India's Outstanding Lawyers-2022

Editor’s Note

INDIA’S

REVOLUTIONARY ADVOCATES

As with everything else legal profession in India has

evolved with globalization, rapid industrialization, and liberalization of the economy. Similarly, the future world of the Indian Legal sector will be divided into two halves: Pre-pandemic and post-pandemic.

In the pre-pandemic times, the Indian judiciary and the legal system were conservative in adopting novel technologies like digitalization. They were hesitant to go for virtual courts, which many had never even heard of.

However, in the post-pandemic times, the Indian legal system has shown praiseworthy transformation in digital technologies and virtual hearings almost overnight. These were the trying times for the legal profession in general and for many secondary and tertiary level advocates and lawyers in particular.

Abhishek Joshi Deputy Editor

abhishek.joshi@insightssuccess.com

There were some amongst them who not only convinced the courts to go virtual but also helped their peers in facing such unprecedented challenging times. Thus, they emerged from the pandemic because of their patience, perseverance, compassion, and never-dying attitude. They used their humane approach and tech-savvy attitude to smoothly gel with the online courts and virtual hearings.

Today, due to the efforts of these exceptional advocates, the legal profession in India is at the intersection of an innovative outlook and an adept technological mindset. Changing norms will be the future of this post-crisis era. These ever-innovative players are gaining an advantage over their situations as they comprehend the acumen to face unexpected scenarios.

These outstanding lawyers are from the different paths of society and distinct stratum of the legal field. Yet one thing

they share in common is their optimism, enthusiasm, and wisdom combined personality.

In order to celebrate their extraordinary success stories, Insights Success’s brand-new edition of ‘ India’s Outstanding Lawyers -2022 ’ has brought for you their aweinspiring journeys. Added into the edition are two novel articles crafted by our in-house editorial team to give you a modern legal perspective.

Flip through the following pages and be a part of India’s transforming legal profession along with India’s Revolutionary Advocates. Read on to keep learning!

Management Brief Company Name

Adv Mahesh Shanbag

Practising Lawyer, District Court

Adv Mrunal Bharat Pandya

Practising Lawyer, District Court

Advocate Mahesh Shanbag is a practising lawyer in the district court of Sangli, Maharashtra and is involved with different NGOs, namely –Consumer Forum Sangli.

Advocate Mrunal Bharat Pandya is among the top lawyers in Nashik with over 10 years of experience in Divorce, GST, law cases.

Adv Pakhi Garg is an experienced In-house counsel working with Gartner (India). Adv Pakhi Garg, Advisor and IPR Head

World Cyber Security Forum (WCSF), Delhi

Adv Ripple Hamza, Senior Partner and Senior Legal Advisor

Neelesh

Kaden Boriss

Elohim and Associates

Adv. Ripple Hamza is a corporate lawyer with more than three decades of experience in multiple jurisdictions around the world, especially in India, Iran, Russia, Thailand, Eastern Europe and Arab countries.

Ms Svetlana is an Advocate, Legal Advisor, Ambassador and Social activist.

Advocate Vidya Adsule is the founder of Versatile Law Partners, and she has more than 30 years of experience in law.

Banthia and Co. Advocates focuses on property law and land matters across the country and majorly serves archdioceses/dioceses and non-secular congregations of the Roman Catholic Church spread across the world.

Adv Svetlana Khiyungdzuzu Domino, Criminal Defense Counsel, Founder and Managing Partner

Versatile Law Partners

Banthia and Co. Advocates

Adv Vidya Adsule

Banthia, Owner

Over the years, individuals have taken note of the fact that leadership has enhanced, modified, shaped, and redefined inspirational personalities. These are the people who transform other entities’ lives by striving to make a difference with their mentorship traits. Such few people have the zeal and perseverance to make a difference in the world. One such individual who is looked upon as a torchbearer of

excellence is Mr. Neelesh Banthia, Owner of the prestigious law firm in India, Banthia and Co. Advocates.

Being the owner of one of the leading law firms in India, he acquires position amongst the youngest firm owners in India and his consistent perseverance, persistence, commitment, and vision has assisted Banthia and Co. Advocates to emerge as a multifaceted law firm in the nation and the world at large.

At present, Mr. Neelesh Banthia and his father, Mr. B.S. Banthia (Supreme Court Advocate) are running the firm with utmost dedication and strengthened adherence throughout the country. The consistency in regard with bringing in the best legal minds under one roof is showcased through the efforts put in by Mr. Neelesh and his father. A firm that ventured out in 1953, with merely 10 advocates and 3 offices, that very same firm in today’s

paradigm has more than 400 legal practitioners working under its banner in 23 offices spread globally.

The Inception Story

Legal transcendence has been an integral part of the Banthia family for decades. Late Shri Mishrilal Ji Sb. Banthia, great grandfather of the Owner, Mr. Neelesh Banthia, began his career in 1927 at Baran, Rajasthan where he exercised his judicial powers

during the British period. This legacy was taken over and continued by his grandfather late Shri Nihal Singh ji Sb. Banthia, who established Banthia and Co. Advocates in 1953 with the offices headquartered at Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) India.

Mr. Neelesh started his career as a Pilot and then worked in various countries at dynamic legal positions. In the succeeding years, he realised that he could provide a new direction and a strategized work environment to the firm and make it reach greater heights. After gaining work experience in various countries beyond the borders of India, he mastered the traits of professionalism and started displaying this through his work in India. Furthermore, he chose this profession to carry on the familial legacy and bringing a necessary change in this profession with a dynamic approach and by opting means to reorient the conventional ways of legal practice. He started the journey with commitment, honesty, obedience, and the ability to deliver the work in the least possible time.

Professional Services

The firm focuses on property law and land matters across the country and majorly serves archdioceses/dioceses

and non-secular congregations of the Roman Catholic Church spread across the world. Thanks to the presence of the firm in nearly all the states in India, expertise in local laws has become its forte, thus ensuring utmost competency in availability of legal solutions within every being’s proximity.

The firm’s passion towards serving the legal profession has stimulated its activities even internationally, currently having six international offices in Dubai, Japan, Singapore, Turkey, the U.K., and the U.S.

Aside from this, the firm also operates two Delegate International Offices in New York and Chicago. The cumulation of all these establishments affirms that Banthia and Co. Advocates provides a multitude of services concerning legal outsourcing, paralegal, and secretarial services with a team of over 400+ advocates working under the firm’s banner.

Mr. Neelesh Banthia believes in maintaining friendly and cordial longterm relationship with his clients, which is a skillset that majority of the lawyers lack in today’s legal milieu. This definitely provides him with an edge over other people who are putting in their efforts in the field.

The Inspirational Saga

Mr. Neelesh Banthia being a seasoned lawyer and bearing experience in handling legal matters across the world, has more than 20 years of legal wisdom and professionalism to his name and is currently managing a team of around 350+ lawyers. He is specialized in handling variety of legal works from different jurisdictions across all continents.

Rewards and Awards

Following are the rewards of the company:

•Banthia and Co. Advocates has been recognized among the TOP 10 PROMISING LEGAL CONSULTANTS IN INDIA by Legal Consultants Magazine, September 2017.

•Reviewed as one of the 50 MOST PROMINENT CONSULTING COMPANIES in 2018, January edition.

•Reviewed as the CONSULTANT OF THE YEAR in 2018 by the CEO MAGAZINE 2018.

•Reviewed as the CONSULTANT OF THE YEAR in 2018 by SILICON INDIA 2018.

•Acknowledged as the BRAND OF THE YEAR in 2018 by BUSINESS CONNECT.

•Reviewed as MOST ADMIRABLE COMPANIES to watch in 2018 by PRIME VIEW MAGAZINE.

