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SEPTEMBER

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THE

PRIME

LEADING

LEGAL Neelesh Banthia

COMPANIES IN 2019

OWNER

BANTHIA AND CO. ADVOCATES

Providing Best Legal Services

ENTERPRISE SPOTLIGHT IC Universal Legal

UPSHOT METROS Pune

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From Editor's Desk Law: The Public Conscience More than the kings and kingdoms, what has been prevalent since ages is the law and order they brought. Law has played an integral part of the society. Although, law has generally been misinterpreted as something to provide justice against the crimes, but what people tend to forget is it is not just that. Legal aid is something that anyone can seek.

Litigation was the only law form, rather the popular form to practice law in India since decades. But with the opening of new markets and many other things, law today has not been restricted to just litigation. With this said, new arena for lawyers such as the Intellectual Property Law, or the Trade Laws, Alternative Dispute Resolution, the newly introduced Goods and Services Tax laws are some of the areas where lawyers today can practice. But, challenging the traditional litigation practices has surely been one cumbersome task, as it was not just discovering different areas of practice, but also changing people's mind-sets about law practices.

The magazine features the stories of different firms, all specializing in different fields.

Challenges are at every step, but these attorneys, with their unique style of tackling them, are the real winners in this pool of challenges!

This issue of The Enterprise World, The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019 features the insights of Pune City in the Upshot Metros section. Get to know, how this royal city, with a history of Peshwas, has slowly turned into an IT hub. Also get to know some interesting legal facts about businesses that you might have turned a blind eye to, in our Fact Page feature.

The cover story feature is Banthia and Co. Advocates, who are Diversifying the legal profession by imparting discipline, commitment & honesty and the ability to deliver the work as fast as possible. It is also one of India's oldest and most successful law firms. Other features include Ashok Dhingra and Associates; a professional Services law Firm, Lawzgrid, merging technology and traditional law, the firm is simplifying the legal services.

“Law is order, and good law is good order”- Aristotle Have a good read!

Shalmali Wadadekar

A New Approach To Modern Living www.panchshil.com

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For Editorial Concerns: editor@theentetpriseworld.com For Sales & Branding Enquiries: sales@theenterpriseworld.com For Subscription: info@theenterpriseworld.com Publisher The Enterprise World Creative Content Editor Susanne J. Asst. Editor Shalmali W. Marketing Coordinator(USA) Peter J. PR & Marketing Coordinator James H. Business Development Executive Suchita Panchal Creative Design Head: V. Mittal Social Media Manager Avinash G. Digital Circulation Manager Amanda V. Technical Lead V. Kate Copyrights Š The Enterprise World | 2019. All Rights Reserved. The images and content included in this magazine should not be copied, transferred or reproduced in any form or by any means, electronics, mechanical, photocopying, recording, otherwise, without proper permission from The Enterprise World.

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Leaders in Spotlight

T

his issue of The Enterprise World, The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019 features Featuring for the cover story is Banthia and Co. Advocates, one of India’s oldest and most successful law firms. The law firm has a reputation in providing exceptional services to the clients of business, litigation, property and real estate matters. The other professional services of the firm include drafting of agreements, contracts; legal suggestions to various State Governments of India; negotiations and consultations and many more.

The firm today specializes in the fields of property law and real estate matters across the country.

Their legal services have also spread internationally.

Providing end-to-end legal solutions is Anand & Anand IP Law Firm. The firm partners with their clients to create, protect, enforce and leverage their

intangible assets. Anand & Anand is a leading IP Law firm today, with a vibrant team of 300 members including over 100 lawyers and engineers who are specialists in various practice areas relating to intellectual property and beyond.

Ashok Dhingra Associates (ADA), is a professional services firm offering services under Customs and Trade Laws including Export Controls and Sanctions; Goods and Services Tax (GST); erstwhile Indirect Taxes; and Regulatory Laws. ADA also provides advisory, training and investigation services under Anti-Corruption Laws and White-Collar Crimes to corporates.

With the vision of offering high quality, technology, and business driven Intellectual Property law services following international standards, is BananaIP Counsels.

BananaIP is recognized as a pioneer in the evolution of IP in India through high quality services, law, and policy contributions, highly cited publications, and

proactive technology integration.

UNIVERSAL LEGAL, Attorneys at Law, is a dynamic full-service Indian law firm with over 100 professionals; including 15 Partners spread over 6 cities in India. They have long term association and have been affiliated with a US based law firm, CHUGH LLP. The firm provides quality legal services to meet the business requirements of Clients both pan India and globally.

Simplifying legal services further and in an endeavor to empower the pillars of justice in India LawzGrid brings various legal services at your doorsteps in just a few clicks.

LawzGrid assures to give you a comprehensive, swift and reliable solution for any of your legal needs.

COVER STORY

Banthia and Co. Advocates Providing Best Legal Services

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C O N T E N T S

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Anand & Anand Pro-Active Legal Solutions

Ashok Dhingra Associates Professional Law Services Firm

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BananaIP Counsels Helping Clients Maximise Business Value from Intellectual Property and Gain Competitive Advantage in the Marketplace

IC UNIVERSAL LEGAL Partnering You in Your Journey of Success

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LawzGrid Legal Service Simpliď€ ed

Fr o m t h e E d i t o r

Future of Law Practice

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Upshot Metros Pune- The Oxford of the East

IP Protection in Food Industry The Right to Delicious Food

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8 legal facts every business should know

Cover Story

Providing Best

Legal Services

Neelesh Banthia Owner

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Diversifying the legal profession by imparting discipline, commitment & honesty and the ability to deliver the work as fast as possible , is what the ď€ rm believes in.

September 2019

Singh Ji Banthia, when he established the firm Banthia and Co. Advocates in 1953, in his home town Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The firm was established to bring together specialized advocates and provide the best law services to the people. The law practice was carried on forward by his son and now today it rests in the hands of his son and grandson, Mr. B. S Banthia and Neelesh Banthia.

B

anthia and Co. Advocates is one of India’s oldest and most successful law firms. With its headquarters in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, the firm has around 16 offices that are spread throughout the country. The firm was founded in 1953 by Late Shri Nihal Singh Ji Banthia, the grandfather of Neelesh Banthia, and is serving the legal services for more than 6 decades.

The law firm has a reputation in providing exceptional services to the clients of business, litigation, property and real estate matters.

The other professional services of the firm include drafting of agreements, contracts; legal suggestions to various State Governments of India; negotiations and consultations and many more.

With the help of technological advancements in all their offices around the world, all their staff is trained to provide services with international quality of standards.

Late Shri Mishralal Ji Sb Banthia practiced law in British ruled India as early as 1927. The legacy was carried forward by Late Shri Nihal www.theenterpriseworld.com

Neelesh Banthia, the millennial workforce, that has carried the firm forward, was a pilot before he took on to the firm. He aimed to provide the best legal service throughout the world and take it to new heights.

was entering in the field of the Catholic system. Being a nonCatholic, he had to face many problems. The head-fast attitude and resilience pushed them through the difficulties and today the firm represents many Archdioceses and Dioceses across the country and the Religious Congregations of Roman Catholic Church in India.

