Vandana Pai

Vandana Pai is a Senior Partner at Bharucha and Partners, which is a top law firm in India. Having previously worked at Amarchand Mangaldas, widely regarded as the very best law firm in India, she has over 20 years of experience in the legal profession.

Having gained an interest in law after taking an aptitude test during her school days, she attended the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), located in Bangalore, after which she attended Columbia University for her Masters. During her 5 years at NLSIU, Ms. Pai found her love for corporate law while doing internships in different law firms, as she did not enjoy the litigation process and going to court.

Nowadays, Ms. Pai focuses on private equity. This means that private equity groups, which are her clients and intend to get into business in India, will consult her and she will be involved in drafting agreements and making sure all the laws and regulations pertaining to that sector are abided by.

In terms of advice, Ms. Pai, suggests that any high school student that wants to study law in the future should understand exactly what all being a lawyer entails, considering the fact that lawyers in firms work at least 60-80 hour weeks and need to understand the area of law that they practice thoroughly. To anybody in law school, Ms. Pai, suggests that they enjoy their time and learn all the information that they have available to them.

In terms of skill sets, Ms. Pai believes that anybody aspiring to be a highly successful corporate lawyer, more specifically a transaction lawyer, must have good negotiation skills along with a good eye for detail to help manage the entire process of the transaction and ensure that there are no roadblocks faced at any stage.