Recognizing the Leading Women Stalwarts of the Legal Industry at the 4th Annual Women Leadership Awards

On 27th August 2022, the leading women stalwarts of the legal industry gathered at the 4th Annual Women Leadership Summit and Awards 2022 conducted by Legal Era - Legal Media Group at Hotel The Imperial, New Delhi.

The esteemed awards recognize and honor the leading lights of the legal industry whose commitment, expertise and strong leadership has helped them achieve success in an increasingly challenging legal industry.

These prestigious awards tonight honored the remarkable success of the women of the esteemed legal fraternity. The winners basked in glory after being bestowed upon with the Women in Law Awards in honor of their profession and to acknowledge their achievements. A distinguished Jury chose the Star Women Lawyers of the Year.

The day began with the 4th Annual Leadership Summit. The Welcome Address was given by Neera Sharma – Chairperson, Legal Era Women Lawyers Network – North and Chief Executive & Legal Officer, Sistema Smart Technologies Ltd.

The first session was with a very interesting panel on 'In-House Counsel To Booking A Seat At The Boardroom: Tips And Recommendations For Women General Counsels, Director Legal Or Head Legal'.

The session was moderated by Neera Sharma, Chief Executive & Legal Officer, Sistema Smart Technologies Ltd., and the panel members were Manjaree Chowdhary, Senior Executive Director and General Counsel, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, Pooja Sehgal Mehtani, General Counsel, SunLife Asia Centres and Company Secretary, Asia Service Centre India; Meenu Chandra, Managing Director, Office of the General Counsel, Head Legal for Asia Acceleration Centers, PwC US, Arpita Sen, Associate General Counsel, Intel Corporation India and Sudipta Ghosh, General Counsel, Apraava Energy.

The second session was titled 'Rising To The Top Of Corporate Hierarchy Within In-House Legal Teams In Market Leading Brands: How Have These Women Achieved What They Have?'

The Moderator of this session was Lakshika Joshi, Associate GC Capgemini and Lead IP Counsel, Global, Capgemini Engineering; and panel members comprised of Sormistha Ghosh, Group General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer, Strides Pharma Inc.; Anjali Balagopal, General Counsel, Tata Technologies; Suchita Saigal, General Counsel, Cleantech Solar and Anamika Gupta, General Counsel, India and SASSA, Eli Lilly and Company.

The event stirred conversations with a panel discussion on 'Women In Today's Global Litigation Profession: Opportunities And Challenges In A Post-Pandemic World That Stands Significantly Disrupted'

The session was moderated by Misha, Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co with our renowned women Litigators Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Geeta Luthra, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India.

The Awards Ceremony began with a Keynote Address given by Dr. Lalit Bhasin, President, Society of Indian Law Firms and Madhavi Divan, Additional Solicitor General of India.

Madhavi Divan, Additional Solicitor General of India, expressed in her evocative and thoughtful address, "It's wonderful to see women flourishing in the legal profession. These awardees are remarkable trailblazers. Nothing short of heroic. Today diversity has become a buzzword. But back then when I started, there were very few people to encourage women. And these awardees have shown tenacity that is nothing short of remarkable. Litigation is a very challenging area of the law. It's a great initiative by Legal Era to take this on!"

Highlighting the current scenario and gaps, she opined, "We need to be persuasive. Even today, in the Bombay High Court, there is almost no senior counsel who is a woman. I have had to downplay my gender so that I didn't miss opportunities. The confidence and competence to shine in the profession call for opportunities. If women are to flower in litigation at the top, where it gets sparser, it is perhaps the lack of frequent and adequate opportunities that women get in commercial litigation…that does not help women with performing in court…It is important that the fraternity, sisterhood, supports women across their professional journeys. We should not need to play down our gender. We should not have to feel insecure."

Raising the question of how we create that excellence and merit so that women counsels are seen as bankable, Madhavi shared a couple of suggestions, "One is opportunity. When you see or spot a young woman who is a talent you got to try and encourage it. That's a duty we all owe. And two, we have to talk about other issues. Law firms can initiate discussions on how we can have a family along with our professional growth. Men don't have to make that choice. Why should women have to make that choice? It is as important for women as men to feel sorted about their emotional and mental health to be able to prepare for the matter and perform in court. And three, we need to have these conversations early on in life, in our families, and in law schools. We need to be alerted on how your gender can obstruct your career trajectory so that we can take the right steps and find practical ways to work our way through."

Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Geetha Luthra, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Nina Bhasin, Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Managing Partner, Bhasin & Co. were awarded Star Women Lawyer of the Year (Icons).

Senior Advocate, Ms. Meenakshi Arora, has been practising in the Supreme Court since 1985, and is a senior designated counsel. She brings over 29 years of experience and experitise in the field of litigation and is considered one of the leading counsels in the country.

