Manjula Chawla

Introduction

Manjula Chawla is a co-founder and partner at Phoenix Legal, a leading full-service law firm with offices in Delhi and Mumbai. She focuses on strategic corporate investment, M&A, foreign direct investment, PE, corporate finance and restructuring, divestitures, as well as general corporate and commercial matters.

Chawla was one of the first lawyers to advise on cross-border transactions soon after the liberalisation of the Indian economy in 1991.

Since then, she has assisted many multinational corporations including Fortune 500 companies in establishing their presence in India. She has advised clients in numerous M&A, buyouts and other corporate transactions 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.

Her areas of practice include anti‐corruption, competition law, corporate governance, general corporate advice, exchange control laws, data privacy and protection of personal information, labour and employment, as well as real estate. She has also been involved in several complex litigation and arbitration matters arising from 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 furthering social causes in India.

Chawla’s commitment to her clients and consistent delivery of high-quality services has been well recognised. She was awarded the National Law Day Award in 2000 by the Minister of Law and Justice for her “excellence in corporate law” and “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 a highest ranked lawyer in Who’s Who Legal 2024; an “Inspirational Woman Icon” by Fortune India 2023; among the “Visionary Women Counsel of the Year” by the Corporate Counsel Association of India at the Legal Excellence Awards 2021; a “Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year” at the Women in Business Law Awards 2021, Asia by Euromoney Legal Media Group; one of the “Most Promising Women Leaders 2021” by The Economic Times, and is consistently included in IBLJ’s A-List of Indian lawyers.