Aaron Kamath, Co Head of the Tech, Digital and Commercial Law Practice at Nishith Desai Associates, reflects on a legal journey shaped by curiosity, rigorous academic training and close engagement with emerging industries. In this conversation, he discusses the evolution of his practice in India and internationally, the influence of advanced study in the United States, and his work at the intersection of technology, media and intellectual property law. The interview explores how lawyers must think beyond traditional boundaries, balance ethics with innovation, and remain rooted in first principles while advising on artificial intelligence, fintech, ecommerce and digital regulation.
What initially drew you to the legal profession? After more than a decade in practice, does that original sense of curiosity and intellectual engagement still guide your work today?
My early interest in law was shaped by a mix of curiosity and storytelling. As a student, I spent a fair amount of time reading John Grisham novels and watching legal dramas on television, which introduced me to the idea of law as both analytical and narrative driven. What appealed to me most, even then, was the process of interpretation, reading between the lines, constructing arguments, and finding alternate ways to approach the same problem. That inclination toward analytical thinking and questioning assumptions eventually translated into a serious interest in pursuing a legal degree. More than a decade into practice, that curiosity has not diminished; if anything, it has become more central to how I work. Each new business model or regulatory shift presents fresh questions rather than settled answers. Clients’ new and evolving business models require you to constantly test first principles and adapt them to new contexts. That ongoing intellectual engagement is what continues to motivate me.
Over the course of your career, you pursued two master’s degrees (LLMs) and also worked toward becoming dual-qualified. How did you balance these academic commitments alongside the demands of professional practice, and what motivated you to take that path?
My decision to return to academics was largely driven by timing and intent. I pursued my first Master of Laws degree at Jindal Global Law School during the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside working as a lawyer. With lockdowns and travel restrictions in place, it felt like the right moment to go back to the books and revisit the theoretical foundations of business and commercial law. Balancing practice and coursework were demanding, but it was also energizing, and it gave structure to weekends that might otherwise have blurred into the workweek. In 2023, I took a sabbatical to pursue a second Master of Laws degree at UC Berkeley, California which was a very different and deeply immersive experience. Living and studying in the Bay Area placed me at the heart of global innovation and technology discourse. I had the opportunity to learn from leading academics and practitioners and to study subjects such as crypto regulation, fintech, telecommunications, and disruptive technologies at advanced levels, alongside U.S. constitutional law and legal history. Preparing for and passing the bar exam in the U.S. was one of the most challenging journeys of my life, both intellectually and personally. Post my academic break, working out of the firm’s Silicon Valley office in Palo Alto allowed me to witness the AI revolution at close quarters. Engaging with founders and investors who speak the language of ideas and innovation proved perspective-shifting, an experience I carry with me as I look to the road ahead.
Your practice spans technology, media, IP and commercial law, culminating in your leadership role at Nishith Desai Associates. What factors shaped this trajectory, and what attracted you specifically to these intersecting areas of law?
My trajectory into technology, media, and commercial law was less pre-planned and more the result of early exposure to how law operates in spaces that are still being defined. While I entered law school with an interest in disputes, my internships introduced me to technology and IP-driven work, where the questions were often novel and the answers far from settled. At the time, this was a relatively niche practice area in India, which meant there was significant room to think, build, and shape positions rather than rely on established templates. What drew me in was the way these areas sit at the intersection of law, business strategy, and innovation. The advice required is rarely purely legal; it demands an understanding of how products are built, how markets function, and how regulations respond to change. Over the years, the practice has expanded from traditional IT and media into digital platforms, consumer protection, telecom, fintech and blockchain, e-commerce and social media, privacy and cybersecurity, and AI. Being part of a practice that grows alongside innovation has made the work both challenging and deeply engaging.
Alongside your practice, you have written articles for renowned publications and spoken at global conferences, what prompted this move into thought leadership in the TMT space?
A significant part of my work has involved engaging with tech policy, including stakeholder discussions and submissions to regulators on issues such as foreign investment in e-commerce, e-wallet regulations, data protection, gaming, and AI regulation. Beyond day-to-day practice, staying current with legal and regulatory developments is essential, particularly in fast-moving sectors. Clients often come to you not just for answers, but for perspective and early issue-spotting. Knowing the law is the bare minimum; understanding where it is headed is what adds value. Writing for international publications (such as Journal of Innovation, iGaming Business, IPBA Journal) has been a way to deepen my own understanding of regulatory and industry developments, sharpen my thinking, and improve clarity in communication. I was also given the opportunity to speak at global conferences, across India and in Singapore, Dubai and Chicago. I also conduct webinars and guest lectures for young lawyers and law students, which keeps me connected to first-principles learning.
How do you see your practice evolving in the future?
Looking ahead, a large part of my practice will continue to focus on future-facing business models and anticipated regulatory change. Clients are looking for a combination of strategic, legal and regulatory advice taking into account global legal frameworks that they already deal with in other markets. Softer aspects such as ethics and reputational risks are also relevant to consider. Emerging areas such as AI, digital assets and Web3, and data-driven products will require lateral rather than mechanical thinking. AI itself will also change how legal services are delivered. AI is a tool to assist decision-making, not replace it. Used thoughtfully, it can enhance efficiency in research, issue-spotting, and contract review, allowing lawyers to focus more on judgment, strategy, and problem-solving. That said, maintaining quality control and professional accountability will remain non-negotiable.
Apart from your legal work, you have also been active in public speaking and community welfare initiatives. Can you tell us about your experiences outside your work commitments?
A good work-life balance is important and is sometimes more talked about than achieved. I believe that instead of being a sliding scale of time spent at work, work-life balance is the quality of time spent in one’s personal and professional life. Public speaking is something that I embraced from my primary school days, as a way of building confidence and expressing myself. From giving speeches in school assemblies, to winning moot courts and debates in law school, to speaking at conferences and workshops as a lawyer, I have always felt comfortable on stage. I started my journey was a toastmaster a few years ago and this helped with finer aspects such as structuring speeches and voice modulation. I have also volunteered at social welfare initiatives such as assisting with a cardiac health check-up camp and clothes donation drive. It brought me a sense of satisfaction to lend a hand to the community.
With the depth of experience you have built, what guidance would you offer to aspiring lawyers and young professionals navigating the legal profession today, particularly those interested in emerging and interdisciplinary fields?
My advice to young lawyers is to stay grounded, especially in an environment filled with new-age jargon and access to AI tools. I have been privileged to have worked with some of the best legal minds in the industry. This has helped me grow as a professional, of course coupled with effort from my side. Three bits of advice that I most commonly give to law students and young lawyers is (i) Learn from your immediate surroundings: observe and absorb as many positive attributes that you can from senior lawyers that you work with and against, including the way they analyze the law, draft, manage their teams and handle clients; (ii) Don’t get pigeon-holed too soon: broad-base as much as possible in the first few years rather than aiming to specialize in a niche area of law at an early stage, and (iii) Question everything: Ask questions (within reason) of your colleagues and clients to get the best understanding of things, revisit provisions of law that you may have already read several times as new thoughts can arise, and don’t go with “standard language” or “market practice” unless you really understand it and can justify it.
In this in depth conversation, Nabin Bhandari, Founding and Managing Partner at Bhandari Law and Partners, Nepal, reflects on a career shaped by early conviction, international education, and institutional leadership. From discovering a natural inclination toward law in childhood to pursuing a Master’s degree in International Business Law in Brussels, and from entering Nepal’s evolving corporate and arbitration landscape to leading one of the country’s top ranked corporate law firms, he shares thoughtful insights on building a globally oriented legal practice from Nepal.
Before law became your calling, how did your early experiences quietly shape the decision to pursue this path?
To be very honest, my inclination toward law began far earlier than most people realize. As early as Class Two, whenever teachers asked what I wanted to become in the future, my answer was almost instinctive: a lawyer and a politician. At that age, I did not fully understand the profession, but the idea of advocacy, public life, and standing up for rights had already taken root in my mind.
Ironically, I entered the legal profession almost unknowingly. Law was part of my environment—my father is a lawyer, and my sister is also a lawyer. After completing my +2 (Grade 12), I felt a strong need to step out of that familiar shadow. Believing that I should explore something different, I chose to pursue Chartered Accountancy and successfully completed my CPT examination.
However, that experience became a turning point. While accounting sharpened my analytical skills, I gradually realized that I was disconnected from what truly motivated me. I missed the interpretative, argumentative, and human elements that law offers. That realization made it clear that law was not merely a family influence, it was my passion. Returning to the legal field felt less like a career shift and more like coming back to a long-held dream.
Today, law is not just my profession; it is the passion I consciously chose and continue to work on every single day.
Entering practice in 2015, when corporate law and arbitration were still finding their footing in Nepal, what initial struggles did you face?
Entering legal practice in 2015, at a time when corporate law and arbitration were still evolving in Nepal, my experience was shaped more by opportunity and discipline than by visible struggle.
I was fortunate to begin my career at Pioneer Law, one of the leading corporate law firms in Nepal. Working at such an institution gave me early and in-depth exposure to corporate law, regulatory frameworks, and commercial practice. I remain deeply grateful to the firm and, in particular, to my mentors there, who played a crucial role in shaping my professional foundation. The environment encouraged learning, responsibility, and precision qualities that continue to guide my practice today.
One of the most important lessons I learned during those years was the value of hard work. I worked long hours, often day and night, not out of compulsion but out of a genuine desire to gain experience. I actively sought additional work and responsibilities, believing that exposure was the most valuable asset at an early stage of practice. Because I was working within a strong institutional framework, I did not immediately perceive my early years as a struggle. However, that period demanded sustained effort, discipline, and consistency qualities essential for long-term growth in the legal profession.
With respect to arbitration, the field was still relatively underdeveloped in Nepal when I began practice. While corporate law had clearer structures and precedents, arbitration required a more proactive and self-driven approach. I continue to work toward specialization in arbitration, investing time in learning, training, and gaining practical exposure. It remains an area of focused professional development for me.
Currently, I serve as the Founding and Managing Partner of Bhandari Law and Partners, one of the leading corporate law firms in Nepal. The firm was originally established by my father as a chamber based practice under the name Bhandari Law Chamber. The firm was based in Beni, Myagdi the western part of Nepal. In 2023, I undertook a comprehensive restructuring of the firm, introducing institutional reforms and rebranding it as Bhandari Law and Partners to reflect a modern, full-service corporate law firm model. The firm started its operation from Kathmandu, Nepal.
The firm has since been recognized by international ranking directories such as Legal 500, IFRL 1000 and other various international ranking institutions as a leading law firm in Nepal. Taking on the responsibility of Managing Partner at a relatively young age has been both challenging and demanding. It requires balancing client expectations, team management, strategic growth, and professional standards while continuing to evolve personally as a practitioner.
Overall, the early phase of my career taught me that success in a developing legal market does not come from avoiding challenges, but from embracing responsibility, maintaining discipline, and continuously striving to learn.
How did your time studying international business law in Brussels transform your understanding of legal practice beyond national boundaries?
My time studying International Business Law in Brussels, Belgium, was a defining experience that fundamentally transformed how I understand legal practice beyond national boundaries. I pursued a Master’s degree in International Business Law at the University of Brussels (Université Libre de Bruxelles), primarily because the program itself was highly specialized and among the most contemporary international business law courses offered by foreign universities at the time.
A key strength of the program was its faculty, composed largely of practicing lawyers from leading international law firms. Learning directly from practitioners allowed me to bridge theory with real-world application and gain insight into how complex cross-border legal issues are handled in practice.
Every subject was taught from a comparative legal perspective, covering European Union law, UK law, and U.S. law. This approach trained me to analyze legal problems beyond the confines of a single jurisdiction and to appreciate how different legal systems address similar commercial and regulatory challenges.
The academic environment itself was truly international. The university selected only 40 students each year, representing nearly 33 different countries. Engaging with peers from diverse legal backgrounds exposed me to the reasoning, legal culture, and problem-solving approaches of multiple jurisdictions. In effect, I was learning not only from professors, but from 33 distinct legal systems simultaneously.
Beyond academics, I had the opportunity to visit international law firms, observe their operational structures, and understand how global legal practices are managed. I also participated in international conferences, where I engaged in discussions with practitioners from various jurisdictions. These interactions deepened my understanding of cross-border transactions, dispute resolution, and international arbitration in a practical, real-world context.
Overall, studying in Brussels reshaped my legal mindset from thinking as a national practitioner to approaching law as a borderless profession, where adaptability, comparative analysis, and international perspective are essential.
What was that one defining moment in your career that shaped the direction of your practice ?
There was no single defining moment that shaped the direction of my practice. From a very young age, I was deeply passionate about the legal profession, and my career path has largely followed a straightforward drive by that long-standing commitment to law.
However, one experience in the early stage of my career played a significant role in shaping my professional maturity. At the beginning of my practice, I founded a law firm with a few partners and worked tirelessly to build the institution. I invested four years of my productive time and effort but also my full professional commitment into developing it. Unfortunately, circumstances eventually required me to step away from the law firm that was created from the ground up.
While challenging, that experience proved to be a valuable lesson. It taught me the importance of institutional structure, choosing the right team, alignment of values, and resilience. Rather than diverting me from my path, it strengthened my resolve and clarified how I wanted to build and lead a legal practice in the future.
In that sense, my career has not been shaped by a single dramatic moment, but by a combination of early passion, lived experience, and lessons learned through challenges, all of which continue to guide my approach to practice today.
In a career marked by high-stakes arbitration, which dispute was the most interesting to you that you’d like to share with our readers?
There have been several arbitration matters in my practice where the final awards were genuinely surprising. These cases reinforced an important lesson: while arbitration is firmly grounded in law, outcomes are often shaped just as much by facts, case strategy, and tribunal dynamics.
Although confidentiality prevents me from discussing specific disputes in detail, such experiences have significantly strengthened my respect for arbitration as an effective dispute resolution mechanism. They have also sharpened my analytical judgment, strategic planning, and ability to approach each case without assumptions.
Ultimately, the most interesting arbitration disputes are those that challenge your expectations and deepen your understanding of how law, facts, and strategy intersect in real world dispute resolution.
Transitioning from practitioner to managing partner, what were some responsibilities and challenges you faced along the way and how did you navigate them?
Transitioning from a practitioner to a Managing Partner brought with it a fundamental shift in responsibility. As the head of the firm, the most significant challenge is ultimate accountability. Regardless of the strength of the team, the Managing Partner remains answerable to clients for the firm’s work, outcomes, and professional standards. Ensuring consistency, quality, and client confidence requires constant oversight and leadership.
Another key challenge has been manpower retention, a concern faced by most law firms, particularly in developing legal markets. Law firms naturally function as training institutions, and team composition often changes over relatively short periods of time. As lawyers develop greater competence and professional confidence, many choose to explore new opportunities, which is a normal and healthy aspect of professional mobility within the legal sector.
While law firms must continuously strive to improve mentorship, workplace culture, and compensation structures, retention is also shaped by broader economic realities and market conditions that are often beyond the firm’s direct control.
To navigate this challenge, I have focused on building an institutional culture that emphasizes long-term professional development rather than short-term incentives alone. This includes offering clear career progression, sustained mentorship, meaningful responsibility, and exposure to high-quality work. When lawyers can see a future within the firm and feel valued as part of its growth, retention becomes a shared objective rather than a unilateral expectation.
Overall, the transition from practitioner to Managing Partner has required balancing leadership, client responsibility, and institutional development shifting from individual legal performance to building a sustainable and credible legal institution.
How does the arbitration and corporate legal landscape in India differ from Nepal, and what has been your experience handling matters involving Indian entities?
The arbitration and corporate legal landscapes in India and Nepal differ significantly, largely due to the scale and maturity of their respective economies. India has a much larger and more diversified economy, which is reflected in the complexity, volume, and sophistication of corporate legal work. In contrast, Nepal’s economy is relatively smaller, and while corporate law practice is steadily developing, it is still in a growth and consolidation phase.
In Nepal, corporate legal practice is evolving, with increasing awareness of compliance, governance, and structured transactions. However, the scope and scale of matters remain comparatively limited.
Similarly, arbitration practice in Nepal is predominantly construction centric, with commercial and investment arbitration still emerging areas. In India, arbitration, particularly international arbitration, is far more developed, supported by a larger pool of trained practitioners, institutional frameworks, and extensive exposure to cross-border disputes.
India handles a significant number of international and cross-border arbitration matters, whereas Nepal currently has fewer practitioners with sustained exposure to international arbitration. This highlights the need for Nepal to develop a stronger base of international arbitration professionals to meet future demand.
From a practical standpoint, I have had experience handling corporate and dispute-related matters involving Indian entities, particularly in cross-border transactions and contractual disputes. These matters often require navigating differences in regulatory frameworks, commercial expectations, and dispute resolution mechanisms. Working with Indian clients and counterparties has underscored the importance of precise contract drafting, choice of law and jurisdiction clauses, and strategic dispute planning at an early stage.
A critical issue affecting both jurisdictions is the non-recognition of Nepalese arbitral awards in India. Despite substantial trade and commercial engagement between the two countries, India has made a reciprocity reservation under the New York Convention and has not notified Nepal as a reciprocating territory. As a result, arbitral awards rendered in Nepal are not enforceable in India. By the same principle of reciprocity, Nepal could also decline enforcement of Indian arbitral awards, although this would not serve the broader commercial interest.
This issue requires institutional dialogue and policy-level engagement between the two countries. Resolving it would significantly enhance cross-border trade, investor confidence, and the effectiveness of arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism between Nepal and India.
For aspiring lawyers in Nepal aiming for international arbitration, what common myths about success do you believe need to be challenged?
One of the most common myths among aspiring lawyers in Nepal is the belief that international arbitration is beyond their reach due to limitations of nationality, jurisdiction, or exposure. As a result, many Nepalese lawyers confine themselves to domestic arbitration, even though the legal skills required for international arbitration are not fundamentally different.
It is true that Nepal has a smaller economy and, consequently, a stronger concentration of domestic arbitration practice. However, this should not discourage lawyers from pursuing international arbitration. On the contrary, it underscores the importance of adopting a broader, international perspective. International arbitration may appear challenging, but it is not inaccessible. With the right training, discipline, and commitment, Nepalese lawyers can compete effectively on a global stage.
Another misconception is that international arbitration requires extraordinary credentials or foreign nationality. In reality, the field values competence, preparation, and credibility over nationality. What is essential is continuous learning through specialized training, exposure to international practice, and engagement with global arbitration communities.
Aspiring lawyers must think beyond immediate geographical limitations and develop an international mindset. By investing in education, building networks, and gaining exposure to cross-border work, Nepalese lawyers can establish themselves in international arbitration practice despite the challenges.
Ultimately, success in international arbitration is less about where you come from and more about how prepared you are to think, work, and operate globally.
Looking ahead, how do you see the future of your practice and arbitration culture evolving in the years to come?
Looking ahead I am optimistic about both the future of arbitration practice and the broader arbitration culture in Nepal. Nepal has strong potential to develop as a credible arbitration jurisdiction, particularly in the area of international arbitration. However, realizing this potential depends largely on the availability of well-trained and qualified arbitration professionals and increased exposure to international standards and practices.
For arbitration to evolve meaningfully, there must be progressive reforms to Nepal’s Arbitration Act to ensure it aligns with global best practices. Legal reform alone, however, is not sufficient. Nepal also needs to invest in developing a strong pool of internationally qualified arbitration practitioners who can handle complex cross-border disputes with confidence and credibility.
Equally important is the role of the judiciary. Judges dealing with arbitration-related matters must receive specialized training to ensure a consistent, arbitration-friendly approach. A progressive and supportive judiciary is essential for building trust in arbitration as an effective dispute resolution mechanism.
If these elements legislative reform, professional capacity-building, and judicial support come together, Nepal has the potential to emerge as a reliable and respected hub for international arbitration in the region.
Born into a family of scholars and shaped by rigorous academic training, this in-depth interview traces the journey of Dr Neeti Shikha, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader at the University of the West of England. Spanning Indian institutions, international universities, and public policy bodies, her career reflects a sustained commitment to legal academia, research, and institution building. From early influences rooted in intellectual integrity to advanced research at UCL and a PhD focused on corporate governance and legal transplantation, the conversation explores how academic leadership, mentoring and digital legal education intersect in a global academic career.
What early experiences or influences inspired your interest in law and academic research?
I was born into a family of academics, with both my parents holding PhDs, and this profoundly shaped my early relationship with learning. Education was never treated as instrumental or transactional in our household but as a way of life grounded in discipline, intellectual honesty, and sustained effort. My parents came from modest beginnings and built their academic careers purely through hard work, which instilled in me a deep respect for rigour, perseverance, and the pursuit of excellence. From an early age, I internalised the idea that knowledge demands commitment and that intellectual integrity matters as much as success.
I was always driven by an inner quest for knowledge and a deep curiosity about justice, politics, and social change. These instincts became more sharply defined during my university years. Participation in mooting and engagement with student movements and legal debates exposed me to the living nature of law and its role in shaping social and political outcomes. Engaging with questions around rights, governance, and institutional power made me increasingly inquisitive about how law operates both doctrinally and in practice. That phase transformed law from a subject into an intellectual vocation.
Mooting in particular played a formative role in developing my research orientation. Preparing arguments required deep engagement with legal principles, comparative reasoning, and policy considerations, and it trained me to question assumptions, test rationality, and think critically under pressure. This experience resonated strongly with a principle I continue to value deeply, often captured in Gandhi’s words about living as if one might die tomorrow but learning as if one were to live forever. The idea that learning is continuous and ethical, rather than finite or instrumental, has stayed with me throughout my academic journey.
Over time, I came to appreciate that academic research and the serious study of law require sustained commitment to questioning, reflection, and critical thinking. While many of these qualities were shaped early through my upbringing, they were honed through practice, failure, dialogue, and intellectual discipline. Equally important was the role of peer learning. I consistently found that my strongest academic growth occurred when I was surrounded by intellectually curious, hardworking, and ambitious peers. Engaging in deep discussions, collective problem solving, and shared inquiry reinforced my belief that scholarship is not a solitary pursuit but one that is strengthened by the company of thoughtful and committed people.
Together, these early influences shaped not only my interest in law but also my commitment to academic research as a disciplined, ethical, and collaborative pursuit of knowledge.
How did your Master’s at UCL and PhD at NLU Jodhpur shape your perspective and impact your journey?
My Master’s studies at UCL were genuinely life changing and intellectually transformative, shaped by an academically rigorous and research led learning environment that combined substantive legal depth with a clearly articulated pedagogic philosophy. The programme was delivered by leading scholars and practitioner academics, including Dan Prentice, Graham Penn, Arad Reisberg, and Iain Fletcher. Their teaching consistently engaged students with first principles, policy rationales, and the broader institutional and economic implications of legal regulation. The presence of practitioner academics ensured that doctrinal analysis was continuously tested against real world commercial and regulatory realities, creating a learning experience that was intellectually demanding, practically relevant, and deeply formative.
The design of the programme placed deliberate emphasis on independent learning, critical engagement, and intellectual autonomy. At Master’s level, students were expected to take responsibility for structuring their own learning, developing original arguments, and engaging critically with complex bodies of scholarship. The curriculum and assessment regime required analytical depth, synthesis, and evaluative reasoning rather than descriptive reproduction. This approach significantly shaped my intellectual maturity and strengthened my capacity for advanced legal reasoning. Access to UCL’s world class library and research resources enabled sustained and intensive engagement with primary and secondary materials, particularly in the period following the global financial crisis, when debates around banking failure, regulatory reform, and systemic risk were actively shaping both academic discourse and legal practice.
The international and professionally diverse student cohort further enriched this experience. Many peers brought prior experience from legal practice, financial institutions, regulatory bodies, and public policy roles across multiple jurisdictions. Engaging with such diversity sharpened my comparative perspective and deepened my understanding of how legal systems operate across different institutional and cultural contexts. Informal study groups and sustained peer discussion became an important site of intellectual exchange, allowing complex legal problems to be examined from multiple angles and reinforcing the value of collective reasoning.
My doctoral research at NLU Jodhpur further consolidated my scholarly identity and commitment to academic inquiry. Under the mentorship and encouragement of Justice Mathur, I undertook doctoral research in company law and corporate governance that studied and assessed the influence of legal transplantation on Indian corporate law. Focusing on the Companies Act 2013 at a time when it was evolving from proposed legislation into enacted law, my research critically reassessed the limits and consequences of legal transplantation, particularly the influence of UK company law on Indian corporate regulation. The evolving legislative framework required sustained methodological rigour, conceptual adaptability, and close engagement with comparative legal theory.
The PhD experience confirmed that academic life is intellectually demanding and often solitary. It requires discipline, self motivation, and resilience, particularly when pursued alongside teaching commitments. Conducting doctoral research in parallel with full time academic responsibilities demanded careful organisation and sustained focus. Above all, this period reinforced the importance of intellectual honesty, critical self reflection, and long term engagement with ideas. These experiences continue to shape my approach to research, teaching, and policy engagement, and underpin my commitment to rigorous and socially engaged legal scholarship.
What inspired you to pursue an academic career, and how has your role evolved from Indian institutions to international academia?
Teaching has always been the core of my academic identity and the source of my deepest professional fulfilment. It is one of the few activities I can engage in continuously, even for extended hours, without experiencing fatigue. In my early career, my only hesitation about pursuing academia was whether it would be financially sustainable within the Indian context. With strong family support and a consciously simple lifestyle, that concern gradually receded, allowing me to commit fully to academic life. What continues to draw me to teaching is its immediacy and meaning. The classroom feels like a space of intellectual energy where learning emerges through dialogue, experimentation, and shared curiosity.
A significant influence on my academic vocation was witnessing my father’s lifelong commitment to his students. Many of them went on to become leading scholars and professionals across the world, and observing the long term impact of his mentorship shaped my own understanding of education as a relational and enduring endeavour. Teaching, for me, has never been limited to content delivery but has always been about shaping intellectual confidence, ethical engagement, and independent thinking.
My academic role in India was broad and institutionally embedded. It involved teaching large cohorts, designing and revising curricula, contributing to institution building, delivering executive education, and engaging in policy oriented and doctrinal research. This phase required adaptability, leadership, and a strong sense of academic responsibility, particularly within resource constrained and rapidly evolving educational environments.
My transition to international academia marked an evolution rather than a rupture. Teaching internationally has involved working with smaller and more diverse student cohorts, engaging with digitally mediated learning environments, navigating structured quality assurance frameworks, and deepening my immersion in research culture. These contexts have demanded greater emphasis on reflective practice, student centred learning, and alignment between teaching, research, and institutional standards.
Despite these contextual shifts, the essence of my academic work has remained constant. Teaching, mentoring, peer learning, and continuous self evolution continue to define my professional life. Across Indian and international institutions, academia has represented for me not merely a career path but a lifelong commitment to learning, intellectual growth, and contribution to the scholarly community.
What motivated your transitions across institutions, disciplines, and countries, and how did you navigate the move to the UK?
My transitions across institutions, disciplines, and countries have consistently been guided by a desire to undertake work that is institutionally meaningful and socially consequential. Rather than pursuing mobility for its own sake, I have been drawn to roles where academic labour extends beyond individual teaching or publication and contributes to building programmes, shaping policy, and strengthening institutional capacity. At several points in my career, this has meant stepping into formative or founding roles, often within institutions undergoing transition or growth.
In India, this orientation took shape early in my academic career. At NLU Jodhpur, I was closely involved in institution building during a formative phase of the university’s development. In 2011–12, I set up the Centre for Comparative Commercial Law, creating a platform for research, curriculum development, and international collaboration. Through this work, we established academic partnerships with UK based centres at a time when internationalisation in Indian legal education was still evolving. This experience shaped my understanding of academic leadership as something grounded in vision, continuity, and sustained relationships rather than short term outputs.
Alongside institution building, I remained an active researcher and was deeply engaged in policy oriented work with government institutions. Much of this work found its way into policymaking and regulatory thinking, which I found particularly fulfilling, as it demonstrated the capacity of rigorous academic research to inform real world governance. During this phase, I also worked extensively in executive education and leadership training, which further deepened my understanding of how law operates in practice. One particularly formative experience was training senior leadership following the Indian government’s decision to corporatise the Airports Authority of India. I was among the first to train over thirty airport directors for their transition into corporate governance roles. That experience brought home the reality that corporate governance is not merely about formal rules, but about how responsibility, accountability, and decision making are internalised within institutions.
This combination of research, practice, and institutional engagement culminated in my work at the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. I served as the founding head of the Centre for Insolvency and Bankruptcy and was entrusted with launching and delivering India’s first Graduate Insolvency Programme. When I joined, the programme existed only as a brief conceptual outline. Launching and delivering it required building the academic framework, admissions processes, institutional partnerships, and national outreach from the ground up. Working with a very small team, but supported by leading figures from government, industry, and the professions, we developed a programme that has since sustained itself across multiple cohorts. That experience was one of the most demanding of my career and fundamentally reshaped my understanding of academic leadership, resilience, and institutional responsibility.
My move to the UK was both a professional and deeply personal decision. As a mother to a young daughter who was six at the time, I was seeking an environment that would allow me to sustain academic excellence alongside care responsibilities. The UK higher education system has been transformative in this respect. It is built on institutional trust and professional autonomy, where contribution is assessed through integrity, quality, and outcomes rather than visible presence or long working hours.
Earlier in my career, there were moments when professional demands left little room for care responsibilities, including times when I had to leave a very young child unwell in order to meet inflexible expectations. These experiences were not individual failings, but reflections of systems that are still evolving. By contrast, the UK system places trust in academics, and in turn, academics work consciously to honour that trust. The ability to structure work with autonomy, to have genuinely protected time, and to pursue research without constant administrative overload has fundamentally changed how I experience academic life.
Being able to contribute fully and responsibly to my institution, while also remaining deeply engaged in my daughter’s life, is something I value greatly and regard as a marker of a sustainable and ethical academic career. Across all my transitions, what has remained constant is my belief that academic work must be intellectually rigorous, institutionally responsible, and human in its design. Whether in India or the UK, in law schools, business schools, or policy institutions, my motivation has been to help build academic environments that trust people, value ideas, and allow scholars to thrive as whole individuals.
As Programme Leader for the Online LLM at UWE, what does this stage of your journey represent in terms of growth, responsibility, and influence?
Leading the Online LLM at UWE represents a deeply meaningful stage of growth for me, particularly at a time when online education is shaping the future of higher education globally. Having earlier co-designed India’s first bilingual public policy programme, Lok Niti, I was acutely aware of both the promise and complexity of digital learning. This role challenged me to design an inclusive programme that welcomes learners from non-law backgrounds while maintaining academic rigour.
The responsibility lies in ensuring that what we design today remains relevant for legal professionals even a decade from now. The influence is significant, as I now work with a truly global cohort of students. Personally, progressing from lecturer to senior lecturer and programme leader in the UK has been humbling and reaffirmed my belief that growth should be measured through learning and contribution, not titles. I am particularly excited about developing innovative digital pedagogy and responsibly integrating AI into legal education.
What challenges have you faced in managing the multiple roles and responsibilities throughout your career, and how did you overcome them?
Like most academics, I have always balanced multiple roles including teaching, leadership, advisory responsibilities, and policy engagement but the most significant challenge has been managing all of this alongside motherhood. Serving on advisory boards and contributing to institutions beyond my home universities has been both a responsibility and a privilege, allowing me to give back to spaces that shaped me.
At the same time, being a single working mother, especially after moving to the UK, required deep personal adjustment. What helped me was discipline, organisation, and clarity of priorities. The UK system has allowed me to live fully as both a mother and a professional, without guilt dominating either role. Today, I value balance over perfection and have learned that meaningful work and meaningful family life can coexist when guided by structure, gratitude, and purpose.
How do you approach mentoring and supporting students beyond the classroom, and why is it meaningful to you?
For me, mentoring beyond the classroom is essential, particularly in today’s high-pressure environment shaped by competition and social media. I have seen students arrive at top institutions burdened by expectations, identity crises, and fear of failure. I approach them with empathy rather than judgment, because I remember how vulnerable that phase of life can be.
Many of my students have gone on to succeed in diverse fields and helping them discover their direction has been deeply fulfilling. Mentorship is about unlocking potential and helping students see possibilities beyond conventional paths. I believe the biggest injustice is untapped talent, and if I can help students gain confidence, clarity, and purpose, that is the most meaningful reward I could ask for.
What legacy do you hope to leave through your contributions to law, education, and policy, and what roadmap would you suggest for students aspiring to public policy careers?
I do not think of legacy in a grand or monumental sense. What matters more to me is whether my work has made a meaningful and sustained contribution to how law is taught, researched, and connected to society. My teaching, research, and policy engagement have always been oriented towards helping students and practitioners think more deeply, critically, and ethically about law’s role in shaping the future.
My research agenda is deliberately future focused and interdisciplinary. Working across disciplines has consistently required me to learn new intellectual languages and rethink legal problems from broader institutional, economic, and social perspectives. I have written books on commercial law and public policy, and I am currently working on my seventh book, which focuses specifically on insolvency laws and is scheduled for publication in 2026. Across these works, my endeavour has not been to produce static doctrinal texts, but to promote reflective and forward looking engagement with law. I hope that these books have, even in small ways, influenced how students and scholars think about governance, accountability, and systemic risk.
In my teaching, I have sought to make learning engaging, practice oriented, and intellectually demanding. I encourage students to question assumptions, challenge the status quo, and develop the confidence to think independently. If students leave my classroom with curiosity, ethical clarity, and strong critical thinking skills, I consider that my most meaningful contribution.
One principle that underpins both my teaching and mentoring is the importance of cultivating a healthy mind. Just as a healthy diet is essential for a healthy body, I believe that thoughtful and sustained reading is essential for a healthy mind. I often tell students that reading good books matters deeply, not only for acquiring knowledge but for shaping intellectual character. Learning from the best books and ideas becomes part of one’s academic identity and professional integrity.
At the same time, I emphasise that learning cannot be confined to textbooks alone. The future belongs to those who can think, adapt, and respond to complexity. The capacity to learn, unlearn, and relearn is increasingly vital, particularly in public policy contexts where uncertainty, competing values, and long time horizons are the norm.
For students aspiring to careers in public policy, I recommend building strong foundations in law or economics, alongside comfort with data, numbers, and empirical reasoning. Formal qualifications matter, but skills such as problem framing, evidence based analysis, patience, and ethical judgment matter even more. Public policy is not about speed or visibility, but about discipline, humility, and sustained commitment to the public good.
I am also mindful that each generation engages with work and purpose differently. Today’s students often seek balance, wellbeing, and meaning alongside professional achievement, and this should be understood as a strength rather than a limitation. Hard work remains essential, but so does mental health, reflection, and a sense of purpose. In an increasingly digital and fragmented world, remaining connected to people, communities, and shared social goals will be one of the defining challenges of the future.
This is why I place strong emphasis on peer learning, dialogue, and service oriented thinking. Engaging with others, contributing to society, and grounding professional ambition in broader social responsibility are central to sustaining both intellectual depth and personal resilience. If my work can help students develop not only analytical rigour but also reflective judgment, balance, and a commitment to serving society, that is the legacy I would hope to leave.
Yuvika Johri, Partner at Neuberger & Partners, Toronto, reflects on an evolving path toward international criminal defence. Shaped by early exposure to criminal litigation in India and strengthened through legal education and practice across the United States and Canada, this conversation explores how global training, mentorship, and courtroom experience have informed a principled and compassionate approach to criminal advocacy across jurisdictions.
As a dual-qualified lawyer in India and Toronto, what initially motivated you to pursue an international legal practice? Was this always part of your vision, or did it evolve over time?
I initially did not intend to pursue further studies beyond the five-year law program at Symbiosis Law School, Pune. At the time, the prospect of continuing my education felt daunting. However, during my third year of law school, I had the opportunity to work in the chambers of Adv. Satish Mane Shinde. This experience marked my first exposure to criminal law, and I found the field immediately compelling.
As my studies progressed, I gravitated increasingly toward criminal law related courses. Over time, my interest deepened into a clear desire to specialize in this area. By my fifth year of law school, I decided to apply to universities abroad.
My decision to study overseas was driven by a desire to challenge myself personally and professionally. It represented an entirely different way of life and learning. I was introduced to new pedagogical approaches, including the Socratic method, and had the opportunity to engage with individuals from diverse cultural and legal backgrounds. Many of my close friends today are lawyers and judges practicing in different countries, and I believe I was ultimately seeking a more holistic legal and life experience.
In the formative years of your career in India, what experiences laid the groundwork for your transition into international practice, particularly in criminal law?
While working with senior lawyers in India, I was exposed to a wide range of criminal matters rather than a narrow subset of offences. My experience spanned white-collar crime, domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual offences. I assisted in representing both large corporations and individuals facing criminal charges. Each client came with a unique background and story, and I found criminal law to be a deeply humanizing area of practice.
Meeting individuals who were wrongfully accused or who had simply found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time left a lasting impression on me. These experiences shaped my perspective and reinforced my commitment to criminal defence.
When I later moved to the United States, I did so with a strong sense of purpose. I was not starting from a blank slate. I already knew the kind of lawyer I wanted to become. The mentorship I received in India played a significant role in shaping that clarity. The question for me was no longer whether I wanted to practice criminal defence, but how to become a good criminal defence lawyer.
Several factors contributed to my success. I was highly motivated and eager to learn, and I consistently sought out opportunities to work with lawyers whenever possible. Early exposure to serious and complex criminal matters allowed me to remain open-minded and adaptable in my practice. For instance, a significant portion of my current work involves defending individuals charged with sexual assault. This is an area I was already familiar with from my early career in India.
Additionally, I had been attending court regularly since my third year of law school, shadowing lawyers during trials and motion hearings. As a result, the transition into practice abroad felt far less abrupt.
When you transitioned to the U.S. as a Research Associate, how did you navigate differences in legal systems and procedural frameworks?
The transition was challenging and involved a steep learning curve. My LLM program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities was instrumental in helping me develop strong research skills and understand the complexities of the U.S. legal system, particularly its multi-jurisdictional structure.
Unlike India and Canada, criminal law in the United States is largely governed at the state level, resulting in significant variation from one state to another. Each state has its own trial courts, Courts of Appeal, and Supreme Court. In parallel, there is the federal system, which includes district courts, circuit Courts of Appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court, with federal crimes pursued by agencies such as the FBI and DEA.
I studied in Minnesota and later worked in California and Texas, where procedural practices differed significantly. Even legal citation standards varied from the Bluebook to the Greenbook. While initially overwhelming, mentorship played a critical role during this period. Having senior lawyers to consult made a substantial difference.
Going through these challenges strengthened my research abilities considerably. Understanding foundational principles became essential, particularly distinguishing between state crimes such as assault or sexual offences, and federal crimes involving interstate activity or federal jurisdiction.
How did your experiences as a Legal Fellow with the Office of the Public Defender in Atlanta and as a Research Associate at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles shape your understanding of justice?
Both roles profoundly influenced my approach to criminal defence. At the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, I worked on a project addressing the use of solitary confinement in California prisons. This involved examining the psychological and constitutional implications of prolonged isolation, including anxiety, self-harm, and long-term mental health deterioration. As a criminal defence lawyer, these realities are deeply relevant, and much of my work focused on the policy and constitutional aspects of such practices.
Later, at the Office of the Public Defender in Atlanta, I was directly involved in courtroom litigation, including client meetings, motion drafting, trial preparation, and second-chairing murder trials. Working with low-income clients exposed me to systemic issues such as poverty, homelessness, and longstanding inequities within the criminal justice system. Spending time with clients in the Fulton County Jail, Atlanta, and witnessing heartbreaking courtroom moments reinforced the importance of zealous and compassionate advocacy.
Together, these experiences gave me a holistic understanding of justice, both at the individual level, and within broader systemic frameworks.
How did observing litigation from a judge’s perspective during your clerkship influence your advocacy today?
Clerking provided invaluable insight into how judges perceive cases. Judges observe not only written submissions but also counsel’s conduct toward court staff, clerks, and court reporters. They prepare thoroughly for hearings and appreciate well-prepared, professional advocacy.
As lawyers, we are officers of the court, and our role is to assist the court in reaching just outcomes. Judges value concise, well-written submissions provided in advance. Additionally, judges observe lawyers beyond the courtroom, including through professional social media platforms, which underscores the importance of maintaining professionalism at all times.
How do you compare criminal law practice in Canada and the United States?
Sentencing is one of the most significant differences. While sentencing is individualized in both jurisdictions, it is generally harsher in the United States. Some U.S. states retain the death penalty, which has been abolished in Canada.
Substantively, criminal law is similar across jurisdictions, but procedural differences are notable. For example, in the U.S., arraignment occurs early in the process, and accused persons are asked to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. In Canada, arraignment typically occurs on the trial date. Jury trials are also far more common in the United States, with additional mechanisms such as grand juries. In Canada, jury trials are available primarily when the Crown proceeds by indictment.
Another distinction is the use of polygraph evidence. In Atlanta, I saw cases where charges were withdrawn following polygraph results, something that is not accepted in Canada, where such evidence is considered unreliable.
Charter applications also differ. In Canada, even where a rights violation is established, the court must assess whether the violation was prejudicial before granting a remedy. However, this is not the case in the United States.
How has your global legal education informed your current practice?
Although I do not engage in cross-jurisdictional practice and currently practice exclusively in Ontario, my international education required adaptability and reinforced my understanding of common law principles. While there are shared foundations across jurisdictions, the differences are equally instructive and have shaped my approach to advocacy.
What advice would you give to aspiring lawyers seeking an international criminal defence career?
Students should first decide whether an LLM or a JD aligns with their goals. I chose the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities for its criminal law specialization and selected courses that balanced theory with practical application, including a jury trial simulation course.
I later pursued a JD because I wanted deeper, more rigorous training. This was a decision that I am grateful for, given the intensity and breadth of the program.
Young lawyers should focus on mastering the basics, never stop learning, seek mentorship, and engage in continuing education. Identifying a niche within criminal law such as sexual assault, domestic violence, DUI, or firearms offences can also be beneficial.
Networking is especially important for foreign-trained lawyers. Punctuality, professionalism, and initiative matter greatly. If opportunities do not exist, create them. I completed multiple internships during my studies, which allowed me to gain hands-on experience and build meaningful professional relationships.
How do you maintain balance while handling emotionally demanding criminal cases?
Maintaining balance is essential. My dogs, painting, and cooking provide important outlets outside of work. I also enjoy strength training which helps with my mental and physical health. I am fortunate to have a strong support system, including family and spousal support. Supportive colleagues and fellow lawyers also play a crucial role. Burnout is real, and acknowledging the emotional toll of this work is vital to sustaining a long-term career in criminal defence.
Smita Choudhary’s journey in intellectual property law is a compelling narrative of resilience, innovation and global perspective. From working across multiple jurisdictions including India, Dubai and Saudi Arabia to building a patent practice LAWIANS LLP, focused on biotechnology, engineering, sustainability and emerging technologies, her career reflects the evolving nature of modern patent law. In this conversation, she speaks candidly about navigating international patent systems, creating a flexible and inclusive work culture, building a green technology driven IP practice and adapting to disruptions such as AI and COVID.
Ma’am, you are currently based in Saudi Arabia. How has that particular environment helped you flourish and nurture yourself as a patent attorney and in starting your own law firm?
It is a very interesting question, and I am glad you have asked this as the very first question. See, Saudi Arabia, do not take it as a location term. If we remove that country name, the work is the same. The patent culture, the work of a prosecutor, the work of a litigator, or being an advisor or a legal technical expert. The work will always be the same.
It works like a brick. You just have to adjust it in the form of where you want to create a building. When I first moved, yes, of course, it was very difficult to find ground here for a working woman who is over 35 and already has an established journey. Again, to regenerate the journey in the field of patent advocacy and the law field, which is a very challenging one, because when we are below 35, we are very challenging, smart, and everyone is welcoming.
But after that, so many responsibilities come up related to your family, your husband, your kids, and then the office. So they expect that this kind of employee has to be available 24 by 7 on one call. But that does not change your passion to work on it. So it was difficult in nature.
But one of my reference friends, we were working together in Dubai, referred me to one of the law firms that was working and looking for a patent advisor in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. So it was one of the open lights for me that, okay, let us work together and start establishing our own law firm in the meantime, because there were many patent applications that were willing to directly file in the Indian Patent Office. Being an Indian patent agent and a registered one, I thought that let us start our own so that any India filings for my foreign clients in the Middle East would not have to go to another third associate and then add on to the pricing.
We could have our own in-house filing team and the portfolio management team so that we could help them in patent preparation starting right from the search analysis, then the patentability test, then drafting, and thereafter filing. Sometimes this helped me as an in house origin, where you have a patent from the scratch level.
Now you do not need to go to another party to make a search, then to another party for drafting, and then for reviewing. Then we will file in the UAE or Saudi Arabia. I was aware of this, and still I am aware of the UAE filing pattern and how the drafting should be, and the Saudi Arabia filing pattern, how the specification should be drafted, what the claims should be, how many claims should be there, and what the drawing pattern should be, and which things we have to protect and which things we are not supposed to protect here.
I was aware of this. So drafting in my own in-house teams, like a biotech team, a mechanical team, an IoT based team, and a software based team, helped me in making this portal successful.
You worked in India, then moved to Dubai and then to Saudi Arabia. These are different jurisdictions. How did you acquaint yourself with them? How did you manage the move and build the name of your law firm? How did you come up with the concept?
Actually, it is a very nice journey, and my only answer will be that I faced many rejections. I was rejected everywhere.
Once you face failure and rejection, you can work on your faults. It means that it tells you where you are lacking and what you need to do for the next jump. This was the first thing I learned. I used to give lots of interviews.
I was rejected just because I was overqualified. I was rejected just because they did not have patent facilities. I was rejected because they already had someone with an Arabic background and knowledge of the Arabic language. So language was one of the issues, and they rejected me. I was rejected because I was a mother. I had a full time job and I could not devote myself fully to the company. So they rejected me, saying that I needed to work after 6:00 PM or 7:00 PM. So these were the points.
I pointed out each and every rejection and took it as a challenge, that let us make a good, environmentally friendly office so that whether you are 20, you are 16, you are 18, you are 30, or 50 or 70, you can work.
You can take your own time whenever your free time is there or your working schedule is there. Like every animal has a working time, they hunt at that time. Likewise, we ladies, kids, students, entrepreneurs, or internship holders work at different time periods.
In between, COVID was a big boom for us. COVID gave us full wings to work at our respective time periods. You were not only bound to work from nine to five. You could work whenever you were ready. So this was the plus point. I thought that let us hit the iron. I thought that we would create a good environment.
Everyone would be welcomed. If they have skill and education, even a little bit of skill, I would not tell them that this is the job you have to do. You have to do business development, or you have to do drafting, or you have to do analysis. You need to tell me what area you want to work in.
If you love analysis, go for it. Do research analysis. Do patentability searches. Make a good FTO report. Bring uniqueness into that. If you like writing and drafting, work for the drafting team. If you are good at convincing the examiner, go for the prosecution team. If you want to go for High Court work, go for litigation.
So I wanted the intern to tell me, or the people who were coming into my field, to tell me that, ma’am, this is what I want to work on. Because I was not the one to scrap and make them a sculpture. They were already built. I just had to place them in a beautiful place, like, okay, you handle this department, you handle that department.
There were no bondings and no limitations. I just gave free wings and a free canvas to develop talent and develop more strategic planning. Some interns and employees came to me knowing nothing, but they really wanted to work in IPR. So what I planned was to get them educated and trained by people who were already in the business and providing training to enter this field, like one of my colleagues, or you can say she is my co patent lawyer as well.
She trains interns. Ms. Gauri Waghmare trains interns in patent drafting, search analysis, landscaping, and how to make a response to the First Examination Report. So with three to four weeks of training, you come to us, take the business, and start working. This is how we have developed a good team to work on it.
Creating such a free space is truly remarkable. How did you develop this mindset, moving from biotechnology to patents and then shaping this journey with the idea of giving people the freedom to work on their own terms, even after COVID, when not everyone could understand this concept? How did this journey begin, and what led you to this approach?
You know, being a lawyer, you will understand which is your best part and which is your best time. If you want to draft or write something, or you want to do some research on articles or sections for the next day’s hearing or presentation, you need a smart space. You need a completely silent space where you can say, okay, this is my time. Maybe I am happily working from 4:00 AM to 7:00 AM in the morning. That is the time. Maybe 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM. Maybe 11:00 PM at night, like that. You need to find your own time zone when you are most happily active and doing your work, because I know that if the kitchen is dirty, if the bed is dirty, or if the laundry is dirty, I cannot concentrate. I have to cook. I have my kids. I cannot keep them hungry and start working, because when I start working, my son will immediately say, mama, I am hungry. That means I have to fulfill that demand before I open my laptop.
There was an incident when I was cooking for my three year old kid. My client called me, and my son picked up the call. He was very small at that time, three years old. He said, do not disturb my mama, she is cooking for me. You can call after 15 minutes. He said this in his own toddler language. My client happily said, okay, I will not disturb mama. I was unaware of this. Sometimes, when I was in the washroom, he would say that my mama is in the washroom. I later realized that he had said this to a client. After some time, my client called me again after one hour. He said that your assistant picked up the call and told me not to disturb you, so I am not disturbing you. Are you free? Can we talk? These kinds of things created a good relationship with my client. He understood that Smita is a family person and has kids to take care of, so he would not disturb me during that time. Likewise, the client became my family. The first thing I learned was to establish trust.
This all started in December 2020. I was working with one of the IoT based companies, RPMA Networks, in Dubai. It was an engineering based team with AI, and at that time AI was booming. AI related inventions were already germinating and happening.
In that process, we had a team of engineers who were very knowledgeable in the fields of communications, software engineering, and computer science. I was from a core biotech background. I told my boss that since I am from biotech, I would not understand the technology and that I would need an engineering team. They would help me understand what the technology is, how it is distinguished from the prior art, what the invention is, what we are going to claim, and what will make it suitable for IoT based vehicles that are connected to each other. I asked them to give it to me in a proper flow chart for drafting.
They had the technical knowledge and technical language, but I was there like a brick. I arranged each paragraph and each claim according to my drafting regulations for the complete specification. I started with IoT, which I was completely unaware of. I wrote the language exactly as dictated by the inventor. Whatever he said, I drafted it. Luckily, the first draft was filed in the UAE, and within 12 months, we moved to the USA via PCT. There were four patents lined up for drafting, and all were accepted. We made a few adjustments to the claims, and once they were qualified and granted, they were accepted by the examiners.
The UAE Patent Office also accepted the decision of the US Patent Office. This gave me full confidence to start more work. It gave me motivation to move ahead. I was working continuously, and because of COVID, we had reduced salaries and I was completely working from home.
Then my senior told me that they were closing the innovation department. They said they did not have a job for me, but I would be half paid and could do as much as I wanted. I realized that this was the point where I needed to start my own journey. At the same time, I was attending interviews and exploring opportunities with different law firms.
One of my favorite inventors messaged me saying that he had a few inventions and patent applications in India, along with some new mechanical engineering related inventions, and asked if I could help him. He was very senior and was the first person who told me, Smita, why do you not start your own practice? You are such a good draftsman. I told him that I am from biotechnology and that I only know patent rules, regulations, and drafting techniques. If he provided the engineering language, I could draft for him.
He was around 55 or 60 years old and said that he was old school. He told me that he would dictate and I could write. Even the drawings were made on graph paper, like traditional engineering drawings. I said, okay, no problem, we will find an expert who can do it for us. That is how we started the journey. We would sit together for two to three hours, drafting, doing searches, and working through the inventions. We filed in the UAE, and later we developed a mechanical team because we had more mechanical inventions coming in. I realized that we needed a pure mechanical engineering team.
Then Amit came to me and said, ma’am, I want to work out of the box. I do not want to work the way traditional law firms work. I told him that I understood what he wanted and that he had the space to do it. Our first invention came in, and what we learned was that in traditional law firms, whatever material you get, you draft it and file it, and then later deal with objections, more examination reports, more responses, and more costs. This becomes very hectic, and inventors often lose their motivation during the process.
I decided to cut that approach out. As a new patent lawyer, I chose to work in my own way. I drafted in a manner that the examiner could clearly understand what the claims were about, what the subject matter was, and how it was different from the prior art. As a result, we only received formal objections, such as removing ambiguous terms or adjusting wording and claim numbering. That was it. The application was accepted, published, and granted shortly thereafter.
This helped me understand that if you put 80 to 90 percent of your effort into drafting and reviewing before filing, it reduces the prosecution burden. The examiner is happy, and the inventor is happy. The inventor then comes back to you with more work. This is how our journey started.
You have also worked in climate change and sustainability related patents. How did you build your practice around green technology and how do you stay updated globally? So how is this green technology supporting the whole cause and how have you built your practice around that?
Exactly. You have to be very open, cautious, and observant of the market and what is happening, just like a cat or a dog. Have you ever seen a pet cat or a pet dog? They are very cautious and always alert. Who is coming? Who is going? Which car has passed? Who has come?
They sense it and they smell it. So be like an animal and sense the surroundings. Five years ago, when artificial intelligence was emerging and COVID was taking over, at the same time climate change was also becoming evident. You may remember that the skies became cleaner, the roads were clean, and fresh water systems improved.
New fish started appearing in ponds. You must remember these things happening and showing up as positive after effects of COVID. Parallelly, since Dubai is a very welcoming city, it was embracing artificial intelligence on one side while also balancing sustainability.
Sustainability means whatever we have now, we have to preserve it and also bring more business so that we can sustain ourselves for the next 10 or 20 years. During COVID, we truly understood the value and meaning of sustainability. We realized that more sustainability related projects should come so that we can survive well for the next 20 to 30 years.
This was the lesson of that time period when the pandemic happened. If you study the culture, environment, and temperature of the UAE, you will understand that it is very hot. So projects were initiated to create fresh water. We were working on water conservation. Artificial lakes and fountains were created, which helped develop algae. Wherever you see algae and green areas, it indicates fewer harmful bacteria and cleaner water.
My inventor, Mr. Sarfraz Dairkee, said that he had an innovation that could help clean these artificially made ponds and lakes. If you visit these areas, you will see many lakes, ponds, and artificial swimming areas created in front of villas, but they require proper cleaning.
If you go to an open, natural lake or pond, it gets cleaned automatically because the water is not stagnant. The bacteria are healthy and everything functions in a balanced microbiological manner. This is not the case with artificially generated water bodies. So this device was developed to help address climate related challenges. They wanted clean and fresh water for swans and ducks.
In this way, one climate change related invention was developed, which we filed in the UAE. It was well accepted and granted, and it is now being monetized and produced. It is being purchased by different malls. If you go to the Dubai Mall, my inventor’s device is already there, cleaning fresh water. If you visit certain lakes, the device is already installed and cleaning stagnant water.
The second project we worked on was a greenhouse to protect plants. In high temperatures, small and tender leaves cannot flourish or sustain themselves in an arid environment. So we created a greenhouse atmosphere that allows plants to grow even in such conditions. This was another climate change related initiative.
Another invention was related to buildings. If you visit big cities like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Riyadh, or Jeddah, you will see high rise buildings made of glass. When these glass surfaces are exposed to sunlight at temperatures of 78 to 80 degrees, carbon emissions and carbon footprint increase, causing pollution.
Around 2022 or 2023, Apple released a video highlighting how they were making products with reduced carbon footprint and aiming for sustainability and zero carbon emissions. My client said, Smita, I have also developed something similar. It is a shield device that can be installed on building window frames to reduce temperature impact and make the environment calmer.
He is a very innovative inventor and has developed many useful inventions. Near airport areas, you will see high rise glass buildings that reflect sunlight into pilots’ eyes during flights. A solution was needed for this. He suggested making buildings greener by developing green plants on top of them, which would reduce sunlight reflection.
This invention focuses on adapting buildings to arid environments and reducing pollution for people working there. Many workers in warehouses and construction sites work at temperatures reaching 80 degrees while maintaining electricity and building structures at great heights. The heat is unbearable and survival becomes difficult.
So we developed helmets designed to keep their heads cooler while working. Although work is restricted between 12:00 PM and 3:00 PM, even after 10:30 or 11:00 the temperature remains difficult to manage.
These are the kinds of climate change related projects we work on. The best part I learned from the UAE and Saudi Arabia is that local innovators are deeply knowledgeable about their environment and understand what kind of devices are useful for their region. We have worked on these inventions from the scratch level.
This is how we actually started.
You have worked nearly two decades now in IP, patents and a variety of changes you have seen in innovations and in different kinds of technologies.You have witnessed many disruptions in patents over decades. How do you see the future of patents in the next decade? Especially after COVID.
Exactly. Very strong question. Why? Because disruptions are not happening only now; they have also happened in the past with patents. Since 1970, so many disruptions have occurred because technology and innovation are such things that they develop, and people think they will stop.
No, it keeps happening. There is no finish. It keeps happening again and again, just like our RBCs get a new life after every 21 days. Innovation is happening after every 21 days. So you can see that since 1970, many innovations, disruptions, and challenges have been faced.
