/////RAINMAKERS 2011
Partner, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP New York, NY
TALAT ANSARI
Years Practicing:
36 Area of Practice: India
Created and chaired by Talat Ansari in New York City, Kelley Drye’s busy India practice group advises U.S. clients who are investing in or expanding to India, and the increas- ingly large number of Indian businesses coming to the States and acquiring U.S. entities. “Ours is a very spe- cialized group,” he says. “All of us are admitted in both jurisdictions, and have all practiced in India so we know the culture and how the legal system functions there. We have had a robust India practice for more than 40 years, and we continue to expand, having just recently hired a partner in our Stamford, Connecticut offi ce.” Ansari was a litigator in New Delhi when he joined
the fi rm in the 1980s. T e fi rm has become one of the most well-respected U.S. fi rms to have carved out a niche India practice. In recent years, the team has represented Tata Consultancy in its acquisition of Citibank BPO, and iDream Holdings in its acquisition of Strix Systems. T e media has also recognized Ansari’s group for its repre- sentation of industry leaders such as Novartis Vaccines & Diagnosis and Novartis Pharma, Sprint Nextel, SBI Holdings, and Matheson Tri-Gas. As an associate in India, Ansari was never instructed in
the fi ner points of business development. “Firms there are very small. Associates aren’t encouraged to bring in clients and add to the workload,” he says. When asked for a rain- making tip, Ansari responds, “I was lucky. When I moved to New York, I was the only lawyer here who had practiced at a prestigious Indian fi rm, and my former colleagues referred a lot of work to me. I still go back to New Delhi twice a year to keep those contacts going.”
BRYNDA RODRIGUEZ INSLEY
Principal/Partner, Insley & Race LLC Atlanta, GA
Years Practicing:
26 Area of Practice: Personal Injury Defense
A founding partner of Insley & Race (an Atlanta-based civil defense litigation fi rm with fi fteen attorneys), Brynda Rodriguez Insley credits her success to hard work and opportunity: “When we opened the fi rm almost fi fteen years ago, my name partner and I were both business administrators and attorneys for the entire fi rst year. T ere was no furniture and fi les were lining the walls, but we were not deterred. It was our time and eventually things came together.” Prior to striking out on her own, Insley’s primary prac-
tice area was medical malpractice and catastrophic injury defense. For 12 years, she worked as an attorney at Sullivan Hall Booth & Smith. From the beginning, they allowed her independence and a presence in their fi les. By her second year, she had tried her fi rst case. “A lot of claims profession- als are women,” says Insley, a Mexican American doctor’s daughter who grew up in St. Louis, “And once they took notice of a young female lawyer trying her own cases they began to send me work.” Insley was already a rainmaker at her former fi rm, but when
its then-principal partner left she decided it was time to follow her dream and put out her shingle. “He promised that I’d real- ize success beyond my wildest expectations. I wasn’t so sure, but when we opened the fi rm, the work came. Being female and a minority with a dozen years of successful practice under my belt made me very attractive to clients. “In the baseball movie Field of Dreams they say if you build
a fi eld they will come. Well, that’s how I feel about practic- ing law—don’t fret about a specifi c client or making a lot of money. Just do excellent work and the rest will follow.”
MCCA.COM NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2011 DIVERSITY & THE BAR®
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