Sir, could you please share with us a bit about your journey into the field of international commercial arbitration and litigation? What initially drew you to this area of law?
I did my two year training contract between 1991-1993 at the London office of a law firm then called Denton Hall Burgin & Warrens, and, as was customary, did 4 seats each of 6 months duration. My seat in the dispute resolution group led by a partner called Bob Goldspink opened my eyes to the world of international commercial arbitration and litigation. Although Bob is now long retired, he was a great mentor to me and remains one of the biggest influences in my career. Bob made the practice area fun and dynamic, and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of solving commercial problems through the analysis of the facts and application of the law, the close interaction with clients, the global nature of the disputes, considering the best strategies to adopt and thinking about how our opponents might act. When I qualified as a solicitor in 1993, I became an associate in Bob’s team and continued to learn from him through working on a broad mix of arbitrations and litigations. He also gave me a lot of responsibility and independence from the outset.
You’ve had an extensive career with Reed Smith, including serving on the global board and executive committee. Can you highlight a few key milestones or cases that have been particularly significant in shaping your career?
My time at Denton Hall Burgin & Warrens from 1991-1997 will always be special as that was the first law firm I worked at and we should never forget where we all started. Apart from Bob Goldspink, I shall always be indebted to two other partners there; Virginia Glastonbury, who interviewed me for a training contract in 1989 and believed in me, and Bill Anderson, another disputes partner, who taught me how to really think through issues.
Shortly after I joined Reed Smith in 1997, I became the lead associate on a major litigation acting for the BBC in defending the arrangements it had entered into with the Premier League to acquire the exclusive rights to broadcast highlights of English Premier League football matches on its flagship Match of the Day programme. The BBC was ultimately successful in that litigation following a trial in 1999. Not only was that a fascinating and high profile case to work on, but it also enabled me to work very closely with Sarah Jones, then the BBC’s head of litigation, and who for many years now has been the BBC’s General Counsel. Sarah is both a formidable lawyer and wonderful person, and remains one of my very best friends in the law. Since that Premier League football case, I have been very fortunate to advise the BBC and its group entities on many significant matters, right through to the present day.
In the course of my now almost 27 years at Reed Smith, I have also been very fortunate to have worked with many colleagues on arbitrations and litigations involving clients and disputes all round the globe including India, Africa, the US, the Middle East, Singapore and SouthEast Asia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and South America, amongst others. Those matters have all been great learning experiences, and have involved a wide range of industry and business sectors. The ability to work with clients and lawyers in those jurisdictions has been a real privilege as has being able to travel to so many countries as part of those cases. I genuinely did not think that I would visit so many countries when I was growing up in London. It has also been uplifting to see several lawyers who have worked with me on those cases achieve promotion at Reed Smith; a number are now my partners and a number have moved to prominent in-house roles. The success of each of my mentees has been a key milestone.
I shall always be thankful for being made a partner at Reed Smith in 2000, being asked to serve as the founding managing partner of Reed Smith’s Singapore office and being based in Singapore from 2012-2015, and for being a member of Reed Smith’s global board, its Executive Committee, from 2017-2023.
Looking at the list of representative matters, you’ve represented clients in a wide range of industries and jurisdictions. How do you navigate the unique challenges presented by different sectors and legal systems?
The variety is stimulating and, as every case is different, each is always a great learning experience. There is inevitably a core skill set which all disputes lawyers need to have, but being able to adapt, take things in stages, and think flexibly is important. There is also never a monopoly on wisdom, and everyone on the case team has an essential and valuable role to play. Working in a wide range of industries has given my colleagues and I the ability to interact closely with a broad spectrum of clients and form several long-lasting relationships. Almost invariably the external legal team and the client team become a seamless unit, looking out for each other and working towards common goals. Working on matters involving lawyers in other jurisdictions, apart from my home jurisdiction of England and Wales, is a fabulous way to expand our minds and to think even more broadly. When you also throw expert witnesses into the mix, that adds to things even further. We all learn a lot from each other, work symbiotically and continually appreciate that there are different ways to approach issues. That sums up what it means to be involved in international litigations and arbitrations.
How has your experience as an educator informed your approach to complex legal matters, and do you see any intersections between teaching and practicing law?
A phrase I read many years ago is that the legal profession graces lawyers, and lawyers do not grace the legal profession. It is therefore important to give back and to share knowledge, experience and expertise. I have always enjoyed giving talks on legal topics, speaking at conferences, teaching occasional classes, writing articles and contributing to legal publications. None of us stops learning. The law is dynamic and constantly evolving, and being as up-to-date as possible is essential. Being close to the core legal principles, practical developments, different viewpoints from commentators and possible areas for reform are essential to make the most of practising the law. Clients also expect us to not only have excellent judgment but to always be on top of legal learning, and so there is no substitute for that.
Balancing responsibilities as a former managing partner of Reed Smith’s Singapore office and chair of the India Business Team must have been challenging. How do you balance leadership roles with your legal practice?
With the support of incredible colleagues. Doing what we do is all about teamwork and supporting each other. It is rightly expected that senior lawyers should give back to their firms in a tangible and meaningful way through leadership roles, but no one can do everything. I am very fortunate to have so many amazing colleagues with whom I have worked closely over the years, and with whom I continue to work, who have enabled me to do what I do.
You’ve received numerous honors and awards, including being ranked in Chambers UK and listed as a ‘Leading Individual’ in The Legal 500. How do such recognitions impact your approach to your work, if at all?
Any recognitions are of course hugely appreciated but they truly primarily reflect on my colleagues with whom I work. It is also a broad team – my executive assistant, paralegals, trainee solicitors, associates, of counsel, and other partners. As a mentor, the objective should not be to have my mentees equal me but instead for them to surpass me.
Coming towards the end of this conversation, what advice would you give to law students or fresh graduates who are considering a career in international commercial arbitration and litigation?
Do it. Go for it. International commercial arbitration and litigation is an incredible practice area. Working on the resolution of major global disputes and advising clients, be it through arbitration, litigation or mediation or other types of proceedings, in a mix of industry sectors, will stimulate, challenge and test you, but it will in equal measure bring great satisfaction, sharpen your legal skill set and continuously broaden your learning.
Heading the IP and Data Protection practice at Galadari Advocates is no small feat. What sparked your interest in this field, and how has your journey been in managing high-profile projects and transactions? Can you share a bit about what drew you to this field and some highlights of your experience so far?”
Heading the Intellectual Property (“IP”) and Data Protection practice at Galadari Advocates has indeed been a remarkable and rewarding journey. Well, I am old school on this, but for sure, it was my father, a techno legal patent attorney in the 80s, who sparked my first interest in the subject. At that time India was still in the process of developing their Intellectual property laws and the landscape was only evolving.
Reading through the files and books and general casual chats with him on various patent and trademark related issues got me curious. Reading through files and commentaries, I found myself drawn to the intricacies of intellectual property law, realizing that it was more than just a legal practice – it was a unique blend of law and business. Furthermore, IP encompasses a broad spectrum of activities including registration, protection and enforcing rights making it a dynamic field.
Dealing with clients from diverse backgrounds, ranging from multinational corporations to small and medium enterprises, has broadened my perspective and it is interesting to see the different dynamics between clients as their priorities towards their brand protection might be different and so would be their funding. An example for the same would be how, more often than not, high profile clients implement a proactive step towards protecting their IP whereas smaller clients implement a reactive approach, only when their rights have been violated. This is however shifting, with people getting more aware about the importance of protecting their IP.
Each project is made special by the personal touches of sitting down with clients, learning about their business, and developing methods to protect what is essential to their brand. This sector is rewarding and demanding due to its unique blend of legal expertise and commercial considerations.
With over 19 years of experience, including 17 in the Middle East, how have you seen the landscape of IP and Data Protection evolve in the region, and what trends do you anticipate in the coming years?
Over the past 17+ years of navigating the IP and Data Protection landscape in the Middle East, I’ve seen a whirlwind of changes that truly reflect the region’s commitment to staying at par with global standards.
One of the most exciting shifts has been the government’s proactive approach. Laws are no longer static; they’re in a constant state of evolution in alignment to the international standards. Signing the Madrid treaty has been one of the very progressive steps UAE IP office has taken.
Amendments in laws and regulations, international treaties, and a more practical stance on handling IP disputes showcase a dynamic and contemporary mindset. For instance, despite not being a common law country, it’s fascinating to note the newfound importance given to prior use in cases involving unregistered trademarks – a bit of a twist from the norm in civil law countries. Additionally, reducing the trademark registration fees, which were once sky-high but have now been dialed down to attract brands, has played a significant role in enticing businesses to set up shop in this first-to-file country.
In the realm of Data Protection, it’s been a journey from virtually no laws to now having our own Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL). I still recall, during the earlier times, we used to rely on DIFC DP law or other privacy laws when we were approached to advise on the DATA P regime of the country.
Nonetheless, today the country has its own law, and we’re eagerly awaiting implementing regulations to solidify the DP framework. Looking ahead, there’s a buzz in the air for Data Protection. Sectors like finance, health, and insurance now have specific DP laws, and businesses of all sizes are gearing up for compliance, especially considering the potential fines. AI and FinTech are particularly two upcoming fields to watch out for in UAE’s legal landscape.
What’s heartening is the growing awareness among individuals of their rights and the relevant laws. With the authorities lending a helping hand through guidance and support, we’re seeing a more significant number of complaints being filed. In a nutshell, it’s been an incredible personal journey witnessing these transformations in the Middle East. It feels like we’re on the cusp of a new era, one where the region not only embraces but thrives in the realms of IP and Data Protection.
As a member of the INTA Leadership Program and a regular speaker at international events, including chairing committees such as the Parallel Import Committee for the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia for INTA, can you share one memorable experience from these engagements? Additionally, what challenges and rewards have you encountered in leading initiatives on such a scale?
Being a part of the INTA Leadership Program and taking on roles such as chairing the Parallel Import Committee for the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia has been an incredibly rewarding experience. The scope wasn’t limited to just the Asia-Pacific region, Africa, and the Middle East; it extended to handling matters in 17 countries. This provided a unique opportunity to navigate the legal landscapes of diverse jurisdictions, each with its own legal backgrounds, cultures, and languages.
The most rewarding aspect was the exposure to such a wide array of legal professionals. Dealing with individuals from different knowledge backgrounds and approaches required flexibility. Instead of trying to change everyone else, the key was adapting to different nuances while staying focused on the end objectives.
One particularly memorable experience involved a case related to parallel imports in Australia. The Parallel Imports Committee at INTA, including myself, worked on creating a white paper analyzing the case and proposing the best solutions. The paper, submitted by the Australian team, was accepted and analyzed, showcasing the tangible impact of our collaborative efforts.
Another notable experience was engaging in policy dialogue with a Southeast Asian government. The goal was to shift from international exhaustion of rights to national exhaustion of rights. Being a part of a different country’s policy-making dialogue was fascinating, especially since I had no prior background in that particular jurisdiction.
However, leading initiatives on such a scale also came with its set of challenges. One challenge involved working with individuals who may not have had the same intentions or commitment to contributing to the committee’s objectives. Identifying those who weren’t actively participating and diplomatically encouraging holistic participation was a balancing act.
On the speaking front, the challenge was managing time effectively. Balancing commitments to billable work, client interactions, and INTA responsibilities required a keen understanding that the time invested in such leadership roles would contribute to the future development of clients and businesses. It was a juggling act, but the rewards of networking, learning, and contributing to the broader legal community made it all worthwhile!
Having worked with diverse teams across the APAC region, what cultural nuances have you found particularly interesting or challenging, and how do you navigate them in a professional setting?
Working with diverse teams in the APAC region, I’ve encountered interesting cultural nuances in decision-making, adaptability, and neutrality. Adapting my leadership style for consensus-building or direct approaches, adjusting communication styles, and maintaining impartiality have been key. Creating an inclusive environment that values diverse perspectives fosters effective collaboration and builds trust within the team.
You pursued additional education at the University of Pennsylvania and WIPO. Can you tell us about the motivations behind these choices and the impact they’ve had on your career? How has this knowledge enhanced your approach to handling data protection issues in the legal realm?
Embarking on additional education at the University of Pennsylvania and WIPO was a pivotal decision in my mid-career journey, driven by a deep-seated belief in the importance of continuous learning. As a lawyer, being the first point of contact for businesses necessitates a deep understanding of evolving legal landscapes to better cater to client needs.
The Middle East is undergoing rapid legal transformations and pursuing these courses was a deliberate effort to evolve as a lawyer in tandem to the ever-evolving legal landscape. It’s not just about knowledge; it’s about providing clients with informed and comprehensive guidance in navigating the intricacies of emerging legal frameworks. Studying the laws of countries that have already progressed helps you understand what to expect in a newer country like the UAE, where laws are still in the making. Understanding the trajectory of legal systems allows me to advise clients effectively, offering insights and strategies honed from the experiences of more developed legal landscapes.
Something that needs to be noted by young legal professionals and aspiring lawyers is that beyond personal growth, expanding your education serves as a strategic move to enhance your marketability. It’s about presenting yourself as a professional committed to continuous improvement. This also instills confidence in clients, knowing they are entrusting their legal matters to someone deeply invested in staying at the forefront of their field.