•The firm has started its new office recently in Tokyo, Japan as an Associate Office with HARAGUCHI Law of Nations OFFICE.

•Banthia and Co. Advocates has recently carried out a tie-up with a Mexico based Company MAKILATE GLOBAL BUSINESS.

•Achievements

•Banthia and Co. Advocates has successfully completed 64 years in

the legal profession.

•Banthia and Co. Advocates is the first firm in India having established a tie-up office in Turkey and Japan.

•The firm has made a mark by opening eight international offices across the globe and serving clients across the world.

•The firm is serving around 20 archdiocese/diocese and 80 religious congregations globally, in the current scenario.

•The firm has started a UK based KPO company within the name and elegance of Banthia Legal Services UK Ltd.

•Mr. Neelesh Banthia was awarded with the membership of the prestigious International Council of Jurists.

Hurdles in the Expedition

The journey from 3 to 24 offices wasn't easy to accomplish and certain trials and challenges faced by the establishment and Mr. Neelesh Banthia were:

•Mr. Neelesh Banthia was getting into a distinct segment field within the catholic system, which proved to be a massive obstacle since he is a non-Catholic individual and had to beat unidentified barriers of competition.

•Mr. Neelesh Banthia took the decision to continue the top office in Bhopal (M.P.) where his grandfather practiced, rather than shifting his office to a metro city. At that point albeit and even today it is a standard perception within the business and legal field that there aren't many opportunities if operations are from a non-metro city. However, his zeal, commitment and the consistent trait of positive thinking converted this deed to be his best decision. He contemplated and realised that the expenses in Bhopal are quite

minimal and travelling consumes low amount of time as compared to metro cities. He took onboard a number of professionals with him from across the world who possess expertise in a variety of fields. They provided world class services to his clients while being based in Bhopal, which is definitely worth the praise.

•One of the major hurdles for Mr. Neelesh Banthia was to alter the conventional and conformist approach pertaining in regard with practice in the legal field. He faced the challenge of turning the direction of the firm towards being formulated into a legal consultancy firm instead of a litigation firm. Since the time he joined the firm, the inclination of majority of the lawyers was towards practicing litigation, and

•not many understood the importance of consultancy and out of the court settlement. The culture of looking beyond a certain pigeon hole with a broad perspective was instilled by him into the individuals of Banthia and Co. family and hence the series of transitions and plans that have been executed by him have cumulated into the excellence possessed by the firm.

Journey towards Success

Equipped with state-of-the-art professional services and communication facilities, the firm pinpoints ‘expertise in local laws’ as its forte. Ensuring maximum competency, in addition to the multitude benefits that propagate a simpler access to local resources, an in-depth research and investigation mechanism opted by the firm curates a knowledge bank that assists in the understanding and implementation of local laws. Spotting ‘Regularization of Properties’ as firm’s flagship offering, Banthia and Co. Advocates also deals in international investment and property matters.

As per Mr. Neelesh Banthia, the credit for the success of the firm goes to the whole team who has worked with him day and night for the rising of this firm not only domestically but internationally as well. The establishment has diversified the legal profession by imparting discipline, commitment and honesty and has instilled the ability to deliver work as fast as possible.

Creativity and Innovation

Banthia and Co. as a law firm does not believe in designations or labels and always tries to bridge the gap between senior and junior advocates. They recently took note of the fact that though senior lawyers have the required necessary work experience, junior lawyers have a very promising

command over technology. The establishment tries to bring together and fuse these two together in order to provide the best possible results to clients in a variety of sectors.

Within the periphery our workspace, we encourage the development and visualization of new business ideas for the expansion of the firm in different fields and places and also the growth of all associated individuals, whilst maintaining a pressure-free environment to enable everyone to work and deliver to the optimum level of their productivity.

Strategies to Follow

Driven by the motto to ensure the availability of prompt legal services wherever and whenever needed, Banthia and Co. Advocates believes in the adoption of dynamic alterations brought forward by the transformations, instead of following the traditional and conventional methods of advocacy.

It fosters to maintain a long-term, comprehensive relationship with its esteemed clients. They believe in the commitment and energy of the youth, as to how they draw inspiration from their surroundings and how they channelize their thought process and for that very reason, most of the advocates in the establishment are below the age of 50 years.

Opportunities Ahead

At present, maximum advocates across the nation are bound to the archaic methods of practice. They're unable to adapt to the dynamic environment and accept the technological advancements that have popped up within the profession.

In Mr. Neelesh’s opinion, the Indian paradigm lacks the prowess of professionalism, organization, and management techniques and for that

very reason, most of the time, the clients are unsatisfied and international community look down upon us Indians.

By changing the scenario in the firm, Mr. Neelesh is trying to include a little initiative by providing a far better, healthier and trustworthy environment to his client. Alongside this, a growth oriented and a friendly and responsive atmosphere to young advocates and budding lawyers of the country ensures that the firm and all individuals working under its name attain growth mutually.

As of now, the firm is planning on expanding globally in more countries. Apart from that it has already entered into other ventures like knowledge process outsourcing through its registered company in UK with the name of Banthia Legal Services UK Ltd. The team has also started enhancing on the due diligence and compliance in reference to property and investment matters.

Future developments may be inclusive of starting an office in Canada, Australia, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, France, and venturing into more legal fields.

With the opening of top notch law schools in India, which deliver the humblest possible education to youth alongside building their other skills. The team surely can foresee a bright future in this field. The field, as a fraternity have to understand its responsibility in imparting the best training to its future generations in order to ensure that the upcoming advocates are much more competent, knowledgeable, and professional.

People need to understand that advocacy is a service-oriented field and with the evolving dynamic environment, it needs to accept the changes in the legal field as well.

Mahesh Shanbag

Serving the Indian Legal Paradigm Dynamically

The legal space in India is evolving at a

dynamic pace. The industry has seen a lot of transformations over the years in terms of trials at the court to fast-tracking the judgement process, everything has changed with the changing times. Seldom people find that there are some challenges while appealing to the court, though there are struggles but they are not so prominent like they used to in earlier times. Technological developments have enabled legal professionals and the judiciary to act in accordance with the dynamics if digitization and provide solutions that are up to the trending market requirements.

With all the changes happening in the Indian legal sector, the legal professionals, consultants, and lawyers need to stay abridged with the latest trends. They have to provide their clients with exceptional services and solutions so as to get justice for them in a right way. Their efforts in providing the clients with the right kind of service is the key to acquire more

clients and recognition. That is why, it has become paramount that every legal professional must understand the client’s core concern and address the issue properly.

This is crucial mainly in the criminal cases. Criminal law is the body of the law that describes criminal offenses, regulates the apprehension, charging, and trials for the suspected individuals. It decides penalties and medium of treatment levied for convicted offenders. “Criminal law is only one of the mediums through which, organized societies safeguard the security of individual interests and ensure the survival of the group or a community,” says Advocate Mahesh Shanbag , a practicing lawyer in the district court of Sangli, Maharashtra.

A Criminal Law Expert Mahesh spent his entire childhood in Vitha from where he hails. He has completed his LLB from ILS College Pune in 1997. He graduated from Willingdon

College, Sangli and started independent practice there only. He has completed his LLB from ILS College Pune in 1997. Mahesh’s professional tenure includes serving in the criminal law domain largely. He has been in practicing 1998. Mahesh is one of the renowned crime legal specialists in Sangli.

Talking about the challenges in practicing in the criminal law domain, he mentions that there are bulky and lengthy cases in terms of documentation and lack of physical evidence becomes a major hindrance while handling the cases. “Hence, probing the case becomes a challenge,” states Mahesh.

He has done some pro-bono cases for the people from unprivileged section of the society and has contributed to their upliftment in a dynamic way. Especially, he has helped a woman in rehabilitating her life from scratch when she was on the verge of getting a divorce from her husband. That case was very emotional and very close to his heart at the time.

