JUSTICE RS RAMANATHANN

• (Retd.) Madras High Court

Justice R.S. Ramanathan completed his degree in St John’s College, Palayamkottai and obtained his law graduation from Madras Law College. Justice Ramanathan started his career as a Legal Practitioner in 1976. He was appointed as an Additional Judge in the Madras High Court on March 3, 2009 and was then appointed as a Permanent Judge of Madras High Court, on March 29, 2011.

Justice Ramanathan has rendered many landmark judgments in civil matters and has retired from the Judiciary, in 2015. He was appointed as an one-man committee to determine the compensation to be paid to each of the 16 people who contracted Hepatitis C while undergoing dialysis at the Government Stanley Medical Hospital.

JUSTICE K.B.K.VASUKI

• (Retd.), Madras High Court

JJustice Vasuki completed her degree in PSG Krishnammal College for women and graduation in law at at Law College, Madras. She was the only Lady Judge, to emerge successful in the Judiciary Examination, out of the 56 appointees in her batch. Initially, Justice Vasuki was a District Munsif at Poonamallee and Karur and then worked as a District Judge at Coimbatore and Salem. Later on, Justice Vasuki was appointed as a Labour Judge at Coimbatore and served as the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Coimbatore and a Family court Judge at Madurai, as well.

Justice Vasuki has immense experience in civil, commercial and arbitration matters and has authored many landmark Judgments in civil as well as criminal matters. Justice Vasuki served few years in the State Transport Appellate Tribunal at Chennai after which she was appointed as Registrar in High Court, Madras. Justice Vasuki adorned the bench of the Madras High Court for several years and after her retirement in 2015, Justice Vasuki has been serving as an Arbitrator in a variety of commercial arbitration matters.

Mr. ANANTH MERATHIA

• BA (Eco), Masters (Foreign Trade), LLM (Singapore), FCIArb (London)

Mr. Anant Merathia is a practicing Advocate and Alternative dispute resolution lawyer, with over 15 years’ experience. He holds formal overseas legal qualifications, and has several years of experience both in India and in Singapore. Mr. Anant focuses on corporate, commercial litigations and arbitrations, and is predominantly involved in corporate insolvency and restructuring of companies. He also advises clients on corporate and contractual advisory issues, cross border corporate advisory and litigations and shareholder disputes.

Mr. Ananth Merathia, is an accredited Mediator, Arbitrator and Trainer. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Chennai based boutique law firm, Anant Merathia & Associates.

Mr. S ARUNACHALAM

• Accredited Mediator and Trainer

Mr. Arunachalam is a renowned Mediator, Arbitrator and Trainer who has completed his graduation in Kanyakumari and did his masters in Presidency college, Chennai. He is a practicing advocate with more than 30 years of bar experience. He has written nearly 10 books on ADR and he is one of the Founding Members of the registered body named, SOFADS, (The Society for Alternate Dispute Solutions). SOFADS has a long travel of 16 years, in creating awareness about ADR and in facilitating amicable dispute resolution.

Mr. Arunachalam is also a Panel Mediator in Tamilnadu Mediation and Concilliation Centre, High Court of Madras. He has handled many Mediation and Arbitration matters across India.

Mr. P.V.BALASUBRAMANIAM

• Accredited Mediator and Trainer, Partner at BFS Legal.

P.V. Balasubramaniam started his career as a litigation lawyer in 1997. His areas of practice include IPR, Labour, Civil, Criminal and Corporate Laws apart from Commercial Arbitrations.

Mr. Balasubramaniam is the founding Partner of BFS Legal, Chennai based boutique law firm. He has advised clients on several transactional deals, apart from handling M&As and drawing up required documentation to facilitate smooth closure, bearing in mind issues peculiar to Indian legal and commercial environment. Mr. Balasubramaniam has contributed to the Doing Business project of the World Bank in the field of enforcing Contracts, for the years 2010 and 2011.

Mr. DESIKAN BALAJI

• Partner, DB Law Chambers

Desikan Balaji is an Advocate and a corporate law consultant, based out of Chennai. He is an Associate Member of Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and is a Qualified Cost Accountant, holding Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from University of Madras. He is also an Associate Member of Chartered Institute of Arbitration, UK and has qualified the Advanced Arbitration Course conducted by the Association for International Arbitration. He holds a post- graduation diploma in IPR from National law School, Bangalore.

He is the Managing Partner at DB Law Chambers and has over 10 years of experience handling a wide variety of corporate disputes and in teaching corporate laws at various Institutes, various Colleges and Corporates in Chennai. He has written several books for CS executive and has recently authored a book on Mergers, Amalgamations and Corporate restructuring for Bharat publishers. He has published several articles in professional magazines and journals and is frequently invited as a speaker to several conferences and seminars organized by professional institutes and associations on subjects like corporate laws, Insolvency code, ADR etc.

