Sinha helps organizations navigate new and unexpected scenarios, carving out legal space where there may not be precedents. In 2023,听Canadian Lawyer听named him one of the top 25 most influential lawyers in the country.
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During the Covid-19 pandemic, he advised governments and corporations on how to respond, as well as helped sports teams and casinos coordinate shutdowns and re-openings. He鈥檚 provided advice on the legalization of cannabis, and regulation of new dental plans. His expertise in political law makes him the go-to for corporations and political actors on conflicts of interest, ethics, lobbying and elections law.
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And if an entity wants to engage in something like cryptocurrency, or take a public stance on a political issue that poses a media risk, he鈥檒l weigh in.
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鈥淚鈥檓 naturally drawn to unsolved problems,鈥� Sinha says.
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If you look at law as the operating instructions for a tribe as it grows, when new needs arise, legal lacunae open. Sinha approaches these gaps as 鈥渉ow an ecologist might be excited to find a new species.鈥�
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Sinha attributes his capacity for holding many perspectives at once to his bijural training at 平特五不中 in the 鈥�90s, with its emphasis on political, moral, and societal underpinnings. 鈥淚t was a great environment to think and be challenged with ideas,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd an absolutely beautiful m茅lange of people from different backgrounds, different cultures, different educational paths, and with different anticipated careers,鈥� the Hindu Newfoundlander adds.
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He was part of the first class of students to be recruited by New York firms, and landed at Paul, Weiss, gaining great experience. But the NYC lifestyle wasn鈥檛 the right fit for Sinha and his now-wife. 鈥淏eing on the Upper East Side arguing with people about where to find the best risotto didn鈥檛 feel like us,鈥� he jokes. So, 23 years ago, they chose Bay Street over Wall Street.
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He and his wife, an executive at an insurance company, lead busy lives. When their kids were young, Sinha was aware that if he left work at 6 to relieve the nanny, it鈥檇 be assumed he was going to another meeting 鈥� or that if he were upfront about his family commitments, he鈥檇 be lauded in ways his wife might not have been. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 ridiculous! Because she鈥檚 probably contributing more than me at the office and at home, but gets no bonus points for it,鈥� he notes.
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While the balance is a challenge, Sinha wants to fully embrace 鈥渆very lovely scrumptious aspect鈥� of family life while serving his clients, being a good friend, finding interesting new things, learning from the world. 鈥淗ow can I make it so that all of these are not independent stones, but colours on a palette? I鈥檓 trying to live a life, not go through tasks.鈥�
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In the early days of his career, he didn鈥檛 want to draw attention to how he was usually the only Brown person in the room. 鈥淵ou could barely make a soccer team out of the Brown partners on Bay Street,鈥� he says. But a colleague urged him to step up. Today, he serves as McCarthy T茅trault鈥檚 ambassador to Legal Leaders in Diversity, and is a sought-after voice for diversity in the business community.
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Not only is a diverse staff more productive, innovative, and creative; it鈥檚 also a sign of a well-functioning office that hires for talent and eschews the risk of groupthink, Sinha stresses. He likens its importance to how special powers are found anywhere in the X-Men universe. 鈥淥ur profession requires people who can do a very peculiar job,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e looking for the people who crave it, and are good at it, and can engage with it in the way that makes it great. If you put unnecessary, irrelevant characteristics in front of your perception of who鈥檚 going to be good at the job? If you need a team of heroes and you only look for heroic types, you鈥檙e going to miss Wolverine, up north in a Canadian mining town. You鈥檙e going to miss Nightcrawler because he鈥檚 a street urchin in Germany.鈥�
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Within the organized chaos and fast decisions of his office鈥檚 legal dealings, Sinha tries his best to mentor junior lawyers so they mature as problem solvers. He has great faith in the younger generation to lead us towards ever more progressive ways. 鈥淚鈥檝e got a pet theory that my kids鈥� generation is just going to straighten things out,鈥� he says. For them, climate change and gender equality aren鈥檛 debatable.
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鈥淐orporations will have to be good citizens and show moral corporate character, just to keep competitive.鈥�
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鈥淚 really do believe the universe arcs towards justice and, in the end, don鈥檛 bet against rationality,鈥� Sinha says. 鈥淢y highest professional obligation is the execution of the law. And I have faith that if you support that system, then that system creates a backbone for a moral and just society.鈥�
