Interview With Ms Nandini Gore, Senior Partner, Karanjawala & Co.
Ms Nandini Gore, Senior Partner, Karanjawala & Co., on being first law firm member to become office bearer in SCAORA and insights on litigation experience
Q 1. What motivated you to take up law as a career? How was your educational experience with Delhi University?
ANS: An element of ensuring public service as part of my life was one of the main motivational factors that led me to pursue law as my career. I was always inclined towards debating in school and college and was inclined to appear for the Civil Services examination and therefore, a natural step in that direction was to pursue law. It started off as a subject that I intended to be [art of my optional paper in the civil services examination but soon became my true calling.
I would say that one of the most enriching experiences of my life was my time at the University of Delhi. My alma mater, Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law of the University of Delhi is where I received the holistic understanding of the subject and coupled with the guidance I received from my professors there is what helped in shaping the lawyer I am today. Having grown listening to the lectures of Prof. Madhav Menon on Constitutional Law, Prof. Kubba for Torts, Mr Rajiv Khanna on Contract, and Hon’ble Mr Justice A.K. Sikri who used to teach us the Code of Civil Procedure, their education is possibly my life’s biggest lessons.
Q 2. You entered the legal fraternity in the 90s when it was majorly dominated by men and today, you are amongst the top-most Advocates of India. How has the struggle been?
ANS: I wouldn’t really call it a struggle but rather an enriching experience. I agree that the number of Advocates practicing is slightly skewed but this trend is changing. I have always believed that it’s your calibre and not your gender that will take you places in the profession. If I talk about my office, I take immense pride in the fact that extremely intelligent and outstanding female lawyers have been and are part of my team.
Q 3. How do you think legal fraternity has evolved over these years? What major changes have you noticed?
ANS: The legal fraternity has definitely become more inclusive. The overall scenario, especially in regard to the litigation field has seen a massive shift from work being concentrated in the hands of a few Counsel to the present day scenario. The new avenues and specialized forums have led to greater specialization by counsel resulting in better and essentially more organized service delivery to the clients. The litigation scenario, especially in Delhi, has massively benefited from this with the city attracting the best young legal minds.
Q 4. Karanjawala & Co. recently won INBA’s Law Firm of the Year Award. What do you think makes your firm stand out?
ANS: It has been a long journey for Karanjawala & Co. Advocates. The journey from a small boutique law firm operating from a room to the
Q 5. What is your opinion about the work environment at Tier-1 Law Firms?
ANS: As I said, the amount of work flowing into law firms is at an all-time high. The endeavor of every law firm, however, should not be in churning out quantity by compromising of the quality of the work. The Tier-I law firms of today are attracting the best young legal minds of the country and the increased pay for young lawyers has resulted in making the profession a viable career path. I have personally had various occasions of interacting with lawyers from various firms and it gives me immense satisfaction to see that future of the profession is in safe hands.
Q 6. Two out of three Senior Partners in your firm including you are females. How do you feel about it and do you agree participation of women in Bar and Bench is on
ANS: It absolutely is. The number of female lawyers arguing and appearing in courts today is a sight that would make our forefathers proud. I can proudly say that at Karanjawala & Co. the opportunities afforded to me and my colleagues have been immense. I have personally had the fortune of mentoring many young girls in the profession both in and out of my team and the very fact that two of every three lawyers in our office are females bears testimony to this systematic shift in the profession. The coming of age of the discussion on maternity benefits and a safe work environment to female lawyers has also given the
Q 7. You were the first ever law firm member to become office-bearer in Supreme Court Bar Association which indeed is inspiring for all aspiring female lawyers. What was your role and what recommendations you made?
ANS: My stint as the Hony. Secretary of the Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association was just one step on my part to give back to the court that gave me everything. Being there as a friend to the many young lawyers and colleagues and helping them with small issues that they face in their day to day lives in the court has been immensely satisfying and enriching. Being active in such associations brings out the feeling of togetherness and belonging towards the profession and I am happy that I could do my bit in this regard. A few such instances that come to mind in this regard. Once, whilst utilizing a large sum of money that was imposed as costs on a frivolous litigant, when called upon by Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India, I secured
Another instance was when I had written to the Chief Justice of the High Court of Jharkhand at Ranchi drawing his attention to the bad condition of the public conveniences in the High Court. The effect of the same was that in hardly a week the entire infrastructure in this regard was strengthened resulting in better conditions to work for all female lawyers in the High Court.