In 1984, Ms. Arora got enrolled at bar and since 1986 has been practising law at Supreme Court of India. In 1989, she qualified and became an Advocates-on-Record at the Supreme Court. She had also, for a brief period, worked with Goodwin and Soble, an international law firm based in Washington DC. She was also a partner at an Indian law firm Hemant Sahai and Associates.

In 2010, her name was recommended by a judges' collegium for elevation as a judge of the Delhi High Court however she later withdrew her consent from the judgeship. She was also the standing counsel for the Election Commission of India. In September 2013, full bench of Supreme Court headed by then Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam designated her as a senior counsel/senior advocate being only the fifth woman to be designated so.

She was one the members of the drafting committee which drafted the regulations, The Gender Sensitisation & Sexual Harassment of Women at the Supreme Court of India (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal), Regulations, 2013 to protect and provide greivance redressal to women lawyers from sexual harassment at the Supreme Court.

Ms. Geeta Luthra is a designated Senior Advocate, in the Supreme Court of India. She has an LL.M(Masters in Law) and M. Phil. in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, UK. She has been practicing law since 1980, in the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts of India. She is the Vice President of the Indian Council of Arbitration FICCI, member ICC India chapter Core committee, member LawAsia and International Academy of Family Lawyers. She is also a member of the Women's White Collar Defense Association (WWCDA).Has served as a sole arbitrator in many cases of domestic and international arbitration. Being a Senior Advocate, she has argued/represented various Public Sector Units and Private Companies in arbitral disputes She has appeared as a counsel in several landmark cases, and has expertise in myriad facets of law, including Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Arbitration Law, Human Rights, Economic offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering, PMLA Act, Benami transactions and other criminal and appellate remedies before the adjudicating PMLA authorities. She has also argued matters relating to insolvency bankruptcy Courts in the NCLT and NCLAT.

Ms. Luthra is presently Additional Advocate General for the State of Haryana in the Supreme Court of India and Special Senior Counsel at Supreme Court of India in 2013-14 and Senior Counsel for Union of India Panel from 2014-till date. Ms. Luthra has also served as Standing Counsel for Union of India at the Delhi High Court from 1999 till 2004 and also been a Special Standing Counsel, for Land Acquisition Department from 2005 till 2008 and have done numerous Arbitrations for the Government for properties requisitioned by the Government of India.

Nina Gupta Bhasin is the Managing Partner at Bhasin & Co., Advocates. She is a veteran in the legal space with over 42 years of practice.

Apart from spear heading the Supreme Court Litigation Section of the Firm, Ms. Nina specializes in Labour and Employment Laws, ADR, Aviation Laws. She has been actively associated with various statutory air crash enquiries, payment of compensation to the air crash victims, vetting of wet and dry lease agreements of Aircraft, etc. Her practice areas also include Banking Law, Product Liability and Real Estate.

Ms. Nina has been selected Arbitrator by the ICC International Court of Arbitration and also serves as the Vice President of Delhi Chapter of Society of Indian Law Firms. She is also a qualified Mediator recognized by the Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee, Supreme Court of India. She has been awarded 'Woman of Substance, Leadership Excellence Award by Legal League Consulting and Management Consultants to the Global Legal Industry. Ms. Nina has also been conferred with Award of "Exceptional Women of Excellence" by All Ladies League & Women Economic Forum.

She is the member of the Gender sensitisation committee of the Supreme Court

Member of the executive committee of the bar of the Supreme Court

The Star Women Lawyer of the Year 2022

Amaya is an IP attorney, with expertise in the field of Trademarks, which she has been practising since the last 18 years. Her journey as a lawyer began as a Trademark attorney in 2003. She is adept at handling all stages of a trademark and has handled large clients on both the prosecution and opposition fronts. In addition to taking care of trademark portfolios, she is also the Partner for the overall Business Operations at the Firm.

Amaya leads the Trade Marks practice at LEXORBIS. With over 8 years of experience as a Trademark attorney, she has acquired expertise in national and international filing and prosecution of trademarks. She is also a key attorney for handling enforcement and contentious trademark matters.

Anamika Gupta is the Legal Director and General Counsel for Eli Lilly and Company India, South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa (SASSA). She holds over 17 years of legal experience in the field of corporate and commercial law with diverse industries such as pharmaceutical, consumer goods, FMCG and the food industry.

Anamika joined Eli Lilly India in April 2020 amidst the peak of COVID-19 pandemic and over the last 2 years, she has supported the Eli Lilly business in navigating through various challenges. During Covid-19 Wave 2 in India (2021), Anamika was a core part of the Eli Lilly team which supported the Indian government with Eli Lilly's anti-covid therapies. She was also a key contributor towards the strategic partnership that Eli Lilly India announced last year with the Indian pharma company, Cipla, for Eli Lilly's Diabetes portfolio. In addition to India, Anamika also serves as the General Counsel for Lilly South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Anjali Balagopal is the General Counsel at Tata Technologies Limited (TTL) which is a global engineering and product development digital services company with a workforce of 10000 employees worldwide and founded in 1989. She is responsible for overall legal and compliance at TTL and is also a part of the executive leadership team.

