Siddharth Raja
What are the best and worst things about your job?
Most of all, I enjoy my interactions with my partners, as well as the discussions with my associates and research, on the various interpretative aspects of the law that we deal with on a regular basis. I can’t say there is anything that I hate about my job – other than the few painful, but sadly necessary, negotiations with some of our clients setting our fees at the start of a matter!
Who was the first lawyer you ever worked under? What is the most important lesson that you learnt from him/her?
Mr. Darius Udwadia, Senior Partner, Udwadia & Udeshi (formerly Partner, Crawford Bayley) in Mumbai. He taught me to be meticulous in my work, as well as the importance of honesty and integrity, of calling a spade a spade.
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?
India needs more committed lawyers. So, I would tell them that if they have an aptitude for problem solving, a keen, inquisitive and logical bent of mind and a sense of fair play and justice, then the law it must be as a career for them. In fact, most teenagers have these traits, so almost everyone can and must become a lawyer!
What was your first car? When did you buy it?
I don’t drive! So, the car has never held any fascination for me – though I have bought a Reva electric car a few months ago. It is so easy to drive that even I can!
Which is your favourite restaurant?
Harima, a Japanese restaurant on Residency Road in Bangalore .
What is the best book you read in the past year?
I generally read non-fiction, historical books, chiefly on Central Asia and the Third Reich. In this past year, I have enjoyed reading “Double Standards : The Rudolf Hess Cover-up” by Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince and Stephen Prior (with additional research by Robert Brydon) and “Tournament of Shadows : The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia” by Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac.
Where did you go on your last vacation?
Uzbekistan – Tashkent , Khiva, Bukhara , Samarkand and Fergana – fantastic for the history buff that I am!
Which historical figure would you invite for dinner? If you could only ask one question of him/her, what would you ask?
Subhash Chandra Bose – what policies would you have implemented (different from that of independent India ’s first government) if you had been successful in your quest to throw the British out by force?
What is the most significant change that you would make to the law school curriculum?
I would re-look at how the foundation courses in civil law – primarily, contract law, property law and the law relating to collateral security – are taught, including reworking and updating the basic teaching materials for these subjects. I would increase the number of courses for these subjects and, in the final year of law school, ensure that there is a refresher course covering these foundation subjects.
What is the most significant change that you would like to see in the legal industry in the next five years?
The emergence of the phenomenon of global Indian law firms on par, in terms of presence, strength, quality, knowledge-base and output, with any of the leading international law firms. Such growth can only happen with competition which must first be in place at home by permitting foreign lawyers and law firms to enter into and set up practices in India on the basis of clear, transparent, fair, non-arbitrary and internationally-benchmarked ‘best practice’ rules that regulate their work and advisory services on a non-discriminatory basis vis-à-vis Indian lawyers and firms. My fervent hope is that permitting such entry into India will not take five years to achieve! The benefits I have listed for Indian law firms from such competition are, to my mind, plain – the future global possibilities immense; the world for the taking!
(Siddharth Raja is a partner at Narasappa, Doraswamy and Raja. Chambers Asia 2009 lists Siddharth in Band 1 among private equity lawyers in India. He has previously been a visiting faculty member at the Department of Management Studies of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, where he taught a course on Business Law in 2006 and 2007).
