COVER STORY
Describe your journey as a leading woman lawyer?
M
anisha Singh, Founder
Partner, LexOrbis, India’s
premier
Intellectual
Property law firm providing end-to-
end IP services and solutions is a
distinguished lawyer with over 20
years of experience.
Manisha founded LexOrbis in 1997
with a set of like-minded lawyers to
bring an international perspective
to Indian intellectual property right
laws that were in the process of
being integrated with International
IP systems post signing of the
TRIPS agreement by India in 1995.
Manisha worked closely with policy
makers, the judiciary and other
stakeholders to establish a robust
and level-playing IP regime in India
and continues to work on critical
and high-stake policy-related cases.
Manisha is ranked among the
leading IP and dispute resolution
lawyers, and is known for
her proactive, out of the box,
business-oriented counseling and
representation.
Her in-depth understanding and
knowledge of all aspects of IPR is
reflected in her prolific, academic
and research-based writing in
renowned publications worldwide
as well as her public speeches and
commentaries.
A member of many significant IP
forums and professional bodies in
India and abroad, Manisha studied
law from Campus Law Centre of
Delhi University after completing
her Master’s degree in Economics.
The journey has been so challenging but fulfilling. When I started my career
with a general practice firm around 20 years back, the economic spectrum of
the country was undergoing a paradigm shift, particularly with the introduction
of the New Economic Policy of 1991 and consequent opening up of the economy
for multi-national corporations. Around the same time, India signed the TRIPS
Agreement and committed to amend national IP laws to make them compliant
with international standards. The IP laws and system in India at that stage were
designed to serve local players who very sparsely using the system. At that stage,
I, along with my other founder-partners, conceptualized setting up a specialized
IP practice firm with the fine blend of legal acumen and technology expertise to
assist international players interested in protecting and enforcing their IP assets
in India. Though, we were abreast ourselves with international standards and
applied them in our firm, the ecosystem in which we were operating was not
geared to such a service model. It was also very difficult for us at that stage to
motivate and inspire young engineers and scientists to take up and pursue law as
a profession. Being a woman, my comments and positive criticism on the system
and proposals for improving the same, initially, were not taken seriously by most.
But I continued to tread my path and today, I am witnessing the system not only
responding to what we used to argue a decade ago but also playing an active
role in implementing systems which are transparent, user-friendly and respect the
ingenuity of the human mind. To witness those changes in the Indian IP system is
indeed very fulfilling.
Describe the challenges that you have faced as a leading
woman lawyer?
I faced the same social cultural challenges as a lawyer which any other woman
professional would have faced. Most important was the general attitude of officials
and those in higher positions and at times, the judiciary as well, of not giving
serious audience to women professionals and making one or the other attempt
to trivialize the thought process mostly on the pretext that such thoughts were
“impractical”. I faced the same issue both externally and internally in the firm. In
the beginning, this was very disturbing and annoying but slowly, I learned how to
tackle it. That also helped me to improve my articulation with a touch of firmness.
In 1990 and early 2000, most of the clients, particularly the legal heads of Indian
companies were also not very confident about engaging women business lawyers.
The expertise of women lawyers was perceived within the field of matrimonial laws
or other social laws but not anything to do with economy, business or technology.
However, this mindset has dramatically changed in the last decade or so and I am
happy that I have more than 50% women professionals working with LexOrbis and
many more as client representatives.
Take us through some of the cases you may describe as the
silver lining of your career.
There are many. I am proud of arguing many cases which resulted in grant
of valuable patents for my clients in India in the field of telecommunications,
software and life sciences. Some of the leading trademark, patent and design
litigations also added a feather to my cap. I am also proud to have a team of 65
dedicated and highly credible attorneys now working with LexOrbis and we are
growing exponentially. I am also happy that we could make LexOrbis a professional
organization and one of the most sought-after law firms for lawyers, engineers and
scientists.
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| L egal E ra | N ovember 2017
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