ABHIJIT JOSHIINTERVIEWExtracts from Abhijit Joshi Interview with G2

Abhijit Joshi is the Founding Partner of Veritas Legal.

He was the senior partner and chief executive officer (CEO) at AZB & Partners until November 2104.

He has been involved in some of the major landmark deals, such as the Rs 5,150 crore Tech Mahindra - Satyam Computer Services merger, Usd 2.6 billion Tata -Docomo transaction among many others

Mr Abhijit Joshi started his journey with merely 15 lawyers at AZB which has now grown into an organization that has over 200 lawyers.

He is an advocate, solicitor and solicitor England and Wales having completing his articles under Amarchand Mangaldas managing partner Cyril Shroff in the early nineties.

Abhijit Joshi gave a exclusive interview with G2 and some of the highlights are as follows:

Introduction

Highlights from Interview

The memory of a few cases One of the cases that made an indelible impression on Abhijit's mind was the legal battle between Coca Cola and Gujarat Bottlers, which had been bought over by Coca Cola's rival, Pepsico.

The move took away market share from Coca Cola in a large part of western India. Coca Cola, in turn, 'bought over' the company's staff.

The case went on and on, as legal battles often do, but it flagged the first cola war in an India that was opening up economically.

Abhijit remembers working in the office late into the night, going though volumes of case papers. 'Those were very hectic days and very exciting, too,' he recalls.

"I was absorbing it all." It was a time when Abhijit was also studying for the solicitors' examination.

"That case taught me the basics," Mr. Joshi recalls.

"I was exposed to the best solicitors. I learned that it is not always the size of the settlement that is important, but the complexity of the matter."

Another case that comes to mind is the acquisition of Satyam Computers by Tech Mahindra, which took months to complete due to the complexity of the case.

The Financial Times applauded Abhijit for his innovative handling of the case," one of the biggest corporate mergers" in India's history in which one of the parties faced "multiple court actions".

The deal was challenged on several occasions including by minority shareholders and Satyam's creditors.

Abhijit got his team of lawyers to anticipate every possible scenario that might crop up in the situation and work through each of them.

Highlights from Interview

The merger was eventually cleared by the courts with not a single judgement against it. The innovation lay in anticipation.

"Innovation in our field is a rarity:. he says. Over the years, Abhijit has seen the ups and downs of court cases and the legal system.

There was a case of transactions in the telecom industry, in which preference share structures evolved and went on into the markets. Abhijit recalls that it was many years later that the law was changed on the matter.

Highlights from Interview