This interview has been published by Anshi Mudgal and The SuperLawyer Team
What inspired you to pursue law, and how did your time at National Law University, Delhi shape your early foundation?
Back in Hyderabad in 2006, the default career options were engineering or medicine. For some reason, I started out wanting to be a CA and opted for studying Maths, Economics, and Commerce. By Class XII, however, I realized accountancy wasn’t for me. I stumbled upon law as an option. I heard about NALSAR in Hyderabad, attended a few prep classes, and found subjects like contracts, torts, and constitutional law fascinating. Dealing with people and real-world problems felt far more engaging than crunching numbers.
Getting into the first batch of NLU Delhi was life-changing, my first time away from home, living in a hostel, acclimatizing to handle Delhi’s extremes, and meeting peers from across India. It gave me a true pan-Indian exposure.
I always thought cases had a clear “right” and “wrong” side, and that the right side wins. That changed in our first semester when we were asked to prepare arguments for both sides of the same case. It was eye-opening, law is rarely about right versus wrong; it’s about perspective and preparation. University taught me to read fast, think critically, and structure large amounts of information efficiently. Most importantly, it built the confidence to take on unfamiliar challenges and find solutions. Right after college, I stayed in Delhi another year to prepare for the civil services examination, which was also a very formative experience.
What were your biggest takeaways from handling diverse litigation disputes in your formative years?
Litigation is intense, it demands constant learning and unlearning. Court practice is very different from what you imagine in law school.
Long hours, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., were standard in most litigation offices, and as a first-generation lawyer, the early years felt chaotic and overwhelming. Working with a large, full-service litigation firm was invaluable and gave me the opportunity to work across diverse matters: civil suits, writ petitions, tax disputes, cheque-bounce cases, and rental evictions, among others.
In litigation, you learn rigorous research, meticulous preparation, and the ability to adapt and sustain under pressure. My belief is simple: if you’ve worked as a litigation lawyer, you can manage almost anywhere. The skills you acquire equip you for a wide range of legal and business challenges.
What motivated your transition from litigation to in-house roles and how did it shape your perspective?
I loved case preparation and the thrill of arguing matters, but realized the lifestyle, the endless filings, registry work, and administrative grind wasn’t for me. That pushed me towards in-house roles.
Litigation gave me confidence and a solid grounding in advocacy. But the in-house mindset is very different. As an external litigator, your client usually comes to you when there’s a problem; you analyse the dispute and present the best legal options. As in-house counsel, your client is internal. You must understand the business, align with its goals, and communicate in a language non-lawyers understand. There is also constant risk mitigation and a focus on building systems to minimize legal exposure while allowing the business to move fast.
In your in-house roles, what unique challenges did you encounter, and how did you address them?
The biggest skill an in-house lawyer must develop is the ability to simplify. Your success lies in explaining complex issues in a way that non-lawyers can understand and act upon. Business teams appreciate clarity and speed. I was fortunate to work across diverse sectors like Pharma, Real Estate, Healthcare, and Edtech, each highly regulated and operationally fast-moving.
Lawyers are often seen as slowing down business. As an in-house lawyer, you must do the opposite, simplify, be available, and support growth without increasing risk. As a generalist in-house lawyer, you juggle HR, sales, finance, operations, and marketing, often with parallel, time-sensitive requests. The practical response is to proactively design systems, set realistic timelines, and manage expectations so that the legal team becomes an enabler rather than a bottleneck. Ultimately, success means making law accessible and actionable, helping the business move fast while staying compliant.
How do you balance enabling innovation with ensuring legal compliance across jurisdictions?
Working with global teams in a fast-scaling tech company was both exciting and challenging. Plans, product launches, and growth initiatives often change rapidly, and as counsel, you had to stay ahead of the curve. Working at a global technology company was a front-row seat to innovation collaborating with diverse teams across continents, learning from different regulatory cultures, and developing a global mindset on risk and opportunity.
