Founded by Shraddha Ray Menon, TAG & BENCH ASSOCIATES (TBA) is a Law Firm that is sought for its precision in advice relevant for new-age, fast-growing businesses. Mature firms have hired the Firm to gain insight into the complexities of industry, legal provisioning, and planning. The brand name was created to establish two verticals, the corporate "TAG" being the corporate and the "BENCH." While the Firm's Dispute Resolution experience is limited to challenging regulatory directives and contesting breach of contract claims, it is confident about expanding both.

The Firm has established itself as Quasi General Counsels for firms that lack in-house legal leadership or are transforming and need strong legal advice for transformations or special projects.

TAG & BENCH ASSOCIATES is based out of Gurgaon and advises on Technology, Tech Platforms, Digital, and Experiential Integration, and also deals with HNIs and private clients in wealth and estate management. In terms of sectors - Food, Healthcare, Education, media, and entertainment, travel is its focus area. As the owner of this Firm in Corporate Advisory, Policy/Regulatory, Intermediary law, data privacy, employment laws, and more, Shraddha Ray Menon shares interesting facts about the company and her journey.

Take Us Through Your Educational Background.

Being from the Army background, school education was largely wherever my father was posted, which also meant being raised in cantonment areas. It is around college, we attempted to stabilize. Being an academic trailblazer, I did my B.A. (Economics) from K.C. College, Mumbai, was the Gold Medallist topper in Law from Symbiosis College, Pune batch of 1996.

Subsequently, an awardee of the Chevening Scholarship batch of 2000 took me to study corporate laws in College of Law, York, UK, and complete a secondment in the Corporate Finance department with a London-based Law Firm. The scholarship is organized by the British High Commission and empowered under the FCO, is a curated program boosting young professionals to maximize career growth path.

Throw Some Light On Your Professional Journey.

On the professional front, I started in Mumbai (Bombay then) with the leading Corporate Law Firms like AZB & Partners, Thakker& Thakker, Singhania & Co. spanning from 1996 to about 2004. This period was a time of gaining insight into transactional law practice. Moving to Gurgaon in 2004 began a very fascinating legal journey that took me away from a law firm and into the position of in-house counsel for Coca-Cola India's bottling industry. This was my first foray into the legal industry. In a span of 3 years of enjoying this in-house position, my son (now 15) was born and motherhood claimed the driving seat. This led to me working as a sole practitioner for a little more than a decade before expanding my independent practise to the size of a firm.

Tell Us About The Current State Of The Legal Advisory Industry In India. What Opportunities Does The Sector Hold For Service Providers?

In one line, “there is space for all but not the same place for all and the industry as a whole is on the brink of a revolution, a Legal Revolution.”

And I believe Asia would surpass Europe and some other jurisdictions in legal services. Following the COVID-19 epidemic, the global legal services sector is expected to rebound and hit 767.1 billion US dollars in 2021. Forbes has recently recorded a 718 percent rise in the legal industry, so if this is any indication of where this is going, you know the potential. But here's the thing: legal solutions must be business solutions, and lawyers must shift their attention to genuinely translating meaning through their advice. The personal challenge for lawyers in all of this will be, to reconcile and retain a balance on the higher service to law. Lawyers are not larger than law and that sight has to be retained. We can expect a lot in the future for and from the profession, because of the quantum changes being witnessed.

In Your Opinion, What Factors Set Tag & Bench Associates Apart From Its Contemporaries In The Industry?

Recently recognized as award winning New Law Firm of 2021 by India Business Law Journal (IBLJ) a leading monthly Asia legal magazine on India's legal market and legal developments for in-house counsel and law firms, is indicative of the value the Firm confirms. It delivers business-oriented relevant advice which sets us apart from our contemporaries. We see ourselves as a Firm of valuable team members offering reliable advice to our clients and growth.

“Bring a superior client experience based on technology to completely eliminate the need to develop in-house legal staff”

The part where we gloat about overwhelming knowledge of the law is only in internal discussions and team dashboarding. We showcase the legal knowledge and depth of the Firm through extensive legal writing which we make publicly available for all to gain from.

But for clients, it is always, clear, relevant, quick, and precise advice. We honor our client’s judgment in engaging us for legal skill and we do our best to not breach that belief. This is our USP since we are young and still growing we have a slight advantage of not letting accolades make us heady.

What Is The Roadmap Ahead For Your Professional Journey? Are You Looking To Focus On Any Specific Areas Or Niche Capabilities In The Days To Come?

Glad you raise this. For us it comprises of consistency in our advice, remaining relevant in the focused and chosen fields, and remain competitive in our fee to serve a larger segment of businesses.

Yes, we are looking at focusing on a specific area while retaining our core corporate practice. Advising on evolving OTA regulatory and legal regimes, restructuring structured finance, and initiating a dispute resolution practice are the recent areas which have kept us busy.

Our focus on tech and tech platform owners will continue, food, health and logistics, and transportation, which we will continue to augment. We understand this space and want to support businesses navigate these. For our Policy and Regulatory practice, we will continue in OTAs and intermediary rules and accompanying state rules, data laws on sovereignty and localization issues, and the aggressive- elusive cryptocurrency. We strongly believe India is on at an inflection point and good lawyers can only accelerate positive directions.

We look forward to the journey and remain curious about what it holds.

Shraddha Ray Menon, Founder, Tag & Bench Associates

Shraddha, is skilled at negotiations and strategy. She has over two decades of experience spanning across Law Firms, in-house and independent practice. Over the decade her practice has revolved around giving businesses structuring advice, negotiating funding against equity transactions, directed acquisitions through due diligence to closing, developed restructuring models. She also advices on risk mitigation and corporate governance and enables regulatory/ compliance implementation tools. Enrolled with Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa.