In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2020, Texas Lawyer had the chance to conduct a Q&A with Bobby Majumder, Reed Smith's Dallas Office Managing Partner.

Can you tell us about your upbringing and how your family came to settle in the United States?

Bobby Majumder: My mother and father are both doctors, who came to the United States from India during the post-war period, my father in the 1950's and my mother during the 1960's. They ultimately settled in the hills of West Virginia, aka "Almost Heaven," where my sister and I were born and raised, growing up in a beautiful state with "down home" values.

Our parents instilled in us the importance of hard work in school, sports, and relationships, and we learned to accept gifts and setbacks with equal grace and to walk purposefully. Even though we lived in Appalachia, my sister and I still were able to see and experience the larger world through visits to and from our relatives abroad. These would include my grandparents on both my mother's and father's sides, all of whom are were very successful and highly regarded in India.

I owe everything to God and my family. Indeed, I still talk to my parents every day for their wisdom and counsel.

What customs or parts of your cultural heritage have you retained that are still important to you today?

One important custom that has been passed down to me through my family heritage is a touching ceremony called "Anaprasana," in which a child at six or seven months eats solid foods for the first time in their life. My family and I have done this now with our son, and my niece and nephew, and it is really a very wonderful and loving gathering of family and tradition.

During the ceremony, a tray is first placed in front of the child that includes: a lump of earth, symbolizing fertility and prosperity, a book, symbolizing learning, a pen, symbolizing wisdom, and a silver coin or a tiny silver box, symbolizing wealth. Family members cheer the little one while he or she makes their choice.

The traditional belief is that the object picked up by the baby represents his or her area of interest in the future. In our case, our son Taylor grabbed both the book and the coin at the same time. We are hoping that this is true for him in life!

Next, the family recites the names of five generations of family who precede the child. In our case, our family tree is documented over more than 11 generations. We believe it is important to know where you come from in order to understand where you can go in the future. This part of the ceremony also shows respect for the sacrifices of prior generations and acknowledges that we are here because of them.

My extended family has a long history of exploring the world, most of us are settled outside of India, and there have been several marriages between people of Eastern and Western heritages. As a result, we are the blend of multiple cultures and stronger for it. For example, my wife Binky, who is a blonde, blue-eyed Texas native, was one of the biggest proponents for holding the Anaprasana ceremony for our son and carrying on the tradition.

Why did you become an attorney?

As the child of two doctors—and like many "Homelander" kids of my generation, whose ancestral homeland is India—I had always assumed I would also be a doctor when I grew up. In fact, I even finished my pre-med undergraduate work, but, by then, had grown tired of by being stuck inside in a lab while my fraternity brothers were off having fun. So, I said, "enough!"I think a big early influence then was Susan S. Brewer, who is a good friend of my mother's and a successful defense attorney who represents hospitals in major medical malpractice cases. Today, Susan is the CEO of Steptoe & Johnson, and has been since 2009.  She hired me as an intern in her office during college.

Perhaps a more subconscious influence back then was watching "L.A. Law" on television during the summer, while I was pondering my post-graduate career. At some point, I realized that I really enjoyed watching lawyers in action, particularly the business lawyers working on big exciting deals. That was the turning point, and I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer.

My father didn't mind, telling me, and I quote, "As long as you do something professional and get the hell off our payroll, I will be happy."

My mother was a little more conditional. She sat me down and said, "You don't sue doctors, you don't chase ambulances, you don't defend criminals, and you don't divorce people. As long as you don't do any of those things, we will let you sit at our dinner table."

She meant it, too, so it was clear to me that litigation was too risky, as I could be disinvited to the dinner table, so I became a corporate lawyer.

India Business Law Journal recently named you as one of its top 100 India-focused lawyers outside the country. Can you tell us about your practice and how your connections in India help you in your work with the firm?

I currently serve as the co-head of Reed Smith's India Practice Group, which until recently has meant traveling to India more than at any point in my life. The India portion of my practice involves extensive capital markets work, including IPOs and other public offerings, M&As, and private-equity investments.  On the investment side, we represent both companies and banks from the United States and European Union investing in India, as well as acting for companies from India doing deals in the United States and European Union.

If someone had told me fifteen years ago that I would be doing so much significant work in India, and traveling there four times a year, at minimum, I would not have believed it.

Fortunately, I still have a cousin in India, who was able to make some good introductions as I set out to build my business network there. It has taken many years and thousands of air miles, late night conference calls, and a lot of patience and humility to get here.

Ironically, it was through my work in India that I've learned to speak Hindi and Bengali fluently. My son and I are now learning to read and write Hindi, and, although English is still widely used throughout India, we enjoy being able to use it for both formal and casual communications.

There are many cultural differences between how business is practiced in India and in the United States. For example, in many cases here at home, a deal is struck first and relationships are built from that deal. However, in India, the norm is to first build a relationship, and then, only when that relationship is well formed, will business happen. It can be frustrating for some Americans, when they don't see immediate results. I had some missteps in that regard early on, but you soon realize that you just have to keep going back and building the relationship.

All this reinforces what one of my mentor partners told me years ago, that people hire lawyers, not law firms. You just can't go around handing out your business card and hoping to get hired. People need to know you, understand your thinking process and like you before they trust you with their critical transactions.  In fact this is true, here at home, in India, and the world at large.

This has been a challenging year for everyone. What have been the biggest challenges for you this past year as OMP? Also, what has been your single greatest accomplishment as OMP this past year?

2020 has been unlike any year that most of have ever experienced or ever expected. I am heartened by how well our people in Dallas and across Reed Smith's global platform have met the challenges of working remotely and sheltering at home with our families.May 8, 2020, marked Reed Smith's first anniversary of opening our Dallas office, and we have already doubled in number of lawyers since then.

As restrictions begin to ease—and with the health and safety of our people and clients our paramount concern—we will eventually move into our new offices in Dallas' Harwood No. 10 tower. Our new home in Harwood is a truly 21st-century facility, and we look forward to joining the greater Dallas- Fort Worth business community in thriving in a post-pandemic future.

At Reed Smith, we all have a tremendous sense of responsibility to and for each other, for our clients and for our communities. This connectivity between everyone, from our administrative staff to our lawyers, is truly wonderful, and I believe that our best days are ahead of us.

The firm is focused on mentoring, continuing legal education, career development, and diversity and inclusion. It is personally rewarding for me that everyone who currently works with me at Reed Smith on the Dallas transactions team, including some of our partners in Dallas, started their legal careers with me years ago as clerks.

Overall, our collective spirit of accomplishment and assistance is infectious, and it contributes to attracting other like-minded individuals who see that together the impossible becomes possible.

Bobby Majumder is the co-office Managing Partner of the Dallas office of Reed Smith, and co-head of the firm's India practice. He focuses his practice on corporate and securities transactions primarily in the energy (oil & gas and coal), mining, health care and information technology industry verticals.