general counsels
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This article is written by Bhawna Agarwal with inputs from Ramanuj Mukherjee, CEO, LawSikho.

Women have long broken the monopoly of men in the legal domain. However, we still do not have equal representation of women amongst Senior Counsels or judges or Justices of the High Courts or Supreme Courts.

Nonetheless, in one area of law women are doing conspicuously well within the legal profession. And that is in in-house counsel role. I am not saying that there is no gender gap in India Inc’s boardrooms, but clearly a lot of women have made it as General Counsels, Director Legal or Head Legal. Way more than the number of Senior Advocates or Justices, in any case. I am not in a position to do a comparison with female partnership in corporate law firms at the moment, although we fully intend to do such a study soon!

In any case, this is a compilation of a list of 30 women who have risen to the top of corporate hierarchy within in-house legal teams in market leading brands. We are not claiming that is list is conclusive or exhaustive, it is just a list based on publicly available information that we could gather. We have tried our best to provide a representation of their career journey and the kind of work they do, and we may have missed out critical information, or failed to include someone who deserved to be on this list.

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We would love to improve this list based on information you can share, which we hope you will share with us in response or through comments.

This compilation has been made by Bhawna Agarwal, who has been interning with us. Over to Bhawna.

A general counsel is the chief lawyer of the legal department. There is no hierarchy in this list, and we do not intend to represent that anybody on the list is better than others by virtue of being listed ahead of the rest. 

Young lawyers should read this list in order to imagine a career path that could perhaps lead them to be a General Counsel one day, and visualise how they could get there.

If you are interested in working in in-house legal teams and need help with that, feel free to reach out. We also have helped in-house legal teams of many leading organizations with their internal training requirements, including iconic companies like ICICI Bank and Mahindra for example. 

Before we proceed further, do check out our upcoming courses in which we are accepting enrollment:

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Now let us introduce you to some extraordinary female General Counsels from the legal industry in India. Do not forget to share this list with your female advocate friends and inspire them about what heights they could scale in their own careers.

1. Anubhuti Agrawal

(Senior Counsel, Development and Operations, India – Hilton Worldwide)

After completing her LLB from NLSIU, she joined Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co. where she rose from a position of an Associate to Partner level in a period of over 9 years. During her long service with the company, she also pursued her LLM from University College of London. She later joined Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas as a Partner for a brief period of 9 months.  

In 2015, she joined Hilton as a Counsel, development and operations. During 2017, the time when Good and Sales Tax was introduced in the country, she worked with different departments like IT, Tax, Finance, revenue management so that they could make a smooth transition and adapt to the changes taking place in the system. In 2018 she was promoted to the position of senior counsel, and she is now a part of the Asia pacific legal team of Hilton. She not only looks after the legal functions of Hilton in India but also manages the function in Nepal and Bhutan. She is the only lawyer in the global legal team to manage over 100 countries in matters related to development. She and her team have worked on one of the largest transactions with the Embassy Group which was completed in 18 months and is also considered as her career highlight.

2. Shahana Basu

(Director, Legal and Regulatory Affairs – Max India Limited)

She is an experienced corporate lawyer with extensive experience globally in advising and managing both legal and business operations of MNCs. Previously she has worked with top law firms like Sullivan & Cromwell, Jones Day, and Linklaters in the US and UK.

In 2012 became the chief legal officer of Apollo Tyres, one of the largest tyre manufacturing companies in India. She later joined Amira Nature Foods, a company listed on the NYSE and global provider of Indian food.  As a general counsel she provided strategic advice to the top management and business heads in India, UAE, Germany, and the UK.

Since 2016, she has been working with Max India, a company that is part of Max Group. As a legal and regulatory affairs director, she has been able to use her decades of international experience across the entire spectrum of legal practice. With her strong legal, analytical, relationship building and business development skills.

