Shadab Mansoori

What are the best and worst things about your job?

The best thing about my job is that it requires me to travel and I love traveling. There is nothing in my job which I can put into the category of ‘worst’ but there are things which frustrate me. For instance, non-implementation of the legal reforms.

Who was the first lawyer you ever worked under? What is the most important lesson that you learnt from him/her?

I worked with Mr. Biri Singh Sinsinwal, Senior Advocate, Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur Bench. I learnt from him that hard-work polishes your legal skills and there is no substitute for hard work.

If a seventeen year old came to you and asked you whether he/she should consider a career in law, what advice would you give?

I would suggest to him/her that the legal profession gives you the highest ‘professional’ satisfaction.

What was your first car? When did you buy it?

Never bought a car.

Which is your favourite restaurant?

My favorite restaurant is ‘Lovage’, London .

What is the best book you read in the past year?

‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ by Jared Diamond and ‘ India After Gandhi’ by Ramchandra Guha.

Where did you go on your last vacation?

My last vacation was in Rishikesh.

Which historical figure would you invite for dinner? If you could only ask one question of him/her, what would you ask?

I would invite Socrates for dinner and my question to him would be “why Hemlock?”

What is the most significant change that you would make to the law school curriculum?

There is a need to focus more on the ethics and duties of lawyers.

What is the most significant change that you would like to see in the legal industry in the next five years?

International legal firms working at par with the Indian legal firms.

Shadab Mansoori was State Coordinator for Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, a non-government organization based in Uttarakhand. His work involved creating legal awareness and dispersing legal literacy in the predominantly tribal states of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. He is now at the London School of Economics, where he is completing his M.Sc. in Human Rights.