Aaron is a lawyer and leader of the International Commercial Laws and Technology-Media- Telecommunication Laws Practice Group.

Aaron advises clients on complex cross-border transactions including technology deals, mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments, legal and regulatory matters & commercial transactions across various sectors, with special focus on IT, digital media, e-commerce, retail and fin-tech.

He advises a number of multi-national corporations on various legal and regulatory aspects including privacy-related compliances and documentation; IP structuring, strategy and prosecution. He has also done extensive research and assisted clients in relation to disruptive technologies including AI, IoT, cloud computing and Ed-tech.

Aarushi Jain co-leads the Education and Intellectual Property Groups at the multi-skilled and strategy driven international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates. With a niche focus on education sector, she has advised several clients, including pre-schools, K-12 schools and universities, Ed-Tech companies and strategic investors, both domestic and international, on legal, regulatory and tax issues.

Her specialization includes advising foreign universities and platforms with their India business, from a legal perspective. In addition, she also assists clients in collaborations, pathways, investments, acquisitions, joint ventures, licensing, marketing and distribution deals.

She is actively involved in education sector litigation and in providing regulatory advice. In addition to education, she works extensively on intellectual property, tech and media and commercial law matters at the firm.

Ajay Singh Solanki is Leader of the Labour & Employment Law practice at Nishith Desai Associates and is based in Mumbai, India.

Ajay has been advising a wide range of high-profile multi-national and domestic clients on complex Indian employment law issues. Ajay also advises and assists NASSCOM, a leading industry body for information technology companies in India, in their initiatives to bring about employment law reforms in the industry.

Ajay is the Co-chair of the Disability Rights Working Group of the Diversity and Equality Law Committee of the International Bar Association. He has a keen interest in research and has authored several articles for well-known international publications.

Amlan leads Google’s policy planning, analysis and advocacy efforts in India on privacy, data governance, content policy, platform regulation and emerging technologies. Prior to joining Google, he advised Indian and foreign clients on complex legal and regulatory issues at reputed firms like Trilegal and PLR Chambers.

He has also assisted senior government officials in developing landmark policies for India. He holds a degree in arts and law from the National Law School of India University

Darren Punnen is a Leader of the Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, Healthcare and Med-Tech team at Nishith Desai Associates. His practice particularly focuses on advising several multi-national pharmaceuticals, medical device and healthcare companies on complex regulatory, intellectual property and investment matters.

He has also been part of multiple pharmaceutical and healthcare transactions, providing investors with essential inputs that are unique to this industry. He also advises several clients on matters in the food and beverage industry, and handles matters relating to technology, media and telecom laws as well.

Darren regularly contributes to national and international publications, writing on various topics including pharmaceutical, medical device and healthcare regulations, med-tech and digital health.

Deepak is an experienced public policy and government affairs professional with over 12 years of experience of working on wide range of policy issues related to foreign trade, IPR, Telecom, Market Access and Labour.

Deepak is currently associated with NASSCOM, where he actively engages with both industry and policy makers at the Centre and State level on several policy issues affecting the tech industry including labour and employment.

He has been associated with NASSCOM since 2016. Deepak holds an MBA and a Law degree.

Dr. Dhruv Sanghavi leads the International Tax and International Tax litigation practices at Nishith Desai Associates from the Netherlands. His areas of expertise are international tax laws, international tax litigation, and international tax policy. Apart from being a practicing lawyer, he is also a thought leader in the area of international tax. He has written and edited several journal articles, cases and a monograph— “Structural Issues in the Income Tax Treaty Network – Towards a Coherent Solution.”

Dr Leopoldo Parada is a Lecturer in Tax Law at the University of Leeds School of Law in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining Leeds, he was a visiting professor of International and European Tax Law at the University of Turin in Italy, a postdoctoral researcher at the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) in Amsterdam, and a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance in Munich.

