SunLegal is a boutique law firm headquartered in New Delhi that provides top of the line legal services to its both domestic and international clients. The firm is based on the bedrock of high service standards, quick turnaround time and unmatched client care.
The firm focuses heavily on Infrastructure Projects, Public Private Partnerships (PPP), Public Procurement, Project Finance, Commercial Contracts, Corporate Advisory and Dispute Resolution. Additionally the firm also services two special verticals namely the International SME Desk that provides multi-disciplinary legal services to International SMEs looking to do business in India and the other being the Start-up Desk that provides every possible legal support to the new entrepreneurs.
SunLegal is a modern and technology driven firm which makes its service delivery quick, efficient and effective. With streamlined processes for case management, time recording, billing and accounting, every care is taken to ensure that the client’s engagement with the firm is a pleasant one.
The Founder
Parul Kashyap is the Founder Partner of SunLegal. Parul is an experienced legal professional with close to 15 years of experience. Riding on the back strong industry experience, practical knowledge, the honed art of converting leads into instructions and with the continued patronage from my clients, I knew SunLegal was an idea whose time had come, she says.
Her initiation into the projects and energy space happened in her early years as a lawyer. She took a deep dive into this subject during her association with IDFC, an organisation that was a frontrunner and a champion of India’s PPP movement, where she undertook assignments relating to structuring and drafting of cross sectoral concession agreements, development models to improve bankability of PPP projects, government advisory, transaction advisory, bid process management, experimenting with the PPP templates on new sub-sectors, world bank projects, projects supported by international aid agencies, tender disputes and more. Over the period of time she became a passionate professional working towards easing the legal and regulatory bottlenecks for all stakeholders in this sector.
“Throughout my professional journey, I have strived hard to create value for my clients and their businesses through practical legal solutions.” she says.
From her initial years as a lawyer she had considerable interest in and was also exposed to the business side of law. Alongside her practice specialisation she continued to gain insights into the functioning of a law firm, the overall organisational strategy, new business acquisition, practice development, pricing as well as billing practices.
Parul established SunLegal with a view to provide end-to-end legal advisory services to all the stakeholders on legal matters relating to infrastructure projects. The firm also caters to other service verticals like public procurement, contract advisory, corporate-commercial advisory, dispute resolution, SME advisory as well as start-up advisory. “We have embarked on this journey with a hope to build a firm that is known for its strong ethics and unmatched service.” states Parul.
Motivation behind Choosing Legal Profession and Taking the Entrepreneurial Plunge
Over the last two decades, law firms in India have grown in size and influence as also in client profile, deal size, practice groups, geographies and of course in number, proving to be a highly lucrative business model for experienced lawyers with an entrepreneurial spirit. “As I progressed in my career, I did not lose touch with my entrepreneurial zeal and I knew that my calling was to ultimately establish my own legal services firm some day and leverage all that I had learnt on the way.” said Parul. Furthermore, she said “Being politically aware and opinionated, I found myself drawn towards law and politics during my student days and on a lighter note, being an avid John Grisham fan, tilted the balance in favour of law as a career as against other subjects.”
Every Matter Matters
The firm’s tagline ‘Every Matter Matters’ speaks volumes about its commitment to providing its best services to every client of the firm, without any discrimination based on the ticket size of the matter. Parul says, “We only take up what we can handle efficiently and the moment we take up an assignment we see it through to the complete satisfaction of the client. We aim to be the trusted advisors of our clients that inspire confidence in them to entrust us with their both routine and sensitive matters, knowing, that we will do everything that it takes to deliver results”.
In addition to being the preferred advisors to its clients, SunLegal is firm on its objectives to create a safe, positive, efficient, collaborative workplace, where ideas are genuinely valued and where each lawyer is given the opportunity to maximize their full potential while being associated with the firm, because the firm believes, only happy lawyers can deliver happy clients.
Key Practice Areas
SunLegal’s practice areas complement each other in a way that the clients can benefit from a seamless service on a range of connected matters.
