[Exclusive]: The institution is bigger than any one individual, Somasekhar Sundaresan on leaving JSA

After spending 13 years at J. Sagar Associates, Equity Partner and Executive Committee Member Somasekhar Sundaresan is set to leave the firm for counsel practice.

. In this exclusive interview with Bar & Bench , Somasekhar Sundaresan talks about his decision to leave law firm practice, the impact his departure will have on the firm and his team, and much more.

. Bar & Bench: This is a big decision. What prompted you to take this decision?

. Somasekhar Sundaresan: This is a “life” decision. For a few years now, I have been mulling over what to do next in my life. These things develop over time and there cannot be immediate prompts and immediate reactions to anything in particular. There comes a time when the final decision becomes clear as daylight in the mind and one then takes the step.

. There are a few things I want to do. I have for long felt that lawyers should provide legal aid to the needy and I have done nothing of it despite having headed the Legal Aid Clinic in my law college as a student. I want to write at a more serious level but the time and space to devote to it has been elusive. I enjoy arguing matters as well as handling substantial transactions in the publicly listed space, but handling the execution part is something I have moved on from. I enjoy commercial strategy as part of the Executive Committee but I am a bit better at being a lawyer. One cannot be everything to everyone. At some point one must choose to do justice to oneself and to stakeholders.

. JSA has provided to me an amazing environment in which I have been able to pursue socially-oriented public policy work as well as writing news columns and blogs. I think I am at a stage now where I would not do justice to the firm if I pursued my own path without fully devoting myself to what the firm needs. I would not do justice to my own path without fully devoting myself to what gives me happiness. The process of juggling the pursuit of multiple objectives satisfactorily has an optimal threshold and there comes a time when one has to take a call. I have done that now to the best of my judgement capability. I hope this is a right choice. Time will tell.

. Bar & Bench: Why now?

. Somasekhar Sundaresan: It’s always a very difficult decision to take. Both in terms of the decision itself, and the timing for it. At some point in life, one needs a change and must act on one’s instinct and desire. To me, the time is finally, now.

. On the transactional side, I’ve been involved primarily in the listed space – public takeovers, PIPEs, delisting, securities offerings relating to these, and of course, blessing transaction structures even if the transactions themselves are not executed by me and my team. I’m 43 going on 44 and I don’t see myself executing transactions, reviewing due diligence outcomes and drafting contracts ten years down the line. In the new role, I may indeed get to advice and opine on regulatory aspects of transactions but that is very different from executing deals.

. Bar & Bench: What is the timeline for the exit?

. Somasekhar Sundaresan: When you leave an institution that you have been part of building, you must give it the most appropriate length of time to ensure smooth transition – whatever is the right period to give, on the longer side or the shorter side. The interests of clients, the main purpose for which a service provider exists, rank the highest. The interests of the team and colleagues, the reason due to which you are able to perform, rank very high too. I am currently working with the Joint Managing Partners to work out the details and modalities of the transition. I am available for as long or as short as is appropriate.

. There are various factors one must take into account – live ongoing assignments and matters, the time for refitting and re-aligning team members, dealing with outstanding business strategy execution requirements and the like. We are working on all these in right earnest as any institution would. We are very clear that I would be available to hand-hold the transition. Typically, these matters do not need more than about three months, but we are committed to give it as long as it takes. At the same time, in the best interests of JSA and the clients, any exit ought not to linger for too long.

. It is too early to predict with any precision.

. Bar & Bench: How will your exit impact the firm?

. Somasekhar Sundaresan: We have built an institution with inner strength and resilience. It will cope very well. It would be as silly to say that nothing will have any impact as it would be wrong to paint doomsday scenarios. The institution is bigger than any individual and no one is indispensable. I have the fullest confidence that the JSA model is robust for structuring a professional services firm.

. I have no doubt that there are other models too for running a firm and I have no dogmatic belief that one model is the only way to be, but ours is the best approach, in my view, to organize, manage and run a professional services firm that is egalitarian in its ideals, objective in its assessment and visionary in its approach.

. All these traits that you find in JSA’s architecture – of ensuring that goodwill resides in a trust, of ensuring absence of filial links, of ensuring compulsory retirement, of ensuring an executive committee in management of the firm, to name a few – are not mere fetishes. They are ideals we have collectively bought into.

. So long as the firm adheres to these regardless of passengers coming on board and alighting from time to time, the march of the caravan will continue steadfast. It is an appropriate model to attract and nurture talent and remain meaningful to clients, lawyers and society. It is an appropriate model to deal with entries and exits of lawyers, whether they have a prima donna image or otherwise.

