GLC & PartnersFounder

Krishna Grandhi is the Founder & Managing Partner of GLC & Partners. He is dual qualified to practice law in USA (Attorney-at-Law) and India (Advocate).

Education

Krishna received his B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from Cleveland State University, Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University, and an M.B.A. from Cornell University.

Experience

US Experience

Krishna started his legal career in the United States at the law firm of Calfee, Halter & Griswold, a Cleveland law firm with more than 150 attorneys, and with one of the largest IP practices in the mid-western United States. As an attorney at Calfee, Krishna worked on several contentious and non-contentious corporate and commercial matters for local and national clients, and counseled a large array of companies on Intellectual Property issues, from startups to Fortune 50 companies.

India Practice

Krishna is probably best known as an outside general counsel to companies providing corporate commercial and IP advisory, as well as a litigator specializing in the white-collar defense, corporate commercial litigation, economic offences, and IP litigation.

Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Krishna worked on very complex commercial litigation matters both at the High Courts as well as the National Company Law Tribunals. Krishna also worked on contentious IP issues that involved cross-border IP litigation between India and U.S. Additionally, Krishna has advised and represented a number of high profile clients in various judicial forums, administrative forums, and tribunals in India on matters pertaining to white collar crimes and economic crimes (such as Serious Fraud Investigation Office matters [SFIO], Central Bureau of Investigation matters [CBI], and Enforcement Directorate matters [ED]), prevention of corruption, anti-bribery, economic crimes, and complex commercial transactions (including merger schemes) involving the application and interpretation of contract law and company law (including Insolvency and Bankruptcy (IBC) matters, and oppression and mismanagement matters).

Intellectual Property

Krishna has advised on a wide-variety of patent and design applications in cutting-edge technologies such as web 2.0, IoTs, social networks, mobile apps, GUIs, and networked databases. Krishna helped file hundreds of Trademark applications, as well as copyright applications in the media and software space.

Corporate Advisory

Krishna has advised companies on formation and regulatory compliance issues, IP commercialization and due diligence activities, provided IP opinions, handled worldwide IP strategy, and advised on a broad range of complex agreements, including technology, licensing, employment, and commercial agreements.

Community and Volunteering Work

In addition to his professional commitments, Krishna has been actively involved in the community since the beginning of his student days. As a student at Cleveland State University, Krishna served as President of the Indian Students Association at Cleveland State University, serving and helping all Indian students on campus immerse and progress in the American educational and social system. As an alumnus, he served as the founding president of the International Alumni Association at Cleveland State University, an organization serving more than 2000 International alumni of the university who graduated over the span of 50 years from Cleveland State. As an attorney, Krishna served as the founding board of director for the South Asian Bar Association of Ohio, a statewide association set up to help south Asian attorneys with their interactions and practice within the state of Ohio. Similarly, Krishna was also a board of director for the Asian American Bar Association of Ohio, a larger statewide body set up to help the causes of all Asian attorneys in Ohio, including attorneys of Chinese and Japanese origin.

Government Appointments

In recognition of the years of community service and in recognition of the standing in the Ohio Asian community, in 2011, Krishna was appointed to the State of Ohio Governor John Kasich’s Asian American Pacific Islander Advisory Council, where he served as Chair of Technology Advisory Committee. Krishna was the only lawyer appointed to the Governor’s AAPI Advisory Council in the State of Ohio between 2011-2014.

In 2016, Krishna was empaneled by the Controller General of Patent, Trademark and Design, India as a Facilitator of Trademarks for Startups certified as such under the Central Government’s Startup India Scheme.

In 2019, Krishna was appointed as a Panel Counsel for the Government of India undertaking, The New India Assurance Company, before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh.

Mentoring

Krishna serves as a Mentor in Virtual Residence at the Johnson School of Business at Cornell University. As a mentor, Krishna’s role is to work with the students and faculty at Cornell to offer mentoring support and business advice for the benefit of various startups and companies that focus on the technology space. Since establishing GLC, Krishna has been very active in the startup scene in Hyderabad and Bangalore. He routinely counsels startups on a pro-bono basis to help them understand the intellectual property and corporate regulatory landscape in India and the U.S. He also serves as a standing counsel and Mentor to nationally-prominent incubators such as T-Hub and iBHubs.