Super Lawyer

Category: Featured Insights

  • Aditya Singh, Founder and Chairman, Alexis Group, on founding Alexis Group, Indian Law Conclave and opportunities for law students

    Aditya Singh, Founder and Chairman, Alexis Group, on founding Alexis Group, Indian Law Conclave and opportunities for law students

    Aditya is founder and chairman of the Alexis group. He has completed his Master of Science in International Management with Merit from the Department of Strategy and Organisation, and Gold Level Certificate in Entrepreneurship from the Hunter Centre of Enterprise, Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. He also served as the President of Bharat Sansthan (India Society) at the university in the year 2014-15.

    He is a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) majoring in Finance and Marketing from the University of Delhi. He has also served as a Teach for India Fellow to eliminate education inequity in India.

    Aditya has also been recognised as a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum and as a Changemaker by the Global Action on Poverty. He was selected as a Hesselbein Fellow by the University of Pittsburgh, USA in recognition of his exemplary leadership and civic engagement skills and as a Prerna Fellow by the Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, one of India’s top b-school in recognition of his exemplary leadership and entrepreneurial skills. He was also conferred the Fellow of CMS Award in recognition of his outstanding leadership and community service.

    He has represented India at various International events including prestigious International Youth Forum Seliger organised by Federal Agency on Youth Affairs, Russian Federation and International Youth Forum Mauritius by Konectenu.

    In this interview we speak to him about:

    • Success of Alexis Group
    • His experience representing India at various International Forums
    • His experience as a TEDx speaker
    • Being a recipient of various Fellowships

     

    HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO OUR READERS?

    I am an intuitive and inquisitive person with a blend of entrepreneurial mindset. I love to interact with people, discuss ideas, build institutions, and get things done. On professional front, I am a qualified management consultant with specialisation in strategy, marketing, and policy.

    Furthermore, I adore public speaking and speak on wide range of subjects such as Education, Leadership, Civic Engagement, Development, Entrepreneurship, Excellence, Ethics & Values, Right to Information, Research Methodology, Public Accountability, Cross Cultural Communication, Youth Empowerment, Public Policy, Law, and Politics.

     

    PLEASE TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD AND COLLEGE LIFE?

    I grew up in campuses of NDUAT Kumarganj, Faizabad and IIM Lucknow as my parents are Professors. I studied at DAV Public School in Faizabad and City Montessori School, Aliganj in Lucknow. Both the schools provided me a very strong foundation of ethics and values and emphasised on the importance of human and divine education along with material education. Overall, I had a very eventful childhood filled with wonderful peers and teachers. I participated in various games, sports, activities and events both in school and campus.

    I pursued Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from Ramanujan College, University of Delhi. My undergraduate academic experience was very enriching and I have enjoyed every part of it. It enabled me to become an independent person, interact with diverse set of people, understand multiple perspectives, think out of box and widen my horizon. Alongside with my studies, I was also involved with the National Service Scheme throughout the three years of college.

    Later, I pursued MSc in International Management from University of Strathclyde, UK. My postgraduate learning experience was more about reflective learning, learning from peers and putting critical thinking into action in different projects taken by me. Studying with peers from 25 nationalities was indeed a great learning experience. International Management also taught me a lot about people, culture, leadership and diversity apart from different functional areas of management such as Finance, Marketing, Human Resource Management, Entrepreneurship, and Strategy with the International component in all of them.

     

    WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO START THE ALEXIS GROUP? WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES YOU FACED AND WHAT IS YET TO BE ACHIEVED?

    I wanted to create a global youth empowerment platform and develop a pool of young leaders who are passionate about inclusive development, sustainability, and giving back to the society by creating new opportunities and disrupting vicious cycle of poverty.

    I believe envisioning and incorporating an organisation was an easy task (though it seemed very difficult at seventeen). However, aligning my personal and organisational goals, recruiting and managing people, sustaining the organisation, staying true to the vision and creating sustainable positive impact are some challenges faced by me in past and present times too.

    Our motto is Passion for Excellence and remaining true to it, our nine year journey has been a roller-coaster ride. I feel that we have made significant progress in various work areas and empowered several young leaders. However, we still have a long way to go in fulfilling our vision. The journey has just started and I look forward to collaborate with young people from around the world to fulfil this shared vision.

     

    WHAT ARE THE WORK AREAS THAT ALEXIS GROUP FOCUSED ON?

    Broadly, our work can be divided into Advocacy, Awareness, Consultancy, Education, Events, and Research.

    Our focus areas include Agriculture, Economics, Education, Governance, Healthcare, Human Rights, Technology, Law, Management, Public Policy, Rural Development, Strategy, Women and Youth Empowerment.

    PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE REPRESENTING INDIA AT VARIOUS INTERNATIONAL FORUMS.

