Heart Of The Matter - A Podcast On Legal Developments From Around The World

About Heart Of The Matter - A Podcast On Legal Developments From Around The World

Thank you for tuning into The Heart of the Matter, a podcast that covers legal developments from around the world. This podcast is brought to you by Conventus Law.

Publisher

Beyond The Tree

Category

news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

12 Jul 2021

Latest episode

25 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

161 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   25 Sept 2026

   India's Venture Capital Landscape Is No Longer What It Used To Be

   Fundamentally, the rules of the game have changed for startup investors in India. Archana Balasubramanian, founding partner at Agama Law Associates, breaks down exactly how and why, drawing from data across 1,115 private transactions in the first half of 2026. Rarely has a market pivoted this sharply. Institutional investors are now pouring capital into late-stage, highly compliant software enterprises in Mumbai and Bangalore, steering clear of the early-stage speculative bets that once defined the ecosystem. High-profile failures like Go Mechanic and Byju's left investors nursing serious losses, and SEBI has responded by becoming aggressively proactive about enforcement, stress-testing valuations and scrutinizing IPO filings through technology. What does this mean for the next generation of Indian founders? The honest answer is complicated. Compliance is no longer optional, it is the price of admission. Yet the opportunity here is real: professionals who can guide companies through India's demanding multi-regulator environment are more valuable than ever. Cautionary tales like Paytm and Coffee Day remind us that even strong products cannot survive poor governance. (The council's role, Balasparanian notes, has expanded significantly in this environment.) Clearly, this shift is both a warning and an invitation. Our Guest Archana Balasubramanian Archana Balasubramanian is a Partner at Agama Law Associates with over 17 years of experience in corporate, commercial and transactions law, advising clients across sectors including manufacturing, logistics, media, pharmaceuticals, financial services, real estate and technology. She is known for a result-oriented, commercially-minded approach, and her practice spans corporate advisory, M&A, dispute strategy, data protection, and private client work — including succession planning and advisory for HNIs, entrepreneurs and family offices. Her M&A practice, built over nearly two decades, covers investments, mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and structural collaborations, and she has been recognised as one of India's top lawyers by Forbes Legal Powerlist, India Business Law Journal and Legal Era. She is also a frequent commentator in outlets such as the Economic Times, Mint and Business Standard on topics ranging from IPOs and venture capital to regulatory and dealmaking trends. Our Host Ajay Shamdasani Ajay Shamdasani is a veteran writer, editor and researcher based in Hong Kong. He holds an AB in history and government from Ripon College, JD and MIPCT degrees from the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce Law School, and an LLM in financial regulation from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law. His 15-year long career as a financial and legal journalist began as deputy editor of A Plus magazine – the journal of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. From there, he assumed the helm of Macau Business magazine as its editor-in-chief, and later, joined Asialaw magazine as its deputy editor. More recently, he spent close to seven years as a senior correspondent with Thomson Reuters’ subscription-based trade-wire service Regulatory Intelligence/Compliance Complete (previously called Complinet) in Hong Kong. While there, he covered regulatory developments in that city, as well as Singapore, India and South Korea.

2. 

