Statira H Ranina
What are the best and worst things about your job?
The best thing about my job is that I really enjoy the work that I do. I do both corporate and tax work. I especially find the tax work extremely interesting and challenging.
The worst thing about my job would be the level of stress and responsibility that I handle at my level.
Who was the first lawyer you ever worked under? What is the most important lesson that you learnt from him/her?
I worked under two lawyers, Aliff Fazelbhoy and Rajesh Begur. Both were equally instrumental in teaching me some important first lessons. These were – (i) the art of listening; (ii) to be meticulous, thorough and careful with my work; and (iii) that to be able to negotiate a document well you need to understand and be able to explain/argue the reason/cause/effect of practically every word in the document.
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 definitely say yes, provided that the seventeen year old has an aptitude for the legal profession. I believe that aptitude testing is important and should be encouraged before choices are made. If aptitude exists then the legal profession offers tremendous opportunities for young lawyers including an opportunity to work in large professionally run (rather than family run law firms) with equal opportunities for growth towards partnership. In fact, from the increasing number of applicants applying to law school every year the growing interest in law is quite evident.
What was your first car? When did you buy it?
My first car is a Honda Civic which I bought last year.
Which is your favourite restaurant?
Tetsuma at Colaba in Mumbai remains one of my favourites. I enjoy the lounge cum restaurant ambiance and the great Japanese food.
What is the best book you read in the past year?
I enjoy reading both fiction and biographies. A great book I read in the past year which beautifully combines the two was “The Indian Clerk” by David Leavitt. The book is based on the life of one of India ’s eminent mathematicians – Ramanujan. It provides an insight into the difficult life of a brilliant man.
Where did you go on your last vacation?
I just returned a week ago from my vacation to Canada to visit family and a very close friend in Minneapolis . Although it was a quiet vacation, I was able to spend a lot of quality time with them and also do some shopping.
Which historical figure would you invite for dinner? If you could only ask one question of him/her, what would you ask?
It would be Li Kwan Yew who was the former prime minister of Singapore . He was responsible for making Singapore what it is today – a highly developed nation. I would love to ask him what he would do differently from our current government in terms of political as well as economic policies for a similar level of development in India as in Singapore .
What is the most significant change that you would make to the law school curriculum?
A course on the use of language in drafting should be mandatory. I find may new graduates, even those from good schools, make stupid grammatical and language related mistakes.
What is the most significant change that you would like to see in the legal industry in the next five years?
Two changes that I would like to see is the free entry of foreign law firms (global competition is inevitable), and the implementation of a system that makes continuous training mandatory for all lawyers.
(Statira H Ranina is a Partner at the Nariman Point office of ALMT Legal, specialising in private equity transactions, tax, corporate law and information technology.)
