This interview has been published by Anshi Mudgal and The SuperLawyer Team
What inspired you to take up Law? Did you have to deal with any resistance from your family while making that decision?
My father wanted me to pursue CA like the rest of my relatives, since it was considered as a good earning prospect, especially in Kolkata. For him, law meant running around court rooms, which was mostly the case back in 2011. While there were law firms like Khaitan in Kolkata, in-house roles were minimal.
I somehow tried to convince him that I don’t want to pursue litigation, and am willing to work as a corporate lawyer, which I believe will have an enhanced scope in 5 years, by the time I graduate from law school. However, he was so reluctant that he even got me the CPT exam form, which he said would be a backup in case I am unable to clear CLAT.
During that time, NLU Odisha, NLU Delhi and JGLS were just newly launched, and the entrance exams for these institutions were held separately. I was not able to fill up many forms due to the resistance at home, thus, my options were quite limited.
Later, I spoke to a relative staying in Kolkata that I am desirous of moving to Bangalore, and he helped me with the admission process at Bangalore Institute of Legal Studies.
Would you say your law school prepared you for the practical work which you had to do at work?
I think the curriculum at traditional non NLUs do not prepare you for a corporate job. Neither the intricacies of due diligence nor contract drafting are taught; you learn them while at work. When I visited NLSIU for their intra college client counselling competition, on a special invite, I realised that these things are so much helpful and I missed out on so much.
The only advantage I had was of staying in the city of Bangalore- I could intern at some prestigious law firms, and I was able to avail the benefit of the NLSIU library for conducting research work for moot competitions.
In deciding between corporate and litigation practice, what are the parameters that you considered?
My internship experience was a mix of corporate and litigation, however, given the state of courts in India, the number of adjournments; I decided against litigating.
You have interned with former Justice Indu Malhotra, Supreme Court. Can you share the experience with our readers?
When I had applied for an internship with Ms. Malhotra was a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court. I had procured two internships for the same period; another one being with Mr. K.V. Viswanathan, the then Additional Solicitor General of India (who also was elevated as a Judge of the Hon’ble Supreme Court later). I searched for their email ids on the Supreme Court Bar Association directory, which provides open online access on contact details of all advocates registered with the bar association of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, and followed up my application with calls.
The juniors at the office of Ms. Malhotra were extremely helpful and welcoming, and assigned me work like preparing a list of dates, research work on service matters, etc. In fact Ms. Malhotra also personally assigned me research work on her book on International Commercial Arbitration, which she was editing. I also visited the Apex Court regularly during my internship period, and was lucky to witness other eminent counsels like Kapil Sibal, Pinky Anand, Arvind Datar, etc arguing in court.
How was your time interning at law firms like Krishnamurthy & Co. (K Law), Majmudar and Partners and Tatva Legal?
Most of the law firms do not hire interns until 3rd or 4th year, and therefore, I could only intern with firms at the later part of college life. In Karnataka State Law University, the curriculum is designed in such a way that in a B.A. LL.B. course you are not taught core law subjects until 4th year.
While many of my friends complained that they were not assigned proper work during internship, and were given clerical tasks such as lifting of files or printing, surprisingly, for me, this wasn’t the case; my first internship with a law firm was at Tatva Legal, where I was conducting research on corporate laws, and was also involved in preparation of due diligence report of a company. At K Law also, the associate partners were kind enough, and I was assisting them in preparation of opinions, drafting of agreements and legal notices.
Majmudar & Partners offered me a long term internship during my final year, and therefore, I declined the internship offer at Bharucha & Partners (Delhi), however, later I realised that the decision was misplaced. Majmudar’s Bangalore office was very small, with only 1 partner and 2 junior associates. The partner directly assigned me work relating to review of agreements and drafting of advice, however, no proper feedback was provided on the same. Also, he kept assuring me of a PPO, which never happened.
After your education, you moved back to Kolkata, your hometown. Many stayed back in Bangalore or moved to Mumbai/ Delhi for better opportunities and bigger pay packages. Was this a conscious decision to move back to your hometown? If so, why? How challenging was it?
It was more of a personal decision for me; I had stayed out of home for 5 long years, and I wanted to be close to my parents. In fact I had a job offer from Wipro Legal and Compliance Team, Bangalore, as a Legal Executive, which I declined.
Finding a job which gives you a good exposure and also pays well was difficult. The corporates in Kolkata mostly have real estate work, and there is no departmentalisation (MA, PE, VC, Banking and Finance, and so on) as in most law firms outside Kolkata. I even interviewed for Khaitan, where the work was General Corporate; later, I joined Mr. Vinod Kothari in his financial and resolution services team, which gave me a good exposure both in terms of clientele as well as work. I worked with big corporate houses and NBFCs like Emami, Lux, Motilal Oswal, Poonawalla Finance (erstwhile Magma), Shriram Finance, Srei, amongst others.
You have pursued LLM from Jindal Global Law School. What was your motivation behind pursuing LLM? When did you finally decide that you need to do it? What was your topic of thesis? Why did you choose that subject for research?
