PUHAZH GANDHI – PRESIDENT
Puhazh is a lawyer and is the General Managing Partner of a leading law firm SPAB & Co, Advocates and Legal consultants. Puhazh’s practice area includes Infrastructure, Banking and Corporate, International Trade (WTO), Information Technology (IT/ITES), Alternate Dispute resolution and International Investments. He has led numerous transactions in Singapore, Brunei, Srilanka, Philippines, Indonesia, Africa etc.Puhazh is a consultant to a number of reputed law firms in the Asian region including LAW ASIA, a leading international law firm headquartered in Singapore.
A record holder in his LL.B (First rank holder) programme bagging nine gold medals from the University of Kerala. Did his M.Phil in International Law from India’s top ranking University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. A Deans (Merit) Scholar at New York University School of Law for his LLM, where he was also awarded the prestigious International Law and Human Rights fellowship. Puhazh was invited by the Hague Academy of International Law at the International Court of Justice for the prestigious Public International Law Lecture Series in 2003.
Puhazh is also a well known arguing counsel. Even during his college days, he represented India in the XIth Manfred Lacs International moot court competition held at Sydney, Australia in 2000 Puhazh has worked as a lawyer at the Appellate body Secretariat of the World Trade Organization at Geneva. He was a member of the Team, which assisted the WTO Appellate body in deciding the famous dispute of U.S v. Canada - the Soft wood Lumber VI, and U.S v. E.C - the Zeroing case. He also worked as the Assistant Coordinator (Academics) for the Regional Trade Policy Course conducted by the World Trade Organization at the National University of Singapore in which Senior/Mid level civil servants from thirty different countries were imparted training in Trade Law.
Recently he was a Visiting Expert Advisor for Judge His Excellency Mr Rene Blattamann at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, to advise him in the trial of Mr Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese war lord from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a rare honor for any lawyer and only senior judges, prosecutors, senior attorneys from leading law firms, professors of international law were invited by ICC for such a position. Puhazh is ranked as a leading lawyer in India for ‘Contracts and Information Technology’ by GLOBAL LAW EXPERTS, a reputed rating agency based out of London. Puhazh represents a number of government organizations as well. He is the National Legal Consultant for the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Legal Counsel for Software Technology Parks of India, Counsel for the Airports Authority of India all under Government of India.
SHOBHAN M PADHMANABHAN - EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Shobhan M Padmanabhan holds distinction of being in the Bar for more than 10 years (out of which 5 years of Supreme Court practice) and presently as Senior Partner, SPAB & Co, Advocates & Legal Consultants, with expertise in handling Legal functions with divergent requirements. He had filed Public Interest Litigations before the Supreme Court for upholding human rights.
Shobhan was one of the Judges in the 2003 Stetson International Environmental Law Moot Court Competition-India National rounds and also attended the Conference on Data Governance organized by IBM at Hamburg, Germany and Convention on International Law & Politics [‘Quest for Energy’] at St.Gallen University, Switzerland. Shobhan is Vice-President of VMA (Velachery Malayalee Association) a cultural and charitable organization and Legal Advisor of Candles Foundation (a public charitable Trust).
Shobhan has solid domain knowledge of provisions of various Corporate, Commercial and Civil Laws, Contract management & risk analysis. He has been actively involved in planning legal strategies including merger and acquisition of IT/ITES companies, conducting due diligence, drafting a wide range of legal documents/ commercial documents, and addressing all aspects of litigation related matters and ensuring compliance with stipulated rules of the area.
He has advised clients in the areas of Due Diligence Reviews, Business Restructuring including Merger & Acquisition etc. He has also represented several clients before various forums and regulatory bodies under Companies Act, Foreign Trade Policy, Special Economic Zone, Software Technology Parks Scheme, Transfer of Property Act, Consumer Protection Act, Competition Act etc., He is member of Supreme Court of India Bar Association, Madras High Court Advocates Association and Council for National and International Commercial Arbitration.