Karan Joseph
Karan Joseph is a Partner with the Firm’s Dispute Resolution Practice. He specialises in Litigation, Arbitration and Strategy.
Karan’s practice primarily involves commercial, civil, employment and constitutional focus areas. These include matters relating to company law, arbitration, intellectual property, white collar crime and employment related disputes.
He appears frequently before the High Court of Karnataka, Trial Courts and Tribunals in Bengaluru, and has also been engaged to appear in Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai. In addition to his private clients, he also represents Central and State Government undertakings before the High Court of Karnataka, Trial Courts and in arbitrations. He is frequently appointed by the National Company Law Tribunal, Bengaluru to preside over shareholder meetings as an independent Chairperson.
As part of his pro bono practice, Karan represents minor victims of sexual assault, in proceedings seeking the termination of their pregnancies.
Karan is Adjunct Faculty at the National School of Journalism and Public Discourse where he teaches a postgraduate course on Law and Media; and he is the Managing Trustee of the General K.S. Thimayya Memorial Trust.
Select Experience Statement
- Represented a leading Ed Tech Company before the High Court of Karnataka challenging seizure orders issued by the Directorate of Enforcement for alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. The seizure order was set aside in part by the High Court.
- Represented a former C Suite employee of a company listed on the NYSE, in proceedings initiated against him by his former employer. We successfully resisted all injunctive reliefs which would have impacted the client’s ability to join one of the world’s leading technology companies listed on the NASDAQ.
- Represent a leading Real Estate Company in proceedings challenging the cancellation of the Occupancy Certificate in relation to a property comprising 160 residences.
- Represent a leading cold storage solutions company in proceedings initiated against it for Oppression and Mismanagement before the National Company Law Tribunal. Agreeing with our submissions in full, the Tribunal dismissed the Petition whole holding that the Petition was dressed up and camouflaged.
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- Represent the producer of a National Award winning film narrated by Sir David Attenborough in proceedings before the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Karnataka.
- Represented the lead Petitioner in proceedings where the domicile reservation imposed by the National Law School of India University (Amendment) Act, 2020 was struck down as being ultra vires by the High Court of Karnataka.
- Represented the Petitioner in proceedings before the High Court of Karnataka where the payment of lifetime tax for vehicles registered outside the State of Karnataka was struck down as being ultra vires.
- Represented a wholly owned subsidiary of a US entity, in proceedings challenging the arbitrary freezing of its bank accounts by law enforcement agencies, before the High Court of Karnataka.
- Represented a prominent Real Estate Developer in proceedings wherein interim orders obtained against it under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, were dismissed and the law on what constitutes a ‘Commercial Dispute’ was clarified.
- Represent a prominent Bengaluru based Brewery in proceedings pertaining to Minimum Public Shareholding before the SEBI, Securities Appellate Tribunal, and the Supreme Court of India.
- Represented the Petitioners in one of India’s first petitions seeking the adoption of a child by a step-parent, before the High Court of Karnataka.
- Represented unitholders on the question of their consent for winding up of mutual funds, before the High Court of Karnataka.
- Represent a number of companies and shareholders, in proceedings related to winding up, insolvency, oppression and mismanagement, mergers and amalgamations, and reduction of share capital.
- Represent a number of clients in disputes involving the protection of confidential information, trade secrets, and infringement of their Intellectual Property, including the infringement of a trademark in its usage as a search keyword.
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Professional Memberships
- Bar Council of Karnataka
Education
- B.A., LL.B., Christ College of Law
- LL.M., Columbia Law School, Columbia University, New York