She brings more than 18 years of experience in the legal space. Previously she has worked with Infosys and Juris Corp. Her significant achievements include being ranked among the 100 most Powerful Women in Law in India, Best Leading Lawyers 2022 – WIPF and Powerful Indian Women in IP 2021 – WIPF.

Anupama Pai is a dedicated Legal and CS professional with 23+years' experience in advising on various legal and regulatory matters. She is currently Head – Legal & Company Secretary at Bharat Serums and Vaccines Limited a bio-tech company in India. She has been handling litigation, non-litigation, Corporate Secretarial, IPR matters, policy drafting and investigations, Merger & Acquisitions and corporate re-structuring, implementation of compliance management tools, e-modules for legal compliance policies, digitalization of some of the functions within Legal.

During her stint at WNS and ICICI Bank, she has handled NYSE listing, buyback, and entity-wise restructuring projects, IPR matters, M&A and also for a brief period the compliance function. She has also expertise in Corporate Governance, FPO Management, Debenture issues, Buy-back under USSEC and SEBI Regulations.

Archana is the Founding Partner of Agama Law Associates ("Agama"). Archana, has versatile experience of over 13 years wherein she has gained immense tactical transactional understanding as well as significant industry expertise across diverse sectors such as manufacturing, logistics, media, pharmaceuticals, financial services, shipping, real estate, technology, engineering, infrastructure and health.

Presently, Archana is catering through Agama to Listed / Unlisted enterprises, mid-sized firms and also Start-Ups. Archana advises her clients across a whole gamut of transactions essential for the functioning of any organisation in the economic-legal environment. She has successfully advised organisations in relation to standardization and negotiation of documents, statutory compliance advisory including employment advisory, corporate advisory, advice on compliance with Companies Act, foreign exchange laws as well as SEBI laws.

Arpita has over 25 years of experience as an Attorney and over 20 years of experience asa designated General Counsel, Compliance Officer. She had held leadership positions as a trusted management advisor with required leadership skills for heading and managing a corporate legal, compliance and ethics function as also managing inter-company legal relationships. She also has expertise in providing strategic and practical legal advice, providing suitable legal options best suited for business/commercial strategy, being a trusted advisor, problem solver.

Recently in 2021-2022, she led a USD 1.2 Billion divestiture of healthcare services of an Indian public listed company including appointing Big 5 counsel across 4 geos, heading the entire reliance based legal DD for the org, negotiating and finalising transaction documents and disclosures in a complex asset cum stock transfer deal. The List Co had upwards of 20 subsidiaries across the world.

Avaantika is one of the most highly experienced antitrust advisors in India. She advises on complex merger notifications and represents her clients before the Commission, the Appellate Tribunal and Courts. Her practice includes providing strategic advice to her clients including objecting to certain mergers before the CCI.

Her experience in corporate and securities laws, transactional work in M&A, private equity, joint ventures, and structured finance, equips her uniquely to advice clients on merger regulation. She was among the first Indian lawyers to start practicing Indian Competition law in 2009, when the law came into effect. She was appointed on a working group, set up by the Competition Law Review Committee (established by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in India to review the competition law regime to promote best practices). She works closely with the regulator as a non-government advisor.

Bindu has over 10 years' of extensive experience in leading wide spectrum cross-border business and commercial litigation, product liability and legal compliance. Her practice covers diverse corporate commercial litigation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.

She also advises and acts for clients in global product liability litigations in Asia Pacific region, insolvency proceedings, constitutional law litigations, corporate and forensic investigations. Her primary focus currently is on product liability, particularly in the areas of prevention and defence of class/collective actions in the Asia Pacific region. She also has sufficient experience in responding to banking and intellectual property matters in Hong Kong and India.

Brijita's primary practice area is property laws. She has been involved in undertaking title due diligence, negotiating and drafting real estate transaction documents including agreements for sale, general powers of attorney, lease agreement, lease deeds, sale deeds, gift deeds, wills, memorandum of association and bye-laws for formation of association & societies, project development & management agreements, contractor's agreements, memorandum of understandings and maintenance agreements.

In the solar energy sector, she has been involved in advising the clients in procuring the permissions and approvals required from the Karnataka renewable energy department, various government authorities & agencies including Karnataka Power Corporation Limited and revenue department in setting up of solar power projects in the state of Karnataka and drafting of various transactional documents including co-ordination agreements, power purchase agreements, sale agreements, general powers of attorney, sale deeds, etc.

Deepa is astrong woman leader and an exceptional legal professional, having executed strategic and leadership roles over the last several years. Over the span of her career, Deepa has dabbled in many roles within Legal & Compliance across Retail, Banking and IT Outsourcing industries.

