Manjula Chawla

Introduction

Manjula Chawla is one of the founding partners of Phoenix Legal, a leading full-service law firm with offices in Delhi and Mumbai. She concentrates on strategic corporate investments, mergers and acquisitions, foreign direct investments, private equity, corporate finance and restructuring, divestitures and general corporate and commercial matters.

Manjula was among the first handful of lawyers who chose to become a corporate lawyer and advise on cross-border transactions soon after the liberalisation of the Indian economy in 1991. Since the early years of liberalisation, she has assisted many multinational corporations (including Fortune 500 companies) in establishing their presence in India in a variety of sectors including automobiles, aviation, biotechnology, chemicals, energy and infrastructure, financial services, F&B, healthcare and pharma, information technology and outsourcing, oil and gas, ports, transportation and telecommunications. She has counselled and represented various clients in numerous mergers and acquisitions, buyouts and other corporate transactions in these sectors.

She advises her clients on a wide range of laws involving anti‐corruption, competition law, corporate governance, general corporate advice, exchange control laws, data privacy and protection of personal information, labour and employment and real estate. She has also been involved in several complex litigation and arbitration matters arising out of commercial and cross-border transactions. She is actively involved in rendering pro bono legal advice to international and foreign non-profit organisations in relation to their activities in India furthering social causes.

Manjula’s commitment to her clients and consistent delivery of high-quality services has been recognised by her clients and peers. She was awarded the National Law Day Award – 2000 by the Union Law Minister for “excellence in corporate law” and for “unique contribution in bringing foreign exchange into India”. She featured in the Lexis Nexis “100 Legal Luminaries of India”, which throws light on some of the most illustrious legal minds in India. Among various accolades, she has been recognised as the Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year at the Women in Business Law Awards 2021, Asia by Euromoney Legal Media Group, ALB India Super 50 Lawyers 2021 by Asian Legal Business, Most Promising Women Leaders 2021 by The Economic Times, Inspirational Woman Icon by Fortune India in the August 2023 edition, Women in Business Law in corporate governance by Legal Media Group Expert Guides and consistently been included in IBLJ’s A-List of lawyers.