3. Preeti Balwani

(General Counsel, India – The Kraft Heinz Company)

Before joining The Kraft Heinz Company in 2017, Balwani spent a decade in private practice handling cases related to corporate M&A, private equity and other financial laws. She made a shift to the in house counseling in 2016 by joining Welspun Group. As a general counsel at Heinz, she is responsible for corporate and governmental affairs, legal and regulatory functions and corporate secretarial work. She acts as a custodian of the company’s ethics and compliances. She led an investigation which was a result of an anonymous complaint call regarding their ethics and compliances and exposed a series of distributor malpractices.   

Under Balwani’s directions the company conducted a company wide audit which was done for the first time ever in the organization. After her joining the company has saved a lot on litigation matters by reducing the legal vendors, closing pending cases. 

4. Sanjit Kaur Batra

(Legal Head, South Asia- DuPont India)

After completing her law from Kurukshetra University in 2000, she started her career as an associate in Punjab & Haryana High Court. She later joined Lall & Sethi as a senior associate. Before moving to in-house in 2012 she has worked with Nucleus Software as associate manager lead and UPSTO as Commercial specialist for intellectual Property for South Asia area.

In 2012 she was roped in by DuPont, a Fortune 500 MNC, as an in-house counsel. She became the legal head in 2014 for South Asia region. In her current role she works in complicated M&A transaction as well as advises on policy advocacy for the organization. Along with this, she has worked on many IP litigation activities. Recently she was given additional responsibilities APEC Counsel (Health and Biosciences).

5. Padmaja Chakravarty

(General Counsel – Citibank)

Padmaja Chakravarty completed her B.A L.L.B (Honors) degree from NLSIU and holds a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from St. Anne’s College, University of Oxford. She has had a long association with Citi Bank. She joined Citi Bank in 2012 India where she worked on legal affairs regarding investment banking, capital markets and public markets.

In 2016, she shifted to Honk Kong and became the head of Citi’s Asia Pacific Capital Markets Origination legal team. After working for nearly two years in Honk Kong she took up her current role as general counsel in 2018. She heads the legal corporate and secretarial departments of India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. The legal team advises on all the legal and franchise affairs of the bank in the countries.

Before joining Citibank she has worked with Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, London and Linklaters, London. She can practice law both in India and the UK. 

6. Ipsita Dutta

(Executive Director, Legal – Morgan Stanley)

After spending over 8 years working with Amarchand Mangaldas and heading the financial regulatory practice group and rising to the position of a Partner, she joined Morgan Stanley in 2016. In her present role as head of the legal team at Morgan Stanley, she collaborates with regional and global teams ensuring the global techniques are practiced by the teams. She deals with legal and regulatory framework of different jurisdictions. As part of her responsibilities, she deals with affairs related to institutional equities broking, investment banking, investment management and global in-house centers.

Some of her key assignments include IPO of HDFC Standard Life Insurance, secondary block sale of TCS shares by Tata Sons, HDFC Asset Management Company Limited IPO. She is also part of the company’s CSR Committee as well as chairs the sexual harassment committee for one of the offices in Mumbai. 

7. Vidyut Gulati

(General Counsel  & Director, Legal – Bharti Airtel)

Post her graduation from Campus Law Center, Delhi University, Miss Gulati started her career with Dua Associates and later joined Amarchand Mangaldas for over 8 years. She was involved in matters related to complex M&A, multi-party negotiations and led transactions related to private as well as public sector companies engaging in sector like oil and gas, media, real estate, travel etc.

She started her in-house career with Cairin Oil and Gas in 2016. After working with them for a year she shifted to Bharti Enterprises (Bharti Airtel Group) in 2017, as director of the legal team. She became the general counsel of the company in 2019. As a GC she focuses on strategic transactions and decisions of the group, especially on M&A decisions for Africa. She has worked on many high stake matters on both corporate and litigation side. 

8. Inderpreet Sawhney

(Group General Counsel – Infosys Limited)

She started her career in the information technology and services industry.  She has previously worked as a legal manager in ITC for a period of 5 years. In 2011, she switched to IT giant Wipro Limited, after working with the Chugh Firm for 14 years. At Wipro, she assumed the position of Sr. Vice President and General Counsel.

