In-house counsel

Wipro general counsel Inderpreet Sawhney joined Infosys as its chief compliance officer and general counsel to replace David Kennedy who was removed by Infosys in December 2016, as first reported by VCCircle and reported by Mint and others.

Tata Sons general counsel Bharat Vasani has set the record straight, saying that despite rumours in the media to the contrary, he had not been ousted from the top legal job at the group due to any corporate politics and has long been looking forward to his retirement.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai partner Shuva Mandal is set to become the top general counsel (GC) of Tata Sons, the holding company of India’s largest conglomerate, replacing its long-serving GC Bharat Vasani, according to two authoritative sources.

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Mumbai partner Shuva Mandal is set to become the top general counsel (GC) of Tata Sons, the holding company of India’s largest conglomerate, replacing its long-serving GC Bharat Vasani, according to two authoritative sources.

General Counsel (GC) from 87 Indian companies would mostly like foreign law firms (FLFs) to come into India, but fewer than half of them would prefer giving their business to the FLFs, even though a majority of them find that the FLFs are generally more competent than Indian law firms.

Bharti Airtel’s director legal Sameer Chugh leads, in his words, a “fast-paced” industry.

/images/uploads/20170508-113211_200.jpgFormer Kolkata-based Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan (LKS) and Amarchand Mangaldas partner Niloy Pyne, who joined to US based consulting firm Barret & Averro in 2015, has joined the VFS Global Group as its group general counsel (GC).

Murali Neelakantan, who had left Indian pharma giant Cipla as global general counsel in 2015, has re-entered the in-house and pharmaceuticals space with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals after two years focusing on several legal education-related interests.

Under Taj Hotels current general counsel Rajendra Misra, the iconic Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai is set to join the rare registered trademark category of what are known as “image marks”. The Louvre in Paris is another one.

Internally sometimes called the youngest legal head of India’s largest and oldest biscuit maker, Britannia Industries head of legal Burhan Khalid has litigation on his platter, and a lot of it.

A couple of months ago, I completed one year as the general counsel (GC) for Inshorts, the widely popular news app which summarizes a range of news stories in just sixty words for easy consumption and understanding by the users.

Wadia Ghandy Mumbai-based senior associate Vidya Venugopal has moved to Delhi to join the World Bank as South Asia legal counsel, as part of a team of four.

Mukund RS , the associate general counsel of Harman International Industries subsidiary Symphony Teleca, which operates in the telecoms software space, has joined IBS Software Services as its VP & head of legal and company affairs in Bangalore, as first reported by VCCircle and reflected in his Linkedin profile.

General counsel (GCs) from at least 15 big Indian companies welcomed liberalisation in Indian legal services, and said that the Bar Council of India (BCI) was currently the “biggest bottleneck” to law firm liberalisation.

Dev Bajpai, executive director legal & corporate affairs at Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), and vice president legal for South Asia at Unilever, has been appointed as executive director at HUL’s board of eight members.

PayU Payments India vice president legal, regulatory and compliance, Sheetal Sawhney Kapur, has joined Google India’s legal team.