Balancing roles as Partner and Head of IP and Data Protection, Tech Laws, and Corporate Commercial matters must be demanding. How do you unwind and recharge outside of work?
Balancing my roles in various practice areas of law, can be intense. To unwind, I keep things simple and away from legal stuff. I love hanging out with friends—chatting about all sorts of things outside the legal world. It’s a great way to take a break and see things from different angles.
Movies are my escape. Getting lost in a good story helps me forget about work and just enjoy the moment. I’m also a fan of theatre. Most importantly, I make sure my free time is law-free. Keeping that separation helps me recharge, so when I get back to work, I’m ready to go with a fresh perspective.
Your clients span various industries such as fashion, FMCG, real estate, and automotive. Do you have a favorite or most interesting case that stands out in your career?
I had worked on a trademark cancellation case in the UAE before the Dubai courts a few years back. While the law did provide the grounds for illegal registration to be considered for cancelling the registration of a mark, at that time I was surprised to see that there was hardly any recognition of this aspect and the country’s lawyers and judiciary was only aware of implementing cancellation under non-use provision. Having said that, I maintained my submissions strictly on the basis of illegal registration grounds and drew the judiciary’s attention to the Paris convention articles that clearly lays down this principle. We also went ahead to educate the UAE court of first instance on the international treaties that UAE is a signatory to be under an obligation to follow these principles. Interestingly, while the case had a judgement date, I had shifted law firms during then. While I remained curious to know if that matter would be well accepted, to my surprise the case came back to me in my new firm through a change of lawyers that client had. I was glad to see that by then the case was decided and the court had accepted that legal principle and passed an order in our client’s favour. I dealt with the case till its end and the final execution of the favourable order. I always would think that when you’re meant to be the destined lawyer for a case, it does follow you through and sees daylight.
Given your wealth of experience and expertise, what advice or suggestions would you offer to aspiring legal professionals and those entering the field of intellectual property and data protection to thrive and make a positive impact in the coming generation?
That’s a wonderful question! Starting out, keeping an open mind has been key for me. I’d encourage exploration and experimentation with different legal fields. Sometimes, your true passion might lie in an unexpected place, hence don’t put yourself in a box during the beginning stages of your career. Take advantage of the beginning years of your legal profession and take time to explore your interests. Understanding the business side of things is crucial. The intersection of legal matters with business decisions is common these days, so cultivating a solid grasp of business operations enhances your effectiveness as a legal professional. As previously mentioned, continuous learning has been a cornerstone of my career. The legal landscape, especially in areas like intellectual property and data protection, is dynamic
LinkedIn has proven to be an invaluable tool for me! Actively engaging on platforms like LinkedIn, sharing insights, and building a professional network can open doors and provide valuable connections. Most importantly, knock on every possible door, because you may never know what lies on the other side!
All being said, hard work is non-negotiable. Setting annual goals and consistently putting in the effort has been my approach. Regularly reassessing and adjusting these goals has kept me agile and responsive to changing circumstances. However, it’s equally important to work smart and finding efficient ways to navigate challenges is the way to go.
It is important for young legal professionals to also understand that mistakes are part of the journey. Personally, I’ve found it essential to accept them, learn from them, and actively work towards minimizing their recurrence. Each mistake is an opportunity for personal and professional growth.
Above all, attitude matters! Employers often look for a positive and determined mindset. If you bring the drive and passion to the table, you can overcome challenges and carve a successful path in your chosen field.
And yes, I love learning from others and that’s been my mantra always to quote Steve Job …’Stay Hungry and Stay Foolish’ it certainly keeps one going.
Reflecting on the early stages of your career, can you share your experiences or challenges you faced during your internships and the process of securing your first job in the legal field? How did these early experiences shape your professional outlook and contribute to your growth as a technology and M&A lawyer?
Like many others I know, I ended up pursuing law through a process of selection by elimination. Truth be told, as a student, I was tuned out of the law for extended periods. The resulting impostor syndrome would catapult me into working egregiously hard during my internships. I managed to secure offers from both the law firms that I did my corporate law internships at. I wanted to start my career in Mumbai. I learnt many things from my eventual first boss, Sawant Singh: the virtues of simplicity in drafting, negotiating without needless animosity, and, most of all, not letting those deadlines erode your joie de vivre.
Given your journey from co-founding a legal-tech outfit to your current role as a Partner at SAM, how have your early experiences shaped your approach to technology law and M&A, and what inspired you to bridge the worlds of law and technology? Additionally, as you oversee digital transformation at SAM, could you elaborate on the key areas you are focusing on?
As corporate lawyers, we have been technological laggards for decades. We use software that is clunky, we burn midnight oil doing mundane and repetitive tasks, and there is very little standardisation in how one goes about drafting and reviewing. But this is changing; especially because clients are increasingly valuing firms that leverage technology well. My experience at the legal-tech outfit I co-founded helped me understand how law and code can interact and what kind of problems can be solved through this interaction. The experience of having been a part of a team that built a SaaS offering from scratch has been hugely valuable in understanding what goes into building and maintaining software and applications.
I follow classic design principles whenever I approach digital transformation. First, identifying a time-consuming, low-paying workflow. Second, figuring out the data and processes that go into that workflow. Third, building an automation model to minimise human effort in executing the predictable or repetitious parts of that workflow. Finally, refining the automation model based on feedback gathered from other users and my own testing while wearing my lawyer hat. Clients usually turn to SAM for very structured, confidential, and bespoke needs. At this end of the legal services spectrum, digital transformation is a layered and complex undertaking which should prioritise confidentiality and security as much as speed and efficiency. But, in essence, my endeavour is to find ways to increase the proportion of creative work that we as lawyers do and reduce the proportion of mundane work, with the help of technology.
As a music enthusiast and a Hindustani classical flutist, how do you find parallels between your passion for music and your legal profession? Do these two aspects of your life influence each other in any way?
When I started learning music at the late age of 25, I felt, while I had some natural strengths as a lawyer, I had absolutely none as a student of music barring a preposterous desire to learn it at any cost. So, initially, learning music felt like a fool’s errand. A decade into it, I feel I could not have done myself a bigger favour. There has been a cross-pollination of learnings that I have had from these twin pursuits. I have learnt to enjoy the rough-and-tumble of everyday practice and process rather than being too caught up with outcomes. I rely more on passion for what I do now than on discipline.
Most importantly, music and art deepen a practitioner’s feel for detail and sense for nuance, which allow one to derive a sense of fulfilment from doing little things well.
Being deeply involved in digital transformation initiatives at SAM, how do you foresee technology changing the landscape of legal practice in the coming years, especially in reducing the volume of standardized work?
If voices of dead singers can be recreated using AI as well as we have seen lately, it should be relatively straightforward to let AI track your work and activity as a lawyer continuously over a period, and build an AI assistant that drafts like you, does research like you, crafts arguments like you, uses vocabulary and precedents that you tend to use with a decently high accuracy rate.
Technology will slowly but surely transform legal practice radically. When I started my career, the norm was exhaustive 500+ page DD reports. Now, many more clients are willing to consider issue-based reports even in strategic M&A deals. I foresee a future in which there are several alternative-legal-service offerings for compliance, drafting, negotiation, and review to aid lawyers at law firms as well as client organisations. Firms that invest in technology and structured datasets now, will be in a different league 4-5 years down the line, as compared to those that do not.
Your advisory work spans fintech, data protection, cybersecurity, AI, blockchain, e-commerce. Can you share a project or experience that particularly stood out to you in these domains and presented unique challenges or opportunities?
Almost all the work that we do has interesting dimensions. Structuring FLDG for revolving credit arrangements, advising on the grey areas in the current version of the DPDP Act, negotiating cyber-security insurance, advising on web-scraping issues connected with AI, assisting pro bono the victim of a crypto-phishing attack launched by an international gang of crypto-drainers, are a few things we have done in the last 2-3 months that presented unique challenges. Recently, when advising a client, we were compelled to analyse whether technological ‘control’ of an e-commerce platform, when coupled with a few other factors, can lead to the imputation that such entity carried out the business of e-commerce. Got me thinking about the fundamental need for us to rethink certain core concepts of corporate law like ‘control’.
How was your experience working at Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys, which you joined during the pandemic?
I joined L&S in the thick of the first wave of the pandemic and remotely hired my entire team and could not meet any of them in person for a year and a half. This would not have been possible without the trust posed in me by Badri at L&S and an incredibly supportive team. I found the culture at L&S to be very collegial and can only see the firm going from strength to strength.
Can you shed some light on the working culture at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co? How does the culture at SAM&Co impact your approach to leadership and collaboration within your teams?
SAM is a high-octane workplace with marquee clients and deals to keep the most ambitious of lawyers thoroughly engaged. In a turbocharged work environment, it is important to have a vision of what you want to do and who you want to be. I keep asking myself and folks in the team, “Are you making strides towards realising your potential?” That sense of forward momentum is crucial for everyone. As for collaboration, the most important rule in our team is around the expression of dissent: anyone can disagree freely and frankly with anyone else in the team as long as they do so responsibly. Transparency, communication, and accountability have served us well.
How do you see the intersection of law and entrepreneurship evolving, and what advice would you give to aspiring legal professionals?
The legal profession has always been an entrepreneurial undertaking. But there is now scope for hyper-specialisation. As long as your foundational skill sets and knowledge are in place, you can specialise in niches that did not exist until very recently. You can choose to be a Web 3.0 lawyer, or a distressed M&A lawyer, or a Music Industry lawyer. At the same time, technologies like AI, blockchain, IoT have created intersectional spaces for techno-legal entrepreneurs that hitherto never existed. The important thing is to channel one’s entrepreneurial energies meaningfully and methodically over a long enough period to solve hard problems.
Whether you are a lawyer, an entrepreneur, or an artist, I feel it is important to be able to see your work as an expression of yourself. It is what you do for most part of your waking hours. If you are a legal professional, how you draft a clause, how you analyse a regulation, how you negotiate, how you format a document, how you punctuate your sentences – they reveal things about who you are.
As someone who practices various forms of meditation, how do you think mindfulness and meditation contribute to your professional life, especially in navigating complex legal matters?
Drafting and research require long spans of attention and focus. Meditation has helped me improve the control I have over my attention. It has also helped me improve my ability to remain equanimous, reduce blind spots in my perspective, and be able to think from the standpoint of a diverse set of people: regulators, clients, opposing counsel. At the Vipassana camp, I learnt a meditation technique called ‘metta bhavana’, which involves directing compassion and kindness towards oneself and everyone else, especially towards folks who may have caused you grief. This type of meditation can be very transformative in a profession where one is frequently involved in contentious situations.
Given your extensive experience in the legal and technology domains, what suggestions would you offer to the current generation of aspiring lawyers and technology enthusiasts? How can they proactively enhance their knowledge and gain valuable experiences to thrive in the future landscape of law and technology?
This phase of technological evolution will have a profound impact on how our laws are conceptualised. Just see the wrenches thrown by crypto into securities law or AI into intellectual property law. To tackle questions thrown up by this intersection, we need a new generation of lawyers who can abstract and understand concepts of technology well enough to create legal frameworks around them even if they cannot write code.
On a separate note, it is also important to be alert to the pitfalls of technology. For example, a lot of internet-based applications that we use today are based on the ‘Hook Model’, a framework for designing addictive applications that maximise high-frequency user engagement using the trigger-action-reward-investment quartet. Reckless use of such apps can mess with one’s dopamine reward system, fragment attention span, and rewire the brain for instant feedback loops. In the coming years, AI-based profiling will increase the addictive quotient of such apps further. So, it is more critical than ever when using technology to be aware of how one is allocating their energy, time, and attention. Think long-term even if incentives are stacked in a way that discourages it. Some – if not all – things are best done the hard way, by getting dirt in your fingernails. F. Scott Fitzgerald said it best when he said, “Nothing any good isn’t hard.”
Can you share with us your journey into the field of law, from your decision to pursue it as a career to your experience at Hidayatullah National Law University and GGSIPU for your LL.M. and your recent decision to enrol for a Ph. D. program with IIULER?
First of all, I would take this opportunity to thank Superlawyer for this interview and convey my deep appreciation for this endeavour as it could offer your young readers some valuable insights while planning their life around law as a career.
Addressing the first part of your question on deciding to pursue law as a career; I would like to tell you that I was a student of Physics, Chemistry and Biology up to 12th standard; and had no family member into active legal practice, but I think my flair for languages and my father’s inspiration who despite being a serving Army officer ; pursued Law. Since my scoring in languages had remained stable throughout my school career, the orientation classes helped in getting an insight into the field of law. Thereafter, after completion of my 12th Std, I cleared entrance examinations for Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur (HNLU) and Army Institute of Law, Mohali (AIL) in the year 2003. I decided to continue with HNLU. HNLU was established in the year 2003, and I could become a part of its 1st Batch having passed out in the year 2008. The State of Chhattisgarh was established in the year 2001, so our batch had a unique distinction of being from a new university in a newly established state, which had its own challenges but, it soon turned into opportunities for all my batchmates.
