New Handbook on the Modern General Counsel

OakBridge Publishing released In‑House Matters: A Complete Handbook for the Modern General Counsel in July 2026. The book chronicles how India’s corporate legal departments have evolved from compliance custodians to strategic business leaders, driven by liberalisation, the arrival of multinationals, and a thickening regulatory regime covering competition law, data protection, insolvency and capital markets.

Authors and Expertise

The handbook is authored by Pramod Rao – former Group General Counsel at ICICI and Citi South Asia and later Executive Director at the Securities and Exchange Board of India – together with Ritvik Lukose and Balanand Menon, who have collectively spent more than fifteen years advising corporate legal functions through Vahura and Counselect. Their combined experience informs the narrative and practical guidance.

Content and Structure

Drawing on interviews with thirty General Counsels from multinational corporations, Indian conglomerates and fast‑scaling start‑ups, the book is organized into ten chapters. It walks readers through a lawyer’s first hundred days, team‑building, contract management, dispute handling, crisis response, budgeting, technology adoption and ultimately securing a seat at the board table.

> “Today, the General Counsel is in the room while the big calls are still live: an acquisition, a new market, a risk the company is weighing up,” says Rao.

> Lukose adds that the evolution of the General Counsel is “one of the most important business stories in India of the past three decades, and one of the least told.”

> Menon emphasizes the need for a proactive legal function, noting that decisions about what work to hand to technology and AI are increasingly central.

Launch Events

The handbook will be launched through invitation‑only evenings in three Indian cities: Mumbai on 23 July, Bengaluru on 12 August and Delhi on 7 September. Each event is expected to gather roughly 200 participants, including board members, C‑suite executives and General Counsels, and will feature a panel discussion with the three authors followed by an extended hour of conversation.

Endorsements

The book has attracted praise from several of India’s most distinguished corporate, regulatory and academic figures:

  • Nandan Nilekani, Co‑founder and Chairman, Infosys and Founding Chairman, UIDAI, described it as “For every company builder.”
  • Amitabh Kant, Former G20 Sherpa, Government of India and Former CEO, NITI Aayog, called it “a book about leadership, institution‑building, and the evolving role of the General Counsel in shaping both.”
  • K.V. Kamath, Chairman, Jio Financial Services and Founding President, New Development Bank (BRICS Bank), called it “authoritative and lucid.”
  • Justice B.N. Srikrishna, Former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, termed it “a no‑nonsense, jargon‑free playbook for the modern General Counsel.”
  • Keki Mistry, Interim Chairman, HDFC Bank and Former Vice Chairman & CEO, HDFC Ltd, said it is “the first book I’ve seen that really gives the role the seriousness it deserves.”
  • U.K. Sinha, Former Chairman, SEBI, called it “an insightful guide to the General Counsel's journey from compliance guardian to business strategist.”
  • Anita George, CEO, ProsperETE and Independent Director, Tata Sons, highlighted that the book “opens paths for a new generation of leaders, women prominent among them.”
  • Umakanth Varottil, Professor of Corporate Law, National University of Singapore, called it “a compelling case for the General Counsel as the linchpin of the corporate management framework.”

Significance

The release signals the growing recognition of the General Counsel as a pivotal corporate leader in India, especially as global corporations establish legal capability centres in the country and artificial intelligence reshapes legal workflows. The handbook aims to provide a practical roadmap for building proactive, technology‑enabled legal functions that can influence strategic decisions at the highest level.

---