He feels great satisfaction in achieving this feat. The fact that he can effectively contribute towards an exfelon’s life in a productive manner puts him at peace. He has been involved with different NGOs, namely –Consumer Forum Sangli. Mahesh has also contributed towards Lion’s Club’s activities.

After browsing through various career opportunities, Mahesh decided to opt for becoming a lawyer as he felt that it was the most suitable way for public service. He wanted to pursue public service examinations like UPSC/MPSC.

But after thorough contemplation, he fixated on becoming a lawyer. “It became evident that if I work diligently in the court, I can produce better results and help people efficiently,” concludes Mahesh.

‘ ‘

My ambition was to help people by giving competitive exams and becoming an officer and get myself involved in public service. But as I graduated, I came to know that there are a lot of limitations in this field. I realized that there are still other areas through which, I can help the society in a positive way or in a contributing manner. Being a lawyer made that possible for me ‘ ‘

“ “

Mrunal Pandya

An Efficient Lawyer who is Serving his Clients with Utmost Dedicaon

Outstanding lawyers are driven by the passion to deliver justice to their clients. They uphold the law and treat all their clients with equal respect. These lawyers believe in completing every case as fast as possible, while reaping the best outcome for their clients.

One such dedicated lawyer in India is none other than Mr. Mrunal Pandya . Mr. Mrunal was born in a family of advocates and has been acquainted with this profession since childhood. Although initially he had very less interest of becoming an advocate, but gradually after completing his tenth grade, he started gaining interest in the said field of advocacy because of the sole reason that each case is different. He believes that this makes the profession different from others because he must face new challenges every day. Moreover, this profession also challenges him to use his wit and common sense. Mr. Mrunal also leverages his knowledge coupled up with skills that help his clients to conquer their legal challenges and complications.

Mr. Mrunal states that the legal paradigm or pattern of advocacy is just mastering the facts to a great extent;

however, as a lawyer he has always intended to become master of facts. This is because although, there are many study materials available, but facts have to be thoroughly and carefully studied along with chronological happening of events.

Guided by Erudite Mentors

Mr. Mrunal was initially motivated by his father to study law and become a lawyer. Thereafter, he started practicing as a lawyer and initially worked with Adv Vaibhav N Jadhav and thereafter with Adv Ajay M Toshiniwal. Under their astute guidance, Mr. Mrunal embarked on the path of how to become a good lawyer. "Adv. Ajay M Toshiniwal is a senior lawyer from Nashik who also has a rich heritage of legal knowledge and is a second-generation lawyer like me. Under his guidance, I got to learn immense and received mastery over several types of cases", states Mr. Mrunal. He was also guided immensely by Adv. Sandeep Shinde (Mumbai High Court), the founder of Ergo Juris.

A Masterful Specialist

Mr. Mrunal provides excellent services in all kinds of

labour, industrial, civil, consumer, matrimonial, debts recovery tribunal as well as documentation services to his several clients. Furthermore, he specializes in criminal matters not concerned with bodily offences such as matters concerned with Negotiable Instruments Act, offences other than bodily offences under Indian Penal code 1860 such as cheating, Breach of Trust, etc. Mr. Mrunal is mostly associated with more than 50 corporate companies, where he looks after all the end-to-end legal services of the companies on all legal frontiers. He has gained tremendous experience by working for different types of companies ranging from manufacturing companies to hospitals to big hotels.

Views on the Pandemic Situation

Mr. Mrunal believes that Covid-19 has been a challenging time and one of its kind about which nobody had any sort of idea or preparation, and hence, it has been challenging. The main difficulty faced during this time is that due to the entire pandemic situation, the hearings of the cases have been slowed to a great extent, which is beyond anyone's control. He further states that it is tough to make clients understand as to why the expected relief as sorted by them from court is tough to be delivered now due to improper functioning of the court.

Mr. Mrunal expresses that post the pandemic, many traditional legal practices and procedures will start changing and will be altered. Firstly, the e-hearings and efilings will have lot of importance. The matters posted for final arguments will be heard by the judges online. He also opines that the court halls are very small in trial courts and social distancing is not possible. The same court file is being seen by several people and this increases the chances of possible coronavirus infection. To avoid this, the paradigm of the legal profession needs to be shifted wherein the filings of cases must be online and supporting documents have to be uploaded online and the hearing of the same have to be online. This will decrease the crowd in court hall, both of paper and public. It will also protect spreading of the coronavirus infection amongst judges, stenographers, and other court staff.

Words on Technological Advancement

Mr. Mrunal believes that technological advancement is the need to the hour. He is of the opinion that the legal field is the one which has seen the least of the same. However, slowly but gradually transition is happening. The e-courts program of the Hon'ble Apex Court has helped to bring a lot of transparency for the litigants. Further, artificial intelligence is one such area that still can introduce further developments in the legal field. Mr. Mrunal opines that technological advancement has been a game changer as a lawyer can now a days search for citations of Supreme Court and High Courts on the internet. They can get information regarding the date of any case, case status,

daily roznama, judges of leave, and all such crucial data in just a click of the mouse.

Opinions about the Changing Paradigm

Speaking about the changing legal industry, Mr. Mrunal states that nothing remains the same forever and everything evolves in small bits every day. He states that the legal profession is no exception. The industry is slowly witnessing significant changes and is marching towards achieving further greatness. Mr. Mrunal adds, "For instance, few decades back, certain cases like cases of rent control were flooded in court halls which today have almost gone, similarly e-contract dispute cases, cyber complaints, etc., which were not seen at that time are growing today.”

Words of Encouragement

Addressing the up-and-coming lawyers, Mr. Mrunal states that the legal profession is very promising and has tremendous opportunities for the individuals interested in giving their best and bringing change. However, continuous, and repetitive study about the laws and awareness of latest judgments of the Hon'ble Higher Courts along with witty common sense is very important for lawyers to succeed in the profession. Further, patience is the key and till a certain age, one has to work hard with utmost dedication on whatever cases they get and deliver the results to their client. This will gradually help them to get crucial, important, and high-profile cases/matters.

Thoughts on the Legal Scenario

Mr. Mrunal opines that the current Indian legal scenario is changing. The Ministry of Law, Law Commission, and the Bar Council of India are taking effective steps in delivering speedy justice to litigants and the judges are also working hard for the same. He believes that criminal trials are now taking lesser duration to be concluded, and civil cases still take some time, however the number of adjournments at each stage have now been capped and that is helpful. Mr. Mrunal further expresses that the pandemic has made it clear that there is a huge requirement of online hearings in the legal system. Additionally, the Nashik Court had started its first pilot project for e-filing and the said project was inaugurated by Supreme Court Judge Hon'ble Justice Chandrachud.

Future Foresight

Speaking about the future, Mr. Mrunal believes that he is still learning and has a lot to learn about this noble profession. He is also of the opinion that if he keeps working with constant dedication and hard work, the future will be rewarding.

The F u t u r e of Legal Space in I n d i a Legal

There are hardly any legal systems as diverse yet sophisticated as the legal system in India. The court proceedings and the legal space that Indian law offers are simply incredible. However, if we look back at history then the lawyers have to struggle to make a living by practicing law.

In the 1980s to practice law in India, you either had to have a family background of lawyers or had to do a side business that could support your living expense. Those were hard times for the young and budding lawyers in those times.

However, times have changed since then. The arrival of private institutes also added more value, and more law firms came into existence. With this, it became much easier for the new passing-out lawyers to find a job that really paid them well.

The Sacred Law

The history of India, its culture, diversity is amongst the many things on which the law has been made and brought into practice. What remained sacred in the Indian legal space is that the law applies equally to everyone, and the justice done will be blind.