Mr. A.J. JAWAD

• Accredited Mediator and Trainer

Mr. Jawad has been a mediator since 2007. He has extensive experience in mediating commercial, contractual, matrimonial and child custody cases. He is a trainer with the MCPC, Supreme Court of India and has trained lawyers and judges in mediation all over India and has conducted Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops for the MCPC. Jawad is empaneled with the SIMC as an India- specialist mediator. He is accredited as a SIMI Level 3 Mediator. He is a panel mediator with the Bombay Chamber of Commerce.

Jawad is also empaneled as an arbitrator with the Madras High Court. Jawad works for ADR ODR International, UK, a thought leader in ADR and ODR, as a mediator and global faculty and has been involved in mediation training programs in universities in the UK and India. He is a partner and Head of ADR Services with KDLex Chambers, a firm offering a range of ADR services. He is a Specialist Guest Faculty with the Maharashtra National Law University.

Mr. JAYAVEL

• Arbitrator

Mr. Jayavel is an active Legal Practitioner having practice in Karur, Madurai and Madras High Court. He is an arbitrator with more than 20 years of experience. He has done his B. Com from National College, Trichy and his Law degree from Government Law College, Trichy. He has handled more than 100 arbitration matters and his expertise is on banking, commercial and construction arbitrations. He has authored several articles on subjects relating to general law and arbitration.

Ms. R. RATHNA THARA

• M.L, P.G.D.P.M, Accredited Mediator and Trainer.

Ms. R. Rathna Thara, is a Renowned and Accredited Mediator, Arbitrator and Trainer. She did her Masters in law and Post Graduate Diploma in Production and Management. She has more than 30 years of bar experience and has handled many sensitive Mediation matters across India. She is also a Member of the registered body named, SOFADS, (The Society for Alternate Dispute Solutions), from its inception. SOFADS has a long travel of 16 years, in creating awareness about ADR and in facilitating amicable dispute resolution.

Ms. R. Rathna Thara is also a Panel Mediator of the Tamilnadu Mediation and Concilliation Centre, High Court of Madras. She has trained many Lawyers and Judicial officers across the country.

Ms. VANDHANA BHATT

• Techno-legal consultant

Ms. Vandana got her start working as a Class I officer in the Government of India before moving on to work as a techno-legal consultant at Pro-Care Project Administrators and Management Advisors. Ms.Vandana specializes in all things related to techno-legal construction law and is a renowned Technical Arbitrator. Ms. Vandhana has got several fellowships and affiliations and some of which includes, The Institution of Engineers (India), Indian Institute of Technical Arbitrators wherein Ms.Vandhana is the Senior Vice President West Zone Officer, Board Member of Indian Merchant Chambers, Board Member of Indian Council of Arbitration, Member of American Society of Civil Engineers etc.

Mr. ANANTH MERATHIA

• BA (Eco), Masters (Foreign Trade), LLM (Singapore), FCIArb (London)

Mr. Anant Merathia is a practicing Advocate and Alternative dispute resolution lawyer, with over 15 years’ experience. He holds formal overseas legal qualifications, and has several years of experience both in India and in Singapore. Mr. Anant focuses on corporate, commercial litigations and arbitrations, and is predominantly involved in corporate insolvency and restructuring of companies. He also advises clients on corporate and contractual advisory issues, cross border corporate advisory and litigations and shareholder disputes.

Mr. Ananth Merathia, is an accredited Mediator, Arbitrator and Trainer. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Chennai based boutique law firm, Anant Merathia & Associates.

Mr. S ARUNACHALAM

• Accredited Mediator and Trainer.

Mr. Arunachalam is a renowned Mediator, Arbitrator and Trainer who has completed his graduation in Kanyakumari and did his masters in Presidency college, Chennai. He is a practicing advocate with more than 30 years of bar experience. He has written nearly 10 books on ADR and he is one of the Founding Members of the registered body named, SOFADS, (The Society for Alternate Dispute Solutions). SOFADS has a long travel of 16 years, in creating awareness about ADR and in facilitating amicable dispute resolution.

Mr. Arunachalam is also a Panel Mediator in Tamilnadu Mediation and Concilliation Centre, High Court of Madras. He has handled many Mediation and Arbitration matters across India.

Mr. P.V.BALASUBRAMANIAM

• Accredited Mediator and Trainer, Partner at BFS Legal.

P.V. Balasubramaniam started his career as a litigation lawyer in 1997. His areas of practice include IPR, Labour, Civil, Criminal and Corporate Laws apart from Commercial Arbitrations.

