~ The Academy will be a premier learning hub for the GC community, creating world-class knowledge products, executive education, and thought leadership
August 8, 2026: Mr. Cyril Shroff and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) have today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the Cyril Shroff – IIMA GC Leadership Academy, a research and executive development initiative designed to address a critical gap in leadership development for General Counsels (GCs). The Academy will be a premier learning hub for the GC community, creating world-class knowledge products, executive education, and thought leadership. The MoU signing ceremony and official launch of the academy took place at the IIM Ahmedabad campus.
The GC Leadership Academy represents Mr. Shroff’s personal philanthropic vision and long- standing commitment to advancing the legal profession through institution-building that prepares future legal leaders.
For IIMA, the partnership reflects its commitment to developing leaders at the intersection of business, law and governance, and to bringing its strengths in management education and research to the evolving leadership needs of the GC community.
The GC Leadership Academy will interalia focus on four core priorities. These include:
The need for the GC Leadership Academy:
As the role of GCs continues to evolve from legal adviser to business leader, the need for specialised executive education has become increasingly important. Today’s legal leaders must combine technical excellence with strategic judgement, commercial understanding, technological awareness, and ethical leadership. Inspired by this shift, Mr. Shroff envisioned the Leadership Academy as a platform that would help prepare legal leaders for greater boardroom and
enterprise-wide responsibilities. IIMA, known for its unparalleled reputation and commitment to developing business and institutional leaders, joined hands to bring its capabilities in rigorous case-based pedagogy and academic depth across strategy, finance, marketing, human resources, negotiation, organisational behaviour, decision science, AI, and public policy to shape future- ready enterprise leaders. These disciplines complement, and extend beyond, what practising lawyers can teach on their own.
Co-created with and established at IIM Ahmedabad, the Academy will offer world-class executive education and a network of peers, helping GCs strengthen their leadership capabilities and drive meaningful impact within their organisations and in the profession. Together, Mr. Shroff and IIMA are creating a robust platform that combines leadership with management education to prepare our GCs for the complexity, accountability, and global expectations of modern leadership.
Underlining the significance of this partnership, Prof. Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIMA, said, “The establishment of the Cyril Shroff – IIMA GC Leadership Academy is a groundbreaking initiative that addresses the evolving needs of General Counsels in today’s dynamic business landscape. This partnership and the Academy signify our shared commitment to foster leadership for global institutions at the intersection of law, business, and governance. By focusing on core priorities such as enterprise leadership, finance integration, and technological readiness, we aim to equip legal counsels with the knowledge and tools they need to excel in their roles. Together with Mr. Cyril Shroff, we are dedicated to shaping the next generation of legal counsels who can navigate the challenges and opportunities of modern times.”
Speaking on this occasion, Mr. Cyril Shroff, Founder and Managing Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, said, “Great professions are shaped not only by individual excellence, but by institutions that endure. The Cyril Shroff – IIMA GC Leadership Academy is a deliberate step towards institution-building for the legal profession and long-term stewardship of the in- house counsel community. The role of General Counsel has moved from legal advisory to enterprise leadership, with responsibilities spanning governance, strategy, technology, risk and business transformation. Through this leadership Academy, we hope to build a globally relevant platform that prepares the next generation of General Counsels to lead with judgement, capability and purpose.”
Prof. Sandip Chakrabarti and Prof. Ranjan Ghosh, who are leading the Academy at IIMA, added, “This landmark partnership brings together complementary strengths in legal leadership and management education, creating strong value for the GC community and the broader profession. Executive Education programmes offered by the Academy will draw on IIMA’s strengths in case-based pedagogy and interdisciplinary learning to deliver practical insights in strategy, finance, technology, governance, and leadership.”
Ms. Paridhi Adani, Founder Family and Partner (Head – Gujarat), Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, said, “The Cyril Shroff – IIMA GC Leadership Academy has been conceived as a long-term commitment to the profession, an institution built to combine structured leadership executive education, certification, peer learning and global exposure with IIMA’s distinctive academic assets and CAM’s deep understanding of the evolving role of General Counsel. As expectations from legal leaders continue to expand, the Academy will provide a platform for GCs to broaden their perspectives, build enterprise leadership capability and participate in a globally positioned learning community.”
About Mr. Cyril Shroff:
Mr. Cyril Shroff is the Managing Partner of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) and has had an illustrious legal career spanning over four decades. Mr. Shroff believes that India’s legal profession needs stronger leadership development pathways for in-house counsels to align more closely with business objectives and prepare for emerging leadership responsibilities. Through this initiative, he reinforces his personal commitment to professional development and remains at the forefront of conversations on governance, leadership, AI, regulation and business risk.
Mr. Shroff has received several prestigious honours, including the FT Law 50 2026 AI Enablers award from Financial Times, the Managing Partner of the Year 2026 at the ALB India Law Awards, Legal Excellence Award for Outstanding Contribution & Excellence as a Corporate M&A Law Leader of the Decade at the Legal Era Indian Legal Awards 2026 and the Asian Law Firm Leader of the Year Award from the Asia Legal Awards 2025 by ALM. He is consistently recognised as an Eminent Practitioner by Chambers and Partners and as a Legal Icon by Indian Business Law Journal.
About IIM Ahmedabad:
The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) is a premier global management Institute that is at the forefront of promoting excellence in the field of management education. In more than six decades of its existence, the Institute has been acknowledged for its exemplary contributions to scholarship, practice, and policy through its distinctive teaching, high-quality research, nurturing future leaders, supporting industry, government, social enterprise, and creating a progressive impact on society.
IIMA was founded as an innovative initiative by the Government, industry, and international academia in 1961. Since then, it has been consolidating its global footprint, and today it has a network with over 80 top international institutions and a campus in Dubai. Its eminent faculty members and more than 47,000 alumni, who are at the helm of influential positions in all walks of life, also contribute to its global recognition. Over the years, IIMA’s academically superior, market-driven, and socially impactful programmes have earned a high reputation and acclaim globally. It became the first Indian institution to receive international accreditation from EQUIS. The Institute is also placed first in the Government of India’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), India Rankings 2025. The Institute has been ranked 35th globally in the Financial Times (FT) Executive Education Rankings (Open) 2025. The renowned flagship two-year Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) is ranked 34th in the FT Masters in Management Ranking 2025, and the Full-Time One-Year Post Graduate Programme in Management (MBA-PGPX) has been ranked 27th in the FT Global MBA rankings 2026.
IIMA offers consultancy services and more than 200 curated executive education programmes in customised, blended, and open enrolment formats for a diverse audience comprising business leaders, policymakers, industry professionals, academicians, government officials, armed forces personnel, agri-business, and other niche sector specialists and entrepreneurs.
To know more about the Institute, please visit: https://www.iima.ac.in/
About Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas:
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) is India's leading law firm with a global reputation of being trusted advisers to its clients. The Firm advises a large and diverse set of clients, including domestic and foreign commercial enterprises, financial institutions, private equity and venture capital funds, start-ups, government, and regulatory bodies. With over 1500 lawyers including 250 Partners, the Firm is a full-service law firm with offices in key business centres at Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai, GIFT City, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi.
For media queries, please contact:
Ms. Shivangi Bhatt | manager-comm@iima.ac.in