Mr. Neelesh Banthia decided to continue the Head Office in Bhopal (M.P.) where his grandfather practiced, instead of shifting his office to a metro city; at that time even though it was a common perception in the business and legal field that there are not much opportunities in a non-metro city.

“I realized that I could provide a new direction and work environment to the firm and make it reach greater heights”, he said.

The profession had a great potential to encounter dynamic changes in the services provided, and to cater to these changes and to continue the family legacy, Neelesh Banthia took the operations of the firm in his hands. Very rightly, the firm today has more than 300 advocates associated and they have about 23 offices in the world. To change the conventional ways and practice the legal services with commitment, honesty, and obedience and provide the best quality of service in the least possible time is what the firm is working with.

The firm today specializes in the fields of property law and real estate matters across the country.

Their legal services have also spread internationally.

Journey from 3 to 24 offices was not easy to accomplish and certain challenges faced by the company and Mr. Neelesh Banthia were: The biggest challenge before them

But with his zeal, commitment and having a trait of positive thinking he converted the same to be his best decision, as he understood that the expenses in Bhopal are minimal and travelling is less time consuming as compared to the metro city. He joined number of professionals with him from across the world who possess expertise in varied fields and provided world class services to his clients while being based in Bhopal, which in itself is worth the praise.

Until Neelesh Banthia got on board, the firm only practiced litigation, which was the conventional method of legal practice. Convincing the advocates to turn from the conventional practices and explore other areas of practice such as the consultancy was a real challenge. Even with all the different areas where one could practice law, the inclination of the lawyers was towards litigation only, and very less believed in out of 09

Cover Story court settlement. This was another task before Neelesh Banthia, to change and widen the course of the law practices.

Equipped with state-of-the-art professional services & communication facilities, Firm pinpoints ‘expertise in local laws’ as its forte. Ensuring maximum competency along with adding benefit to have an easy access to local resources for in-depth research and investigations, the company pledges to deliver various inputs and valuable insights for the development of economic & commercial condition of the country. Spotting ‘Regularisation of Properties’ as their flagship offering they also deal in international investment & property matters.

We believe in perfection, punctuality, sincerity and commitment in work and believe in maintaining friendly and cordial long term relationship with clients which gives us an edge over other law firms”

The firm specializes in Property Law and Real Estate matters across the country and majorly serves Archdioceses/Dioceses and Religious Congregations of Roman Catholic Church spread across the globe. Due to presence nearly in all the states of India, expertise in local laws becomes their forte, thus ensuring the maximum competency in legal solutions.

Their passion towards serving the legal profession has stimulated their activities even internationally, currently having 6 International offices in Dubai, Japan, Singapore, Turkey, U.K (BLS- Banthia Legal Services- a UK based Knowledge Process Outsourcing Company and a subsidiary of BCA) and U.S. Apart from this the firm also operates 2 delegate International offices in New York and Chicago; BCA provides multiple services pertaining to Legal Outsourcing, Paralegal and Secretarial Services with a team of over 400+ advocates.

Competition is a part of the journey in this hard and fast world. To have a success story it is necessary that you stand out from the others and present the world with something unique. But in the law world, there are hardly any ideas one can think that will make you stand out.

At Banthia and Co. Advocates, they

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do not believe in designations and always try to bridge the gap between senior and junior advocates. They have recently noticed that where senior lawyers have the experience, junior lawyers have a very good command on technology and thus they try to bring these two together to provide the best possible results to clients in September 2019

various sectors.

In the workspace they encourage new business ideas for the expansion of firm in different field and places at the same time maintaining the pressure free environment to enable everyone to

brought forward by the transformations rather than following the conventional methods of advocacy. They foster to maintain a long-term, comprehensive relationship with their esteemed clients.

competitors. They provide easy access to the clients, with their round the clock and professional services, it becomes feasible for the clients to reach out to them at any given point.

Mr. Neelesh Banthia- The Dynamic Driving Force Mr. Neelesh Banthia is a seasoned lawyer and well experienced in dealing with legal matters across the globe. He has around 20+ years of experience and currently managing a team of around 350+ lawyers, specialized in handling variety of legal works from different jurisdictions across continents. Being the owner of one of the leading law firms in India, he also acquires the position amongst the youngest law firm owners in India. His commitment, vision, dedication and persistence have helped Banthia& Co. Advocates to emerge as a multifaceted international law firm.

The Future Ahead

work and deliver best of their productivity.

Banthia& Co. Advocates believe in excellence, growth and perfection in the work entrusted to them.

Driven by the motto to ensure prompt legal services wherever & whenever needed, the firm believes to adopt the dynamic changes www.theenterpriseworld.com

The firm believes in the commitment and energy of the youth and for that reason most of the advocates in the firm are below the age of 50 years.

Their approach towards their clients is another reason for their huge success, and that is also the reason they stand out from their

At present maximum advocates across the country are following the conventional methods of practice and are not able to adapt to the dynamic environment and accept the technological advancements in the profession for that reason there are only handful of Indian advocates who have made their mark at International level and most of them are still stuck on the conventional ways. In my opinion we in India lack the professionalism, organisation and management techniques and for that reason most of the time the clients are unsatisfied and International community look down on us.

By changing the scenario in our firm we are trying to incorporate a 11

Cover Story Future developments may include starting an office in Canada, Australia, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, France and venturing into more legal fields.

With the opening of the best law schools in India who deliver the best possible education to youth along with building their other skills, we surely can foresee a bright future in this field. We as the fraternity have to understand our responsibility in imparting the best of training to our future generations to make sure the upcoming advocates are much more competent, knowledgeable and professional.

We need to understand that advocacy is a service oriented field and with the dynamic environment we need to accept the changes in our field as well.

A Word for the New Entrants

small initiative by providing a better and trustworthy environment to client along with a growth oriented and friendly atmosphere to young advocates and budding lawyers of the country.

We are planning to expand ourselves globally in more countries; apart from that we have already entered into other ventures like Knowledge Process Outsourcing through our registered company in UK in the name of Banthia Legal Services UK Ltd. We have also started working on the due diligence and compliance in relation to property and investment matters.

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“At present the people have become aware of the laws and their rights in society and due to which they are conscious about the tedious litigation they get involved in case they have to approach court for litigation, and for that reason there are alternative dispute resolution strategies being evolved and everyone prefers out of the court settlement instead of going for litigation. That the international boundaries have become faint and there is a whole new world opened for advocates to practice alternative dispute resolution in different jurisdictions across the globe and establishing their footprints at an international level. With the emergence of specialization in the legal fields, every advocate today believes in becoming a master of one instead of a jack of all and master of none.”

If we have to mention one thing that makes us unique is that we believe in maintaining a personal relationship with clients and are not limited to professionalism , says Neelesh Banthia.

September 2019

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The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019

Anand & Anand Pro-Ac ve Legal Solu ons

C

“

reativity knows no bounds, and very rightly, it needs to be protected. This is where the IP Protection law comes in the game. Any of the artistic creations, works of literature, designs, etc. are protected by the law in forms of patents, or copyrights and trademarks.

These IP Protection laws enable people to earn recognition or financial benefits from their creations.

