“One fine morning I thought I wanted to do research, and almost suspended practice for two and half years in the early stage of my career,” Desai recalls. It was a fruitful endeavor. At the end of two years, he was well informed of global trends and began to write for international journals. He traveled the world, and gained valuable insight into what new developments were going to shape the future of law and business. At that time, India wasn’t exactly hurtling along the path of globalization and free markets. But when the first step toward economic liberalization was eventually taken, Desai’s global expertise made him uniquely positioned to take advantage of the situation.

In 1984, he founded the law firm Nishith Desai Associates. Eighteen years later, he shuttles between his Palo Alto office and headquarters in Mumbai, advising companies on globalization and international taxation; international listings; mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures; and telecom and satellite law. The company boasts such clients as Satyam Infoway, Silverline, Rediff, and Infosys, the first ADR issue by an Indian company.

Desai leads a hectic life traveling all over the world, and although he has developed a niche expertise in cross border corporate and financial law, he needs to be constantly aware of global trends to stay ahead of the game. It is a mental challenge that Desai enjoys. To him, making money is important, but only insofar as it challenges the intellect and does not detract from peace of mind. What is more important to him is the thrill and excitement associated with a project. “EQ” or excitement quotient, according to Desai, determines whether he will take up a specific project or not, and not necessarily the financial gains that come from it.

“If I am happy, if I am doing a job that I am excited about, somewhere along the line money follows,” he says.

Desai wears two hats — one of a hotshot lawyer, and the other of an entrepreneur building a law firm. In his second role, he strives to learn from new management theories, organizational behavior and new ways of doing things. He observes that in India people expend time and energy trying to beat the rules instead of following them. Moreover, as few policies or rules are documented, some people enjoy unnecessary discretionary power and favor anyone they wish. Processes are therefore not as transparent as they should be. Desai also believes that there is still a fair amount of “political hangover,” with people flaunting their political connections to get things done. But globalization is helping India to change its work ethic, albeit slowly.

“Fortunately, the new economy in India is bringing a new culture, and the major contribution of the software industry is not so much in earning foreign exchange, but bringing cultural change in India and that is changing the character of the nation,” he says.

Desai feels that global exposure helped him to create an organization that allows individuals to work together and at the same time forward their own aspirations. He believes that differentiation in the same profession is a key to the success of both individuals and businesses. And in this respect, Desai seems to have achieved what he set out to do. There are chartered accountants, MBAs and engineers in his law firm. He even managed to rope in a surgeon, who now heads the biotech team at the company.

“The philosophy is freedom to think, freedom to do and freedom to earn,” he says referring to the principles he has built his company around. “If a [management] model permits these three characteristics, then you can accomplish what you want.”

The company’s success can be partly attributed to trusting the judgment of individuals, a philosophy espoused by Mahatma Gandhi and Charles Handy, Desai says. In the 1940s, Gandhi spoke of an individual being the trustee of society, of the people who he or she works for and with. Charles Handy, a management guru who played a major role in the foundation of the London Business School, spoke of internal trusteeship. The question was how to manage a company that uses technology and has employees working from several different locations. Desai built his entire practice around how law would change as new technologies emerged. He had the prescience in the ‘80s to identify that it was through the efficient leveraging of technology that businesses would be propelled.

“Handy said that the internal management of a virtual company will be based on trust,” he explains. “So we combined these two models and came up with a new one that for a long time we have called the Gandhi Handy Management Model.”

Desai firmly believes that every new technology brings about a new legal problem. From that perspective, predicting what those new technologies will be makes NDA better equipped to handle the challenges that arise once emerging technologies get entrenched. Thus, he puts a high premium on closely monitoring global events.

“I spend a lot of time reading newspapers and magazines — seeing what technologies are likely to come out and applying my professional expertise to that,” he says.

He quips that for the last two years, his company has been running a program called, “Make ND redundant.” His steering committee now handles more than 90 percent of the firm’s affairs. This has allowed him to be “quasi retired,” and concentrate on things that appeal to him, rather than focus on the day-to-day running of the firm. He is free to travel the world, read at libraries, observe global trends and provide the broad direction that the company may need. Desai wants to get more involved with philanthropic and charitable work. His is deeply inspired by Manu Subedar, who believed that a commercial institution should function closely with a charitable organization to make sure that financial issues are never be a concern.

“Put a commercial institution side by side of a charitable organization so that the latter does not have to go out with a begging bowl to the people,” Desai explains.

In his own practice, he has been more than charitable in either deferring client fees indefinitely or waiving them for many a company struggling in the current economic environment.

“We are not friends in fair weather — we have not been sharks, like lawyers are traditionally, but very generous,” he says. “That is the principle of entrepreneurship.”
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