Laila T. Ollapally

Senior Fellow – India

About Laila T. Ollapally

Laila Ollapally is a full-time mediator and founder of CAMP, Arbitration and Mediation Practice, a pioneering private mediation initiative in Bangalore, India. Established in 2015, CAMP seeks to promote mediation as a form of Alternate Dispute Resolution. CAMP is also the only Qualifying Assessment Program (QAP) for the International Mediation Institute in India. Ms. Ollapally has been a lawyer for over three decades, practicing in the Supreme Court of India and the High Court and Consumer Courts of Karnataka.

Ms. Ollapally began her mediation journey as the founding coordinator of the Karnataka Mediation Centre (KMC), the court-annexed program of the High Court of Karnataka, from 2007 to 2015. The KMC is acclaimed as one of the most successful court-annexed programs in the country. She continues to be a senior mediator and a master trainer at the KMC.

Ms. Ollapally brings to her mediations a spirit of empathy and personal connection with the parties and their lawyers.

She is an IMI-certified mediator and serves on the panel of Mediators at the Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC) and was appointed as a member on the SIMC User’s Council. She further serves on the panel at AAA-ICDR and is on the advisory board of The Foundation for Sustainable Rule of Law Initiatives (FSRI).

Litigation Practice

Ms. Ollapally’s litigation practice focuses on constitutional and civil law, including:

Commercial contracts, including international contracts and vendor disputes
Property and property development, including landlord/ tenant disputes
Insurance law
Company and employment law
Consumer protection and medical negligence, tortious liability
Minority rights of educational institutions
Disability rights and mental health law
Environment protection and public interest litigations

As Chairperson of the Ethical and Research Committee of St. Johns National Academy of Health Sciences in Bangalore, a premier medical college in the country, she has found meaningful opportunity to go beyond right and wrong and delve deeply into the morality and conscience of patient care.

Mediation Practice

Ms. Ollapally has been a mediator since 2007 and has mediated several hundred cases with a high rate of settlement. She was appointed by the Supreme Court of India and the High Court of Karnataka to co-mediate several high profile and sensitive disputes with Supreme Court Judges. Her diverse mediation experience includes cases in the areas of:

Property – real estate, joint development, landlord/tenant, intellectual property
Contracts – including: commercial contracts, sub-contracts, vendor disputes
Family disputes – including: family business disputes, family partition, and other settlements
Matrimonial – divorce, child custody
Commercial – founder disputes, IT disputes, transfer of business, partnership, cross border commercial disputes, consumer disputes
Company disputes – shareholder issues, oppression & mismanagement, winding – up
Sports and other disputes

ADR Achievements and Training

As Founding Coordinator of the KMC, Ms. Ollapally was responsible for establishing and overseeing the effective operation and administration of the Mediation Centre. Along with FSRI, she has audited mediation programs established by the High Courts in the States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab and Haryana.
She was nominated to “The International Who’s Who Legal” of Commercial Mediation and awarded for her International Contribution to Mediation by the University of Connecticut and Foundation for Sustainable Rule of Law Initiatives (FSRI), San Francisco, California (2013).
She was awarded a Weinstein JAMS International Fellowship (2011).
She was a Visiting Scholar, Gould Center for Conflict Resolution, Stanford Law School (2011).
She was trained in mediation by Karnataka High Court in collaboration with The Institute for the Study and Development of Legal Studies (ISDLS).
She has undergone extensive advanced mediation training at Harvard Law School, JAMS (San Francisco), Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law, Gould Center for Conflict Resolution, Stanford Law School and International Summer School on Business Mediation, Admont, Austria.
She was a member of the committee constituted by the Supreme Court of India to make recommendations for a draft legislation for mediation in India.
She was a member of the working committee constituted by the Ministry of Legal Affairs, Government of India for drafting the Rules and Standards for mediation in India.
She has served as a member of the Board of the International Mediation Institute.
She has also served as a member of the International Advisory Board of the Global Mediation Panel, UNDP.
She also audited the Calcutta High Court Mediation Program.

ADR Teaching and Mentoring

As Founding Coordinator of the Bangalore Mediation Centre:

She has been a mediation trainer for more than 15 years and conducted numerous mediation trainings and workshops for Senior Lawyers of the Supreme Court and Judges and Lawyers of the State High Courts and District Courts of India.
She conducts “Training of Trainers” programs for The Mediation and Conciliation Project Committee (MCPC) of the Supreme Court of India.
She has trained judges and lawyers in the courts internationally.

As Founder of CAMP she conducts:

Basic mediation training to increase the pool of private mediators
Mediation advocacy workshops for lawyers
Negotiation workshops for business executives
Mediation courses for the students of several law schools in India
Prestigious internship program for law students

Ms. Ollapally also served as a co-trainer for the Edwards Mediation Academy (EMA)-CAMP India Mediation Training and has conducted reflective practice sessions for mediators in India.

Publications and Education

Publications

Ms. Ollapally was a member of the sub-committee constituted by the Supreme Court of India to prepare the National Mediation Training Manual. She also co-authored the Bangalore Mediation Centre Training Manual. She has written widely in newspapers, law journals and other publications.

Educational Qualifications

Master of Laws (LL.M) in Mercantile Law and Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from Bangalore University
Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Economics from Stella Maris College, Madras University