Providing end-to-end legal solutions is Anand & Anand IP Law Firm. The firm is professionally managed by a Partnership board comprising 27 Partners and 4 Directors, supported by a management team.

I believe that every client who meets me is like a partner and I have to venture with him to give him the best possible solu on Safir Anand Senior Partner “I realized Intellectual Property is a progressive field where a lawyer is exposed to new innovations, concepts, brand advertisements, ideas from diversified industries and, thus, as the calling met the requirement, I became an Intellectual Property

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September 2019

Lawyer and joined the Firm.”

The FirmThe firm partners with their clients to create, protect, enforce and leverage their intangible assets. With a vibrant team of 300 members including over 100 lawyers and engineers who are specialists in various practice areas relating to intellectual property and beyond, Anand & Anand is a leading IP Law firm today.

Initially, the Firm had good practice before the courts but there was a lot of work that could have been done on the side of (a) brand creation; (b) risk mitigation; (c) licensing and franchising; (d) protecting the brand from dilution; e) commercialization and monetization.

The primary challenges were that many clients perceived legal to be an expense and only resorted to legal advice when in trouble. The legal advice had to be pro-active and not reactive and a lawyer should be a client’s friend to scale up his business and not only to get him out of trouble. It is always difficult to create a slot in un-defined territories as people find it difficult to come out of comfort zone but the good part is one good act leads to another.

The pursuits of solutions have to be multi-dimensional since the client has several aspects under consideration right from finance to marketing, to deadlines, to risk to reward, to cultural and corporate issues. Within all this, the solution still has to be legally acceptable under the laws and practice. In order to accomplish this, a lawyer has to read to understand businesses and inculcate a lot of positivity in order to put forth a strategy with an optimist mind.

At the same time, since risk is not taught as a subject in school, colleges or in law, he has to anticipate risk from the strategic perspective and in-built protection within the tools of law as provided.

In today’s time when even Fortune 500 companies have a lifespan of 15 years and business models are undergoing rapid transformation and exposed to mass destruction, it has become necessary to address issues of business models, corporate governance and ethics and give business tools that maximize the return on investment in Intellectual Property. For this, the area of focus is now shifting to industry-specific vertical.

Thus, the knowledge required to cater to pharmaceutical clients and to understand chemical www.theenterpriseworld.com

compounds, brand derivatives etc. is very different from knowledge required to cater to a fast moving consumer company where marketing and customer experience are paramount. The experience is so very different for start-ups which want protection and layer around business models but are cash strapped. It is also very different for industry such as fashion or entertainment where there is a lot of Intellectual Property but inadequate measures of protection.

The modern challenge now is to become industryspecific and to keep increasing your knowledge specialization within that industry.

Their Service PortfolioThe law firm traditionally offered services around Intellectual Property Protection and enforcement, however, with the passage of time they have expanded into two ways: • They undertook upstream and downstream diversification and ventured into the areas of IP creation, IP commercialization and IP monetization.

• The scope of IP has expanded significantly and the firm covers almost all intangibles such as advertising, Data protection, Packaging Laws, Content etc.

The concept of service is always a dynamic one which draws from the clients’ needs. Earlier, when India was substantially disconnected with the rest of the world because of factors including time, lack of awareness, connectivity, etc., the focus was to ensure responsiveness. It was also to share with clients the kinds of legal reliefs available in Intellectual Property so as to become an available and efficient service provider. Today with substantial innovation and destruction and the convergence of business with law the need is more towards quick, time saving and a basket of efficient solutions so that the business can be catapulted on to the path of growth with least risk involved and the highest governance in place.

Having razor sharp focus on client’s needs and being solution oriented form the kernel of their success formula. For instance, they have obtained more than 1500 successful opposition orders in the year 2018-19.

Secondly, not only do they protect creativity and innovation, it also forms the very core of their DNA. Consequently, they have had a very large number of pioneering achievements or “firsts” to the credit of firm.

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The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019 “I believe that every client who meets me is like a partner and I have to venture with him to give him the best possible solution.”

Experience at Hands- Case Studies In Safir Anand’s practice career there have been several phases. In phase 1 there were many instances where the firm had to convince the Trademark Office on distinctiveness since many of the marks involved foreign marks which were not doing business in India or were well recognized to draw analogies from case laws. Unfortunately, the precedents of reported case laws on distinctiveness were scarce and consequently lot of innovative thinking went in several matters.

This caused them, as a firm, to be the first to protect colour mark, sound mark (Yahoo), to have the first declaration of the well-known trademark for FORD and the shape mark (Zippo). Further, in one of the cases, the firm successfully argued that reputation and goodwill in a mark can also be considered post the date of filing of the applications as distinctiveness is

not static but dynamic. Similarly, to get the first .com registration the Trade Marks Office had to be convinced the difference between a trademark and a domain name since they construed the .com part to nullify a trademark claim. In one of the matters handled by the firm they had to take training at the Trade Marks Office in Chennai to explain the concept of character merchandising and to showcase through video presentation how fictitious characters were highly distinctive. Recently, they succeeded in getting the building of the famous Taj Hotel protected as a trademark and all of these have been important matters before the Trade Marks Office.

“I strongly believe in the power of human mind and that is one is able to fulfil one’s potential. The external environment and competition become meaningless.

The only challenge is to become a better version of oneself.”

Safir Anand’s Professional Experience Safir advises and acts for clients from diverse industries ranging from FMCG, Pharma, So ware, Social Media, Food industry, Media, Sports, Entertainment, Luxury and Fashion, Government Bodies and more. He very ac vely works as an IP advisor and work towards providing Inputs towards strategy, Business models, Marke ng and Commercial Insights blended with an astute understanding of the IP law that covers ; IP Protec on, IP Enforcement – Civil and Criminal; Contractual IP – Agreements, Licensing, Franchising, Mone za on, Strategic Advisory and Due Diligence.

He has taken several ini a ves to create IP awareness across all segments and levels that have been widely reported by media. His focus is to unleash the power of intangibles and nurture the untapped IP poten al through specialized IP services.

Safir is a member of INTA “Brand Value-Special Task Force” Cons tu ng of very selec ve members to examine the complexi es involved in the subject of “Brand Valua on”. He has recently joined the Board of directors of: · BrandMusiq to strategize on Mogo (Musical Logo) and Sonic Branding · Board of Directors of JHS Brands limited as Addi onal Director. · Board of Directors of Na onal advisory council of EEMA. 16

September 2019

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The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019

Ashok Dhingra Associates Professional Law Services Firm

W

hile trade war has added fuel to fire of already economic down turn globally, it has come as a boon for some stakeholders. Many boutique law firms have been set up in the last five years including firms focussing on Customs and Trade matters and are set to benefit from trade war among countries. Clients are also happy to work with boutique law firms as they have domain expertise, nimble footed and service teams are led by domain experts.

Here we are profiling a boutique law firm Ashok Dhingra Associates (ADA).

