The senior associate has enjoyed a varied legal career that has taken her to different places
Last week, King & Wood Mallesons senior associate Sati Nagra told Australasian Lawyer how her younger self had thought law would be “dull”. Today, not only does she no longer see law as boring, she has “immensely” enjoyed a legal career that has taken her from Australia to Singapore and Macau, working on a wide variety of matters that have made her “most memorable” list.
In the second part of this June interview, Nagra talks the importance of pro bono to her work and the key legislative reforms she’s looking forward to.
What in your opinion has been the most memorable event of your career to date?
I have had a varied legal career that I have enjoyed immensely, so it is difficult to narrow to just one. Some events that make the “most memorable” list include: supporting a business to remediate over 200 victims of debt bondage in an overseas supply chain, guiding a client’s energy transition efforts through a maelstrom of climate change litigation and activism, the intensity of my first arbitration hearing in Singapore, 24 hours in Macau to deliver anti-bribery and corruption training at a glittering casino, and trying to serve a particularly evasive state with proceedings to enforce a multibillion dollar arbitration award!
Pro bono is an important part of my practice and has been a rich source of memorable experiences too, such as assisting Pacific states with intergovernmental climate change negotiations at my first UNFCCC COP, working with UNICEF to promote the development of children’s rights to a healthy environment across East Asia and the Pacific, documenting physical and witness evidence of torture survivors, and supporting a Pacific state to prepare for the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change proceedings.
What should the profession focus more on?
Achieving a diversity that is reflective of the society that it serves – at all levels, and across all fields, of the profession.
What are your thoughts on new technology and its impact on the legal profession?
It is an opportunity to be harnessed, responsibly. We are fortunate at KWM to have access to numerous legal tech tools, including cutting edge generative AI products. We are encouraged to learn deeply about these tools, know their limitations, and leverage them to generate opportunities to deliver value to our clients and our people.
What are you looking forward to the most in the coming year?
In a professional capacity, I look forward to progress with reforms to the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth), the release of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change, (hopefully) Australia’s successful bid to co-host COP31, and guiding corporates on their approach to human rights due diligence as regulation grows in this space.