I had an inclination towards teaching, and I always wanted to pursue a PhD; the decision to pursue LLM was a just step towards that.
I just didn’t want to leave a full time job to pursue academics, and when JGLS offered the blended LLM program in collaboration with Upgrad, I grabbed the opportunity.
My topic for my thesis was “Lifting of Corporate Veil and Group Insolvency”. I was involved in insolvency related work since its inception, i.e. from 2017, and during my LLM, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India had constituted a working group to develop draft framework on group insolvency, the Videocon ruling was also recently pronounced during that time, it was a burning topic during that time, therefore, the decision.
You’ve advised on market entry strategies across jurisdictions like Australia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and supported international acquisitions in Singapore. Please share your key experiences?
I worked closely with the global expansion and marketing team of Livspace. My role included the following:
1. to provide a comparative analysis of entry mechanisms abroad;
2. to highlight the risks and restrictions on the marketing approach in various jurisdictions;
3. to engage with foreign lawyers for due diligence of the target company, and to review related agreements.
Laws in common law jurisdictions are mostly similar, and due to the emergence of technology, the relevant statutes are also readily available online, therefore, advisory on Singapore law was manageable. The difficult part was litigation management overseas.
Livspace is into the service industry, and therefore, there were cases filed with the Consumers Association of Singapore and with Small Claims Tribunals every now and then. Since I was not qualified to practice in Singapore, I was unable to personally appear in these matters; but still I managed most of the litigation inhouse, I used to draft replies, assist with filing (which was done online with SingPass), and was also instrumental in training the executives (mostly from operations) to appear in the said matters.
You’ve engaged with regulatory bodies and handled litigation including under IBC and MSME. How do you build legal strategies that balance compliance with business risk, particularly in high-stakes cases?
I am not keen on lengthy litigation and cutting the pocket of my client, I am practical that way and mostly try to conduct a cost benefit analysis for my client, and suggest negotiation or settlement, as the situation demands. However, where the reputation of my client may be at stake for frivolous claims, I would strongly urge for a no settlement policy, and to pursue the matter legally to deter the opposite party and also to set a precedent.
Please share your journey as an adjunct faculty at Neotia University. You have taught a number of legal subjects and the trending ones from alternative dispute resolution, contracts, company law, intellectual property law and international trade law. Tell us about your teaching methodology. What advice do you share with your students on scoring higher grades?
The experience was great. I had complete flexibility on the way I wanted to conduct classes. The teaching methodology varied depending on the subject- for instance, (1) for ADR, my focus was on practical aspects of mediation and negotiation through extensive role play sessions, where students were also provided feedback; (2) ITL is more of a theoretical subject, but I was not very keen on delivering notes, since that makes the class very monotonous, therefore, I used the reverse teaching methodology, where each student was assigned a topic on which he/she had to give a presentation, and then any part left unanswered was addressed by me; I believe that the flipped classroom approach enhances the presentation and speaking skills of students; (3) classes for contracts were a bit theoretical where the emphasis was teaching the essentials of the contract law and the key terms of contracts, with a blend of problem-solving and collaborative assignments.
My advice to law students (esp to non NLU students) would be to study for knowledge, not for exams. Most of the time I hear that the students should mug up sections and case laws to pass the exams; and in some cases, students may not understand any part of what they are writing, but that seemingly does not matter for the exams. I would instead advise students to be inquisitive and ask the most important question “why”.
Our readers will also be curious to know about your love for writing?
My former employee Mr. Vinod Kothari is a renowned author of several books, and I was fortunate enough assist him in his books- 27th Edition of Tannan’s Banking Law and Practice in India (2017) and 6th Edition Lexis Nexis’s Securitisation, Asset Reconstruction and Enforcement of Security Interests (2020). He was the one who encouraged me to write.
When I was working with Mr. Vinod Kothari (who is also an Insolvency Professional), I used to write mostly on practical issues we used to face with the newly launched Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and the gaps therein along with my suggestions; later my write ups were quoted by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Phoenix Arc Private Limited vs. Spade Financial Services Limited & Ors. (February 1, 2021) and by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal in the case of Jayanta Banerjee vs. Shashi Agarwal & Ors. (June 4, 2021), and my writings have continued ever since; with the most recent one being on the “Co-Lending Arrangements” published by SSRN.
Now, I feel writing for me is more of a way to express my thoughts on any recent amendment/ judicial pronouncement.
Is it easy to have a work-life balance in this profession?
Well I would say that’s a decision you have to make. I have seen people quitting the profession to focus more on personal life, mostly after marriage, or to raise their kids. While I am in favour of having a balanced life, I did not want to take a career break, and continued to work even post maternity, however, with a more flexible work environment in-house.
Looking back at your diverse legal journey, what advice would you give to young legal professionals aiming to transition into in-house roles?
I would say a good mentor plays a pivotal role in shaping one’s life, and in enhancing the thought process. I was fortunate enough to work at places where I was provided complete autonomy in work. I also believe strong interpersonal skills, analytical and problem-solving abilities, research skills, and a keen attention to detail are important not only as an inhouse counsel but for any lawyer.
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