Every commercial relationship eventually reduces to a document, and the document is only as strong as the lawyer who drafted it. A clause that reads cleanly in a precedent can cost a client dearly when a counterparty defaults, a liability cap is tested, or a dispute reaches enforcement. Drafting the contract, negotiating the markup, allocating risk and holding the commercial position under pressure are skills that law firms and in-house teams expect from day one. The market no longer pays for learning curves.
India's best law schools teach the law brilliantly. Few were teaching the strategic drafting and the negotiation.
To close that gap, National Law University, Delhi (NLU Delhi), through its Centre for Regulatory Studies (CRS), has partnered with mentblue to deliver The Practice Series, a joint initiative designed to take participants through the full lifecycle of a practice area the way it actually unfolds inside a Tier 1 law firm. The third course under The Practice Series, a Certificate Course on Contract and Commercial Drafting: Strategy and Negotiation, commences 11 July 2026. Enrolments are open. Across more than 20 practice courses, mentblue has trained over 2,000 participants with a faculty of more than 90 practitioners, with alumni placed across India's leading law firms, boutiques and in-house teams.
Why This Course?
Practitioner-led faculty. Partners and senior practitioners from Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan and Co., JSA Advocates and Solicitors, Saraf and Partners and CMS IndusLaw, alongside senior in-house counsel and specialist founders. The lawyers who draft and negotiate commercial contracts for a living, not just teach about them.
End-to-end contract view. From term sheet to enforcement, the entire contract lifecycle is taught in the sequence a deal actually unfolds, not as isolated topics.
A multi-sector toolkit. More than 30 production-grade documents dissected across more than 10 legal domains, spanning M&A, technology, banking, media, litigation, real estate and employment.
Drafting scenarios. Real Indian commercial contracts, annotated agreements, redlined drafts and negotiation position notes, not sanitised hypotheticals.
NLU Delhi certification. The course is supervised by the Centre for Regulatory Studies, NLU Delhi, and the certificate is issued by the University.
Flexible format. Weekend-only live sessions with six-month recording access, built for law students and working professionals alike.
What Will You Learn?
Module 1: Drafting Foundations. Legal theory and practical application, plain-English drafting, operative clauses and risk-management clauses.
Module 2: The Anatomy of a Contract. Boilerplate and standard provisions, and the preliminary stages, including LoIs, MoUs and term sheets.
Module 3: Specific Commercial Agreements (Part I). Corporate and business agreements (MSA, SOW, NDA), investment and M&A documents (SPA, APA and SHA), and financial and banking contracts.
Module 4: Specific Commercial Agreements (Part II). Litigation-related drafting (pre-dispute and post-dispute), technology and IP contracts, and commercial and trade agreements.
Module 5: Specific Commercial Agreements (Part III). Media, entertainment and sports contracts, real estate and sector-specific contracts, and employment contracts.
Module 6: Contract Review and Post-Execution. Contract review, redlining and negotiation, and contract administration, breach and remedies.
Plus: Two dedicated assignment workshops, and a closing session on career opportunities, AI in drafting and freelancing.
Course Faculty
The faculty includes Ashoo Gupta (Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas), Arva Merchant (Partner, Khaitan and Co.), Siddharth Marwah (Partner, Khaitan and Co.), Fatema Kachwalla (Partner, JSA Advocates and Solicitors), Aditi Sehgal (Partner, JSA Advocates and Solicitors), Gauhar Mirza (Partner, Saraf and Partners) and Revathy Muralidharan (Partner, CMS IndusLaw), alongside senior in-house counsel and specialist founders including Ayushi Pandey (Founder, Lexceed; formerly Nishith Desai Associates), Aditya Singha (Founder; formerly Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; MBA, INSEAD), Varun Pandey (Senior Manager, Legal, Yatra) and Nipasha Mahanta (Legal Counsel, a leading FMCG), among others.
Programme Leadership
Course Director: Dr. Raghav Pandey, Assistant Professor, NLU Delhi, and Director, Centre for Regulatory Studies. Course Coordinators: Mr. Prafful Goyal (Founder, Mentblue, Ex-Principal Associate, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas) & Mr. Ashutosh Singh (Founder, Mentblue, Ex-Senior Associate, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas).
Programme Details
Duration: 20 live online sessions across 6 modules, July 11 to September 13, 2026
Schedule: Saturdays and Sundays, 11:00 AM IST
Mode: Online, Live (with 6-month recording access)
Eligibility: Law students (3-year LLB, 5-year integrated LLB, or LLM), advocates and law firm associates, in-house counsel, CA/CS/CMA/CFA candidates and professionals, investment bankers and analysts, and corporate and in-house teams. Minimum qualification: a bachelor's degree or current enrolment in a recognised undergraduate or postgraduate programme.
Fee: ₹15,000, inclusive of all taxes. EMI options available. Group nominations from law firms, corporates and in-house teams accepted on request.
Certification: NLU Delhi Certificate of Completion, issued by the Centre for Regulatory Studies. Certification requires a minimum of 75 per cent attendance across the live sessions and completion of the drafting assignments.
Register at: mentblue.com/courses
Contact Information
Interested participants may also reach us at:
Email: support@mentblue.com
Phone: +91 92896 57727 / +91 96256 19518
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