Mr. Balasubramaniam is the founding Partner of BFS Legal, Chennai based boutique law firm. He has advised clients on several transactional deals, apart from handling M&As and drawing up required documentation to facilitate smooth closure, bearing in mind issues peculiar to Indian legal and commercial environment. Mr. Balasubramaniam has contributed to the Doing Business project of the World Bank in the field of enforcing Contracts, for the years 2010 and 2011.

Mr. A.J. JAWAD

• Accredited Mediator and Trainer

Mr. Jawad has been a mediator since 2007. He has extensive experience in mediating commercial, contractual, matrimonial and child custody cases. He is a trainer with the MCPC, Supreme Court of India and has trained lawyers and judges in mediation all over India and has conducted Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops for the MCPC. Jawad is empaneled with the SIMC as an India- specialist mediator. He is accredited as a SIMI Level 3 Mediator. He is a panel mediator with the Bombay Chamber of Commerce.

Jawad is also empaneled as an arbitrator with the Madras High Court. Jawad works for ADR ODR International, UK, a thought leader in ADR and ODR, as a mediator and global faculty and has been involved in mediation training programs in universities in the UK and India. He is a partner and Head of ADR Services with KDLex Chambers, a firm offering a range of ADR services. He is a Specialist Guest Faculty with the Maharashtra National Law University.

Ms. R. RATHNA THARA

• M.L, P.G.D.P.M, Accredited Mediator and Trainer.

Ms. R. Rathna Thara, is a Renowned and Accredited Mediator, Arbitrator and Trainer. She did her Masters in law and Post Graduate Diploma in Production and Management. She has more than 30 years of bar experience and has handled many sensitive Mediation matters across India. She is also a Member of the registered body named, SOFADS, (The Society for Alternate Dispute Solutions), from its inception. SOFADS has a long travel of 16 years, in creating awareness about ADR and in facilitating amicable dispute resolution.

Ms. R. Rathna Thara is also a Panel Mediator of the Tamilnadu Mediation and Concilliation Centre, High Court of Madras. She has trained many Lawyers and Judicial officers across the country.

Ms. UMA RAMANATHAN

• Accredited Mediator and Trainer, Co-founder & Managing Trustee of Foundation for Comprehensive Dispute Resolution.

Having qualified as a lawyer from the Madras Law College, Chennai, Ms. Uma Ramanathan, started her career as a Practitioner in the High Court of Madras. She quit litigation practice to be a full time Mediator in 2009 and was also appointed as the Organising Secretary of the Tamilnadu Mediation and Concilliation Centre (TNMCC), High Court of Madras. She has been the coordinator of the TNMCC since 2015. She is also a Member of the panel constituted by the Supreme Court of India to draft the Manual for Mediation training.

Ms. Uma Ramanathan is the Co-founder & Managing Trustee of Foundation for Comprehensive Dispute Resolution. Her book ‘Resolve-2- Re-solve’ is an excellent compilation of techniques of psychology, philosophy and raining in conflict management, which is a novel approach on Mediation.

Mr. M. SRICHARAN RANGARAJAN

• Partner, SG Law Chambers

Mr. Sricharan is the Co-Founder of SG Law Chambers, Chennai based boutique Law firm. He obtained an LLB degree in Indian Law Society, Pune. He obtained Dual LLM degree on (Banking, Corporate, Finance and Securities Law) from National University of Singapore and New York University School of Law, with full merit under ‘Bashir Mallal Scholarship’.

Mr. Sricharan started his career as an International Corporate Lawyer in Drew and Napier LLC, one of the leading law firms in Singapore. He then, quit his job and started his practice in Madras High Court. Mr. Sricharan has more than 14 years of experience as a Legal Practitioner and has gained expertise in Civil matters, Corporation litigation and transactions, Intellectual property matters, insolvency laws etc. He has handled a variety of arbitration matters, has been appointed as an Arbitrator in domestic as well as international arbitrations and has also successfully defended the State Government in sensitive arbitration matters. He is currently working on a Commentary in Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 for a leading publisher in India.

Mr. K.GOWTHAM KUMAR

• Partner, SG Law Chambers.

Mr. Gowtham is a practicing advocate in Madras High Court over 12+ year of experience. He obtained an LLB degree in Indian Law Society, Pune. He did his under graduation in the Loyola College, Chennai. He started his career as a Practitioner under Renowned Senior Counsel, Mr. Venkata Vardhan and started gaining expertise in a wide variety of Civil matters including Financial disputes, Contractual Disputes, Corporate litigation, etc. He is the Co-Founder of SG Law Chambers, Chennai based boutique law firm.