#YWInsiderTalk - Vol. 17

This week on #YWInsiderTalk

Divyaa Badlanii speaks with 𝐘𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 about how law firm culture can be shaped through everyday gestures of transparency, feedback, and care, ensuring teams thrive because of the environment, not in spite of it.

Divyaa is the Co-Managing Partner of Gurcaran Divya Law Offices. With over 5 years of experience, she advises on complex domestic and cross-border transactions, India entry and structuring, and private equity and venture capital, including startup funding, shareholder agreements, and exit strategies. Her work also spans regulatory advisory and strategic expansions, including greenfield and brownfield projects such as setting up of hospitals and healthcare facilities as well as healthcare and health-tech, manufacturing, technology, and high-growth enterprises, providing guidance on compliance, governance, and commercial agreements.

Click on the link to know more: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/yellowwireconsulting_divya-badlani-ywinsidertalk-vol-17-activity-7368156677231046656-rX6g

YW: The idea of being a "culture ambassador" is quite distinctive in the legal world. What does that role mean to you, and how do you translate it into everyday practices within the firm?

DIVYA: Law firm culture has a reputation for being intense, opaque, and quietly unsparing! I’ve lived it: the growth it brings, but also the toll when growth turns brittle.

It’s why I care so much about how we work, not just what we deliver. Because no output is worth it if the process leaves people burnt out, bitter, or quietly breaking.

At our firm, we try to build this into the everyday:

• Delegating with context, not just tasks.

• Feedback when it matters, not just at year-end.

• Transparency on timelines, expectations, and capacity.

Small gestures such as a thoughtful note, a mid-week nudge, a “Well done”, go a long way. Being a culture ambassador isn’t a slogan; it’s often invisible. Sometimes it’s checking in, sometimes calling things out, even when it’s uncomfortable.

The goal isn’t utopia. The work is tough. But I want my team to say they thrived ‘because’ of the environment, not ‘in spite‘ of it.

YW: For businesses scaling quickly, legal risk is often dynamic rather than static. How do you design legal responses that don't just 'protect' but actively enable sustainable growth?

DIVYA: I often think about what legal advisory should really mean today. In fast-growth businesses, risk is not eliminated; it is read, designed around, and sometimes even leaned into. What worked six months ago may not hold today, so the legal response must be just as dynamic, rooted in the business’s reality rather than textbook compliance.

That is why I always start with the business goal. Are we building scale, credibility, funding, or flexibility? Legal strategy has to move in sync with that ambition. My role is to help managers make decisions with their eyes open, not their hands tied. Yes, I push back when needed, but advice must be contextual, practical, and useful, not a 40-page memo that sits in a folder.

The real value lies in balancing legal rigour with commercial clarity. You bring the discipline of a trained lawyer but apply it like a business partner, building optionality into contracts, planning for pivots, and adjusting for funding realities, without panicking when real life departs from the checklist.

The best legal advisors are not just on call for contracts, they are on speed dial for business moves. And strategic advisory needs to be just that: fluent in law, fluent in growth.

Ultimately, the role of legal is to enable, not overwhelm.

Divya Badlani- #YWInsiderTalk Vol. 17.pdf

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