    I have represented India at International Youth Forum Seliger Russia, International Youth Forum Mauritius, Global Business Studies Programme at School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Hesselbein Global Leadership Academy, University of Pittsburgh, USA and Shape South Asia Conference in Dhaka.

    It has truly been an incredible experience. I have always tried to be an energetic ambassador of India by showcasing our rich Culture and Heritage around the world. Travel and experiencing diversity have really widened my thought process and horizon. This has also enabled me to become more conscious about my choices and decisions.

     

    WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF WORK FOR A LAW STUDENT AT ALEXIS GROUP?

    Historically, our leadership team has had 80% people from law background. However, now we have a diverse mix of people from management, technology and law in our leadership team.

    Throughout the year, we advertise various leadership and internship opportunities in the following work areas: awareness, research, education, and events. Furthermore, around 60% of our interns come from Law schools. Over 1000+ law students have interned with us in past nine years.

     

    HOW CAN A LAW STUDENT APPLY FOR INTERNSHIP AT ALEXIS GROUP?

    A law student can fill our Common Application Form available on the Careers page of Alexis Group website: www.alexis.in

    Additionally, they can send their CV to careers@alexis.co.in

    If they have already done some preliminary research and wish to work with a particular member organisation, they can mail their CV directly to the respective member organisation on its official email ID.

     

    PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE INDIAN LAW CONCLAVE. HOW CAN LAW STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN THIS?

    Indian Law Conclave is a three day National Conference organised by Adhrit Foundation, INY Foundation and Model Governance Foundation at International Youth Hostel, New Delhi from 29th June – 1st July 2018.

    The Conclave will have delegates from all over India who will engage in three days of rigorous learning, reflection and sharing of knowledge, skills, experiences, and perspectives. Focus areas of the Conclave would be Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism, Constitutional Law, Corporate Law, Cyber Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Law, and Maritime Law.

    The Conclave will have both Formal and Informal events. Formal events include Keynote Presentations, Paper Presentation Competition, and Group Discussions. Informal events include Open Forum, Cultural Night and Ethnic Fashion Show, Life Mapping Exercise, Dance and Music performances. Workshops and Mini Bootcamps on Entrepreneurship, Governance, Leadership, Public Policy, Research Methodology, Self-Management, and Social Media will be also conducted during the Conclave.

    Students can participate by applying on the following website: www.indianlawconclave.com/registration.html

     

    YOU HAVE ALSO FOUNDED INDIA LAW FORUM. PLEASE SHARE YOUR VISION FOR THIS FORUM.

    India Law Forum is a community for lawyers and law students committed to empower people through legal aid, legal awareness, and legal education. A concept mind map is available on www.indialawforum.com

    The forum will be formally launched on 29th June, 2018 at Indian Law Conclave in New Delhi. As of now, I am interviewing the potential candidates for leadership positions at the Forum.

     

    YOU ARE THE RECIPIENT OF VARIOUS FELLOWSHIPS. COULD YOU SHARE SOME DETAILS FOR OUR READERS?

    I have received four fellowships:

    Hesselbein Fellowship (2013) – This fellowship is awarded by Hesselbein Global Academy for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement at University of Pittsburgh, USA. Every year, it selects 50 top student leaders from across the world and mentors them to be effective, ethical, and innovative leaders at its Annual Summit.

    Prerna Fellowship (2013) – This fellowship is offered by IIM Lucknow to Top 20 Entrepreneurs every year. It includes an award and 3 day mentorship programme by IIML Faculty and Industry experts.

    Fellow of CMS (2013) – This fellowship is awarded to distinguished alumni of City Montessori School Lucknow who have excelled in their respective fields.

    GAP Changemaker (2017) – This fellowship is awarded by Global Action on Poverty to Changemakers for their ideas and initiatives to eradicate poverty.

     

    RECENTLY YOU SPOKE AT A TEDX EVENT. WHAT WAS YOUR TALK ABOUT?

    My talk was about Demystifying Collaboration. I shared my learning and experiences of working in the development sector for last ten years. Furthermore, I suggested tools and approaches for making the process of collaboration easy and impactful.

     

    WHAT WOULD BE YOUR MESSAGE TO OUR READERS INTERESTED IN PURSUING A CAREER IN DEVELOPMENT SECTOR?

    A career in the development sector is both challenging and fulfilling. It provides you an opportunity to bring social and cultural shifts, create positive impact in lives of large number of people and work for sustainable and inclusive development.

    You must be both mentally and physically prepared before you take the plunge, but once you start your journey, there should be no looking back. On the journey, be comfortable with uncertainties because you will have to improvise and reinvent yourself again and again.

