The Artisan's Advocate

When you meet Zainab Syed, what stands out first isn't the fact that she's an intellectual property lawyer, it's how deeply she cares about stories. Not just the stories people tell, but the ones they build with their hands, invent in their workshops, or pass down through generations.

- Aashiq Hussain Andrabi

Zainab runs Kashmir's first IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) law firm, and for over a decade, she's been helping artists, artisans, entrepreneurs, and small businesses protect the work they create.

Her office in Srinagar is often full of people who've never met a lawyer before-carpet weavers, sculptors, tech founders, farmers with ideas. She listens closely, not with the distance of legalese, but with a sense of shared purpose.

For her, IPR isn't about paperwork or patents for the sake of it. It's about recognition, fairness, and giving people the language and tools to claim what's theirs.

We sat down with Zainab to talk about what brought her to this kind of work, what it means to protect creativity in a place like Kashmir, and why intellectual property is for anyone who's ever made something with heart.

Interviewer: Choosing law in a place like Kashmir, where more traditional career paths are encouraged for girls, must've taken conviction. What drew you in?

Zainab Syed: Back when I chose law, it was widely considered a fallback option-something you did if you didn't get into medicine or engineering. But I never saw it that way. Law, to me, was intellectually alive, constantly evolving, rooted in ethics, and deeply impactful. Thankfully, my family has always been supportive. We've doctors, scientists, entrepreneurs, and that openness helped. I didn't waste time defending my choices to skeptics. Instead, I let my work speak for itself.

Interviewer: You've built your name in Intellectual Property Rights, something not many law students aim for. Why IPR?