JUDGING PANEL

Each year, ALB invites an independent judging panel of senior and expert legal industry leaders from various sectors corresponding to the diverse list of award categories. ALB is pleased to introduce some of the distinguished judges. The rest of the panel will be revealed on the evening of the awards.

Anupam Sharan
Vice President, Legal and Compliance at Connesso

He is a senior attorney managing strategic legal, contractual and commercial programs globally for over $4 Billion spend per annum. He has extensive legal and contractual experience in drafting, negotiation, corporate, commercial including International law, M&A, government affairs, risk, governance, change, compliance and privacy matters. He seeks to channelize business and operational insights to provide thought leadership within the industry and contribute to shape laws, regulations and public policies. He brings experience across multiple industries such as consulting, banking and financial services, telecom, outsourcing, IT, ITES, steel, power and construction. He has good experience in working closely with Operations / stakeholder functions and helping build appreciation to the contractual obligations and commitments.

He is a regular speaker at various conferences, with many articles and white paper published to his name. He has dual qualification of Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering (B.E.) and Bachelor’s in Legislative Law (LL.B.) with Master’s in Business and IPR Law (LL.M) added with various certifications. He also serves as the India Council Board member at IACCM (International Association for Contract and commercial Management), USA. He is also a certified Director from IOD (institute of Directors).

Badrinath Durvasula
Managing Director, ESSAR Capital Advisory, Mumbai, India

Mr. Badrinath Durvasula is currently the Managing Director, ESSAR Capital Advisory. He was previously the Vice President & General Counsel at Hindustan Construction Company. He was also a Senior Vice President & Head Legal for Adani Group a $16 Billion conglomerate, with world-wide interests in Mining, Power generation and transmission, Private Ports, Trading in global commodities. His current role involves M&A, International Contracting & Contract Management, Litigation& Arbitration in multiple geographies. Prior to joining Adani, he is a known face as the Legal Head of L&T, which is into Infrastructure management, Oil & Gas Projects, Defense Production, Power and Mining. He also had the experience of working with United Phosphorous, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints, Dr Reddy’s Labs and General Insurance Corporation of India. He carries with him over 29 years of rich experience in Mergers & Acquisitions, International Contracting, Contract Management, Strategy, Compliance, Arbitration and Litigation. 

He travelled extensively in Europe and SE Asia due to the M&A activity he is involved in, all over the world on Legal & Financial due diligence, firming up transaction documents, long term supply agreements and ancillary agreements. He also attended in a number of legal matters in Australia, USA, GCC Nations and the Supreme Court of India. His niche areas are: International Contracting, joint venture formation, production sharing contracts & Intellectual Property.

Justice Dr. Bharat Bhushan Parsoon
Former Judge of Punjab & Haryana High Court

In his illustrious career, he has adjudicated on nearly every area of the law and is considered a master of corporate & private; company & public, commercial and personal, constitutional and taxation laws alike. He is a Life Member of the Indian Institute of Law, New Delhi, Life Member of Indian Institute of Criminology, Chennai, Fellow of Indian Council of Arbitration, New Delhi, Resource person for National Judicial Academy, Bhopal as also for Delhi Judicial Academy and Chandigarh Judicial Academy, to name a few. 

A luminary, adjudicator, lawyer, strategic planner, tactical manager, academician, mentor, visionary; he has also scripted DNA of change, development and progress reaching zenith in whichsoever field he traversed. He is often referred to as a human encyclopedia. As on date he is legal consultant to many enterprises, companies and joint ventures. Hospitality, Pharmaceutical, Reality, Power & Engineering sectors etc. are on his consultancy catalogue.

Jayadeep Balakrishnan
Assistant Vice President - Legal, Brookprop Management Services Pvt Ltd.

Has over 20 years of work experience handling corporate legal and compliance functions of various reputed and leading national and multinational companies. He is currently working as Assistant Vice President - Legal with Brookprop Management Services Pvt Ltd. Prior to joining Brookprop, he had worked as Group Head – Legal and Secretarial and Director of Travel Food Services Pvt Ltd and also with Landmark Group, METRO Cash & Carry, Future Group, Café Coffee day etc. He has completed LLM in International Law and MBA in Personnel & Marketing.

