S Senthil Kumar
Mobile & WhatsApp Number: +91 98845 62011
senthil_legalfirm@yahoo.co.in
A) Brief Profile
A corporate attorney with 16 years of experience in End-to-end contracts management, Crisis
resolution, HR-Legal practice, Labour disputes, Dispute resolution, Litigation, Statutory
compliance, Team management, Legal due diligence and General legal advisory services.
B) Core Skillset and Experience
Management of Organization’s overall Legal requirement, risk mitigating practices,
policies & Team management.
End-to-end contract management including post-contract compliance and risk
management.
HR-Legal and Labour disputes
Litigation and Pre-litigation disputes management
Statutory Compliance
Mergers and acquisitions & Legal due diligence
General legal advisory
Managing external law firms and overall cost of litigation/external consulting
C) Professional Experience & Key Accomplishments
Financial Software and Systems Private Limited
Associate Vice President - Legal
From May 2015 to till date
Successfully delivered the entire legal services requirements of a major BU in FSS on end-to-end
basis and entire corporate teams.
Streamlined litigation strategies of the Company, and also ensured favourable verdicts in majority
of cases especially high value litigations, cases before Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and various
High Courts.
Handled and strategized the pre-litigation disputes with intent to avoid litigation against the
Company, and also ensured that the documentation in favour of the Company is available on record
to handle any claims in future.
Adopted and implemented ‘hire and train’ model and thereby ensured cost effective manpower
management in Legal department.
Contributed to the business growth of the company with business enabling approach and risk
mitigating strategy rather than a mere indicator of risk factors.
Implemented a centralized Compliance Monitoring Process through the aid of compliance software;
and ensuring statutory Compliance on ongoing basis.
Successfully negotiated and closed high value client contracts and strategic procurements.
On a billing dispute with customer, I played key role through having face to face meetings at
multiple levels in customer organization and convinced them with merits in favour of the Company
to release certain disputed payments in favour of the Company and also to adopt same payment
calculation method on ongoing basis. It has made that multi hundred crores project to turn
profitable from otherwise loss-making contract.
With regard to crisis management, I have played key role on numerous times and ensured
resolution of those customer, vendor, employee disputes and law enforcement authority related
matters.
Managed the intellectual property related matters in coordination with the external counsels.
Delivered the legal services pertaining to new business areas of the Organization, whenever a new
business unit is inducted, through quick analysis of the potential operational risk factors to ensure
the contractual / procedural safeguards accordingly.
Played a key role in forming new business units and expanding operation of existing businesses
with necessary legal services and risk mitigating efforts/policies.
Closely worked with the Business and Functional Heads to align the legal services and capabilities
accordingly as a business partner.
Automated the legal process wherever feasible through implementation of contract forms,
knowledge database and necessary procedures to facilitate the business requirements of
Organization.
Customized the contract templates of the organization specific to the critical aspects of respective
local laws/judicial precedent in consultation with the external counsels in respective jurisdictions.
Implemented contract review and deviation limits matric, play book, post-contract execution
compliance mechanism.
Managed the labour matters / issues related to disciplinary proceedings, investigation, sexual
harassment complaints, termination, deputation, settlement, hiring/separation of senior level
executives and HR related agreements/documentation.
Managed the criminal proceedings in diligent manner to ensure that the interests of the Company,
Directors and Senior Management concerned are protected in adequate manner without giving rise
to any potential harassment of the Company’s Promoters, Directors.
Erstwhile Vasco Worldwide India Private Limited which was a group company of VFS
Global (now Spinebiz Services Private Limited)
Associate General Manager – Legal
From November 2013 to May 2015
Managed the entire contracts management requirements of the Organization spanning around
Clients Contracts, Teaming Agreements, Procurement Contracts including Real Estate and License
Agreements and Labour related documentation including i) Employment Contracts, ii) HR
Compliance Matrix, iii) Disciplinary Proceedings Manuals, & iv) Employment Contracts for
Executive Management Level.
