With more than 30 years’ experience advising entrepreneurs, investors and international businesses on complex corporate transactions, Tejinder Mahil joins Fusion Law as Managing Partner at a significant moment in the growth of Fusion Consulting Group.
Having worked across London and Hong Kong for firms including Clifford Chance, Latham & Watkins and DLA Piper, Tej brings deep expertise in mergers and acquisitions, private equity, venture capital and international transactions.
Now leading Fusion Law within Fusion Consulting Group’s growing 360-degree advisory model, Tej shares his views on the future of legal services, the changing needs of business owners, and why integrated commercial advice is becoming increasingly important for growing businesses preparing for investment, acquisition or eventual exit.
What attracted you to Fusion Consulting Group?
“What attracted me most was the opportunity to lead a legal practice within a genuinely integrated advisory business.
Throughout my career, one of the biggest frustrations clients have expressed is the need to coordinate separately between lawyers, accountants, tax advisers, corporate finance teams and wealth planners. Particularly for entrepreneurs and owner managed businesses, that can create unnecessary complexity at exactly the moments when they need clarity and strategic advice.
Fusion’s model is different because it brings those services together in a much more connected way. It allows us to support clients not just with legal execution, but with the wider commercial and strategic issues surrounding their business.
That joined up approach is increasingly where the professional services market is moving.”
How does Fusion Law fit into the wider Fusion Group?
“Legal advice rarely exists in isolation.
When a client is buying or selling a business, raising investment, restructuring, planning succession or preparing for an eventual exit, there are usually multiple considerations happening at the same time including legal, tax, financial, operational and personal.
The strength of the Fusion model is that we can work collaboratively across the group to support clients through those wider decisions.
For example, if a business owner is preparing to sell their company, they may also need support around tax structuring, succession planning, wealth management or leadership recruitment. Traditionally, those conversations may happen separately with different advisers. Within Fusion, the legal work is ours, but the tax structuring sits with Fusion Tax, the wealth planning with Fusion Financial, and if the owner is stepping back from the business, Fusion Recruitment handles the leadership hire. One conversation, not three sets of advisers who have never spoken to each other.
Clients increasingly value that level of integration because it means one conversation instead of five, and far less for them to project-manage.”
What legal challenges are business owners facing today?
“Business owners today are operating in a far more complex environment than they were even five or ten years ago.
Whether it is acquiring a business, preparing for investment, restructuring, refinancing property, protecting shareholder relationships or managing employment risk, legal considerations now sit at the centre of many commercial decisions.
At Fusion Law, we work with entrepreneurs, investors and growing businesses across a wide range of areas including:
- mergers and acquisitions
- corporate restructures
- shareholder agreements
- banking and finance
- commercial contracts
- commercial property
- employment law
- business succession planning
What clients increasingly value is practical legal advice that is commercially focused and easy to action.
Legal advice should not create barriers to growth. It should help businesses move forward confidently, minimise risk and open up the opportunities in front of them.
That is why we focus heavily on understanding not just the legal issue itself, but also the wider commercial objectives behind it.
Being part of Fusion Consulting Group also allows us to work much more collaboratively with tax advisers, accountants, financial planners and business advisers to deliver solutions that are aligned commercially as well as legally.”
You have spent much of your career advising entrepreneurs and owner managed businesses. Why does that appeal to you?
“I have always enjoyed working closely with entrepreneurs because there is often a very personal connection between the owner and the business they have built.
For many entrepreneurs, their business represents years, sometimes decades, of risk, sacrifice and hard work. Advisers need to understand not only the technical aspects of a transaction, but also the emotional and commercial considerations behind it.
Often the legal issue itself is only one part of a much bigger conversation around growth, succession, family, investment or future lifestyle.
That is where having access to broader expertise across a group like Fusion becomes particularly valuable.”
Why are more business owners starting to think about exit planning and succession?
“A lot of business owners spend years focused on growth but very little time thinking strategically about what happens next.