At her present role as Global General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Infosys, she handles matters and activities related to legal and compliance functions. She supports the business of the company by ensuring the implementation of compliance and ethics program in the company across the world.  Apart from her role as GC, she is also a part of the National Advisory Council of South Asian Bar Association of North America (SABANA)

She holds a B.A (Hons) Economics and L.L.B degree from Delhi University. She completed her L.L.M from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. 

9. Smita Priyadarshani

(Senior Managing Legal Director – Dell EMC)

With a tremendous academic background, Miss Priyadarshani started off her legal career as an associate at Luthra & Luthra Law Offices. After working with the law firm for 4 years, she became a Legal Counsel at Perot Systems Corp. The corporation was acquired by DELL in 2009 and she was promoted to senior management team of DELL.

In her current role, she is the lead commercial lawyer for Asia Pacific and Japan region as well as provides support to other regional profiles. She was one of the inventors of a global team by the name “Global CLaaSS” (Contracts and Legal as a Shared Service). The global team hires legal talent in India which provides legal support to their various offices globally. Apart from creating Global CLaaSS, she manages various internal matters, as well as acquisitions and supported the smooth transition of Perot to Dell.

10. Sabira Amajd Kadri

(Vice President of Legal Affairs – The Phoenix Mills Ltd.)

She started her career at KMBC Bank in 1993; she was part of the bank’s in-house legal team. Over the years she dealt with matters related to large property acquisition transaction and was also a part of the litigation team of the company. She dealt with many domestic arbitration as well as high profile PILs. Before joining Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, she briefly worked in a private practice firm and then came back to in house counseling. At Mahindra & Mahindra Limited she was deputy legal manager and handled various industries like Aviation, Engineering, Spare parts Division. Provided legal support to large M&A transaction.

In her current role, as the Vice President Legal Affairs at Phoenix Mills, she heads a team of over 55 legal and leasing staff members. She oversees matters related to litigation, negotiation and legal training of the company.

11. Roop Lamba

(General Counsel, India and South Asia – Rolls Royce)

After completing her L.L.B from Panjab University in 2002, she started her career as a standing counsel with Amarjeet and Associates. In 2005, she moved into an in-house legal role at Castrol India. Through the years she has worked with many companies like Hindustan Unilever Limited, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Philips Electronics, Whirlpool India and Philips Lightning India Limited as the general manager or legal head of in-house legal teams.

In her current role as General Counsel at Rolls Royce, she is the head of the Ethics and Compliances Team for India and South Asia. She is responsible for setting up the Legal, Ethics and Compliances of the company in India. She is also the co-founder and managing partner of Loomba Legal Services. The company provides legal advice to global leading brands in the FMCG Industry, Liquor Industry, and Durable Industry.

She has served as a Guest Faculty to Bureau of Police Research and Development under Ministry of Home; where she trained police officers from entire North India, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Uganda etc. on IPR and Cyber Laws and Crimes. 

12. Manjaree Chowdhary

(General Counsel and Executive Director – Maruti Suzuki India Limited)

After a long career as a lecturer, Miss Chowdhary pursued her L.L.B while having a full time job. She pursued her L.L.M from University of London soon after. She started her legal career as an associate to advocates of Delhi and Chandigarh High Court.

She joined Dua Associates, full service legal firm for a brief time of 3 years and then shifted to in-house practice. She joined Genpact, as assistant vice president-legal and was closely involved in setting up the Legal Service Centre to provide support to legal teams primarily in the US, EU and Asia.

She rose to the position of Vice president- Legal and took up the same role at GE plastic (now SABIC). She successfully led the demerger of GE plastic and selling it to Saudi Basic Industries Corporation.

Before joining Maruti Suzuki India Limited, she was the general counsel of GE-Healthcare and Power for South Asia. In her current role as Executive Director and General Counsel, she provides legal compliance and regulatory advice to the Board and the Management.

