Apurva Agarwal

Apurva Agarwal is a founding partner of Universal Legal, a first-generation, full-service Indian law firm he co-founded in 2004 with Mohit Kapoor. He earned his BA LL.B (Hons) from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore in 1999, and went on to complete an LL.M. in Corporate and Commercial Laws at Bond University, Australia (2001), where he was named to the Dean's List.

Before launching his own firm, Agarwal trained and practiced at a series of leading Indian firms: he began at Shah Desai Doijode & Phatarphekar immediately after graduation, then worked at DSK Legal (formerly Andersen Legal India), and subsequently at Luthra & Luthra Law Offices, where he built deep expertise in real estate and media law under demanding timelines. In a SuperLawyer interview he framed his decision to strike out on his own simply: "if I can do it for someone else, then why not for myself."

Today his core legal practice spans real estate, corporate and commercial law, dispute resolution, banking, medical law, intellectual property, and media. He routinely sits as sole arbitrator in commercial disputes and serves a base of large corporate clients. He also authored *Layman's Guide to Property Transactions*, a plain-language guide to real estate law, and publishes regularly in legal and financial journals. Universal Legal operates out of Mumbai with an associate network spanning India, London, New York, Boston, San Francisco, China, Singapore, Dubai, Russia, and Europe.

Alongside the law practice, Agarwal identifies publicly (on LinkedIn) as an angel investor, putting personal capital into early-stage companies in exchange for equity. His investing footprint is modest and secondary to his legal career rather than a formal fund or institutional vehicle.

• Invests as an individual angel, deploying personal capital at the seed / earliest stage in exchange for equity — not via a managed fund.
• Self-describes on LinkedIn as "Founder, Universal Legal | Real Estate Law | Corporate Law | Arbitrator | Angel Investor," signaling investing is one of several hats rather than a full-time focus.
• Documented activity points to consumer internet / e-commerce deals, consistent with a generalist Indian angel rather than a sector specialist.
• His legal expertise (real estate, corporate/commercial, IP, arbitration) suggests value-add on deal structuring, contracts, and dispute resolution for the founders he backs.
• No publicly stated, quotable investment thesis or defined check-size band could be verified from primary sources.