The Swiss star

Foreign Associate at Homburger, a leading commercial law firm in Switzerland, Dilber Devitre featured among the "Rising Stars” in the field of dispute resolution: arbitration in the prestigious Legal 500. Admitted to the Paris Bar in 2016, Devitre functions as a counsel in complex commercial and investment arbitrations and has frequently acted as a secretary to Arbitral Tribunals.
Based on feedback from 300,000 clients worldwide, submissions from law firms and interviews with leading private practice lawyers, researchers from The Legal 500 have been analyzing the capabilities of law firms across the world for the last 33 years "to bring the most up-to-date vision of the global legal market. The Legal 500 assesses the strengths of law firms in over 150 jurisdictions,” notes its website. "When reviewing the performance of a firm or department we use various criteria; our focus is on the bench strength of the team (including partners and associates), and the consistency of quality of the individuals within the team.” Areas that are considered for evaluation include: technical ability for the most complex and innovative work; individuals with contacts at, and credibility with, prestigious clients; capacity for biggest transactions/cases; market share; historical track record on top deals/cases; strength in associated areas to handle all client requirements. The Legal 500 falls into two distinctly independent components: an impartial editorial section, and the directory section based on professional cards supplied by firms.
"I had no idea I was in the running and only found out about this when a senior partner in my law firm sent me a congratulatory message. At first I thought she was joking and had to Google it for myself to check,” stated Devitre when responding to queries from Parsiana. "I always knew I wanted to do something in international law that would give me the possibility to work in different jurisdictions. International arbitration perfectly fit the bill and luckily I also enjoy it. I love the variety of cases that I deal with and the fact that I can interact with so many different practitioners from all over the world,” added the 38-year-old legal practitioner who after completing her post-graduation in law from the prestigious Sorbonne in Paris and diploma in global business law and governance from Columbia University gained experience at Swiss and Paris law firms before joining Homburger.
Reputed to have a very strong and experienced team, Homburger is "definitely at the top of its practice. The lawyers have the ability to handle and litigate complex and large disputes, to understand the intricacies of complex matters and lucidly present them at arbitration, and to provide the client with clear and practical advice,” according to one of the many testimonials the firm received.
Conversant with English, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Spanish, Devitre points out, "India is still relatively closed to allowing foreign qualified lawyers to practice law in India so someone thinking of pursuing law abroad should keep that in mind. From the little that I have seen, the legal market in India is just as demanding and rewarding as abroad.”
Devitre is an alumna of St Joseph’s Convent, Bandra, St Xavier’s College and Elphinstone College to which she moved in her final year to graduate in French literature. "I fell in love with the French language and culture while on a year-long Rotary exchange program in France. I then moved to France and did a Masters in computational linguistics from the University de Franche-Comté before pursuing law at the Sorbonne,” she mentioned.
Balancing her professional commitments with domestic responsibilities as a mother to two-year-old Ava and three-month-old Freya, Dilber admits, "The struggle is real especially when you live abroad without family support. Luckily where I live in Switzerland, child care facilities are excellent and people are more open to the idea of work-life balance. Having a supportive partner is also indispensable and I’ve been very lucky on that front,” she gives credit to her husband Leo Fellman. Had she more time, she would indulge in reading, baking and gardening which are her main interests.
Born to Zarine and Fredun Devitre in Bombay, Dilber and her sister Navaz were brought up as proud Zoroastrians. "While it is difficult to stay connected to the religion when one is abroad because there is no agiary or other communal activities here, I try to practice as much as I can on my own. The pandemic has certainly made this easier with prayers now being offered on Zoom and YouTube. But nothing can replace the sense of community that one feels back home,” she admitted. "I believe religion is a private relationship between a person and his/her maker and it is not for society to dictate what religion a person can or cannot follow. I will consider myself a Parsi Zoroastrian till the day I die and will bring up my children to be good Zoroastrians whether or not a section of society accepts them as such.”