THE PROFESSIONAL TRIUMPH

• Briefly, tell us about your role in the organization and the mandates you handle?

  My current role at Hilton WorldWide involves providing legal support to Hilton branded hotels across India and the corporate office in Gurgaon. The work broadly involves compliance, contracts and conflicts. The hospitality industry has very special sector-specific contracts.

• Tell us something about your journey so far as a General Counsel in India?

  I began my journey as an India GC with Yum Brands in 2007. Yum Brands is the largest food retail company by number of units. They own brands like KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. The business is widely dispersed throughout India. Hilton is the largest hotel company by number of rooms so it’s an interesting parallel with my previous role. US MNCs operating in India face a unique and rather challenging business and legal environment.

• Do you feel that the role of General Counsels is evolving in today’s business scenario? And if so, how?

  As the business environment in India evolves all functions in a company are impacted and the legal function can’t remain an exception to this trend. Legal risk can be substantial in an overregulated and uncertain legal environment that India currently offers. As investments in India increase the stakes for investors is becoming higher – the risk of loss due to legal issues increases and so does the importance of the legal function. There are differences between companies on the role of the legal function – based (at the risk of generalizing) for example on whether it’s an Indian company or MNC.

• What are the key challenges that General Counsels have to deal with on a regular basis, irrespective of the industry sector?

  The gap between the law on paper and the law in practice is substantial in India. Both administrative and judicial bodies contribute to this chaos though the judicial contribution is far less. Dealing with inconsistent interpretations and erratic enforcement of laws across multiple state and central bodies can be challenging.

• What are your thoughts on improving synergies between law firms and corporate in-house legal teams?

  Partners with teams that are competent and responsive will always get repeat business. Tier one companies would typically prefer go to only tier one law firms for advice. If a partner and his/ her team, in such firms, have the required expertise that a client needs, there’s a match. Companies with very large in-house legal teams tend to do most of the work inhouse. But it all depends on the size of the business – numbers can sometimes be misleading. 20 lawyers may be too little in a geographically dispersed highly regulated business and 20 may be a big legal team if the business is small. The amount spent on legal work (inside or outside) has to be justified by the revenues at stake. Synergies are also based on the nature and quantum of work which is required to be outsourced.

• What are some of the key tools that General Counsels can use for continued learning education (CLE)?

  It’s useful to attend legal and business seminars and conferences, read legal magazines, business newspapers and magazines, law journals and even newsletters of some good law firms.

• Any advice for someone exploring a legal career as an in-house counsel?

  It really helps to understand the business first. The quality of your inputs on contracts and compliance in a company set up is often directly linked to how well you know the business.