“It’s a hard life to be a corporate lawyer so if you don’t love doing it, you will never succeed in it” Amarchand Partner and ET’s 40 Hottest Business Leader under 40, Gunjan Shah

Gunjan Shah has made it to Economic Times India’s 40 hottest Under 40 Business Leaders. She says, “It feels wonderful, it’s a privilege and I am honored”. She is the only lawyer to make it to the list and only woman lawyer to which Gunjan is quick to respond, “For me it was exciting being the only lawyer in the list, man or woman is I suppose irrelevant”.

A law graduate from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, she joined the profession in 1998, when Amarchand Mangaldas hired her through campus placement. She worked at the firm for two years before joining University of Oxford, returning to India in 2001 and rejoining the firm.

Four years after her return, Gunjan was made a salaried partner, an event that she says was one of the defining events of her career. “As a junior associate you are very starry eyed about being a partner in a law firm” she says, “so when I made partner it was a turning point in my career.”

It was not the only one. Her time at Oxford was another.

“I met people from so many different countries, different cultures.” Remembers Gunjan, “I met some of the brightest legal jurists of our times and had the opportunity to talk to them, debate with them and learn from them. It really broadened my perspective of life which in turn really helped me grow as a person”.

With the recent column on a foreign LLM provoking such varied responses, it was interesting to learn what Gunjan had to say on this topic.

“There may not be a direct economic benefit from the LLM but it has really helped me grow as a person, open my mind and widened my perspective. It gave me access to some of the brightest minds in the world not only professors but also students who are my friends and who continue to meet me. That is wonderful.”

Right place at the right time

In 2008, aged just 33, Gunjan was made an equity partner. For a lawyer who has been involved in some of the biggest transactions in the country, you could argue that the promotion was simply a matter of time.

Gunjan disagrees.

“It was a proud moment for me no doubt but I am very, very fortunate.” She says that it was more of being at the right place at the right time.”

“India was growing, and I was a corporate lawyer in those early days. All of that helped and as you know the firm has immense goodwill in the market. The emergence of the Indian economy and how the firm was placed in that economy of course helped in my growth.”

Luck by chance

Although a lawyer for a decade and a half, she says she became a lawyer completely by chance.

“I was 17, I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I applied to this new fancy law school. In those days, the National Law School was very new and already gaining a good reputation so I applied and fortunately I got through to the written exam and got a call for the interview. I was not even sure that I should go for the interview.[ I had applied for Economics degree in Delhi as well and the two interviews were clashing as both were on the same day. I was not sure which one to go to for and took a call and went to Bangalore and got through the interview.”

On her decision to join Amarchand Mangaldas during campus placements, she says that the decision was partly based on her internship experiences in litigation.

“I wasn’t happy in spending time in court, it didn’t excite me to spend time in a court or wait for a matter. I did an internship in a corporate firm and I was far more excited by the work I did there.”

Another option was pursuing academics, and even in her final year, she was not quite sure what she would opt for.

“It was between academics and corporate law and then I decided to come to Amarchand and see how it was like and I loved it and stayed on.”

Although there is a growing openness in discussing gender-based discrimination within law firms, Gunjan says that she has never faced discrimination on the grounds of her gender.

She does say that in her early years, it was sometimes difficult to be taken seriously because of her age and “being a young lawyer in a room full of gray haired men”. However, once it was clear that she meant business, the hesistance, if any, “went away in a few minutes.”

“Is that someone from Mr. Shroff’s office?”

When it comes to role models, Gunjan is quite clear that one of the people who have had a significant impact on her is Managing Partner Shardul Shroff.

“I didn’t even notice this but a few years ago, I was on a conference call and actually somebody who joined the call little later commented, “is that someone from Mr.Shroff ‘s office”. Apparently my style or way of dealing with the issues or the way I handle the matter is similar to his. When I joined Amarchand, because it was a much smaller organizationat the time, I was fortunate to be personally trained by Mr. Shroff”.

Be creative and solution-oriented

Ask her what makes a successful corporate lawyer, and her answer is one that certainly merits much thought.

“It’s very easy to identify a problem. I tell my team everyday, people are not coming to us so that we can identify the problem, that’s the basic minimum. People come to us so that we find a solution to the problem within the realm and parameters of law.”

“In my mind to be creative, solution oriented, and more than anything to be sincere and honest in what you are doing – that’s the trick. Also, to love what you are doing, that’s the most important. It’s a hard life to be a corporate lawyer so if you don’t love doing it, you will never succeed in it.”

As the interview wraps up, the conversation veers to her interests outside of law. It turns out that apart from being one of the youngest equity partners in Amarchand, Gunjan is also a trained classical dancer.

“I used to perform but now I don’t have the time. So I go and watch other people perform. I try not to miss concerts; my favorite is Indian classical but I equally appreciate western classical music dance, ballet, and jazz, any form of performing arts. I also love to collect Indian contemporary art so I don’t like to miss art fairs.”