When I started my patent practice, I found that stem cell related inventions were very challenging to get granted by the Indian Patent Office. Patents related to pharmaceuticals, if they do not show efficacy and a synergistic approach, do not get accepted. Patents related to microorganisms were accepted later. Patents related to semiconductors, devices, or software require a lot of hardware disclosure, more paperwork, and more lab work. So this was always there. It was never hidden or vanished. It is evolving, and it is evolving in a more challenging manner.
Even now, disruptions exist in the form of AI. I will tell you, being in patent practice, and with many patent practices abroad in Singapore, the USA, the UK, and Germany, they will tell you that AI is a very helpful tool that can assist you. I tell my inventors not to type anything about their new ideas on ChatGPT or Google, because these are monsters for them. They are like cookies for them.
They will eat your idea. After two days, the same idea can be filed by some other company because this becomes food for them. We are feeding them. By the time you are thinking whether to file or not, whether to search or not, which agent or attorney to go to, or which law firm to approach, a third person may already have filed it. I always tell people to write their idea in a diary and come to me. I will search for you. We will do a prior art search and a patentability search, and then we will tell you whether it is eligible or not.
AI is there, but it is not going to disrupt everything. It is going to help in a smarter manner. Plus, patents will become more impactful and stronger, and everyone will need them. Even your voice and face recognition need protection. They have to be copyrighted because we use digital signatures and even our voice as a password. Nowadays, in medical facilities, by listening to your voice, they can even tell what you are suffering from. This kind of advancement is coming.
So more intellectual property rights related developments will happen in the next 10 to 20 years, and on an enormous scale. Everyone will look forward to reserving, preserving, and protecting their personality, intellect, and ideas. Technology is becoming very strong, and the stronger it becomes, the stronger, more evolved, and more adaptive we have to be. We have to adapt. This is Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Just like that, we have a theory of evolution in patents. It will keep evolving. Today we have AI. After some days, maybe we will look for something else. I saw one example recently. I was watching a reel where a person went to a shop and asked ChatGPT what to buy, and on the other side, the shopkeeper said that a person has come to buy certain things. Everything was happening automatically.
It feels like we have lost that charm of thinking for ourselves. Earlier, you would go to a shop and buy what you knew you needed. Now ChatGPT tells you that you do not have milk, eggs, or vegetables, so you should buy them. It even informs the shop that this person has come to buy these items. So this is happening.
But common sense will always be there.
I really would request you to share some insights or your advice to the young professionals because they are always a little skeptical about how to choose what to choose, where to go, whom to approach, or maybe how to understand which subject or which particular area do I want to enter?
Yeah, sure, sure. It is part of life. You know, my husband says that wherever you go, you start talking about patents and innovation everywhere. When I am having a coffee at Starbucks, I will tell you why it is costly. I have even told myself why iPhones are costly, because these are special patents.
Since Apple cannot do everything, it has taken licenses from Qualcomm and other companies to provide all the 3G and 4G technologies for the chips. So if you cannot do that, you have to hire. And if you hire someone, it will be costly. So patents play a big role.
It is not bad. It is a very nice thing. I say that it is like your mother in law. You cannot ignore her, and you cannot live without her. You have to sustain her, you have to adjust with her, and you have to face it.
Smita Choudhary’s journey in intellectual property law is a compelling narrative of resilience, innovation and global perspective. From working across multiple jurisdictions including India, Dubai and Saudi Arabia to building a patent practice LAWIANS LLP, focused on biotechnology, engineering, sustainability and emerging technologies, her career reflects the evolving nature of modern patent law. In this conversation, she speaks candidly about navigating international patent systems, creating a flexible and inclusive work culture, building a green technology driven IP practice and adapting to disruptions such as AI and COVID.
Ma’am, you are currently based in Saudi Arabia. How has that particular environment helped you flourish and nurture yourself as a patent attorney and in starting your own law firm?
It is a very interesting question, and I am glad you have asked this as the very first question. See, Saudi Arabia, do not take it as a location term. If we remove that country name, the work is the same. The patent culture, the work of a prosecutor, the work of a litigator, or being an advisor or a legal technical expert. The work will always be the same.
It works like a brick. You just have to adjust it in the form of where you want to create a building. When I first moved, yes, of course, it was very difficult to find ground here for a working woman who is over 35 and already has an established journey. Again, to regenerate the journey in the field of patent advocacy and the law field, which is a very challenging one, because when we are below 35, we are very challenging, smart, and everyone is welcoming.
But after that, so many responsibilities come up related to your family, your husband, your kids, and then the office. So they expect that this kind of employee has to be available 24 by 7 on one call. But that does not change your passion to work on it. So it was difficult in nature.
But one of my reference friends, we were working together in Dubai, referred me to one of the law firms that was working and looking for a patent advisor in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry. So it was one of the open lights for me that, okay, let us work together and start establishing our own law firm in the meantime, because there were many patent applications that were willing to directly file in the Indian Patent Office. Being an Indian patent agent and a registered one, I thought that let us start our own so that any India filings for my foreign clients in the Middle East would not have to go to another third associate and then add on to the pricing.
We could have our own in-house filing team and the portfolio management team so that we could help them in patent preparation starting right from the search analysis, then the patentability test, then drafting, and thereafter filing. Sometimes this helped me as an in house origin, where you have a patent from the scratch level.
Now you do not need to go to another party to make a search, then to another party for drafting, and then for reviewing. Then we will file in the UAE or Saudi Arabia. I was aware of this, and still I am aware of the UAE filing pattern and how the drafting should be, and the Saudi Arabia filing pattern, how the specification should be drafted, what the claims should be, how many claims should be there, and what the drawing pattern should be, and which things we have to protect and which things we are not supposed to protect here.
I was aware of this. So drafting in my own in-house teams, like a biotech team, a mechanical team, an IoT based team, and a software based team, helped me in making this portal successful.
You worked in India, then moved to Dubai and then to Saudi Arabia. These are different jurisdictions. How did you acquaint yourself with them? How did you manage the move and build the name of your law firm? How did you come up with the concept?
Actually, it is a very nice journey, and my only answer will be that I faced many rejections. I was rejected everywhere.
Once you face failure and rejection, you can work on your faults. It means that it tells you where you are lacking and what you need to do for the next jump. This was the first thing I learned. I used to give lots of interviews.
I was rejected just because I was overqualified. I was rejected just because they did not have patent facilities. I was rejected because they already had someone with an Arabic background and knowledge of the Arabic language. So language was one of the issues, and they rejected me. I was rejected because I was a mother. I had a full time job and I could not devote myself fully to the company. So they rejected me, saying that I needed to work after 6:00 PM or 7:00 PM. So these were the points.
I pointed out each and every rejection and took it as a challenge, that let us make a good, environmentally friendly office so that whether you are 20, you are 16, you are 18, you are 30, or 50 or 70, you can work.
You can take your own time whenever your free time is there or your working schedule is there. Like every animal has a working time, they hunt at that time. Likewise, we ladies, kids, students, entrepreneurs, or internship holders work at different time periods.
In between, COVID was a big boom for us. COVID gave us full wings to work at our respective time periods. You were not only bound to work from nine to five. You could work whenever you were ready. So this was the plus point. I thought that let us hit the iron. I thought that we would create a good environment.
Everyone would be welcomed. If they have skill and education, even a little bit of skill, I would not tell them that this is the job you have to do. You have to do business development, or you have to do drafting, or you have to do analysis. You need to tell me what area you want to work in.
If you love analysis, go for it. Do research analysis. Do patentability searches. Make a good FTO report. Bring uniqueness into that. If you like writing and drafting, work for the drafting team. If you are good at convincing the examiner, go for the prosecution team. If you want to go for High Court work, go for litigation.
So I wanted the intern to tell me, or the people who were coming into my field, to tell me that, ma’am, this is what I want to work on. Because I was not the one to scrap and make them a sculpture. They were already built. I just had to place them in a beautiful place, like, okay, you handle this department, you handle that department.
There were no bondings and no limitations. I just gave free wings and a free canvas to develop talent and develop more strategic planning. Some interns and employees came to me knowing nothing, but they really wanted to work in IPR. So what I planned was to get them educated and trained by people who were already in the business and providing training to enter this field, like one of my colleagues, or you can say she is my co patent lawyer as well.
She trains interns. Ms. Gauri Waghmare trains interns in patent drafting, search analysis, landscaping, and how to make a response to the First Examination Report. So with three to four weeks of training, you come to us, take the business, and start working. This is how we have developed a good team to work on it.
Creating such a free space is truly remarkable. How did you develop this mindset, moving from biotechnology to patents and then shaping this journey with the idea of giving people the freedom to work on their own terms, even after COVID, when not everyone could understand this concept? How did this journey begin, and what led you to this approach?
You know, being a lawyer, you will understand which is your best part and which is your best time. If you want to draft or write something, or you want to do some research on articles or sections for the next day’s hearing or presentation, you need a smart space. You need a completely silent space where you can say, okay, this is my time. Maybe I am happily working from 4:00 AM to 7:00 AM in the morning. That is the time. Maybe 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM. Maybe 11:00 PM at night, like that. You need to find your own time zone when you are most happily active and doing your work, because I know that if the kitchen is dirty, if the bed is dirty, or if the laundry is dirty, I cannot concentrate. I have to cook. I have my kids. I cannot keep them hungry and start working, because when I start working, my son will immediately say, mama, I am hungry. That means I have to fulfill that demand before I open my laptop.
There was an incident when I was cooking for my three year old kid. My client called me, and my son picked up the call. He was very small at that time, three years old. He said, do not disturb my mama, she is cooking for me. You can call after 15 minutes. He said this in his own toddler language. My client happily said, okay, I will not disturb mama. I was unaware of this. Sometimes, when I was in the washroom, he would say that my mama is in the washroom. I later realized that he had said this to a client. After some time, my client called me again after one hour. He said that your assistant picked up the call and told me not to disturb you, so I am not disturbing you. Are you free? Can we talk? These kinds of things created a good relationship with my client. He understood that Smita is a family person and has kids to take care of, so he would not disturb me during that time. Likewise, the client became my family. The first thing I learned was to establish trust.
This all started in December 2020. I was working with one of the IoT based companies, RPMA Networks, in Dubai. It was an engineering based team with AI, and at that time AI was booming. AI related inventions were already germinating and happening.
In that process, we had a team of engineers who were very knowledgeable in the fields of communications, software engineering, and computer science. I was from a core biotech background. I told my boss that since I am from biotech, I would not understand the technology and that I would need an engineering team. They would help me understand what the technology is, how it is distinguished from the prior art, what the invention is, what we are going to claim, and what will make it suitable for IoT based vehicles that are connected to each other. I asked them to give it to me in a proper flow chart for drafting.
They had the technical knowledge and technical language, but I was there like a brick. I arranged each paragraph and each claim according to my drafting regulations for the complete specification. I started with IoT, which I was completely unaware of. I wrote the language exactly as dictated by the inventor. Whatever he said, I drafted it. Luckily, the first draft was filed in the UAE, and within 12 months, we moved to the USA via PCT. There were four patents lined up for drafting, and all were accepted. We made a few adjustments to the claims, and once they were qualified and granted, they were accepted by the examiners.
The UAE Patent Office also accepted the decision of the US Patent Office. This gave me full confidence to start more work. It gave me motivation to move ahead. I was working continuously, and because of COVID, we had reduced salaries and I was completely working from home.
Then my senior told me that they were closing the innovation department. They said they did not have a job for me, but I would be half paid and could do as much as I wanted. I realized that this was the point where I needed to start my own journey. At the same time, I was attending interviews and exploring opportunities with different law firms.
One of my favorite inventors messaged me saying that he had a few inventions and patent applications in India, along with some new mechanical engineering related inventions, and asked if I could help him. He was very senior and was the first person who told me, Smita, why do you not start your own practice? You are such a good draftsman. I told him that I am from biotechnology and that I only know patent rules, regulations, and drafting techniques. If he provided the engineering language, I could draft for him.
He was around 55 or 60 years old and said that he was old school. He told me that he would dictate and I could write. Even the drawings were made on graph paper, like traditional engineering drawings. I said, okay, no problem, we will find an expert who can do it for us. That is how we started the journey. We would sit together for two to three hours, drafting, doing searches, and working through the inventions. We filed in the UAE, and later we developed a mechanical team because we had more mechanical inventions coming in. I realized that we needed a pure mechanical engineering team.
Then Amit came to me and said, ma’am, I want to work out of the box. I do not want to work the way traditional law firms work. I told him that I understood what he wanted and that he had the space to do it. Our first invention came in, and what we learned was that in traditional law firms, whatever material you get, you draft it and file it, and then later deal with objections, more examination reports, more responses, and more costs. This becomes very hectic, and inventors often lose their motivation during the process.
I decided to cut that approach out. As a new patent lawyer, I chose to work in my own way. I drafted in a manner that the examiner could clearly understand what the claims were about, what the subject matter was, and how it was different from the prior art. As a result, we only received formal objections, such as removing ambiguous terms or adjusting wording and claim numbering. That was it. The application was accepted, published, and granted shortly thereafter.
This helped me understand that if you put 80 to 90 percent of your effort into drafting and reviewing before filing, it reduces the prosecution burden. The examiner is happy, and the inventor is happy. The inventor then comes back to you with more work. This is how our journey started.
You have also worked in climate change and sustainability related patents. How did you build your practice around green technology and how do you stay updated globally? So how is this green technology supporting the whole cause and how have you built your practice around that?
Exactly. You have to be very open, cautious, and observant of the market and what is happening, just like a cat or a dog. Have you ever seen a pet cat or a pet dog? They are very cautious and always alert. Who is coming? Who is going? Which car has passed? Who has come?
They sense it and they smell it. So be like an animal and sense the surroundings. Five years ago, when artificial intelligence was emerging and COVID was taking over, at the same time climate change was also becoming evident. You may remember that the skies became cleaner, the roads were clean, and fresh water systems improved.
New fish started appearing in ponds. You must remember these things happening and showing up as positive after effects of COVID. Parallelly, since Dubai is a very welcoming city, it was embracing artificial intelligence on one side while also balancing sustainability.
Sustainability means whatever we have now, we have to preserve it and also bring more business so that we can sustain ourselves for the next 10 or 20 years. During COVID, we truly understood the value and meaning of sustainability. We realized that more sustainability related projects should come so that we can survive well for the next 20 to 30 years.
