Miami Law/Young ICCA Annual Scholarship winner announced
It is with great pleasure that we announce the winner of this year's Miami Law/Young ICCA Scholarship: Arundathi Venkataraman.
Every year, the University of Miami School of Law and Young ICCA award one full-tuition scholarship ($48,000) to an outstanding Young ICCA member to attend the International Arbitration LL.M. Program. The winner of this year's scholarship is Arundathi Venkataraman.
Get to know the new Miami-Young ICCA Scholar through her answers to the Young ICCA Proust Questionnaire.
Arundathi Venkataraman
Age: 24 years
Hometown: Bangalore, India
Current City: Bangalore, India
Current Employer: I have only recently finished a 2-year long tenure with Khaitan & Co., Mumbai and I am taking a break until I join UM.
Education: B.A. LL.B (Hons.) from National Law University, Jodhpur
If you had to give an acceptance speech for this scholarship, what would your first line be? I am honoured to be awarded the Young ICCA Scholarship and I am extremely excited to see where it will take me!
What is your favourite virtue? Open-mindedness
What are your favourite qualities in another person? Kind heartedness and the ability to laugh easily
What is your chief characteristic? Empathy
What is your main fault? Obsessing over the tiniest details.
What is your favourite occupation? I enjoy being a lawyer and I can’t think of an occupation that I’d like more. However, being a scuba instructor seems like a whole lot of fun!
What is your idea of happiness? Scuba diving in warm waters or playing with dogs!
What is your idea of misery? Rumination
If not yourself, who would you be? I can’t seem to think of anyone else’s life I’d be able to live as well as they do.
Where would you like to live? I’m not sure where exactly on a map, but it will definitely be a small village by the sea.
Who is your favourite prose author? Enid Blyton - despite all the controversy around how politically incorrect her writing is. When I was a child, her books introduced me to the joy of both reading and dissolving myself into another’s story.
Who is your favourite hero/heroine in fiction? Atticus Finch.
Who is your hero in real life? There are too many people from whom I continuously learn and whose qualities I aspire to have. It would be difficult to call any one of them my heroes or, for that matter, call any of them heroes at all. Presently, however, I am awe-inspired by the work of Ms. Amal Clooney.
What historical person do you most dislike? Simone Gbagbo.
What is your favourite name? I’ve never thought about it.
What do you hate the most? When people are unkind and rude.
What is your natural talent? Learning a new sport, any physical activity really, comes easily to me.
What is your favourite arbitration-related decision? BALCO v. Kaiser Aluminium of the Supreme Court of India. Flawed as it may be, I think that it was a decision that was almost necessary to put India back on the arbitration map.
Who is your favourite arbitrator? Mr. Michael Hwang
Who is your mentor? Ms. Aakanksha Kumar from my time in NLU Jodhpur.
What is your motto? “Okay, so what’s next?”