She is the first woman General Counsel at Maruti Suzuki.

13. Priyanka Sinha

(General Counsel and MD – Vodafone Shared Services)

After working for various law firms including K&S Partners, Miss Sinha joined Pernod Ricard India, largest multinational alcoholic beverage company, as Legal Manager where she handled the litigation portfolio, IPR issues of the company, managing documents that supported M&A transactions like Sales and Marketing agreements.

She has also worked with companies like Honeywell, Convergys, UnitedHealth Group as Director or Manager-Legal. Before coming to her current role she worked with Yum! Brands, the largest restaurant company with its flagship brands like KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. She was the Chief Officer- Legal, Compliances and Corporate Affairs India and adjoining countries.

In 2017, she joined Vodafone as the General Counsel for VSS (Vodafone Global Shared Services). Handling end to end legal, risk and compliances for VSS locations like India, Hungary, Romania and Egypt are some of her responsibilities.

She is currently handling dual profiles of Centre Head for India and General Counsel for India, EU and Egypt.

14. Tejal Patil

(General Counsel – General Electric)

In the past, Miss Patil has worked with Wadia Ghandy & Co., a well-known law firm based in Mumbai. She started her in-house career when she joined the multinational corporation GE, in 2001. She was based in Singapore until 2012, where she served as the general counsel for GE Lighting Asia Pacific and other aviation, healthcare etc. GE businesses.

In 2012 she shifted back to the country and assumed her role as general counsel for GE South Asia. She leads the legal and compliance team of over 50 professionals. She assisted with GE’s acquisition and integration of Alstom’s power and grid business, GE’s largest ever acquisition.

She played a key role in securing the largest FDI from Indian Railway Industry for the company. The investment helped them set up a diesel locomotive project deal.

Tejal completed her L.L.B from Government Law College, Mumbai. She is a qualified solicitor in England & Wales and Bombay Incorporated Law Society. 

15. Vidya Venugopal

(Counsel – World Bank)

After completing her graduation from NUALS Kochi, she joined ICICI Bank in 2007. She worked primarily on transactions related to Treasury, Bullion and Fundraising. She specialized in negotiation and drafting of bullion agreements. Resolved investor grievances related to bonds and securities issued by the bank. After working with ICICI Bank for 3 years, she pursued her L.L.M from Trufts University- the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

In 2012 she joined Wadia Ghandy & Co., a well-known law firm based in Mumbai as an associate. She was with firm’s banking practice team. Later she was promoted to senior associate. After working for almost 5 years in Wadia Ghandy & Co., she joined the World Bank as a counsel.

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There are 4 legal counsels including her. Her work at World Bank is mainly concerned with project financing and supporting Bank investments in all sectors and countries. It also includes advising countries on the management of their offices and handling day to day issues that may arise.

16. Aditi Chopra

(Director and Legal Counsel – Microsoft)

In 2002, she started her legal career with Dua Associates, full service legal firm, as an associate. After working with the firm for two years she joined Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co. In a span of 6 years she worked on various issues like foreign investment, venture capitalist, PE, general corporate advisory etc. cross many sectors.

She started her in-house career with Ibibo Group as a General Counsel/ Legal Head for nearly a year. After IBIBO, she started her job as a counsel in International Business Machines where she was a part of many multi-million dollar negotiations related to contracts with multinationals in India and globally. Before joining her current role at Microsoft, she worked with Network18 Media & Investment Limited for a year and a half as SVP. At Microsoft, she is the Direct and Legal Counsel.

She holds degrees in Commerce and Law.

17. Dipali Talwar

(Group General Counsel – Tata Steel)

Talwar started her career as a litigator in Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India. Later she joined the law firm Arthur Andersen in India, where she worked on matter to corporate law and was a regulatory policy advisor to government, international institutions and companies working in various sectors.