. While I cannot disclose numbers, even this year, in the teeth of all the negative predictions after last year’s retirement by one Partner with his team, we have actually done better than the previous year both in terms of topline and bottomline. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. What I’m saying here is not in thin air – it’s actually a demonstrated fact.

. Bar & Bench: What about your team at JSA?

. Somasekhar Sundaresan: I am proud of the team that I work with. This is the best crack force in the securities regulatory space, even if I say so myself. However, I am not setting up a competing firm. I am setting up a small chamber as a counsel. I have to find my feet and figure my way. So, there is no question of a large team following me. I have spent the past 48 hours speaking to every single member of the team. The transactional team is well led by other partners who are also part of my team and nothing will change for them. There could always be some element of re-adjustment and re-formulation that the firm would need to do. If someone is professionally and philosophically aligned and can also afford the financial risk of joining a novice chamber like mine, there could be space to work together.

. Bar & Bench: Would your team manage to run the transactions/deals on its own without you?

. Somasekhar Sundaresan: For a few years now, on almost no assignment do I enter a meeting room without someone accompanying me. I learnt this trait from Hiten Kotak, a tax partner of one of the Big Four firms. You have a team so that you can get support and assistance and when you use that assistance, you spawn future leaders. There are other partners in my team who lead and run transactions substantially on their own.

. One of them, Vikram Raghani, is now a full-fledged equity partner, an integral part of the firm’s ownership and professional leadership. I have worked across the board with other equity partners too. My role has been that of a provider of support to other frontline service providers in the firm. All of this has meant that I am simply dispensable.

. It is only this approach that has enabled me to perform well for years at stretch and yet have a life outside work, taking time out for expeditions to the mountains. The team will not just manage to run deals on its own, I have no doubt it will thrive. Inherent in this is succession planning . My exit will create space and room for younger Partners to occupy and mould themselves. I have had the benefit of excellent seniors both within and outside the firm and I hope I have been one for those in my team. Nothing gives a lawyer more joy than seeing a youngster who has worked with him rise up and thrive.

. Bar & Bench: What are your long term plans?

. Somasekhar Sundaresan: I will have to find my feet in the new role. I will focus on re-learning forgotten lessons and learning new ones. I hope to keep focus on the areas where I can add value – securities law and financial sector regulation being at the core, and administrative law being the attendant area of work. I also hope to be able to work on legal aid matters. Meanwhile the time and space cleared up by not undertaking transactional execution and being involved in the management of a commercial law firm, I hope, can be deployed in taking my writing to a more serious level as also working with sharper focus on the work that I have handled in the regulatory policy space in recent years.

. Pursuing the things that bring happiness has always been and will remain the only long-term plan.

. Bar & Bench: Since you are now getting into full time counsel practice – who are the seniors you have worked with and look up to?

. Somasekhar Sundaresan: I’ve been fortunate to have worked with and against a range of seniors. The best of the Bombay bar practices at the Securities Appellate Tribunal. At the SAT, I’ve learnt immensely from seniors such as Janak Dwarkadas, Darius Khambata, Iqbal Chagla, Amit Desai and JJ. Bhatt. There are other seniors who I’ve learnt from, simply by observing them even if I haven’t worked on too many matters with them.

. Shyam Mehta is an excellent personal friend and has a lot to teach younger lawyers, both in terms of law and values of compassion and work-life balance. There’s enormous learning in work ethic and professional commitment from P. Chidambaram. In the Supreme Court and at times at the SAT too, I’ve worked with seniors such as Aryama Sundaram, Shyam Divan, the late Goolam Vahanvati, who has led me, and opposed me in many matters. In the public policy space, I’ve had the fortune of working with retired judges and judicial officers such as Justice BN. Srikrishna, Justice NK. Sodhi and the late C. Achuthan each of whom has been an amazing guide to learn from.

. Bar & Bench: Are you ultimately working towards a public office?

. Somasekhar Sundaresan: It is important for professionals to give back to society. A society is built on the skills and strengths of its professionals. I am open to serving in an appropriate capacity should the situation so require and opportunities present themselves. I have been doing a fair bit of intense public policy work in recent years. Should I get an opportunity to serve society in a formal capacity, I would.

. Photo Credit: Santosh Samal

[Exclusive]: The institution is bigger than any one individual, Somasekhar Sundaresan on leaving JSA

Pallavi Saluja

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