New Delhi, July 27 -- Mumbai: Listed companies are increasingly seeking legal guidance not to defend insider trading investigations, but to prevent them from happening in the first place. Securities lawyers said the nature of client queries has shifted dramatically over the past few years, after the regulator tightened India's insider trading framework by leveraging technology.

Clients now want to know what qualifies as unpublished price sensitive information (UPSI), when confidential information should be recorded first, who inside the company should have access to it, how it should be shared with auditors, consultants and law firms, and what steps a board should take if it detects suspicious trading by an employee. Lawyers said many co...