     

     

  • Rudraneel Chattopadhyay, Project Associate, Quality Council of India, on Young India Fellowship and career as a Public Policy Professional

    Rudraneel Chattopadhyay, Project Associate, Quality Council of India, on Young India Fellowship and career as a Public Policy Professional

    Rudraneel Chattopadhyay graduated from ILS Law College, Pune in 2015. In this interview we trace his story from his time at law school to Young India Fellowship at Ashoka University to working as Project Associate at Quality Council of India.  He is passionate about global governance, multilateralism, and the United Nations, currently engaged in harmonising the Indian sustainability standards ecosystem.

    In this interview we speak to his about:

    • Importance of moots and extra curricular activities in law school
    • Participating in MUNs
    • Young India Fellowship
    • Roles and responsibilities as project associate at QCI

     

    HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO OUR READERS?

    A confident hodgepodge. Tangled flat-wired earphones. Learning to swim after taking the jump in deeper waters. Anything that can describe a systematic mess. I am still figuring out myself.

    I am a student – that’s the only thing that will never change. My biggest privileges include being born male (and later to identify as cisgender heterosexual) in an extremely loving, caring and cohesive upper caste Hindu nuclear family, who could, to whatever extent possible, fulfil my desires, my education, my emotional needs, and my upbringing in a manner in which I can never complain that I didn’t receive enough. These, coupled with numerous other privileges and experiences, have shaped me and my identities.

    Cooking is passion-hobby and also therapy – if there’s a clean well-stocked kitchen, you will find me there even after a long day’s work.

    Most of the times I keep forgetting what I have done. So, I list them on LinkedIn, and then safely forget. If you’re a recruiter, or someone interested in that kind of stuff, feel free to read it there.

     

    PLEASE TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR COLLEGE LIFE. HOW INSTRUMENTAL HAS YOUR COLLEGE BEEN IN SHAPING YOUR CAREER?

    Again, I am still grappling with the what career means to me. College definitely had no role to play in making me question the idea of a career itself. It was actually pretty straightforward.

    However, my law school life was quite a pleasant accident. I wanted to study law, but not particularly from a national law university. I desired more free time for myself, for an outside-of-campus non-law school social life, and an easy-going curriculum. I wanted to explore different things outside the ambit of just law. ILS gave me that space to grow. It had very limited classroom hours, and numerous scope for other voluntary activities. One could tailor-make their experience, and it could be way beyond just law!

    In all those times, I nurtured my interest in international relations, set up Model UN conferences and trained students in UN procedure, worked with professors on a range of topics, published and helped publish, etc. That way, college was quite instrumental in setting the tone of my life till now.

     

    YOU WERE INVOLVED IN MANY EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AT COLLEGE. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR A LAW STUDENT TO PARTICIPATE IN MOOTS AND OTHER EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES?

    Very much depends on who you are, what you are passionate about, what drives you, and what do you think you want out of the law education. It depends on where your energies go.

    It’s always good to get out of our comfort zones to try out new things – and all the extra-curricular activities that you have not been part of before fall in that space outside of your comfort zone. Sometimes it’s just a one-time thing – could be fun, could also be terrible. The best feeling is when you try something for the first time and you find yourself resonating with it. That suddenly becomes your thing. You would not have found out had you not tried.

    That said, from an evaluator’s point of view – be it for a job or for higher education, co- and extracurricular activities are sometimes taken note of as reflection of a candidate’s holistic academic experience, and sometimes even of their adaptability and interest in problem-solving.

     

    YOU ORGANISED THE PUNE MUN CONFERENCE IN 2014. HOW IS PARTICIPATING IN MUNs BENEFICIAL FOR LAW STUDENTS?

    Model UN conferences, when done right (and by right, I mean when the procedure, values of the UN are accurately upheld), can be helpful in inculcating a sense of self-discipline and service to people. That’s applicable for everyone.

    If you are a law student in particular, sincere, dedicated and committed participation in MUNs coupled with good pre-training, can aid in sharpening of your UN-related research skills, your drafting abilities, your understanding of international relations, organisations and protocols, and make your art of negotiation more nuanced.

    The pre-conditions to getting the most out of your Model UN experience are honesty in approach, roleplaying the diplomatic character, painstakingly in-depth research, and refraining from acts unbecoming of a diplomat.

     

    WERE YOU INCLINED TOWARDS PUBLIC POLICY FROM THE BEGINNING OF YOUR TIME AT LAW SCHOOL? WHAT SPARKED YOUR INTEREST?

    Let’s say that I was inclined to join international civil services (likes of UN). This was from almost seventh grade in school, completely fascinated by the idea of the UN and its purposes. I wanted to serve people of the world through an organisation like that. Back in school, I just knew that there is a subject called international relations which one might pursue in order to join the UN. But there was no IR course in India at the Bachelors level. So I thought, what could prepare me for an education in IR at the Masters level? A lot of IR consisted of political science theories, international law, economics, etc.

