Vatsla Bhardwaj
Legal Manager
Vatsla joined our legal team in India as an Analyst in 2021. Prior to joining us, she worked as a Senior Associate at Trilegal.

What is the job you do at Eight Roads? Can you briefly describe a day in your life at work? 

As an in-house counsel, the role is slightly diverse and you get a flavour of a multitude of things. You’re not only looking at the transactional aspect of things here but also monitoring overall compliance at the fund level or looking at safeguarding the fund's interests subsequent to investments in portfolio companies (which in itself is a continuous process).  

Being in a role which is somewhat at the confluence of legal and business divisions, you’re also more involved and therefore, have better visibility on the commercial aspects of a transaction.

Looking back, what’s been the steepest learning curve on your career journey so far?

Having worked in the client-servicing sector for the better part of 4 years, was possibly the steepest learning curve in my career progression.

With high value-high pressure deals, while most days will offer an opportunity to work on something challenging which may require you to step out of your comfort zone; it also comes with having to manage expectations, multitasking and of course, doing good work. You may find yourself in the deep end of the pool sometimes, but you come out of it as a more well-rounded professional.

If you could give one piece of advice to your 20-year-old self what would it be?

I would tell myself to be less risk averse and perhaps, more instinctive. Oftentimes, we tend to play it safe in life and don’t take the leap of faith which could have exposed us to a plethora of possibilities or maybe just worthwhile experiences.

Who inspires you?

I don’t generally believe in role models or just deriving inspiration from one person alone. Everyday is just an attempt at doing better than I did yesterday.