Finding Empowerment in Disability: Raj Mahapatra, Senior Counsel at Wilson Sonsini

Introduction: 1:20

• Introducing Raj Mahapatra, Senior Counsel at Wilson Sonsini, chairman at the National Axial Spondyloarthritis Society, executive committee member at the Axial Spondyloarthritis International Federation, and long-distance runner.

Receiving a life-changing diagnosis in your twenties: 2:45

• Dealing with chronic pain after years as an athlete.
• Processing the news that you might spend your life in a wheelchair.
• Learning from experience and fellow sufferers that doctors aren’t always right.

Changing your perspective on work by living with a disability: 6:27

• Asking for allowances to improve your working conditions.
• Raising your hand to make life easier for everyone in the room.
• Transforming your relationship with pain into a professional motivation. 

Incorporating charity into your running practice: 13:17

• Receiving an invitation to help a charitable organization and being elected chair.
• Transitioning from raising money for charity to giving your time to charity.
• Seeking to change people’s personal relationships with their health conditions.

Going beyond legal roles and into operator positions: 20:41

• Leveraging early computer experience in the 80s and 90s into the start-up world. 
• Understanding that there is a commercial end to every legal role. 
• GCs are always asking “why?”

Fundraising as General Counsel and Head of Intellectual Property at Cervest Limited: 24:45

• Changing the relationship between farmers in Ghana and the marketplace to increase the standard of living.
• Suffering through three climate disasters in a short period of time. 
• Recognizing the need for AI models that predict climate change on a global scale.
• Losing your VC funding to the market dip after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Reflecting on the experience of building and losing a business as a lawyer: 32:13

• Taking time to learn and understand your reasons for creating a business.
• Finding investors who understand your personal mission, even if your missions don’t align.
• Championing the colleagues who will run into the burning building at your side.

Resetting after a difficult work experience: 35:58

• Avoiding dispassionate legal attitudes and leaning into your feelings.
• Moving through the trauma and giving yourself a moment to reflect.
• Getting involved with other organizations that share your passion for ending climate change.

Joining Wilson Sonsini as Senior Counsel: 42:19

• Entering a legendary tech law firm as an expert in business operations. 
• Blending legal, tech transactions, and clean tech into a single role. 
• Transitioning from leading to advising. 
• Looking forward to the challenges he hasn’t contemplated yet.
• The flexibility and loneliness of the GC role.

Building a meaningful life: 51:28

• Breaking out of the work/life balance paradigm to fill your days with meaningful actions.