Churn continues, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Partner Roshan Thomas to join Byju’s as group general counsel

Roshan Thomas has worked with BMR Legal, Themis Group, Lexygen and Nishith Desai Associates.

Roshan Thomas, a Bengaluru-based partner at law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, is set to join India’s most valued edtech startup Byju’s as the group general counsel, the latest move in the ongoing churn among the legal brass in law firms as well as corporates.

Thomas will join the fast-growing firm at a time when its valuation has touched $15billion following the latest funding rounds. Byju’s has also been on an acquisition spree and recently acquired Aakash Educational Services for $1billion in India’s biggest edtech deal.

“Whilst as a firm we are sad to see Roshan go, we take great pride in Roshan joining Byjus, which is undoubtedly the most valuable and fastest-growing unicorns in India and set to become a global ed-tech giant. I would like to personally wish Roshan the very best,” Shardul Shroff, Executive Chairman, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, said.

Thomas, who will be the legal and compliance head of the group, also confirmed the shift. “I wish to thank the entire SAM & Co. family for welcoming me into the firm, offering me the platform to grow our Bangalore practice and finally giving me a very warm and graceful farewell to pursue my new role as Group General Counsel at Byju’s. I consider myself as an extension of the SAM & Co. family and look forward to working very closely with the firm in the days to come,” he said.

A NALSAR University of Law alumnus, Thomas has worked with BMR Legal, Themis Group, Lexygen and Nishith Desai Associates.

His move to Byju’s is the latest high-profile move among legal eagles. On March 29, 2021, Moneycontrol was the first to write about Sapan Gupta’s elevation as global general counsel at steel giant ArcelorMittal.

On April 5, Moneycontrol broke the story that Pratibha Jain of law firm Nishith Desai Associates was headed to Everstone Group as the group general counsel and Everstone’s Devaiah PM would join diversified conglomerate Adani Group as their legal head.

L& L Partner Damini Bhalla is headed to IPO-bound food delivery unicorn Zomato as the general counsel.

 “Our partners, Prateek Lala and Arjun Perikal (along with the rest of the team at Bangalore) would continue to service our large client base in Bangalore with active support from all our offices and from Amit Khansaheb, our partner based in our Gurugram. Roshan had joined our firm as part of the large group of lawyers from BMR Legal in June of 2017 and has helped grow the Bangalore office significantly over the last four years,” Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas added.