Establishing, running, and managing a company is a herculean task. Raising finances to find the operational space and recruiting the right people, are the priorities, which comes to everyone’s mind, whoever thinks of being an entrepreneur and setting up an enterprise. Though already established professionals in the corporate arena know, that company’s legal aspects, are one of the topmost priorities, for any business, from its inception to its expansion, to its ultimate success. And for any kind of legal counsel, they need top-notch corporate legal counsellors.
They are also, well aware that, there is such a law firm, which had always been there for them, through their thick and thin. In fact, over the span of the last 15 years, the law firm became synonymous with its legal thought. That is, whenever a corporate thinks of legal counsel, the first name on its mind is King Stubb & Kasiva (“KSK”).
You must be curious about, why is that? Let us find out the reasons, from the firm’s Co-founder, Senior Partner and Corporate M&A Lawyer, Rajesh Sivaswamy. Below given, are the excerpts, from his exclusive interview with Insights Success.
Sir, please describe KSK in detail.
King Stubb & Kasiva (“KSK”) – Advocates & Attorneys, is a full-service law firm in India, with offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata & Milan (Italy), with 120+ professionals. We, inter alia, assist multinational companies, banks, private equity and venture capital funds, and financial institutions in India. Our delivery of legal services is supported at both the individual office level and through various firm-wide Practice Areas viz., Litigation and ADR, Commercial Transactions, Corporate, Regulatory and Allied Laws, Labour & Employment, Tax (Indirect and Direct), Customs & Trade, Intellectual Property Rights, Infrastructure, Power& Energy, M&A, VC & PE and Capital Market.
The firm has developed a unique service delivery model, that enables us to serve client requirements across 900 locations in the country. This ability, combined with the competency of the lawyers in the firm, has enabled us, to garner several marquee clients, over the years. King Stubb & Kasiva’s lawyers have an extensive understanding of the issues, that involve the internet, cyber security, data privacy, encryption, and other related matters. We are one of the top and fastest-growing law firms in India, which advises several clients, from domestic as well as international markets. Recently, we were also awarded as “Top 30 Fastest Growing Law Firm in Asia -2021”, by ALB.
Rajesh Sivaswamy sir, will you brief us about yourself and shed some light on your professional journey so far.
I am a corporate M&A lawyer based in New Delhi with 20 plus years of experience. I focus primarily on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, divestitures and sales of businesses, joint ventures and strategic alliances, with particular emphasis on cross-border transactions. I advise a broad spectrum of clients, working primarily with institutions, private equity funds, and Multi-National companies. I also act for a number of Indian companies, particularly in the context of cross-border transactions and advise the Government of India in my capacity as a legal advisor to the Make in India initiative.
What made you venture into the corporate and commercial law sector?
During the time I was doing law at Bangalore, I had the opportunity to interact and collaborate on various aspects of law and of all the areas of law; I had a particular leaning towards corporate commercial laws. Corporate lawyers not only solve problems of the business, but they also prevent them. Hence there is a lot of dependence on solution-oriented lawyers, which is one of the reasons, I intended to make a career, of being a corporate lawyer.
What kind of offerings do you provide to your clients?
KSK is a full-service law firm but our signature practice, Mergers & Acquisitions, has earned praise for its innovative approach to transactions. With our team advising on some of India’s most high-profile and cutting-edge M&A transactions, takeover bids, on-market exits, public offers, delisting and block deals, year after year.
Execution of complex M&A transactions, even in the most compressed timelines, is our forte. With decades of transactional expertise, representing diverse stakeholders, we have garnered extensive knowledge in multivariate challenges and solutions in M&A transactions. This, along with our ability to set and anticipate market trends, basic deep understanding of domestic and global industries, sectors and markets, sets us apart.