Ashok Dhingra Founder We find it interes ng that on one hand big law firms are expanding by hiring more resources and adding more offices to service loca ons, on the other hand bou que firms are popping up with high frequency. It seems there is going to be big war between bou que firms and big law firms in already crowded legal services space that too when foreign firms not allowed to set up offices in India. Once foreign firms are allowed to prac ce law in India and set up firms, it is going to be survival of the fi est. We wish all the success to ADA in their endeavor and hope that it will be counted in big firms in the next five years.

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September 2019

ADA is a professional services firm offering services under Customs and Trade Laws including Export Controls and Sanctions; Goods and Services Tax (GST); erstwhile Indirect Taxes; and Regulatory Laws. ADA also provides advisory, training and investigation services under Anti-Corruption Laws and White-Collar Crimes to corporates.

ADA’s follows business solution oriented approach to challenges faced by clients. Objective of firm is to enhance value for clients by focusing on solutions that are innovative, yet practical that can be implemented.

ADA aims to deliver services through highly qualified and trained professionals who blend expertise with needs of clients and provide highest quality services in ethical environment. ADA follows no relative policy to attract best talent.

ADA has been founded by Ashok Dhingra, who is ranked among best Customs and Trade Laws including Export Controls and Sanctions, GST and erstwhile Indirect Taxes Laws Attorneys in India.

Ashok is also considered an authority on Supply Chain; Prevention of Money Laundering; AntiCorruption Laws and White-Collar Crimes.

GST and erstwhile Indirect Taxes; Regulatory & AntiCorruption Laws and White-Collar Crimes, which are divided into three practice groups.

Ashok along with practice group leaders assists clients during and after raid or investigations by Customs, GST and Regulatory authorities like Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI); Directorate General Goods and Service Tax Intelligence (DGGSTI); Enforcement Directorate (ED), Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), etc. to take a view on key issues and options to deal with high risk positions, briefing and debriefing of employees and discussions with authorities to close case. He regularly appears before departmental adjudication and appellate authorities; Appellate Tribunals, High Court and Supreme Court in Tax and Trade matters.

Ashok has an overall experience of more than 43 years covering a stint in Indian Customs for 22½ years and over 20 years with Big4 Consulting firms like Arthur Andersen which merged with Ernst & Young in India, KPMG and law firms Khaitan & Co. and J. Sagar Associates (JSA). He is one of the few professionals in the Country who carry with them experience of having worked on both sides of table and with both accounting and law firms.

Sonia Gupta is Chartered Accountant and Attorney and co-founder of ADA having more than 17 years of experience. Before setting up ADA with Ashok, Sonia was partner with JSA where she worked for more than 5 years. She has deep knowledge of working of financial institutions and banks. Sonia leads Customs and Trade Group of the Firm whereunder she assists clients under Customs and Trade Laws; Foreign Trade Policy; Export/ Import Controls and Sanctions, providing both advisory and litigation services. She regularly appears before departmental adjudication and appellate authorities; Appellate Tribunals; High Courts and Supreme Court in Tax and Trade matters as an arguing counsel. She regularly assists clients in trade remedies during investigation, mid-term review and sun-set review against levy of Anti-Dumping Duty, Safeguard Duty and Countervailing Duty before Director General of Trade Remedies and during appeal proceedings before higher appellate forums.

Sonia also assists clients during and after raid or investigations by Customs and Regulatory authorities like DRI, DGGSTI, ED, SFIO, etc. to take a view on key issues and options to deal with high risk positions, briefing and debriefing of employees and discussions with authorities to close case. Sonia has also undergone training on GST in Canada to understand implementation and practical problems faced by industry in compliance thereto, which has been introduced in India in 2017.

ADA provides full spectrum of advisory, compliance and litigation support services under Customs and Trade Laws including Export Controls and Sanctions;

“Various trade facilitation measures have been introduced by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) which have also contributed to jump

When asked about advantage of boutique law firms Ashok replied “boutique law firms are becoming norm of the day. More and more young and senior partners in big law firms are venturing out to set up boutique firms having focused areas of practice, which are very successful. Clients see advantage of getting expert advice without paraphernalia of working with big firms and much faster turn-around time. It is misnomer that services of boutique firms come at cheaper rates, though they are competitive because of flat service team.”

www.theenterpriseworld.com

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The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019 in Ease of Doing Business Index of World Bank.

Despite sincere efforts by Government to provide conducive and business friendly environment to industries, several ongoing issues serve as bottleneck in meeting objective of Ease of Doing Business and Make in India initiatives. Some of major issues are valuation and classification disputes of imported goods by Customs, huge pendency and delay in taking up cases for decision which has huge financial impact for industry. On foreign trade side, with India becoming member of non-proliferation multilateral export control regimes, to show India’s commitment towards responsible non-proliferation behavior, many welcome changes have been brought in export control regime of India. While Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is making efforts to streamline process of export of dual use technologies, still a lot needs to be done. DGFT has recently notified much awaited procedure of Global Authorisation for Intra-Company Transfers (GAICT) of SCOMET Items/ Software/ Technology which is very helpful to industry.

However, there is no clarity whether GAICT applies to fully developed Software or Technology or also to development thereof where teams are working in different countries simultaneously. Further, enforcement of export controls by regulatory agencies like DRI has also compounded problem of industry. It is high time DGFT lays down complete process for such matters” says Sonia.

Smita Singh is Attorney and co-founder of ADA. Smita has worked with Khaitan & Co. and JSA for more than 8 years’ prior to setting up ADA with Ashok. Smita leads Goods and Service Tax Group.

Smita has advised Indian & Multinational Companies on migration to GST and re-work their supply chain to operate in Tax efficient and compliant manner. She also provides advisory, litigation and compliance services to clients under GST and erstwhile Indirect Taxes. Smita has assisted clients in making various representations to CBIC addressing key issues on anomalies in law, rate inconsistency, business issues, etc. She regularly appears before departmental adjudication and appellate authorities; Appellate Tribunals; High Court and Supreme Court as an arguing counsel in erstwhile Indirect Taxes and GST matters. Smita also assists clients during and after raid or investigations by Tax authorities like DGGSTI to take view on key issues and options to deal with high risk positions, briefing and debriefing of employees and discussions with authorities to close case.

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Smita Singh Co-founder “Though introduction of GST is a very good and welcome step in creating a unified market across India, plug leakages of revenue and attack black money, practical challenges faced by industry in various compliance issues have dampened euphoria.

CBIC is making all efforts in addressing issues faced by industry, but sheer volume of technicalities involved and consequent changes in procedures is taking a heavy toll. We only hope that GST regime stabilises in its third year from introduction” says Smita about migration to GST. Ashok leads White Collar Crimes, Investigations and Regulatory practice of ADA, whereunder he assists clients in compliance with Foreign Corrupt Practice Act of the USA, UK Bribery Act and Prevention of Corruption Act, which is a major compliance issue with Multinational Companies operating in high risk countries. A small mistake by an employee or local management can have serious consequences in home country of parent company. In addition, he also advises clients on foreign exchange management issues, data privacy and associated matters.

