Ms Chellappa practised law for more than 35 years. She worked on the civil side with a focus on commercial, personal, matrimonial, and service / labour matters. She practiced at the trial and appellate courts of Karnataka.  She has been on the panel of institutions like Insurance  Companies, Housing Finance Companies, Indian Railways and  Banks. 

She got trained in Mediation by ISDLS U.S.A. in 2007, at the Mediation Training  Program conducted by the High Court of Karnataka and has been mediating at BMC since then.  She got trained in Commercial Mediation conducted by JAMS. She is also trained by Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC) to mediate in cross  border disputes. Ms. Chellappa is an IMI certified mediator. 

Ms. Chellappa is an experienced mediator having mediated over 600 cases in civil and  commercial areas such as breach of contract, partnership disputes, company matters,  employment, property, real estate, money recovery, matrimonial and its connected criminal  cases, compoundable criminal offences and criminal matters predominately civil in nature like cheque bouncing cases. 

Her style of Mediation is facilitative. She has a deep understanding and substantive  knowledge to help parties analyze their complex legal issues, engage in risk assessment, and  develop creative solutions. She is known for her approachability, patience and her ability to  gently lead disputing parties to resolution. 

She has been appointed as Member of Specialist Mediator Panel (India) by SIMC. Ms. Chellappa is a Member of the Mediation Panel attached to NCLT South East division. She is also a Member of WICCI National (Mediation) Council. She is an MCPC Mediation Trainer and routinely trains advocates, and Judges in Mediation.