Now coming to the second part of the question; I would like to say that the professional work environment of a career in law is quite dynamic which entails frequent changes in laws, new legislations, delegated legislations etc. I have always believed that life in general and Law in particular is an ongoing process of learning; one needs to keep a tab on new developments to keep oneself updated and the grasp the diversity of knowledge. I, thus, completed my LL.M in Corporate Law from USLLS, IP University, Delhi during 2014-16 and currently pursuing a Ph.D. from India International University for Legal Education & Research, Goa (IIULER), on the topic of ‘Food packaging and food Contact materials’ and its Regulatory & Legal Standards in India’. IIULER is designated as the 1st International University for Law in India and is an initiative of Bar Council of India Trust-Pearl First.
You have a diverse career path, including working with ZEUS Law Associates, KPMG, and the Ministry of Finance. How did these experiences shape your expertise in tax law and advocacy?
Law as a profession has always intrigued me with its depth and ambit and I have always wanted to explore the diverse verticals that it encompasses. During the final stages of college education, drawing inspiration from revered names in law practice i.e. Sh. Nani Palkhiwala & Sh. Harish Salve had both started their respective careers in the field of taxation. I was deeply inspired to take-up tax as a career option despite the general trend being to opt for court practice, corporate practice or capital markets. Despite being involved in matters of significant constitutional issues having national and international repercussions, they are still considered doyens of tax practice. My professional journey commenced with the tax team at Zeus Law Associates, New Delhi followed by KPMG. Both these stints gave me incredible insights into tax as an area of practice coupled with much desired cross-country work exposure. I had also learnt the importance of working with professionals from different disciplines, since it involved working with Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries, Architects etc. These interactions gave me immense insight into overall working of ‘business transactions’ and added incredible value in my growth as a lawyer. From early part of 2013, I had ventured into independent practice and started to take-up matters in other areas of law in addition to my continued work in tax. Hence, I would encourage young graduates to bear in their mind that life shall always give you avenues to earn and learn. As long as you are able to identify those avenues which can catapult you and enhance your own sense of individuality, you should choose them over anything else no matter what the costs. I don’t intend to sermonise this but, if one were to practically see within the legal profession and perhaps medical profession too, there are no defined career progression or milestones which more or less exists for other professions. It’s all upto an individual about how one intends to lead his life. Hence, as and when one is able to identify an avenue of personal growth, one must prioritise it and seize the opportunity and work towards enhancing one’s skill set. Please understand that, skill set doesn’t really mean ‘legal skills’ alone it also means honing-up ‘life skills’ and can be as simple as one’s ‘ability to listen’, ‘time-management’, ‘language’ etc. It is for a reason that, law as a career lacks any entry age or retirement age as in life there is no specific age or stage for learning.
Could you tell us more about your role in formulating key proposals and legislative drafting for the Ministry of Finance? What were some of the most significant challenges you faced in this role?
I have had the opportunity to work as a Consultant with the Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs, Govt. of India in 2016-17. This assignment entailed exploring the arena of legislative drafting and policy making for the said Department. This entailed attending stakeholder’s consultation process, undertaking research, preparing notes from legal standpoint, and drafting of statutory legislations, amendments, circulars etc. as desired by the said Department. I can definitely say that it was quite an enriching experience. It gave me a bird’s eye view regarding the functioning of various securities laws in India and how policy making by the Departments tries to respond to challenges and concerns faced by the stakeholders and the public at large.
Co-founding Integricon Consultancy Services (ICS) is a significant milestone in your career. Can you share the motivation behind starting ICS & ILO and how it has evolved to offer comprehensive consultancy solutions?
The basic idea behind ICS is to bring the concept of seamless cross-practice experience to clients. As a result, myself and two other partners were able to establish ICS in the year 2020 as a one stop consultancy service solution for clients. So as to provide these consultancy services, we have a bouquet of professionals from myriad walks of life viz., bureaucrats, lawyers, chartered accountants, cost accountants, economists, engineers, technocrats and company secretaries. ICS engages with various Companies, PSU’s etc. for meeting their consultancy, research and training needs.
In addition to the same, we had established Integricon Law Offices (‘ILO’) as a full-service Law firm for legal services and as a think tank for research and legal services. The think tank works on various vacuum areas of anticipated legislation world over and elucidates various situations from a legal standpoint involved. On the legal services side, the ILO focuses on litigation practice, corporate practice and tax & regulatory practice. I personally look after the tax and regulatory practice including Food Safety and Standards Act, Legal Metrology Act, NMC Act & related Rules etc.
As someone with extensive experience in the legal field, what advice would you offer to fresh graduates who are just starting their careers in law? What skills and strategies do you believe are essential for success in the legal profession?
All fresh graduates should journal their life and professional experiences. This would not only assist them to traverse through a career in law but also make them mindful of their respective professional/ life environment that they are a part of. This would allow them an opportunity to evaluate their respective strengths and weaknesses. Law offers myriad career choices. Thus, in addition to these career choices, a graduate should also try and develop a sectoral focus by integrating technical knowledge and expertise and not merely restrict to the nature and kind of work coming their way. After all, apart from professional journey it’s a life journey as well hence, both needs separate prioritising. In a lighter vein, I can only say that in this world of T20 cricket, a career in law practice is a like that of a Test Match wherein after surviving a few testing sessions the playing conditions are bound to get better. Hence, it’s all about staying put on the crease while trying to be the best player version of oneself alongside.
It is famously said about lawyers that they have this unique capacity to do what common people might find boring. Therefore, so as to answer your question, fresh graduates who are at the stage of commencement of their careers need to really hone up their capacity to pay attention to details. Moreover, no work should yield satisfaction unless there is an internal assessment of whether one has performed to the best of their capacity on a given day. Late Nani Palkhiwala had mentioned that, graduates coming out of law colleges should not be ‘ethical literates’ and they should inculcate a greater sense of understanding about public good hence, it is important for graduates to develop a public character while pursuing a career in law.
For the lawyers/ young law graduates who aspire to take to court practice, my only advice is to be a keen practitioner who can challenge and alter his/her own thought process every day on settled legal propositions as per human and societal needs because that helps civilisations grow into a certain direction. Also, I appeal to the young lawyers to have an empathetic and humane approach with integrity towards the downtrodden and poor litigants for whom lawyer is the only hope to fight for justice for him/her.
In the end, I would like to once again thank Superlawyer for their initiative which has afforded me an opportunity to try to put my perspective on law as a multifaceted profession before the younger lawyers of the country.
Can you share with us your journey into the field of law, from your early education at Aligarh Muslim University to obtaining a Ph.D. in Law from Sai Nath University? What motivated you to pursue such a diverse range of legal experiences?
It was never in my plan to become a lawyer. After completing my High School in the year of 1999, I had the option to choose between the streams in either Science or Commerce, however, I opted for Commerce stream and completed my higher secondary. Thereafter, I was all set to opt for B.Com. and was even selected for the said course, however, upon the insistence of one of my friends, I sat into Entrance for B.A.(LLB) and was fortunately selected. The interesting part is that my friend, who had also appeared for said B.A.(LLB) Entrance, was not able to make it to the final list and was put on the waiting list. He was also on the waiting list in B.Com. Thus, it was resolved amongst us that in whichever course, his waiting list is cleared, I will go for the said course.
A very interesting aspect is that although we both did our law from the faculty of law at AMU, yet, while I joined the profession, he opted to do M.B.A. in Singapore and is now working with a Singapore based Company in the management sector. I topped the first and second semester of B.A.(LLB), however, while I was in third semester, I was framed and suspended by the Proctorial Department of University in a case related to student protest. This particular unfortunate development, which has led to a paradigm shift in my thinking, I, simultaneously, deviated from my academics and turned out to be a full time student activist. At that time, the student union at AMU was defunct so I led agitation for its restoration. The agitation was successful and the student union was restored.
It is important to note here that to the best of my knowledge, the student union of AMU is the only student union in India, which has its existence in statute i.e. AMU Act, 1920. I am telling all these for a simple reason that my period as student activist and later on, I, being elected as honorary secretary of AMU Students Union by record margin till date, actually honed my skills of public speaking, which is now paying dividends and helps me a lot in my legal profession as an advocate. I completed my B.A.LLB in the year of 2007 and joined the profession. My LL.M. and Ph.D. were completed whilst I was also practicing. Fortunately, in those days, that was allowed. Therefore, my advent into the legal profession was purely accidental, it was never planned, however, as destiny would have it, I became a lawyer.
As the Managing Partner of Diwan Advocates, you’ve been involved in various aspects of law, including corporate, commercial, intellectual property, and civil matters. Could you highlight a specific case or project that stands out as particularly challenging or rewarding in your career?
As an advocate for the last 16 years, I have been fortunate by the grace of Almighty to handle a diversified range of litigation, right from hardcore civil, criminal, corporate & commercial to intellectual property rights and so on and so forth. For a lawyer, every case which he/she handles is very special. However, since you have asked about a particular case, which has been challenging or rewarding, therefore, I would recall a case, where I was appointed by Hon’ble Delhi High Court as Amicus Curiae during the peak of Covid-19 pandemic. The said case was widely reported in the media. It was a case of a widow of the deceased, who was from Himachal Pradesh and while working in Saudi Arabia, he died. Despite the deceased being Hindu, due to certain mistakes on the part of the Indian Embassy and the officials based there in Saudi Arabia, he was buried as per Muslim rituals and customs. The widow, therefore, had approached Hon’ble Delhi High Court by filing a writ petition seeking direction to the Union of India for ensuring repatriation of mortal remains of the deceased.
It was a very challenging case, since the directions only to the concerned officials of the Union of India would not have yielded any result since the mortal remains were to be repatriated from a foreign country and such case was unknown to that country as it did not have any prior history of such exhumation of mortal remains. Despite all these challenges, Hon’ble High Court took up the matter and during the course of the proceedings, I was appointed as an Amicus Curiae in the said matter. It was a time of enormous difficulty as Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak and the movement was restricted. Upon being appointed as an Amicus Curiae, which was then for the first time in my entire career, I was a bit nervous since I did not know what had to be done. However, I started collating all case documents and used my AMU related network to find out persons who are based out in Saudi Arabia so that they could render some assistance.
Saudi Arabia, at that point of time, was also engulfed and confronted with Covid-19 pandemic and the mobility was also limited. However, one of my old friends, after understanding the matter, assured me of his help and he travelled from a far distant city of Saudi Arabia to the concerned hospital where the corpus was kept before its burial for tracking of relevant records. It was learnt by my friend, who later informed me that Saudi Arabia maintains the geo-tagging records of all the graves. Fortunately, with the help of technology, it was revealed that the deceased was buried in which particular grave.
After the above mentioned turn of events and initial breakthrough, the challenge was how to assist the Hon’ble Court to pass the appropriate directions to the concerned person back at Saudi Arabia since it was legally impossible. Accordingly, upon suggestion being made to the Hon’ble Court, the Hon’ble Court was pleased to request the Embassy of Saudi Arabia at New Delhi to explore the options. Simultaneously, directions were also passed to the concerned officials of Government of India to coordinate and facilitate the entire process of exhumation and repatriation of mortal remains.
Last but not the least, after day to day hearing, which had transpired in the said matter, Union of India, under directions of the Hon’ble Delhi High Court, was successful in convincing the officials of the Saudi Arabia for exhumation of the mortal remains and same were repatriated to India by Charter Flight and were then sent to deceased’s native town in Himachal Pradesh, to fulfill the last rites. Appropriate compensations according to the policy of the Union of India and the Government of Himachal Pradesh were also awarded and the Hon’ble Court ensured that the said compensation is timely remitted to the bank account of the widow of the deceased. The aforesaid facts pertaining to the said case, seemingly straightforward, posed a significant challenge for me. Nevertheless, despite the complexity, I successfully contributed to the entire process with God’s grace.
Your work experience extends internationally, including roles in Qatar and as a Legal Advisor to a Spanish corporate conglomerate. How has working in different cultural and legal environments shaped your approach to legal practice, and what unique challenges have you faced?
I completed my B.A.(LLB) in the year of 2007 and got enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi. Thereafter, I joined a reputed trial lawyer at Patiala House Courts, New Delhi. However, given my political ambitions, which were always at forefront, on account of I having served the student union as honorary secretary, my family was apprehensive that I might leave the profession and could join politics, the idea which my late mother had always resisted. Sensing this, my elder brother, who was working in Doha, Qatar, through his network, got me placed at an IP Law Firm in Doha as assistant paralegal. Though I was reluctant, yet, I joined as a trademark assistant paralegal and started working, where I was soon promoted from trademark assistant paralegal to junior associate in the said law firm.
Thereafter, I changed my job and joined a leading real estate conglomerate in Qatar as their legal officer. The said real estate conglomerate was expanding its business operations in Spain. I was also appointed to look after the legal matters related to the said Spanish expansion of the said company.
I spent nearly two years working abroad, and I found the work environment to be more flexible compared to what we typically experience in India. In those jurisdictions, lawyers rarely face the intense pressure and tight deadlines that are common here. The majority of litigation cases were of a commercial nature, as criminal matters were exclusively handled by Arabic-speaking lawyers.
Despite the language barrier, the atmosphere was friendly, and I had the opportunity to collaborate with professionals from various countries, spanning from the Middle East to North America. They were cooperative, providing valuable assistance in training and mentoring me. My main challenge was my reluctance to learn the Arabic language; however, I was fortunate that commercial related legal aspects were conducted in English, allowing me to navigate and succeed in that environment.
