SAHM 2024: A conversation with Nathan Menon, Nav Sahota and Sakil Suleman

In the final episode of our dedicated SAHM podcast miniseries, Gautam Bhattacharyya (www.reedsmith....) hosts Reed Smith partners Nav Sahota (www.reedsmith....) , Nathan Menon (www.reedsmith....) and Sakil Suleman (www.reedsmith....) for a conversation on identity and the power of cultural roots in shaping careers. The partners reflect on their South Asian heritage and the significance of South Asian Heritage Month 2024, and offer heartfelt advice to their younger selves and aspiring lawyers.
---more---
Transcript:
Intro: Welcome to the Reed Smith Podcast, Inclusivity Included, Powerful Personal Stories. In each episode of this podcast, our guests will share their personal stories, passions and challenges, past and present, all with the goal of bringing people together and learning more about others. You might be surprised by what we all have in common, inclusivity included.
Gautam: Hello, everyone, and welcome to a special podcast that we're doing as part of Reed Smith's celebrations of South Asian Heritage Month 2024, which this year runs from the 18th of July to 17th of August. We are very proud at Reed Smith to have as a big part of our culture, a very strong focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. And this podcast is one that I'm really overjoyed to be doing because it's with three people in our firm, three partners of mine, three dear friends of mine who I have the utmost regard and admiration for. And I'm delighted that they have agreed to be my guests on this podcast. And I know that we're going to have a very informative and enjoyable discussion, not least because I know all three of these fantastic people so well. I'm going to introduce them first of all, and then we'll get into the podcast. First of all, Nav Sahota. Nav is a partner in our real estate group, has a very broad real estate practice, covering all aspects of corporate real estate and real estate finance and landlord and tenant work. And she is also the chair of our diversity, equality and inclusion efforts in London. So Nav, welcome. Secondly, I'd like to introduce Sakil Suleman. Sakil Suleman is a partner in our corporate group and has a very broad corporate and commercial law practice. He not only handles M&A and private equity, but also all aspects of commercial and technology law and franchising law. He was Nav's predecessor as the head of our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in London. So Sakil, a very warm welcome to you too. Last and definitely not least is Nathan Menon. Nathan is a partner in our financial industries group specializing in structured finance, capital markets, and several other aspects of banking and finance, including, very importantly, social impact finance, which is a major part of our CSR initiatives. So Nathan, great to have you here as well, making up the triumvirate. And I'm much looking forward to our discussion with you all. So let me start off with you, Nav, if I may. What inspired you to become a lawyer? And who have been your key mentors so far in your career?
Nav: That's a relatively easy question for me because when I was 13, I got very interested in human rights and I joined my Amnesty International group at school. And that very much ignited me. A fire of learning more about access for justice and equality for everyone. And so that very much got my appetite into why law is important. And then I did work experience when I was about 16, shadowing in the Crown Court a circuit judge. And that very much brought law alive for me. And I was very intrigued by it, interested by it. But what particularly motivated me was when I was in the courtroom, there weren't really many people that looked like me that were part of the legal institution, particularly women or Asian people, people of color. And I very much wanted to be part of law because I feel that law has to reflect the wider community. And I wanted to be part of that change. And fortunately, I was very lucky at my school. I had great teachers that helped me sort of focus on how to do a law degree, which is what I decided I wanted to do. And so throughout my career and before then I think I've had key teachers that have helped me throughout there's Miss Porter my history teacher who very much helped me throughout the whole process and I think without her I would not have pursued law when I was in university I had an absolutely amazing human rights um he was a QC now I'm a KC who helped me once again very much with getting onto the city law path and ultimately as any asian I could say my biggest mentors would have to be my family and very much my parents have been like great supporters of me particularly my mom and grandma as well I couldn't say that my grandma was a very. Feisty punjabi woman and she very much you know wanted me to do whatever I wanted ...