   12 Aug 2026

   Why Western Corporate Governance Models Fail in Asia

   Twenty years after challenging a Western speaker's paternalistic lecture on governance, Chandran Nair hasn't softened his position one bit. If anything, his conviction has only grown stronger. Nair, founder and CEO of the Global Institute for Tomorrow, sits down with Ajay Shamdasani to dismantle the assumption that Anglo-American corporate governance models are the global standard worth emulating. Repeatedly, the evidence points elsewhere. The 2008 financial crisis originated in the United States despite rigorous regulations already in place, and scandals keep emerging from systems supposedly built on sound governance principles. Could the real problem be that Western institutions like the Big Four auditors and rating agencies serve their own interests rather than the public good? (Nair's point about European family offices being just as opaque as any Asian business is particularly sharp.) Critically, he argues that effective governance depends on genuine state capacity to enforce accountability. Malaysia shows what happens when institutions are too weak to constrain powerful actors, while China demonstrates that real consequences, not routine fines, create meaningful accountability. Nair also calls out lawyers and compliance officers who stay silent to protect their paychecks, choosing financial security over ethical responsibility. Tune in for a conversation that genuinely challenges assumptions about governance, power, and who gets to write the rules. Our Guest Chandran Nair Chandran Nair is the Founder and CEO of the Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT), (http://www.global-inst.com/) an independent pan-Asian think tank based in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur focused on advancing a deeper understanding of global issues including the shift of economic and political influence from the West to Asia, the dynamic relationship between business and society, and the reshaping of the rules of global capitalism. He is the author of Understanding China: Governance, Socio-Economics, Global Influence (https://www.routledge.com/Understanding-China-Governance-Socio-Economics-Global-Influence/Nair-Randers-Zhou-Dubee/p/book/9781041080565?srsltid=AfmBOoqrcyag1g6ae-oVQFhQCaFJf_--n83O87IOLW5UYRZSmDJ5a3aC), Dismantling Global White Privilege: Equity for a Post-Western World (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/678193/dismantling-global-white-privilege-by-chandran-nair/), The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy, and Society (https://www.bkconnection.com/books/title/The-Sustainable-State) and Consumptionomics: Asia's Role in Reshaping Capitalism and Saving the Planet (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/feb/26/how-west-was-lost-consumptionomics-review) and the creator of The Other Hundred (http://support.theotherhundred.com/), a non-profit global photo journalism initiative to present a counterpoint to media consensus on some of today's most important issues. Chandran was chairman of Environmental Resources Management (ERM) in Asia Pacific until 2004, establishing the company as Asia’s leading environmental consultancy.Chandran is a member of WEF’s Global Agenda Council on Governance for Sustainability and Experts Forum, he sits on the Global Steering Committee of CISL’s Business for Sustainability Programme, is a member of the Club of Rome, is a Senior Fellow of CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI), as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Chandran has served as Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong...

3. 

   6 Aug 2026

   When Your Personal Phone Becomes a Legal Liability

   A 2025 UK ruling changed everything for legal professionals. Messages sent from a solicitor's private device are now considered disclosable client file material, and suddenly that WhatsApp message you fired off after hours is no longer just a casual note. Ajay Shamdasani sits down with Martin Nygate, founder of Velox Networks, to unpack what this means for law firms navigating a world where personal and professional communication constantly blur together. The stakes are real and genuinely alarming. Off-channel communication breaches are at record levels, and ransomware attacks are costing law firms an average of $5 million per incident.Interestingly, the conversation goes beyond the obvious risks. How can firms actually fulfill their duty of care when employees are using their own devices anyway? The answer, according to Nygate, lies in cloud-based telephony platforms that keep business communications behind corporate firewalls while still letting staff use personal phones. (WhatsApp for Business gets a surprisingly thorough treatment here too.) Because when an employee leaves, you do not want to lose the data along with them. That is both a security concern and a regulatory one. If your firm is still running on outdated PABX systems and hoping nobody notices, this conversation is worth your time. Our Guest Martin Nygate Martin is the Co-Founder & CEO, Velox Networks. A seasoned entrepreneur with a penchant for start-up success, Martin has made a career out of delivering profitable high-tech sales and communications solutions to the maritime and software industries, spanning Asia and Europe. Product expertise includes CRM, ERP, CCTV, SIM card, banking and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) software. Martin was the driving force behind the highly popular nanu app that achieved dramatic growth with Daily Active Usage Rates of 18% and Monthly Active Usage Rates of 44%. In 2017, Martin co-founded Velox Networks Pte Ltd, a licensed telecommunications service provider in Singapore that is extending the VoIP revolution to SME’s by offering a fully featured cloud based PBX with zero capital investment. With a rapidly growing customer base, the company was profitable within 8 months of launch. Recently, he also co-founded and launched Call2 Global Ltd. Call2 is a revolutionary web-calling platform that lets businesses receive free, unlimited inbound calls directly through a browser widget—eliminating costly toll-free numbers and complex phone systems. With built-in analytics, call management,  global accessibility, and AI integration capabilities,  Call2 simplifies and scales business communications worldwide. Our Host Ajay Shamdasani Ajay Shamdasani is a veteran writer, editor and researcher based in Hong Kong. He holds an AB in history and government from Ripon College, JD and MIPCT degrees from the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce Law School, and an LLM in financial regulation from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law. His 15-year long career as a financial and legal journalist began as deputy editor of A Plus magazine – the journal of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. From there, he assumed the helm of Macau Business magazine as its editor-in-chief, and later, joined Asialaw magazine as its deputy editor. More recently, he spent close to seven years as a senior correspondent with Thomson Reuters’ subscription-based trade-wire service Regulatory Intelligence/Compliance Complete (previously called Complinet) in Hong Kong. While there, he covered regulatory developments in that city, as well as Singapore, India and South Korea.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 55 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

82

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

68

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