Known to his clients as the “big picture guy” Raian Karanjawala is the co-founder and managing partner of Karanjwala & Co, which he started with his wife Manik.

Read his amazing journey from a barsati (a one-room apartment on the terrace with a verandah outside) in Maharani Bagh, New Delhi, with two desks, to one of India’s most influential law firms, serving everyone from governments and companies in trouble to celebrities and street vendors in distress.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Both my wife Manik and I, prior to starting our own Firm, were working at P.H. Parekh & Co, New Delhi.

Shortly after we got married in April 1982, Manik sat for the Advocate-on-Record exam of the Supreme Court, cleared it, and it was this that prompted both of us to decide that we should sooner or later start our own practice.

Manik’s father, Justice V.M. Tarkunde, was a well-known Senior Advocate. When Manik and I worked at P.H. Parekh & Co., we had interacted closely with all the top counsels, like Mr. Fali Nariman, Mr. Soli Sorabjee, Mr. K.K. Venugopal, Dr. Y.S. Chitale, Mr. P. R. Mridul and Mr. Anil Divan. Therefore, we felt that we were well placed and sufficiently familiar with everyone to start our own practice.

My first office was in B-17, Maharani Bagh, the barsati (a one-room apartment on the terrace with a verandah outside) of my father-in-law’s house and it was divided into two parts; on the inside were two desks – one for Manik and another for me, and outside was where the staff and the stenos sat.

We were fortunate that from an early stage our work was always a little more and a little ahead of what people in our age group got.

Next: Early success
                                                                                                                                    
In conversation with Sangeeth Sebastian

Follow sangeeth @sangeethspeak