In terms of the practice areas, the firm helps companies in doing business with the government. Government offers a variety of business opportunities by procuring goods and services from the private sector through public tenders. These tenders can be comprehensive, complex, voluminous and at times complicated. Under its Public Procurement Practice, the firm assists companies right from the tender stage till the award of the contract, navigating legal and regulatory risks on the way. The firm’s Contract Advisory services helps clients in structuring and management of contracts while the Corporate Advisory services provide all possible legal assistance on day-to-day matters of a company including employment laws and compliances, legal due diligence, corporate compliances, setting up of business in India and so on. SunLegal’s dispute resolution practice works in tandem with the clients and of counsels to formulate strategy for effective resolution of disputes. “While dealing with an impending dispute, we pay an equal amount of stress on dispute avoidance strategies as we remain mindful of how sometimes avoiding a court fight, may be worth fighting for” says, Parul.
The firm supports both Indian and foreign SMEs in a big way. Similarly, they have a dedicated vertical for start-ups that helps the entrepreneurs deal with legal risks and compliances.
Core Competencies – Infrastructure Projects and Energy
Infrastructure is amongst the high priority areas in India with massive government spending at the federal, state and municipal levels. There are numerous development models that are employed to build infrastructure assets in India like BOT, BOOT, DBFOT, Hybrid Annuity etc.
The firm understands both the opportunities and challenges in the sectors hence, provides full board of services in the infrastructure sector. Since development of infrastructure requires private sector capital, the services of the private sector are generally procured through open competitive bidding. The firm amongst other things supports the clients through the tender process by:
- Advising on the bidding parameters and selection criteria
- Analyzing the legal, regulatory and contractual risks in a project
- Drafting the terms of the JV/consortium agreement
- Advising on the principles of forfeiture of bid security
- Assistance with dealing with black-listing by the authority
SunLegal works closely with the government as well as the concessionaires, developers, contractors, equipment suppliers, design engineers, infrastructure consultants and advises them on drafting, vetting and negotiating contracts such as Engineering, Procurement and Construction Contract, Operation and Maintenance Contract, Concession Agreement, Shareholders Agreement, Consortium Agreement, Off-take Agreement, Supply Agreement, Service Agreement and more.
For companies involved in execution of complex contracts involving provision of works and services, the significance of effective contract management cannot be overstated, therefore it is crucial for such companies to progressively consider moving towards a robust contract management regime. The firm assists its clients in comprehensively managing project risks over the entire life cycle of the projects. Once the contracts are in place, the firm takes over the contract management function from the clients. Every aspect of the contract is reviewed in detail and every obligation managed in collaboration with the business and project teams to ensure that there are no unpleasant surprises down the road.
The Best Investment
The firm is ‘invested in technology’ that offers simplified process and services to clients and the benefits derived from such operational efficiencies are swiftly passed on to the clients. With experience of working alongside international law firms the firm is completely at home with the global best practices. The firm is well networked with law firms in all major cities worldwide, thereby has the ability to help the clients in connecting with the right legal advisors for their cross-border needs.
Social Responsibility
First and foremost, SunLegal is an equal opportunity employer. Further, it supports initiatives concerning children in relation to provision of shelter, education and nourishment. The firm is also passionate about the cause of skilling women from the marginal sections of the society as it believes that an empowered woman is the bedrock of an empowered generation.
Words of Wisdom for New Entrepreneurs
To the budding entrepreneurs I would say, take the entrepreneurial plunge when it feels right. Notwithstanding the thrill and glamour of owning your own business one needs to take a cautious and calculated approach because entrepreneurship is and has always been a tough call. My advice would be to know your market, identify the need for your services, refine your product or service, identify the risks, take small steps and stay the course. A successful enterprise is a holy grail that is a result of sustained and unrelenting effort of its promoter. Foresight and preparing ahead for eventualities is the only hedge against business risks.
Future Planning
Apart from the overall range of services in the energy and infrastructure sector, SunLegal is also developing specialties within specialties to provide sector specific advice with accuracy and precision.
The firm is devoted to providing superior legal representation and dedicated service to its clients. The firm believes that the diversity of practice, its quick turnaround, adherence to deadlines, transparent billing and impeccable integrity will hold it in good stead. Furthermore, Parul said “We will continue to do good quality work and remain focussed on consolidation of our clients and practices. On questions regarding growth, she says “Growing for the sake growth is not something that we will buy into. We will grow only when our clients want us to grow.”
