Sudhir Mishra: The Green Lawyer As bold as the BOLLYWOOD heroes.
Much like the legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan who in the silver-screen avatar is larger-than-life, Sudhir Mishra too has been passionately voicing the conservation of tigers, wetlands, forests, and the role of society. With his signature gravitas, Sudhir Mishra has taken on the role of a green crusader with a flair that matches Bollywood’s boldness. Just as Bachchan’s towering screen presence makes his message impossible to ignore, Sudhir’s early and uncompromising advocacy for environmental law has turned him into a leading green lawyer in a field where few dared to venture when ESG or climate action was barely a conversation. He plays a role that extends beyond the usual, from saving the tigers to saving the environment.
The beginning
Renowned lawyer Sudhir Mishra is Trust Legal’s founder and managing partner, a leading law firm based in New Delhi, and a Door Tenant with No5 Barristers’ Chambers in the United Kingdom. He was conferred a number of awards, the most recent being the ‘Environmental Lawyer of the Year’ award, which he received at the House of the Lords, Westminster, in London in 2022.
Sudhir was born into a humble family in Ramnagar, Varanasi. His father was a mathematics lecturer at a local college. His initial education was in ramshackle schools in small towns and villages in Bihar. His reformative years were spent in Dhumrao-Buxar, Chaibasa, where he saw the SanthalAndolan agitation by tribals. He passed the secondary examination from Siwan and did his higher secondary at a school in Banka. He was one of the brightest students in his school. He then moved to Delhi to secure admission to Delhi University College, and eventually, he managed to get a seat in the History Honours course at Deshbandhu College.
While in Delhi, he enrolled in law and devoted the next five years of his life to appearing for the civil services. He nearly made it in 1998 when he was interviewed but could not pass the medical examinations. His efforts in that direction failed. But it was like life had something much better in store for him. He abides by a famous line from the poetry of Harivansh Rai Bachchan, which goes like “Mann ka ho tohachhaa, na ho tohaurbhiachaa.”
Sudhir tells us that in 1998 when he was looking for a job desperately, no law firm would hire him due to his lack of relevant legal experience. Then, he met with Ashok Kumar, who was then with the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI). Sudhir was offered a job that required him to appear in the Tis Hazari court against the bail applications of poachers and wildlife criminals, and he said yes and accepted the offer. He did exceedingly well, and within a few years as a prominent environmental lawyer in the country, he was representing seven leading NGOs like WTI, WPSI, Corbett Foundation, WWF, Freeland Foundation, and different state governments.
Sudhir further shares that in 2005, he was invited to the International Visitor Leadership Programme nominated under the Fulbright Act. Under the programme, 12 forest officers were selected from different tiger reserves to receive training and learn about creating a new approach model to saving India’s tigers. Sudhir reflects on the leadership programme as a turning point in his life.
Founding Trust
Legal-India’s reputed commercial law firm
After his extensive ten years of law practice, Sudhir founded Trust Legal in 2009.
Trust Legal deals with NGOs, corporations, and civil society, including big organisations like Tata, Adani, the US Embassy, Cadbury, and Amazon. It specializes in media, broadcasting, and entertainment firms, with clients like ABP, TV9, Business World, Exchange for Media, and ZEE Entertainment.
Nature conservation
“Nature offers many lessons to humans, and I believe resilience, perseverance, and habits one can’t manufacture; are either inborn or failures left behind.”
He believes India’s forest staff is like the Indian army; they are not celebrated much. “Our forest staff is as good as the Indian army. They are the real custodians and guardians of the forest and its habitants”. During his journey as an environmental lawyer, he witnessed the beauty of nature and established an unbelievable connection with nature.
There is hardly a per cent of the population that would get to experience all the fantastic beauty of nature. He fervently narrates his discoveries with wildlife and nature during this significant stage of his career and personal life, reflecting on episodes at India’s national parks and tiger reserves; he exhilarates a pride in India’s wildlife and forests, urging everyone to travel and experience for themselves. As he describes, Sundarban mangroves are beautiful, protect us from ocean storms and tidal surges, and offer sustainable livelihoods to the community.
“I think we need to have a fundamental clarity; no matter what, trees can’t be felled.”
ddaa – Sudhir Mishra,
at Voice of MOSAIC podcast
Message to the children and youth
Children are ready for sustainability, and they approach it with absolute enthusiasm. I have personal successeswith school children. For example, in 2006, I learnt that the mongoose population was killed, and their hair was used for paint brushes; the best paintings were done using the mongoose paint brushes. There was a documentary directed by eminent filmmaker Syed Fayaz titled “A Brush with Death.” The documentary featured the killing of mongooses, an animal worshipped in India. The film was shown to many schools in New Delhi. The next month, the Delhi High Court received a series of petitions from the school children. Then, the Delhi High Court ensured that the mongoose as a species is subjected to the same protection as a tiger or an elephant in the Wildlife Protection Act.
“I want to emphasize the importance of school leadership and student participation for taking sustainability far and wide. And like the famous mongoose case, if every school in India takes responsibility towards nature and wildlife, takes a stand and files petitions, and students come out with campaigns, it will flip the scenarios totally.”
Does Delhi care about sustainability?
No, they don’t! Look at the kind of choices we are offering our children when we set poor examples, like driving to the local grocery store instead of walking or cycling? As Delhiites, many of us are more focused on showing off our new cars and houses, than addressing the real issues. Despite being residents of the capital, we’re not even demanding clean air, allowing Delhi to remain the air pollution capital. With forty percent of doctors overwhelmed by rising cases of lung disorders, no one is pushing the government to reduce pollution. No leader is coming forward to clean the rivers. There’s hardly any public initiative to clean the Yamuna or tackle the dangerously high AQI levels. Instead, what people are demanding is free electricity and giving their votes without much a thought. Is this really the priority of the educated middle class? It feels like we are missing the point entirely. For Delhiiteswhats worse is to live with the belief that climate crisis is a hoax.
He goes on but also to recognise the contribution of the younger generation, and how they are coming forward with significant environmental initiatives, also commending the role of supreme court and National Green Tribunal in environmental protection.
Learn more on the conversation with Sudhir Mishra on YouTube @voiceofmosaic