A bright future for women in legal space in India

Indian Legal system is quite old and is majorly dominated by men from the beginning. However, with the number of law firms coming increasing in a developing country like India, there has been a significant increase in the number of women practicing law. The Supreme Court of India has a very long and rich history.

In the last 71 years, only 11 women justices have made their way to the Apex court of India. Whereas, in some parts of the world the percentile of women judges delivering justice was in double digits, compared to India which happens to have a very poor record.

But as they say, every cloud has a silver lining, The National Law Schools came into existence and many law firms that believe in woman empowerment are expected to change the numbers soon. The number of women entering the legal space through corporate law firms is spontaneously increasing, promising women a wonderful career in the legal space.

Law and Technology: the next big thing in the legal space

Technology has brought significant development across many sectors varying from transportation, education, healthcare, even finance, and the list goes on. Technology in law is expected to bring a huge change in the way law is currently practiced and in legal proceedings.

Technological advancements can bring in a huge difference in the process of identification of the laws which are being broken, collection, preservation, and presentation of evidence in a legal case. This will not only effectively lower the burden on lawyers, but it can revolutionize the legal space. The influence of technology on the law in the current pandemic has been remarkable.

Currently, the world is information-centric, and law that is based on evidence can make the procedure very easy and accessible for lawyers even with no experience in the legal space. Information processing and speech synthesis are a few of the many areas where technology especially AI can help.

The future that demands quality along with quantity

The Bar Council of India has recognized over 1400 colleges or institutes in India. Despite having a huge number of colleges, there is only a handful of full colleges that are considered elite. It was these elite colleges that youngsters who loved law fancies.

It is also because of the corporate firms that offer huge payments for the pass-outs that more students focused on practicing law. It is due to this that the future of legal space in India, demands quality as well quantity from the young and budding lawyers.

A completely different future lies ahead

Earlier, the scenario was quite different, when only people having a recognizable background had a good and stable environment while practicing law. Now, the scenario is completely different, as the legal sector needs manpower and it is the knowledge that really makes the difference. The internships and other programs that allow others to learn law while practicing it can be a game-changer for the youth.

The future of the legal space in India is expanding in every direction possible. The introduction of technology and other things can help in expanding the space in the legal sector.

The outstanding lawyers of India uphold the law and

focus on providing justice to the needy. They treat every client with equal respect and consider each case equally important. These lawyers hold the entire court in awe with their fabulous argument skills. They are responsible towards delivering timely and quality justice.

One such dedicated lawyer who never gives up and fights each case with zeal and dedication is none other than Pakhi Garg . She serves as the Advisor and IPR Chief of World Cyber Security Forum (WCSF), Delhi

In an interview with Insights Success, Ms. Pakhi shares about her journey, her motivation, the various challenges that she has faced throughout her career, and her future plans. To know more about Ms Pakhi, read the following interview:

Enlighten us with your professional journey into the legal paradigm.

After my graduation from Nainital (Kumaun University) in 2015 I did my PG in Cyber Laws from Indian Law Institute (ILI) in 2016 and then I completed my LLB (H) from Amity Law School, Noida in 2019.

My professional journey started in July 2019 (just after my LLB) and I was placed as a legal consultant in PwC India in Gurgoan. In the same year, I also joined my friends’ techno legal consultancy named, World Cyber Security Forum as an “Advisor and IPR chief” which is a NPO and we are still running our organization that aims in creating cyber awareness to the netizens.

Then, after approx. eight months of my service with PwC, I switched to Singh and Associates in Gurgoan till 2021.

Then, I received a job offer from Gartner India in Gurgaon and I am currently working there as an in-house counsel.

What motivated or inspired you to be in the legal space?

Since my childhood, I was fascinated with the way lawyers and advocates dress and argue in the court of law. Then when I grew up I wanted to opt for criminal litigation as that was the only thing I know till the time I get myself admitted in the law school. But, there I got a lot of new prospective and during the law school I participated under many activities like: mock trials, moots were the reasons that enhanced my skills and made me love law even more. Another credit goes to my law school professors like: Mrunal D.

Buva ma’am (Practicing Advocate, Supreme Court of India) as she was the first person who introduced the segment of law to me during my PG Program. Then other professors of mine like: Dr. BhavnaBatra, Ms. Palka Rishi, Ms Swati Kaushal, Ms. KalpanaJayas, Mr. Vibhor Gupta etc. encouraged me to do better and better. And even my learned friends like: Dr. Nachiketa Mittal andMs Megha Ahuja are also the people who helped me out in every sphere of not just professional but personal life. Their teachings were a lifetime lessons for me and whatever small I have done so far is because of all these people.

Kindly talk about the various or specialized legal offerings, solutions, or services that you provide to your clientele.

World Cyber Security Forum is a techno legal consultancy that aims in creating cyber awareness for netizens. As WCSF is a NPO, hence we offer services like: Cyber Counselling, Techno Legal Consultancy, Contract Administration, Workshops, Trainings, Courses, Webinars

with subject matter experts to encourage people to join us and make this digital place a better and safe world. Our team possess highly experienced and learned academicians, professors, practicing advocates, cyber security analysts etc.

As a lawyer, what challenges have you faced in this ongoing Covid-19 pandemic?

During pandemic, the major challenge was working remotely and on the initial stage it was absolutely hectic and chaotic. Clients were also facing the issue in getting connected with us as not everyone is tech friendly. But now, it has become a trend and part of the life. So, still copping up with this work style. Financial aid was another major challenge but slowly and gradually everything is shaping up on its own.

How technological advancements in the legal space has helped you in overcoming those challenges?

Thanks to all the video conferencing apps and other apps that has actually helped us in working remotely. Because before covid era, we hardly use apps for video calls but now your work is based on them, and the growing tech has really made it swift as for every purpose we have various apps and that’s the amazing part of the technology. Like: If someone wants to fix an appointment with me, I use “Calendly” app for it as it is very reliable and easy to go app. The user will also get the notification of the appointment fixed by the client and the client is also free to take the appointment as per his own availability and convenience. Besides that other apps are also playing major role in easing my work life.

How legal practice has evolved over the period of time? Are there any significant changes?

The court is working hard to deliver the justice in a time bound manner. Previously, there were a fixed working hours for the court but now they have worked harder even whole nights and gave some landmark judgements. The competition is high and growing day by day which is also encouraging judicial officers, advocates and other staff members to update and upgrade themselves. The corporates are actually investing their resources in training their employees which is a biggest effort from their side. They are giving them the opportunity to prove themselves in the work place and many are still working hard to prove their worth. These are some significant changes. The law schools and colleges are also understanding the worth of practical knowledge hence they are also calling some eminent spokesperson to share their knowledge with their students.

What advice would you give to the aspiring legal enthusiasts who are willing to become lawyers and step into the legal space today?

I really wish to share these points:

•Focus on the societal issues and try to take relevant action.

•Read a lot and learn as much as you can.

•Have confidence and patience.

•Work on the basics of law.

•Start researching through validated sources.

•Be punctual and ready to take and face challenges.

•Open yourself to explore this field.

Where does your endeavors lead you to in the coming years? Kindly talk about your future scenario.

We are rigorously working hard to create the cyber awareness amongst netizens and hence we are coming up with various workshops, training that focuses on the

practical aspect that needs to be taken care. We also emphasis on the corporate trainings. In near future, our trainings will be focused on the teenagers and women to make them understand the correct usage of the internet. Along with that, we will be coming up with the journal publication where all the cyber enthusiasts will be able to read and share their blogs and research work with us.

What is the current scenario of the Indian Legal Space according to you?