The role is about cutting through complexity, presenting clear risk assessments, and offering actionable options. Often, you’re navigating grey areas and making judgment calls with limited time. Experience and judgment become your biggest assets, striking the balance between enabling innovation and maintaining compliance. The goal is always to empower decision-makers with understandable, business-focused advice.
What was your vision behind co-founding A&T Law Partners and how does it differentiate itself in offering practical, business-focused legal solutions?
After spending years in litigation and over a decade in-house, I saw a clear gap between companies and their external counsel. External counsel often do not have the time or context to fully understand the business, and this creates communication barriers and impractical solutions.
We founded A&T Law Partners to bridge that gap and provide clear, business-centric solutions. We spend time understanding their vision, challenges, and long-term goals. We’re on the ground with them, with their teams and we act as thought-partners, not just legal advisors.
Our approach is proactive rather than reactive, setting up internal processes, training sessions, and systems for clients so that compliance becomes embedded in their operations. The goal is simple: enable growth with speed and confidence, while minimizing legal risk.
While working in real estate, what major challenges do you observe and how can they be mitigated early?
Real estate is often opaque and still largely unorganized. Buyers, especially first-time retail buyers and NRIs, face confusion, lack of transparency, and fear of fraud or litigation. Problems such as double registrations, misrepresentation, and incomplete paperwork make transactions intimidating.
Many buyers rely on middlemen and do not consult lawyers early, which increases risk. Our role is to simplify, build trust, and educate clients. Providing transparent title opinions, explaining the process step-by-step, and hand-holding clients through the entire lifecycle of the transaction significantly reduces disputes. Early legal involvement is one of the most effective ways to prevent litigation later. We also support a significant number of NRI clients with property transactions, estate planning, and succession advisory, ensuring they can manage their India-related assets with clarity and confidence.
How important do you think legal scholarship is in shaping a well-rounded legal career?
Research and writing are the foundation of good lawyering. Whether drafting arguments, advisory opinions, or contracts, clarity of thought shows through in your writing. Clients evaluate you on the quality and depth of your drafts and opinions.
Good lawyers are often paid for brevity, a crisp ten-page memo that distils complex issues into simple insights is highly valued. While AI tools like GPT are reshaping how we work, every lawyer must continue practicing and refining their research and writing skills, they are what differentiate you.
Having navigated litigation, global in-house roles and now entrepreneurship, what advice would you give young lawyers who want to build versatile, future-ready careers?
A decade ago, working from the office and commuting long hours to court was normal and remote legal work was unimaginable. Looking at the scenario now, I have spent four years as global counsel for a California-based edtech company, working fully remote from anywhere.
As a first-generation lawyer, those varied experiences litigation, in-house, and startups gave me the conviction and clarity to start my own firm. Today, the legal career map is far broader than the traditional paths of litigation, law firms, or in-house roles. The skills lawyers acquire from deep reading, structured analysis, clear writing, and critical thinking are transferable to politics, business, journalism, executive leadership, finance, and startups.
My advice is to stay curious, keep learning, and let your career evolve with your interests.
The legal profession opens more doors than most people realize, you just need the courage to choose your own path. Find what excites you, hone your core skills, and carve your own path.
Get in touch with Sai Teja Vangla –
The journey, recounted by Teja, reflects the academic excellence, translated into fruitful experience and excellent performance. He is not the so called proverbial man, who gains experinace after it is no longer useful to him. Lessons, learnt from exposure to varied sectoral and geographical spheres of legal activities, are immediately turned into practical knowledge and wisdom, readily pressed into action to solve prospective challenges. His attitude of being ever curious builds fund of invaluable up-to-date knowledge and fresh look of ongoing development in ever changing scenarios. I know he works hard to be always ahead of curve of expectations of his clients. I wish him luck too!!!
Excellent way of sharing the path way which is laid down to brighten his career by Teja.And this is inspiring to aspirants to mould their career. Kudos to Teja.
In his interview, he emphasised the importance of handling litigations in a smart and strategic manner rather than traditional methods
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