Ashok’s response about data protection law in India is “Even after bringing in Information Technology Act in the year 2000, still there is no unified legislation for data privacy like EU and USA Laws. Presently in India sectoral regulations cover issues around data privacy. In year 2017 the Federal Government constituted a Committee of Experts under Chairmanship of Justice BN Srikrshna to study and advise on principles to be considered in data protection law in India and suggest a draft Data Protection Bill. The Committee gave its report in 2018 and also drafted a Data Protection Bill, which is yet to be introduced in Parliament. The Federal Government should move fast on this after considering suggestions of all stakeholders to avoid mis-use of data.”

September 2019

THE PHONE THAT DOSEN’T JUST STAND OUT, IT STANDS APART

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Upshot Metros

PUNE The Oxford of the East

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September 2019

www.theenterpriseworld.com

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Upshot Metros

1858- Establishment of Poona Municipality

ailing from a rich culture of the Peshwa Kings, Pune is the second largest city in the state of Maharashtra. Once considered as the prominent city of the Maratha Empire, the city is today the educational hub and is also known as ‘The Oxford of the East’, with many prestigious educational institutions. The Savitribai Phule Pune University is one of the oldest universities in Pune, and is recognised worldwide. It is also ranked as the th 7 best university in India, with more than 18 colleges affiliated to it.

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This city of forts has seen immense development in the past decades. Its journey from the capital of Maratha Empire to an educational and IT hub is

1950s- Industrial development started in areas of city like Hadapsar, Bhosari, Pimpri

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1858- Railway line from Bombay reached the city

remarkable. The changes have been incremental and nowhere has the city parted from its traditions. The period after Indian Independence, there was a rapid change all over the country. Pune saw a growth of industries in the period between 1950 and 1960.

Pune was all set to become a major engineering city in India, with many domestic and international companies setting up their roots in Pune, and soon began Pune’s journey to emerge as an IT hub. Many of the big IT firms such as the IBM, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, etc. have made Pune their home. With this development in the IT sector, there was a developmental wave throughout the city. The employment opportunities increased which gave way for the migration of people from over the country.

The dynamic and attractive culture of Pune, the educational

1961- Telco (Now Tata Motors) started opera ons

institutions and the job opportunities it provides attract many students all over the country. This has driven the city through a series of changes in every sector. The infrastructure of the city has been changing rapidly. The construction of better transport like the roads and BRTS is taking place. The real estate industry, both residential and commercial has grown, as the demand grows.

Pune is in a close proximity to Mumbai, India’s and Maharashtra’s largest hub for all kinds of industries. This close proximity and a promising market call for many investors, both Indian and foreign. Also the availability of skilled manpower has been a key factor in development of the manufacturing industry. This has given rise to the setting up of several pharmaceutical manufacturing industries like the Serum Institute, which is also the

1970s- Pune emerged as a leading engineering city Telco, Bajaj, Kine c, Bharat Forge, Alfa Laval, Atlas Copco, Sandvik, and Thermax expanding their infrastructure.

September 2019

1941- First Bus Service started in Pune

world’s third largest vaccine manufacturer, and Petro Chemicals, India’s fourth largest chemical company.

Starting with the establishment of Telco (now TATA), the auto industry in Pune too is growing at a faster rate. This has stimulated the investment and growth of other auto biggies like the Hindustan Motors, Mahindra, Jaguar, Landrover and also the farm-equipment giant JCB. In the past few years, there has been an investment of around INR 20,000 crores in the automobile industry.

Along with the manufacturing industry and auto industry, Pune also has developed a large IT hub.

The techie giant Infosys has its base in the Hinjewadi region of Pune. Today there are many new IT hubs emerging in Pune. The number is close to 150.

With the launch of ‘Make in India’ campaign by the Indian government, investments in all

1947-present- The city developed in a large metropolis

the sectors have increased.

Drawing inspiration from this campaign, ‘Make in Maharashtra’ and ‘Magnetic Maharashtra’ were started by the government of Maharashtra. With the launch of these campaigns, the government is looking forward to increased investments in the sectors of Heavy Engineering, Banking, Aerospace, Gems and Jewels, Automobiles, Real Estate, Pharmaceuticals, Defence, Food Processing, Electronics etc.

The recent times have seen an emergence in the traditional industries and its growth. Pune is also considered as the best city for manufacturers, automobiles, research institutes, both government and private, and the information technology. With a skilled labour, and the growth of education sector, there will be even more local and foreign investments across various sectors in Pune.

change even more with some of the upcoming developments.

These include: • The American multinational manufacturing plant Whirlpool will be expanding its manufacturing units in India with an investment amount close to INR 357 crores.

• ITC will also be expanding its food factory in Ranjangaon, Pune.

• With an increasing demand for the warehousing, the Embassy Industrial Parks has come up with a project in Pune with an investment of about INR 350 crores.

• Barclays, one of the multinational investment banks and financial services company, headquartered in London will be coming up with its biggest office outside of London, in Pune.

The industrial sector of Pune will

2000s- Development in the IT sector

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1950- Status of Pune City elevated from Town

2008s Mul na onal Automobile companies like General Motors, Volkswagen and Fiat set up their factories in Pune.

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The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019

BananaIP Counsels Helping Clients Maximise Business Value from Intellectual Property and Gain Compe ve Advantage in the Marketplace

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Dr. Kalyan Kankanala Managing Partner

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ntellectual Property has assumed very high value in today’s knowledge driven economy. The awareness of IP has increased dramatically among Indian people and businesses since 2005 and IP is today highly valued by them. Technology and knowledge driven companies consider IP as an integral part of their

business operations and strategy. IP has become crucial for many industries ranging from entertainment to biotechnology. Considering the increasing consumer awareness of IP, it is fast becoming an integral part of product promotion and September 2019

advertising activities of many companies. Moreover, Intellectual Property creators are today highly regarded and generation of IP is forming part of employee assessment criteria in various sectors.

The Foundation With the vision of offering high quality, technology, and business driven Intellectual Property law services following international standards, Dr. Kalyan Kankanala co-founded BananaIP Counsels (formerly Brain League) in 2004. The firm incubated from IIMB's entrepreneurship cell (NSRCEL) and has today emerged as a top ranked and premier IP firm in India.

Their commitment to excellence led to multiple accomplishments making BananaIP the best and the most sought-after firm in India where they: • Built the strongest and best team in India • Acquired an enviable client portfolio • Developed a reputation for world-class expertise • Contributed significantly to the Indian IP law, policy, and eco-system • Launched highly specialized, ‘one of its kind’ IP services • Integrated modern, cutting edge technologies with proprietary methods to augment the firm’s top-notch service offerings BananaIP differentiates itself from other firms through its achievements and accomplishments in IP services, contributions to the law and policy framework, and business-driven IP research. The firm and its partners are recognized and ranked as leaders in the IP industry. They hold honorary positions with national and international IP committees and research centres, and their views are regularly cited by leading news organizations, journals and research publications.

BananaIP’s Service Portfolio BananaIP is recognized as a pioneer in the evolution of IP in India through high quality services, law, and policy contributions, highly cited publications, and proactive technology integration.

With a team of more than 60 legal and technical professionals, BananaIP is one of the largest IP firms in India today. They serve more than 600 clients and have managed more than 20,000 files or projects.