She has over 18 years' experience as In-House counsel and has worked with several large corporates including, HSBC, Target, Dell and NTT DATA Services. Her areas of expertise include commercial contracting and deal support, compliance, employment, litigation and dispute resolution, procurement, and real estate. Deepa is a committed leader who leads with empathy. She has a genuine interest in the development of her people and a never wavering focus on the quality of legal advisory.

Deepali holds a vast and substantial experience in the practice of law since 1992. She is a seasoned litigating lawyer with a wide array of matters including civil disputes, arbitration claims, consumer disputes, matrimonial issues and is a pioneer in leading evidence, conducting trials, addressing final arguments and advising on issues relating to the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace.

Deepali is also engaged as an independent member on Internal Committees for various multinational corporations and has concluded several inquiries into sexual harassment complaints. She conducts inquiries into complaints of workplace harassment as well as inquiries into performance failure/lapse of employee(s) in following organizational due process and/or implementing workplace policies. Her trial court experience is an asset in ensuring due compliance with applicable principles of

natural justice and due process.

Evneet is an Associate Partner in the Dispute Resolution Practice at P&A Law Offices. She has significant experience in commercial matters, civil disputes, arbitration, energy sector litigation and securities litigation.

Evneet has successfully represented several Indian and foreign companies (including government-owned companies) in commercial arbitrations, and in corporate tax, indirect taxation, competition, real estate and white-collar crime matters, before the Supreme Court of India, the High Court of Delhi, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), among other fora. Evneet also provides regulatory compliance advice to the Firm's international clients, including advice on sexual harassment issues and anti-bribery matters.

Gauri is a senior strategic legal advisor. Till June 2022, she was the Global General Counsel at Tata Consumer Products Limited, a public listed FMCG company with over 3000 employees and operations spread across the globe, including in India, UK, Canada, USA, Australia and Africa.

Prior to this, she was an Assistant Vice President (Legal) at Tata Sons Private Limited for 4 years, the principal investment holding company and promoter of the Tata Group. She has over 17 years of experience with the Tata Group and with leading international and Indian law firms (Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, London and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, New Delhi). Gauri is an expert in mergers and acquisitions, financings and bond issuances, governance related issues and managing disputes.

She is currently working on setting up Bridge-it, an online Edtech platform to improve spoken English fluency for students without access to English speakers within their networks.

Gowri Tirumurti is currently Partner and Head (Trademark Exports) at Anand and Anand and overseas Trademark related matters including filings, prosecution, searches, opinions, oppositions, cancellations in India and in jurisdictions outside India. She was enrolled in the Delhi Bar Council in 1991 and her experience includes:

With respect to Trademarks, she focuses on Portfolio management, prosecution before Trademarks Registry, including filing and defending Oppositions, filing responses to Examination reports & compliances and filing renewals.

During the period 2014 to 2018, Gowri was based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, during which time, she worked for Shearn Delamore, a leading Malaysian Law Firm.

She was co-author of an article which was published in World Trademark Review along with Mr. M.S.Bharath, Partner and Lead Practitioner, Anand & Anand, Chennai.

Gunjan Shah is a Partner and serves on the Management Committee of the Firm.She specialises in General Corporate, Capital Markets and Banking & Finance.Her areas of expertise include Mergers & Acquisition, Private Equity Corporate Restructuring, Debt Restructuring, Debt Capital Markets, and Securities and Takeover Regulation in India.

In 2019, FT Innovative Lawyers 2019, Asia Pacific Awards, awarded her transaction, AION and JSW's acquisition of Monnet Ispat & Energy Limited on innovation in legal expertise. Gunjan has also been recognised by Asia One among 50 most influential Indians under 50 – 2016-17 and in March 2015, was acknowledged in the list of India's Hottest Young Executives - 2015, Business Today's ninth listing of the best and the brightest corporate performers under 40. Gunjan has been recognised as one of India's top 40 business leaders under the age of 40 by the Economic Times – Spencer Stuart Survey, 2014. She is a fellow of the Aspen Global Network– Kamalnayan Bajaj fellowship and has held a number of positions on legal panels and forums and is a judge at the Oxford-Price Media moot court competition held in Oxford, UK.

Jyoti has 20 years of extensive experience in Mergers & Acquisitions, General Corporate Commercial, Infrastructure, Structured Finance, ECB, FDI, etc. She has advised various infrastructure companies in the field of water to energy plants, solar power, construction companies etc, with respect to EPC Contracts, turnkey contracts.

She has assisted the authority to draft and publish RFP/RFQ/Tenders with respect to infrastructure projects. Negotiated for various companies on the Concession agreements, EPC contracts, etc. She has also advised offshore and domestic private equity funds on all aspects of an investment and has represented them in structuring of the investment instruments including but not limited advised on investor rights, exit options, waterfall mechanism and regulatory issues in the real estate, financial services and infrastructure sector in terms of the Foreign Direct Investment Policy of India and the Reserve Bank of India Guidelines.