Dr. Lalit Bhasin
President, Society of Indian Law Firms
Immediate Past President, The Bar Association of India 
Chairman Chartered Institute of Arbitration (CIArb)- India
Chairman CII National Task Force on Legal Services

Dr. Lalit Bhasin started his law practice in 1962 and has developed Bhasin & Co. as one of the largest law Firms in North India. His areas of specialisation include Employment & Labour Laws, Corporate Law (Formation of Joint Venture Companies, Foreign Collaborations, Amalgamations, Mergers, Acquisitions, Disinvestment); Laws relating to Information Technology; Contract and Conveyancing; Constitutional Law; Banking and Finance; Consumer Protection Laws; Disputes relating to Foreign Investment e.g. Shareholders Agreements, Collaboration Agreements, Agency and Distribution Agreements, Technology Transfer Agreements and Dispute Resolution Practice.
He was awarded Honorary Membership of the IBA in Melbourne in 1994 for outstanding service to the legal profession. He was awarded the Plaque of Honour by the Prime Minister of India in 2002 for outstanding contribution to the Rule of Law. In 2007, the President of India presented the National Law Day Award to Lalit Bhasin for "Outstanding Contribution to the Development of the Legal Profession in India and for his deep involvement and engagement in the maintenance of the highest standards at the Bar".
Recently he has been conferred the Degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D) Honoris Causa by University of Rajasthan.

Lakshika Joshi
Associate General Counsel, Capgemini Americas

Lakshika Joshi is Associate General Counsel, Capgemini Americas and globally leads the intellectual property and licensing practice for Capgemini Engineering. 

Lakshika started her legal journey as a litigator at the Delhi High Court and Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and has worked across sectors ranging from Fintech, newspapers, books and guides, music, films, media and entertainment, IT, software to healthcare and wellness. 

Lakshika is Honorary Secretary and Board Member, Licensing Executives Society India. She is the Chair, Industry Advisory Board – IT & Software at LES International. She has received several recognitions and acknowledgements, both for her contributions to the IP community and her work as General Counsel. She is a Guest Faculty for IPR, Innovation and Entrepreneurship courses at various Institutes. She is also a Corporate Mentor for MBA and Engineering students.

Lakshika describes herself as a “student forever”.
 

Neera Sharma
Director, Chief Executive officer and General Counsel, Sistema India 

Neera Sharma  is a whole time Director, Chief Executive officer and General Counsel for Sistema India Entities and is based at Gurgaon, India. She has over 23 years of experience as a General Counsel and  has worked in Leading Business Houses. She  has been recognized as top General Counsel by Forbes india 2020 and has been awarded as a Most Promising Women Leader 2021 by Economic times powered by Famina. She is  UCLA Alumni, Law Graduate from Panjab University. She has completed her  MBA Finance from Amity Business School Noida and One Year Course  in Cyber Laws and internet related laws from Indian Institute of Law. She is a Diploma holder  in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations and Masters in Psychology. Neera is founder of Sukh setu foundation – a step to spread awareness about Autism and  work towards the acceptance of differently abled kids & adults with respect, advocating their rights &  inclusion in schools and corporates. 

Priyanka Sinha
General Counsel, VOIS Managing Director, VOIS India

As General Counsel and Head of Corporate Security for _VO IS at Vodafone, Priyanka handles legal, enterprise risk management, compliance management for policies, regulatory GDPR, corporate secretarial and corporate security at _VO IS locations across India, Hungary, Romania, Egypt, Albania and Spain

Additionally, as Managing Director for _VO IS India Centre consisting of over 13 000 colleagues, she is responsible for governance of the center internally externally

Prior to her current role, Priyanka worked with various MNCs as a general legal counsel for India and global businesses at Yum! Brands ( Pizza Hut and Taco Bell), Optum Global Services ( Convergys, Honeywell and Pernod Ricard Here, she has been advisor to cross functions, executive management and board member, supporting strategic business growth initiatives, creating powerful internal external alliances, managing through crisis change, overseeing all aspects of corporate governance and the corporate legal function comprising of legal, enterprise risk management, overall compliance and corporate secretarial

Prior to becoming an in house, she has also worked with various mid to large size law firms in India, where she has managed litigation dispute resolution, all aspects of contracts, M&A transactions, IPR issues, documentation and other legal issues
 

Rajiv Choubey
Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary, ACC Limited

Rajiv Choubey is the Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary and Executive Committee member of ACC Limited, part of the Swiss major, LafargeHolcim. He is an alumnus of Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, Indian Law Institute and Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi and the Institute of Company Secretaries (ICSI). 