Given your extensive experience in handling high-stakes litigation, could you share insights into a notable case where you successfully defended a client, whether it be a private corporation or a governmental agency, before the courts?
In reply to this question, I would say that I have defended several private entities and corporations in high stake litigations. One case involves the matter that I was handling before the Hon’ble Allahabad High Court at Lucknow Bench. In the said case, the developer was allotted land by an instrument/agency of the State of Uttar Pradesh. Thereafter, the developer, after complying with all the procedures, started developing the said land and have almost sold the entire inventories in the said project. The moment when the construction and development works over the said land became noticeable, an agitation in the name of farmers grappled with the said project.
The state machinery failed to protect the interest of the developer and approximately 1500 homebuyers who were associated with the said project, who turned out to be the collateral damage. Hence, we approached the Hon’ble Allahabad High Court at Lucknow Bench by filing the writ petition. The matter was contested by the erstwhile landowners and the role of the State was not more favorable. However, the matter proceeded for hearing and thereafter a detailed judgment was passed.
By that time, the developer I represented was on the brink of bankruptcy, primarily due to personal circumstances and other compelling factors. Though I did not have any privity or any relationship with any of those homebuyers, yet, they started contacting and asking me to find some solutions so that the developer’s and homebuyers’ rights and interests could be secured. I told them categorically that there is conflict of interest and I cannot act against the interest of the developer. Nevertheless, I endeavored to address the conflicts and discrepancies that regrettably arose between the developer and homebuyers. In pursuit of resolution, multiple rounds of negotiations took place, with approximately 500-700 homebuyers attending each meeting, and I had no option but to navigate and lead the matter.
The trust and confidence that the homebuyers placed in me is something unforgettable in my life. Despite being the counsel for the developer, they consistently relied on me. In the meantime, the Hon’ble Court allowed the said writ petition. Since the State machinery was not implementing the direction as passed by the Hon’ble Court, we approached the Hon’ble Court again by way of a criminal contempt petition against the then concerned officials. During the contempt proceedings, the senior officials were summoned before the Hon’ble Court and following a stern warning from the Hon’ble Court, the encroachment on the specified land was eliminated. Further, the developer, upon my persuasion, inducted some other partner who was flushed with liquidity. Collectively, these measures successfully addressed all concerns between the developer and the homebuyers. As a result, the project was not only built and developed but also delivered, with over 200 homebuyers currently residing in the completed development. Despite the passage of almost 7 years, several homebuyers and residents of the said flats continue to reach out to me through messages and calls. They maintain a friendly demeanor, treating me as if I were a part of their family. Moreover, numerous individuals extend invitations for me to attend events at their homes. The meaningful connections and relationships I created with these homebuyers are truly gratifying. As a lawyer, I often say that while we can attain financial success and recognition, the profound satisfaction of cultivating enduring relationships with clients, even after concluding a case, and being regarded as a trusted friend or family member is immeasurable.
In your role as a Corporate Legal Advisor for “The Wall Holdings” in Qatar, you oversaw legal aspects related to finance, construction, corporate, and commercial operations. How did this experience differ from your work in India, and what valuable lessons did you draw from it?
The work which I was entrusted with while working in Qatar, was of non-contentious nature and was purely transactional works. Since I was not allowed to appear before the courts at Qatar, my duty was only confined to the preparation of cases and drafting of pleadings. While my responsibilities in Qatar were focused on contracts, opinions, due diligence, and other related advisory tasks, my work in India predominantly involved contentious matters, with a primary emphasis on litigation. Nevertheless, I have consistently maintained my relationship with non-contentious and transactional works. I believe that the amalgamation of my experiences in both contentious and non-contentious realms has endowed me with a wealth of valuable insights. The knowledge gained from my endeavors in Qatar significantly aids me in formulating effective defense strategies in litigation and delineating the line of attack in litigation.
With your involvement in intellectual property matters, especially at Aramarks Intellectual Property, could you discuss the importance of intellectual property rights in today’s globalized and technologically advanced business landscape?
Intellectual Property, more particularly, Trademarks are very close to my heart. Actually, you would not believe it but when I was working at Aramarks as Assistant Trademark ParaLegal, I have always dreamt to be an IP Lawyer and even when I rejoined the profession by end of the 2009, I had this planning at back of my mind that I would only work for IP litigation and other non-contentious IP related tasks. However, the challenges for the first generation lawyer, that too, coming from a very remote area of Bihar and trying to survive in the cosmopolitan city like New Delhi are of different magnitude. I was getting less IP Works, therefore, I decided to venture into other aspects of litigations and as the luck would have it, cases of different and diversified nature started coming in, and gradually I started developing as a lawyer and the journey still continues till today and I pray to mighty that it continues till I am alive.
As someone passionate about interacting with law students, could you share an impactful piece of advice you received early in your career that has guided you, and how would you advise fresh law graduates entering the field today?
Interacting with law students is my passion. Since I have been a student activist and student leader during my University days, therefore, when I go amongst them, I still find myself as young as I was in those days. I prefer not to lecture; instead, I aim to listen to them—embracing their questions, anxieties, and experiences and try to answer them from my own experience with this caution that solution and the respective problems pertaining to every person are not identical and anyone who tries to pick a ray of hope from others’ solutions should always be cautious that what has worked for ‘A’ could not work for ‘B’.
Therefore, customization of solution of problems is must according to anyone’s personal needs. For fresh law graduates, since I am an intense litigator, therefore, I advise them to come to litigation and in these aspects, I am a little selfish, I will confess. It does not mean that I am against fresh law graduates going in the corporate or for in-house jobs, however, I always believe that even if a fresh law graduate wants to shape his/her career in corporate- for some initial years, he/she must come to the trial courts because the experience which you get in the trial courts cannot be developed in any other colleges/institution or even in the superior courts. The challenges which a fresh law graduate has to confront within the trial courts, actually strengthen his/her potential and that strength, which could only be developed at the initial stage of the career, is something to reckon with.
Your career spans various sectors, including technology, media, telecom, and pharmaceuticals. How do you stay abreast of the rapidly evolving legal landscape in these industries, and what advice would you give to legal professionals looking to specialize in dynamic sectors like these?
Specialization in the legal sector or legal industry is evolving in India. However, being a hardcore litigator, I have quite an unpopular opinion. I believe that any litigation must have potential and caliber to handle any sort of litigation, for whatever he/she is entrusted with. Why I say this is because even judges who are there to adjudicate upon such specialized disputes are not specialized persons. Specialization of subject does not mean that for any contract or construction related dispute, only an engineer who has turned out to be a lawyer can handle the case or a person coming from a pharmaceutical background can handle a pharmaceutical related IP matter. Laws in India, in my humble opinion, are intertwined and interconnected. If one is an IP Lawyer, he must know the basic nuance and must be trained in civil litigation. The edifice of any IP litigation would be the CPC. What I have seen unfortunately is that fresh law graduates who want to go for specialization are lacking in procedural law and it is not good development for the legal profession in our country. That being said, if somebody wants to handle the special segment of a case aka specialization, in my opinion, that person, at least for 10 years, should work in every branch of law so that after 10 years he/she could caste a niche for himself/herself, and thereafter could shape his/her career.
I am not saying these all out of the context. Let us take examples of legends in our profession, such as the late Mr. Setalvad, the late Mr. Daftari, the late Mr. Ram Jethmalani, and even in the current generation, Mr. Kapil Sibal, Dr. Singhvi, Mr. Mukul Rohatagi, Mr. Arvind Datar, and the list goes on. They possess the ability to handle any legal matter on any subject and can effectively present and argue the matter before the courts. Thus, the specialization in the legal field has to be multi-dimensional. A lawyer, apart from a good strategist, must be a good story teller and must possess the art of presentability. A lawyer, in my opinion, must develop the art of re-calibrating himself into the spur of the moment so that whatever the challenges are, he/she can face the same with calm and politeness.
Can you share your journey of how you ended up pursuing a career in law, particularly highlighting any key moments or influences that led you to this path?
Since a young age, I have been captivated by the notion of engaging in public service. Throughout my life, I have consistently embodied an altruistic spirit, always eager to extend a helping hand whenever the opportunity arises. This proclivity guided my career aspirations, causing them to fluctuate between the realms of medicine and civil service, ultimately culminating in my decision to pursue a career in law.
The thrust behind this choice stems from my inherent sense of compassion. Moreover, the unresolved intricacies of one or two-generational family disputes served as a potent motivational catalyst propelling me toward the legal profession. This personal connection and resonance with the challenges of familial discord have played a pivotal role in shaping my professional trajectory, a narrative that aligns with the experiences shared by many individuals, including myself, on their journey toward a chosen career.
Your academic achievements are impressive, including a degree from National Law University and a Harvard University Summer Course in Intellectual Property Rights. How did these experiences shape your approach to practising law?
The rigorous curriculum at National Law University provided me with a solid foundation in legal principles and analytical thinking. It instilled in me a sense of discipline and a deep understanding of the complexities within the legal field. This educational background has been instrumental in shaping my methodical and detail-oriented approach when addressing legal matters.
Further, the Harvard University Summer Course in Intellectual Property Rights enriched my perspective by exposing me to global standards and cutting-edge developments in the field. Engaging with a diverse cohort and learning from leading experts broadened my understanding of the nuances in intellectual property law. This experience heightened my appreciation for the intersection of law and innovation, fostering a creative and forward-thinking mindset in my legal practice. Not only that, it was only after this course that I was able to identify my target market and understand the businesses that we work with.
In essence, these academic experiences have equipped me with a robust legal foundation, a meticulous approach to problem-solving, and a global perspective that I bring to my practice at Fathom Legal, enhancing my ability to navigate the complexities of the legal landscape thereby making Fathom Legal, Advocates and Corporate Consultants a full-service Entrepreneurship Law firm.
You’ve had significant experience in corporate law, from debt recovery to Corporate disputes including company law cases as well. Can you tell your areas of work and what were your learnings from it?
Throughout my 6-years of practice, I’ve navigated diverse legal landscapes, handling cases spanning from debt recovery, real estate, Insolvency and bankruptcy matters, as well as issues of Oppression and Mismanagement, Customs, and White-Collar Crimes, notably under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act before the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.
On the corporate front, our focus extends beyond litigation. We support clients in enhancing their technological frameworks by integrating legal expertise, ensuring compliance, data security, and addressing workplace safety concerns including Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) and DNI aspects. Our role involves providing comprehensive legal guidance on day-to-day organizational challenges. Pioneering the domains of Web 3.0 and Artificial Intelligence, we’ve assisted numerous startups with offshore incorporations and global entity restructuring via mergers and acquisitions.
Each case presents a unique learning curve, emphasizing the significance of understanding clients’ pain points before meetings and maintaining composure during challenging situations. Continuous legal advancements prompt ongoing learning, offering a wealth of knowledge each day.
Your work involves supporting startups, SMEs, and SMBs. What unique legal challenges do these businesses face in India, and how do you help them overcome these challenges?
My Law firm, Fathom Legal, Advocates & Corporate Consultants is a one-of-a-kind full-service Entrepreneurship Law firm in India with its major clientele being SME’s, SMB’s and Mid-Cap companies. The reason to specifically focus on these industries is because, in my opinion, they form the backbone of our nation’s GDP.
Our client pool is versatile. A lot of our clients are SaaS companies, aggregators, Fintech platforms, Edtech Platforms, Export houses, traders, manufacturers etc. The most common problems that they face is cancellation of projects midway, unpaid bills, quality issues to state a few.
Our team has a very different methodology of working. We believe in intersectional learning. A lawyer with an understanding of business is all that a client wants. We visit our clients’ offices/factories and try to get hold of as many business nitty-gritties as possible to assist our clients in the most efficient manner. After developing a detailed understanding we review their paperwork to identify the gaps in their systems and rectify those gaps through agreements and contracts making sure a proper checks and balance system is created within each organization for its smooth functioning. Of course, it takes a couple of months to iron out all the long existing problems but we believe in providing a permanent long-term solution rather than a temporary fix.
Beyond your legal career, you also run an NGO, Paritripta Foundation, focusing on social causes and justice. Could you tell us more about the foundation’s work and its impact on the community?
Paritripta Foundation holds a special place in my heart and is being nurtured as the legal advocacy arm of Fathom Legal. This not-for-profit organization spearheads various impactful projects, including ‘Project Patrkarita,’ dedicated to fostering free and unbiased media. Additionally, ‘Project Ankush’ focuses on educating young minds about various forms of harassment and equipping them with coping mechanisms. There are many more parallel projects that we wish to take up but are at a halt due to the limitation of funds.
Moreover, we’re actively engaged in advanced research addressing critical societal issues. These encompass concerns like household cooking gas restrictions, the implementation of green roofs, challenges within overcrowded prisons leading to same-sex assault, as well as the exploration of PrEP and PEP drugs for HIV treatment. These issues strike at the core of our society and demand urgent attention.
Our aim is to pursue public interest litigations on these matters, striving to contribute to a brighterand secure future for our nation.
You’ve published several papers and books on legal topics. Is there a particular topic you’re passionate about, and can you briefly discuss why it matters in today’s legal landscape?