    Study of the laws appeared to be the most obvious step in that direction – five years of foundational prep for IR, plus domestic laws that could also help me understand how our country functions.

    When I joined law school, I had the opportunity to engage with various developments in the socio-legal policy-making space – thanks to the various Centres and Cells run by the faculty and students of my college, which acted as the initial nudge for me to read up more on issues that I found interesting. Few of them that I was part of was the Centre for Public Law, Environment Law Cell, Gender Studies Cell, Women Studies Centre, Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy – and so on.

    As I said earlier, I continued doing a lot of Model UN conferences, kept engaging with international laws of all kinds – commercial, trade, economic, public, etc – through various advocacy skills activities. I also started working with the Women Studies Centre and Centre for Mental Health Law and Policy on issues dealing with human rights of women, and that of persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities. By then, I had parallely begun freelancing on outsourced jobs for self-represented parties from common law jurisdictions outside India, through a firm that a senior of my college had started. That gave me exposure to contract and investment laws in US, Canada, UK, and Australia. I kept doing whatever came my way. Kept exploring. Did not think of what the next good fit for my career would be.

    With time, I became more and more curious about how law-making and policy-making interact, and how people are involved in these processes, and how this affects foreign policies and international relations – all for one end – to serve the peoples of this world. That’s when, somewhere in my fourth year, I felt like – yes, this is something I can spend a good amount of my life and time doing. Let’s explore the intersection between public policy and international law.

     

    WHAT FACTORS LED YOU TO APPLY FOR YOUNG INDIA FELLOWSHIP AFTER YOUR GRADUATION AND NOT OPT FOR THE TRADITIONAL ROUTES? WHAT IS THE APPLICATION PROCESS FOR YIF?

    Right from the beginning of the third year in law school, I wanted to do the YIF. The Fellowship had an instant match with my values and curiosity; I was especially intrigued by the variety of subjects and fields that it promised to introduce me to.

    I wanted to learn in a setting like that – where I can just take in a wide array of ideas and information in arts and the sciences, and their interconnections. Play around with concepts which would help me apply them to my life. Put in perspective the stories of people. A whole year where I am not expected to force myself into a unidirectional career path, but just push my limits to keep learning. Keep engaging. I wanted to be a part of this environment.

    For someone who was also playing with the idea of a career in public policy, I felt the need for learning in variety in order to have a multi-dimensional approach for every issue. Hence, YIF.

    The application process for YIF involves a pretty straightforward online application, followed by telephonic and personal interviews. There’s shortlisting done at every stage. The only tip for a YIF application is: be honest and express. There’s no one way to ‘crack’ it.

     

    PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR TIME AT ASHOKA UNIVERSITY

    For those who may not know, the YIF is a programme of Ashoka University. That one year at Ashoka, doing the YIF, was the fastest and shortest year of my life. As an alumnus, the engagement now has only taken another form.

    YIF was all about exploring, experimenting, and evolving. Coming out of comfort zone. Giving everything a chance. Engaging with whatever came our way. The idea was to learn concepts, think about them, contextualise them, and see if and how they play out in life. Coupled with this was the aspect of peer learning; 190+ young people who are highly accomplished in their own fields and who have their own struggles and stories – all under one roof. Free flow of talent, information, expression and learning.

    The best part about the Ashoka experience is our constant struggle to keep romancing with what should be an ideal university – in midst of all externalities of a socio-political system that looks at ‘ideal’ as a subjective end, than as a standard.

    Ashoka constantly endeavours to be that ideal university space, and on most counts, it flourishes. It has a supremely competent management and administration, crème de la crème faculty, committed founders and leadership, forward-looking infrastructure and most importantly, industrious students and alumni who all believe in upholding the ethos of the University and holding every spoke accountable to the purpose of the larger wheel.

     

    WHAT ARE YOUR ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES AS PROJECT ASSOCIATE AT QCI? DOES A BACKGROUND IN LAW HELP YOU IN YOUR WORK?

    Quality Council of India is an autonomous national accreditation body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, responsible for setting up and maintaining the quality infrastructure of the country.

    During my tenure at QCI, I have been part of two major initiatives – one, the Skill Management & AccReditation of Training centres (SMART), a project with India’s National Skill Development Corporation, and the other, India National Platform on Private Sustainability Standards (Indian PSS Platform) – along with several other assignments in the areas of trade, education, healthcare, human rights, good agricultural practices, digitalisation, public policy systems transfers, personnel training, and capacity development where my assistance was sought by the organisation.

