The gender gap has been a long-standing ache for what should be half the population; however, some souls brave the tide to make a difference and fight for equal opportunity. Our special series with Hyundai Motor India continues with Pritha Jha, one of Asia’s most recognised lawyers and partner at Pioneer Legal.
It’s almost 2025 but women still have to fight for an equal footing in society. They aren’t given the consideration or recommendation that men enjoy, let alone having equal opportunity or equal pay. Some of them, however, are raising the bar for what women are capable of. One such individual is Pritha Jha. She has taken the legal business forward to more modern and sustainable ways, while also creating opportunities outside work. As we’ve said before, getting the ball rolling is all that matters and staying true to the cause will build momentum.
A resident of Mumbai, Pritha is a double graduate with a Bachelor of Legal Science and a Bachelor of Law (BSL and LLB) from the I L S Law College. She has grown into an expert in matters relating to private equity, mergers, and acquisitions. She was named one of Asia’s 15 Female Dealmakers, India and Middle East, in 2021 by Asian Legal Business (ALB) and also made the ALB “40 under 40” in 2022. Noticing some entrenched ways of the system, she set out to start her own firm and further her progress.
As with Pritha, the Hyundai Creta has proven to be a significant change-maker and has soared to greater success with each passing year, becoming the leading sport utility vehicle (SUV) and the choice of many when it comes to picking a safe, dependable, and comfortable automobile that can handles life’s, and the roads’, ups and downs with ease and take everything in its stride. The third-generation new Creta blends modernity with practicality in its smart cabin and styling, with loads of features that have a growing importance in today’s day and age.
Q&A
What inspired you to be a lawyer and start your own firm in this space? Please tell us more about Pioneer Legal.
When I started my career, I had a very different vision of what a lawyer’s life is going to be like. A lot of us get inspired by movies and television shows and legal life isn’t always like that. There is lot of old-school functioning in the way of tradition. It’s very difficult to get lawyers to change their mind about things. If you go to any legal firm that was set up in the 1980s or ’90s and see the way of working, lawyers love paper. They love to read. Everything has to be read in hard copy. We wanted to do things very differently. We wanted some corporate social responsibility, to adapt with the changing times. The current generation is not at all like the previous ones, so we wanted to bring in policies that would help them relate to the legal profession. We have a paperless office. We don’t believe in printing paper. We don’t have fixed desk spaces, so we don’t find piles and piles of paper. This generation prefers more flexibility, like a hybrid work model. All of these measures that need to be taken are very difficult to do in a large law firm—getting 30 or 40 partners to agree to something is a difficult task. We wanted to bring in change. We were pioneering change. That’s how Pioneer Legal came about.
Would you say you have more female lawyers coming in and learning the ropes?
The funny thing about the profession is that if we look at the first three, four or five years, we have more women than men. As seniority goes up, somewhere from year five to 10, they start dropping off. And we see more men at the top. Now the challenges are more due to the responsibility we have taken upon ourselves which makes us feel the need to drop out. For example, when I had a child, for the two years after that is where, I think, if I had stopped working, I would have not made it back to the profession. If you have family support and earn well, those two years are the biggest.
With the amount of travel involved, how do you find a work-life balance?
Today people don’t need to have face to face negotiations as much as they used to. The pandemic has taught us a lot. Post that, people just prefer doing everything online. So, the travelling that I am required to do has actually reduced. It would have much worse a decade ago. It has to be planned well. I don’t think it’s difficult to do. Most of them are day-night trips, so you have to be awake on a 24-hour cycle, but that’s the price you have to pay if you want everything in life.
Who or what would you say has been your biggest source of inspiration for taking this career journey?
As a child I was argumentative and I would argue with my parents about very simple things where they used to find it very difficult to beat my reasoning. The earliest time I remember when my father said I should be a lawyer was when my mother and I were having this argument about how my sister always topped the class that she was in when I was just in fifth grade. I said, ‘She’s come first going from ninth to tenth, but even if I come last, I’ll still go from fifth to sixth!’ Arguing with people was my favourite timepass but now it has become my profession. If you don’t follow what you really like, you can burn out very quickly. If you have the luxury of making your passion your profession, that is the best case scenario.
In your fast-paced career, what role does having a reliable car play in supporting your demanding schedule? And how much do the comfort, safety, and technology of the car matter on the go?
I’ve lived in Pune and so has my family, so, for the longest time, every weekend I would drive from Pune and Mumbai and back, so having a good car was a big deal. The Expressway is a high-speed road and obviously safety matters a lot. Some of the features I really like are the ventilated seats and the rear wiper, because it’s needed during the rains. Some of these are taken for granted but, over time, we realise how important they are.
What do you think of Hyundai’s democratization of technology to make features once the reserve of premium luxury cars, such as ADAS and Smart Cruise Control, more accessible to everyone?
I think there are a lot of brands that are reliable for those who just want sturdy cars, but for people who love cars and technology and want all of the things that you find in larger brands, and when brands closer to home make it affordable for everyone, that is so good to see. Because you can show off those features and say that you don’t need to pay a high amount of money to get those and that’s great.
Hyundai have given us a platform to have women like yourself speak with the hope to inspire others. Do you think this will go some way into making a difference for women today and in the future?
I think it’s great that the platform is being provided because then there is, at least, outreach. The ability for women to reach other women and hope that the message goes out to each of them and helps them become more empowered.
What does “empowerment” mean to you? How do you feel women can be more empowered?
People put a lot of meaning into the word, but I frankly feel that empowerment is very simple. It’s the ability to lead your life the way you want—it’s that simple—without having peer pressure, familial pressure or societal pressure. You know, be your own person. Cut out the noise of the rest of the world and say, ‘This is the path that I want to take and I am not going to deviate from it’.
Would you say that a car as a form of personal mobility furthers this cause?
I think that being able to drive brings a great sense of empowerment to women. I don’t think that people realise this. I’d like to share that I have had two nannies to take care of my baby and, instead of hiring a driver, I taught both of them how to drive. I said why should I spend on getting a driver when you’re looking after the child and driving is not that difficult. Because of the background that they come from, they were not very open to this idea, but you should see the change in personality just because they are able to say, ‘Nobody in their family drives. My father can’t drive. My mother can’t drive. My brother can’t drive. I can drive.’ It makes a big difference. There’s a car in the house and they will pick up the keys and say, ‘I will drop off your child to class’, or whatever. It’s a greatly empowering feeling to do that. A lot of people ask what happens if she leaves. And I say that I’ll just teach the next person. This person feels better about themselves and is learning how to drive.