Corporate and Commercial Advisory practise provides advice on a range of transactional and regulatory matters, advising companies, directors, shareholders, partnerships, limited liability partnerships, trusts and other business entities, on:
- Doing business in India
- Structuring and setting up operations in India, including applying for and obtaining requisite approvals
- Legal and regulatory implications in the context of a business structure, including Company Law, corporate social responsibility, director’s duties and FDI
- Partnership and Limited Liability Partnership matters
- Trust law, foreign contributions and their regulation
- Structuring, drafting and negotiating contracts, including consultancy, confidentiality, services, strategic alliance, distribution, franchising, marketing, teaming, joint venture licenses, technology licensing, technology transfer and cooperation, reseller and consortium agreements
- Commercial law
- Re-structuring, exit strategies, winding up and repatriation of proceeds
- M&A Disputes, both domestic and international matters
Advantage KSK:
Our cross-border capabilities, including our ability to work on multi-jurisdictional transactions, are one of the distinguishing features of our M&A practice. By way of an example, we advised Quest Global on multi-jurisdictional cross border transactions in Korea, China and the US, where we were the lead counsel and collaborated with international law firms, including Eversheds, to deliver excellence in quality of services. The number of complex and high-value matters/deals that King Stubb & Kasiva (“KSK”) – Advocates and Attorneys, are currently doing, has also increased in comparison with those of the last years. Our credible work has led to repeat business and engagement across multiple businesses under the same group. This is a testament, to the high degree of service and quality, for which we have become known in the industry.
What kind of challenges have you faced while entering the corporate and commercial law sector?
When we started King Stubb & Kasiva, we were well aware that, we had no godfather in the industry, to propel us. This was both a plus and a challenge and in hindsight, the fact that we had no backing, made us work harder. Jidesh and me, co-founders of the firm, had to start our entrepreneurial journey, and do pretty much everything, from getting work to executing work, including running accounts and admin tasks. These early days, and the efforts, that we put in right at the very beginning, meaning that, we were able to navigate most of the challenges that have come our way.
How much KSK was affected in these pandemic times and what were the steps taken by you to curb the damages, all the while helping your clients and maintaining the safety of your employees?
We did not face any impact from Covid-19. In fact, we have expanded our business many folds, during the last 24 months. We have had flexible work from home arrangements since 2012 onwards, which meant that the technology and processes, that we invested in, assisted the lawyers to be able to easily migrate to a work-from-home arrangement when the COVID wave hit India. We had adequately invested in our IT infrastructure, and this meant that all documentation and records were electronically accessible to the lawyers. This planning ensured that we were fully prepared to transition to work from home, during COVID-19, without facing challenges. We have also utilised the remote working platform, to minimise the time spent on matters, thus, bringing greater value to the clients. We also attempted to utilise our time more efficiently, since we had all cut down on travel and admin time. We managed to achieve an efficiency rate of 30 percent, which we passed on to the clients by way of reduction of fees.
What would you like to advise the young generation of legal enthusiasts?
There is no substitute for smart work. Working hard is important, but if you don’t get your goals clear, it will be an uphill task to grow in the legal career. I see a lot of young talent, who are confused, as to what path they should take, once they become lawyers. On the one hand, you have the option of being a litigating lawyer, appearing before the courts. On the other, you have companies vying for young legal talent. There is also the option of joining law firms, where you can hone your skills with fellow lawyers. Whatever the path that young lawyers choose, my suggestion is that, stick to the role and profile for a consistent period of time, which will help in the long run. Being a lawyer can be very rewarding, both personally and professionally, and is certainly a noble profession.
Where do you envision your firm to be in the long run and what are your future goals? How do you plan to embrace the changes happening in your industry?
When we started out, we obviously had goals for ourselves: we wanted to be a firm of repute and we wanted to be a firm that provides high-quality advice to our customers. We hope to continue this journey. We are not caught up with the numbers game – the number of offices, the number of lawyers etc. doesn’t make a difference to us. Instead, we would want to be a better version of ourselves, to be more available to our clients, to provide more insightful advice to them. We’d want to go where our clients take us and focus on improving our services to our people. The number of offices we currently have, are a mere reflection of our client’s requirements, so, we would always focus on doing what they want.
I think the message is that we have come a very long way from where we started, and we have a long way to go, yet. It’s been a lengthy but satisfying walk so far and the best is yet to come.
What is the current industrial scenario of the corporate and commercial law sector?
The current scenario is very positive, both of law firms and doing business in India. Various government initiatives, to make the system transparent, are helping every stakeholder in doing business. As per my views, frequent amendments in the law governing company jurisprudence can have far-reaching positive consequences.