    In SMART, I have handled and led workstreams which included establishing the assessment and accreditation criteria, ICT platform, call centre, client interface and parts of execution of the final inspection phase of the project.

    Over the last 20 months, as a member of the Secretariat of the Indian PSS Platform, I am responsible for institutionalising the Platform, stakeholder engagement for understanding and resolving PSS-related issues, organising meetings and presentations for the Platform, interface with partner organisations, initiation of projects that will add to the knowledge on PSS in the country, and related documentation and web presence. I am trying to identify and understand whether sustainability standards have any impact on the Sustainable Development Goals in India, and if they could be achieved through standards compliance by businesses, producers and smallholders.

    Whether a background in law helps at work? I feel that an education in laws helps in anything and everything that you are doing. It just makes you think a certain way. You know what’s the skeletal structure for things that put institutions and policies in motion. You know how they are made. You know what you can do if they malfunction.

    In my work especially, my law background has come to aid in situations where important decisions were to be taken based on contractual offers, honouring of memorandums of understanding, researching legislative and legal positions on policy issues, and drafting appropriately to cater to a wide range of audiences – from national leadership to common persons. The law education helps me design a logically sound and nuanced argument in favour of or against something, which decision-makers often find trustworthy to rely upon.

     

    YOU HAVE ALSO WORKED WITH PRS LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH. WHAT PROJECTS WERE YOU INVOLVED IN?

    Working with PRS was part of my Experiential Learning Module of the Young India Fellowship, whereby a team of 3 Fellows work with an organisation on a project / set of projects to gain professional insights and experiences into the area of work of that organisation.

    My team’s larger prompt was to design and develop citizen engagement products that would enhance participation of people in legislative affairs at the state and national levels. As part of this, we developed online databases of pan-India legislators and speech videos of MPs, session wraps for summing up proceedings of legislatures’ sessions across 12 states in India, and policy briefs for parliamentarians on State Finance and Union Budget. These have now become scaled digital products which Indian citizens are consuming to enhance their knowledge of and participation in legislatures.

     

    PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR COURSE AT MGG ACADEMY

    Managing Global Governance (MGG) Academy is a central pillar of the MGG programme of the German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, which is a highly reputed think tank and research institution in Germany. The programme is financially supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development / Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung.

    The dialogue and advanced training course brings together young professionals from rising powers, such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa, and from Germany and Europe.

    The Academy draws on the premise that future change-makers need profound content knowledge and the ability to analyse complex interdependencies as well as personal and social skills. The course blends knowledge components on global governance challenges with the development of the participants’ leadership competencies. In an action-oriented component, participants apply the knowledge and competencies they have acquired and develop a collective change project.

    It also strives to enhance the understanding of policymakers and scholars in Germany and Europe about values, worldviews and policy priorities in rising powers.

     

    WHAT INTERNSHIPS SHOULD A LAW STUDENT UNDERTAKE IF THEY ARE INTERESTED IN PUBLIC POLICY?

    Any place where one’s energy goes. Honestly, there’s no one set of or type of internships for pubic policy. What is essential is that one spends some time to strengthen their understanding of micro and macro-economics. A lot of what public policy is, is driven by theories of economics. Apart from that, internships can be of any kind.

     

    WHAT IS THE ONE PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT THAT YOU ARE PROUD OF?

    I am very grateful for being nominated by QCI and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to represent the organisation and the country as part of the national delegation at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand for the Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development. I had the honour of representation and participation across the entire agenda of the forum and I could further India’s contributions in shaping the Asia-Pacific regional road-map for achieving the sustainable development goals. One could also find me delivering a country statement as part of the Indian Delegation under the agenda item on localising the SDGs for their better implementation.

     

    WHAT WOULD BE YOUR WORD OF ADVICE TO YOUNG LAW STUDENTS ?

    If you have reached reading this till here, I firstly want to thank you for engaging with my thoughts. I also want to tell you that I am in no position to offer you advice without knowing you – your context, your life, your strengths, your struggles, what drives you, what leaves you shocked, what makes you who you are. Would not dare do that.

    I can tell you something that I feel I should have been told when I was a law student through five years, and when the competition and grading system around me made me feel that I am just not made for it.

    (There are a lot of things that I wish I was told about – personal and professional; so, this is only about the legal education and career.)

    And that is, it’s all right to not be the textbook definition of good at everything. It’s okay to not score well. It’s okay to not give that exam that you just don’t have the mental bandwidth to engage with. It’s okay to not win that moot or debate; it’s actually completely okay to not be interested in doing one! It’s okay to feel out of place in college. It’s okay to fail an exam or drop a year. It’s okay to not have a ‘career plan’ ready by end of the course, far so to have it ready in year one. It’s okay to not do internships if you don’t feel like you’re ready for them or they do not drive you.