The coronavirus pandemic has caused lockdowns in various countries around the world, disrupting all aspects of life including India's legal landscape for an uncertain time. It has shed a harsh light on the outdated way of administering justice, teaching law, and providing legal services. In 2016, in the memorable judgment of Anita Kushwaha v Pushap Sudan , the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court of India ruled that access to justice is a fundamental right guaranteed by article 14 of the Indian Constitution. I steadfastly accept that even in a state of flux caused by the lockdown, access to justice has not been impeded, and the swift response by embracing technology and formulating electronic courts and video conferencing is a step forward and much more positive than no access to justice amidst coronavirus pandemic.

The Indian legal system is no stranger to technology and has constantly kept abreast of the latest technological developments. For example, the advent of the Internet and information technology resulted in the enactment of a new statute, namely the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the amendments to the centuries-old Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Recent steps towards the digitization of justice and court administration are establishing virtual courts and electronic filings.

Electronic courts were launched as part of the National P eGovernance Plan (NeGP) in 2006. However, the sudden and surprising arrival of the COVID-19 emergency has given a more prominent fillip in achieving a quick change in the mode of administration of the courts in the country. We have also seen the rise of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in India during the pandemic.

Not all are familiar with these advances, yet the current conditions demand that we become, or at least that we make efforts because the near future will be the time of technology. The administration of courts in India after the advent of the COVID-19 crisis has certainly accelerated the shift to e-justice even though many challenges are being faced.

Ripple Hamza

An Expert in Cross Border Litigation

The legal veterans in black coats are the ones, who dedicate their lives in studying law and building a healthy society. Lawyers are the hard-working and confident leaders of our nation. But the struggle behind being such an amazingly talented personality with a soaring spirit is immeasurable. There are many things, which smooths this struggling journey and one of them is supportive family culture. A supportive family can make one’s life wonderful.

The critical art of being ‘successful’ in life can be achieved with family being the backbone during your struggle. It develops a foundation for the most powerful personalities, who further builds a healthy society.

While searching for such powerful personalities for the edition, India's Outstanding Lawyers-2021, we came across a wonderful and talented person, Mr. Ripple Hamza . He is a sincere and inspiring advocate, a motivating individual, who the youth aspire to be one day. Mr. Hamza believes that his family’s support has played the most vital role in his personal, as well as professional life.

In the following interview, Mr. Hamza will brief us about his journey of being one of the most inspiring advocates.

He will also share his views on how the legal space can be improved and what challenges he faced during the Covid19 pandemic. He will also discuss how he managed to overcome the challenges and advice the legal enthusiasts, who wish to enter the legal space.

Following are the highlights of interview:

Enlighten us with your professional journey into the legal paradigm.

I have always wanted to pursue a career that promoted a knowledge of being able to socialise and interact. I was very clear to opt law for higher studies since schooling. My parents were highly supportive in that regard. I graduated in Law from University of Calicut and landed a job as a corporate lawyer. Inspired to make the legal practice more efficient, I preferred a career gap and did a specialisation in I.P. from the W.I.P.O. academy, Geneva, and followed as a legal researcher at Gulf Institute for International Law, Dubai. In the dynamic global economy, cross-border litigation has witnessed a rapid increase. International arbitration has significantly aided the process.

Cross-border litigation is prone to challenges that do not arise to the same extent, as in domestic disputes. My course of employment with multiple legal systems around the world especially in India, Iran, Russia, Thailand, Eastern Europe, and Arab countries in matters relating to Government Liaisoning, Maritime law and other corporate legal affairs has helped in managing the legal risks, business priorities and regulatory requirements across wide-ranging cultures. I have also been a part of the very well acclaimed legal enterprises like Gammon Group GCC, Singhania and Co. LLP, and Slash Secure Europe.

During the initial stage of Georgia’s economic development, a partnership law firm named Malatsidze and Ripple Consulting Ltd., was also established in the country. There upon, many foreign companies set their foot in. Today, Georgia has fully grown to be a tourism-based economy.

Ship arrest releases in world’s toughest jurisdictions like Iran that do not comply with many international rules and practices were also facilitated and negotiated. As a Senior

Legal Advisor at Kaden Boriss, a global alliance of independent and autonomous full-service law offices, my career has witnessed a remarkable trajectory. Some milestones in life includes being enlisted as one among the top 50 lawyers in cross-border practice at Sentosa, Singapore, in 2019.

It also gave me immense pleasure in having delivered various lectures and being an invited speaker in seminars and workshops based on International Law and CrossBorder litigation, conducted worldwide. Owing to my interests, apart from the legal profession, I am a visiting faculty in International Law at Alliance University, Bengaluru, and have also served as a visiting faculty in International Business Relations at Indira Gandhi Open University, Kerala. Services as a legal commentator and consultant are also delivered.

What motivated or inspired you to be in the legal space? My entry into the legal paradigm was not-so-merecoincidence. Since childhood, the ambient environment comprised of some maritime lawyers. My father worked in a shipping company and as a child, I was intrigued watching the lawyers guiding and advising him in his work and talking about various countries and rules across the ocean. Some inspiration was drawn from them, to look into the details of international facets of the field of law. As the time passed, insights of international law and practices developed, and the field of view got more serious. My father was keen and my unwavering pool of support and inspiration in the journey of becoming an internationally acclaimed lawyer.

Kindly talk about the various or specialized legal offerings, solutions, or services that you provide to your clientele.

Having worked as a Senior legal advisor at Kaden Boriss, a global alliance of full-service law firms and legal enterprises specialized in law practice and rendering legal advice to clients, the focus was more in Commercial and Corporate, Litigation and Dispute Resolution, and Cross-border disputes, in addition to other prominent areas of law. Also, being a recognized Mediator, Arbitrator, Negotiator, and Ombudsman by the Federation of Integrated Conflict Management and International Commercial Disputes Tribunal, my services are offered in the ADR domain as well. I have also been an advisor, mentor, business strategist, and investor in many aspiring start-ups and industries in India and around the globe, in addition to serving as a Pro-Bono Counsel on IBA Roaster at International Bar Association.

My areas of expertise include Maritime Law, Interpol, Cross-border disputes, Policy Making, Acquisitions, Corporate compliance, Regulatory work, Legal Auditing and Corporate Governance.

As a lawyer, what challenges have you faced in this ongoing Covid-19 pandemic?

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the legal fraternity drastically. A sudden resort from physical to complete digital means, was quite strenuous at the beginning. Voluminous conversion of data into digital means, was also time consuming and hectic. The slowing down of entire legal process meant less billings and in turn less pay. The outbreak of Coronavirus is having a significant impact on the maritime industry, as the demand for transportation of goods in and out of countries fell, ships and their crews are stuck at sea, ports may be closed, and vessels delayed by being quarantined.

How technological advancements in the legal space has helped you in overcoming those challenges?

The extent of the pandemic has confronted us with new avenues to carry along. As it is said that, when the going gets tough, tough gets going.

Online hearings, virtual meetings, and remote working has helped to keep things intact to some extent. To work from home in pyjamas, instead of lawyer suits, and in one’s comfort zone is appreciated by a vast number of young lawyers.

Mr. Ripple Hamza

How legal practice has evolved over the period of time?

Are there any significant changes?

Some significant changes have swept through this traditional profession. Rapid digital adoption is the foremost of all. Content marketing growth by means of social media can easily help to engage with potential clients. Lawyers are leaving the safe and well playing world of conventional practices to build their own niches. Growing legal-tech market offers the lawyers simplified case management procedure, streamlined communication and handy access for reference. E-filing of complaints, virtual modes of hearing are all precursors of a fully digital and automated legal sphere.

What advice would you give to the aspiring legal enthusiasts who are willing to become lawyers and step into the legal space today?

