By Mihir Srivastava
I have known Srinivas Kotni for many years, and we have a good connection with him, but we didn't keep in touch regularly. About a week back, I went to see him in his office.
He founded a law firm Lexport–interpreting India for commerce–at the turn of the century, in his late twenties. He has and his law firm have grown together in the last two decades. Now housed in a three-storeyed office, in a thin, deep plot of a quintessential of a refugee colony—CR Park.
Take a flight of stairs, and you get to know even before you enter this is a transformed space and not another quintessential Bengali house turned into an office.
The grey wall, the space with clean elegant look, neat wooden furniture without embellishments fits well in the larger scheme of things, each object complements its surrounding, there’s a pattern, and the pattern is soothing. Parts of the wall have a bare brick look, there’s no clutter, it’s a user-friendly space that inspires, with light, and good energy. I was happy to be there. I was happy to meet Srinivas in his office, to be precise.
Just as you step into the second floor where Srinivas’s office is housed, a Tanjore painting of Lord Balaji looks back at you. And you make eye contact. And stand a while looking at the painting, just for a few moments, soaking in, and some silent conversation. I was guided to a cabin at the end of the floor, that’s his chamber.
He sits in front of the window, his table is clutter free, a laptop and an iPad sit next to each other in front of him. There are books neatly lined behind him. And then we get talking about nothing particular. He attends to some calls and issues categorical instructions. We had wonderful inhouse coffee. His office is famed for providing good coffee, and many of his friends come here to sample hot coffee in his warm company. Soon, he took me for a guided tour of his office.
He’s good with people. There are good working stations for other partners. His wife, Raj Latha Kotni, a Patent & IPR Attorney, is also a partner with Lexport. Her chamber is diagonally opposite to Srinivas’s on the same floor. There are many conference rooms, big and small, scattered in the office, on all floors, so that young lawyers have ready space to meet clients, without disturbing those who are working hard on the task at hand. The office is full of young enthusiastic lawyers who look up to Srinivas, it is an inspirational space also in terms of the buzz created by busy attorneys.
The space tells a lot about the person who is instrumental in creating it, be it personal or workplace. It was heartening to see how Srinivas presence gives a sense of common purpose, and yet allows each one of them in their quintessential way to deal with complexities that’s part and parcel of a professional life. I was reminded of what Barry Schwartz wrote in his famous book Why We Work, “If we design workplaces that permit people to find meaning in their work, we will be designing a human nature that values work.”
The grey walls are adorned by traditional Tanjore paintings with godly figures placed in a way that you cannot miss them, and are interspersed by modern artworks of varied genres. And that to me is an interesting mix that tells a lot about Srinivas. He likes art. And his collection reflects that though he’s anchored in deep faith that gives him the strength to be himself in this dynamic world. The abstract, impressionist, art collection is indicative of the fact that he looks at things without constraints, and appreciates things from varied perspectives, and is open to experimentation, and yet remains anchored.
Srinivas is an institution builder; he was in his late twenties when he founded Lexport. And if you ask him what he has been doing all these years, he’d say learning. In his own words, “I have been appearing in the Supreme Court and several High Courts, tribunals and commissions across the country and providing litigation, representation and consultancy services to a variety of clients in the areas of Trade & Tax laws, Corporate & Commercial Laws, Intellectual Property Rights, Foreign Trade Policy, Foreign Exchange Laws, Arbitration, Foreign Direct Investment, Mergers & Amalgamations, Contractual Matters, Labour & Employment, Tele-communications & Information Technology, Regulatory & Policy matters, Public Sector, Government, Nongovernmental & International Organizations,” he says and adds after a pause, “and more.”
A good communicator, he likes to make complex things simple for the members of the public. In a comic format he explained GST in a lucid way. The graphic novel titled Adventure Of The GST Man. The GST Man is a super hero created by Srinivas who by simple storytelling makes complex issues understandable but exciting. In this particular book, as the name suggests, he deals with Goods and Services Tax or the GST. It’s very useful.
Srinivas started his career as a software professional but found his calling in law. He has a life beyond work and feels responsible for the society at large and, therefore, enthusiastically, with a sense of purpose, does social work. He heads the Rotary Club of Delhi Manthan part of Rotary-district 3011. He’s into so many other things. He is the co-founder of Bharatiyam, a national level society that does a host of activities in the area of environmental protection and awareness like creating and preserving urban forests, revival of water bodies in the urban landscape, transforming river faces like the Chat Ghat on Yamuna in Delhi.
He, along with Bharatiyam, has been part of many afforestation and plantation drives in the NCR involving school children and other members of the public. Srinivas uses Indian classical music to promote environmental causes. The most hidden part of Delhi is the Yamuna banks—because of the filth. Srinivas has devised this beautiful way of reclaiming public spaces by organising a classical concert under the banner Ragas for Yamuna, or Yamunotsav, held on the bank of river Yamuna. He’s also part of the initiative of clean river/water bodies and also raises funds to support Covid 19 orphans. For this commendable contribution to the society in an altruist spirit, Bharatiyam was awarded 'Atal Samman' of 2021, one of many.
Father of two adorable daughters--Vaishnavi and Vaibhavi--Srinivas has a compassionate way of looking at things. He belongs to Andhra, but grew up in Delhi. His father, K G Raju, was a senior functionary in the government of India, and mother K Kalyani, an excellent homemaker. They gave him a solid foundation. The best part is that after so many years of successful engagement with people with compassion, he feels even more motivated to usher positive changes in the spheres of his influence—which has steadily grown over the past two decades. And that he is a good man.
Comments