Kochhar & Co.

Stephen Mathias is the head of the Bangalore office of the Firm and co-chair of the Firm’s Technology Law Practice.

Stephen is a graduate of the prestigious National Law School of India University where he did an Honours degree in Arts and Law.  He is also a British Chevening Scholar and has done a diploma in European and English Law at the College of Law York and worked briefly at a leading law firm in London.  He is also a solicitor on the rolls of the Law Society of England and Wales.

Stephen began his career working in the Tax and Regulatory Division of multinational accounting firm Arthur Andersen, doing mergers and acquisitions, foreign investments, joint ventures, securities law and strategic investment work.

Stephen has spent most of his career representing many of the largest companies in the world with regard to their operations in India.  His expertise covers areas such as outsourcing, licensing, telecom, internet & e-commerce, privacy and intellectual property.  He is particularly adept at advising businesses on legal issues associated with unique digital products and solutions. Stephen is known for his unique expertise in the voice over IP arena, including advising large offshore operations in India on legally compliant telecom configurations, and advising companies involved in unified communications, conferencing and cloud based PBX services.

He does substantial data privacy work, mostly assisting multinationals in understanding data privacy law implications in the way they deal with personal data. He has also led teams investigating and taking enforcement actions in cases of data theft.

Stephen counsels’ clients on a wide variety of issues including risks relating to regulatory compliance, negotiations, dispute related strategies, employee retention and financing. In doing so, Stephen combines a vast expertise in areas such as M&A, financing, employment, litigation and regulatory compliance.

More recently, Stephen has been involved in conducting investigations of cases of corporate fraud by senior management including guiding clients on evaluation of evidence, industry standards, remedial measures and management exits.