Puhazh is a lawyer and is the General Managing Partner of a leading law firm SPAB & Co, Advocates and Legal consultants at Chennai, India. Puhazh’s practice area includes Infrastructure, Banking and Corporate, International Trade (WTO), Information Technology(IT/ITES), Alternate Dispute resolution and International Investments. He has led numerous transactions in Singa- pore, Brunei, Srilanka, Philippines, Indonesia, Africa, USA, Canada etc.
Puhazh is a consultant to a number of reputed law firms in the Asian region including LAW ASIA, a leading international law firm headquartered in Singapore.
A record holder in his LL.B (First rank holder) program bagging nine gold medals from the University of Kerala. Did his M.Phil in International Law from India’s top ranking University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. A Deans (Merit) Scholar at New York University School of Law for his LLM, where he was also awarded the prestigious International Law and Human Rights fellowship. Puhazh was invited by the Hague Academy of International Law at the International Court of Justice for the prestigious Public International Law Lecture Series in 2003.
Puhazh is also a well known arguing counsel. Even during his college days, he represented India in the XIth Manfred Lacs International moot court competition held at Sydney, Australia in 2000.
Puhazh has worked as a lawyer at the Appellate body Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO) at Geneva. He was a member of the Team, which assisted the WTO Appellate body in deciding the famous dispute of U.S v. Canada – the Soft wood Lumber VI, and U.S v. E.C – the Zeroing case. He also worked as the Assistant Coordinator (Academics) for the Re- gional Trade Policy Course conducted by the World Trade Organization at the National University of Singapore in which Senior/Mid level civil servants from thirty different countries were imparted training in Trade Law.
He was a Visiting Expert Advisor for Judge His Excellency Mr Rene Blattamann at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, to advise him in the trial of Mr Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese war lord from the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a rare honor for any lawyer and only senior judges, prosecutors, senior attorneys from leading law firms, professors of international law were invited by ICC for such a position.
Puhazh is ranked as a leading lawyer in India for ‘Contracts and Information Technology’ by GLOBAL LAW EXPERTS, a reputed rating agency based out of London.
Puhazh represents a number of government organizations as well. He was earlier the National Legal Consultant for the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Legal Counsel for Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Senior Legal Counsel for the Airports Authority of India.
He is also the Executive Coordinator of the leading think tank Dravidian Professionals Forum (DPF) chaired by Dr PTR Thiagarajan, Hon’ble Minister for Information Technology, Government of Tamilnadu.
Recently Tamilnadu Chief Minister Thiru MK Stalin created an exclusive organization to take care of the needs of the overseas tamils called ‘Non- Resident Tamils Welfare Board (NRTWB)’ and appointed Puhazh as the resident member from Tamilnadu. The Board will assist in the welfare of Tamils living in various parts of the world and will connect them with their motherland- Tamilnadu.
