Intentional Growth: Vivek Tata is Bucking Traditional Tracks

It’s been an exciting year for Vivek Tata and his partners since they opened the firm Elsberg Baker & Maruri. Tata, a founding member and the firm's General Counsel, has been busy both building the firm and trying cases. The experienced litigator has been pleasantly surprised at how seamless the transition has been and how established the young firm already feels.

Tata hasn’t skipped a beat. Since opening the doors of the new firm he’s litigated cases across the country, and has helped secure dismissals of all claims against client Sol Goldman Investments in a high-profile case in the Commercial Division of New York Supreme Court.

The litigator’s practice includes representing individuals and companies in commercial and securities litigation on both sides of the “v.”, counseling investors, investment funds, large companies and startups alike.

Tata’s scope as an advocate may be broad, but regardless of who he is representing, he’s razor focused on finding the most compelling narrative. He places a premium on having the ability and clarity to boil a matter down to the essential points, allowing the facts to facilitate clear communication to the court.

“I think of myself as a storyteller,” says Tata. “How do we winnow it down to make sure that we're telling a clear story so that whether it's a judge, jury or an arbitrator, they get our client's perspective.”

Tata is as equally passionate about mentorship – especially as he builds Elsberg Baker & Maruri. The firm was formed with partners that Tata greatly admires, partners who connected on a shared value system that not only helps to guide the growth of the firm, but also informs its very ethos.

“If you give people room to grow,” says Tata, “if you trust them and you make sure that they have the support they need, they can do things they didn't think they could do.”

Lawdragon: You’re a founding member of Elsberg Baker & Maruri, but how did you come to be General Counsel?

Vivek Tata: Everybody contributes to all facets of operating the firm. I was drawn to the GC function because it's critical when you're setting up a law firm to do things correctly and ethically. I am responsible for ensuring we’re thinking proactively about legal ethics and advising our team on issues that might arise.

LD: Can you tell me a little bit about your own career trajectory?

VT: I graduated college in 2006, and I worked in the tech field for about seven years. I was in marketing at Google for most of that time. I enjoyed that experience. At the time I was there, it was a company that attracted really interesting, smart people. It was a great, almost academic environment to be in. I was also influenced by working with the lawyers at Google, seeing how they interacted with various litigation threats.

I'd always been interested in law, so I went to law school and when I graduated, I worked for Sullivan & Cromwell for about eight months, then clerked for a year in the Eastern District of New York. I was fortunate to work for an extraordinary judge, Judge Kiyo Matsumoto. She cares deeply about her cases, takes mentorship very seriously, and is a careful and thoughtful jurist. It was an eye-opening experience and made me think a lot about what I wanted to do with my career.

Watching trials during my clerkship, I realized that's what I wanted to do. Instead of returning to a big firm after clerking, I began to look at other options and I joined what was then a brand new firm that just formed, soon to be called Selendy Gay Elsberg.

LD: What were the sort of cases that you were working on at Selendy?

VT: A wide variety of commercial litigation and arbitration cases – similar to what I work on today. We did everything ranging from major contract disputes, corporate governance litigation, some appellate work and some internal investigations.

The very first case I worked on at Selendy was back in 2018, when the firm had just formed. I worked with David Elsberg on an investment dispute. It was an expedited arbitration, a five-day hearing. So basically, immediately upon joining the firm, I was in the process of preparing for trial, having never done that as an associate. I was a second year, I knew very little about actual practice and I was so fortunate to have an extraordinary mentor in David Elsberg. He gave me far more responsibility than anyone would normally give a second year. There was always help and mentorship if I needed it, but I was given as much rope as I could handle. Within the first two months of starting at the firm, I was able to argue a privilege motion, I was preparing witnesses and getting everything ready for trial, and I did part of a witness exam at the hearing. He trusted me to figure it out.

It was a memorable and influential experience. It confirmed for me that I really wanted to do trial work. It was challenging, and I loved every minute of it. I realized after that trial that this was something I could handle, even though I'd never done it before. A large part of that was due to the faith that I had from David and the other people on the team who were supporting my growth. And we did a great job for the client.