Discovered a systematic in-house legal research method and thereby reduced the Costs of External
Legal Consulting by 70%.
Taken key role in rolling our new operations in more than 25 countries across globe through
management of Contract requirements, Real Estate Agreements/Due Diligence, preparation and
finalization of Employment Contracts, HR Compliance Matrix, Disciplinary Proceedings Manuals.
Trained the junior legal hires to align the legal requirements of the Organization.
Managed the pre-litigation disputes in an effective manner to ensure that those disputes are not
progressed as litigation against the Company.
Managed the drafting and structuring of several inter-company agreements with specific regard to
the respective financial impact and tax related requirements depending upon the jurisdiction
involved.
Implemented contract review and deviation limits matric, play book, post-contract execution
compliance mechanism.
Cognizant Technology Solutions India Pvt Ltd
Manager - Legal
From December 2010 to October 2013
Handled litigations initiated by / against the company including pre-litigation disputes.
Drafted, reviewed and negotiated agreements of various nature.
Reduced the litigation risk to a significant extent (to less than 30%).
Managed the HR-Legal practice for the entire APAC region.
Managed several show cause notices / adverse orders passed against the Company by Labour
authorities, and ensured that the interests of the Company are protected in all aspects. Most of the
issues and disputes with the Labour authorities were resolved through amicable interactions and
successfully defended without any admission of liability / retrospective liability on the part of the
Company.
Handled several quasi-judicial proceedings and periodical interactions with various Government
authorities including Labour Departments, TRAI / DoT and Pollution Control Board.
Managed and played a key role in an implementation of new global deputation / transfer process
across jurisdictions on global basis.
Also handled various HR related documentation processes and several other HR procedures
including re-designation, re-titling, and hiring at senior management level.
Handled real estate related agreements and disputes.
CSS Corp Pvt Ltd
Asst. Manager – Legal (De facto Head Legal)
From September 2008 to September 2010
Managed entire legal requirements of the Company as a one-man team. Later, formed full-fledged
legal department and trained those new hires.
Drafted and negotiated agreements relating to IT services, BPO, Software maintenance,
confidentiality, staffing services, testing services, agencies, clients, business partners and vendors.
Reviewed and provided opinion to management on the documents like Request for proposals,
Request for Information, Lease deeds, Power of Attorneys and so on.
Have ensured key role in Legal due diligence and also conducted independent Legal Due Diligence
[within India] during acquisitions.
Have advised the management with regard to the disputes / claims alleged by the client(s) / third
parties and also successfully managed / handled such disputes in favour the Company.
(Erstwhile) Polaris Software Lab Ltd
Executive, Legal
From February 2007- August- 2008
Drafted and negotiated agreements relating to IT services, Software licensing, Software
maintenance, confidentiality, staffing services, Escrow agencies, outsourcing and other related
agreements with Company’s clients, business partners and vendors.
Analyzed and provided opinion to management on the documents like Bank Guarantees, Request
for proposals, Lease deeds, Power of Attorneys, Purchase orders and so on.
Worked in coordination with global business team and prepared contracts, filing of trademarks and
patents.
Managed litigations filed by and against the company by coordinating with the company’s attorney
worldwide.
Practiced as an Advocate
From September 2005 to February 2007
Represented before various Judicial forums including quasi-judicial authorities.
Learned pleadings and conveyance.
Analyzed and prepared case notes highlighting merits / demerits of each case along with relevant
citations.
Drafted various agreements including logistic agreements and real-estate transactions.
D) Education
Bachelor of Law (B.A.B.L.,) at Dr. Ambedkar Govt. Law College with core subjects Contracts,
Company laws, Administrative laws, Labor laws, Intellectual Property Rights.
E) Personal Details
Age: 38 years
DoB: September 10, 1982
Sex: Male
Marital Status: Married
Address: Villa III F, Jones Cassia, Karanai Main Road, Ottiyambakkam, Chennai-130
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