The 2019 edition of the IDEX Legal Awards was held in Mumbai on Friday, April 12. Into its eighth year, the awards are a recognition of excellence, transparency, and meritocracy in the Indian legal fraternity.
IDEX also presented Jury Awards under various categories. Justice DY Chandrachud of the Supreme Court was adjudged as ‘Icon of the Year’, while Indira Jaising was given the ‘Senior Advocate of the Year’ award. Former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court AP Shah – last year’s winner of the Icon of the Year award – was present at the function.
This year’s awards received more than 200 submissions from more than 120 law firms and corporates. The winners in various categories were decided by a panel of 13 leading Indian and international jury members, chaired by Mysore Prasanna, former Group General Counsel of the Aditya Birla Group. The other members of the jury panel were:
Commenting on the awards, Managing Director of IDEX Vikas Vij said,
“It’s never been an easy path for us to follow but we’ve been committed since day one to provide the Indian legal fraternity an awards process that they can proudly call their own knowing that the process has been built on transparency, fairness and a commitment to meritocracy meaning that regardless of stature, age, influence or reputation every lawyer has a chance to lift one of the ILAs each year.
What it takes is the ability to articulate a great story and back that up with substantial evidence, hallmarks of great lawyering and our Jury are impartial and independent focused on recognising the best-narrated stories, and those that demonstrate the ability to successfully tell that story have every chance of winning. The domestic award that can unabashedly sit on any mantlepiece.”
The following are the winners in Law Firm categories:
| Category | Winner |
| Law Firm of the Year – Large | Khaitan & Co. |
| Law Firm of the Year – Mid-Size | Ikigai Law |
| Law Firm of the Year – Boutique | C&C Advisors |
| Managing Partner of the Year | Pallavi Shroff and Akshay Chudasama, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas |
| Young Achiever under 35 | Swarnima, Trilegal |
| M&A Law Firm of the Year | Khaitan & Co. |
| Dispute Resolution Law Firm of the Year | Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas |
| Employment Law Firm of the Year | Khaitan & Co. |
| IBC Law Firm of the Year | Khaitan & Co. |
| Intellectual Property Law Firm of the Year | Anand and Anand |
| Regional Law Firm of the Year | IC Universal Legal |
| Best Legal Advisor to Startups | Ikigai Legal |
| India Desk of the Year | Squire Patton Boggs |
The winners in the In House categories were:
| Category | Winner |
| General Counsel of the Year | Sameer Chugh, Bharti Airtel Limited |
| Legal Department of the Year – Medium and Large | Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd & Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (Joint Winners) |
| Legal Department of the Year – Small | Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Limited |
| Young Achiever In House Lawyer of the Year | Hoshedar Havewala, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited |
| Best Banking & Finance Team of the Year | Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Limited |
| Best Use of Innovation & Technology | Dimension Data India Private Limited |
In addition to these, IDEX also handed out Jury Awards in the following categories:
| Category | Winner |
| Icon of the Year | Justice DY Chandrachud |
| Senior Advocate of the Year | Indira Jaising |
| Legal Academic of the Year | Umakanth Varottil |
| Will Power (Woman in Legal Leadership) | Menaka Guruswamy |
| Legal Journalism of the Year | Bar & Bench |