- Mahalakshmi Pavani was awarded the ‘Mahila Shakti Shiromani’Award in Nepal.
NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, MARCH 19
Honourable Chief Justice of India Justice NV Ramanna has been advocating enrolment of more women in law colleges which in turn will give them adequate representation in the higher echelons of judiciary. To make it a reality, the honourable CJi has started handpicking the best brains among the woman lawyers as HC and SC judges.
Even as the International Women’s Day was observed recently, many women have broken the glass ceilings and entered the altar of higher judiciary as lawyers as well a s judges. There are many such sheroes and Mahalakshmi Pavani is one among them.
Mahalakshmi Pavani is a Senior Advocate who holds the distinction of being the first woman from Karnataka and the Sixth Woman to be designated “Senior Advocate” by the Supreme Court of India after a Full Court bestowed upon her the coveted ‘Senior’s Gown´ on 23rd April 2015. Mahalakshmi Pavani became the first woman advocate to be nominated by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India NV Ramanna on 22nd July 2021 to the Legal Advisory Committee of the Bar Council of India.
Pavani enrolled with the Bar Council of Karnataka on 21st August 1992 and commenced practice under the aegis of the late KC Shivasubramaniam, Advocate, M/s. King & Partridge, thereby gaining tremendous exposure in the fields of civil, criminal and corporate litigation as well as conveyancing. She has conducted cases and appeared before the Karnataka High Court and before tribunals, quasi-judicial bodies, and other lower courts in Karnataka. In 1993, she was appointed Standing Counsel in the Criminal Court, Mayo Hall.
In 2014, she was elected President of Supreme Court Woman Lawyers Association, a post she continues to hold to this day. On 27th March 2015, Pavani was elected as the First Representative of the Supreme Court Bar Association in the Gender Sensitization Committee, a post which she held for two years. In December 2015, she was elected as Senior Executive Member of the Supreme Court Bar Association and held the post for a year. In May 2018, she was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Legal Cell, Supreme Court of the Indian National Congress. On 12th December 2019, Pavani contested for the post of Senior Executive at the Supreme Court Bar Association and won with the highest number of votes in ten years.
In 1998, Pavani joined the Chambers of the Late PP Rao, Senior Advocate (her Father-in-Law) and commenced practice at the Supreme Court of India. Pavani had the esteemed privilege of assisting Rao on several vital matters before the Supreme Court. In January 2005, she enrolled as an Advocate-on-Record (AOR) of the Supreme Court after having achieved the 3rd Rank in the AOR examinations conducted in the previous year.
Pavani is also a recipient of several awards in recognition of her efforts and contributions to law and society – she has been conferred with the ‘National Law Day Award 2016’ by the International Council of Jurists and Diplomats. She has also been awarded the Mahila Shakti Shiromani’ Award by an NGO in Nepal. In 2018, Pavani also received the ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ Award from the Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2019, the ‘EMPATHY – Empowering People against Hepatitis’ Award was conferred upon her by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and former Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.
