Mumbai

Mumbai sees a wide range of legal challenges; the work comes from different sectors. A bank sends across a financing agreement and clarifies on risk allocation. A shipping company calls when inspectors arrive at the port for inspection. A start-up in Powai approaches to stress-test the shareholder agreement it signed, to check whether it will survive investor review. A film company in Andheri approaches us requiring contracts for staff, at the same time, to analyse whether the workplace policy they copied years ago will stand scrutiny. These matters are very rarely limited to a specific law. A corporate filing ends with employment questions, a compliance inspection shows gaps in contracts and a dispute between promoters turns on how exits were managed. Since most of these matters are related to corporate and employment laws, clients prefer engaging a corporate and employment law firm in Mumbai that practices both corporate and employment laws, instead of engaging two different firms.

While some clients hire us for incorporations, reorganisations, and routine board approvals, for others, we draft contracts, review HR manuals, provide POSH training and sit with internal committees. Therefore, some refer to us as a company law firm in Mumbai when governance is the issue. While some clients may describe us as HR compliance lawyers in Mumbai when inspectors ask for registers or check for policy implementation. For some, we may be corporate law lawyers, while for others, employment law lawyers. The titles may shift and vary, but our commitment to address the clients’ needs and provide assistance until the issue is resolved completely is what remains constant.

When start-ups approach us, they look for a law firm that addresses their requirement with precision and offers quick deliverables. They need contracts reviewed overnight, registers corrected before due diligence, and filings completed before funding. Whereas, on the opposite, large corporates, like finance, shipping, and media sectors, bring slower but crucial matters. Disputes in court, investigations by regulators, and board disagreements that drag on. As a business law specialist in Mumbai, what we see is that the underlying issue in all these requirements is same, either contracts copied from the internet without thought, filings forgotten or policies written but not followed.

Often, the matters we take up in Mumbai start with one narrow request or ad hoc work and expand into work that requires continuous engagement. In most cases, these matters begin with corporate law issues and soon turn into employment law issues. A contract review ends with compliance registers. A notice from regulators uncovers gaps in workplace policies. A shareholder dispute slowly turns into an employment matter. Clients who their engagement with us, through these shifts, are not looking for labels or fancy taglines, they want precision, consistency and practicality. Some clients have referred to us as the top law firm in Mumbai, not because of our rankings or awards, but because we do not exit after the first opinion; we stay with our clients and the engagement carries on until the issue has been resolved.