NDR expands Chennai operations; Boosts IP practice with Tech-law expert Rohan George

Rohan George, IP and technology law expert will join Narasappa Doraswamy and Raja (NDR) as a Partner with effect from April 1, 2013 to head the firm’s Chennai office. The Chennai office was started in May 2012. This takes the total number of partners in the firm to 4.

Rohan has almost nine years of experience and will move to NDR along with his team to further boost the firm’s IP and technology practice. He will lead the IP practice of the firm across all offices. The Chennai office will now have a team of 5 lawyers.

Speaking to Bar & Bench, on the decision to set up Chennai office, co-founder Siddharth Raja said, “We have a huge client base in Chennai, so we decided to go there as we see great opportunity in Chennai”.

“We were looking to grow this office by adding a Partner on the ground; with Rohan, we have achieved that, with the added bonus of a new practice area”, said Siddharth.

Siddharth added,

“He will continue dividing his time between Bangalore and Chennai and will continue to support the transactional practice in Chennai.”

Rohan is a graduate of NALSAR, Hyderabad. He started his career at Amarchand Mangaldas working in the patent and technology team. Rohan left the firm in 2006 to work on issues of IP policy. He worked with CSE and Centad and then went on to do his LL.M. from the Columbia University. He completed his Masters in 2009 and moved back to Chennai to focus on IP practice and worked with Ali Associates till he set up his own firm, RKG Associates in 2012.

Talking about his plans to further boost the firm’s IP practice, Rohan said, “IP and Chennai are two emerging markets in India. I think in India, Chennai is one of the best places to leverage and already Chennai is a very good place to practice IP. We will make use of NDR’s expertise and skill sets and to some extent my experience to expand towards larger client base in Chennai and try and create a space for us in this niche practice area.”

The firm also has a satellite office in Delhi headed by Senior Associate Ashwini Vittalachar. However, Siddharth told Bar & Bench that they want the Chennai office to take off first, and will then will focus on the Delhi office

The firm has a team of 22 lawyers across all its offices. Four more junior lawyers will be joining the Bangalore office in May-June taking the strength to 26.

One of the co-founding partners Roopa Doraswamy had left the firm last year to take a break from the practice.