Lawyer Dhruv Malik on Building a Diverse Practice in Competition, Arbitration and Insolvency Law
Dhruv Malik, a lawyer based in Delhi, reflects on his entry into the legal profession through process of elimination rather than calling. He says law school exposed him to the intellectual challenge of advocacy alongside business, economics, and strategy—disciplines he did not initially anticipate.
Malik credits the nature of commercial litigation in Delhi for shaping his diverse practice. He notes that disputes rarely remain confined to a single statute: recovery suits migrate into SARFAESI issues, shareholder disputes spill into insolvency proceedings, and regulatory complaints sit alongside civil suits. Rather than specialising narrowly, he chose to follow disputes across forums and statutes, treating law as a toolkit for solving client business problems.
He highlights that dispute resolution remains exciting because no two matters are alike. Whether handling distressed infrastructure assets under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, competition law issues, or multijurisdictional arbitration, each case offers fresh learning. Malik tells younger lawyers that the profession's best aspect is continuous growth throughout one's career.