    I spent a lot of time scared about how I do not have life figured out yet, about what do I tell my parents the next time they want to know what my next step is – especially when the numbers in my marksheet looked like I could use some help.

    I do wish that somebody listened to me and my struggles and told me that it’s completely fine for me to take more time to figure out myself without giving into the atmosphere of competition and peer rush. That it is okay to progress on an uncharted path without knowing what’s the next step. After all, every experience is shaping who you are.

     

     

  • Siddharth Ranka, Assistant Manager-Legal, Scorpio, on pursuing Maritime law, studying in Southampton and his experience

    Siddharth Ranka, Assistant Manager-Legal, Scorpio, on pursuing Maritime law, studying in Southampton and his experience

    Siddharth Ranka graduated in law from ILS Law College, Pune, in 2008. He then went on to pursue his Master’s degree from the University of Southampton, specialising in Maritime Law. After the post graduation, he joined Bose & Mitra & Co as a senior associate he then moved to Allen & Gledhill as foreign associate. He is currently assistant manager – legal, at Scorpio, where he handles the Group’s global contentious and non contentious maritime issues, compliance and general corporate practice.

    In this interview he speaks to us about:

    • Maritime Law as a career and its scope.
    • Experience at ILS Law College and University of Southampton.
    • The difference between legal education in India and abroad

     

    HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO OUR READERS? PLEASE TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR PRE-COLLEGE LIFE?

    I would like to introduce myself to the readers as Siddharth Ranka, an outdoorsy, yet rooted individual with a great respect for my life, my loved ones and the work I do. I grew up in Pune where I spent more time playing sports and being outdoor than indoor. I was an erratic student and a nightmare for my parents and teachers. Being a sports fanatic and extrovert, I wanted to pursue a career in sports or event management, but life had different plans, as it always does, in its charming un-foreseeability.

    Fast forward to today, I am a maritime and compliance lawyer with Scorpio Group (Scorpio). Prior to Scorpio, I worked with Bose & Mitra & Co in their Mumbai office (BMC) and Allen & Gledhill in Singapore (A&G).

     

    HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE AT LAW SCHOOL? ARE THERE ANY MEMORABLE MOMENTS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE?

    ILS Law College, Pune was a remarkable experience. As a local from Pune, it was probably the first time I met a lot of people from different parts of the country who brought with them their own unique culture. So, one was always learning both in law school and outside. What was not surprising was that the students, and my batchmates, were extremely talented, ambitious and competitive, and at the same time helpful.

    I have tons of memories attached to that time in my life, and two standout the most. First and most importantly, meeting Priyadarshini,my wife. Secondly, the students who stood up against the unfortunate ragging incident that took place in the college campus in 2008.

     

    WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO GO FOR A MASTER’S PROGRAMME? WHAT LED YOU TO CHOOSE MARITIME LAW AS YOUR SPECIALISATION?

    A close friend, Riti Tyagi, introduced me to maritime law in my fourth year of law school. At the time, it sounded like a “fun” thing to do; but because we did not have maritime or allied laws in our curriculum, the basic knowledge was missing. What made it tougher back then, was the fact that there was very little information available, with professors, online or in books, regarding its scope.

    When I took up my first job at BMC, I was going into the unknown. Fortunately, I was trained and guided by Amitava Majumdar (Raja) and Shiv Iyer, both of whom had studied maritime law in England.

    What I quickly learnt was that maritime law is heavily reliant on English law – even outside the so-called “commonwealth” so it was important to get a good platform on the subject from an English law perspective. This was essentially, when I made the decision to pursue an LLM in Maritime Law. In my decision to pursue further studies, I had steady and relentless support from my parents, who constantly urged me to follow my passion and pursue higher studies, and Priyadarshini, who was instrumental in grooming and guiding me in my decision to study and work abroad and channelized my efforts into reality.

    Shipping is so internationally connected that if one needs to succeed as lawyer in this niche area of law, you must make contacts not only locally but also with our international counterparts. For this, my LLM proved to be the ideal platform. I studied and met students from more than 25 nationalities, and consequently still refer business and matters to each other.

     

    WHAT ARE THE NECESSARY TRAITS THAT ARE REQUIRED TO BAG A SCHOLARSHIP FOR LLM?

    I would wholeheartedly suggest getting enough work experience, building a strong academic background and gathering good recommendations from industry personnel. Furthermore, writing articles or technical papers on legal issues which highlight your intent to pursue an LLM will increase your chances to bag that scholarship.

     

    WHAT SHOULD BE KEPT IN MIND WHILE WRITING SOPS TO PURSUE AN LLM ABROAD?