She shifted to Pfizer, a global research pharmaceutical company, the legal director and general counsel for India and South Asia. She was then promoted to senior director of global business transactions, where she advised on transactions and formulated strategies for market entry and expansion of business.

Presently she is the group general counsel for Tata Steel, Indian steel making MNC. She is a part of the Board of the company. She is a member of Delhi Bar Association, New York State Bar and the US India Business Council Legal Executive Committee.

She completed her L.L.B from University of Delhi and L.L.M from Harvard Law School.

18. Dipti Kotak

(Chief Legal Officer – Reliance Industries, Media Business)

With her career experience of more than 20 years, she was majorly a part of Sony Picture Networks India. She was earlier the Legal Vice President of Sony Entertainment Television Pvt. Ltd. for 13 years, and then got promoted to Senior Vice President of Sony Picture Networks India.

In 2018, joined the media and entertainment sector of Reliance Industries as the Chief Legal Officer.  This sector mainly investments in production of movies, web series etc. Her areas of expertise include digital media, intellectual property, post production, copyright laws, licensing and many others.

She completed her law degree from Government Law College, Mumbai

19. Rashmi Kathpalia

(Vice President Legal – Technip India)

She started her law career in 1988 as an advocate under Mr. Kapil Sibal, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India. After working with him for a decade, she went onto pursue her L.L.M.

Post her L.L.M, she joined Bechtel Group, a multinational corporation based out of US, as the sole general counsel for India and SouthWest Asia. She drafted contracts, negotiated matter related to employment, statutory and regulatory compliance corporate governance. She managed all arbitration and litigation matter in India and advised on business matters related to different industrial sectors like Telecom, Power, and Mining & Metal. She advised on projects going on in India as well as Europe, Africa, Middle East and SouthWest Asia (EAMS). She worked with the company for 17 years and became the Chief Legal Advisor.

In 2015, she shifted to her current company, Technip India. She is the Senior Vice President Legal, and advises, directs, supervises as well as litigates matters related to commercial transactions, contract negotiation and compliance matters.

She completed her L.L.B from University of Delhi and L.LM from College of Law, York.

20. Shukla Wassan

(Executive Director Legal, South Asia-Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd)

With her career of over three decades, she has been a company secretary of Reckitt Benckiser, Xerox India, & Max New York Life Insurance Co. She started her legal and in house career with Max New York Life Insurance Co. Ltd as the Assistant Vice President Legal for two years.

Before joining the current role, she was the Executive Director of Legal and Company Secretary at Xerox India Limited. 

In 2008, she shifted to Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Private Limited. She is the Executive Director – Legal and Company Secretary- South Asia. She is the Chairperson of International Beverages Pvt. Ltd., Bottlers Nepal Limited (Bangladesh) and Bottlers Nepal (Terai) Limited, Nepal. She is also Non-Executive Director of Coca Cola Beverages Sri Lanka Ltd.

She strategizes legal, regulatory, compliance framework and corporate governance. She looks after the smooth and coordinated functioning between the Indian Management and Overseas Parent Company as well as Joint Venture partners.

She has completed her legal education from Calcutta University and is also a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries in India.

21. Aditi Jha

(Counsel – LinkedIn)

In 2005, post her L.L.B, she joined ITC Limited as Assistant Legal Manager. She worked with the company for over 6 years during which she was promoted to the position of Senior Legal Manager. She managed the global IP portfolio of the company. After gaining substantial amount of work experience she took a sabbatical during which she pursued her L.L.M in Science and Technology.

After her sabbatical, she joined Nishith Desai Associates as a senior attorney. She worked on transactional and advisory matters of Technology Media Telecom, general commercial law, and intellectual property. After working with the company for almost 2 years, she joined Johnson & Johnson as Senior Manager- Legal; she was later promoted to Senior Counsel.

Currently is the Legal Director of LinkedIn. As Lead Counsel (India) she supports the company’s legal matters in India related to compliance issues, she organizes as well as negotiates enterprise agreements. She also performs advisory functions when it comes to matters relating to employment, telecom, anti-competition, data privacy and antitrust.

