Christine Chiramel Departs Rahul Chaudhry & Partners to Launch IP Practice at Chiramel & Co

Christine Chiramel, a seasoned intellectual property lawyer with over 17 years of experience, has stepped down from her position as Partner - Trade Marks at Rahul Chaudhry & Partners. She will now establish and lead the Intellectual Property practice at Chiramel & Co Solicitors and Advocates, a full-service law firm founded in 1985 under the leadership of Jos Chiramel.

Chiramel’s legal journey includes tenures at several of India’s leading IP firms. After earning her LL.M. in 2009 from Benjamin N Cardozo School of Law, New York, she practiced at Singh & Singh, Vaish Associates, and Anand & Anand before joining Rahul Chaudhry & Partners (formerly Lall Lahiri & Salhotra). She spent the last decade there, culminating in her role as Partner heading the firm’s Trade Marks practice.

At Chiramel & Co, Christine will spearhead the firm’s expansion into a broad spectrum of legal domains. Beyond Intellectual Property, she will lead initiatives in Media & Entertainment, Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Data Protection, and Corporate Commercial Law.

In a statement, Chiramel emphasized the evolving nature of IP law: “Intellectual property is a strategic asset on the balance sheet, and the conversation around it has changed fundamentally. AI has unsettled long-settled questions on authorship, training-data lawfulness, and the boundary between inspiration and infringement.”

She further highlighted the impact of recent legislation: “The DPDP Act, 2023 has placed personal data on a footing that intersects directly with rights in databases, content and brand.”

Chiramel noted a growing awareness among businesses regarding IP: “Clients are protecting earlier, enforcing more deliberately, and treating their portfolios as part of enterprise value.” She described Chiramel & Co as offering “a forty-year institutional foundation, deep dispute-resolution experience and a full-service platform, ideal for expansion into an evolving IP vertical.”

The leadership at Chiramel & Co expressed enthusiasm about the new addition. A firm spokesperson said, “We are delighted to welcome Christine. Her arrival allows the Firm to formally launch its Intellectual Property practice and to extend its full-service offering into the fields of Brand and creative protection, Media & Entertainment, Technology, AI and Data Protection related legal functions.”

They added, “The depth of her seventeen years in IP brings the Firm exactly the leadership these new practice areas require.”