Ashlin Perumall

Ashlin Perumall is a partner in Baker McKenzie's corporate M&A and IPTech practice groups in Johannesburg.

Ashlin is experienced in technology-focused matters, including M&A and venture capital transactions, and the commercial aspects of intellectual property (IP), including licensing, commercialisation, technology/IP transfer and development.

Ashlin is routinely called to advise on matters involving corporate structuring and transactions in the technology, media and telecommunications sector. He is also experienced in the commercial, consumer protection and regulatory issues encountered by IP clients and service providers as well as venture and start-up companies.

His practice extends to advising on emerging technology business models and establishing legal, compliance or diligence assessment frameworks for novel targets in various industries, where a high degree of technical prowess is required. These include acting as key advisor to clients entering the fintech (including paytech, open banking, digital banking and financial APIs), blockchain and distributed ledger tech, AI/Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS) in the auditing industry and digital asset sector. He has over a decade’s experience is assessing emerging technology and novel IP acquisition targets.

Ashlin has also worked in the Firm's London office and served as a Fellow to the World Economic Forum's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in San Francisco as part of Baker McKenzie's partnership with the forum to address global, regional and industry policy issues in respect of 4IR technologies, conducting regulatory and policy research, and paper writing as part of the Digital Currency Governance Consortium (DCGC).