Shanthala Rao
Shanthala Rao is a Partner at the Bangalore office of Kochhar & Co., a leading firm in India. She is a graduate of the prestigious National Law School of India University where she did an Honours degree in Arts and Law. She was awarded the gold medal for being the best graduating girl student of the University.
Shanthala began her career working at a leading commercial law firm in New Delhi in the areas of joint ventures, foreign investments and aviation law. Thereafter, she worked for a couple of years at a law firm in Singapore. She has also worked briefly with a law firm in Germany.
Shanthala’s experience includes foreign investments, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, general corporate work, including advising companies on corporate compliance, labour and employment laws. In particular, she has been involved in numerous projects relating to foreign investments in India, including through establishment of wholly owned subsidiaries, joint ventures and acquisitions and represents numerous international companies in setting up their business operations in India.
Shanthala is responsible for the Bangalore office’s corporate compliance and restructuring practice. She has handled extremely large multi company restructuring projects for the firm’s clients.
Shanthala’s experience in relation to labour and employment laws includes advising companies on Indian employment and labour law issues. Shanthala is also an external member of sexual harassment complaints committee of some companies and has conducted employee awareness programs in this regard. Shanthala has been a speaker and panelist at various seminars and conferences on prevention of sexual harassment at workplace.
Shanthala is also a trained commercial Mediator, trained by JAMS Institute and Centre for Advanced Mediation Practice.
Sarika Raichur
Sarika is a Partner in the New Delhi office of Kochhar & Co. She is a member of the corporate practice group with a focus on private equity & venture capital.
Sarika has over a decade of experience of advising clients on corporate and commercial matters. She has advised domestic and foreign clients in the areas of private equity, venture capital, fund formation, mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, setting up business in India, besides advising on a wide range of general corporate, commercial and regulatory issues, contracts and employment law matters. She regularly assists clients in structuring, due diligence, drafting a variety of contracts and negotiations.
Prior to joining Kochhar & Co., Sarika was the co-founding partner of Yuti Law Partners, Advocates. Sarika also worked as an in-house counsel with a well-known private equity firm and as a member of the India group of a leading European law firm.
Over the last few years, Sarika has been regularly advising on fund raising transactions, other corporate, commercial and employment matters of startups and emerging companies across various verticals. She has been actively involved in the start-up eco-system of India and regularly mentors startups not only on various ongoing legal issues but also on fund raising and legal strategies. Sarika has received recognitions from the UK Corporate/M&A (Experts Based Abroad) for 2012 and India Corporate/M&A (Foreign Experts) for 2013 and 2014.
Kochhar & Co
With more than 200 lawyers, Kochhar & Co. is one of the leading and largest corporate law firms in India. Kochhar & Co. enjoys the distinction of being the only law firm with a full-service presence in the six (6) prominent cities of India namely: New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon and Hyderabad and four overseas offices: Dubai, Singapore, Atlanta, Jeddah (our office in Saudi Arabia is in collaboration with a leading law firm).
The Firm offers a wide range of legal services in the area of Corporate & Commercial Laws, Dispute Resolution, Tax (Direct & Indirect) and Intellectual Property (IPR) and specializes in representing major foreign and domestic corporations with diverse business interests in India. Kochhar & Co. is the preferred law firm for multinational corporations doing business in India and represents some of the largest companies from North America, Europe, South-East Asia and Japan including 75 of the Global Fortune 500 corporations. The Firm also serves as counsel to many large and prominent Indian corporations including Maharatna and Navratna companies (Public Sector Enterprises).
