India Practice

Duane Morris & Selvam attorneys in Asia, and Duane Morris attorneys around the world, have long represented clients with investment and business interests in India. Our experience includes assisting Indian companies and working with Indian counsel on a wide range of legal areas, including corporate, intellectual property, litigation, real estate, employment and wealth and estate planning law. We regularly assist our international clients who are active in India, including banks, corporations, foreign governments and financial institutions, as well as Indian companies doing business in Asia, the United States, the UK and Europe. This experience optimally positions us to work with India's ministries and other governmental agencies on legal issues and challenges. Additionally, our attorneys have extensive industry experience, with a particular focus on India’s highly regulated industries, including telecommunications, defense, financial services and pharmaceuticals, among others.

Beyond our well-developed skills as attorneys, Duane Morris & Selvam offers clients a deep cultural understanding of how business is conducted in India and Asia. With years of experience practicing law and working with local counsel throughout the region, we are fluent in both Eastern and Western business customs, and help our clients seamlessly navigate between different cultures in pursuit of their goals. Our lawyers understand the importance of responsive, in-person communication and relationships with our clients in India, and we endeavor to have open lines of contact and frequent visits at our clients’ places of business whenever possible.

We have been listed as a Leading Foreign Law Firm – India by The Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2016 -2020 and listed in the Survey of Top Foreign/Regional Law Firms for India-Related Work by India Business Law Journal, 2013 -2019.

Range of Services

Corporate

Duane Morris & Selvam advises early-stage and mature companies on a wide variety of corporate and commercial matters. Members of our Corporate Practice Group are experienced with mergers and acquisitions, including negotiated acquisitions and divestitures, hostile acquisitions and defense against takeover attempts. Members of our India Practice Group have extensive experience with securities offerings by Indian issuers, having worked on more than 70 offerings by Indian issuers in the last 15 years. More recently, we have advised on equity offerings by Bajaj Finance, Prince Pipes and Fittings, Affle (India), Fine Organic Industries, Edelweiss Financial Services, Dredging Corporation of India, Ashoka Buildcon and Capital First. Additionally, India Business Law Journal recognized our work on Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) as one of the “Deals of the Year 2017” and Hindustan Copper Container Corporation of India, NHPC as one of the “Deals of the Year 2016.”

Recent accolades include a ranking for Capital Markets (International Firms) (Expertise Based Abroad) – India in Chambers Asia-Pacific 2020 and Chambers Global 2020.

We regularly assist international companies interested in doing business in India, and offer advice on India’s foreign investment regulations, exchange control restrictions, types and modes of business entity formation, repatriation of profits, royalty payments, dispute resolution and arbitration mechanisms, taxation and considerations for joint ventures and acquisition agreements.

Generic Pharmaceuticals

Duane Morris lawyers have significant experience with the complexities involved in bringing generic pharmaceuticals to market. Our lawyers’ and registered patent agents’ experience involves biotechnology processes and products, chemical processes, synthesis and products, medical devices, formulations, experiments and polymorphic products to name a few.

Attorneys at Duane Morris specialize in the representation of worldwide generic pharmaceutical companies in their quest to enter the U.S. market with new products. We have significant experience in representing clients in litigation related to abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) filed under the Hatch-Waxman law, as well as generation of non-infringement, invalidity and freedom-to-operate opinions with respect to patents listed in the Orange Book.

Duane Morris also coordinates with an international network of law firms to secure and maintain patent protection throughout the world.

Worldwide Regulatory Compliance

In today’s global business environment, good business practice demands that multinational companies take steps to ensure that they are acting in a lawful manner and avoiding even the appearance of impropriety. Duane Morris helps clients develop programs designed to educate directors, officers, owners and employees in all aspects of compliance. We also counsel our clients on conducting internal investigations and defend clients in government investigations, criminal prosecutions and civil enforcement actions. We provide regulatory compliance and defense services in the U.S., UK, Asia and elsewhere in such divergent areas of law as antitrust, customs and international trade, employment, insurance and securities. We also provide advice and counsel in connection with the USA Patriot Act and other anti-money laundering statutes and regulations, as well as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, UK Bribery Act and other anti-corruption laws around the world.