The reality is that the best time to prepare your business for sale is years before you are ready to exit. Businesses that achieve the strongest outcomes are usually the ones where owners have taken time to prepare properly, whether that means strengthening management structures, improving reporting, reducing owner dependency or planning tax efficiently.
Interestingly, it is often during quieter periods in the year when business owners finally have the headspace to think about these bigger questions. Summer holidays, festive shutdowns and slower trading periods naturally give people the opportunity to step back from the day to day running of the business and look at the bigger picture.
When business owners are away from the office or operating at a slightly slower pace, they often start reflecting on things they may not normally have time to consider:
- Are the right processes in place?
- Is the business too reliant on me?
- Where are the inefficiencies?
- What would I change if I started again?
- Do we really need everything we are currently doing?
- What would happen if I wanted to step away in five years?
Those moments of reflection are incredibly important because they often become the starting point for longer term strategic planning.
Many entrepreneurs begin to realise that if they want to retire, sell the business, attract investment or reduce their involvement in the future, planning needs to start much earlier than they originally expected.
Preparing a business for sale is not something that happens overnight. Maximising value often requires years of preparation, operational improvements and strategic decision making.
At Fusion Consulting Group, we work with business owners to look at the full picture. That means not only the legal aspects of a future sale, but also the tax planning, financial structuring, operational readiness, leadership planning and wider commercial considerations that can significantly impact business value.
The goal is to help business owners get their business into the strongest possible position long before they are ready to sell, so when the right opportunity comes along, they are prepared to achieve the best possible outcome.”
Fusion Consulting Group has grown rapidly in recent years. What opportunities do you see for Fusion Law?
“There is a significant opportunity to continue building a broader corporate and commercial legal practice within the group.
Fusion already has strong relationships with entrepreneurs, growing businesses and international clients across multiple sectors. As the group continues to grow, there is increasing demand for commercially focused legal support alongside the existing tax, accountancy and advisory services.
We are looking to continue strengthening areas including:
- mergers and acquisitions
- corporate and commercial law
- banking and finance
- commercial property
- employment
The opportunity is not simply to build a traditional law firm, but to create a modern legal practice that operates as part of a wider advisory ecosystem.”
How are client expectations changing in the legal and advisory market?
“Clients expect advisers to be more commercially aware, more responsive and more collaborative than ever before.
They are not just looking for technical legal answers. They want advisers who understand the wider commercial context and who can help solve problems efficiently.
Technology is also changing how services are delivered. Legal AI and automation are already helping firms improve efficiency, particularly in areas such as due diligence and document review.
AI will not replace lawyers, but lawyers who embrace technology will absolutely be able to deliver faster and more cost effective services for clients.
That evolution is something we are very focused on at Fusion Law.”
Your career has included significant international work across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. How does that shape your approach today?
“Working internationally gives you a broader perspective on business, investment and commercial relationships.
I spent many years based in Hong Kong advising clients across Asia Pacific markets including China, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and Macau, while also working extensively with US and European businesses.
That experience helps you understand how businesses operate in different markets and how international investors approach opportunities.
It also allows you to help clients think more strategically about international growth and investment opportunities they may not have considered previously.
In today’s market, many UK businesses have far greater international opportunities than they realise, whether that is attracting overseas investment, expanding internationally or preparing for cross border transactions.
Having that international perspective allows us to support clients much more strategically as they grow. It also connects to Fusion International, the Group’s international tax network, so when a deal crosses borders we can draw on in-country expertise rather than starting from scratch.”
What does success look like for you at Fusion Law over the next few years?
“Success for me is building a highly respected, commercially focused legal practice that clients genuinely value and trust.
I want Fusion Law to be recognised not only for technical legal expertise, but also for the quality of its relationships, its commercial mindset and its ability to work collaboratively across the wider group.
At Fusion, we are building something genuinely different. Business owners increasingly want advisers who understand the bigger picture and who can support them across every stage of their journey, from growth and investment through to succession and eventual exit.
We have a strong platform, ambitious leadership and a genuinely differentiated model. There is a huge opportunity ahead of us and I am excited about what we can build here.”
