Sherbir Panag

Law Offices of Panag & Babu

New Delhi www.pblawoffices.com

sherbir@pblawoffices.com Tel: +919819907099

Biography

Sherbir Panag is the chair of Panag & Babu’s compliance and investigations practice. Sherbir has deep experience of defending multinational companies and conducting internal investigations in matters involving criminal and regulatory proceedings; as well as advising clients on navigating their business in India in a compliant manner. Sherbir’s practice has consistently been ranked as a market leader for white-collar crime in India by WWL, Global Investigations Review, Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500.

What do you enjoy most about practising in the area of corporate criminal law?

To me it’s the best of both worlds – the thrill and intellectual rigour of criminal law and the fast pace of commercial law. Leading a corporate crime practice, in my view is the best job in the world – where I get to do the right thing every day, by bringing facts to the forefront and ensuring companies find their moral compass. There’s never a dull day and that is part of the charm.

Why did you decide to set up your own firm?

In terms of setting up and pioneering an international standards white-collar crime practice in India, the inspiration really was the market vacuum. As India became more economically relevant and with more global companies setting up shop, the whitecollar and corporate governance practice was not keeping pace. We either had commercial lawyers or criminal lawyers who were focused on individual defence, drawing in principles of blood crimes to financial crimes. On the other hand, we had multinational companies who were used to working with the international firms with deep expertise, who hit a roadblock in India. As I returned from Germany after my stint at Roxin LLP, I felt this had to change and a new skillset had to emerge, and this is how the journey began.

I can now proudly say, with all the humility at my command – that nearly a decade later from what was a market vacuum, firms like ours are now leading the charge in terms of providing world class advice, establishing practice standards and command the respect of our peers across the world.

What impact has covid-19 had on your practice?

We were fortunate to have undertaken steps at the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, to move to a work from home model before the more formal lockdown in India came into being. As early as March 2020, we had intimated our clients about our business continuity plan – which was approximately two weeks before the rest of the country shut down. This allowed us to test our technology solutions, undertake amendments, switch heavy bandwidth applications for lite versions and we were ready and better placed to service our clients when their offices closed.

We have continued to remain very busy through the past few months, with our capacity of work being 140-160 per cent per lawyer, which is in fact in sync with comparable quarters outside the pandemic. The workflow has been to a large part (almost 60 per cent) the culmination of prepandemic investigations and matters.

All in all, its been a busy 24 months, which has been professionally satisfying in terms of delivering results to our clients through dynamic mediums and embracing technology; but most importantly we are grateful that our colleagues and their families have stayed healthy and safe – which to me beats everything else.

In your opinion, what are the benefits and challenges of virtual hearings? What role do you see them having in the future?

Virtual hearings started out as being extremely challenging in India, on account of weak digital infrastructure that has drastically changed over the course of the coronavirus pandemic.

In terms of court appearances, our daily number of hearings is at par with pre-pandemic levels, the significant positive factor being that one can attend court from the comfort of one’s home office, as opposed to the hectic movement from one court to another.

For a practice like ours, where we are in courts across the length and breadth of India, virtual hearings have made us more efficient and commercially more prudent for clients. On the flip side, virtual hearings have impacted criminal trial work and the criminal justice system as a whole became responsive to urgent cases, which while understandable in the pandemic – has its own share of issues and has created a large backlog of cases.

The future, ought to be hybrid and I believe that since the digital rubicon has been crossed, we shouldn’t go all the way back.

What impact will the growing emphasis on technology and digitalisation have on financial crimes?

spectrum (small/medium/large) have been victims.

Separately, we are likely to see an increase in frauds associated with payment processing as physical verification and age-old control principles of maker/ checker are restricted for companies that don’t have state-of-the-art accounting software.

Providence and lessons from the 2008 financial crisis have shown us how criminal misconduct risks including fraud and bribery increase, with business disruption. Armed with hindsight, it would be prudent to be prepared, ensure compliance and governance is strengthened – as opposed to being ignored or becoming a budget casualty. Compliance functions will have to rely significantly on technology and remote working for tasks that customarily were in person or on-site; but the lack of in-person meetings cannot be the cause to bring the compliance organisation to a grinding halt and increase risk. The daunting challenge notwithstanding, this also is an opportunity to digitise compliance.

With the growing focus on corporate criminal liability and the increased reliance on internal investigations, to what extent do you see business crime defence in India emulating that of the US and Europe?

I would not put it as India emulating the US or Europe, but rather what I have been propounding for a while is the slow emergence of a universal standard and enforcement response to business crimes. Laws across the spectrum are becoming more fundamentally aligned at a principal level, enforcement authorities are better understanding corporate misconduct and compliance can no longer be perfunctory merely through policy frameworks and training.

Similarly, internal investigations both as the responsible corporate response to an issue of criminal misconduct and as sound defence strategy – are very much part of this emerging global standard, in India as much as the rest of the world.

Peers and clients say: “He has tremendous experience of investigations and advising on defence strategy for corporates” “He is my first choice for referrals in criminal matters” “He’s a master of his craft with a deep knowledge of the law and an ability to understand the root causes of an issue as well as potential solutions” “An impressive defence lawyer” “I simply wouldn’t consider anyone else in India at all anymore”

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