This interview has been published by Namrata Singh and The SuperLawyer Team
Looking back, what ignited your passion for law? Can you walk us through your journey, from those early inspirations to the defining moments that led you from ICICI Bank to your current leadership role at Avery Dennison?
When I finished school, the options seemed to be either medicine or engineering, but neither appealed to me as such. As a first generation lawyer, I didn’t know much about anything to do with law, except being intrigued by the popular image of them as fiery eloquent champions of justice. It started out mostly as wanting to build a career while doing the right thing, being able to stay connected with my long-term fascination with logical reasoning & puzzles to solve problems, and also perhaps from watching too many Bengali courtroom dramas!
In hindsight, joining ICICI Limited was a great decision because it helped me build a solid foundation in financial transactions and accounting principles – which are the bread and butter basics for a corporate lawyer. It helped that ICICI Limited at the time used to do most of its work in-house, so we got a lot of practice in drafting & reviewing complex contracts and working with (very talented) cross-functional teams.
Over the years, I have had a lot of mentors and I would not have been here without the guidance and advice received. I have worked at a couple of law firms, Cisco, United Spirits Ltd and Avery Dennison, and what shaped my path was an abiding desire to excel, to do challenging work without being afraid to put in the hours needed and to go the extra mile to enable/ support the business teams.
You worked for a while with Morgan Walker Solicitors in London. How was your experience working there, and what brought you back to India? Can you share the transition part of your career and how it influenced your professional growth?
Before joining Morgan Walker Solicitors, I was able to complete the Qualified Lawyer Transfer Test(QLTT) and successfully qualify as a Solicitor in England & Wales. MWS was a deeply useful addition to my UK stint, as I was exposed to complex transactional contracts and the more strategic advice needed for cross-border transactions.
I returned to India for personal reasons but am grateful for the years I worked in the UK, because it broadened my perspective significantly, exposing me to a different culture and way of doing things that I integrated into my own approach to the profession.
As the Executive Sponsor for certain APAC DEI Council initiatives, what initiatives have you implemented to promote diversity and inclusion? How do these initiatives contribute to the overall success and culture of the organization?
The three main areas I have focussed on in the past four or five years in the APAC DEI Council are the Safe to Speak Up initiatives, setting up an employee resource group (WeRise) separately for women employees in South Asia distinct from the APAC group and starting a need-based mentoring program in the region. I think we have a long long way to go where DEI is concerned. Yes, the number of diverse employees is increasing and the talent acquisition team is working to balance the playing field at the entry level, but the problems of unconscious bias and years of patriarchy are tough to root out.
The initiatives I have chosen to work address three important aspects – providing a platform to raise concerns, bringing women together to support each other and trying to provide advice/ guidance on specific areas identified by employees themselves.
DEI is something I am deeply passionate about, and I try to stay involved even when there is little bandwidth available. I feel that as a woman leader I should do whatever I can to make things easier for those who have (or will) come after me. Manufacturing is still such a male dominated industry, that women on the shop floor and in leadership roles are limited. The benefits of diversity are too obvious to ignore. But we have to move from mentorship to sponsorship, from silent supporters to active allies, from the safety of status quo to active challenging, from tokenism to owning the outcome.
You have advised on legislation related to plastic waste management and are involved in sustainability and governance. How do you balance corporate interests with regulatory compliance and environmental responsibilities?
Both go hand in hand, specifically to meet the de facto and potentially to surpass the law de jure. At Avery Dennison, we strive to ensure a much higher standard than what legislation prescribes, ensuring that sustainability is upfront and centre of all our products and solutions. While I will not deny there are operational challenges, if the value-add is clearly captured and (if possible) quantified, in my experience there is complete support from the business leadership.
Among your many achievements, you’ve been awarded the Global Leadership Excellence Award multiple times. Which project or initiative are you most proud of and why?
I have been awarded the Global Leadership Excellence Award four times and I am most proud of the one I received for designing and setting up the Compliance Ambassador Program globally across the company. This program invites participation at the ground level (including the shop floor) from colleagues in a structured program format to help broadbase compliance initiates and messaging, to ensure that we involve every person in building a robust compliance culture in the company.
We know to focus on the tone-at -the-top, but it is when the tone-across-the-organisation is in sync with the tone-at-the-top that we can truly change culture and make integrity our true North. I have been amazed and humbled by the talent and motivation of colleagues in finding innovative ways to communicate and engage with all employees on compliance issues and messaging.
You’ve held leadership positions across India, the UK, and other regions. What are some key differences in navigating legal landscapes across these diverse markets?
In my current role as Senior Director – Legal for South Asia I support all business divisions of Avery Dennison across India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa and Kenya. While having a wide portfolio is great, it also means a lot more homework, especially when there is a different official language & business culture at play and multiple P&Ls in a matrixed structure. I think there are two critical but oft-ignored components to success as a business partner – familiarity with the legislation, precedents, practices and the ability to find the most suitable support needed for more complex matters.
Since we also play an active role in government relations, there is a need to be agile, on the ground and to build key relationships with multiple external stakeholders. Managing crisis and business continuity remotely is, of course, a completely different ball game.
Outside of your professional life, what are some of your personal hobbies or interests that help you maintain a work-life balance?
First I have to say that personally I think that ‘work-life balance’ is a misnomer! It is almost impossible to find a balance, as work is such a huge part of life itself, therefore impossible to categorise in separate buckets. What works for me is to prioritise what I need to do every day and then not to waste time thinking about my choices!
I am the mother of two boys (aged 20 and 16) and love spending time at home with my family as much as I enjoy being a legal professional. Other than that, I travel a lot, enjoy being with friends, cooking and working on various creative crafts (decoupage, resin art, Tanjore painting, crochet, cross-stitch etc). Am also a gardening enthusiast and an orchid addict! I find that being flexible with your hobbies is the key to fitting them into your career in a fulfilling manner.
What advice would you give to the current generation of aspiring lawyers who wish to build a successful career in corporate law?
Instead of advice, I would call them my tips for a successful career in-house and they would be as follows:
- Be focused and sincere, and know that there are no short-cuts or substitutes to hard work, which means read, read, read some more and never stop learning;
- Be intelligent about how you work, chasing solutions and outcomes, but be wary of being a mere post-box counsel;
- Appreciate that most corporations are under transformational change in this VUCA world and advising on doing the right thing and finding ethical solutions is becoming more difficult. However, it is not impossible and thats really our job as in-house counsel;
- Whether we practice or work inhouse, we lawyers should all uphold the honour of the profession and its standards of conduct; and finally
- Don’t focus too much on the designation or the job title but on learning and acquiring skills/ knowledge. At the end of the day, what is most important is to enjoy what you do and to do it with passion and pride.
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