Passionate about the intersection of innovation and protection, Priyanki Sah’s pursuit of Intellectual Property excellence began in her 4th year at National Law University, Jodhpur (NLUJ). With eighteen years of high-stakes experience, she is dedicated to safeguarding the things entrepreneurs ideate, create, and build.
Priyanki’s career journey has provided her with a comprehensive 360-degree view of the IP landscape: transitioning from a boutique IP firm to a full-service law firm, then stepping into the corporate world as a worldwide brand architect in an in-house counsel role. This led to independent consulting before returning to private practice as a Principal at Lex Mantis.
She has successfully managed large international portfolios and is equally equipped to guide mid-sized company entrepreneurs. Her expertise spans the comprehensive brand lifecycle, including conducting pre-launch risk assessments, obtaining worldwide trademarks and devising effective brand protection strategies for clients in the beauty, fashion & jewellery sector and food and beverages sector, and facilitating complex post-merger integrations that cross international borders, complex copyright issues in music and art and personality rights. Priyanki also drafts and negotiates sophisticated general commercial agreements across diverse sectors, including pharma, technology, media & entertainment, and manufacturing, retail and the likes.
Priyanki excels in advising regarding strategic brand licensing, acquisitions, and divestments, providing extensive due diligence to ensure every move is an informed strategic decision made with confidence. With a Masters in Intellectual Property Laws from IGNOU, Priyanki blends the intellectual rigor of academia with pragmatic implementation and is a force to be reckoned with, dedicated to helping global clients maximize the value of their intellectual property with precision and commercial awareness.
Learning Law―The Instrument of Empowerment
Priyanki has always believed in values, ethics, principles, and morals since her childhood. She was born into a middle-class family where discipline, respecting elders, and celebrating community were part of daily life. Her father, who ran his own law firm, inspired in her a deep respect for the profession, while her highly educated mother instilled in Priyanki the values of knowledge and perseverance. Even in school, she gravitated towards leadership — serving as Prefect and later as the Girls’ Sports Captain — roles that shaped her early sense of responsibility, fairness, and teamwork.
Yet, her personal realization of the law’s transformative power came during her early years at Krishna & Saurastri and later at Wadia Ghandy. Watching a small business protect its brand identity against overwhelming odds revealed how the law could restore dignity and protect livelihoods. Much like the discipline of her classical singing training, Priyanki learned that persistence, preparation, and purpose can transform ordinary effort into something powerful. That moment cemented her belief that law, when practiced with integrity, is an instrument of empowerment. Furthermore, her IIM Ahmedabad course opened up her mind to building her own brand, networking, and marketing herself.
The Architect of Legal Confidence
Priyanki’s leadership style blends collaboration with accountability. Whether during her earlier stint at Sun Pharma or currently at Lex Mantis, she believes in creating a culture where every team member feels ownership of their work—because true growth happens when responsibility meets trust.
Her career has been defined by navigating complexity on a global scale. Earlier, at Sun Pharma, where she led global brand protection across 80 countries, Priyanki learned that leadership is not about control, but about confidence and trust—both in yourself and in your team. While she initially struggled to delegate,but just as a basketball team thrives on coordinated play, she learned that the best outcomes come from trust and teamwork. Today, she leads while she trains—consistently, patiently, and with an eye on long-term results.
Honing Her Skills in Diverse Ways
In a profession still evolving toward greater diversity, Priyanki has found that preparation and composure are the greatest equalizers. When she enters the room, grounded in law and facts, her voice naturally carries weight. Sports has taught her resilience, strategy, calm under pressure and the ability to bounce back after setbacks – skills that mirror the demand of advocacy.
She uses these lessons to ensure that her clients’ voices—especially global businesses navigating India’s complex regulatory environment—are heard clearly and confidently. At Lex Mantis, inclusivity isn’t a buzzword; it’s how she ensures every client and every lawyer on the team feels heard, represented and respected.
Leading with Simplicity and Pragmatism
With over 18 years of experience in IP, licensing, and data privacy, Priyanki learned that legal strategy must always align with commercial sense. As an in-house counsel , managing a brand portfolio of over 4,000 trademarks across 80 countries post merger of two o of the largest pharma giants required more than just legal precision—it demanded commercial sense along with pragmatism.
Today, at Lex Mantis, her focus is on translating complex laws into actionable frameworks that help businesses with a foresight grow responsibly. She often tells clients that the same consistency she brings to her fitness and mindfulness routines—balancing nutrition, training, and recovery—reflects how she approaches their legal matters: disciplined, strategic, and sustainable. For Priyanki, lawyers should enable businesses to innovate with confidence, not slow them down.
Becoming Tech-Adept to Help Businesspeople
While at Lex Mantis, the biggest change Priyanki is embracing is the convergence of technology with IP, specifically AI and data privacy. Having advised on digital personal data protection and/or compliance and intellectual property across various sectors, she is now helping clients adopt AI mindfully and responsibly, ensuring they stay compliant with India’s evolving data privacy framework while strategically protecting their intellectual property while being mindful of the other evolved data privacy frameworks like those of GDPR in EU.
To her, AI is like any form of innovation—it must be used with balance and awareness. Much like mindful eating or training, it’s about moderation, discipline, and intention. Priyanki argues that businesses that integrate AI responsibly will not only stay compliant but also build stronger reputations and trust with consumers.
