Meet Our New Faculty | Sahana Ramesh

Can you tell us more about yourself and your background?

I grew up in Bangalore where I did my entire schooling. I went on to complete my BA LLB (Hons) degree from the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. After graduation, I worked for a couple of years at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Mumbai primarily with their dispute resolution practice. I then did my Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science before I joined the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) University of Law, Hyderabad as a faculty member.

Outside of my work, I enjoy reading, playing badminton, and am a keen sports enthusiast – I enjoy watching football, tennis, and cricket matches.

What are your main areas of interest and teaching? How did your interest in these areas begin?

My primary areas of interest and teaching are international arbitration and international trade law. These were areas that I had the opportunity to explore first during my undergraduate studies – both in the classroom as well as through moot court competitions. I was intrigued by the framework within which these areas operate and their interaction with domestic laws of India and other countries as well as with general international law. I also had the chance to work in private law in general, and arbitration in particular, during my stint at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. This experience opened my eyes to the issues that exist in the application of principles within legal systems, and pushed me to study these and related areas in greater depth during my LL.M. studies. Today, my work in teaching is at least partially motivated by the need to introduce students to and increase their appreciation, wherever appropriate, for the increased interaction between commercial areas of the law with traditionally non-commercial aspects like environmental concerns and human rights issues.

At NLSIU, I will be starting off with teaching the Law of Torts course to the students of the 3-year LL.B. (Hons.) programme. I am looking forward to this as it is an opportunity for me to teach students who will be beginning their own journeys in law but who also bring their own experiences and perspectives from their previous studies and work outside the law.

Your thoughts on starting your teaching journey at NLS? What are your plans ahead?

As I begin my journey at NLS, I look forward to my interactions with a vibrant community of students, research scholars and colleagues. I want to be able to build on my areas of interest and research using the various resources that are available to me at the university. In terms of my teaching plans, I hope to be able to create a classroom experience that instills passion for the subject and encourages open discussion and the desire to explore in-depth not just issues within the field but also those that arise from the interaction of various branches and systems of law. At the end of the day, I want students who have completed a course to believe that they have a solid grasp of the basics and that they can tackle the challenges posed by our ever-changing world, whether in a practical set-up or in academics.

Could you please highlight key projects/publications you have worked on in the past, and are currently working on right now.

Previously, I have published on international commercial arbitration, including an article in the journal ‘Arbitration International’. I am currently researching the issues that arise from enforcement of interim reliefs in commercial arbitration and the impact that these issues have on the system as a whole. I am also working on topics that relate to investment treaty arbitration, the viability of the system in addressing present-day issues like climate change and human rights violations by businesses / investors.