In the past, he also practised full-time as an attorney at law and tax advisor in Chile, Brazil, and the United States. Dr Parada is a member of the Society of Legal Scholars (UK), the European Association of Tax Law Professors (EATLP), the Tax Committee of Experts of the Joint Italian-Arab Chamber of Commerce (JIACC), the GCC Tax Law Expert’s Arena, and the Chilean Bar Association.

In October 2020, Dr Parada was recognised in the “TaxCOOP 35 Leaders of the Future in Taxation” list as one of the most promising tax policy experts

Dr. Milind Antani, a renowned surgeon turned lawyer, leads the Pharma & Healthcare practice at Nishith Desai Associates where he represents high net-worth clients in matters allied to JVs, M&As, VC and Private Equity Investments, Collaborations, Regulatory advice, IP, Licensing and Commercialization.

He also leads the Social Sector Practice and represents various global and national foundations in India. He continues as an active participant in helping frame national policies on key impact areas, within the medical field. He has authored and co-authored numerous articles and prestigious publications related to the Pharma and Healthcare industry.

A regular speaker at various prominent forums on Pharma, Medical Devices, Med-Tech & eHealth, Biotech, IP, Clinical trials, Healthcare, CSR and Social Impact investments, he is also a visiting faculty at premier institutions in Mumbai and Gujarat including the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA).

Eric Winston is responsible for Mphasis’ global legal and compliance function and policies. He has spent nearly twenty years guiding international, market-leading, public, and private equity-owned IT companies.

Prior to Mphasis, Eric served for two years as Vice President - Legal, at Syntel, Inc., an IT services company, where he was responsible for advising executive management on a wide range of matters including domestic and international, strategic and commercial transactions, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, employment, business development, corporate governance, and compliance.

From 2002 through 2015, Eric served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of INTTRA, Inc. Prior to INTTRA, Eric served as Director of Business Development for Newarkbased Net2Phone, Inc., a leader in delivering voice services over data networks. Eric received his Juris Doctorate at the Emory University School of Law and his bachelor of arts degree in economics from Vassar College.

A practicing lawyer for 24 years, Gowree Gokhale leads the IP, Technology, Media and Entertainment, data protection law practice of Nishith Desai Associates. She has assisted several international businesses in India entry strategy, corporate and strategic deals, litigation and arbitration in TMT and Pharma sector.

She has spearheaded several policy initiatives for the TMT and Pharma industry including for online content companies, gaming industry, IT industry as also for privacy and data protection laws. She has also been consistently working on high tech industry aspects. She has been named in several legal directories, including in in the Hall of Fame (TMT) in Legal 500.

One of the foremost authorities on IP management and protection strategy, Gowree has been the leading voice on several IP and technology related matters. She has been instrumental in devising IP litigation strategies for clients and has led several IP litigations before several prestigious forums in India.

Harshita Srivastava is a Leader at the M&A and Private Equity Practice at Nishith Desai Associates. She also heads the VC Investment & Start-up Practice at Nishith Desai Associates.

She has led numerous cross border transactions in India, Singapore and the United States. She advises strategic acquirers and Private Equity funds on legal and tax aspects of cross border deals with a special focus on business transfers. As the Head of the Start-up Practice, she represents global emerging growth technology companies throughout their lifecycles and the venture capital and the growth equity funds that invests in these companies.

She has also been part of the SEBI Committee instituted for the setup of the Innovators Growth Platform (listing platform) for start-ups in India. She is also recognized as an Expert in Residence by the Start-up Europe India Network.

Huzefa Tavawalla heads the Bangalore office along with the Disruptive Technologies Practice at NDA. He is also a techno enthusiast and has worked on several matters relating Drones, RPAS, Artificial Intelligence, Driverless Cars, AR/VR etc. He was also appointed as a task force committee member set up by the Indian Government to establish the legislative drone road map for India.

