Shyama Kuriakose
Legal Head - Counter Wildlife Trafficking
Shyama has ten years of experience in working on enviro-legal subjects ranging from forest conservation, biodiversity and climate change to issues of urban environmental governance from the lens of gender justice and human rights. She holds an undergraduate degree in law from the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi and a Master’s from National Academy of Legal Studies and Research, Hyderabad. Prior to joining WCS-India, she worked as a legal consultant with Vidhi Center for Legal Policy, New Delhi; Enviro Legal Defence Firm (ELDF), New Delhi; and independently as well. In the course of her career she has worked on enviro-legal compliance, conducted training and capacity building exercises and carried out law and policy drafting. She also writes regularly on natural resource management laws in newspapers and online news portals.
Aditi Bardia
Aditi Bardia is a fourth-year B.B.A LL.B. (Hons.) student at Symbiosis Law School, Pune. Her area of interest is Animal Laws and their intersectionality with other areas of law. She is particularly interested in Wildlife Laws. She has interned in the capacity of legal research and policy intern at People for Animals India, Animal Law Centre, NALSAR and is currently working as a legal intern at WCS-India.
Faisal Patil
Faisal is a Senior Law Officer at WCS-India. His work involves conducting research on aspects of national environmental and wildlife law as well as drafting policy briefs. He also conducts capacity building workshops for law enforcement agencies (LEA). Faisal completed his Bachelors in Management Studies(B.M.S) and Masters in Public Policy(M.P.P) from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. He is a law graduate from the Government Law College, Mumbai.Prior to joining WCS-India, Faisal has spent his time interning with a diverse set of organisations ranging from research institutes such as WRI to environmental advocacy groups like the Earth Law Centre. His interests include a wide array of environmental issues but he is most passionate about biodiversity conservation, specifically the ramifications that law and policy have on threatened species.
Ishani KS
Ishani holds an undergraduate degree in law from the National Law Institute University, Bhopal and is currently pursuing a master’s degree from the same university with a specialisation in Human Rights and Criminal Law. Her areas of interest are human rights and wildlife criminal law. She is a registered advocate with the Bar Council of Madhya Pradesh and is working as a legal intern at WCS-India.
Samir Majumdar
Samir is practicing advocacy especially in forest and wildlife laws since 1993. He was a resource person at various organisations like Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun, North Eastern Police Academy, Shillong, TRAFFIC- India and WWF. He is a regular resource person of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and WCS-India in capacity building workshops for forest and police officers in North east India. He is the winner of 'Wildlife Participatory Management Award - 2009' by the Government of West Bengal.
Sushmitha Viswanathan
Sushmitha is a Law Officer at WCS-India. Her work involves research in wildlife law and related areas. She is especially interested in cyber wildlife crimes and the intersection of data privacy and conservation. In addition to her passion for environmental law and policy, she loves music and dance. Sushmitha is a law graduate from Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru.