Nikita Lalla grew up in Verulam, a town in KwaZulu-Natal shaped by apartheid spatial planning. Educated under the old tricameral system, Lalla initially imagined careers as a hairdresser, journalist and lawyer, with a brief detour into medicine.Her advice to her younger self is not to sweat the small stuff.
People are far more self-conscious than they need to be, she says, and the world is not watching as closely as they imagine.Lalla studied for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand and went on to become the first black woman in South Africa to lead a construction and engineering practice at a top-tier firm.
Two decades on, Chambers continues to describe her as the only black female partner in construction in South Africa.That experience helped shape her decision to build spaces where women can lead. Today, Lalla is a practising construction lawyer and leads LnP Beyond Legal, a female-driven specialist firm with offices in South Africa and Mauritius. The business also has a legal technology arm, Nexa Beyond.
Her days vary from advising clients and running the firm to leading the technology team, lecturing on Wits' postgraduate construction and engineering law programme and taking part in podcast and radio interviews.
Her pro bono work, particularly for women and children, is central to making a difference. Through Nexa Beyond, she helped launch NexAttPro, an AI tool to help women obtain protection orders. She has also founded initiatives supporting peer learning, diversity and collaboration among women-led legal practices.
Her journey has taught her to keep going when progress is difficult and to know when it is time to move on.