    One must focus on their motivation, objective and what is guiding them to pursue the LLM, and these must be expressed clearly, but succinctly. One should not say that they are interested in IPR or Competition law, when they are applying for a LLM in maritime law, because that would clearly conflict, showing lack of requisite knowledge, interest and aspiration.

    Lastly, the most important and yet often overlooked facet would be the skill of writing clearly with no grammatical errors.

     

    WHAT DIFFERENCES DO YOU SEE IN THE LEGAL EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA AND ABROAD? HOW CAN THE INDIAN LEGAL SYSTEM IMPROVE?

    The courses abroad are more structured, and a lot of importance has been given to self-educating. One must be prepared well in advance, for the lectures and classes they attend. Theory is given importance but the scales tip more towards understanding a subject practically. Since law, as a discipline is neither black nor white, there is nothing deemed to be right or wrong – one is allowed to express as they perceive.

    Another pivotal difference is, we have time-allotted “lectures” in India, while abroad you have interactive sessions which are followed up with tutorials or group discussions. This encourages the expression of thought and evokes confidence when speaking in public.

    The Indian legal system is complicated but the most obvious criticism will be the delayed time frame in the delivery of cases.

    To address this, there is an urgent need for reforms when it comes to, imposition of legal costs in commercial litigation and protection of client’s rights against lawyers.

    I am an advocate for courts to be accessible to all, but the process cannot be abused. The Commercial Courts Act does address this effectively, but in practice, courts have been generally reluctant to award costs. The risk of costs exposure would discourage frivolous litigation and go on a long way to reduce the backlog of cases that we presently find in Indian Courts.

    Also, lawyers should be treated in the same manner as doctors or engineers when it comes to negligent advisory. This will not only improve the legal services being offered but also reduce frivolous proceedings, which are filed at the instance of lawyers.

     

    YOU HAVE WORKED AT ALLEN AND GLEDHILL, SINGAPORE POST YOUR LLM. HOW WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE WORKING IN A FOREIGN LAW FIRM? HOW IS THE LAW FIRM CULTURE ABROAD DIFFERENT FROM INDIA?

    Singapore is a modern story for global financing and business. It has been able to attract professionals and businesses from different parts of the world and has developed into one of the leading dispute resolution centers in the world. The advantage, therefore, is that one is exposed to diverse cultures, different stakeholders and global issues, rather than being jurisdiction specific.

    My stint at the A&G helped me tremendously to mature and evolve as a lawyer. More than legal acumen, it exposed me to soft skills, which include, internal training, importance of presentation – drafting pleadings or advices, client management, file management, etc. It was also stimulating to work with clients and lawyers from different parts of the world, and has greatly impacted my upward learning curve.

    Firms abroad are very structured and lean on transparency in the working culture. There is a great deal of investment put in the employee development and data management, which, improves consistency in work across different departments and better time management.

     

    WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO COME BACK TO INDIA AFTER WORKING IN SINGAPORE?

    I was very interested to see and learn the litigation practice side of the law and wanted to understand the working of Indian courts, both from a strategic and legal point of view. For this, it was important to be in India, considering one sees far more litigation action (in court or arbitration) here than abroad.

     

    AS ASSISTANT MANAGER-LEGAL WITH SCORPIO, WHAT ARE YOUR ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES?

    Scorpio is probably the only foreign shipping company with their shipping legal team based out of India. This basically means that I, along with my team, handle Scorpio’s compliance issues (sanctions, anti-corruption, etc), legal shipping disputes, risk assessment and risk management issues. The role requires my team to assist internal stakeholders in any dispute or issue that they face around the world.

    To give you quick sneak peek, on a particular day, I could be handling a contractual dispute under English law, a collision in the Indian Ocean and conducting a compliance check for a new entity which Scorpio is considering doing business with, simultaneously.

    A lot of the time is spent working internally with stakeholders to understand the issues they are facing and study market trends, understanding how their position can be best protected from a contractual standpoint.

    In addition to the legal side of work, my role involves managing my team.

     

    WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF A CAREER IN MARITIME LAW IN INDIA?

    When one refers to “Maritime law” they are really speaking about a wide spectrum, ranging from ports, custom, shipbuilding, ship breaking, cargo traders, charterers, ship management and obviously shipping companies.

    This is a niche area and has traditionally been dominated by boutique small sized firms. Recent years have seen an influx of the so-called “big firms”, which enhances the career options in the otherwise less-sought out area of law. Other than law firms, one can look at in-house roles with shipping, chartering, trading houses and ports.

    A lot of foreign shipping companies carry out operations throughout India, but when it comes to legal issues, they are still handled by in-house legal teams based outside of India. At Scorpio, we have done things differently and have an expert team of Indian lawyers who handle legal disputes involving the Group not only in India, but also abroad. For me, this is an area that I can see developing and would increase career opportunities in maritime law.