An alumna of the prestigious LSR College, Delhi and the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, Kaadambari began her career as a litigator in 1998. Kaadambari is currently the Standing Counsel, National Highway Authority of India; Additional Standing Counsel, New Delhi Municipal Council; Senior Counsel with the Ministry of Law & Justice (Union of India).

In the past, besides various multinationals, including a few fortune 500 companies, she has also represented the Indian Air Force, State of Haryana, Punjab State Electricity Board, Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation, CCS-HAU University (Hisar) amongst others, where she has argued complex and significant matters of public importance with considerable success.

As a lead counsel, Kaadambari has been at the forefront of some of the top draw high value litigations (INR 500-1000 crores)and have successfully argued cases which have contributed to the development of legal precedents across different judicial fora, from the Supreme Court of India to various High Courts and Appellate Tribunals. Most recently in 2021, she has been honoured by the India Forbes "Legal Powerlist 2020"as India's Top Individual Lawyer for excellence in law.

Kanisha Vora has over ten years of experience and focuses on matters relating to Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity, General Corporate Advisory, and our ESG vertical at the firm. She has advised various domestic and international clients in acquisition, investment and joint venture transactions across different industries and sectors in India.

Her noteworthy experience includes working on Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity & Venture Capital and Joint Ventures.

She has also worked on the transaction related to Aditya Birla Conglomerate (RKN Retail Private Limited and Kanishtha Finance and Investment Private Limited) in relation to the transfer of their majority shares in Aditya Birla Retail Limited to Witzig Advisory Services Private Limited for an enterprise value of approximately US$573 million.

An alumnus of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore and a Gold Medallist in her LLM, she was appointed as a judge of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (Technical Member-Trademarks) and adjudicated in numerous cases on several key trademark law issues. Her orders ranged from declaring GOODDAY to be a well known trademark, to deciding in favour of RPG, HP, REDBULL and several famous trademarks.

Enrolled in 2002 and practised intellectual property laws for 18 years, mainly before the High Court of Madras and also various other courts and tribunals. She has been arguing counsel in hundreds of cases concerning significant jurisprudential questions in intellectual property law, with over 200 reported cases to her name. She also filed and prosecuted many applications before the Indian Trademark, Design and Copyright Offices and coordinated the filing of trademarks and patents in various countries worldwide including USA, UK, EU, Japan, Singapore, GCC countries, and PCT patents.

Co-authored the book 'MANUAL OF CYBER LAWS', by Aditya Book Company (ABC), July 2010, and is a regular contributor to various legal publications and journals.

Madhu Gadodia is a Deputy Managing Partner at Naik Naik & Co. With a wealth of experience and knowledge in this field, Madhu's focus areas are Technology, Media & Telecommunication (TMT),

Banking & Finance, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), Indian Bankruptcy Code, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), Nonconventional Media practice (like Digital Platforms) and Debt Recovery.

Madhu counsels on Banking & Finance issues at the Firm and represents the reputed Financial Institutions and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). She has also handled some of the largest claims in Debt Recovery matters which also gave her deeper insight into her career. Presently, she is handling the segments under the Indian Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Madhu carries extensive experience and has also represented the Indian Broadcasting Federation, as well as the associations of television and film producers including IFTPC and IMPAA. Madhu has also represented a leading broadcaster before TDSAT in its dispute with the distributor and Indian Broadcasting Federation regarding the issue of certain provisions of the Copyright Act, 1957, and amendments thereafter.

Malyashree is an experienced professional with specialized skills in handling matters related to Intellectual Property Rights. Vast experience in handling both contentious and non contentious trademark issues, IP enforcement and infringement, IP due diligence, advising clients on various IP related issues.

She advises clients on legal queries pertaining to Trademarks, Copyrights, Designs, Company disputes etc. She also drafts Oppositions, Counter-Statements, Evidence in support of oppositions/applications and rectifications in relation to Trademarks and attending hearings before the Registrar of Trademarks, IPAB etc.

Mamta Jha is a practicing lawyer with over 18 years of experience in litigation, with expertise in Intellectual Property laws. She currently heads the litigation practice and is a Partner at Inttl Advocare. She has also considerable experience in the allied and emerging fields of Information Technology, Telecommunications, Media and Anti-trust laws. Her past experience of over 7 years in both civil and criminal litigation has equipped her with a unique approach towards addressing complex issues and providing holistic solutions. Apart from litigation, Mamta actively advises clients on IP licensing, auditing, contract drafting and negotiation, business venture evaluation and due diligence, online and offline anti-counterfeiting and border control measures and regulatory compliances.

Mamta has represented leading global pharmaceutical companies, as well as electronic and telecommunication giants in key patent litigation cases. She has also successfully handled trademark and design litigation for Fortune 500 companies across various sectors and advised clients on contentious matters pertaining to copyright law.

Meenakshi completed her Law from Kishinchand Chellaram Law College, Mumbai in 2008. She has versatile experience in mergers & acquisitions, private equity and investments, foreign investments policies (FEMA), corporate & commercial transactions; capital market, ecommerce, real estate, infrastructure, employment & labour matters.