One of the great things about our firm is that there's very little hierarchy. We have one office. It's an open-door culture.

LD: And are you an active mentor now?

VT: I try to be. I think that's something that is core to our firm. One of the great things about our firm is that there's very little hierarchy. We have one office. It's an open-door culture. We expect associates not to stand on ceremony and not be afraid of coming to partners, but to be proactive and seek us out. We are actively mentoring people, taking the time to go over drafts and give feedback. Not just when things could be improved, but maybe more importantly, when things have been done well.

LD: Elsberg Baker & Maruri has been open for almost a year now! Tell us how it’s going.

VT: It's going extremely well. We're focused on doing what we like to do – which is practice law. We are fortunate to have a great professional team that helps us do the day-to-day management of the firm, because we have been extremely busy and we’re growing. We've added several associates and now we're running like an established firm. I don't think day to day you’d have any idea this was a firm that was created less than a year ago. It's very satisfying.

LD: Can you tell us about the cases that have been keeping you busy since opening the firm?

VT: We’ve done some really important cases and have secured victories for our clients in a number of different forums. We had fast-moving trade secret cases, and our Delaware practice is significant and continues to grow – we have several cases pending in Chancery Court. In New York, we represent Sol Goldman Investments, which is a major real estate owner in New York City. It's part of the Goldman family of real estate companies, one of the largest landlords in New York. There is a dispute between members of the Goldman family concerning rights to sell interest in Sol Goldman Investments – what are called “put-rights,” basically the right to sell part of their interest back to the company and get cash in return. We successfully got the company dismissed in August. We are currently defending the appeal of that dismissal in the first department.

LD: That's great. Tell us about what inspired you to start this new firm?

VT: This was an opportunity to create something new with my partners and colleagues. These are people who junior folks look up to and who are some of the most talented trial lawyers I'm ever going to get to practice with. We've staked out our values and our practices as a firm and it’s very exciting. We're bucking the trend of having multiple tiers of partnership or having a very long partnership track. We really believe that we're going to start our associates off, get them ready to practice, get them ready to be trial lawyers and in a reasonable time they'll be up for partner – which is unusual nowadays. You're seeing at other firms that track is getting longer and longer, which changes the incentives for associates. I think it says something about a firm's commitment to training if it doesn't think its associates are ready to become partners until 14 years out of school.

LD: Can you expand upon some of the firm's founding values?

VT: Litigation is a team sport fundamentally, and we highly value teamwork and openness. We're not a hierarchical culture or a closed-door culture. We value mentorship. We really think of ourselves as a team, and we think we have to do our best for our client as a team.

LD: Can you describe your style as a litigator?

VT: I try to be thoughtful and curious about cases. I think the most effective lawyers that I've seen are those who can start thinking about the story from day one. As a trial lawyer, your goal isn't to try to get a quick exit. If you can and it's good for your client, that's great, but you can’t plan for that. You have to think about what the story will be like at trial. I think of myself as a storyteller, what's important? What's not important? How do we get the facts? And how do we winnow it down to make sure that we're telling a clear story so that whether it's a judge, or jury, or an arbitrator, they get our client's perspective. That's how I approach things. The best lawyers are great storytellers. They know how to boil things down and make the conclusion they want seem like common sense.

LD: And what about leadership? How would you describe your style as a leader?

VT: I’m collaborative. Coming up as an associate, it meant a lot to have senior lawyers not only willing to hear out a more junior lawyer, but to actually be excited by the fresh energy. I want junior team members to give me their ideas. Not all of them are going to be great, just like not all of my ideas are great. But that interaction – that debate – is how you get to really great arguments and find really good facts. Some of our best points have been made by associates who've been willing to dig in, ask questions and be curious. I try to encourage that.

LD: What do you do for fun outside of the office?

VT: Well, I've got a six-year-old, so that's a lot of it. I hang out with my son, and I really love being a dad. I've started to be able to take him to do things that I really love to do, like climbing. It’s really fun getting to explore my hobbies with him.