The legal field has a lot to offer for anyone, from corporate lawyers to human rights activists and everything in between. There are no hard and fast rules. For instance, as a solo practitioner you have to wear a multitude of hats and carry out many roles. The legal fraternity has grown into a volatile, highly competitive, technologically advanced, digitised, and dynamic realm. Hence, constant upskilling and updating is mandatory.

Lawyers are detail oriented, use that to your advantage. Standing out from competitors, while vying for the same job opportunities is very much dependent on individual skills, strength, experience, and expertise.

Where does your endeavours lead you to in the coming years? Kindly talk about your future scenario. There are plans to have a career-switch. In more than three decades of this journey, I have envisioned some short-term as well as long term plans. To enlist a few; a career break from Kaden Boriss tops the list, followed by setting up a new law firm to be named CGL, encompassing a competent team consisting of young generation lawyers. For a lawyer, every risk is mitigated. The process of leaving a job to establish a new enterprise may be daunting, but if you can break the goals into tiny steps, the endeavour becomes far more manageable.

My background, interest, and expertise in Maritime law across the globe has furnished ample information and insights as to the contrasting public international, private regulations, and practices actually in place. Relatively straightforward procedures can become complicated, where they span borders, and it is important to be aware of these additional hurdles and how best to navigate them in the practical sense. I intend to make it accessible to the public

at large, compiling the data into a book. It is in the initial stage of its inception.

What is the current scenario of the Indian Legal Space according to you?

A major drawback of the Indian judiciary since decades, has been the huge backlog of cases. Unfortunately, the pandemic has made it worse. Yet, the courts have adopted to restrict online hearings and tribunal hearings, using Zoom and Polycom conferencing devices. In the long run, this is a blessing in disguise to rule out the causes of piled up cases. Technology can be used as a tool, to monitor the long pending cases. For instance, making use of AI can lighten the research works that a judge has to do to review cases. Also, making use of secured encrypted data transfer, makes the flow of communication easier and credible.

How the legal paradigm looks like post-pandemic globally?

The pandemic and resulting shutdowns have adversely affected all walks of life, and the legal sphere is no exception. The entire system has witnessed a profound disruption and thanks to technology, the system didn’t collapse completely. It is inevitable that the pandemic will leave an imprint on the functioning of judiciary, as compared to the pendency of cases, but it has also paved way to newer avenues for serving justice, other than the conventional means. The major takeaway is that we have adopted electronic filing, remote working, video conferences, and other options for holding virtual hearings. If taken along further, this can lead to more organised schedules, lesser wastage of time, and time bound disposal of cases.

As the current situation demands, nearly three-fourth of the entire judicial proceedings to be virtual, by means of technological assistance, it is of utmost importance that legal professionals upskill themselves to the latest technological advancements. The post-pandemic era is going to revolutionise the industry by incorporation of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Data Analytics, and Privacy, etc., to the legal fraternity. Virtual offices and legal research databases have also occupied their slots. This boom is expected to create a slew of new companies and platforms. Embracing the new transformation requires the right technological foundation, to have access to the tools the organisation or the circumstance demands. Personal branding by using social media marketing is also an alternative for those interested in carving a niche of their own.

Easy Steps to Establish/Open in India a

Many advocates and lawyers are looking to open small independent law firms in the post-pandemic new normal. The trend is rising because of the many attractive benefits it offers, including self-employment, client-centricity, and setting one’s own rules, standards, practice policies, and norms. Also, whatever the monetary compensation acquired comes directly to the firm’s owner and not to some third-party business owner.

Although the benefits look very alluring, establishing, growing, and running a law firm successfully is an arduous task. Add a contingency plan for the unprecedented and unavoidable circumstances like the pandemic, and the prospectus looks much trickier, if not impossible.

However, suppose one wishes to open and run a successful legal firm. In that case, they should not be worried, as we, after conducting secondary research, have brought for them some easy tips that, if they implemented in their approach, will help them immensely.

Who is Eligible to Open a Law Firm:

An Indian individual residing and who is a citizen of India, having completed 21 years of age, holding a law degree from a Bar Council of India recognised University, and who is registered with any of the

Indian State Bar Council, is eligible to establish or open a law firm anywhere in India.

Other Requirements :

There are some other requirements which are mandatory and must be followed.

When you say a firm, it needs office space, be it your home. But the property must be registered in the name of the applicant. Similarly, as the proprietor, one has to consider registering their legal trademark to give an identity and protect it legally.

Furthermore, the number of lawyers the firm wishes to hire or partner with must be specified to the Bar Council of India, their roles, financing, liability, management, record keeping, taxes, and specialisation.

Also, funding or legitimate sources of finance must be secured from savings, loans, or earnings so that the costs must be set up to survive the initial commencement phase.

Although if the advocates or lawyers who are already registered with the Bar Council of India need not have to register their law firms; albeit they will promise to follow certain compliances and requirements in case their firm begins generating substantial profits.

Procedure for Registration of a Legal Firm in India :

Even before setting up a law firm, the applicant must be sure about the type of Legal Entity they wish to set up and is suits them the best. This type will then decide upon the firm's structure and format of registration.

The primary compliance norm for any firm is that all its members must be registered as practising lawyers with any State Bar Council of India.

Further, there are three types of Legal Structures available in India under which one can establish a law firm.

Ÿ Sole Proprietorship - A straightforward business format under which one can open and run a business is a sole proprietorship which is not a legal entity.

Instead, the sole proprietorship only mentions that a citizen of India owns a particular business, and they will be solely and personally responsible for its functioning, operations, and debts.

There is no formal procedure in India for registering such an entity called a sole proprietorship Law Firm.

Further, the Bar Council of India has certain restrictions for such Sole Proprietorship Legal firms, and thus advocates and lawyers who wish to establish a law firm do not go for this option.

Ÿ

Partnership Firms - One can also start a partnership law firm in India. All such entities are directed, regulated, and governed through the Indian Partnership Act 1932. Since there are no fines or penalties for registering partnership firms, their registration is not mandatory.

Ÿ limited liability partnership (LLP) is a type of partnership firm where some or all partners hold limited liabilities. It means the firm contains partnerships as well as a corporation factor.

In an LLP, each of the partners is liable for only their misconduct or negligence and not responsible for the other partner’s business conduct or negligence. But to register a law firm under LLP, the first thing required is the Designated Partner Identification Number (DPIN), for which one has to apply. One must also acquire a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) by applying for it too.

Once applied for the DSC, an LLP Firm’s unique name will be asked. After the name’s registration, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) will be notified, and the name will be filed for incorporation. The process ends with the approval of the Certificate of Incorporation. After that, the LLP name must be approved by the Ministry of Corporate. Further, every LLP must get a registered Permanent Account Number (PAN) and Tax Account Number (TAN).

Establishing the Future:

Though the registration of a law firm is neither necessary nor mandatory, doing so makes certain kinds of legal rights applicable on the firm and its members/partners.

All three legal structure has their different pros and cons, benefits, drawbacks and procedures for registration. Before registering a law firm, it is essential to consider various factors like types, structures, size, management, finances, tax, profits, loans, and other liabilities. It varies according to the owner’s ownership structure best viable for them.

In today’s competitive environment and future’s unpredictable scenarios, it will be a constant challenge for even the most qualified advocates and lawyers in maintaining and growing a successful law practice. Thus, they can secure their future by taking their first step by opening a law firm.

- Gaurav PR Wankhade

Svetlana Khiyungdzuzu Leveraging the Power of Redemption

Acrime is considered a grave offense against morality. An offense so great that society shuns the individuals committing crimes and shows them of mercy or redemption. However, these individuals are still human beings and deserve a chance to become better people and contribute to society in a positive form.