Meenakshi's experience in working with top law firms of India like the AZB & Partners, Thakker & Thakker, ARA Law, and Singhania & Co., has helped her to guide RMA Legal to its current position in the market. Over 14 years in the legal industry, Meenakshi's experience includes: Structuring of foreign investment in light of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA), conducting due diligence on potential investment targets, conducting Due Diligences &

preparing DD Reports including advising clients in relation to transactional documentation, pre and post investment restructuring as well as statutory compliances.

Mumtaz has about 14 years of experience in the field of litigation and dispute resolution. She specializes in Domestic and International Arbitrations. She has considerable amount of experience in the aviation sector, medical sector, real estate, construction, and civil-commercial sector, with her being the preferred choice for several domestic and international clients. She also possesses a wide range of experience in civil trial, criminal trial, appeals, consumer disputes, domestic and international arbitration. She also specializes in conducting compliance workshops for Companies.

She is Advocate on Record, Supreme Court of India and the member of Advocate on Record Association, Supreme Court of India, International Bar Association, Supreme Court Bar Association, Delhi High Court Bar Association and New Delhi Bar Association.

She has advised and represented several multi-national companies and organisations regarding appropriate strategies to be adopted at various stages of litigation and arbitration. She is liked by her clients for providing them with effective and quick solutions for every issue.

Natasha's practice includes a wide range of transactions including structured financing, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and general corporate law. She regularly advises commercial and investment banks, financial institutions, private equity sponsors and borrowers in connection with secured and unsecured credit facilities, cross-border acquisition financings with a particular focus on non-convertible debenture and bond issues (both listed and unlisted). Closely involved in all aspects of deal structure, negotiation and documentation, her record of accomplishment is testament to her commitment to helping clients to achieve their goals. Drawing on her knowledge of the sector, she has helped numerous clients to navigate the intricacies of large-scale and multijurisdictional deals.

Recently, she has worked on various transactions that include advising the Shapoorji Pallonji Group on their exit from the one-time restructuring (OTR) exercise (India's largest) by repaying their lenders INR 12,450 crores; advising the promoters of Eureka Forbes Limited on a stake sale to Advent International for INR 4,400 crores; advising the promoters of Hemmo Pharmaceuticals on a 100% stake sale to Piramal Pharma for INR 775 crores; advising the promoters of Sterling & Wilson Solar Limited on a stake sale to Reliance Industries for INR 2845 crores; advising the Shapoorji Pallonji Group on raising approximately INR 8000 crore from Ares SSG and Farallon Capital; advising Forbes & Company Limited the promoters of Forbes Facility Services on a 100% stake sale to Norwest backed Sila Group for INR 42 crores; advising the promoters of Allyis Inc. on a 100% stake sale to Tech Mahindra Limited for INR 900 crores amongst others.

Nupur is a patent lawyer practicing in the fields of biotechnology, immunology, cell and molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, pharmaceuticals, chemistry, food technology, nutraceuticals and other allied areas. She has expertise in patent protection and enforcement. She provides strategic counseling in patent drafting, filing, prosecution and in contentious patent matters. Her considerable experience in patent infringement suits and invalidity actions provides the perspective for robust prosecution.

She is also involved in patent search and analysis including freedom to operate, validity, patentability and infringement analysis and advises clients on biodiversity and traditional knowledge issues.

She is extensively involved in pre-grant and post-grant contentious patent matters and regularly appears before the Indian Patent Office. She has actively represented innovators in several pre-grant oppositions, post-grant oppositions and revocations.

Preethi Kitchappan is currently with TVS Supply Chain Solutions as their Head – Legal. Preethi Kitchappan through her diverse calling brings with her practical IPR finesse and knowledge and varied expertise in handling matters pertaining to due diligence, IPR, merger and acquisitions, JV deals, real estate, data protection, litigation/dispute management etc.

Preethi is a law graduate from the University of Southampton, England. She is a seasoned legal professional having a specialization master's degree in commercial law and international trade. Preethi has served as an in-house counsel in London and in India with over 15 years of experience having been associated with leading organizations in the service industry, holding various leadership roles.

Preethi has been associated with organizations like Cognizant where she was the country lead counsel/ head for legal operations for Australia and New Zealand jurisdiction. She also has Fintech in-house practice and has served FSS a global fintech product company for more than 8 years heading legal for their Retail Payments and FSS Prime businesses for both India and overseas. She was part of their leadership team playing an advisory role for all legal requirements.

Puja Sondhi s a leading advisor with expertise in foreign investment and regulatory affairs, India market-entry strategy, joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions, private equity investments, PIPE deals, public M&A, venture capital, and corporate restructuring. Puja has successfully closed numerous complex, path-breaking and award-winning transactions requiring innovative structuring, regulatory expertise and a solution-oriented approach across diverse sectors.