BananaIP has counselled more than 200 start-ups and numerous individual entrepreneurs. They also have www.theenterpriseworld.com

published ten IP books and more than 5,000 articles on leading online forums, journals, magazines, and publishers. BananaIP’s IP publication, Intellepedia (www.bananaip.com/ip-news-center), is recognized as one of the world’s top 10 IP blogs and is a primary reference source for inhouse counsels, legal professionals, and academics.

From the nascent days of IP in the country, BananaIP has collaborated with premier organisations including: National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) on corporate and SME education and policy setting to develop and drive IP awareness for businesses across the country. Being one of the rare firms to have been entrusted with such responsibilities, BananaIP continues to be a soughtafter advisor by leading businesses, academic, and R&D institutions, as well as business incubators. The senior partners have contributed to research projects undertaken by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as well as the Indian Patent Office (IPO).

Well recognized for their work and accomplishments, BananaIP’s senior partners are frequently invited to speak at company, government and industry organizations, and academic institutions. Our partners have delivered talks at Samsung, Mahindra & Mahindra, Crompton, GE, Bosch, Emerson, the Council of Scientific, and Industrial Research (CSIR), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), National Law School of India University (NLSIU), National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB), Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), National Institute of Technology, Surathkal (NITS), Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), and others. BananaIP’s senior partners are also advisory and steering committee members on several centres of excellence that play an important role in law and policy making in India such as the Centre for Excellence in IP and Standards, Centre of Sports and Entertainment Law, and Centre of IP Research and Advocacy.

BananaIP’s team BananaIP’s success is due to the exceptional talent, understanding, credentials and experience of its senior partners. Dr. Kalyan Kankanala, Nitin Nair, 27

The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019 Somashekar Ramakrishna, Vinita Radhakrishnan and Sanjeeth Hegde are the firm’s core. They are what sets BananaIP apart from other IP firms or consultancies in India.

Each senior partner has carefully cultivated the expertise necessary to lead their practice areas through advanced education and qualifications; handpicked and groomed associates from the best law, technology, and management schools; and continuous quality and process improvements.

Patent Departments • Mechanical and Manufacturing • Automotive • Green Energy • Electronics, Telecom, and IT • AI and Machine Learning • Electric Vehicles, Telematics & Applications • Biosciences, Pharma & Traditional Medicine • Start-ups

Other IP Departments They have all held IP positions in North America, Europe, and Asia during their careers before founding BananaIP. Their collective qualifications, background and expertise are unmatched in India.

Departments BananaIP has structured its departments based on client industry requirements and current legal developments. They are the only firm in India with this high degree of specialization. The firm has the following departments:

• IP Consulting, Advisory & Strategy • Trademark & Copyright • Entertainment Law • eCommerce Law • Technology Law • Industrial Designs • International Filings (Patents, Trademarks, Copyrights, and Designs) • Litigation Management • Open Source Licensing • Corporate IP Training

Dr. Kalyan Kankanala’s Professional Experience · · · ·

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He is recognized among the top IP minds in India.

He has advised more than 1000 clients on IP ma ers.

He also is an interna onally cited a orney and strategist.

He has worked with Fortune 500 technology/knowledge driven businesses, premier research/educa onal ins tu ons, SMEs, and also start-ups on a wide range of IP projects; He teaches courses on Intellectual Property, Crea vity and Business Value at select educa onal ins tu ons such as IIM, Bangalore, IIM, Shillong, and NLSIU, Bangalore.

September 2019

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The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019

Future of Law Practice T

he need for legal services in India is increasing rapidly, as many of the foreign and multinational companies are venturing investments in the Indian market, also many Indian companies are looking forward to cross-border transactions with the foreign companies. With this, the Indian legal market has seen rapid growth over the past years. This has mostly been because of the expansion of the market and globalization and an increase of trade in goods and services between India and other countries.

Law today has become both, a profession and a business, and with the opening of a greater market, it is becoming adapt to changes and new services. Technology is the biggest player and other few factors are challenging the lawyers today. Even then, quick innovating nature, creation of new patterns of service, and adoption of new tools of management remain to be the positive takeaways from the changing scenario.

Globalization has played a major role in the developmental graphs of the Indian economy. With many foreign companies tying up with Indian companies, and vice versa has given easy access to the domestic economies. The implication of this in the legal market has been both qualitative and quantitative. The greatest impact of this is seen in the corporate legal arena. Thus, globalization has increased the demand for internal and external legal services.

Although the biggest challenge before the Indian law market remains its loss of business to

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September 2019

foreign law ďŹ rms which are based in Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, etc.

With the Indian law market not welcoming the concept of liberalization, and whether or not it takes place, there still lie many challenges for the law practice in India. If there happens to be a delay or decline in the liberalization, the Indian law market might face challenges in competing with the law practices at an international level. This loss of law practice in India can be easily kept in India by simply allowing foreign law practitioners to practice foreign law in India.

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The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019

IC UNIVERSAL LEGAL Partnering You in Your Journey of Success

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s diverse the Indian culture is, its laws are just as diverse. The legal system of India is hybrid and has a mixture of civil, common law, and the customary. The law also follows religious ethics. Therefore law has always been a diversified field in India, where one can specialize in various aspects of it.

One of our key strengths, undisputedly, is our experienced and commi ed workforce who func ons in the sphere of hard work, passion and perseverance to achieve the desired results. We aim to deliver the Work to the Clients’ sa sfac on which is our pride and key strength.

Partha Mandal Senior Partner Being born into a family of Solicitors and Advocates, since childhood, Mr. Partha Mandal was inclined to the profession of law, even though he was a pure science student. After completing his education, he joined his family firm. Eventually he grew the

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presence of their firm by setting up branch in Bangalore and other states in South India. During his stint with it, he honed his skills and gained experience in major key areas of practise with an increasingly potent client base. However, longing to create and mark an individual identity in the fraternity, UNIVERSAL LEGAL, Attorneys at Law, was started in the year 2004, by setting up the Firm’s first full service office at Bengaluru, through its exclusive Affiliate, Chug LLP a full-service law firm having its presence in various states of the United States of America.

UNIVERSAL LEGAL, Attorneys at Law, commenced its operations in November 2004 in Bengaluru. At that time UNIVERSAL LEGAL was in its nascent stages and the firm focused on acquiring clients and employing a quality workforce to make their presence in the fraternity. Over the past 15 years, they have expanded the business operation pan India with full-fledged offices in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh. Currently, the firm has 15 equity partners and a workforce of over 100 fee earners within the country. Mr. Partha Mandal is in charge of the Bengaluru office along with Mr. Akash Mukherjee, Partner with whose help and support, they have been able to establish a reputation in Bengaluru and worldwide. With effect from 21st September 2017, UNIVERSAL LEGAL, Attorneys at Law, is carrying on business under the merged brand name ‘IC UNIVERSAL LEGAL Advocates & Solicitors’ post brand merger with ‘IC LEGAL, Advocates & Solicitors’.

“In the beginning the focus was exclusively on growth and expansion of practice areas. The main challenge was financial bootstrapping with existing litigation practise being the only major source of income in the Firm.”

This in turn created challenges in recruiting and attracting established lawyers with considerable expertise in the fields of law. To combat this, the firm focused on creating a stable contemporary workforce by tapping unexplored potential in the form of rising talents who would be conscious to bring a sense of identity to the Firm.