In today’s legal landscape, Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) play crucial roles in shaping India’s economic and legal framework. Their impact extends beyond the economic domain to influence legal policies, regulatory frameworks, and compliance standards.
FDI is critical for India’s growth trajectory, as it aids in infrastructure development, technological advancements, and job creation whereas FPI brings in short-term capital that can be beneficial but also poses risks due to its volatile nature. Both FDI and FPI contribute to India’s balance of payments, foreign exchange reserves, and overall economic stability.
FPI and FDI necessitate robust legal frameworks and regulations to govern their entry, operation, and exit from the Indian market. Legal structures such as the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regulations, and various other laws are crucial in governing these investments.
Both FPI and FDI significantly influence India’s legal landscape by necessitating robust legal frameworks, stringent compliance, dispute resolution mechanisms, policy advocacy, and the protection of investor rights. Legal experts like us play a vital role in facilitating, navigating, and safeguarding these investments within the country’s legal framework.
You’ve had the opportunity to work remotely with international clients. What challenges and opportunities does remote legal work present, and how do you navigate them?
Handling international clients presents a captivating yet challenging scenario. Initially, navigating different time zones posed a hurdle, compelling me to work during unconventional hours. Communication barriers with attorneys in Belgium and Japan were another obstacle. Understanding the diverse legal landscapes across various jurisdictions was crucial; lacking that knowledge made operationalizing in specific regions a challenge. Embracing technology became imperative for seamless cross-border collaboration, and leveraging the latest tech proved instrumental in streamlining processes.
However, working with international clients was an eye-opening experience. It broadened my global perspective significantly, offering exposure to diverse practices. This exposure, in turn, elevated my performance, aligning it with international standards. Moreover, it instilled in me the importance of trusting and delegating tasks, a pivotal aspect in our industry.
One particularly demanding yet rewarding client, a law and lobbying firm in the United States, reshaped my outlook on international relations. This collaboration extended to intriguing opportunities, such as RSVP to closed sessions at The White House. As a legal journalist, having my articles published in prominent legal blogs in the United States has been an enriching outcome of this association.
Overall, this experience revolutionized my understanding of international relations’ intricacies, emphasizing the significance of trust, and offering unparalleled insights into navigating complex global landscapes.
As a final question, what advice would you like to share with fresh graduates who are about to enter the legal profession, considering your journey and experiences in the field?
To the fresh graduates, I just want to say that stay curious and stay hungry for knowledge. Go aggressive on your hunger. Explore as much as possible. Catch up with the technology and stay ahead of it. For a flourishing practice make sure to meet new people and create your own network. Strengthen your logical, analytical, legal and business skills. Seek mentorship and develop soft skills. Explore diverse fields of law before you are sure to identify what you enjoy the most. Uphold ethical standards. Trust and integrity are pillars of the legal profession; don’t compromise them for any reason. Also remember, In the face of challenges or rejections, perseverance is vital. Keep pushing forward; every setback is a chance to grow.
What motivated you to start your own legal practice, and what areas of law do you primarily focus on? Could you please share more about your role as a Founding Partner at Cost Effective Legal Solutions (CELS)?
I think the majority of advocates are motivated to start an independent legal practice by default. It’s more like a factory setting of the brain after clearing the bar exams. Mine was tuned even before I began studying law. The desire and motivation to go independent further grew in college. But once I stepped into the real world of practice, the scene changed. As a first generation lawyer, I realised that the ball was never in my court. The bubble shattered, after seeing the strength of the bar and the amount of advocates struggling to make a living. I learnt it the hard way. I realised I had to first grow in terms of knowledge. It took me four jobs and ten years to feel, I am sufficiently knowledgeable. I realised over these developing years that knowledge is not enough to keep me motivated so I developed the capacity to do laborious work. I steadily and slowly increased my patience level and self-confidence. It took a lot of mixing of all these emotions before I went independent in 2021 and started CELS. I realised only the ones capable of labour, patience, self-confidence and faith are welcome in this profession. No one with a defeatist or pessimist mentality or an irresolute mind-set can ever start their own practice. In 2021, I finally decided to not merely look to principles but have the readiness to act upon them. I put my art of persuasion to test developing clients in the field I was extremely confident about.
I started my practice at tribunals where the law application is quasi –judicial in nature/ sort of easy for any advocate to absorb in terms of procedure. I practiced at the NCDRC, DRT, DRAT, NGT and slowly shifted gears to civil, criminal and commercial trial courts. Now I primarily focus on business/commercial related disputes for Individuals, Corporates, Financial Institutions. The area of law practiced by CELS covers both civil and criminal statutes. As founding partner, I ensure that CELS always has business. We started with a team of two and now we have 25 people in our office in two years’ time directly and indirectly associated with us.
You’ve mentioned your extensive experience with Title Search Reports for financial institutions. Could you explain the importance of these reports and how they benefit organizations like National Housing Bank, Indian Bank, Bank of India, and LICHFL?
We at CELS have rendered more than 15000 Title Search Reports for the above stated Institutions and more. TSR facilitates a buyer to help buy a property, a Bank / FI / NBFC determines the authenticity of a title. The Title Search Report made by CELS helps the Financial Institutions stated above deal with the crucial and imperative aspects of identifying an undisputed title. Identifying an undisputed title is important to all stakeholders involved, be it a buyer, seller, or a lending institution. Our reports facilitate the seeker/FI with an answer, as to whether a property is mortgage worthy as collateral or not. When I started working for the aforesaid FI’s I was put across several questions. Questions which had simple solutions yet no one had compiled the answers in a streamlined manner. CELS then published a hand book for its clients which not only gives its readers theoretical knowledge but practical knowledge which the reader can implement “tout de suite”, while dealing with a title. CELS has published the said handbook primarily keeping the documents, sub-registrar offices, the authorities, legislations, and other aspects which have direct application to the NCT of Delhi and its nearby territories (NCR). But the research base is such, that said fundamentals apply to the whole of India more or less.
Your experience includes handling Commercial Court Cases. Could you share a challenging case that you worked on and the strategies you employed?
Recently before the Patiala House Court, New Delhi, I had the opportunity to defend a case in which recovery of more than two crore inclusive of interest was filed against my client. All remedies under the Pre-Mediation and Settlement had been waived as my client had failed to participate. Now I was left to defend a massive recovery. I asked my client how much of the demand was legitimate. He admitted to me that the applicant / suing party is entitled to almost 80% of the amount mentioned in the suit. All though it is difficult to sum up in a paragraph as to what strategies were adopted. I’d say we went at everything from challenging the jurisdiction, to the absence of cause of action. We challenged the clause vesting jurisdiction on a Court which otherwise does not have jurisdiction. I relied on the judgement of Bahrain Petroleum Co., where the Hon’ble Supreme Court had held that neither consent nor waiver nor acquiescence can confer jurisdiction upon a court, otherwise incompetent to try the suit. It is well-settled and needs no authority that ‘where a court takes upon itself to exercise a jurisdiction it does not possess, its decision amounts to nothing. Further strategies adopted were challenging the facts on the basis of evidence available, an applicability of an expired contract etc, filing a detailed written statement. At the end the matter was settled we had to only pay a fraction of the suit amount. The court’s name was Anurag Sain DJ (Commercial Court)-01, CS(COMM)525/22.
NCDRC cases against builders on behalf of homebuyers are significant. Can you discuss the typical issues faced by homebuyers and the legal steps you take to address their concerns?
NCDRC is the highest consumer forum available in India for relief against wrongs done by Builders. But after my experience at the NCDRC I’d suggest all consumers to approach RERA or NCLT. I am not suggesting that NCDRC is not an apt forum for relief, but the fact that the said forum is flooded with cases cannot be discarded. I had filed a class action complaint in 2019. And the matter has recently reached the stage of final arguments. All my home buyers were seeking a refund but had to eventually settle. Even though I was successful in getting them massive discounts, the fact that during the proceedings the builder started to go insolvent project by project, broke the home buyer’s spirits to seek refund with interest and they opted for possession with discounts. The typical issues faced by home buyers are delayed possession, unlawful demands in construction linked payment plan, forfeiture of booking amount, non – construction of Unit & builder / project being declared insolvent. These are some typical cases which are ongoing before the NCDRC. Once a favourable order is passed, the execution of the said order also takes a substantial amount of time. And one just has to keep his fingers crossed on the builder not running away from the country or being sent to jail or being declared insolvent. Hence as an advocate you have to be equipped with alternate remedies for your client. Ref: CC/912/2019
You’ve also been involved in defamation cases. What is the most interesting or unusual defamation case you’ve handled, and how did you navigate the complexities of civil and criminal aspects in such cases?
The most interesting defamation case I have had the privilege of filing was for a celebrity YouTuber against another less known You Tuber. The defamation was done vide an impugned video clip uploaded on YouTube and shared across Telegram. Whatsapp and other messenger applications. The statements made in the impugned video were made with the culpable and malicious intention to defame my client. The video was made to spread an untrue, false and scandalous imputation against my client that he is a fraudulent person who has misguided its subscribers. The scandalous, false and defamatory statements were explicitly intended to harm the reputation of my client and to malign him before the public. We argued before the Civil and Criminal Court that a person’s reputation is an inseparable element of an individual’s personality and it cannot be allowed to be tarnished in the name of the right to freedom of speech and expression because the right to free speech does not mean the right to offend. Rather, the object of guaranteeing constitutional protection to freedom of speech and expression is to advance public debate and discourse. However, speech and writings laden with harmful intent or knowledge of causing harm or made with reckless disregard is not entitled to the protection of Article 19(1) (a) since it does not serve any Constitutional purpose. We navigated the complexities by stating that the mental suffering caused to my client cannot even be calculated in terms of money. The words published and spoken on YouTube, the statements made and the video posted were made to cause and to bring my client into hatred, contempt or ridicule and to diminish the good opinion that people at large have of him and, therefore, we prayed before the court to punish the offender. We were able to get the video removed immediately and the matter is now pending adjudication for damages and punishment. Ref :Cc 726/2023 MM-1/NE/KKD and CS(OS) 207/2023
You’ve mentioned drafting and arguing a petition for a ban against TikTok before the Supreme Court. Can you walk us through the process and the outcome of this high-profile case?
I had filed a Writ Petition in Public Interest under Article 32, requesting the court to issue order or direction, in the nature of Mandamus imposing a temporary ban on the mobile application/social media portal such as TIK-TOK and others those are capable of being misused till the Coronavirus / Covid-19 disease subsides in India and/or directing the concerned government authority/authorities to formulate and implement a proper statutory framework or adequate Rules, Regulations or Guidelines thereto in order to prevent the misuse of such platforms during the crucial times when the world is fighting against the pandemic. The videos uploaded back then were adversely promoting cultural, spiritual and theological dimensions, instigating a particular community to violate and not to follow the Rules and Regulations/Advisories for Health and Safety, set out by the Government of India amidst the havoc of Covid-19. The advisories as to social distancing appealed by the Prime Minister had been projected through these adult videos as being contradictory to what is entailed in the Quran. The circulated videos were full of misinformation and were meant to incite fear, hate, or prejudice among communities. Even Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organisation (WHO), had stated as under: “We are not just fighting an epidemic; we are fighting an infidemic. Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous. ” I along with adv.J. Sai Deepak had filed this PIL with the motive to upkeep the safety and interest of 227 Million active users of Tik – Tok in India along with a population of 130 crore (approx.) population that has access to such misinformed videos that were causing harm to the public at large. But the Supreme Court dismissed our petition. Thereafter, I went to all the authorities in the legislature such as counsel of states, house of the people, legislative departments and even the Prime Minister. Eventually I was permitted to submit my research to the standing committee of Parliament after which the Government banned the application along with several other Chinese apps in 2020.
Your experience at HCL Technologies involved managing legal aspects of contracts. Can you discuss how you identify ?
At HCL Technologies we treated IT risk management as a necessity. At HCL Tech a team of lawyers used to realign their IT risk management processes to meet the constantly evolving regulatory requirements. We ensured that their IT ecosystem struck a balance between cost-effectiveness and efficiency. At the same time, we ensured that the next generation innovation and transformational business went smoothly. As a team we used to discuss and understand the complex IT business ecosystem first. We used to Visualize and understand risk as our first steps. Then we went about assessing the same and once risk elements were identified, we used to try and quantify the impact levels of the same. We used to prioritize the High-impact like situations and manoeuvre by drafting our contracts which would lower the impact.
What advice would you give to the fresh graduates who aspire to start their career in the legal industry?
As law students and fresh graduates, there must have been an era when you, as viewers of TV series, may have grown addicted to ‘Celebrity Lawyer’ shows such as Boston Legal, Suits etc. Furthermore, this begins to seem a reality within the approach when you read about lawyers repeatedly in newspapers every day. To add to this illusion, most of our Government Post from Politicians to Head of Government Organizations are holding a law Degree. Their fee(s) is often a discussion from classrooms to club rooms. But this notion holds true only for a handful. Not every lawyer is paid exorbitant amounts of money and as a fresher, one might even have to work for a mere 15K to 20k. Yes, it’s a rate existing in the inflated year of 2023. Furthermore, the profession reaches a new level of toughness, in small towns, such as Allahabad. Allahabad High Court may be having the biggest Bar strength in terms of numbers but this does not imply that every litigating lawyer is having a ball. One might come across lawyers stating “Cigarette ka kharcha nikalata hai”. Undoubtedly, with experience comes a better Salary/ Fee but it takes perseverance and patience to reach that level. Thus the moral of the story is not to get influenced by hearsay or by the life of a lawyer in glorifying and glamorous TV series. Sorry to disappoint you but, all that you see on TV is a script, which is not only well written, but a gimmick that plays illusions with lawyers wearing crisp suits, swanky shoes and nice hairdos. Law does have a price which we all should aspire not to go by the glamour it has to offer, but by the richness it can offer in terms of knowledge and life skills.