Huzefa has also been at the forefront of outbound and global M&A’s in particular project management for large cross border acquisitions. Further, he continues to advise on several cutting edge, complex and cross-border TMT matters

Inika Serah Charles is a Member of the TMT, and IP Practice Group at Nishith Desai Associates. Inika advises clients on transactions including technology and media deals, regulatory matters, and commercial law issues across various sectors.

She has a special focus on intellectual property, gaming, media, and data protection. She is a member of the Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Committee of the International Bar Association.

Jaideep is a technology lawyer whose practice focuses on disruptive technologies and their interaction with the law. In particular, he advises on fin-tech regulations, privacy and cybersecurity, e-commerce, telecom, and other technology-related regulatory, public policy and contentious issues.

Jaideep led the firm’s representation of the Internet and Mobile Association of India in a landmark Supreme Court case where a central bank restriction on virtual currencies was set aside by the Court. He also led the drafting of an independent submission made by the firm to the Government of India on virtual currencies, as well as the drafting of a self-regulatory code of conduct for the industry. He was recognized as a Notable Practitioner by Chambers and Partners for its India Fintech Guide. He is qualified to practice in India and California, U.S.A.

Jennifer is a qualified lawyer with over 9 years’ experience in risk advisory and insurance broking, working both client-side and carrier-side, specializing in technology and digital risk. As Regional Cyber Lead for Willis Towers Watson, Jennifer is passionate about ensuring clients have access to appropriate knowledge, expertise and solutions to equip them to meet the challenges of running an organization in the digital age amidst technology-driven risks and perils.

Jennifer hold 4 years’ experience as a commercial litigator representing banks, finance companies and technology companies in commercial disputes and 5 years’ experience as a commercial lines broker advising large multinational clients on financial lines risks in Australasia.

She has also spent 3 years at Tokio Marine, underwriting APAC cyber risks on behalf of Tokio Marine HCC.She completed Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (Management) from University of Auckland, New Zealand and has been admitted to the New Zealand Bar since 2009

Lee Frederiksen is the Managing Partner at Hinge Marketing, leading the firm’s unprecedented research initiative to understand how high-growth firms approach marketing.With a Ph.D. in Behavioral Psychology, Lee left a tenured professorship to lead the Organizational Consulting Practice at one of the ‘Big 8’ accounting and consulting firms following which he became an entrepreneur and never looked back. Over the course of his career he has worked with clients from a wide variety of industries, ranging from tech start-ups to Fortune 100 companies.

He has written and co-authored numerous books based on his research, including The Visible Expert®, Online Marketing for Professional Services, Spiraling Up and Inside the Buyer’s Brain. He has written extensively in professional journals and has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur and Advertising Age. As a Visible Expert in the industry, Lee has lectured around the globe on strategy, marketing and organizational management. Lee also serves on the BOTA (Board of Trusted Advisors) for Nishith Desai Associates

Meyappan Nagappan is a Leader in the International Tax Practice at Nishith Desai Associates. He leads the tech and tax practice, impact investment, social finance, tax policy and GST practices at NDA. He regularly advices several top technology companies on tax and structuring issues, from an international tax and GST perspective including on upcoming technologies and digital products such as block-chain, crypto and gaming.

He has done extensive work advising some of the biggest non-profit foundations, development finance institutions and impact investment funds, including structuring advise in relation to India’s first USD 1 Billion education outcomes fund and development impact bonds for the British Asian Trust.

He advices on litigation strategy and appears in select matters. He regularly speaks at the International Bar Association conferences and other tax conferences both in India and abroad.

Dr Mihir A. Parikh leads Research and Innovation as well as Strategic Legal Consulting Practice of Nishith Desai Associates—an India-centric global law firm, from the firm’s Silicon Valley office in Palo Alto, California.

He advises private equity and venture capital firms in investment decisions and creating value for portfolio companies by integrating technology and law as strategic assets. He helps companies understand and apply a strategic legal perspective to manage future business risks, defend competitive advantages, and create new growth opportunities.