Imagine people making a mistake, asking for help, begging for forgiveness and no one’s listening to their pleas. Unfortunately, this is true for so many individuals from unprecedented backgrounds having psychological problems, wrongly

convicted people who don’t have adequate knowledge about their constitutional rights.

For these individuals with little to no hope, someone advocating on their behalf, believing in them, and simply showing some humanity is a huge blessing. Svetlana Khiyungdzuzu Domino , the Managing Partner of Elohim , New Delhi, is an extraordinary practitioner of law, enabling access to justice for the less fortunate.

Svetlana believes everyone deserves justice and everyone deserves a second chance, a chance at redemption. She’s restoring one’s faith in humanity, a case at a time.

Her Professional Journey

As a lawyer, Svetlana began her career with a nominal start, facing many challenges being a woman in early days of her Advocacy practice.

As part of her criminal defense, her major criminal defense cases have been successfully handled by her and she succeeded in a number of major cases. She went on to work in the criminal milieu. She went on to work in the criminal milieu, where lawyers play an important role to achieve justice for a client and to contribute to making the world a better place.

Aspiring Initiatives

Svetlana’s father inspired her to be in the legal space. She has observed that the role of a lawyer is paramount to do with the criminal cases, contributing to the society by helping criminals to become a good human being.

Range of Specialties

Svetlana believes in providing resolution oriented, pragmatic advice and solution to the clients. Her team exclusively handles litigation matters in civil, criminal, and corporate commercial. Courts with a heavy emphasis on specialization in major Criminal Défense, Drugs, Murder, Bureau matters, Custom matters, and CBI matters.

Her lead cases are Charlse Howell 2017 Intelligence Bureau, Ismail Barua and Kyrian 2017 NCB, Paul Mueda 2018 NCB. Martin and Jan Herm Herbest 2018 Intelligence Bureau, Biggest drug recovery cases

Ehsanualla 2019 special cell, Ahmad Shah 2019 Crime Branch, Kennedy, Anayo 2018 Crime Branch, and Norist intelligent bureau 2018.

Also, for Delhi police as a faculty member, she emphasises lectures on MCOCA, Terrorism, Drugs, Human trafficking, NCB, and crime branch.

Pandemic Challenges

“There are significant changes to business, economy, and market in almost every country, including the legal industry. After Covid’s nomenclature, the courts are slow and delaying the process of justice and resolution. It has postponed oral arguments and canceling hearings, conferences that are not directly related to pending cases,” says Svetlana.

“Although criminal courts, along with legal services agencies, are delaying closing or going completely remote and cases are cropped up,” she adds.

Practice of law is a great profession in which every individual has their own ability

Domino

Enhanced by Technology

During her time in the legal field, she saw the rise in flexible working. Apace technology allows lawyers to work from their home or offices all while serving their clients in the field.

This has removed a great deal of stress from her day, allowing her more time to think about her clients' problems and how to solve them. She spends most of her time in legal practice quietly assessing, strategizing, and hypothesizing. In this, technology has helped her a lot by saving time of travelling. It can be accessed from anywhere and gives her more time and energy to put on potential work to solve cases.

Evolution in Law Technology has helped a lot and substantially impacted how information is disseminated, as well as how people interact with a wide range of objects.

The process of discovery is now streamlined, excess to resources and legal research previously completed over days can be wrapped up in hours.

Advice to the Novices

“It is about applying your own ideas and method, so don't copy others, be authentic. It should not be a business endeavor, civility among lawyers should not diminish,” Svetlana concludes.

Advocate Svetlana Khiyungdzuzu Domino Criminal Defense Counsel Founder and Managing partner at Elohim

As the Covid-19 has slowed down the hearing in

courts, it has become difficult to expect justice on time. The courts have started online, which is not possible for everyone to attend. The cases have been postponed, canceled, or rescheduled due to the pandemic. The lawyers too have faced crisis due to the closure of courts. Many law firms are trying their best to serve the public.

One such law firm is Versatile Law Partners that have been facing challenges due to COVID-19 pandemic. But the firm is trying its best to get justice for their clients. The firm is founded and managed by Advocate Vidya Adsule Advocate Vidya has more than 30 years of experience in law and has always given her best for the clients.

In the following interview, Vidya shared with us about her entire journey and motivation to build Versatile Law Partners. Vidya also shared how COVID-19 pandemic impacted her firm and how she overcame the challenges. She also briefed us about her future goals and a few tips on how she aspires to be one of the legal enthusiasts.

Following are the highlights of the interview:

Enlighten us with your professional journey into the legal paradigm.

Having completed my graduation in Commerce in 1985, I had a job offer with Lady Ratan Tata Institute as Accounts Clerk with a salary which was considered as ‘Abundant’ at that point of time. However, that didn’t stop me from pursuing law, and I completed my LLB degree in 1988 post which I got the Sanad to practice from Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa in 1989. While pursuing LLB, I was being criticized in my circle for not having taken the job at LRTI. However, now that I look back upon my 32 years of journey, it was one of the best career decisions I could ever make.

While Pursuing LLB, I worked with Senior Lawyers such as Solicitor Arvind Nagvekar and Co. and Govt. Pleader Mahabaleshwar Morje. I gained considerable knowledge in the field of operations of various Courts, respective

jurisdiction and applicable laws implementations for enforcement of civil rights including the modalities and various legal aspects of non-litigation practice like property /real estate law and conveyancing, drafting commercial documents, and conducting of due diligences.

After gaining preliminary and basic knowledge in the real estate and property laws, I joined a Developer by the name of ‘Our Town’ as Legal Advisor in 1990. Having a decade of stint in land acquisition, I had a short stint of almost 1 year at ‘Ahuja Constructions,’ where I handled 25 + redevelopment projects and handled legal aspects of development on MHADA and CIDCO allotted plots to Societies.

The first of my corporate break came in 2001 when I was offered the role of Legal Manager at ICICI Bank. There, I was primarily responsible for formulating legal policies and procedures, drafting loan documentations for 20 + products and due diligence to check compliances of policies rolled out by business.

Within six months of joining ICICI Home Finance, I was diagnosed with esophagus cancer, however this did not hamper my passion for work, and I continued working daily while undergoing treatment for almost 6 months. Within a span of two years, I got double promotion to Chief Manager and was also awarded as the best performer in Legal Risk and Policy Department.

Based on the above achievements, I was transferred to the Corporate Legal department to handle legal aspect of the entire Retail and Liability Business, where I got rolled out standardization of the legal documents in the retail mortgage finance business and created various legal process manuals. For this, I received the Best legal deal of the year award in 2005.

Having taken a good amount of experience in the mortgage finance, banking, and corporate legal field, I joined Kotak Mahindra Investments in a bid to gain exposure in the Private Equity paradigm as Vice President Legal in 2005. Later, I returned into ICICI fold (as VP Legal and Compliance), although this time it was ICICI Venture, a 100% subsidiary of ICICI Bank.

In January 2012, I joined Wadia Group’s Entity Bombay Dyeing and handled legal aspects of their 500 + acres FE Dinshaw Lands at Thane. In 2014, I left Bombay Dyeing and joined Hammurabi and Solomon a Delhi based law firm to set up their Mumbai Office. I was with them till July 2015.

Thereafter in August 2015, I shifted to Pune and joined Kolte Patil Group, a listed entity to Head the legal aspects of Kolte Patil Group. I was with them till March 2016. In April 2016, I joined JP Infra Group at Mumbai, handled procuring 70 + acres of lands for them at Mitra Road. I worked with them till December 2017.

In Jan 2018, I joined RNA Group as Sr. General Counsel (Legal and Compliance). I was with them till 2019 January. Thereafter in January 2019, I joined Ashwin Sheth Group for short period of time till May 2019 and in those 5 months of period.

However, while doing each of assignment in various real estate group, I was doing my independent practice and realized my potential being not fully utilized in the job assignment those came to me. Hence, I took a decision to quit the assignments with parallel in-house job assignments

Developers and started focusing on my independent Firm practice since 2019.

Awards and Recognitions:

I was selected as:

•Top 100 Powerful Women in Law in India in 2017-18 by Worldwide Intellectual Professional Forum

•‘Star Women in Law’ by Legal Era in 2018-19

•Best Legal Head of the Year by Marketing Mavrick in 2019

•Listed in Top 100 Lawyers to be followed on LinkedIn (Worldwide)

•hps://blog.ipleaders.in/100-lawyers-oneshould-follow-on-linkedin/

What motivated or inspired you to be in the legal space?

As a young lady, I was highly ambitious and refused to settle for less. Further, I loved challenges and the same could not be offered by the monotonous job offering post my commerce graduation. Over and above having stayed in a chawl, I noticed that the common man was always deprived of a lot of their legal rights and wanted to make a difference by helping such strata of people in whatever way possible.

Kindly talk about the various or specialized legal offerings, solutions, or services that you provide to your clientele.

My firm is Multi-Service Law Firm along with Pro Bono Practice for the needy. Our areas of practice are:

•Banking and Finance,

•Real Estate

•Insolvency and Bankruptcy Securitization Law

•Private Equity, Corporate and Commercial

•Consumer and Media Laws

•Litigation and Dispute Resolution (Civil as well Criminal)

•Giving solutions to day-to day legal functions of Clients

•End-to-end Contract management

•Servicing Individual clients including the Pro Bono cases.

As a lawyer, what challenges have you faced in this ongoing Covid-19 pandemic?

Although, the Work from Home Scenario has not affected the non-Lit practice, it is pertinent to note that there has been a substantial reduction in quantum of assignments as the number of deals that are taken ahead for closure have substantially reduced. Mainly, due to the general psyche among the entrepreneurs/promoters’ businesses to save on their reserves rather than investing or using it for capital expenditure. This has been predominantly seen with the MSME clients mainly on account of the operations and functioning been affected due to Pandemic and at times leading to reduction in the profits. Therefore, survival has become the priority over, growth and expansion.

I have faced the challenges like administration of work and litigations due to restrictions imposed the quantum of deliverable have affected. However, I have coped up by being on toes to take care of all urgent and important work assignments of the clients. Furthermore, the quantum of work has reduced though the efficiency of work and cost of running firm has considerably reduced.

How technological advancements in the legal space has helped you in overcoming those challenges?

Currently most of Courts continue online and it is a boon for lawyers as there is cost reduction, increase in efficiency and firm can handle multiple matters in multiple courts sitting at Office. Thus, it has led to scaling of our firm practice.

Due to everything moving to the online mode, the cost of operations has substantially reduced as one can work remotely and conduct meetings through Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, etc. In today’s time, all you need is a good internet connection, and you are good to go even work from the remotest location. One of the major things that has been positively benefited is, time management due to zero travel time and all other unnecessary disturbances.

However, work life balance to an extent has affected, as at times it becomes around the clock working expectations by the Client and law firms.

In fact, this has promoted a lot of new legal business ideas giving rise to a number of websites which help in the execution of the documents in the online mode, however

the other challenge is, if too much of data is online, the hackers at large will have the opportunity to adversely use such data. So, its facilitation by technology use with exposure to such risks.

How legal practice has evolved over the period of time? Are there any significant changes?

Legal profession is an important pillar for administration of justice and if it is not well-organized, court will not be to administer and deliver justice effectively. Legal practice from the time I started career in profession and as it is today, have considerably changed and major changes are seen in following aspects:

•Research was difficult earlier as it was more manual and now multiple legal search engines which throw cases in just a matter of seconds are available. This is a big facilitator to know the precedents and rulings of different courts.

•In earlier days, Steno with Typewriter was must. However, since the use of Computers multiple assignments of drafting can be parallel handled instead of typing gestation period and the saving system has facilitated the proof reading which was earlier by generation of prints for proof reading and correction and nowadays one can do on the computer itself.

•Access to Senior Counsel and to know their whereabouts earlier was a big challenge as one resource was tally required to follow them. Now due to cell phones and messaging system at the spur of the moment the co-ordination can happen.

•In litigation in almost all courts, the case status is available online whereas, earlier it had to be done manually by visiting respective court or its record department. This allows the lawyers to save the wait

period and efficiently use the same for other assignments closure.

•Awareness amongst new breed of lawyers is more as the Legal Media/ journalism has emerged as a big facilitator.

•Introductions of various systems like Online stamping/franking of documents and online registration of documents, online searches of title, online availability of revenue records, entity record online, filing of compliances by various entities and online application for registration system introduced, has come in a big way to facilitate the efficient handling of legal assignments.

What advice would you give to the aspiring legal enthusiasts who are willing to become lawyers and step into the legal space today?

My advice to aspiring legal enthusiasts would be to pursue law ONLY if you have passion for it and do not take it for the sake of no other alternative to them.

Secondly, being from eminent law schools along with good grades in law school may be the basic requirement for the entry in niche law firms or corporates.

However, the practical knowledge of operations of the Court, lots of efforts are required to be put in analyzing the cases and formulating the cause of action to know the best available course of action permissible under applicable laws. Trial Courts exposure is MUST both for civil and criminal areas practice aspirants. Depth knowledge of the core laws like Indian Constitution Corporate Laws, Regulations governing different businesses and specific field related laws expertise is required to be developed.

In practice, there is a bigger gestation period involved. So, the success can be achieved only through perseverance, hard work and full commitment. However, for In-house Roles in the beginning is the learning period. Hence, though the emoluments may be low but the aspirant needs to be taking such assignment opportunity where there is lot of technical legal work. More learning and growth come when one puts full commitment. Also, In-house law aspirant needs to learn to facilitate business and cannot merely flag legal issues and sit quiet. They must learn skills to find a way out by putting at work, the risk mitigation mechanism.

Initially, in both roles independent practice and in-house assignment, one needs to have lots of patience, hunger for knowledge and needs to be a voracious reader and needs to keep themselves abreast of all amendments and updates in

legal field by which they will have edge. Such approach will help in desired growth of the aspirant into an eligible legal professional is my candid advice.

Where does your endeavors lead you to in the coming years? Kindly talk about your future scenario. Since I have set up an independent law firm, primary focus will on the growth and expansion of the same, not just in terms of clients but also in terms of practice areas and geographies. Further, I am already doing a mentor role for lots of junior legal professionals and have formulated various social media knowledge sharing groups for guiding them, wherever possible.

This is one of the aspects I will continuously be doing. Further, I am also sharing common practices and job assignments availability with various firms/ organizations through formation of various social media groups which I will continue to do to achieve: ‘Giving Back to Society.’

Further, I intend writing books in the legal domain specially related to Drafting and Conveyancing, Corporate Laws and Legal Fiction which is underway.

What is the current scenario of the Indian Legal Space according to you?

Current scenario of Indian Legal Space looks very promising. Various redundant laws have been scrapped, while some laws have been consolidated into new code. Additionally, many New Laws have been introduced due to evolution of economy as well of businesses. Since the businesses and economies are getting modernized with new forms of risk coming into the play, the laws are also in parallel evolving and changing to address such new challenges.

The new generation of the populace in India are more aware of the legal rights and hence, lawyers are consulted even for the smallest of the issues, which has in turn helped the growth of legal profession.

Since India is a Developing Country, the Legal System will keep evolving to keep pace with the growth of the economy and it will happen with time, as the current times are unpredictable post covid, will see a lot of change in law enforcement processes and justice delivery systems in India provided there is a political will to pass some laws, which will create lots of ruckus and unrest for e.g., Uniform Civil Cod, etc.