Sir, can you share your journey from working as an Associate to becoming the Managing Partner at The Valid Points Law Offices? What motivated you to establish your own law firm in 2023?
Absolutely, I appreciate the opportunity to share this journey. The trajectory from an Associate to the position of Managing Partner at The Valid Points Law Offices is an intricate tapestry of professional growth, personal revelations, and a deepening commitment to my ethical practice, committed client service and effortless relationship management.
Starting as an Associate, I was initiated into the world of legal practice under the aegis of seasoned professionals. This foundational period was critical. My days were characterized by exhaustive research, drafting legal memoranda, interfacing with clients, and assisting senior attorneys in court proceedings. As an Associate, one learns not just the letter of the law, but its spirit. It was a period of intense learning, where every case and every client interaction added a new dimension to my understanding of the legal profession.
As years rolled by, I gradually climbed the ladder of hierarchy in the firm, transitioning from a Senior Associate to a Joint Partner. This phase was marked by increased responsibilities. I was now leading teams, handling more complex cases, and directly strategizing our approach to advisory and management roles. The transition also brought with it the need to mentor younger associates, something I found deeply fulfilling. It gave me an opportunity to give back, to share the insights I had gleaned over the years, and to shape the next generation of lawyers.
The decision to move towards the role of a Managing Partner was not one I took lightly. It was precipitated by a combination of factors. My vast experience, the trust and respect I had garnered from peers and clients, and an innate desire to shape the direction of the firm all played a part. As a Managing Partner, my role transcended beyond mere legal practice. It now encompassed administrative responsibilities, shaping the firm’s vision and mission, ensuring its financial health, fostering a conducive work environment, and setting high standards of professional conduct and ethics.
The year 2023 was a watershed moment in my career. The decision to establish The Valid Points Law Offices emanated from a deep-seated desire to craft a legal institution that was reflective of my beliefs and principles. Over the years, I had identified gaps in the legal service delivery model, areas that could benefit from innovation, and sectors that were underserved. The Valid Points Law Offices was conceptualized to address these very gaps. Another motivating factor was the rapidly evolving legal landscape. The dawn of the digital age, the globalization of businesses, and the increasing complexity of legal issues demanded a fresh approach, a new kind of law firm that was agile, forward-thinking, and deeply committed to excellence.
Furthermore, my interactions with clients over the years made me realize the importance of a client-centric approach. Clients were not just seeking legal advice; they were in pursuit of holistic solutions, of partnerships that added value to their endeavors. The Valid Points Law Offices was founded with the vision to be not just a law firm, but a trusted partner to our clients, an institution that stood by them through their challenges and triumphs.
In conclusion, the journey from an Associate to the Managing Partner has been both arduous and enlightening. It is a testament to the power of perseverance, continuous learning, and an unwavering commitment to the ideals of the legal profession. Establishing The Valid Points Law Offices in 2023 was a natural progression, a step towards shaping a law firm that was in sync with the needs of the modern world while being deeply rooted in the timeless principles of justice, integrity, and service.
With your extensive background in corporate and commercial law, what inspired you to focus on sectors such as e-commerce, edtech, fintech, and medtech? What unique challenges and opportunities do these sectors present from a legal perspective?
The transition of my focus to sectors like e-commerce, edtech, fintech, and medtech was not merely an arbitrary choice but a conscious decision influenced by a myriad of factors, both personal and professional. The proliferation of the internet and the ubiquitous nature of smartphones and digital devices have fundamentally transformed the way businesses operate and consumers interact. As a legal practitioner with a background in corporate and commercial law, it became imperative for me to remain au courant with these seismic shifts in the market and to understand their implications on the legal domain.
The surge in e-commerce is a direct consequence of the digital revolution. As brick-and-mortar stores gradually gave way to online platforms, new legal challenges emerged. Issues related to consumer protection, data privacy, cross-border transactions, and digital taxation became prominent. What further intrigued me about e-commerce was its inherent interdisciplinary nature. It amalgamated elements of contract law, intellectual property rights, competition law, and more. This confluence presented a rich tapestry of legal challenges and opportunities, making it an irresistible area of focus.
The edtech sector, or educational technology, represents the confluence of education and technology. My interest in this sector was piqued by its potential to democratize education. However, with this potential came a slew of legal challenges. IP issues in content creation, data protection of student information, regulatory compliance for educational institutions operating online, and issues related to accreditation and recognition of online degrees were areas that required legal navigation.
The financial sector’s evolution, spurred by technology, has been nothing short of revolutionary. Digital wallets, cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and online banking platforms have radically altered the financial landscape. But with these innovations arose a plethora of legal issues. Regulatory compliance, anti-money laundering protocols, digital fraud prevention, and the legal status of cryptocurrencies were areas that demanded in-depth legal scrutiny. The dynamic nature of the fintech sector, coupled with its profound impact on the global economy, made it an area of both challenge and opportunity for a legal professional.
The medtech sector, encompassing innovations in medical technology, stood out due to its direct impact on human lives. With advancements like telemedicine, wearable health devices, and AI-driven diagnostic tools, the medical field witnessed unprecedented growth. But these advancements brought forth legal challenges. Patient data protection, regulatory compliance for medical devices, issues related to medical malpractice in the age of AI, and intellectual property rights in medical innovations became pivotal areas of concern.
From a holistic legal perspective, these sectors presented unique challenges. Given the nascent nature of these sectors, many jurisdictions grappled with regulatory ambiguities. Existing laws often fell short in addressing the unique challenges posed by these sectors, necessitating the formulation of new regulations or the reinterpretation of existing ones. The inherently global nature of digital businesses meant that they often operated across jurisdictions. This brought forth challenges related to jurisdictional disputes, cross-border taxation, and compliance with multiple regulatory frameworks. As businesses transitioned online, the volume of data generated skyrocketed. Protecting this data, ensuring its privacy, and navigating the complex web of data protection regulations became a paramount concern. With innovations driving these sectors, issues related to patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets gained prominence. Ensuring the protection of intellectual assets while fostering an environment conducive to innovation posed a delicate balance.
On the flip side, these sectors also presented immense opportunities. The dynamic nature of these sectors offered legal professionals an opportunity to craft pioneering solutions, draft innovative contracts, and play a role in shaping emerging legal doctrines. These sectors were not siloed. They offered an opportunity for interdisciplinary engagement, allowing legal professionals to collaborate with technologists, educators, financial experts, and medical professionals. Given the nascent nature of these sectors, there was an opportunity for legal professionals to contribute to policy formulation, ensuring that regulations were both progressive and protective.
In conclusion, my foray into sectors like e-commerce, edtech, fintech, and medtech was a deliberate response to the changing contours of the global business landscape. These sectors, with their unique challenges and opportunities, offered a fertile ground for legal exploration, innovation, and contribution. They provided a platform to not just practice law but to shape it, to contribute to its evolution, and to ensure that it remained a beacon of justice, fairness, and equity in an increasingly digital world.
Over the past two decades, you’ve advised clients on various aspects of Indian business
laws, including entry strategies and due diligence. Could you highlight a particularly
memorable or challenging project that stands out in your career?
My journey over the past two decades, entrenched in the intricate facets of Indian business laws, has been marked by a series of intriguing assignments, each contributing to my professional growth and broadening my perspective. However, if I were to spotlight one project that was especially memorable and challenging, it would be the advisory role I undertook for a major European conglomerate aiming to establish its presence in India’s renewable energy sector.
The early 2010s witnessed an uptick in global interest in renewable energy. India, with its vast geographical diversity and commitment to sustainable growth, emerged as a lucrative destination for investments in solar and wind energy projects. The European conglomerate, having made significant inroads in renewable energy in its home territory, sought to expand its footprint to the Indian subcontinent. Given the potential scale of the investment and the complexity of the Indian regulatory framework, this project was poised to be one of the most challenging undertakings of my career.
India’s renewable energy sector, though promising, was characterized by a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape. Central and state-specific policies, incentive structures, and licensing requirements necessitated a meticulous understanding and navigation strategy. Acquiring land for large-scale renewable energy projects is fraught with complexities in India. Navigating the legal intricacies of land rights, ensuring proper compensation, and addressing local community concerns were paramount. The conglomerate was considering partnerships with local entities. This necessitated exhaustive due diligence to assess the financial health, operational viability, and legal compliance of potential partners. Beyond the black-letter law, there were challenges related to understanding and navigating the Indian business ethos, cultural nuances, and negotiation tactics. India’s taxation laws, especially concerning foreign investments and profit repatriation, required careful strategizing to ensure compliance and fiscal prudence. Protecting the conglomerate’s proprietary technologies in a new jurisdiction involved understanding India’s IP laws and ensuring their robust enforcement.
Given the myriad challenges, a multi-pronged approach was adopted. We constituted a multidisciplinary team comprising experts in energy law, land rights, taxation, and intellectual property. This allowed for holistic strategizing and ensured that all facets of the project were addressed concurrently. Recognizing the importance of local insights, we engaged with local legal experts, community leaders, and industry stakeholders. This provided invaluable on-ground insights and facilitated smoother negotiations. Keeping the client abreast of developments, challenges, and potential solutions was pivotal. Regular briefings ensured that the client was well-informed and could make timely decisions. Given the scale of the investment and the uncertainties in the regulatory landscape, a robust risk mitigation strategy was formulated, covering potential regulatory changes, contract breaches, and unforeseen disputes.
After nearly two years of rigorous legal work, negotiations, and strategizing, the conglomerate successfully established its renewable energy venture in India. The project, today, stands as one of the most significant foreign investments in India’s renewable energy sector.
This project, beyond its professional intricacies, was a lesson in persistence, collaboration, and adaptability. It underscored the importance of understanding not just the letter of the law but its spirit. Engaging with local communities, understanding their concerns, and ensuring that the project was not just legally sound but also socially responsible added a dimension of fulfillment to the endeavor. In summation, this assignment, in its scale, complexity, and impact, stands out as a testament to the multifaceted nature of legal practice. It showcased the interplay between law, business, society, and ethics, and reinforced my belief in the power of legal professionals to shape, facilitate, and guide transformative ventures that have a lasting impact on economies and communities.
Given your experience in advising companies on anti-bribery laws and assisting in the
formulation of internal policies, could you share some insights into the importance of
compliance and ethics in today’s business landscape?
The realm of anti-bribery, compliance, and ethics represents a fundamental pillar in the edifice of modern business practices. In an era marked by globalization, digital transformations, and heightened public scrutiny, the imperatives of adhering to compliance standards and fostering a culture of ethics have never been more pronounced. My experience in advising corporations on these matters has offered a panoramic view of their intricacies, challenges, and undeniable significance.
To comprehend the current emphasis on compliance and ethics, one must glance back at history. The latter half of the 20th century saw a series of corporate scandals, frauds, and instances of bribery that shook the global business community’s very foundations. These events, apart from their immediate economic ramifications, eroded public trust in businesses and underscored the need for robust regulatory frameworks and internal corporate governance mechanisms.
Many jurisdictions worldwide, including the U.S. with its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the UK with its Bribery Act, have instituted stringent anti-bribery regulations. Non-compliance with these regulations can lead to severe penalties, both financial and reputational. For businesses operating in multiple jurisdictions, understanding, and adhering to these varied regulations become paramount. In today’s digitally interconnected world, a company’s reputation is one of its most invaluable assets. Instances of bribery or ethical lapses can tarnish this reputation, leading to lost business opportunities, diminished customer trust, and a potential decline in shareholder value. A strong compliance framework is not just about avoiding penalties. It can enhance operational efficiency by streamlining processes, reducing redundancies, and ensuring that all business activities align with regulatory requirements. Comprehensive anti-bribery policies and ethical guidelines serve as a bulwark against unforeseen risks. They provide a roadmap for employees, delineating acceptable behaviors and actions, thus mitigating potential legal and operational hazards.
Assisting companies in crafting their internal policies has revealed certain universal truths. While there are common principles, each company is unique in its operations, culture, and challenges. Internal policies must be tailored to reflect this uniqueness, ensuring they are both effective and implementable. The formulation of policies should not be a top-down approach. Engaging with various stakeholders, including employees, management, and even external partners, can provide valuable insights and foster a sense of collective ownership. Policies, once formulated, are not static documents. Regular training sessions, workshops, and seminars are crucial to ensure that all members of the organization understand, internalize, and adhere to these guidelines. The business landscape, regulatory environment, and societal expectations are in a state of constant flux. As such, internal policies must be periodically reviewed and updated to reflect these changes.