“I spent quality time with each and every associate to train and guide them in different fields of law in which they evinced interests and it enabled me to establish a strong foundation within our core team.”

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The main aim was to create a full service law firm with dedicated lawyers who would focus on setting themselves apart from the other firms and create a higher standard of service to the complete satisfaction of the clients.

The Services IC UNIVERSAL LEGAL is a dynamic full-service Indian law firm with over 100 professionals; including 15 Partners spread over 6 cities in India. They have long term association and have been affiliated with, CHUGH LLP. The firm provides quality legal services to meet the business requirements of Clients both pan India and globally.

Though the firm specializes in addressing issues related to mergers and acquisitions, cross border transactions, information technology, staffing, corporate compliance, real estate, they have considerable expertise in other sectors as well, with a broad range of experience in the negotiation, drafting and enforcement of commercial agreements, as well as a litigation team capable of handling the processes of the courts and administrative bodies.

IC UNIVERSAL LEGAL is also a leading financial services law firm with clientele including the majority of the Top 20 Indian financial services groups, majority of the Top 10 Mutual Funds, whilst also maintaining more than 20% market share in the Investment Funds space. The Firm also enjoys the numero uno position in SEBI regulatory licensing practice across the intermediary space. They also specialize in real estate & media laws with clientele including the Who’s Who in real estate and entertainment industry.

The Key Strengths Their genuine care, attention to detail and client focused method of work ensures that the value addition and integrity are placed above all else. They have been effective in representing a broad client base with their teams involved in every aspect of law providing suitable and practical advices and other legal services to Clients. The firm represents several top tier companies and funds and has been counsel on some of the largest transactions in varied verticals.

Their motto is ‘Understand’, ‘Resolve’ and ‘Deliver’.

The firm strives to provide its Clients with the reassurance of being able to understand the nuances of 33

The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019

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“We aim to provide the best plausible and pragmatic legal solutions to our Clients.”

Akash Mukherjee Partner

their business and thereby reaffirming their commitment to devise innovative solutions that matter. The spirit of their work is dictated by their vision to provide timely yet practical business solutions. The firm believes that the only way to effectively resolve is to travel the path alongside.

“The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday” is what the famous American musician, Matty Mullins once said.

Competition works both ways and the firm has always trained themselves to only focus on the positive aspects. Competition helps to give our cent percent, using the team’s complete potential and calibre to good advantage. The firm believes, there is no short cut to hard work and competition only facilitates the process of “survival of the fittest”. It is nerve-racking at times, but things do fall into place when we give it our maximum dedication and effort.

learning and each person in the Firm is free to express their independent views and opinion. A friendly atmosphere is maintained in the office which facilitates the employees’ performance and work. The office staffs are always treated with dignity and respect as they play an important role in ensuring that the clients are in a pleasant environment.

“There is never a concept of “I” in our Firm, whereas on the other hand, it is always “we” as a team. We believe, this strongly enhances our team spirit, helps in building the teams’ confidence immensely and polish their skills.”

With offices across India and the United States, the Firm has leveraged its cross-border specialization to develop a strong international practice. The Merger & Acquisition practice Group combines its expertise in domestic and international laws with its years of experience to devise innovative and effective transactions for its Clients.

The only way to cope up with competition is to be the best in what one does and each day.

The IC UNIVERSAL LEGAL Family The attorneys and associates in the Firm are treated as true professionals and each of them has the liberty to make their independent decisions pertaining to the matters of their work. The suggestions and advices provided by the professionals are considered to be extremely valuable which helps the firm and every professional grow personally and professionally. The firm does not believe in hierarchy when it comes to 34

September 2019

We provide a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base

www.goldmansachs.com

Did You Know

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legal facts every business should know The constitution of India has specified provisions for ensuring occupational health and safety for workers in the form of article 24,39 and 42.

n ovisions i r p e h t r e e As p ct 2015, th a s e i n a p n com l is now a a e s n o m com hing. A optional t gnature can si director ’s alf of the eh work on b al for e common s ns and io authorizat s. attestation

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section o t g n i d r t Acco panies ac m o c f o 135 mpanies 2013, co t profit more e earning n res should o than 5 cr ast 2% of the le spend at t profit ne average he last 3 t earned in ears on CSR y financial . activities

Consumer Protection Act 1986, Cable Television Network Rules 1994 and Norms for journalist conduct issued by press council of India Act and ASCI Code restricts deceptive or misleading advertisements of products and services.

September 2019

Every company should have at least one director who has stayed in India for more than 182 days in the previous calendar year.

n No company ca ďŹ re a pregnant be woman. It may punishable by a maximum of 3 years of imprisonment.

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A company act of 2013 increased the maximum number of shareholders in the company to 200 from 50.

According to The companies act 1956, ever y company should have a minimum of 2 shareholders and 2 directors in case of a private company. This was changed by the companies act 2013. Now a company may have only one director and one shareholder.

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The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019

LawzGrid Legal Service Simplified

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n today’s changing times getting appropriate and quality legal advice is an asset. Earlier the law sector was all about long legacies of families, sweating it all out, working and waiting for long hours to get the work done. But today, with the use of technology, almost everything has changed. There are advanced tools and applications at hand, and that too very easily.

These have given the legal service sector a makeover.

Simplifying it further and in an endeavor to empower the pillars of justice in India LawzGrid brings various legal services at your doorsteps in just a few clicks.

LawzGrid assures to give you a comprehensive, swift and reliable solution for any of your legal needs.

To help people take wise legal decision and in accordance to their budget, we decided to open a pla orm where people can hire or get their query answered.

To solve this LawzGrid came into picture Manish Chandra Founder and CEO The FoundationHaving had more than 10 years of experience in the field of web design and web development, and having worked under various positions, Founder and CEO,

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Manish Chandra started his own company in 2015, LawzGrid.

LawzGrid was actually started in September 2017.

The primary challenges were to educate people about the functioning of app & to make them understand that you can now avail the help of legal experts at the click of one button. As traditionally in our country people go & take advice of lawyers based on references of friends & family.

Their ServicesLawzGrid strives to give its clients a comprehensive, swift and reliable solution to any of their legal needs, on a single platform from the convenience of home.

With over 450 million internet users in India, LawzGrid offers this unlimited scope of technology and gives you the platform to directly engage with numerous clients on a single portal. Their extensive website caters to all the needs of the clients.

LawzGrid is available on the play store as well as the App Store. It has two variants, LawzGrid Pro for the lawyers and LawzGrid for the users. Both these apps incorporate all the features of the website and highly efficient and user friendly. They also have multiple flat-rate packages on documentation, property verification cheque bounce, GST returns and filing, Legal Notice, Consumer cases, Trademark Registration, Cases against builders etc. These packages help our users pay definite lump-sum with no hidden costs and no added stress.

daily basis. It helps the user as well as the lawyers stay updated with the current happenings of the legal world. It helps users become more aware about the amendments in laws. They also have a legal guide which helps its users understand the course of action that must be undertaken in case of duress. Their extensive legal blog provides the users a better understanding of legal issues and events.