Rajiv has more than two decades of experience in manufacturing as well as IT Company. Prior to joining ACC, he was the General Counsel of HCL Infosystems Ltd., Vice President - Legal & CS of Vedanta Limited and had a brief stint at Maruti Suzuki, Hindustan Tin etc. Rajiv heads the legal function and advised management on entire gamut of business activities – from Mining, Environment, Competition law, Commercial & Industrial laws, M&A, as well as on GRC (Governance, Risk and Compliance)  In past he has also handled listing in US /NYSE during his stint at Sterlite/Vedanta. Rajiv and his team have been recognized by various forums/ bodies, including ICCA, CCAI, Indian National Bar Association, Legal 500, IDEX, IOD as one of the leading in-house counsels/ teams which he has lead. 

Rohit Kumar
Global General Counsel, UPL Limited

Rohit is the Global General Counsel of UPL Limited, one of the largest crop protection products company in the world with revenues in excess of US$5 billion. He is based out of UPL’s corporate head office in Mumbai. Rohit leads a team of more than 40 in-house lawyers with more than 50% of his team being based in U.S.A., Europe and LATAM. Rohit overseeing all aspects of legal work relating to the group.
Rohit is a law graduate (2002 batch) from Symbiosis Law College, Pune, India and has also completed leadership courses from Harvard Law School and University of Melbourne. 
Prior to joining UPL, Rohit worked at the Melbourne office of Herbert Smith Freehills, a large global law firm. He was part of HSF’s corporate team and advised on several international M&A. Before that, Rohit spent close to 4 years working with the New Delhi office of J. Sagar Associate, a leading Indian law firm.

Rucha Joshi
India Head – Legal, Rabobank

Rucha Joshi is the India Head – Legal at Rabobank. Rucha brings with her over 17 years of experience in the Legal domain having handled Strategic projects, Corporate Transactional support, Deals, Litigation, Advisory and IPR.
She has headed the legal function for SBI Capital Markets Ltd and has worked with organisations such as Edelweiss Group, Essar Telecom Infrastructure Pvt Ltd and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd. 
 
During her career, she has garnered laurels such as Achiever Award for “40 under 40” Alternative Investments Professionals and ALB India Law awards where she was nominated as a finalist under 2 categories : In-House Lawyer of the Year – International and Woman Lawyer of the Year – In-House.
She holds an LLB degree from Government Law College and is a Graduate in Commerce from the University of Mumbai.
 

Sanjit Kaur Batra
Group Vice President - Legal, Cummins India

Sanjit currently is the Group Vice President – Legal at Cummins India and in this role, is responsible for Cummins India’s legal, secretarial and compliance functions. She is a seasoned legal professional with diverse experience of working in the corporate and social sectors, international agencies and in private practice. She is also on the Board of Directors and actively involved in issues of corporate governance.
Prior to joining Cummins India, Sanjit was the Regional Legal Director-Greater Asia at IFF where she transitioned as a part of some of DuPont’s businesses merging with IFF. She has spent almost a decade with DuPont in various roles as the APAC Counsel and Legal Head for South Asia. Before joining DuPont, Sanjit worked with the U.S. Government as a member of the USPTO’s international IP policy office in South Asia. She has also worked with a law firm and as a litigator.
Sanjit has worked extensively on cross border M&A, divestitures and restructuring transactions, corporate governance, anti-trust as well as intellectual property related issues.
During her private practice, she has advised stakeholders from multiple industries. She is actively involved in policy advocacy as a member of various committees of leading industry associations in India. She has also received recognition for her work in the legal field from several prestigious organizations.

Surabhi Agarwal
Founder & Fractional General Counsel- The Global General Counsel 

As Legal Director of the South East Asia Pacific region and member of the global legal leadership team of a fortune 500 MNC, Surabhi Agarwal was adjudged one of the best General Counsels in South East Asia in 2019 by the Legal 500, Singapore. In her General Counsel role, as a member of the leadership team, Surabhi contributed to the global vision and strategy for the legal function of the Company and spearheaded a number of global initiatives. She has been a member of various Global Expert Lawyers Groups including Global Dispute Resolution expert group, Health Safety & Environment lawyers group and Competition law expert group. In the South East Asia Pacific region, where she led the Company's legal function covering 18 countries, Surabhi was at the forefront of several critical transactions. She and her team reached several milestones during her stint. The legal team led by her was adjudged one of the best teams in South East Asia in 2018 and then again in 2020 by the Legal 500, Singapore.  Surabhi runs Parikh & Parikh, Agarwal and Partners, a boutique litigation firm and recently launched the Global General Counsel, a one-of-its-kind Fractional GC Firm to provide world-class Fractional GC Services to business leaders and organizations operating in India, South East Asia as well as globally. Surabhi is an avid animal rights and human rights enthusiast and devotes pro bono hours to various philanthropic causes whenever she can.  

and many more...