This was the lesson of that time period when the pandemic happened. If you study the culture, environment, and temperature of the UAE, you will understand that it is very hot. So projects were initiated to create fresh water. We were working on water conservation. Artificial lakes and fountains were created, which helped develop algae. Wherever you see algae and green areas, it indicates fewer harmful bacteria and cleaner water.
My inventor, Mr. Sarfraz Dairkee, said that he had an innovation that could help clean these artificially made ponds and lakes. If you visit these areas, you will see many lakes, ponds, and artificial swimming areas created in front of villas, but they require proper cleaning.
If you go to an open, natural lake or pond, it gets cleaned automatically because the water is not stagnant. The bacteria are healthy and everything functions in a balanced microbiological manner. This is not the case with artificially generated water bodies. So this device was developed to help address climate related challenges. They wanted clean and fresh water for swans and ducks.
In this way, one climate change related invention was developed, which we filed in the UAE. It was well accepted and granted, and it is now being monetized and produced. It is being purchased by different malls. If you go to the Dubai Mall, my inventor’s device is already there, cleaning fresh water. If you visit certain lakes, the device is already installed and cleaning stagnant water.
The second project we worked on was a greenhouse to protect plants. In high temperatures, small and tender leaves cannot flourish or sustain themselves in an arid environment. So we created a greenhouse atmosphere that allows plants to grow even in such conditions. This was another climate change related initiative.
Another invention was related to buildings. If you visit big cities like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Riyadh, or Jeddah, you will see high rise buildings made of glass. When these glass surfaces are exposed to sunlight at temperatures of 78 to 80 degrees, carbon emissions and carbon footprint increase, causing pollution.
Around 2022 or 2023, Apple released a video highlighting how they were making products with reduced carbon footprint and aiming for sustainability and zero carbon emissions. My client said, Smita, I have also developed something similar. It is a shield device that can be installed on building window frames to reduce temperature impact and make the environment calmer.
He is a very innovative inventor and has developed many useful inventions. Near airport areas, you will see high rise glass buildings that reflect sunlight into pilots’ eyes during flights. A solution was needed for this. He suggested making buildings greener by developing green plants on top of them, which would reduce sunlight reflection.
This invention focuses on adapting buildings to arid environments and reducing pollution for people working there. Many workers in warehouses and construction sites work at temperatures reaching 80 degrees while maintaining electricity and building structures at great heights. The heat is unbearable and survival becomes difficult.
So we developed helmets designed to keep their heads cooler while working. Although work is restricted between 12:00 PM and 3:00 PM, even after 10:30 or 11:00 the temperature remains difficult to manage.
These are the kinds of climate change related projects we work on. The best part I learned from the UAE and Saudi Arabia is that local innovators are deeply knowledgeable about their environment and understand what kind of devices are useful for their region. We have worked on these inventions from the scratch level.
This is how we actually started.
You have worked nearly two decades now in IP, patents and a variety of changes you have seen in innovations and in different kinds of technologies.You have witnessed many disruptions in patents over decades. How do you see the future of patents in the next decade? Especially after COVID.
Exactly. Very strong question. Why? Because disruptions are not happening only now; they have also happened in the past with patents. Since 1970, so many disruptions have occurred because technology and innovation are such things that they develop, and people think they will stop.
No, it keeps happening. There is no finish. It keeps happening again and again, just like our RBCs get a new life after every 21 days. Innovation is happening after every 21 days. So you can see that since 1970, many innovations, disruptions, and challenges have been faced.
When I started my patent practice, I found that stem cell related inventions were very challenging to get granted by the Indian Patent Office. Patents related to pharmaceuticals, if they do not show efficacy and a synergistic approach, do not get accepted. Patents related to microorganisms were accepted later. Patents related to semiconductors, devices, or software require a lot of hardware disclosure, more paperwork, and more lab work. So this was always there. It was never hidden or vanished. It is evolving, and it is evolving in a more challenging manner.
Even now, disruptions exist in the form of AI. I will tell you, being in patent practice, and with many patent practices abroad in Singapore, the USA, the UK, and Germany, they will tell you that AI is a very helpful tool that can assist you. I tell my inventors not to type anything about their new ideas on ChatGPT or Google, because these are monsters for them. They are like cookies for them.
They will eat your idea. After two days, the same idea can be filed by some other company because this becomes food for them. We are feeding them. By the time you are thinking whether to file or not, whether to search or not, which agent or attorney to go to, or which law firm to approach, a third person may already have filed it. I always tell people to write their idea in a diary and come to me. I will search for you. We will do a prior art search and a patentability search, and then we will tell you whether it is eligible or not.
AI is there, but it is not going to disrupt everything. It is going to help in a smarter manner. Plus, patents will become more impactful and stronger, and everyone will need them. Even your voice and face recognition need protection. They have to be copyrighted because we use digital signatures and even our voice as a password. Nowadays, in medical facilities, by listening to your voice, they can even tell what you are suffering from. This kind of advancement is coming.
So more intellectual property rights related developments will happen in the next 10 to 20 years, and on an enormous scale. Everyone will look forward to reserving, preserving, and protecting their personality, intellect, and ideas. Technology is becoming very strong, and the stronger it becomes, the stronger, more evolved, and more adaptive we have to be. We have to adapt. This is Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Just like that, we have a theory of evolution in patents. It will keep evolving. Today we have AI. After some days, maybe we will look for something else. I saw one example recently. I was watching a reel where a person went to a shop and asked ChatGPT what to buy, and on the other side, the shopkeeper said that a person has come to buy certain things. Everything was happening automatically.
It feels like we have lost that charm of thinking for ourselves. Earlier, you would go to a shop and buy what you knew you needed. Now ChatGPT tells you that you do not have milk, eggs, or vegetables, so you should buy them. It even informs the shop that this person has come to buy these items. So this is happening.
But common sense will always be there.
I really would request you to share some insights or your advice to the young professionals because they are always a little skeptical about how to choose what to choose, where to go, whom to approach, or maybe how to understand which subject or which particular area do I want to enter?
Yeah, sure, sure. It is part of life. You know, my husband says that wherever you go, you start talking about patents and innovation everywhere. When I am having a coffee at Starbucks, I will tell you why it is costly. I have even told myself why iPhones are costly, because these are special patents.
Since Apple cannot do everything, it has taken licenses from Qualcomm and other companies to provide all the 3G and 4G technologies for the chips. So if you cannot do that, you have to hire. And if you hire someone, it will be costly. So patents play a big role.
It is not bad. It is a very nice thing. I say that it is like your mother in law. You cannot ignore her, and you cannot live without her. You have to sustain her, you have to adjust with her, and you have to face it.
Snehal Shirode, Global Compliance Manager at Novartis Malaysia, has built a distinguished global legal career rooted in a strong commerce background and advanced legal training. Based in Malaysia, she brings a unique blend of business insight, regulatory expertise, and multicultural leadership to the global compliance landscape. Over 13 years, she has navigated complex cross border challenges, led governance initiatives, and integrated digital innovation into compliance and contract management. Her journey reflects a commitment to integrity, adaptability, and thoughtful leadership while contributing to the global vision of Novartis Malaysia.
Coming from a commerce background, what motivated you to pursue a career in law, and how did your education and early professional experiences equip you to navigate complex, cross-border challenges?
My commerce background offered me a strong understanding of business fundamentals, but I was equally drawn to the interpretive depth and societal impact of law. The intersection of the two fields fascinated me where commercial pragmatism meets regulatory precision. My education in Law and Social Legal Sciences provided both analytical rigor and contextual understanding, enabling me to approach problems holistically.
Early experiences across diverse industries in India trained me to interpret laws not just as statutes but as strategic enablers of business integrity, a perspective that became invaluable in navigating cross-border challenges later in my career.
During your early career in India, what were the key learnings that laid the foundation for your specialization in global compliance and contract management?
My early professional years in India instilled a deep respect for procedural discipline and ethical diligence. Working across regulatory environments taught me the importance of consistency and transparency in every transaction. I learned that effective compliance is not about control but about creating trust between business and governance. Exposure to contract negotiation and risk evaluation honed my precision in balancing legal protection with commercial intent, a skill that evolved into my specialization in global compliance and contract management.
Over the years, you’ve progressed to senior global leadership positions. What defining moments or challenges have shaped your career trajectory and leadership style?
Transitioning to global roles presented both opportunity and complexity leading multicultural teams and driving governance across regions demanded adaptability and empathy. A defining moment was leading a transformation program integrating compliance and contract frameworks across multiple jurisdictions, requiring both strategic vision and human sensitivity. The challenge reinforced my belief that leadership is less about authority and more about influence about fostering environments where integrity, innovation, and inclusion thrive together.
As Global Compliance Manager, how do you ensure consistency and adherence to compliance frameworks across regions, and could you share an example of successfully resolving a complex compliance challenge?
Ensuring consistency across regions begins with fostering a unified compliance culture anchored in shared values rather than uniform mandates. I place strong emphasis on awareness, accountability, and empowerment enabling teams to understand the purpose and principles behind each compliance requirement. This approach, supported by structured governance models and continuous training, promotes alignment across jurisdictions while respecting regional nuances.
With respect to specific case examples, I am unable to disclose details due to professional confidentiality obligations. What I can share is that every complex challenge reinforces a central truth that effective compliance is ultimately driven by collaboration, ethical judgment, and the ability to balance global standards with local integrity.
How do you manage global contracting risks while integrating digital tools with traditional legal and compliance processes for a seamless workflow?
Risk identification begins with visibility and understanding every contractual touchpoint and supplier relationship through structured governance models. I prioritize risk categorization, due diligence, and real-time monitoring to ensure proactive management. Integrating digital tools like Icertis, SAP Ariba, and analytics dashboards enhances transparency and efficiency. My approach merges automation with human oversight, ensuring that technology accelerates compliance rather than diluting judgment enabling a seamless bridge between legal rigor and operational agility.
What inspired you to pursue an international legal career, and what gave you the confidence to make that transition?
The aspiration to pursue an international career stemmed from a desire to engage with the global evolution of law and governance. My confidence was built on a foundation of strong ethics, technical knowledge, and an openness to learning from diverse cultures. Transitioning globally required adaptability, understanding that legal systems may differ but integrity remains universal. Each challenge reinforced my belief that law, when practiced with empathy and precision, can transcend borders and foster trust across industries and nations.
With emerging technologies like AI and evolving global regulations, how do you see digital innovation transforming compliance, contract management, and corporate governance in the years ahead?
Digital innovation is redefining the compliance and legal ecosystem. AI-driven analytics, smart contracting, and predictive compliance tools are enabling organizations to transition from reactive oversight to proactive governance. However, technology must be guided by ethical frameworks and human judgment. The future lies in synergy where digital solutions amplify accuracy and speed, while professionals ensure accountability and contextual interpretation. This balance will define the next era of compliance excellence.
Reflecting on your 13+ years of experience, how do you maintain a healthy work-life balance, and what key principles or habits have contributed to your professional success?
Sustaining balance begins with clarity of purpose and disciplined prioritization. I approach each day with structured focus and dedicating time for strategic thinking, continuous learning, and personal renewal. Mindfulness, reading, and connecting with people beyond work provide perspective and resilience. Professionally, I anchor my success in three principles: integrity in decision-making, empathy in leadership, and curiosity in learning. Together, they create equilibrium between ambition and wellbeing.
What advice would you give to young legal and compliance professionals aspiring to build a global career?
Develop depth before breadth, master your fundamentals, then expand your horizons. Global careers are built not only on expertise but on cultural intelligence, adaptability, and credibility. Embrace technology as an ally, not a threat, and never compromise on ethics, even under pressure. Seek mentors, learn continuously, and approach every challenge as a learning opportunity. Above all, remember that integrity and humility are the true currencies of global success.
What drew you to this specialized field of healthcare and life sciences sectors and was there a pivotal moment that influenced you to pursue law?
There wasn’t one single pivotal moment that led me to the healthcare and life sciences field, it was a series of small, steady influences that ultimately shaped my path. Both my grandfathers were doctors, and I grew up listening to stories about their patients, their long hours, and the deep sense of purpose that came with practicing medicine. What resonated with me most was the service orientation of their profession, the idea that knowledge, when applied ethically, can tangibly improve lives. That value system stayed with me.
When I chose to pursue law, I wanted to retain that sense of impact and service while approaching it through a different lens. My academic foundation, a dual degree in Science and Law (B.Sc., LL.B.) at GNLU, allowed me to explore that intersection meaningfully. It kept my scientific curiosity alive while giving me the analytical tools of a lawyer. I found myself drawn to subjects that sat at the interface of law, policy, and technology, spaces where regulation both enables and restrains innovation.
During my time at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM), I rotated through three distinct practice areas, spending six months in each. It’s a model I remain grateful for, because it gave me the chance to experiment across corporate, litigation, and regulatory mandates before finding my fit. What ultimately drew me to the healthcare and life sciences group was its balance: it wasn’t confined to one box. The practice blended corporate transactions, regulatory advisory, and litigation support, meaning every day required both legal precision and scientific context. It offered the intellectual breadth of a generalist practice with the technical depth of a specialist one.
That mix, of science, regulation, and strategy, is what continues to excite me today. Healthcare and life sciences law isn’t just about compliance or contracts; it’s about facilitating innovation responsibly, ensuring that good science gets to patients safely, and helping clients navigate the grey zones where policy is still catching up to progress. It’s that dynamic intersection that keeps me engaged, challenged, and grounded in the same sense of purpose that first drew me to the field.
Completing your LL.M. at Stanford Law School, how did it shape your understanding of the legal challenges faced by emerging tech and health ventures?
Studying law at Stanford Law School was a truly formative experience. Stanford is one of the few law schools in the world that encourages genuine interdisciplinary exploration allowing you to cross-list courses seamlessly across its schools of business, medicine, engineering, and policy. That design, combined with its location at the heart of Silicon Valley, places you right at the intersection of innovation and regulation. You’re surrounded by people who are not only thinking about the law but actively building the future industries it will need to govern.
During my LL.M. in Law, Science, and Technology, I took classes at both the Graduate School of Business and the School of Medicine. That cross-pollination exposed me to an extraordinary range of ideas: from startups reimagining payor and provider systems, to biotech ventures pursuing cell and gene therapies for rare diseases. These were students who were scientists, engineers, and founders often working at the bleeding edge of what was scientifically possible but who also needed guidance on what was legally permissible. It was fascinating to see how quickly innovation can outpace regulation, and how early-stage ventures often struggle with foundational legal questions, entity formation, licensing, data governance, clinical trial compliance because they lack access to specialized counsel.
