Manjula Chawla

Manjula Chawla is the Co-founding Partner of Phoenix Legal, based in New Delhi. Her primary practice area is Mergers and Acquisitions, and she concentrates in the areas of strategic investments, M&As, corporate finance and restructuring, and general commercial matters.

She was one of the first handful of lawyers who chose to become a corporate lawyer and advise on cross-border transactions soon after the liberalisation of the Indian economy in 1991, thereby setting a path for many women lawyers. For over 30 years, she has assisted many MNCs (including Fortune 500 companies) in establishing their presence in India across a variety of sectors including automobiles, energy, financial services, F&B, healthcare and pharma, IT, oil and gas, ports, transportation and telecom.

She advises on a wide range of issues involving anti-corruption, competition law, corporate governance, exchange control, data privacy, labour and employment, and real estate. She has advised several international non-profit organisations in relation to their activities in India on a pro bono basis.

She has counselled and represented various clients in numerous mergers and acquisitions and other corporate transactions. Some of these include Adient Inc. (formerly part of Johnson Controls Inc), Air Liquide International, Bechtel Corporation, Baxter Corporation, Cooper Standard Automotive Inc., Ford Motor Company, Ford Motor Credit Company, Johnson Controls Inc., The Lubrizol Corporation, Dell, Kameda Seika Ltd. (Japan), Monster Energy Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Prayon SA, Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS), NTT Communications Corporation, Tokai Rubber Industries Co., Ltd. (now Sumitomo Riko) and Visteon Corporation.

Her client commitment and consistent delivery of high-quality services have been recognised by her clients and peers. She was awarded the National Law Day Award – 2000 by the Union Law Minister for "Excellence in Corporate Law and for unique contribution in bringing foreign exchange into India". She also featured in the book "100 Legal Luminaries of India" and has been highly recommended as a Leading Lawyer in Corporate/M&A by Chambers & Partners' Asia's Leading Lawyers for Business for several years.

Other notable recognition includes being recognised in the ALB India Top Female Lawyers 2026 list; ranked by Legal500 2026 as a Leading Partner for Corporate and M&A; recognised as an ICON in The A-List: India's Top 100 Lawyers 2026 by the Indian Business Law Journal; recognised by Asialaw 2025 as a Distinguished Practitioner in Corporate and M&A; recognised in the Lexology Index Product Regulation & Liability 2025 report as one of the world's leading practitioners; recognised by Legal Era (2024–2025) as a Leading Lawyer Star Practitioner for Corporate and M&A; and ranked as the highest-ranked lawyer in WWL: Product Liability Defence (2024). She was also awarded 'Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year' by Euromoney Legal Media Group at the Women in Business Law Awards, Asia (2021).

Client testimonials describe her as a "gifted lawyer focused on delivering the best legal solutions" (Asialaw 2022), "responsive and takes the time to explain issues thoroughly" (Legal500 2022), and "very responsive and accommodating" (Chambers & Partners 2020), with RSG Consulting (2019) recognising her as "among the top five lawyers in India" for her "practical legal advice" and "solid commercial experience".