Bio

Mundkur Law Partners is a specialist, award-winning, boutique Indian law firm, where deep knowledge generates strategic, result-driven solutions. We believe in efficient, effective and ethical representation, and in simplifying legal complexities.

Specialization: MLP specializes in complex, international and domestic, mid-market M&A, venture capital, and private equity transactions (typically USD 5 million to USD 500 million). MLP also offers legal services in four other areas, i.e., education law, life sciences and

healthcare, high value commercial transactions, and corporate governance.

Awards: With a reputation for adding exceptional value in the strategies it develops for clients, MLP has been consistently ranked by Chambers Global, Chambers Asia, and other global directories in their listings of leading law firms.

Clients: The bulk of the firm’s clients are corporate entities that range in size from small and medium businesses to global multinationals. The firm also advises NGOs, international organizations, governments, family offices, and entrepreneurs.

Ramanand Mundkur, the firm’s founder and managing partner, leads the firm’s corporate, M&A, and life science/healthcare practices. He also serves as an independent director on the boards of two listed entities in India: The Federal Bank Ltd, and Fermenta Biotech Limited. He chairs a board committee in each of these entities and is a member of various other board committees in both companies. In addition, Ramanand is an arbitrator, and visiting faculty at India’s leading National Law School of India University, in Bangalore. He was previously with the International Monetary Fund, in Washington DC, and the United Nations in Geneva, before returning to India in late 2007. Ramanand obtained his master’s in law from Harvard Law School (where, as a Langdon E. Gammon fellow and a Myer and Etta Dana scholar, he specialized in international finance), and his bachelor’s degree in law from NLSIU, where he was the university topper and recipient of multiple gold medals. Ramanand is qualified to practice law in both India and New York.

Divya Balagopal is the firm’s co-founder and senior partner. She leads the firm’s education law, commercial, and regulatory policy development practices and has over 25 years of international legal experience. Divya has advised a number of businesses on complex cross-border commercial transactions, including international distribution, franchising, and product supply agreements involving multiple parties and cross-dependencies. She was a member of the advisory board of Akshaya Patra (India’s largest program providing free midday meals to school children), and regularly advises not just companies and educational institutions, but also state governments and international organizations, serving on several advisory committees in the fields of education, child protection, and on prevention of sexual harassment. Divya earned her master's in law from the Graduate Institute in Geneva, and her bachelor's degree from NLSIU, Bangalore. She speaks six languages and is also an empaneled arbitrator with the Indian Institute of Arbitration and Mediation.