Leaders

Over the last few years an increasing number of young lawyers, especially women have been breaking off from bigger law firms to start their own law firms. Several new-age law firms that are headed by women are today focusing on being a one-stop destination for all legal requirements which is extremely beneficial for clients as they can get all their legal work done in one place. One such firm is Faros Legal, which Dechamma and her business partner Rahul Varma co-founded in 2020.

Faros Legal is a trend-setting legal firm serving as the one-stop destination for all legal requirements. The firm provides services ranging from general corporate law to maritime law to mergers and acquisitions.

Dechamma, a partner with Faros legal has been practising law for over half a decade and has represented clients in a wide range of legal issues. General corporate law, intellectual prop-erty, and most notably investment related concerns are among her areas of expertise. Dechamma is passionate about assist-ing her clients in resolving their legal disputes in a timely and effective manner.

She describes Faros Legal as a law startup that helps other startups grow. However, the firm now serves a number of MNCs and high-net-worth individuals in addition to startups.

Take us through your early educational journey and prior industry experience. What motivated you to establish Faros Legal? I have a diverse educational background. I'm a graduate of the LLB degree and have a degree in commerce too. Soon after graduating in 2017, I began working as an in-house counsel for a textile manufacturing giant. I acquired expertise there in both intellectual property and general commercial topics, and toward the end of my tenure there, I took part in significant mergers and acquisitions. Though Faros Legal happened to me by chance, operating a firm independently has always been my calling. After a suc-cessful stint as an in-house counsel, I found myself wanting to explore other options.

Therefore, I partnered with a former colleague and decided to start Faros Legal. During our first few weeks, we met several business aspirants who shared our passion for independence but needed legal support to kick start their ventures. Thus, Faros Legal became a runway for several business to take off and thrive. For the past 2 years we have seen several ideas manifest into successful businesses. We pride ourselves in being business enablers. People often view lawyers as roadblocks to their businesses but we have managed to change that perspective. We consider ourselves as a law startup that sup-ports the growth of other startups. It served as our main focus and continues to do so. Today, in addition to startups, we also serve a number of MNCs and high net worth individuals from various industries.

Tell us about the various responsibilities your shoulder as the Partner at Faros Legal.

Following the launch of Faros Legal, we began work-ing on a variety of fields. Along with general corporate law, we also deal with investments, mergers, and acquisitions, intellectual property, real estate, employ-ment laws and now maritime and aviation laws. I have my hands in all of the fields as a partner. Intellectual Property and general corporate law would be my main areas of expertise. But as the firm grows, I'm also pick-ing new things up. My primary responsibility has always been to bring in clients, just like any other partner in a legal company. The second requirement is to be able to deliver on the client's expectations. We keep our focus on delivering quality work and are not bothered about volume based business. I am aware of the fact that clients are the lifeline of law firms. Thus, we make sure that we are always available for our clients and for the success of our clients, we are willing to give up our comforts and work at any required time.

"When you are self-reliant and unaffected by any criticism from your hierarchical seniors, it provides you the confidence and motivation to go much further and become someone you never imagined you would be in the first place "

Throw some light on the most critical challenges you have had to face as a leader in the legal arena. What steps do you take to overcome the roadblocks that you encounter?

The challenges are plenty. But the most excruciating of them all is facing judgement. Being a lawyer means being in public and opening ourselves to being crit-icised and judged on a daily basis. We are judged for our competence, experience, gender, ages and many other factors. We meet people who try to put us down My way of getting overcoming it such impediments is to turn a blind eye to all sorts of neg-ativity and have faith in myself. I am always learning and always growing.

What are some of the most significant milestones that you have achieved throughout your professional journey?

I’d say Faros Legal itself is my biggest achievement. I am one of the youngest partners in the field and I work with clients who have decades of experience. From a team of 2 we have managed to grow into a le-gal powerhouse and cater to numerous organizations. We have a happy associate pool who enjoy their work and we are very proud of them. We do not follow the usual law firm hierarchy and so, our clients and associates are happy.I have million more to achieve and this is just a start.

What would your advice be to young women and girls who also aspire to become business leaders and entrepreneurs in the future?

Millions of young ladies in India still have the tradi-tional mind set of graduating and then working for someone else in a firm to ensure a stable future People are not yet prepared to make the leap to indepen-dence. I would tell them that there is no greater grati-fication than being your own boss. I can't tell you how relieved I am that I get to command my own actions that I get to be accountable for my own actions, rather than being answerable to someone else. Therefore, when you are self-reliant and unaffected by any crit-icism from your hierarchical seniors, it provides you the confidence and motivation to go much further and become someone you never imagined you would be in the first place.

Dechamma M C, Partner, Faros Legal

Dechamma is passionate about assisting her clients in resolving their legal disputes in a timely and effective manner. General corporate law, intellectual property, and most notably vendor-related concerns are among her areas of expertise.