Beyond the black and white of legal compliance lies the gray area of ethics. Ethical considerations, while often intertwined with legal ones, delve into the realm of moral imperatives and corporate social responsibility. Adhering to ethical standards fosters trust among stakeholders, be it customers, shareholders, employees, or the community at large. While unethical practices might offer short-term gains, they are invariably detrimental in the long run. An ethical approach ensures sustainable growth and long-term business viability. Today’s businesses are not mere economic entities. They have a social responsibility, a commitment to the broader community, and the environment. Ethical guidelines often encompass these responsibilities, ensuring businesses contribute positively to society.
In conclusion, the interplay of anti-bribery laws, compliance, and ethics in the contemporary business milieu is profound. It reflects a collective realization that businesses, beyond their profit motives, have a duty to uphold. This duty is towards their stakeholders, the legal frameworks they operate within, and the very fabric of society. My experiences have only reinforced the belief that businesses that embed compliance and ethics into their core DNA are not only better positioned to navigate legal challenges but are also more attuned to their broader purpose and societal role. The importance of this triad – anti-bribery, compliance, and ethics – cannot be overstated, for it is the bedrock upon which sustainable, responsible, and impactful businesses are built.
Your career spans roles in different law firms across multiple cities in India. How have
these diverse experiences shaped your approach to legal practice and leadership as the
Managing Partner of The Valid Points Law Offices?
The trajectory of my career, marked by engagements with diverse law firms across the multifaceted landscape of India, has been both an odyssey of professional growth and a journey of introspection. Each city, with its unique socio-cultural milieu, and each law firm, with its distinct ethos, contributed to the tapestry of experiences that have molded my approach to legal practice and leadership. Let us delve into the intricacies of this journey and understand its profound impact.
Geographical Diversities and Their Influence: India, often referred to as a subcontinent, is a mosaic of cultures, languages, and traditions. Each city has its rhythm, its challenges, and its opportunities. Working in Delhi exposed me to high-stake litigation, intricate corporate transactions, and a clientele that included multinational corporations and high-net-worth individuals. These cities, being the epicenters of commerce and politics, provided insights into the nuances of complex legal matters, ranging from mergers and acquisitions to international arbitrations. My tenure in cities such as Chennai and Bengaluru offered a different flavor. With their burgeoning IT industries and startup ecosystems, the legal challenges here were distinct. Intellectual property rights, tech contracts, venture capital, and startup regulations became focal points. Beyond the professional realm, each city imparted lessons in cultural understanding. Navigating client relationships, understanding local business etiquettes, and even courtroom dynamics varied significantly across regions.
Diverse Law Firm Cultures: Each law firm, much like an individual, possesses a unique character – an amalgamation of its history, its leadership, its successes, and its failures. Engaging with legacy law firms, with their storied histories and established practices, was akin to walking through corridors of tradition. These institutions emphasized rigorous legal research, impeccable drafting, and a mentorship-driven approach to junior lawyers. Boutique firms, often specialized in niche areas, offered a different experience. They fostered a culture of innovation, agility, and deep specialization. Working in such environments honed my skills in specific domains, be it tax law, environmental law, or intellectual property. With the evolution of the legal industry, I also had the opportunity to engage with modern, progressive firms. These firms were characterized by their emphasis on technology, interdisciplinary collaborations, and a global outlook. They championed diversity, inclusivity, and often blurred the traditional hierarchies of legal practice.
Impacts on Legal Practice and Leadership: The cumulative experiences across diverse cities and firms endowed me with a holistic perspective. I learned to appreciate the macro and micro aspects of legal issues, understanding not just the legalities but also the broader socio-economic implications. Exposure to varied clientele, from tech startups to traditional family businesses, reinforced the importance of a client-centric approach. I recognized that legal services, beyond their technicalities, were about solutions, trust, and relationships. The ever-evolving nature of law and the diverse challenges I encountered underscored the importance of continuous learning. It became clear that a successful legal practitioner must be a perpetual student, always curious and always willing to adapt.
As I transitioned into leadership roles, my diverse experiences shaped my leadership philosophy. I championed a mentorship-driven approach, emphasizing collaboration, open dialogue, and a culture of mutual respect. Drawing from the progressive firms I had engaged with, I also became a proponent of technology adoption, diversity, and global collaborations. Working across firms also provided insights into the ethical dimensions of legal practice. Encountering situations of moral ambiguity, witnessing instances of impeccable integrity, and sometimes, unfortunately, lapses in judgment, I realized the indispensable importance of ethical grounding. It became clear that a law firm’s reputation, its most invaluable asset, was built on the bedrock of ethics, integrity, and unwavering commitment to justice.
In summation, my journey across the length and breadth of India’s legal landscape has been profound. As the Managing Partner of The Valid Points Law Offices, these experiences serve as both a compass and a beacon. They guide my decisions, shape my interactions, and influence the very ethos of the firm. Each city, each firm, and each case encountered over the years has been a lesson, a story, and a stepping stone towards crafting a legal practice that is not just about statutes and judgments but about people, principles, and purpose.
You’ve been involved in various dispute resolution processes, including mediation and
arbitration. Can you discuss the advantages of these alternative dispute resolution
methods and when they are most effective for clients?
My engagement with dispute resolution processes over the years has provided me with a vantage point to appreciate the intricate dynamics, advantages, and potential limitations of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms, chiefly mediation, and arbitration. The realm of ADR, with its promise of offering avenues beyond traditional litigation, has always intrigued me, both as a practitioner and a proponent of effective legal solutions. I am a trained mediator.
Mediation – The Collaborative Dialogue: Mediation, at its core, is a facilitated negotiation process. It hinges on the principle of collaborative dialogue, with a neutral third-party mediator assisting the disputing parties in reaching a mutually agreeable resolution. What always captivated me about mediation was its inherent flexibility and emphasis on preserving relationships. Given its non-adversarial nature, mediation is particularly effective in disputes where preserving the ongoing relationship between the parties is paramount. This is often witnessed in family disputes, business partnerships, and long-term contractual relationships. Mediation proceedings are confidential, ensuring that the nuances of the dispute, as well as any shared information during the process, remain private. This can be especially crucial for businesses and individuals concerned about reputational risks. Unlike the rigid procedural structures of courts, mediation offers flexibility. The parties can define the process, choose their mediator, and even delineate the boundaries of discussions. Mediation is faster and less expensive than traditional litigation. This becomes a significant advantage in scenarios where parties are keen on a swift resolution without the financial and emotional drain of prolonged court battles. Mediation is particularly effective in situations where the parties have an interest in preserving their relationship or where the dispute involves subjective issues, such as feelings, perceptions, or miscommunications or where is a desire for a swift and confidential resolution.
Arbitration – The Private Adjudication: Arbitration is a process where disputing parties agree to be bound by the decision of an arbitrator (or a panel of arbitrators). It is akin to a private court proceeding, where the arbitrator plays a role analogous to that of a judge. My engagement with arbitration often involved high-stakes commercial disputes, where parties sought a specialized adjudication process.Parties can choose arbitrators with specific expertise relevant to their dispute. This is particularly advantageous in complex technical or commercial disputes where specialized knowledge can aid in a more informed decision-making process. Parties have significant control over the arbitration process. They can decide on the rules, the venue, the language, and even the applicable law. Thanks to international conventions like the New York Convention, arbitral awards are enforceable in over 160 countries. This makes arbitration particularly appealing for cross-border disputes. Like mediation, arbitration proceedings are confidential, protecting the interests of parties concerned about public disclosure. Arbitration is especially effective when the dispute involves technical or specialized knowledge, parties intend to seek a final and binding resolution, the dispute spans multiple jurisdictions and there is a need for an enforceable decision across borders and there is a preference for a structured yet private adjudication process.
Throughout my professional journey, I have always been an advocate of choosing the right tool for the right task. While litigation has its place in the dispute resolution spectrum, the advantages of ADR mechanisms like mediation and arbitration are undeniable. They offer parties an opportunity to craft their narrative, define their process, and seek resolutions that are not just legally sound but also emotionally and commercially satisfying. However, a note of caution I often share with clients is that ADR’s success is contingent on the willingness of parties to engage in good faith, the competence of mediators or arbitrators, and the nature of the dispute itself. There are scenarios where traditional litigation might be more apt, especially when there is a need for judicial precedent or when the power dynamics between parties are significantly skewed.
In conclusion, my experiences with mediation and arbitration have reaffirmed my belief in the power of dialogue, the importance of specialized adjudication, and the potential of alternative avenues in delivering justice. In an ever-evolving legal landscape, ADR stands as a testament to the commitment of the legal fraternity to innovation, efficiency, and the timeless pursuit of equitable resolutions.
With your expertise in data protection and privacy laws, could you elaborate on the key
considerations for businesses operating in the digital age to ensure they are compliant
and protect sensitive information?
In an era emblematically dubbed the “Information Age”, data has emerged as the new currency, driving economies, shaping businesses, and influencing socio-political landscapes. My foray into the domain of data protection and privacy laws was not just a mere professional inclination but a response to the clarion call of the times. The confluence of technological advancements, the proliferation of digital platforms, and the inherent value of data have made data protection and privacy paramount. Let us embark on an elucidation of the vital considerations for businesses in this digital epoch.
The first order of business is to understand and navigate the labyrinthine world of data protection regulations. Numerous jurisdictions have instituted robust data protection frameworks like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in the European Union that has set a benchmark for data protection, influencing similar legislation worldwide and now India’s Digital Data Protection Act, 2023 that reflects data protection and privacy practices tailored to the Indian context.Businesses must ensure they are conversant with the regulations pertinent to their operational regions. This often necessitates a multi-jurisdictional compliance strategy, especially for businesses with a global footprint.
One of the foundational tenets of data protection is the principle of data minimization and purpose limitation. Businesses should collect only the data that is necessary and use it solely for the purpose for which it was collected. This principle serves a dual purpose – it minimizes potential risks associated with data breaches and ensures regulatory compliance. Transparency is the bedrock of trust. Companies must be forthright about their data processing activities. Clear, concise, and comprehensible privacy notices, detailing the nature of data collected, the purposes of processing, and the rights of data subjects, are indispensable. The digital realm, while replete with opportunities, is also fraught with threats. Cyberattacks, data breaches, and unauthorized access are ever-present dangers. Implementing robust cybersecurity measures, ranging from encryption to intrusion detection systems, is non-negotiable. Regular audits, vulnerability assessments, and penetration testing further fortify these defenses.
Modern data protection regulations champion the rights of data subjects. These include the right to access, rectify, erase, and port one’s data. Businesses must institute mechanisms to honor these rights, ensuring timely and effective responses to such requests. In our globalized world, data often traverses borders. Such international data transfers are subject to stringent regulations, especially when moving data from regions with robust data protection laws. Mechanisms like Standard Contractual Clauses, Binding Corporate Rules, or adequacy decisions become pivotal in ensuring compliant data transfers.
In today’s interconnected business ecosystems, data often resides with or is processed by third-party vendors. Due diligence during vendor selection, coupled with stringent data protection clauses in contracts, ensures that the data’s sanctity is maintained throughout the supply chain. Often data breaches are a result of human errors or oversights. Regular training sessions, workshops, and awareness campaigns for employees ensure that they remain the first line of defense against potential data mishaps. Despite the best precautions, breaches can occur. Modern regulations often mandate timely breach notifications to both regulatory authorities and affected data subjects. Having a well-defined breach response and notification protocol is critical. The realms of technology and data protection are in a state of flux. What is deemed compliant today might be obsolete tomorrow. Regular reviews, updates to data protection policies, and staying abreast of regulatory changes ensure that businesses remain compliant.
Throughout my engagements with data protection and privacy, a recurring epiphany has been the realization that data is not just a mere digital entity. It reflects individuals, their identities, their preferences, and their lives. Protecting this data is not just a legal obligation but a moral one. Every byte of data entrusted to a business is a testament to the trust individuals place in that institution. Upholding this trust, ensuring the sanctity of this data, and navigating the intricate web of regulations is not just a professional challenge but a profound responsibility. In summation, as we navigate the digital age, the imperatives of data protection and privacy become not just legal checkboxes but pillars of ethical business conduct. They represent a commitment to individuals, a reverence for their digital footprints, and a pledge to uphold the principles of transparency, integrity, and respect in all data-driven endeavors.
Lastly, as someone with a wealth of experience in the legal field, what advice would you
offer to recent law graduates who are embarking on their own career journeys in law and
looking to make an impact in their respective fields?
Navigating the multifaceted realm of the legal profession, with its myriad challenges and unparalleled rewards, has been akin to a Socratic journey for me, one filled with introspection, discovery, and continuous evolution. As I reflect upon this odyssey and gaze upon the eager faces of recent law graduates embarking on their own quests, a compendium of insights, lessons, and advice crystallizes, seeking to serve as a beacon for these fledgling legal eagles.
Embrace the Journey with Passion:Law, unlike many professions, is not just a vocation; it is a calling. It demands not just intellectual acumen but also a fervent passion. My initial years in the profession taught me that passion serves as the bedrock upon which perseverance, dedication, and excellence are built. So, to every nascent lawyer, I say, find your passion within the vast expanse of the legal field, and let it be the North Star guiding your journey.