She pursued her L.L.B from NUJS and L.L.M from Stanford University Law School. She has also done a PG Diploma in Patents from NALSAR.

22. Sheetal Sawhney Kapur

(Director – Legal and Senior Counsel – Netflix)

She has recently joined Netflix as Director-Legal and Senior Counsel. Her role mainly consists of providing legal assistance in partnerships and transactions.

She was the Regional Counsel to India and West Asia at Google. She advised on shaping the products from a legal point of view. Her responsibilities involved dealing with matters on privacy and data protection, regulatory liaisoning/licensing, M&A, FinTech & payments projects, geographic projects, telecom & broadcasting projects, and various other government-led initiatives. She worked with PayU as Head- Legal, Compliance and Regulatory and worked on similar cases. She has worked briefly with Private Equity and M&A team at J. Sagar Associates.

She is widely regarded as one of the most influential people in the sector of Payment Laws in India. She pursued her L.L.B and L.L.M from Indian Law Society Law College, Pune and University of Melbourne respectively.

23. Shruti Mehta

(Principal Counsel, Walt Disney Company (India) Private Limited)

After her graduating, she joined Trilegal, a renowned full service legal firm. She worked with the firm for 5 years during which she handled matters related to corporate law like M&A, private equity, joint ventures and many others. During the years she was promoted to Senior Associate.

In 2007, she joined Amarchand Mangaldas, as the principal associate. She worked on company’s matters related to legal compliances and banking laws. By 2010, she moved in-house when she joined GE Capital. GE capital is the financial services division of General Electric. She worked with the company for nearly 4 years and became the Vice President- Legal.

In 2014, she joined Walt Disney Company (India) Private Limited. She is currently Principal Counsel at the company.

She holds a law degree from Government Law College.

24. Shelly Kohli

(General Manager – Legal Business Partner – Unilever)

She recently joined Unilever as General Manager- Legal Business Partner.

After working in various law firms for over 5 years, Miss Kohli shifted to an in-house. Previously she worked in firms like Crawford Bayley & Co., Wadia Gandy, Trilegal and CPA Global.

In 2010, she joined GE (Energy Management) as Senior Legal and Compliance Counsel, South Asia. She presented the legal side for business transactions of the company. Her responsibilities included mitigating and identifying legal risks in commercial opportunities.

In 2015, she became the Assistant General Counsel for Levi Strauss & Co., South Asia. She managed a team of lawyers who worked on matters related to commercial transactions, real estate, employment and IP matters.

She holds bachelors and masters degree in Law from Mumbai University and New York University School of Law. She can practice law in India as well as the USA.

25.  Pujarini Maulik

(Vice President, Legal – InMobi)

She is currently the Vice President- Legal of InMobi, an Indian online advertising company. She has been with the company for the past 6 years. In 2012 she joined as the global head of contracts. Later on, she was promoted to Director, Associate General Counsel. She has been responsible for the smooth functioning of the company in the constantly advancing advertising technology markets and their legal framework.

Previously she has worked with Infosys and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. She worked with Infosys for a period of 6 years from 2006-2012. She was responsible for contracting and negotiating complex deals. She also provided clients with legal opinion on legal and commercial issues. She briefly worked with Dr. Reddy laboratories where she was mainly responsible for drafting agreements and compliance checklists.

She completed her L.L.B from Symbiosis International University.

26. Ananya Sanyal

(Senior Regional Counsel, APAC – Adobe)

With a career span of more than 10 years, Miss Sanyal with big brands in India as well as worldwide. She started her career with Amarchand Mangaldas, a full service law firm, as an associate. After working for 3 years with the company she shifted to an in house.

In 2009, she joined Infosys Limited as a Legal Counsel. She handled the commercial transactions of the company from a legal point of view as well as provided a legal opinion to the management of the company. She worked with them for 3 years and then made a switch to Adobe.