That realization became the starting point for what later became the Stanford Law and Start-up Project (SLASP). I noticed that, despite Stanford being one of the most active startup ecosystems in the world, there was no formal pro bono legal support available for student-led ventures. To bridge that gap, I launched SLASP, an initiative jointly supported by Stanford Law School and the Graduate School of Business, with mentorship from partner law firms and alumni practitioners. The idea was simple but impactful: create a structured framework where law students could work under faculty and practitioner supervision to advise early-stage founders on key legal and regulatory issues, from incorporation to IP strategy and data privacy compliance.
Founding SLASP was both entrepreneurial and deeply personal for me. It allowed me to apply my legal training not just as an academic exercise but as a tool to enable innovation. It taught me that being a good lawyer in emerging industries requires more than technical accuracy, it requires empathy for the builder’s mindset and the foresight to anticipate how law and technology evolve together.
Stanford, in that sense, didn’t just teach me about the legal challenges of emerging ventures, it showed me how law can become a strategic enabler of innovation when approached creatively and collaboratively.
Having practiced law in both India and the U.S., what key cultural, regulatory differences have you observed between the two jurisdictions?
Every country’s legal system is a reflection of its history, society, and institutions. Each evolves to meet the needs of its people, shaped by its own political, economic, and cultural realities. That’s especially true for global leaders like the United States, whose legal system is both intricate and deeply structured, marked by layered jurisprudence, federalism, and an acute focus on precision. It operates quite differently from India’s, where the system, while equally rigorous, often emphasizes flexibility and contextual application. But these differences are expected. As practitioners making that transition, what matters most is the ability to adapt, to absorb the logic of a new legal culture without losing your own analytical identity.
That’s where the LL.M. program and bar preparation process play an instrumental role. They don’t just teach the black-letter law; they retrain how you think, write, and reason within a new legal framework. The rest, as I learned, comes through immersion. If you have tenacity and curiosity, you can navigate almost any system. Curiosity ensures that you keep asking the right questions, while tenacity gives you the discipline to keep refining your craft until the differences that once felt foreign become intuitive.
What you truly need to gear up for, however, are the cultural shifts in practice.
The first is the hyper-specialization that defines much of the U.S. Big Law. Unlike India, and even most of Asia or Europe, lawyers are expected to be broad-based generalists, U.S. firms value depth over breadth. You’re expected to carve out a niche, build recognized expertise, and become the person clients call for a specific problem.
The second is the entrepreneurial expectation built into the practice. Growth isn’t just about billing hours; it’s about shaping your professional brand, through thought leadership, industry engagement, and business development. You’re encouraged, and often expected, to take ownership of your practice early: to publish, speak, participate in trade groups, and cultivate client relationships proactively. Typically, by your fifth year, the firm’s leadership identifies who will be groomed for partnership and who will develop as senior specialists, and provides support accordingly.
The third adjustment lies in the nuances of day-to-day practice: the precision of drafting, the tone and cadence of client interactions, and the expectation of proactive collaboration within the firm. Communication is often more direct, timelines more compressed, and initiative more visibly rewarded. One is expected not only to execute but to anticipate, to think commercially and contribute strategically.
Adapting to these differences can be challenging, but it’s also deeply enriching.
Coming with diverse experience advising various entities, could you share one particularly memorable case or experience that stood out to you ?
Over the course of my seven-plus-year career, I’ve advised on complex corporate transactions and regulatory mandates for leading pharmaceutical companies, health systems, and high-growth innovators. What has mattered just as much, however, is the chance to do work with real public-health consequences, projects that move beyond balance sheets and directly affect access, equity, and outcomes.
Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) for adolescents and young people is one of those crucial areas. The stakes are unambiguous: unclear or conflicting legal standards do not just create compliance risk; they translate into delayed care, inconsistent counseling, and, ultimately, poorer health outcomes for some of the most vulnerable populations. In that context, I authored a report for the World Health Organization, “Review of Conflation of Laws on Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Services for Adolescents and Young People in India.” The analysis mapped how overlapping statutory and regulatory frameworks were impeding ground-level implementation and proposed concrete, harmonizing solutions. Several of those recommendations were subsequently reflected in WHO’s submissions to India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and informed amendments to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 2021.
I’m especially grateful that I was able to do this kind of healthcare policy work,collaborating closely with WHO and MOHFW, while employed at a corporate law firm. It was a rare and formative opportunity to bridge rigorous legal analysis with system-level health policy, and to see how thoughtfully crafted legal recommendations can unlock access to timely, appropriate care.
The project was also personally meaningful because, despite being relatively junior at the time (a third-year associate), I was entrusted to lead it,based on my sustained interest and enthusiasm for healthcare policy. It became the first healthcare policy matter executed by the Healthcare & Life Sciences team at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, setting a template for how our practice could contribute to policy alongside traditional transactional and regulatory work.
Women’s and adolescents’ health remains a priority for me. This engagement reaffirmed my conviction that the law is not just a set of constraints to navigate,it’s an instrument to improve public-health systems when applied with clarity, empathy, and evidence. I’m proud that my contribution helped translate legal complexity into actionable reforms, and even prouder of the tangible impact those reforms continue to have on access and care.
At Holon Law Partners, how do you manage the dual demands of strategic legal counsel and business growth while maintaining personal well-being and handling external pressures?
At this stage in my career, I’ve come to appreciate that as a lawyer, business development isn’t separate from the practice of law, it’s an extension of it. As one progresses, the role naturally expands: it’s not only about providing sound counsel, but also about helping build something that endures beyond the individual matter or client relationship. The most respected leaders in the legal world are those who’ve learned to straddle both roles seamlessly, trusted advisor and strategic builder.
I’ve been fortunate that I genuinely enjoy both aspects of my work at Holon Law Partners: advising clients on complex healthcare, life sciences, and technology transactions, and simultaneously helping shape and grow these practice verticals. Coming from a business family, I’ve always been fascinated by the entrepreneurial side of firm-building, the thrill of taking something from inception to a differentiated, high-performing platform. Business development, for me, isn’t just networking or pitching; it’s about identifying white spaces, nurturing partnerships, and architecting ecosystems around ideas that matter.
Balancing both roles in a high-stakes environment requires clarity of focus and self-awareness. I’ve learned that work–life balance is deeply subjective, for some, it’s separation; for others, it’s alignment. For me, it’s alignment: when the work energizes you, the hours blur. I center myself through structure, running, and conscious resets, but I also accept that intensity comes with ambition.
Just as importantly, balance depends on the environment. You can only sustain high performance if you’re in a culture where colleagues and partners support, mentor, and elevate you when it counts. I’m fortunate to have that, at Holon Law Partners, within DCTAV (where I serve on the executive board), and across my broader ecosystem. Their support shows up in tangible ways: senior partners who open doors and share context; peers who pressure-test strategy and swap hard-won playbooks; mentors who give candid feedback and air cover so you can take smart risks; and communities like DCTAV that amplify ideas and create warm, values-aligned connections. That scaffolding doesn’t just make the work better, it makes the pace sustainable.
What ultimately sustains me is the purpose behind the work and the people around me. Building a practice that delivers real impact for clients while advancing the healthcare and life sciences ecosystem is energizing, and having a network that invests in your growth makes the dual mandate of counsel and business building not only possible, but genuinely rewarding.
What motivated you to get involved as a Senior Executive Board member at the DC Tech & Venture Coalition? Were there some of the key challenges you’ve observed in this area?
What first drew me to ecosystem building was the recognition that innovation doesn’t grow in isolation – it grows in networks. My professional life has always sat at the intersection of law, business, and policy, and over time, I realized that facilitating those connections between founders, investors, and policymakers can be as impactful as drafting a great transaction document.
At the DC Tech & Venture Coalition (DCTAV), my work as a Senior Executive Board Member centers on strengthening the DMV’s technology and venture landscape through strategic partnerships, ecosystem growth, and international business attraction. A key focus for me has been developing a global soft-landing platform to help international startups and scale-ups, particularly from Asia and the EU region, establish operations and grow in the United States. I’m deeply interested in business attraction to the U.S., not just as an investment initiative but as a long-term mechanism for innovation exchange, talent mobility, and cross-border collaboration.
That interest evolved naturally from my legal work in healthcare, life sciences, and emerging technologies, where I saw how promising companies often struggled not because of their technology, but because they lacked cohesive support systems – clear regulatory guidance, local partnerships, and market entry frameworks.
The solution lies in building infrastructure for confidence, connecting innovators with advisors, regulators, and capital early in the process; creating pathways for responsible scale; and ensuring that policy, legal frameworks, and investment ecosystems evolve together. That’s where my dual focus on business development and legal structuring converge: translating ambition into access, and innovation into tangible growth. Ultimately, what excites me most is the role ecosystem work plays in making the U.S. a global destination for innovation – a place where ideas, capital, and talent converge to build something that lasts.
How do you see these initiatives like the U.S.–India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and the New Jersey–India Commission, shaping the future of the U.S.–India partnerships in technology and investment, particularly for startups and growth-stage companies?
Both collaborations, though aligned in vision, operate at very different levels of the U.S.–India engagement spectrum, and that’s what makes them so complementary.
With the U.S.–India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), I’ve been collaborating to advance high-level business development initiatives between the two countries. As one of the leading U.S.–India trade lobbies, USISPF works closely with large corporates, venture funds, and institutional investors navigating the regulatory and policy landscape across both jurisdictions. My role has centered on helping companies that are exploring or expanding their U.S.–India footprint, facilitating introductions, advising on deal structures, and coordinating with USISPF teams on issues like trade advocacy, market access, and investment strategy. The goal is to bridge the practical gap between policy intent and business execution, turning the promise of partnership into operational collaboration.
In parallel, my work with the New Jersey–India Commission is focused more at the ecosystem and startup level. Through initiatives like Choose NJ, the Commission helps early-stage and growth companies from India evaluate soft-landing opportunities in the U.S. market. I’ve worked with them to support founders who are scaling to the U.S., particularly those in digital health, life sciences, and technology, by connecting them with legal, regulatory, and ecosystem partners.
Alongside, I’ve also collaborated with both organizations on policy-focused webinars and discussions around tariffs, trade deals, and innovation frameworks, designed to equip emerging companies with context and clarity on cross-border challenges.
Taken together, these initiatives are shaping a new phase of the U.S.–India corridor, one that moves beyond diplomatic rhetoric toward tangible economic architecture. For startups and growth-stage companies, the future lies in structured soft-landing programs, trusted capital networks, and integrated advisory ecosystems that allow them to scale seamlessly between the two markets. My broader goal is to serve as a connector within this space, linking innovators, investors, and institutions on both sides to accelerate not just trade, but shared innovation.
Finally, what guiding motto or philosophy has carried you through your legal journey? And looking back, what inspired you to pursue a career in law in the first place?
If I had to distil my philosophy into a single line, it would be: lead with curiosity, sustained by blind optimism. Early in my career, a family member, now a senior partner and board member at KPMG, offered advice that became my operating system: initiative and enthusiasm are always valued and they pay off. “When there’s an opportunity to take initiative, however challenging or unknown, if you’re interested, raise your hand,” he said. Most of the time you won’t regret it; it will accelerate your growth.
I’ve tried to translate that into daily practice. Curiosity means asking the extra question, mapping the problem before proposing the solution, and learning fast from adjacent disciplines. Initiative means volunteering for the ambiguous brief, stepping into white-space roles, and taking ownership early, then over-communicating, preparing obsessively, and following through. Blind optimism isn’t naïveté; it’s a choice to believe that with discipline and goodwill, hard problems yield. That mindset has consistently opened doors, across corporate transactions, regulatory strategy, and health-policy projects – where caution alone would have kept me on the sidelines.
That approach also helps me see the law not as static doctrine but as a living system – one that shapes industries, enables innovation, and, most importantly, improves lives. It’s why I keep stepping into complex mandates: the work is harder, but the impact is greater.
As for why I pursued law, it’s rooted in justice and family history. My family is a first-hand example of how innocent people suffer when the law falls silent and fails to protect them, as it did during Partition. That legacy impressed upon me both the fragility and the potential of legal systems: they can divide, but, when wielded with empathy and integrity, they can also heal. That conviction anchors my practice today in healthcare and life sciences. Whether negotiating a transaction, advising on policy reform, or navigating regulation, I lead with curiosity and optimism, grounded by a commitment to justice, and I keep raising my hand for the challenge.
Contributing meaningfully to the artisan economy and various social impact initiatives, how have these experiences informed your perspective on the law as a tool for sustainable and inclusive development?
Working with 200 Million Artisans and Creative Dignity has been among the most grounding experiences of my career. Both initiatives, one focused on building a fairer ecosystem for India’s craftspeople and the other supporting artisan livelihoods through crisis, showed me something that no transaction or policy paper alone can: law is a framework for dignity only when it works at the last mile. At 200 Million Artisans, I helped lead fundraising, research, and ecosystem-building, including conceptualizing the India for Artisans fundraiser, work that required stitching together entrepreneurs, designers, investors, and policymakers around market-linked, resilient livelihoods.
This work also carried a deeply personal resonance. My ancestors, particularly my female ancestors from Coochbehar, such as Rajmata Indira Devi and Gayatri Devi, were ardent supporters of India’s artisan and cultural sectors. Their belief that craftsmanship is not merely an economic activity but a reflection of identity, heritage, and self-determination has always inspired me. Their legacy shaped how I approached this work: not as charity, but as empowerment through structure, design, and market access.
These experiences sharpened my view of the law as a tool for sustainable and inclusive development. Robust statutes and elegant policy architecture matter, but they only create value when they are implementable at the grassroot. They also reinforced two habits that now anchor my healthcare and life sciences practice: coalition-building (because durable solutions are interdisciplinary) and empathy in execution (because even the best frameworks fail if they ignore field conditions). Much like artisan enterprises, health and tech innovators often operate in under-defined regulatory spaces; clear, practicable rules can unlock extraordinary impact.
Was law always your calling, or did your inclination toward it develop over time? How did NLU Delhi shape this perspective?
I’ve always been drawn to problem-solving and the interplay between logic, language, and human behaviour. Law became my chosen path when I realised how deeply it shapes innovation, access, and justice in society. My inclination toward it certainly matured over time, especially during my years at National Law University, Delhi, which provided a rich interdisciplinary environment. My fellowships and research at the Centre for Innovation, Intellectual Property and Competition (CIIPC), Centre for Communication Governance (CCG) and seminar courses on Copyright, Technology law allowed me to explore privacy and digital technology law issues at a time when India was reimagining its digital landscape. Those experiences confirmed that my calling lay in technology and intellectual property law, where law meets innovation and ethics.
