JOB APPLICATION

POSITION APPLIED FOR : Associate

PERSONAL INFORMATION
NAME : Apurva Ranjan Shukla
EDUCATION
List all educational institutions from secondary school onwards attended and the overall
grades achieved.
Period

Name of the Institution

Grades

2011-2015

National Law School of India University

4.48/7

ISC (2009-10)

St. Josephs Academy, Dehradun

93%

ICSE (-2009)

St. Josephs Academy, Dehradun

90%

List any achievements (from secondary school onward) which have brought you any
scholarships, exhibitions or prizes. Please give brief details.

Mooting

25th Kerala Law Academy Constitutional Law Moot

Winner
Best Team
Second Best Advocate
Second Best Memorial
Kerala Law Academy is the oldest moot in India and receives the
maximum participation amongst all moots in India.
o Second Rank, Intra Batch Mooting Competition, 2013.
Co-authored a paper on Castration to the body: Criminological Implications for a
conference on Re-framing Punishment at Oxford University, organized by InterDisciplinary.net.
Cleared Common Proficiency Test (CPT) for Chartered Accountancy with 96 percentile.

House prefect in Class 12th, a position second in hierarchy to the head boy/girl.

Active member of the Economics and Business society. I lead a project team of 5 to
school cafeteria more efficient. We worked on both demand and supply side
considerations resulting in a net increase in sales of around ~25%.

Was involved in the production of 2 theatre plays in school. In one play, I was the lead
actor. The same play was later staged in New Delhi as part of a larger cross cultural
program.

If you believe that extenuating circumstances prevented you from getting the grades you
expected, please tell us about them here.

WORK EXPERIENCE/INTERNSHIP
Period
Jan 15
-Mar15

Organisation
Deutsche Bank

Position held and nature of work

An investment banking internship in the UK M&A
team in the corporate finance division.
Prepared a pitchbook as part of project assignment.
Learnt financial modeling, merger strategy,
discounted cashflow valuation, merger model analysis
with accretion/dilution of EPS and ROIC.

Oct15

AZB & Partners

Subject of research included securitization regime for

NBFCs, prior consent requirement in EIA for
augmentation of sanctioned capacity, license
requirements by shipping concerns and jurisdictional
issues in arbitration.
Drafted a brief on Guerilla Tactics by Recalcitrant
Parties in Arbitration for Mrs. Zia Mody. The revised
brief was presented by her at HKIAC.

Jan14Mar14

Mr. Venkatesh Dhond,

Senior Advocate,
Bombay High Court

Researched and drafted a notice of motion in the

matter relating to defamation in Reliance Industries v.
Aam Aadmi Party.
Researched on issues of salvage claims, arrest of
ships, anti-suit injunctions, enforcement of foreign
arbitral awards with specific reference to maritime law.
Authored a legal opinion to the Registrar of the
Bombay High Court on how to remove cybersquatters
from
other
related
domains
like
bombayhighcourt.com, bombayhighcourt.in.

Jan13
Mar13

Mr. Jayant Bhushan,

Senior Advocate, Delhi
High Court and
Supreme Court

A litigation internship in the Delhi High Court and the

Supreme Court. Work included research for cases up
for hearing, court-visits and preparation of oral
arguments. The primary areas dealt with were civil
disputes and arbitration.
Close interaction with Mr. Bhushan helped me pick up
skills of court craft and client negotiation.

June11

Rural Litigation and

Entitlement Kendra

Field trips to villages of Uttarakhand where aspects of

beneficial legislations were taught to women. I
personally made presentations on Domestic Violence
Act and Dowry Prohibition Act.
Work at the office related to collation and analysis of
data collected during visits, preparing reports for UN
and Ford Foundation grants.