Puja has developed a strong "emerging companies" practice, focused on growth capital, spanning a broad range of new-age businesses including inter aliaretail &e-commerce, digital media, e-pharmacy, online gaming, mobility solutions, fintech, lifestyle & health. Puja has advised extensively on both founder/company mandates and investor mandates for fundraising from marquee investors including inter alia International Finance Corporation (IFC), Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), Softbank, SAIF Partners, Tiger Global, Raine group and Qatar-based QInvest.

Rashi Anand Suri, has been an integral part of various leading law firms of the country and business houses and has over 20 years of experience. Rashi has assisted the Planning Commission as a Legal Consultant to the Secretariat of Infrastructure. She has also been involved in the preparation of bid documents including the RFQ as well as the RFP on a PPP basis.

Rashi has been appointed as a Legal Consultant to the National highways Authority of India on several projects and has advised Planning Commissions and the NHAI in preparation of bidding documents for highways projects on BOT/DBFOT/Annuity basis, evaluation of bids submitted by bidders and other legal issues related therewith.

Rashi has a vast experience in other facets of corporate and commercial laws including foreign direct investment and documentation concerning shareholders and joint venture agreements and various M&A transactions. Ms. Suri has vast expertise on maintaining corporate compliance and drafting of documents integral to the business of its clients. Ms. Suri has experience in preparation, drafting, review and active involvement in the consultation process with stakeholders.

Reeba has represented several leading global private equity funds, as well as large Indian corporates in her areas of expertise. Her transactional experience ranges across various sectors including real estate and infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, technology, retail and ecommerce, financial services and education.

Chambers and Partners 2022 has ranked Reeba as a Band 1 Lawyer for Corporate and M&A and Private Equity in India. IFLR1000 2022 has recognized him as Highly Regarded for M&A. Asia Law 2022 has described him as Distinguished Practitioner for M&A. Legal Era Leading Lawyer 2022 ranked him as "Leading Lawyer Legend" for Private Equity and Corporate and M&A.

She has been recognized as IFLR1000 Women Leaders 2021 & 2022 and recommended by Who's Who Legal Thought Leaders India as Global Leader M&A 2021.

Rohini has over 13 years of experience in corporate laws with a specific focus on capital markets. Rohini has worked on numerous IPOs, QIPs and Rights Issues in both the private and public sector. She has wide experience in conducting due diligence, drafting offer documents filed with SEBI and various stock exchanges, and ensuring compliances with SEBI (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2009 and other applicable laws, appearing before SEBI Officials and making submissions on a case-to-case basis.

Rohini also has significant experience in litigation, M&As and general corporate advisory.

Rohini has acted on Initial Public Offerings for clients including, Apollo Micro Systems Limited, Ircon International Limited, K.P.R. Agrochem Limited, Route Mobile Limited, Hinduja Leyland Finance Limited (for selling shareholder), Advanced Enzyme Technologies Limited and Numero Uno Clothing Limited. She has also acted on Qualified Institutions Placement for clients including, Premier Explosives Limited, Nath Bio-Genes (India) Limited, United Bank of India, Dena Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Syndicate Bank, NCL Industries Limited, Talwalkars Better Value Fitness Ltd and Elder Pharmaceuticals Limited.

Ruchika Nayyar is a distinguished legal professional with around three decades of experience in handling wide range of legal and regulatory issues. Currently she is the General Counsel for the Nexus Malls, which is a part of US based Blackstone Group and is responsible for overseeing the Legal & Secretarial function across the group.

She is spearheading the Nexus Group and is instrumental in advising the Group on various legal matters, strategizing the legal actions, development of system and processes for the business.

Prior to joining Nexus Malls, she was working with the GMR Group as the Vice President & Head - Corporate Legal.

She specializes in and has wide and well-rounded expertise in Retail Real Estate, Project Finance & Infrastructure funding, Real Estate Financing, M&A, Corporate matters, General and Commercial Laws, Property matters, Litigation and Dispute Resolution matters. She has played lead role in transactions involving structuring, divestments, joint ventures, mergers, banking and financing (debt and equity), involving multi-jurisdictional parties.

Seema has substantial expertise in representing investors, developers, venture capital and private equity funds, international corporations, sponsors/lenders and other strategic investors involved in the establishment, development and financing of infrastructure, telecom, education, information technology and satellite projects in India.

Seema is recognized for her capability of structuring innovative investment models and has considerable transactional experience in representing private equity and venture capital funds and investors such as Providence Equity, Gaja Capital, Kaizen's portfolio company, LeapStart Trust, Bedrock Ventures, on investment structuring and exits, collaborations & funding, legal due diligence & compliances, shareholders & minority protection issues, escrow arrangements, tax structuring, foreign investment and regulatory/licensing issues including SEBI registration as a VC fund, FIPB approval and other exchange control related issues.