LawzGrid provides packages that cover the most sought-after litigations like cheque bounce, divorce, consumer cases etc. They have an extensive set of packages which cater to all the needs of the consumers.

Their packages also deal with statutory compliance like auditing, Tax Filings & Registrations, Investment Support, Secretarial Compliance etc. so that consumers do not need to hire a Chartered Accountant separately and can get all their paperwork done on the on one platform, i.e. LawzGrid Under Package Deals the company offers consumers seamless legal services in exchange at a fixed price.

Each package covers various services which fall under any one aspect of law.

These packages help attract a larger clientele since most people are wary of legal costs.

The Packages help to build a trust base with the clients so that they hire from LawzGrid in future.

For Corporate Clients :

LawzGrid also provides an opportunity to various lawyers to increase their clientele and interact with their fellow lawyers. It has a vast database of lawyers to help satisfy all the needs of a user. LawzGrid aims at simplifying legal experience for everyone and ensures that our clients enjoy a secure and easy legal experience.

LawzGrid has a state of the art technology for corporate clients.

They aim at making their website a comprehensive system for solving all their needs. Be it incorporation, tax returns, auditing, LawzGrid has it all covered.

It also provides all its users the opportunity to post questions of a legal nature for free on the website.

This helps the users get a legal insight on their issues from various experienced and well-versed lawyers. It also enables the users to decide upon the future course of action they wish to litigate upon.

They have a separate app for their corporate clients which will help them stay updated with the progress on their litigations.

LawzGrid also brings to its users their extensive Supreme Court News section which is updated on a

LawzGrid aims to revolutionize the corporate market by bringing them a one stop solution to all their legal

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Corporate litigations are bulk litigations which help business flourish.

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The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019 requirements.

Many corporates in the Delhi-NCR area are using LawzGrids’ services.

The things which makes their service unique is 24x7 support & all the lawyers on their platform are verified and they charge very reasonable rates for all the services they provide.

“Our key strengths are latest technology, 24x7 support, very reasonable pricing, regular updates and vast profiles of lawyers from all over India.”

In their field they have some good competitions that have come into this domain before them but, as a company, LawzGrid is not much concerned about the competition. Rather they focus completely on how they can improve at every step of the day, and bring to their clients better services. Currently they have their beta project in testing phase where we are implementing AI so user get instant access to legal solutions and related lawyers as per their need without any human support.

work timings for their employees. Employees have the option to work from home as well once in a week.

With the weekends off, they try to indulge in a few extracurricular activities, in order to keep the energy intact.

The company environment and culture is such that all kinds of ideas are encouraged. This gives way for the employees to come up with ideas and thoughts that will make the business robust and will be helpful. Any employee who comes up with such helpful and innovative ideas is given a bonus. This helps to create a competitive and a creative environment in the company. LawzGrid also values the essence of spending time with family, and so they make sure that the employees leave the office by 6 PM. Even though the company is running 24x7, they make sure that each employee is properly rested so that they can contribute their 100% at work whenever they are in office.

LawzGrid aims at making legal experience easy for everyone. It strives to bring about awareness in the society regarding the law. It brings to every user to a plethora of lawyers to choose from and litigate with.

The LawzGrid FamilyThe company has made sure that they have flexible

Experience at HandsA case Study One of the case studies of LawzGrid includes figh ng a case on behalf of home buyers where LawzGrid helped them fight the case against a builder who had delayed the housing project in Delhi-NCR and helped them in their legal fight in NCDRC and ul mately got order in their favours. Currently, this project is going on in full swing and they hope to move to their flats soon.

Dealing with 400 buyers was tough but the client was able to deal with all paper/documenta on using LawzGrids' technology and they were ge ng updated about the case updates from the app. With this, the company also made improvements in their systems, with the clients' feedback, and were able to give the clients a be er experience.

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September 2019

Mastering the art of horology through timeless craftsmanship and expert designs

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The Prime Leading Legal Companies to Watch 2019

he food industry is one of the most important industries in the World economy.

Almost 10% of total employment is based on the food sector. The food sector has total sales of $1.4 trillion. In such a vast economy sector many brands stand strong with their unique products, taste, packaging ideas and marketing

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IP PROTECTION IN FOOD INDUSTRY The Rit to Delicious Food strategies.

Any Idea that comes in your mind regarding food production is a freely open intellectual property unless and until it gets protected.

Anyone can steal your idea and start trading in the same product but you cannot file any complaint against or report anywhere as you don’t have any documentation regarding the protection of IP. In this way, you may lose your product for which you struggled up many nights.

The intellectual property protection (IP Protection) covers many things from the very first step of manufacturing i.e. production of ingredients, creation of recipes to the last steps like labelling, marketing, and branding of the final product. It helps the manufacturer to protect his idea.

IP protection in the food industry includes Trademarks, Design Protection, Patent Rights and trade secrets. Many big food brands as well as small food shops & small food manufacturers also own trademarks to protect their food products from being copied.

Trademarks are not limited to only pre-packaged foods. Cookies, cakes or any other food item can have its trademark. The chef, the restaurant www.theenterpriseworld.com

also can be covered under trademark law. Trademarks play an essential role in the branding strategy of a company. The consumer can identify the food product by its logo, word, design or slogan. The unique and creatively distinct design of a trademark helps to protect it easily. Coca Cola, Kit Kat, KFC are some of the big brands having a distinct trademark.

Patenting a new food product having new ingredients, preparation process, and unique design helps a lot. A packaging idea to deliver food freshly to the consumer can also be patented. The ‘tetra pack’ is one of the best examples for this.

Patents are useful in protecting your food product as it makes difficult to imitate the production process. The owner of the original idea can sue the imitator with the help of patent law.

Design protection can be another way to protect your IP. The design can be copied easily. So copyrighting the design is the best way to protect your product. Coca Cola has designed their bottle with a unique copyrighted design that no one can copy. The packaging is one of the important factors in the food industry. With a distinct concept of packaging, a company makes

branding strategies that help them to grow in the market and to make their products look different. If such packaging idea got stolen then anyone can imitate your product which can lead to a big loss. By copyrighting such packaging and product design one can protect IP. You might have tried the recipe of your favourite food by a wellknown brand, after many attempts of cooking with the guidance of some food hack channel on YouTube or a cookery book you still can’t find the same taste or structure of the food as same as the branded food product. Here protection of IP which means Intellectual Property works at its best. Every company keeps its trade secrets like ingredients or the process of preparation, etc.

Whenever working with third party, companies signs a contract while sharing their secret.

The idea is protected once it is in your mind. Once you disclose it in public it doesn’t remain yours unless and until you protect it by law. Protecting your IP is the most important thing in an era of a large competitive market.

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PRESENTING THE STYLISH & THRILLING

0 0 3 V XU www.mahindra.com

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preserving data ecosystems

PROVIDING SOLUTIONS TO PROTECT, STORE, SHARE AND RECOVER DATA. • Incremental and automatic file migration between heterogeneous storage • Operational storage during the migration with reduced impact on production • Automatic control of the integrity of migrated files • Performance tuning by simply adding or removing Data Movers • Single platform for securing new storage