FURTHER INFORMATION
Please give details of your interests and achievements (not academic or work related) to
date.
Photography, as an art form, interests me. A few of my pictures were vetted and uploaded on
Indias sole independent artists online marketplace recently. Moreover, I have established myself
as an active member of the competitive Bangalores music photography circuit.
In college, I also passionately took to long distance running. I ran my first half marathon in
December and am preparing for a full marathon in June.
The emerging technology and startup industry interests me a lot. I invest a significant proportion
of my time in reading about emerging players, studying how and why certain firms become
successful and what individual skills lead one to convince others of a belief. As a student of law, I
am particularly interested by the immense M&A/capital raising/debt restructuring opportunities
which lie in this area, in future.
Please choose a significant achievement or example of when you felt you demonstrated
initiative, pro activity, drive and commitment. Please specify exactly what you did and why
you consider it to be relevant.
A specific incident which comes to my mind is when my team emerged victorious in the 25th KLA
Moot competition last year. Undoubtedly a team effort, there were several moments wherein I
assumed leadership roles to achieve this end.
At the beginning, everybody in the team knew each other only cursorily and had never worked
together. Early on, I ensured that clear and frank communication channels were established so
that the team was on the same page in terms of expectations and goals from the moot.
Like all moots, this was long term exercise with no immediate results. Inevitably it resulted in the
team temperament going through emotional downswings. It was at these crucial junctures that I
stepped in to increase the morale. I achieved this mainly through small gestures, all the while
ensuring that my mental strength was never diminished.
I displayed proactivity in setting the tempo of work and maintaining the highest goals. This
required me to adopt a balancing role between getting the team to deliver the best, and making
sure that a positive and open work environment could be cultivated at the same time.
All of the above got tested most during the final days of the moot where it was necessary that all
feedback was appreciated and worked upon, and the pressure of performance was utilised
constructively. I constantly worked to maintain a casual but purposeful attitude to get the best out
of our team. These efforts yielded success at the end.
This experience highlighted to me the key skills required in being a team player and also assume
leadership roles in such a setup.
Please describe a situation where you have worked with group of people and you have
used your ability to engage, challenge and convince others. Please give detail on the skills
you demonstrated in this example.
I head a 15 member Strawberry Fields Committee that was responsible for organising the
Strawberry Fields, one of Indias biggest musical events for independent artists. The show had
suffered financial set backs in the past few years and its sustainability was in question when I

assumed my role.
Early on, I had identified that the show had not been dynamic to adapt to changing market needs.
The show was being run on certain assumptions that had, unfortunately, not been challenged
recently.
I leveraged my experience and role within the committee to garner support for changing our
operating and financial model. Both were significant changes and I faced challenges from peers
and seniors who felt that this was a departure from the spirit and character of the show.
In these consultative processes, I had to be a patient listener to grasp the sensitive emotional
reasons underlying certain concerns. To address these, I provided deft and practical solutions.
There were times when I even gave personal representations. There existed a fear that the
financial situation could possibly worsen, I had to demonstrate that my team understood and was
willing to undertake the risks but was not reckless. I had to be certain that my demeanour was
always humble and I never got carried away from listening to critics.
The effort of the team and the support of others were critical in making the show successful. For
the first time in 5 years, the show ended with a positive net cash position and we were able to set
off some old debt. Several new initiatives started by my team and I, like the new financial model,
are expected to be sustainable going forward.
What in particular interests you about pursuing a career in commercial law, what factors
and influences have affected your choice, and what specifically appeals to you about
working in a global environment?
Companies fascinate me. Ive had this realisation only at my most recent internship, when I
realised the extent and the significance of the role corporations have in our everyday life.
Following from this, my study of law has made me comprehend that companies are able to
contribute so much value to society by virtue of robust and sophisticated legal structures backing
them.
My substantial interest in commercial law stems from this realisation. I want to be an agent whose
work has tangible impact on society. Apart from this compelling reason, aspects such as the past
paced nature, professionalism, intellectual rigour and precision are particularly appealing to me.
Overall, it is an environment where I think my strengths can be harnessed and my abilities
sharpened.
My reasons for liking commercial law and working in a global environment overlap in certain
ways. Like I mentioned, they both create an opportunity where I see myself grow. Additionally, the
idea of experiencing diverse work cultures, being able to offer counsel universally and, generally,
seeing myself navigate through the challenges of a global work environment is highly appealing
to me.
Please state what in particular attracts you to Talwar Thakore & Associates.
My exposure of a financial side of an M&A transaction at Deutsche Bank has only piqued my
interest to learn the legal aspects of it. Considering that TT&A has a strong focus area on
corporate, private equity and banking law, it aligns best with my interests.
Considering that TT&A has a focussed office size, an associate will get the opportunity to be
exposed to cutting edge corporate deals and contribute value really early in their career. The
close relationship with Linklaters LLP provides anyone working at TT&A with a great platform for
global exposure in terms of variety of deals to be involved in. As an associate, one gets a chance
to learn from the best in the industry. This relationship also provides TT&A with a unique style of

working compared to other Indian firms which makes it particularly attractive to me.
The kind of work culture that exists at TT&A, which Mr. Feroz Dubash described during his visit to
NLS, particularly appealed to me. His focus on how TT&A encourages associates to grow,
especially since associates are not given specific teams but are expected to diversify their
exposure on all the focus areas of the firm, is aligned with how I imagine my initial career growth
to be.
Please use this section to supply us with additional information relevant to your
application.
I was elected to the placement committee of my batch with the second highest number of votes,
securing 77% of the total votes cast.
We would like to take two academic/work references. Please provide contact details for
your referees.
Neha Mishra,

Himanshoo Tembe,

B.A. LL.B. (Hons.), NLSIU,

Senior Associate,

LLM, LSE,

AZB & Partners.

Masters, Public Policy, NSU.

Taught Law, Poverty and Development,
Contact: nehmish@gmail.com

Worked with at AZB & Partners.

Contact: himanshoo.tembe@azbpartners.com