Shalinee is the General counsel, Compliance officer, member of South Asia leadership team and a director on Board with Dentsu International India having 20+ years of experience in chemicals, agro-sciences, food, technology, consultancy, telecom, aerospace, education and media industries, driven to control costs, manage risk, add value, lead complex transactions and collaborate with organizational leaders to effectively align with and support key business initiatives.

As part of Global Legal team, she is responsible for South Asia, for managing major/complex programs/ cross-border transactions. She has also advised cross-functional teams on a broad range of legal subjects including corporate, commercial, intellectual property rights, employment, data protection, company ethics and regulatory matters ensuring informed decision-making pertinent to strategic as well as tactical business plans. She provides overall counsel, leadership, and management in facilitating strategically important corporate initiatives such as demergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances.

Shilpa is the founder of Legal Connect, which delivers practical solutions to diverse legal situations and is also the author of

'All Battles Aren't Legal', which has been read and reviewed by noted Indians like Sonia Gandhi, Mukesh Ambani and Dr. Karan Singh.

After finishing studies, she worked in India for a year under the mentorship of India's leading law legend Mr. K. K. Venugopal. At the end of February 2003 Shilpa was struck by viral meningitis and slipped into coma for 40 days and was admitted in a hospital in Dubai. Shilpa opened her eyes in April 2003. After her condition became stable on April 15, she was flown to Apollo Hospital, New Delhi where she remained under treatment for six months.

Her father, Lalit Bhasin (an eminent lawyer), got her a laptop to the hospital so that Shilpa could keep herself occupied. She started writing a few pages, a personal diary of sorts. She mailed the draft to her father asking him to get a print out. He read it and wanted to get it published. So he forwarded it to the publishers who liked it and published it without even putting a comma saying that would kill the authenticity of the story." The book was ready to be published but as the publishers were a leading law publishing house in India they needed a legal title.

The publisher liked the book and suggested the need for a legal title. Being amused by his demand and thought Shilpa randomly told him 'All Battles Aren't Legal'. The publisher liked it and decided to use it as the title."

Recovery was not easy but Shilpa never let despair get the better of her. Though it was a tough time, she believed she would tide over it. In September 2005 she decided to come back to Dubai as she wanted to do things on her own. She wanted to manage her house on her own and was eager to get back to work. She went back to her previous company in 2010 but they had to relocate to Rotterdam in 2013 so she decided to quit and by 2015 she started her own practice and founded her own legal firm, Legal Connect.

Sreemoyee's practice focuses on anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance and merger control notification matters, both in India and the EU.

Sreemoyee has advised clients across industries, including those from the television content and distribution business, steel industry, technology industry, on matters relating to anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominance, merger control and FRAND commitments. She has represented clients before the Competition Commission of India, the Competition Appellate Tribunal, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, the High Courts of Delhi, Bombay and Karnataka, and the Supreme Court of India.

She has also conducted comprehensive competition law compliance training programs for various corporates and has the distinction of being involved in filing the first leniency application in India before the Competition Commission of India. She has also notified several M&A transactions to the CCI and has been successful in obtaining unconditional approvals for each transaction.

Suchita is the General Counsel for India and south-east Asia at Cleantech Solar which she joined in 2021 as the Assistant General Counsel (India). In November 2021, she was promoted to the acting General Counsel for India and south-east Asia and in March 2022, she was appointed as the full-time General Counsel of the organization.

Suchita has 13+ years of experience working in top tier law firms in India and overseas, and in multinational organisations with operations in India and south-east Asia.

After having graduated in 2009, she joined Clifford Chance, London, as a trainee lawyer. As an associate, she qualified into their London based Energy and Infrastructure practice. On relocating to India, she was part of Sumanto Basu's team in JSA and with the Trilegal's Delhi based projects team. She moved in-house in 2016 and joined the Apraava Energy (formerly known as CLP India) legal team.

Her expertise lies in the renewable energy sector. She has advised on the full spectrum of matters within the sector, ranging from project development, project financing, M&A, transaction structuring to litigation.

As a part of the leadership team of Apraava (previously known as CLP India) and as the general counsel of the Apraava group, Sudipta is actively involved in advising the company on various legal aspects of setting up greenfield conventional and renewable power projects including transmission assets, and M&A transactions especially in relation to the acquisition of power projects. She works closely with the management to establish business terms, identify legal issues and decide what type and level of risk is acceptable.

Sudipta leads a team of young and dynamic lawyers who possess a perfect blend of in-house and private practice experience. She joined Apraava in 2009 as an assistant legal counsel and since then she has grown with the organization. In 2017, Sudipta was appointed the general counsel for the Apraava group. Prior to this, she has worked with two prestigious law firms – Trilegal and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (previously known as Amarchand Mangaldas Suresh A Shroff & Associates), where she handled various domestic and international financing for infrastructure projects including the financing for power projects and airports.

Chairperson of Women Lawyers Network Neera Sharma gave the opening speech.