Lifelong Learning is the Key:The edifice of law is in perpetual evolution, shaped by socio-economic changes, technological advancements, and the inexorable march of time. The academic rigors of law school, while foundational, are just the beginning. Embrace a mindset of lifelong learning. Attend seminars, engage with legal journals, and never let the flame of curiosity be extinguished.
Cultivate a Holistic Perspective:Law does not operate in a vacuum. It intersects with politics, economics, sociology, technology, and numerous other disciplines. Cultivating a holistic, interdisciplinary perspective enriches legal understanding and fosters innovative solutions. My engagements with complex cases were often illuminated by insights gleaned not just from legal times but from literature, philosophy, and even the arts.
Develop Robust Communication Skills:The power of eloquence, clarity, and persuasion cannot be overstated in our profession. Whether drafting a contract, presenting an argument in court, or negotiating a settlement, effective communication is paramount. Invest time in honing these skills – participate in moot courts, engage in debates, and never underestimate the power of the written word.
Build Relationships and Networks:The legal profession is as much about relationships as it is about laws. Building a robust network, nurturing mentor-mentee relationships, and cultivating camaraderie with peers can open doors, offer fresh perspectives, and provide invaluable support during challenging times.
Uphold Ethics and Integrity:In the grand tapestry of legal practice, the threads of ethics and integrity shine the brightest. They are the very soul of our profession. In every decision, every case, and every interaction, let these principles guide you. The trust of clients, the respect of peers, and the sanctity of our profession hinge on unwavering ethical conduct.
Embrace Technology:In our digital age, technology is revolutionizing legal practice. From AI-driven legal research tools to digital dispute resolution platforms, the confluence of law and technology is undeniable. Embrace these advancements, be tech-savvy, and harness the potential of digital tools to enhance your practice.
Resilience in the Face of Adversity:The path of legal practice is strewn with challenges – difficult cases, professional setbacks, daunting opponents, and moral dilemmas. In these moments of adversity, resilience becomes your greatest ally. Draw strength from past successes, learn from failures, and always remember why you chose this noble profession.
Continuous Self-assessment:Take yourself seriously and train yourself well. Periodically pause and introspect. Assess your growth, realign your goals, and recalibrate your strategies. This self-assessment ensures that you remain on your desired path and allows for course corrections when needed.
Give Back to Society:Law is not just a tool for justice; it is a force for societal betterment. Engage in pro bono work, contribute to legal education, and advocate for the marginalized. In giving back, you enrich not just society but also your own professional and personal journey.
As I offer this mosaic of advice, drawn from the annals of my experiences, I am reminded of my own nascent days in the legal realm, filled with trepidation and excitement. To every young lawyer embarking on this journey, I say cherish every moment, embrace every challenge, and always strive for the confluence of excellence, ethics, and empathy. The legal profession, in its essence, is a commitment to justice, a pledge to society, and a journey of self-discovery. May your legal odyssey be as fulfilling, enlightening, and impactful as you envision, and may you leave an indelible mark on the annals of legal history.
Can you tell us about your journey into the field of law? How did you end up pursuing a career in law, and what inspired you to choose this path?
I was allegedly a rulebreaker as a child. Therefore, I was repeatedly taught the importance of rules and order. I was keen to learn who makes these rules, and why should I abide by them. This took me to the field of law. I also had the opportunity to often visit my parents’ friend who was a district court judge. She commanded a lot of respect, and that inspired me. More than anything else, I was looking for a field of work where I could do well enough to create my own space in a city of my choice. Law fit the bill.
You’ve had a remarkable 9-year journey at Nishith Desai Associates as a Legal Associate and now as the Leader of the Investment Funds Practice. Could you share some highlights and turning points in your career during this time?
I joined as a disputes intern at NDA in 2013. Incidentally, my desk was in the middle of the Investment Funds team. I got most of the work from this team and I developed a liking for the practice. It was different, it touched upon different legal subjects, and I was keen to learn more about the industry. Finance had always eluded me. This practice area reintroduced me to finance from a legal perspective. The turning point in my career was having to take up a position of leadership quite early due to the dearth of lawyers specialising in this practice area. Under appropriate guidance and encouragement, I have been able to deal with the overwhelming expectations from a leader.
As a seasoned professional in the legal industry, what challenges did you face during your journey, and how did you overcome them?
I prefer a conversation over a squabble. If the other side preferred a squabble, then I often felt withdrawn from the discussion. However, over the years, I have learned that a squabble can be turned into a conversation. It just takes a lot of skill and grace to do so.
In your current role as the Leader of the Investment Funds Practice, what are the key responsibilities and areas of focus?
There are three main focus areas that I try to focus on:
(i) client acquisition and servicing;
(ii) mentoring and bringing up the next league of leaders; and
(iii) continuing self-education and using that to assist policy makers and regulators.
The legal industry is constantly evolving. How do you stay up-to-date with the latest developments and trends in the field of law?
I have subscribed to many newsletters prevalent in the industry, I regularly attend webinars and conferences on topics of interest, we conduct focused research across different platforms to improve specialised knowledge, we write a monthly newsletter ourselves which is well resourced, the entire team brainstorms on every update in law in our practice area and reading the newspaper always helps.
Could you share a memorable or impactful case or project you’ve worked on during your career that left a lasting impression on you?
I worked and led many efforts on the formation, raising and each of the closings of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, which is the largest infrastructure fund sponsored by the Government of India (49%). We had the opportunity to negotiate with the most leading sovereign wealth funds across jurisdictions, learn about local laws and restrictions applicable to such investors, their expectations from Indian funds which are sponsored by the Government. We honed our skills to manage multiple investors and conflicting expectations at the same time. We developed endurance to work through late nights and weekends in a manner that no amount of workflow could scare us afterwards. Each document drafted by us underwent many rounds of review by the best law firms across the globe, giving us insights and opportunity to exchange notes across borders. This particular project definitely left a lasting impression on me.
What motivates you to continue pursuing a career in law, and what aspects of your work do you find most fulfilling?
I am good at this, and I enjoy getting better at this. I think I am mostly self-motivated. We assist either fund managers, or fund investors in mobilising capital which is then invested across different businesses, giving rise to employment, innovation, development and economic progress. We play a small but significant role in getting the deal through and that is quite fulfilling.
As a leader in your practice area, how do you maintain a work-life balance and ensure the well-being of your team?
The meaning of ‘work-life balance’ is not universal. It is dynamic and it evolves over time. For me, it becomes easier when I allow some aspects of work-life slip into my non-work life and vice-versa, i.e. integrate the two, rather than making rigid efforts to keep them segregated. I try to remain emotionally connected with my team-members so that they trust me and feel comfortable in confiding in me when things get too overwhelming. I am apologetic if (in rare circumstances) I take up their weekend time. I mostly encourage my team-members to decide timelines rather than dictating timelines unless clients are getting adversely impacted. I try to ensure that my team-members are not bothered with calls and work when they take vacations.
Finally, what advice would you like to give to fresh law graduates who are about to enter the legal profession? What key qualities and skills do you believe are essential for success in this field?
Try not to restrict your wardrobe to black and white. There will be days when you will get to wear colours. Every lawyer is different despite what people may tell you or the jokes you may hear. There are no defined rules to be a ‘good lawyer’ or a ‘bad lawyer’. Try not to put yourselves in boxes, try to explore and innovate, and try to remain keen. You will possibly find it easier to work as a lawyer if you are able to (i) translate your thoughts (and your clients’ thoughts) into appropriate and impactful words, (ii) break sentences or statements down into smaller phrases and make sense out of each phrase independently, (iii) get to a point or bring the other side to a point in an unsuspecting manner; (iv) be tolerant and inclusive, be prepared rather than being shocked at your arguments or points of view being defeated.
Ma’am, please share with us how you first became interested in the field of law, and what inspired you to pursue it as a career?
I am a first-generation lawyer. So technically, there was no godfather figure to guide me or who I could look up to. Infact, I didn’t even have anyone in the legal fraternity in my immediate circle of friends and family. Law happened to me by fluke. I was pursuing Political Science (H) from Gargi (the course had a fair bit around constitution, international relations and jurisprudence) and during the final year, while all my colleagues were certain of their career path, I was so lost. I remember this friend of mine so kicked about pursuing law and sitting for entrances. Her enthusiasm, her passion, I think, in hindsight, inspired me to give it a shot. I just came home one fine day and told my parents I want to pursue LLB. I sat for the entrance exams at Jamia and Delhi University and as luck would have it – cleared both. Picked campus law centre at Delhi University and rest is history.
You have over 18 years of experience in M&A, private equity investments, and general corporate commercial law. What drew you to specialize in these areas within the legal field?
I probably chose corporate law over litigation because it offered economic/ financial stability very early in my career. Also, I was never inclined towards constitutional law, criminal law, evidence et al. Having said that, during my internships I did embark on a journey that involved exposure to various facets of law including litigation. But it was the corporate internships that always left a mark. The fast-paced transactions, intense negotiations, intricacies of corporate law gave me an adrenaline rush. The opportunity to work closely with some great minds, aspiring to be like them – their commitment to clients, challenges faced on each transaction, in-depth strategic considerations appealed to me greatly. By the final year of LLB I had pretty much zeroed in on corporate law and was lucky enough to break through with Trilegal.
You’ve represented both domestic and multinational companies in cross-border transactions. Could you tell us about a particularly challenging or memorable transaction that stands out in your career?
Each and every transaction that I have worked on till date has taught me something new which has played a role in my growth curve and developing my personality.
But I guess the very first transaction I did at the start of my professional career left an imprint – this was a joint venture between a USA conglomerate and a major Indian textile manufacturer with the objective to undertake, wholesale trading, designing, marketing, distributing, importing and exporting of branded apparel and related accessories in India. We were representing the overseas entity and it was their very first investment/ venture in India. Law around foreign investment and in particular the trading sector was still evolving. There were a lot of regulatory issues around structuring, approval requirements, company law issues. It was all so overwhelming. And to top it being new in the profession the zeal to take it heads on and impress your boss! Fortunately, or unfortunately, I had a tough boss- but with his guidance, I was able to grasp onto stuff fast and then one fine day he walked up to my workstation and said that I will have to go for negotiations on the matter to Bangalore alone. I did not know what hit me at that time- I completely blanked out. Just the thought of sharing space with the GC, counterparty and its advisors was scary. But somewhere I was thrilled too– I had earned his confidence in a short span. The negotiations stretched for almost a week, besides legal issues the exposure to commercial/ business issues was great. Honestly, not everyone gets this kind of exposure at such an early stage. We signed and closed in record time. This was the most remarkable experience ever! And reaffirmed my passion for corporate law.
Before joining DMD Advocates, you worked with prestigious firms like Trilegal, AZB, and JSA. How did these experiences shape your legal career and the way you approach your work today?
Each of the firms I have been with has helped me grow as a professional. Trilegal was the first. When you are just out of law school what really helps is finding the right mentor and platform to realise your potential. Trilegal offered both. Working with one of the founders from the start, getting that first-hand experience and exposure is rare. My stint at Trilegal laid the foundation of my knowledge of law. All the seniors I worked with at Trilegal were extremely helpful but there was no nepotism. We all learnt it the hard way and I think that’s the best way! AZB was no different – challenging work, high stake transactions, excellent exposure, no spoon feeding and an amazing boss. I think these initial 5-6 years shaped most of me. JSA – my longest stint, offered the platform required to excel and develop the required skill set.
One of your notable deals was advising Prestige Estates Projects Limited on the sale of a $1.5 billion real estate portfolio to Blackstone. Can you share some insights into the complexities of that transaction and how you navigated them?
Due to confidentiality reasons I can’t divulge much, all I can say it was one of the largest real estate portfolio transactions ever done in the country, both in terms of number of assets and deal value. It was quite a complex deal in terms of structuring, kinds of instruments that were issued, and ensuring foreign direct investment and corporate law compliances. CCI approvals were obtained, hold backs structured around NCLT approvals etc. The transaction lasted over a year and the deal size was approx. USD 1.5 billion
In your career, you’ve advised a diverse range of companies, from online exam preparation platforms to hospitality chains. How do you approach legal challenges in different industry sectors, and what skills do you find most valuable for adapting to various clients’ needs?
Advising clients can be very challenging as there is a lot at stake when you are working on transactions. Like I mentioned earlier, each mandate I worked on taught me something new and different. Even if you do repeat transactions, they come with their own set of nuances. Managing expectations, value add, in depth knowledge of the subject, bringing on the table that expertise and maturity are some of the key skills required.
Initially, when we all start our careers, we are very head strong – want to prove our point and in the bargain rationalising becomes difficult. One thing I have learnt over the years is to keep your calm during negotiations- don’t let things get out of control. I know it’s easier said than done- but it is important to get this sorted in initial stages of growth, else it can become a roadblock.
Know when to stop speaking, be patient and focus on your growth.
Like the famous saying goes “It is better to be unique than the best. Because, being the best makes you the number one, but being unique makes you the only one.”
As a final question, what advice would you like to give to fresh graduates or young professionals entering the legal field today? What qualities or strategies should they focus on to succeed and make a positive impact?
There is enough of this advice out there. I would just say stay focused on GROWTH:
G- Gain practical experience;
R- Resilience is the key;
O- Objective approach at all times;
W- Wisdom plays an important role;
T- Teamwork and time management will take you a long way;