How did you pursue your Master’s at MIPLC and how would you contrast it with the Indian legal education system?
Pursuing an LL.M. at the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC) was both an academic and personal milestone. The admission process was highly competitive, involving a strong academic record, professional experience, motivation statement, and recommendations. What drew me to MIPLC was its small class size and its unique structure that provided a comparative perspective on both U.S. and European Union (EU) laws, reflecting the program’s international orientation. By engaging with both systems side by side, the curriculum encourages students to develop a comparative analytical mindset, preparing them to navigate transnational IP, technology and competition issues effectively. It offers an intense, research-driven curriculum jointly administered by the Max Planck Institute, University of Augsburg, Technical University of Munich, and George Washington University Law School. The experience was transformative- MIPLC’s international cohort fostered rigorous dialogue and cross-cultural exchange.
What drew you to specialize in Intellectual Property and Technology law, and how do you see this area evolving?
My interest in IP and technology law grew organically during my undergraduate years, when I encountered the ethical and regulatory challenges that accompany innovation. During my LL.M. at the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center (MIPLC), I began exploring how IP interacts with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, data-driven innovation, and digital platforms. My master thesis on “Challenges in accessing data for AI training and solutions” sparked a deep interest in the legal frameworks governing data, algorithms, and innovation.
This experience broadened my focus from traditional IP concepts like copyright and trademarks to the broader ecosystem of data protection, AI governance, and digital regulation. Upon returning to practice, I realized that the core principles of IP i.e. balancing innovation and access also underpin technology and data law. Working in Brussels further reinforced this transition, as I began advising on GDPR, EU AI Act, DSA, and Data Act issues. Today, I view technology law as an extension of my IP foundation where innovation meets accountability, and creativity meets compliance.
Having worked across data protection, AI governance, and IP transactions, I’ve seen how these fields are converging. The coming years will see the EU AI Act, Data Act, and similar frameworks globally setting new precedents for accountability and fairness in innovation. Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA), 2023 aligns India’s privacy regime more closely with global standards like the GDPR while maintaining a strong focus on digital sovereignty. Alongside it, the proposed Digital India Act aims to modernize India’s tech regulation framework by replacing the two-decade-old IT Act, addressing emerging issues such as AI governance, platform accountability, and online safety in the evolving digital economy.
What were the most valuable learnings from working with top-tier Indian firms early in your career?
At Luthra & Luthra, I had the opportunity to work on a diverse range of matters from pharmaceutical and IP litigation to entertainment/media law. These formative years taught me the importance of precision and adaptability. I learned to approach complex regulatory issues strategically by balancing legal compliance with commercial pragmatism.
A particularly impactful experience was challenging a government notification before the Indian Supreme Court, where I saw firsthand how constitutional principles intersect with regulatory frameworks. Another was before the Bombay High Court when I delved into the complex interplay of rights of copyright owners, authors and copyright societies from Indian as well as international perspectives, specifically in respect of musical works and associated literary works included in a cinematograph film/sound recording. These experiences built a strong foundation in analytical thinking and advocacy, which continues to shape my approach today.
What motivated you to pursue an international career, and how did you navigate the transition between systems and cultures?
An international career was both an aspiration and a natural progression of my academic and professional interests. Technology law is inherently global as data, AI, and digital technology transcends borders. My LL.M. in Germany exposed me to European frameworks like GDPR, EU Copyright law etc. which complemented my Indian experience and opened the path to working in Brussels.
The transition came with challenges and navigating different legal systems, cultures, and languages required adaptability and openness. But it also offered invaluable perspective. Working across jurisdictions has deepened my understanding of comparative legal systems and helped me develop a nuanced, culturally sensitive advisory style. The key was staying curious, proactive, and empathetic.
How do you apply your experience at Timelex, particularly in EU projects on e-health, privacy, and robotics?
At Timelex, my work involves drafting data processing, data sharing, licensing and material transfer agreements, and advising clients on data protection, data governance, artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology laws. It also involves conducting Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), interpreting evolving instruments like the EU AI Act and other Data laws. I also advise on European Commission projects in areas such as e-health, privacy, and AI, ensuring that innovation aligns with ethical and legal standards. This inter alia involves collaborating with multidisciplinary teams of researchers, engineers, and policymakers.
My prior experience at Pierstone and Indian firms allows me to bring a comparative, practical lens understanding not only how regulation operates in theory but also how it can be implemented effectively across complex ecosystems. The intersection of AI, data, and health law is particularly exciting as it represents the future of responsible innovation.
What advice would you offer to aspiring IP and technology law professionals?
My first piece of advice would be to embrace the intersectionality of this field. Intellectual Property and Technology Law don’t exist in isolation; they constantly evolve with developments in innovation, economics, and ethics. To truly excel, it’s important to cultivate not only legal expertise but also an understanding of how technology works, why businesses innovate, and what drives policymaking. Reading beyond the law, especially in areas like data science, policy, and philosophy, helps you see the bigger picture.
I’d also recommend engaging with practical experiences early: intern with technology firms, policy think tanks, or tech companies to understand how law operates on the ground. Writing and publishing are equally valuable as they force you to clarify your thinking and build visibility in the field.
To stay updated, I find resources like the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), WIPO Magazine, and Max Planck Institute’s IP & Innovation reports incredibly insightful. Subscribing to newsletters such as Euractiv’s Digital Brief, or IAPP’s Daily Dashboard can also help keep you ahead of regulatory changes.
How do you maintain work–life balance and manage mental health in a demanding field?
For me, work-life balance is about creating intentional pauses. Law can be all-consuming, especially in high-stakes, intellectually demanding areas like technology regulation. Balance begins with discipline and self-awareness. I make it a point to structure my day, prioritize deep work, and set realistic goals instead of trying to do everything at once. I also ensure I take time to disconnect-reading, travelling, hiking, social dancing or simply spending time outdoors helps me reset and gain perspective..
My background in classical dance has been especially grounding. Dance instilled in me mindfulness, rhythm, and patience, all of which translate beautifully into professional life. It reminds me that growth is a gradual, continuous process rather than a race.
Maintaining a structured routine, regular exercise, and mindfulness practices has been crucial. I also believe in fostering open conversations around mental health within the profession. Law can be high-pressure, but acknowledging that and creating supportive networks whether through mentorship or peer discussions makes a huge difference.
As a dual-qualified attorney in California and India, what first sparked your interest in the legal profession, and how did you chart your path in this field?
I come from a family of lawyers, so this profession was all I knew growing up. I didn’t realize the impact of my dad’s work at the time but saw how his efforts positively affected his clients. I remember that on many occasions, they wouldn’t have enough money for his full fees but would bring him part of their seasonal harvest. Other than that, it came to me more naturally than most people—it never felt like work, and I was so excited to go to law school and later into litigation. Isn’t it a privilege to be in a position to make a difference in people’s lives and also get paid for it?
For California, I never had plans to move, but I absolutely fell in love with the state and decided to get licensed in the one thing I knew—law!
You recently passed the California Bar Exam on your first attempt. What preparation strategies proved most effective for you, and what advice would you offer to others aspiring to clear it? How has this qualification expanded your professional scope?
As for preparation, I took an online bar prep course called Themis. Going to Berkeley Law for my LLM definitely helped, as it put me among the smartest people who have a reputation for passing this difficult exam on their first attempt. Also, it’s crucial to know one’s learning style. I really appreciate learning from my own handwriting, so I wrote everything down even though my bar prep tool didn’t ask me to. I also know that I panic toward the end, so I developed my own timeline, which was different from what the bar prep suggested. I took a study leave from work and had just one goal for those 12 weeks. I ate, slept, meditated, everything centered around my bar prep. Honestly, I loved the drive of taking on something so challenging and had fun with it. There’s no one-size-fits-all way to go about this, and I’m happy to answer specific questions for whoever wants to take this exam.
As my interest is in litigation-related work, I wouldn’t say it expanded my scope; rather, it created any scope that exists, because one cannot take even a tiny step in litigation without a license to practice.
Moving from legal practice in India to building a career in the United States must have involved navigating many differences. What were the key hurdles you faced in adapting to the U.S. legal system, and how did you overcome them?
Oh, so many! I did not have anyone from my family or extended family who was a U.S. lawyer. From choosing law school to taking the bar, applying for internships, jobs, and visas—every step presented hurdles, or should I say, kept life interesting, as my friends like to put it. The biggest one for me is the visa, with, dare I say, the state of affairs right now. Also, finding a job in the U.S. is so different from India. In India, we don’t network enough, which I had to teach myself after moving here. I want to give credit to Berkeley, as they had a whole program to train international lawyers to get acquainted not just with the U.S. legal system but also with its unique job market. I didn’t expect it, but my Indian work experience was valued by U.S. employers as I think the two things, we have in common with them is that they value the “grind,” which they could supposedly see in my resume, and our common law system—and that’s probably why I was a preferred candidate for many jobs I applied to before joining the Office of the District Attorney, Alameda County.
Work environments in both countries are completely different as well. There are different work ethics, professional relationships, sense of humor, and protocols. However, one funny realization is that lawyers everywhere are more or less the same kind of people so it was still a familiar territory.
You have served as an editorial board member for leading legal publications and also worked as a law clerk. How did these roles deepen your understanding of the U.S. legal system and prepare you for your current role?
U.S. law school journals, and also Indian ones- stimulate a legal mind well. It’s so good to become aware of different ideas, methodologies, and international legal issues, and I think my favorite part of being in a journal was building community with like-minded people. I was in the Ecology Law Quarterly with other environmental law nerds and had some great academic and fun discussions in the process.
My clerkship with the District Attorney’s Office was my first U.S. job, which makes it special to me. I feel fortunate to have worked for a highly reputed government office in the Consumer, Environment, and Special Litigations Department. It was a fast-paced environment, and there couldn’t have been a better way to learn U.S. law and see it in action than that. I worked on civil procedure assignments, evidence code, and criminal code—all at once. One of my first assignments at the DA’s Office involved prosecuting a corporation after a factory fire that significantly affected air quality for people in that vicinity, given California’s high ambient air quality standards. These assignments strengthened my understanding of environmental enforcement and also informed my approach to research, brief-writing, and attention to detail in my current role.
During your LL.M. at UC Berkeley, you specialized in Energy Law and Clean Technology while contributing to journals like the Berkeley Technology Law Journal and Ecology Law Quarterly. How did these academic and editorial experiences influence your perspective on the intersection of law, technology, and environmental sustainability?
A topic that’s very close to my heart is climate change. We treat it as “important” but not “urgent,” which troubles both my personal and legal mind. At Berkeley Law, I enrolled in courses such as Environment and Energy Law, subscribed to technology- and environment-related journals, and participated in clean energy student groups to engage with these issues and understand the work of scholars in the field. Being surrounded by like-minded people strengthened my commitment and deepened my understanding of how cleaner technologies are urgently needed on a global scale. The intersection of use of environmental resources and law is particularly interesting to contrast between the US, Europe and Indian laws. We have many vulnerable communities who get affected first by the impacts of degrading environment and climate crisis, and there is a lot of work that remains to be done to protect them.
In your current role, you work to support mesothelioma victims and their families. What drew you to this area of law, and how do you balance the legal complexities with the human and emotional dimensions of these cases?
I honestly don’t know how to answer this question. From my practice in the Allahabad High court, Lucknow, to here in California, I have struggled with getting too attached to the outcome and client’s problems. I don’t know if that makes me a better or a worse lawyer. But I try to overcome that by something my senior told me early on during my India days that “you play a very small role in the grand scheme of things.” I owe my client to do my best work for their entrustment in me as their lawyer but I sure cannot change their destiny. Very recently, a client of mine passed away from mesothelioma (cancer) before the case went to trial which happens more often than not in this field. I witnessed his struggle through the deposition and eventually he just couldn’t make it to the end of the case. It breaks my heart but if I have done my role well, then it becomes easier to strike that balance. This also keeps me on my toes to put in the hard-work.
What advice would you give to students aiming for an international legal career, and how can they stay ahead of global legal developments?
Just a few simple things. First, one needs to figure out if they want to study here, do an LLM or a JD, or directly take the California Bar (the only U.S. bar open to foreign attorneys without coursework). My advice would be to study here first, as it helps one get acquainted with the culture and decide whether it’s the right fit. Moreover, getting a job is nearly impossible without a strong network, which a renowned university greatly helps with. A warning—it is very expensive. I chose Berkeley over other good colleges that offered me scholarships because it was one of my dream schools, but one should always rank priorities according to their circumstances. Advance research on scholarships and on-campus jobs could help. I had an on-campus job that helped me a lot financially during school. It’s important to work smart—so if the plan is to immigrate to a new country, students should also consider Canada, Singapore, or the UK (the more welcoming ones in today’s environment).
One thing I would have done differently is to have a better long-term plan at least a year in advance of actually applying. I didn’t understand at the time that this decision would completely reshape my life as I know it. But I would love to help anyone who has doubts about the process or wants to learn from my experiences—feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn.
With the demands of your profession, how do you maintain balance in your personal pursuits, and what is your vision for the future of your practice?
The litigation work culture in the US is similar to India as the work never stops from the inception of the case till the verdict. One can easily preoccupy themselves as there is always so much to do. However, in my experience, that sometimes leads to isolation, and when you are thousands of miles away from family, building a community becomes equally important. When I’m not working, I spend time with my friends, which is my number one priority as rejuvenated weekends significantly boost my motivation through the week. We often travel and hike in nature, as California is truly blessed with pleasant weather throughout the year. Of course, there are weekends that turn into working ones when the need arises like meeting a court deadline on Monday but I don’t mind that because I genuinely love what I do and take pride in showing up for my clients who are unfortunately struggling to live.
I’ve always believed that being a lawyer is nothing less than a superpower- it gives us the tools to understand, question, and change things that most people simply have to accept. Right now, my focus is on mastering California law and becoming as confident in this system as I was in India. The process of adapting to a new legal culture has been challenging but also deeply rewarding—it’s pushed me to grow, think differently, and refine my craft. Whatever I’ve gained intellectually, I’d definitely want to leverage it to contribute to the Indian legal landscape in different ways, for eg. I am working on a research paper on a social legal challenge that India faces; Grow as a multi-jurisdictional professional, and have fun along the way.
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