In 2012, she joined Adobe as the legal counsel. After working with the company for 4 years as the legal counsel she was promoted to the position of Regional Counsel for Asia Pacific Region. She is currently the Senior Regional Counsel for Asia Pacific region.

She completed her L.L.B in 2006 from NUJS, Kolkata.

27. Debolina Partap

(General Counsel – Wockhardt)

An experienced legal entity she has a career of more than 25 years. She has majorly worked with two companies.

Initially, she worked with the legal in IDBI Bank, a government-owned financial institution. After working with the bank for more than a decade, she joined Wockhardt.

In 2006, she joined Wockhardt, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, as the legal head. As the legal head of Wockhardt hospitals, she managed many matters related to US Food and Drug Administration Laws.

She was promoted to the general counsel at group level in 2011. She provided the legal team with legal knowledge on technology for them to give effective and speedy solutions that can enhance the company’s business. She leads a team of 11 and directly reports to the managing director and chairman.

She is also a part of the company’s corporate strategy governing council. She helps the company to recognize the business risks and provides a solution with litigation practices.

28. Sonal Basu

(General Counsel – Mindtree)

After completing her education, she started her career as a legal counsel at Wipro. Her responsibilities included drafting as well as negotiating agreements relating to software license, teaming agreements and master services agreements. She later joined J. Sagar Associates, a full service law firm, for a brief time of 2 years.

She moved back to in house roles by working at Nokia for almost two years, she became the Senior Corporate Counsel at Wipro. She handled multifaceted IT transactions and provided legal opinion on compliances for APAC and the US.

After a short stint at L.A.W (Lawyers at Work), she joined Mindtree in 2014. She was the Director-Legal and handled global It transactions and compliances for the company. She soon became the General Manager and Head of Legal(US).she left the company for about a year and joined IBM as a counsel for India, South Asia region.

Currently, she is the General Counsel at Mindtree. Her responsibilities entail business meeting, drafting and negotiating agreements, interacting with external counsels. She is one of the board members of the company’s Culture Protection Committee.

She graduated from Government Law College, Mumbai. She also holds an L.L.M degree from the London School of Economics and Political sciences.

29. Lubinisha Saha

(General Counsel, India & South Asia – Airbus)

She is the general counsel for Airbus, a multinational aerospace corporation based in the Netherlands. She has 15 years of experience and has excellent consultation skills in matters related to IP, Joint Venture, employment and regulatory compliances.

She has had a long association with US conglomerate GE(General Electric). She has worked with GE Oil & Gas, Baker Hughes and GE Renewable Energy. She was the legal head of the company. She led the integration of GE Oil & Gas and Baker Hughes. She has led many strategic initiatives by the company which includes channel partner management, commercial training, segmentation risk mapping and many more. She has also worked with GMR Group, as the Associate Manager. Her short stints include   Cairn India Limited and Baker, Mckenzie Wong and Leow.

Before moving to in-house roles she was an associate at J. Sagar Associates and Luthra & Luthra Law Offices, top private practice law firms in India.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in law from NALSAR, University of Hyderabad.

30. Lopamudra Rao

(Director – Legal, OLA)

She started her career with Trilegal, a private practice firm, as an associate. She worked with the private equity team and she worked on matters of due diligence. She drafted and reviewed memoranda, for many corporate clients of the company. She shifted to Luthra & Luthra Law Offices, as a senior associate. Her responsibilities at the firm included drafting and reviewing investment transaction documents, commercial contracts and memoranda for the clients.

In 2011, she joined C-Quest Capital for three years as a general counsel. She worked with the finance and operation team of the company, managed and resolved commercial disputes and she was also involved in various business transactions and negotiations. In 2017, she joined OLA as an associate Director Legal and was promoted to Head of Legal/Senior Director earlier this year. In her current role, she has been a key member in Ola’s expansion overseas in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. She has also been a part of major acquisitions and also helped in launching different facilities by OLA like Ola Electric Vehicles and Ola Play Initiatives.

She is a NALSAR alumni.


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