Additionally, he heads the firm’s initiative of setting up a Centre of Excellent (PACER) for thought leadership at the intersection of Technology, Law and Strategy. He is also an adjunct professor in the Management of Technology and Innovation department at New York University (NYU) and teaches in graduate programs.

Neville is the President & Board Director of BCCL Worldwide Inc [The Times Group, North America] based in the San Francisco Bay Area and heads the North American operations of media conglomerate Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL), The Times of India Group. Having set up the US operations, Neville has been responsible for overseeing the groups strategic investment arm Brand Capital International and built the consumer advertising business from North America for its media assets.

Prior to his current role, Neville has held senior executive leadership positions as General Manager at Microsoft Corporation, India; Country Manager & Director, Yahoo! India; CEO, Publicitas Digital, COO of Mid-Day Multimedia Ltd & General Manager-Times Interactive at The Times of India Group.

Neville has been the Co-founder, past Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) in 2004 & 2005.

Nishchal Joshipura heads the Private Equity and M&A Practice at Nishith Desai Associates. He is a Lawyer, Chartered Accountant and MBA. He has lead several high profile deals in M&A and Private Equity space in India and set up various Indian focussed funds.

He advises strategic acquirers and Private Equity funds on legal and tax aspects of cross border deals in listed and unlisted space with a special focus on control deals. He has designed and implemented some of the most innovative structures for M&A and Private Equity deals in India and his structures have been consistently recognized as most innovative by Financial Times of London and RSG.

He also specializes in advising both offshore and domestic LPs and GPs on fund formation and has set up multiple funds across various asset classes such as private equity, distressed, venture capital, infrastructure, real estate, hedge funds, etc.

Nishith Desai is the Founder of the research & strategy driven international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates ranked amongst the Asia-Pacific’s Most Innovative Law Firms by Financial Times.

Nishith’s interest span a wide spectrum of law, society and ethics. He is a renowned International lawyer, author, lecturer, researcher and a thought leader. Nishith himself is regarded as the ‘Father of International Tax’ in India and is a ‘true pioneer’ in the field of International Tax Law.

He was also a director on the board of Singapore International Arbitration Centre (2011-2019). Soon after India opened its economy to the outside world in 1991, Nishith pioneered the roots of asset management industry in India.

He established the first five India Focused Funds He played a seminal role in structuring several private equity funds in addition to structuring several domestic venture capital funds. Nishith has driven the conceptualization and creation of Imaginarium AliGunjan a state-of-the-art research facility that stands as an ode to ‘Blue Sky Thinking,’ near Mumbai.

Parul co-heads the International Tax and Fund Formation Practices at Nishith Desai Associates. She focuses on international taxation, cross border transactions and fund formation practice areas including cross border investments and group reorganization strategies, M&A transactions and venture capital / private equity funding structures.

She has represented several prominent private equities, venture capital, growth and angel funds in setting up their onshore and offshore fund structures including assisting them with negotiations with LPs. She has also worked with technology companies in advising them on matters involving digital taxation. She was the India Branch co-reporter for the subject “Taxation and Fundamental Rights: Taxpayers’ Procedural Rights in a Globalised World” for the IFA 2015 Basel Congress.

She was also the Secretary to the panel on “Indirect Transfer of Assets” for the IFA 2014 Mumbai Congress and to the panel on “Tax Treaty Override” for the IFA 2019 London Congress.

Payal Malik is Adviser, Economics and Head of the Economics Division at the Competition Commission of India. She is on secondment from PGDAV College, University of Delhi, where she is an Associate Professor of Economics. She has several years of research and economic consulting experience in network Industries such as power and telecommunication, ICTs, Innovation systems, and Infrastructure. She was on the team that drafted the Electricity Act of India ushering competition into the sector.