International Dispute Resolution

The unprecedented growth of international business has created an equivalent need to efficiently resolve cross-border disputes. Duane Morris & Selvam represents multinational clients in a wide range of international disputes ranging from the resolution and enforcement of commercial disputes to products liability defense, to insolvency litigation, to enforcement of covenants not to compete and trade secret protection, to logistics, shipping and aviation litigation. We also advise on choice of governing law and choice of jurisdiction clauses in contracts to optimize clients’ remedies in the event of a dispute in the future. We are committed to promptly resolving disputes for our clients, not perpetuating them. Our attorneys have years of experience successfully representing foreign parties in legal proceedings commenced within the United States and around the world. Once decisions are rendered, we are then able to quickly and effectively enforce judgments and arbitration awards around the globe with the help of our expansive network of qualified foreign advisors in more than 100 countries.

Immigration

As any multinational employer can attest, immigration laws, if not properly interpreted and followed, can present significant obstacles to successfully conducting a global business. Duane Morris helps clients avoid these dangerous pitfalls by providing immigration services which include:

• Obtaining all types of U.S. and UK visas
• Obtaining necessary visas and work permits for employees being relocated to other countries outside the United States and United Kingdom
• Representing clients seeking political asylum, naturalization, diplomatic petitions, visa extensions, consulate petitions, employment authorization and visa waivers
• Defending clients in deportation hearings
• Pre-immigration income and estate tax planning

International Tax Planning

International businesses and private clients frequently cite their desire to minimize worldwide taxes as one of their principal objectives. Duane Morris’ team of international tax attorneys helps clients achieve this goal by suggesting and implementing tax-efficient structures to minimize worldwide effective tax rates, which, in turn, increase clients’ after-tax cash flow and bolster their bottom lines. Depending upon the particular foreign country and the type of taxpayer involved, as well as the taxpayer’s particular foreign tax credit position, worldwide tax savings in excess of 50 percent may be possible. Such tax savings can be achieved by skillfully avoiding U.S. anti-deferral tax rules (such as the controlled foreign corporation and passive foreign investment company regimes) and creatively utilizing related party transactions, transfer pricing, regional holding companies, tax treaties, tax havens and low-tax jurisdictions. Additional tax savings can also be achieved through tax advantageous structuring of cross-border transactions and financing arrangements; and tax efficient structuring of cross-border employee transfers.

Federal Government Ministries and Parastatals

With the advent of a new government in India, the pace of nationally sponsored project development and finance, service agreements, dispute resolution and other services to Federal Government Ministries and state-owned or partially state-owned business entities (parastatals) is gaining significant momentum. With broad experience in the range of corporate finance, entity formation and privatization issues as well as international arbitration in leading venues around the world, Duane Morris & Selvam is well-positioned to provide legal services support for these governmental structures.*

International Wealth Preservation

Families and private clients with assets and beneficiaries in multiple countries face difficult issues when transferring wealth from one generation to the next or simply within the family. Duane Morris’ dedicated team of professionals alleviates the stress associated with these transfers and guides clients through the intricate web of international laws governing them. Our attorneys advise clients on, among other things, family business and governance issues, as well as preserving family wealth through the use of international trusts, Qualified Domestic Trusts and foreign insurance trusts. We also provide pre-immigration U.S. tax planning for foreign persons with substantial financial interests around the world.

For more information, please contact Jamie Benson, Priyank Srivastava or any of the legal professionals at Duane Morris & Selvam.

*For certain specific governmental, corporate, commercial and other matters, Duane Morris and Duane Morris & Selvam act in cooperation with law firms headquartered in India, where appropriate.