An Ethical Compass That Guides Her
Ethics are her anchor, reinforced through years of professional experience. She acknowledges that in high-stakes litigation or corporate negotiations, the temptation to cut corners is real. However, she has always believed that credibility is the cornerstone of this profession. For her, while integrity and transparency are non-negotiable, consistency is a critical guiding factor.
Personal-Professional Harmony
Priyanki views work-life balance not as a scale, but as harmony. Her career gives her purpose, while her family, health, and passions provide strength. She is blessed with two wonderful children and a lively dog, both of whom keep her grounded and full of energy. She unwinds after work by playing and spending time with her children.
Fitness, mindfulness, and food are integral to who she is. She loves to eat, but maintains discipline through portion control and regular gym sessions. That consistency keeps her mentally sharp and emotionally centered. Moreover, her love for travelling around the world on vacations with family brings a more well-rounded approach to work. Clients often note that they find reassurance in her ability to manage both career and well-being, believing that someone who takes care of herself will take care of their legal matters with equal diligence.
The Joy of Giving Back
Outside of work, giving back brings her joy. Committed to supporting vulnerable youth, she frequently donates books, clothing, and toys to children’s shelters and regularly provides meals for underprivileged children. These experiences remind her that success is most meaningful when it’s shared.
A Defining Professional Achievement
One of her most defining professional experiences was leading a highly contentious cross-border trademark infringement dispute. The dispute centered on the client’s core brand identity, where a competitor was using a deceptively similar mark in 4 of the client’s key markets. The complexity was twofold: first, initiating a robust infringement action in India based on global reputation and trans-border goodwill; and second, concurrently managing the brand’s delicate distribution ecosystem in those foreign jurisdictions. The risk was that aggressive litigation might lead distributors in the foreign jurisdictions to prematurely terminate contracts worth millions in annual revenue. This engagement was a rigorous test of strategic acumen. Priyanki’s team had to achieve a cease-fire agreement that secured the competitor’s withdrawal from the four markets, but only via a carefully structured settlement that was confidential and non-prejudicial to the distributors. This prevented the ‘reputational risk’ from collapsing the international distribution network.. The successful outcome not only protected the sanctity of the client’s core trademark and consumer goodwill but also ensured the preservation of their global commercial pipeline. This experience reinforced her belief that law is a comprehensive strategic discipline, demanding precision, timing, and and above all, empathy—the ability to understand and protect the client’s underlying business relationships. That approach continues to shape her work at Lex Mantis—using law not just for defense, but as a strategic bridge between brand protection and commercial innovation.
It’s High Time to Normalize Women’s Business Leadership
Priyanki recognizes that the unseen burden many women leaders carry is the constant need to re-establish authority. Despite proven success, there is often an unspoken expectation to ‘prove’ oneself repeatedly. She acknowledges that this can be draining, but notes that it also builds resilience.
She insists that the industry must normalize women in leadership—not treat them as exceptions. Structured mentorship, equal opportunities, pay parity and visible recognition are essential for systemic change. Personally, she has drawn immense strength from her background in sport, music, and art. Training, losing, practicing, and performing—these cycles have taught her to persist despite criticism and pressure. She believes that collective progress for women depends heavily on how often they uplift each other’s voices.
Step Up and Claim Your Space!
Mentorship is something Priyanki holds close to her heart. As a second-generation lawyer, she understands how early exposure and encouragement can shape a career. She makes it a point to involve young women lawyers in strategic discussions, giving them both visibility and responsibility.
Her advice to them is simple: “Don’t wait for permission to lead—step up and claim your space.” She emphasizes that leadership, like sport or music, is about practice, persistence, and presence. Every court appearance, every hearing, every client draft, and every discussion is training for the next big opportunity. She reminds them that confidence is built through repetition—whether in everyday life, on a basketball court, a stage, or in a courtroom.
Concurrent Visions of the Future
Priyanki’s current focus at Lex Mantis is on deepening the firm’s expertise at the intersection of intellectual property, AI, and data privacy. They are actively helping businesses design responsible frameworks that seamlessly integrate innovation with compliance.
Looking ahead to 2026, she hopes her work contributes meaningfully to shaping industry practices and policy conversations around technology and ethics in India. Personally, she wants to continue bridging legal insight with commercial foresight, staying true to the same persistence and balance that guide her in everything, from her personal life to her professional life.
A Legacy of Balanced Personality
Priyanki hopes to be remembered as an empowering force in the legal space—someone who built trust, championed fairness, and advanced women in leadership. She strives for a legacy defined by balance: between career and family, intellect and empathy, ambition and compassion.
Priyanki is a fierce advocate for women’s self-development and financial independence. She believes in proactive upskilling, which includes ensuring financial literacy, and making personal asset base independently. She encourages women to believe in themselves and take charge—to know how to drive (literally) rather than relying on others, and, most importantly, to lead and not ask for permission to do basic things in life.
Her daily actions—from mentoring young lawyers to charity to spending time with her family, reflect her core values of integrity, kindness, and persistence. Priyanki considers it her greatest success if her journey inspires even one young woman to believe she can lead fearlessly, excel professionally, stay true to her passions, nurture a full life and boldly pursue total financial and personal autonomy.
