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.

ON DIFFERING STRATEGIES

Whether it’s corporate cases or pro bono (work undertaken voluntarily and without payment) causes, we always put our best foot forward.

But when you are dealing with a complex commercial issue, you usually have the benefit of the client’s corporate team, advising you and giving you inputs throughout.

It therefore tends to ensure that mistakes are not made, and things are not overlooked. 

When you are doing a Public Interest Litigation, the client usually is not well off and often does not have the wherewithal to conduct the litigation in the manner in which a corporate could. 

The responsibility, therefore in a pro bono litigation, is all the more on the firm and the lawyer as you have to ensure that no point is missed out, all aspects are researched, and the case is fought as well as any other commercial case.

Next: Top 5 courtroom memories

In conversation with Sangeeth Sebastian

Follow sangeeth @sangeethspeak