Q 8. We have learnt that you strongly believe in mediation as a method of alternative dispute resolution, why so?
ANS: The pendency of cases, the ever-increasing number of statutory Appeal and most importantly the increasingly alarming rate at which dispute
I have always firmly believed that where justice is administered at a belated stage is as good as the denial of justice, and therefore the most important and biggest hurdle that has to be overcome is to bring down the pendency of cases before various courts of India. It is extremely pertinent to mention here that the founding father of our nation and subsequent legislators have anticipated this and sought to remedy these by the establishments of alternative disputes redressal mechanism in our country. Mediation, Arbitration, Conciliation and establishments of LokAdalats etc. are the various ways by which the problem of pendency of cases was sought to be tackled by the Indian State. However, over the years in my personal experience as a Certified Mediator and practising Supreme Court Advocate I have personally noticed that these avenues have not been utilized to the best of their capabilities.
Q 9. Since you have diverse experience in mining laws, do you think mining law in India is an emerging field?
ANS: Yes, mining law is an emerging field. There is no doubt that mining law is still evolving and there are many issues which still remain unanswered despite having various laws pertaining to regulation of Mining. With mining, there are intertwined issues like the environment, forest etc. which are governed by separate statutes which pose a lot of practical problems for the clients to follow the law and also for the enforcing agencies to enforce it. Further, since India is a growing economy, minerals also need to be extracted to meet up the growing demand, which requires the legislature to bring in necessary changes in the law. As such, because of these reasons, mining law in India is more essentially a developing field and this development continues as we speak.
Having been part of landmark judgments like Common Cause v. Union of India(Illegal Mining in Odisha), T.N. GodavarmanThirumulpad v. Union of India etc. and having represented clients like Tata Steel, Jindal Steel etc. has allowed me to be a part of this enriching development of the mining jurisprudence.
Q 10. You have been practising for over 3 decades now, over the years from which experience have you learnt the most?
ANS: Two extremely enriching learning experiences come to mind. As a young lawyer briefing the celebrated Justice (Retd.) Late V.M. Tarkunde, Senior Advocate and former Judge of the Bombay High Court, he told me that the key to becoming a good lawyer lay in the efficient and in-depth understanding of the Code of Civil Procedure. He also used to tell us that to truly understand the working of the legal system, every lawyer should spend some part of his career in the Trial Court. Another valuable lesson I learnt was when I was briefing Mr Fali S. Nariman, Senior Advocate. His conferences taught me that one should never hesitate in putting across valid legal arguments despite one’s young age. Mr Nariman has always recognized and appreciated any hard work put in by young lawyers and this is one advice I will always pass on to the younger lawyers.
Q 11. What qualifications and skills your firm typically looks for while hiring law graduates?
ANS: I would say that thirst for constantly improving the one’s legal acumen and an unending endeavour to serve the clients to the best of one’s abilities is possibly the first few things we look at while hiring lawyers at Karanjawala & Co. A foremost requirement for every person here at Karanjawala & Co. is to ensure that he or she is a good team player.
Q 12. What’s your advice for the fresh law graduates who are interested in litigation? Should they practice in court or join litigation firm?
ANS: Do what makes you happy is the advice I give everyone joining the profession. It doesn’t really matter if you work as a litigation counsel in the district courts or be part of a Tier-I law firm handling the most talked about matters or join the corporate side of law as long as one stays committed in providing the best legal advice and stays true to integrity and honesty that this profession demands. For a young lawyer the avenues as on date in the field of law are immense and whole wide world its open and waiting for them. However, I strongly recommend that every lawyer, whether a fresher or an experienced one, should always do some pro bono work and give back to the society. This experience is particularly enriching.
I still remember the time when I had approached two eminent lawyers of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, Mr. Fali S. Nariman and Mr. Harish N. Salve, Learned Senior Advocates to appear in a case seeking relief for a rape victim(NariRakshaSamiti case)before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. There is much to be learnt from them, who not only appeared pro bono in the matter but were also instrumental in ensuring that effective guidelines are laid down to ensure that the heinous crime does not happen to anyone else.