Biography
Els Reynaers is a Partner at M.V. Kini & Co. where she heads the firm’s Environment practice; and is specialized in environmental law and nuclear law.
She has law degrees from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium (magna cum laude), and the University of Delhi, India. She completed an LL.M. degree at the University of Georgia, U.S.A, which included a thesis on the regulation of transboundary movement of hazardous wastes.
Before moving to India, she worked as a lawyer on environment and energy-related issues at Allen & Overy, Brussels and at Giordano & Associates, Chicago, USA.
Prior to obtaining her Indian law degree Els headed the Centre for Global Agreements, Legislation and Trade at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi. She worked closely with the Government of India on its WTO trade and environment negotiations.
Els published a monograph on the status of the precautionary principle and regularly writes articles on topical issues in the environmental and nuclear energy field. Her latest co-authored publication is: “Compensation for Environmental Damage: Progressively Casting a Wider Net, but What's the Catch?”, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 2021, Volume 54, No. 3 (October, 2021), and forthcoming: India’s Progressive Environmental Case Law: A Worthy Roadmap for Global Climate Change Litigation, Georgetown Journal of International Law, Volume 54, issue 3 (Winter of 2023).
Els serves as the General Secretary of the Nuclear Law Association of India, which she helped co-found, was the President (2015-2016) and current Vice-President (2022-2024) of the International Nuclear Law Association. She’s a board member of the Supervisory Board of the International School of Nuclear Law, France (2022-2024). She’s regularly recognized as a leading environmental lawyer in India by the international peer-reviewed “Who’s Who Legal: Environment” edition (including in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022), was the Senior Vice Chair of the IBA’s Environment, Health and Safety Law Committee (2017-2018), its current Sustainability Initiatives Officer (2023-2024), and an active member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (2021-2025).
She’s the President of the dynamic Rotary Club of Mumbai SOBO (2022-2023) which is focused on addressing education, health, women empowerment and environmental community service projects. She has four rescue cats and is passionate about all types of sports.