Her research and professional collaborations have been with OECD, Orbicom, IDEI, University of Toulouse, University of Québec at Montreal, CEPR, JRC, European Commission, IPTS Seville, ICEGEC, Hungary, Department of Information Technology, TRAI, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Planning Commission of India, CSO, India, WSP-SA, World Bank and AFD, Paris.

She has a BA (Hons.) in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi and an MA and MPhil in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics and an MBA in finance from University of Cincinnati.

Payel Chatterjee is a Leader in the International Dispute Resolution Practice at Nishith Desai Associates and heads the firm’s European Practice. She focusses on International Commercial Arbitration and White-Collar Crimes and Investigations as well as anti-trust and consumer litigation.

Payel advises and represents international clients in complex cross-border litigation and international commercial arbitrations and litigation arising out of international and domestic arbitration in Indian courts. She has worked on several matters involving enforcement of foreign awards and judgments in India including successfully resisting enforcement in India of the USD 50 billion Yukos Oil arbitration award, the world’s largest arbitration award.

She is the only Indian to be appointed as member of the ICC Task Force set up on dealing with issues on Corruption in International Arbitration. She also contributed to the ICCA-IBA Joint Task Force on Data Protection in International Arbitration (2019-20). She is also on the panel of arbitrators of the Caspian Arbitration Group.

Preetha Soman is a Leader of the HR Laws (Labour & Employment) team at Nishith Desai Associates (NDA). From routine compliance matters to matters involving hiring, workforce management, retention and strategy, employee re-organizations and reductions in force etc., Preetha has worked on a wide range of complex and intricate labour law matters.

She also works very closely with industrial bodies and organizations including NASSCOM to conduct workshops, webinars and awareness programmes on Indian labour and employment laws. She has also been conducting training sessions for HR professionals, members of the management and leadership teams, Internal Committees etc. on varied employment law related aspects including the law on prevention of workplace sexual harassment.

Preetha has a keen inclination towards research and has published several articles with leading national and international journals including the Indian Business Law Journal, American Bar Association Section on Labor & Employment Law etc.

Perzine is an HR professional with ~ 15 years of experience and she currently works with SHRM India as an Associate Director in the Knowledge & Advisory vertical. Prior to this she has worked with Godrej & Boyce as part of the Corporate Learning & Development function and with CitiFinancial. Her core expertise has been in the areas of Learning & Development, HR Capability Building, Knowledge Management, Content Design, Talent Management, Leadership Development, Competency Assessment & Development.

Perzine completed her Masters in Management Studies with a Specialization in Human Resource from Mumbai University. She is Certified as a Performance & Competence Developer (CPCD) by Carlton Advanced Management Institute, USA and is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional - SHRM-SCP as recognised by the Society of Human Resource Management, USA. She has also completed her Hogan Assessment Certification focussing on interpreting personality-based assessment inventories like HPI, HDS and MVPI.

Rajat Bansal is a senior IRS officer with the Government of India, and is currently Chief Commissioner of Income Tax.. He acted as India’s Competent Authority for treaty negotiations, MAP, APA negotiations and exchange of information in respect of countries in Asia, Australia, Africa and Latin America for long.

India Japan MAP relationship in transfer pricing cases has won the OECD Award for 2019 for highest resolution, where he headed the Indian MAP team. He was also the first Transfer Pricing Officer in India in 2003 and set up the TP office at Delhi besides making the first TP adjustments in India.

He is at present a Member of UN Tax Committee on Cooperation in International Tax Matters in Expert/Personal capacity from 2017-21, where he is actively working on various areas such as tax challenges of digitalized economy, UN Model updating, UN Transfer Pricing Handbook revision and UN Dispute Resolution Handbook.

An Engineer in Electronics and Communications by Qualification from Delhi College of Engineering, Rakesh has spent a total of 24 years working with the government of India including the last 6 years working as Sr. Director and Group Co-ordinator, Cyber law and Cyber Security in Ministry of Electronics and IT.

As GC Cyber law, he has worked on all matters related to the IT Act including, designated Officer under 69A of the IT Act, the recent Intermediary Guidelines published by MeitY in 2021, court cases where the ministry has been made respondent, interaction with social media platforms, safety of women and children on internet and interaction with various Govt depts on Cyber Crime, Cyber Laws etc. He was involved in the early work of PDP Bill as well as some of the JPC discussions after the bill has been presented in the parliament in 2019 end. He has also been involved in working with BIS on privacy management standard development.

Ratandeep leads the Private Equity & M&A Practice at Nishith Desai Associates. He has over 13 years of experience as a commercial lawyer, primarily with top law firms and in the last 3 years with one of India’s leading private equity firms. He brings a unique mix of transactional experience and expertise in leading high profile, high stakes corporate litigation.

Having previously been a partner in one of India’s leading law firms, his work included managing multi-layered teams for execution, client acquisitions and deepening the domain expertise of the firm. As the general counsel of a private equity fund his work focused on closely supporting investment professionals to efficiently and safely deploy capital, while ensuring overall management of legal risk (both investment specific and franchise level).

From 2012 to 2016 Mr. SumanBery was the Chief Economist of Royal Dutch Shell, and was based in The Hague, The Netherlands. He is currently a Non-resident Fellow of the Brussels think-tank Bruegel, as well as a Global Fellow of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, based in New Delhi.

He also serves on the board of the Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation in New Delhi, a non-profit dedicated to supporting India’s transition to a low-carbon future. MrBery served as Director-General (Chief Executive) of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi.

He was a member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, of India’s Statistical Commission, the Task Force on National Security and of the Reserve Bank of India’s Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary Policy. Prior to NCAER, Mr. Bery was with the World Bank in Washington DC with a particular focus on Latin America and the Caribbean.

His professional writing includes contributions on energy policy. the political economy of reform, financial sector and banking reform and energy trends and policy.

Tanisha is a member of the Technology-Media-Telecom and International Dispute Resolution Practice Groups at the multi-skilled, research based international law firm Nishith Desai Associates. Tanisha has advised clients on IP, gaming laws, general commercial laws, and on privacy issues.

Apart from transactional and advisory work, she has also been integrally involved in a number of litigations and arbitrations and pre- litigation strategy in a range of industries. Tanisha has played a key role in the firm’s policy initiatives and representations to the Government. She regularly writes thought leadership and research articles and papers for internationally acclaimed publications.

She is admitted to the Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa and regularly appears before the Bombay High Court. Tanisha has completed her LLB in the UK as well as in India.

Widely considered one of the most successful executives in the Indian media industry, he has a robust body of experience across media platforms. A Kellogg’s alumnus, he comes with over 2 decades of leadership experience in the Indian media industry, having successfully worked across genres and media including reality programming, soaps, and comedy on Television to retro programming on radio to spearheading the evolution of on-demand video content in India through a leading OTT platform.

Tarun began his career with advertising agencies and subsequently moved to Star Network becoming the Head of Content and Communications across the network in India before moving to Sony Entertainment Television as Business Head. From there he moved to Big FM, where he was the Founder COO-CEO. Tarun, then moved on to Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. where he was responsible for steering ZEE5, India’s largest and most comprehensive digital entertainment platform for language content, towards gaining a leadership position in the cluttered OTT market in India.

Vaibhav Parikh heads the U.S office of research and strategy driven international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates. Based in the New York office, he also leads the practice areas of Technology, Telecom, Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity, etc. For over two decades, Vaibhav has been advising major MNCs on Corporate & Securities laws, and Structuring of Inbound / Outbound Investments, Private Equity Investments, IP laws and Exchange Control Law.

He has also assisted several companies in facilitating cross border M&A transactions and consistently been engaged in advising several top end Technology and Telecom companies. Vaibhav has often played the role of key advisor to leading Cryptocurrency exchanges in India and continues to do so. Several leading financial publications often turn to him for his valuable insights on the subject.

