PROFILE
Peer recognition
R.K. RAGHAVAN
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Rita Gunasekaran, a practising lawyer of Indian origin in the U.S, has been voted a super lawyer for the third consecutive year.
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Arduous journey: Rita Gunasekaran.
THE legal profession in India is often considered overcrowded, and there is an impression that the brightest students passing out of our colleges would prefer to be anything other than being a lawyer. At least, this was the perception when I joined the Madras Law College in 1962. I see the trend changing fast, and many of our extraordinary young men and women now opt to go to one of the national schools of excellence in the country because of the tremendous opportunities in corporate law. Chennai does not yet have a school of national reckoning. But what gives me solace is that the Madras Law College alumni still make a mark wherever they go. I was overjoyed when my classmate, Rita Gunasekaran (nee Sucharita Subramaniam) informed me recently that she has been voted one of Southern California's 50 Super Lawyers for 2006, an honour she had bagged the two previous years as well.
Lengthy process
How is a Super Lawyer chosen? Law and Politics, a U.S. magazine, prepares an annual list of 50 distinguished lawyers for several regions and States after adopting a rigorous process of selection. For instance, in Southern California, early this year, a ballot was sent by the magazine to 48,000 or so active lawyers in the region for nominating the best attorneys they had personally observed in action. While one could nominate one's own colleague working in the same firm, such a vote receives less weightage compared to nominations from outside. Actually those who receive votes only from their own firms and none from elsewhere are eliminated in the final count. In addition, Law and Politics does its own research and interviews. There is a carefully devised monitoring drill in position that looks for possible manipulation.
Rita is naturally delighted at the distinction conferred on her. But this success has come at the end of an arduous journey that began way back in 1960 at the Madras Law College, where she won several awards — including the Moorehead Law Scholarship — for outstanding academic performance. While she registered at the Madras Bar with a view to practise, marriage took Rita away to the U.S. forty years ago to lead the humdrum life of a housewife. Dynamic person that she was, she qualified for the California Bar through an examination (13 subjects) that is considered a slaughter, because only 40 per cent make it each year.
Hard grind to the top
Since then it has been a hard grind. Recruitment as a Research Attorney to the Justice of the Court of Appeal in Los Angeles was the next landmark that gave Rita confidence. Her stint thereafter in the appellate department of Haight Brown & Bonesteel (HBB), a leading law firm in the city, strengthened her reputation for competence and hard work. It was a question of time before she was made a partner in HBB. Rita's specialisation is civil writs and appeals, and she had to pass another examination to enter the elite group of appellate lawyers in the region. Her association with HBB has given her considerable exposure in the legal firmament, earning her many awards, including the Trailblazer Awards of the National South Asian Bar and the South Asian Bar Foundation of LA. What was perhaps the crowning glory was her appointment as the Chair of the Judicial Nominees Evaluation (JNE) Commission in 1996, after being its member for a few years.
Rita recalls the time she first came to the U.S. In those days, non-U.S. citizens were not eligible to practise law in the country. The prohibition changed in the 1970s, after a Supreme Court ruling. Not many had also heard of India. She had to overcome many reservations and misgivings around her, and sheer faith in her own abilities and wholehearted family support ultimately made the difference.
Satisfying achievement
Interestingly, Rita considers passing the Bar Examination as the most satisfying achievement. She vividly remembers the afternoon she got the result by mail. "Sekhar was not in town, and I was on the couch with my two kids. When I told them how happy I was, since studying for the Bar had been so hard, my children looked shocked. Both of them spontaneously cried out: `Hard on you? Have you any idea how hard it has been on us?'
Four decades in the U.S. is a long time in the couple's life. But, without being overly sentimental, they fondly recall what Madras stood for in the 1960s. Will they ever decide to come back? May be not, because their integration with the Woodland Hills community in which they live is so complete that they will be satisfied with an occasional visit to Chennai.
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