Education
B.A., LL.B. (Hons.), National Law School of India University – 1997
LLM, University of Warwick Law School – 1998
Profile
A seasoned corporate lawyer, Siddharth is in his 23rd year of practice, and focuses on private equity and venture capital transactions; and on cross-border and domestic mergers and acquisitions. He has been highly ranked for several years, including by Chambers & Partners – lauded for his “global business perspective”, “attention to detail” and “excellent technical knowledge”. A Gold Medallist from NLSIU, Siddharth was a British Council & Foreign and Commonwealth Office Chevening, and J. N. Tata, Scholar at the University of Warwick Law School.
Work Experience
Siddharth began his law career in 1998 in Mumbai with the pan-India, leading law firm, Udwadia, Udeshi & Berjis. He has also worked in Hong Kong with the international law firm, O’Melveny & Myers, where he specialized in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, primarily related to China.
Siddharth is currently one of the founder Partners of the Bangalore-headquartered full-service law firm, Saakshya Law; his fourth law practice, founded in 2019. The Firm has an integrated corporate / commercial law and M&A/PE-VC practices (which Siddharth leads), alongside domestic and international commercial disputes; real estate; and indirect tax practices.
Siddharth previously co-founded Narasappa, Doraswamy & Raja, that merged in 2013 to form the pan-India, multi-city law Firm, Samvad: Partners, where he was also one of its Co-Founders. Siddharth broke-away and merged his practice with Argus Partners in 2016 and was the Firm’s Senior Partner & National Executive Director until June 2019. In addition to his other diverse interests, Siddharth is also a trained and certified professional mediator.
Other Roles
- Elected Governor on the Board of the Bangalore International Centre (BIC) – 2018-2020. He was previously an elected member of the BIC’s Executive Committee.
- Member of the Karnataka Government’s Bangalore Tourism Advisory Committee, established under the aegis of the then Hon’ble IT & BT and Tourism Minister, Mr. Priyank Kharge.
- Enrolled as a mediation specialist with India’s leading mediation and conciliation firm, the Centre for Advanced Mediation Practice (CAMP), which is at the forefront of integrating commercial mediation into the practice of dispute resolution in India.
- Serves as an independent Director on several Boards of Indian companies, including, Direct Dialogue Initiatives; Nasmyth India; and Namma Ooru Parampare.
His love for history has lead him to run a successful historical walking tour company – along with his wife, Priya – Nandi Valley Walks. Siddharth pursues historical research on the Princely State of Mysore, through the biographical prism of one of its Dewans, the late Sir Albion Rajkumar Banerji.
Teaching Experience
Visiting Faculty at Jindal Global Law School;
Visiting Faculty at Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science;
Visiting Faculty at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.
He is also associated as a Visiting/Guest Faculty with the think-tank, The Takshashila Institution.
Publications
Books:
Co-authored ‘Entrepreneurs’ Legal Guide to Business‘
Specialist Editor, Company Law (Treatise on the Companies Act, 2013 with Legislative History, Committee Reports, Notes on the Companies Act, 1956 & SEBI Regulations)