Savitha Kesav Jagadeesan is a Senior Partner and Co-heads the Kochhar & Co. Chennai office. In addition, to leading the Intellectual Property practice in Chennai, her practice areas include Corporate Law, Employment Law, and TMT.

Savitha extensively advises on labour matters including employer employee disputes, termination issues. She has also been appointed as the IC external member for several companies and advises companies on issues related to Workplace Harassment and Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH).

Savitha also advises several large foreign and domestic clients on negotiating and handling joint ventures, Private Equity investment documentation, foreign direct investment (FDI), technical collaborations, share/asset purchase deals, mergers and acquisitions and India investment strategies. In addition to handling the traditional IPR issues, Savitha has been handling IP portfolios (litigation and prosecution) for clients across a wide range of industry sectors including FMCG, auto parts, IT, education, media and entertainment, amongst others.

Savitha mentors and advises startups and hi-tech companies on e-commerce and internet related transactions, critical issues relating to co-branding, content licensing, platform agreements and cyber related IPR issues.

She has an extensive research background and is recipient of the prestigious Monash Research Scholarship (Australia) to conduct research in the area of Cyber Crime and Policing. During her stint in Australia, she also taught Contract law, Commercial Law and Criminal Law at Monash University and Victoria University.

Education

• LL.M (Corporate Law), Annamalai University
• BA. LL.B (Hons), National Law School of India University
• Diploma in Cyber crimes and Cyber Forensics, National Law School of India University

Memberships

• Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa, 1999
• Member of the Congress of Fellows, CILS, Salzburg

Publications

• IP Enforcement in India, Asia IP Journal, May 2015
• Contributed to the Book, Doing Business in India, 2014 till date
• Cyber crime and the Corporate Sector; Comparative Law Yearbook of International Business, Wolters Kluwer, 2013
• Franchising and the Law, Comparative Law, Wolters Kluwer, 2013
• Book Chapter, Crime and Law, Ed. R Thilagaraj et al, 2012
• Taking Steps to Protect Your IP Rights
• Cybercrime in the Corporate Sector

Awards & Recognitions

• Recognised among India’s ’Top 100 Lawyers’ by FORBES Legal Powerlist 2020; felicitated for expertise in Intellectual Property Rights
• One of the Top 100 IP Lawyers in India by ASIA IP
• One of the Top 100 Women IP Professionals by World IP Forum
• Invited Member of the Congress of Fellows of the Centre for International Legal Studies, Salzburg, Austria
• Chair of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)- Indian Women Network (IWN), Chennai Chapter
• Co-Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee of MCCI
• Honorary Legal Advisor for the Indo Australian Chamber of Commerce
• India Business Law Journal: Future Legal Leaders 2022
• Legal 500 Asia Pacific: Recommended lawyer for Labour & Employment 2021, IPR 2021, 2022, TMT 2021, 2022
• Forbes India Legal Powerlist - Top 100 Lawyers: Felicitated for expertise in IPR 2020, 2021, E-Commerce 2021, Fintech 2021, Technology 2021, Start-ups practice 2021

Select Experience Statement

• Advised the Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments/Arulmigu Dhandayuthapani Swamy Thirukkoil with respect to procurement of the Geographical Indication (GI) tag for the famous Palani Panchamirtham, given as ‘Prasadam’ at the Palani Murugan Temple. This is the first time a temple ‘prasadam’ from the State of Tamil Nadu (TN) has been bestowed with the GI tag. It is also the only other Prasadam after the famous Tirupathi Laddu that has been granted a GI tag.
• Handling the IPR portfolio of India’s leading legacy companies and start-ups in manufacturing, retail, IT frame. This includes handling the client's entire IP portfolio and advising on the IP infringement & enforcement and cross-border measures towards protection of IP Rights.
• Advising on patent filing and design filings of key clients in manufacturing space.
• Advised a leading tunnelling company on their India consortium issues, including RFPs as well as labour related matters.
• Advised some of India’s leading manufacturing companies on their FIDIC related contractual issues.
• Have advised on convertible notes, compulsory convertible debentures and issue of preference shares.
• Advised an Indian companies on IPR issues relating to their Madrid and foreign applications to secure their brands worldwide.