Over the years, Vaibhav has also been advising several leading Indian e-commerce companies in their operations from a legal and regulatory standpoint and has facilitated some of India’s largest e-commerce transactions.

Vikram is the leader of the HR Law (Employment & Labour) team at, Nishith Desai Associates. With an experience over 22 years, has been consistently ranked as India’s leading labour and employment lawyer by most of the leading international publications.

He advises leading technology, media and financial services sector companies in drafting and negotiating employment contracts; non-disclosure agreements and assignment of intellectual property; competition and solicitation restrictions; structuring of expatriate and secondment arrangements; HR policies and employee handbooks; compensation structuring; employee stock option and share purchase plans; employee transfer and post-merger integration; employment termination, lay off & redundancy; employment litigation; and employment related immigration laws. His expertise is often sought after for urgent and sensitive HR matters.

He also helps clients in employee fraud and anti-bribery policies and investigations. He regularly conducts training for employees, managers and committee members.

Vinay Shukla is a Leader in the Corporate and Competition Law Practice. Besides handling corporate matters, He also handles and leads merger control vertical of the firm. He has represented some of the ace investors in securing various merger approvals including green channel approvals from the CCI.

Additionally, he spends a lot his time advising and representing international and domestic clients on matters before the Competition Commission of India and leverages his deep expertise to devise innovative structures and provide strategic advice on behavioural pattern of the entities viz. anticompetitive agreements and abuse of dominance. Lately, he has been focusing his efforts in the domain of the intersection of AI/Data and Anti-Trust.

Vivek Kathpalia heads the Singapore office of research and strategy driven international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates, leading the firm’s various initiatives across East Asia including dynamic markets such as Japan and South Korea. He heads the Education, TMT & International Commercial Law Practice Groups.

Vivek has been advising clients from across the spectrum in the education space. This includes regulatory advice, structuring complex cross-border and domestic transactions including joint ventures, private equity, private debt, M&A and dispute resolution. The education team at the firm has developed a niche in the space as experts in education law in India. Clientele includes providers and investors.

These include K-12 including pre-primary, higher education including foreign universities, ed-tech companies & private equity and venture capital. The team is also involved in education policy and regulatory reform and is constantly engaged with like-minded organizations in this pursuit.

Vivek is a Senior Partner and Global co-leader of McKinsey’s Private Equity & Principal Investors Practice. Vivek serves the world’s leading investors and shareholders on strategy, origination, transformations, sustainability and exits. Vivek works with leading family-owned businesses, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, social impact & sustainability focused funds, private equity funds and investor-backed digital disrupters. Vivek joined McKinsey in New York and has worked across offices in North America, Europe, Japan and India.

Vivek serves as a Trustee of the Aspen Institute India, an Advisor to Social Finance India (Social Impact Bonds) and serves on a variety of non-profit education and healthcare boards including Magic Bus. He holds advanced degrees from Stanford University and the University of California. He currently resides in Mumbai with his family.

Vyapak Desai heads the International Dispute Resolution and Investigation Practice at Nishith Desai Associates. A senior attorney with the firm, Vyapak specializes in bringing in the highest level of analytical and innovative input in cross border, complex contentious matters, corporate/regulatory investigations while also leading the Corporate and Securities practice in the past at the firm.

Vyapak’s vast experience in legislation includes representing clients as Counsel in a host of complex cases including investment treaty arbitrations, commercial disputes related to shareholder’s agreements, international trade and contractual disputes across industries such as oil & gas, infrastructure, private equity, Pharma & Healthcare and TMT.

Vyapak has additionally cultivated expertise in bankruptcy, corporate and securities laws as well as in white-collar crimes. Known for his innovative, pragmatic and solution-oriented approach, he is also a trained mediator/conciliator and acts as Arbitrator across international jurisdictions such as London, Singapore, Malaysia and India.