SpicyIP TV: The Summer School Edn - 06 Zara Kaushik on Careers in Media, Entertainment & Sports Law

The SpicyIP Podcast took the opportunity to sit with our distinguished faculty and guest speakers at the SpicyIP Summer School 2025 to launch our first set of interviews!

In this episode (06), Sonisha Srinivasan speaks to Ms Zara Kaushik (bio below), a seasoned media and commercial lawyer, now an independent counsel. She reflects on building a career in media, entertainment, and sports law. She explores the structural challenges and power imbalances that arise in sports corporates, and the crucial role lawyer’s play in educating clients about what contracts actually mean, and why negotiating from a clear commercial rationale makes agreements flow better. The episode finishes with candid advice for students, who wants to pursue this as a career.

00:00- Introduction
00:37- Challenges in the Legal Framework for Sports Corporates
02:29- Examples of Work & Key Matters
03:46- Advice for Those Entering Media & Entertainment Law
06:01- Concluding Remarks


About Zara Kaushik:
Zara Kaushik is an experienced commercial and media lawyer with over a
decade of practice across global law firms, major media networks, and startups. She graduated from NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad in 2009 and holds a European Masters in Law and Economics from Rotterdam, Bologna, and Hamburg.
She began her career at Trilegal, later serving as Senior Legal Manager at Disney Star, where she managed acquisitions of billion-dollar sports media rights with ICC, BCCI, and the International Hockey Federation. As former General Counsel at Mahila Money, a financial platform for women in India, she was part of the five-member senior leadership team. Now an independent general counsel and strategic advisor, she leads legal strategy for companies in industries ranging from AI and media to SaaS.

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https://spicyip.com/2025/07/event-rep...
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Credits:
Sonisha Srinivasan: Host, Researcher, Editor
Swaraj Paul Barooah: Producer, Researcher, Editor
Praharsh Gour, Md Sabeeh Ahmad: Camera, Mic, Set
Tanishka Goswami, Anjali Tripathi, Athreya Bhat: Graphics & Media
Praharsh Gour, Yogesh Byadwal, Bharathwaj Ramakrishnan: Research & General Setup