to sources close to the company. He will be succeeded by ICICI Ventures head of legal and compliance Sanker Parameswaran.

Exclusive: “I don’t wish it on my worst enemy, and it’s not just a question of wanting to keep the record for myself,” jokes Andre Jerome about whether he’s ever likely to see a comparable case.

It is surprising that Jerome still has a sense of humour about it - as general counsel (GC) of Vodafone India Services Private Limited, he was literally at the beginning, middle and end of the storm surrounding its four-year court battle with the tax man.

Exclusive: Alternative energy resources company Gadhia Solar Energy Systems has started its in house legal department by hiring intellectual property (IP) attorney Vinay Dwarkadas as its first general counsel.

Exclusive: US-headquartered venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) has created an in-house legal department in India with the hire of Amarchand Mangaldas principal associate Karan Pahwa.

Exclusive: Former Amarchand Mangaldas partner and current Paul Hastings Hong Kong lawyer Kirti Ram Hariharan will join Barings Private Equity Asia as deputy general counsel (GC) responsible for South Asia.

London-headquartered Essar Energy Plc has hired Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer senior associate Sheena Singla as its first general counsel (GC) to oversee future M&A and regulation at the FTSE 100 company company.

ICICI Bank's in-house department, which hired 24 campus graduates this year, has increased the salary package of new joiners to Rs 9.05 lakhs per year. This figure includes all benefits that employees receive but lawyers can choose to be paid the amount in full on a retainer basis after six months with the company.

Citi India has hired former GE Capital India general counsel (GC) Sandip Beri as Citi India head legal and Clifford Chance senior associate Munish Nagpal as head legal of Citigroup Global Markets India.