     

    WHAT WOULD BE YOUR MESSAGE FOR YOUNG LAWYERS AND LAW STUDENTS?

    I am committed to my contention that to succeed in the legal sector, knowing the law is only half the story; the other and probably more important half is developing your inter-personal skills and the ability to “sell” the services you offer as a lawyer.

     

     

  • Rai Mittal, Partner, Titus & Co, New Delhi shares his diverse experience of 25 years in the legal profession

    Rai Mittal, Partner, Titus & Co, New Delhi shares his diverse experience of 25 years in the legal profession

    Rai Mittal graduted in Law from CCS University, Meerut in the year 1992. Originally being a B.Com student, reading a murder case in one of the law journals at his father’s office made him realize his that Law was his true calling. Back in the early 1990’s Law when Law was not as promising as it is now, Rai started his practice at Muzaffarnagar- his hometown. Later he joined Singhania & Co. Advocates as an associate.

    Currently, he is a Partner at Titus & Co, New Delhi where his work includes- advising clients, working on opinions, formulation of strategies, drafting, legal analysis, court and arbitration appearances and guiding and supervising associates and senior associates.

    In this Interview Rai shares his insights with Rounak Biswas of SLS, Pune on the topics raised by Mihika Gupta of NLU Jodhpur.

     

    How would you describe your journey as a lawyer?

    I am currently associated with Titus & Co. as Partner. Titus & Co. was set up in the year 1997 and I have been associated with the firm since the very beginning. Prior to that, I spent one year in district court litigation practice on civil, criminal, revenue and labour law sides and thereafter about three years with Singhania & Co. Advocates and with IP firm Lall Lahiri & Salhotra.

    Over the last 25 years, I have been involved in diverse assignments and areas of  practice including commercial and corporate litigation and arbitration, intellectual property matters, general commercial and corporate work, contracts, industry specific advisory work, mergers and acquisitions, legal due diligence matters, franchise and licensing, technology transfers, FDI, regulatory work, investigations and white collar crimes, tax disputes, banking and finance, infrastructure work and employment laws.

    I have had a keen interest particularly in commercial and corporate advisory work, dispute resolution, strategically advice on legal-commercial matters and intellectual property laws.

    I like to work with a problem solving approach, endeavouring to advise clients from a commercial and practical standpoint. Having worked on a wide variety of assignments over two and a half decades, I believe that I am able to review issues as well as uncover issues from different perspectives. It’s, perhaps, like playing the role of a General Counsel while also acting as a specialist lawyer.

     

    What motivated you to pursue Law?

    It was while reading a reported murder case in a law journal (to which I got access in my advocate father’s library) that I realized that Law as a subject fascinated me. I was pursuing my final year of Bachelor of Commerce degree at that time. I had also become conscious of the fact that I enjoyed working on and solving problems, rather than doing something more of a procedural nature. I also realized that I should pursue a profession where quality matters more than quantity.

    This made me give up the idea of pursuing chartered accountancy course which I had aimed to pursue after graduation. We of course know that the role of a chartered accountant at that time was very different from what it is today.

     

    Was Law a rewarding profession when you got into it?

    In the late 1980s/early 1990s, Law as a career was not rewarding and prestigious as it is today. Very few Lawyers earned handsomely. Particularly in small cities and towns, earnings were extremely limited and working conditions of Lawyers were poor. It is really good to see how things have improved over the last couple of decades.

     

    What were your parents’ reactions to your decision to get into legal profession?

    My father, though he a successful and respected Lawyer, was fond of journalism and social work, and he could never adore the profession more. However, I was perhaps destined to become a Lawyer, true to my interest and liking. My parents, though apprehensive, were supportive throughout.

     

    How was your experience at Law school?

    I was lucky to be taught by many practicing Lawyers and scholars, even though legal education those days certainly was not in good shape. It was a lot of fun cycling to Law school and engaging in discussions on legal topics with professors and other Law students.

    Most Law schools during those days were far below today’s general standards. Only a few students seriously pursued Law as a career. Attendance in Law schools was usually low and classes were held infrequently. There were no debates, no moots, no seminars, no training and no internships. However, despite all shortcomings, there was no dearth of good Lawyers. They were probably as good and knowledgeable as one can be today.

     

    Describe your early years in the profession.

    I started practising in my home town Muzaffarnagar, U.P. The first year was amazing when I got an opportunity to work on different kinds of legal matters – which included revenue and land matters, labour Law cases, civil, criminal and consumer disputes. I practiced on the original side and in revisions and appeals at different levels with a lot of free hand. Those were the days when I learnt to implement theory in practice. I used to enjoy, which I still do, surprising the other side with a novel argument.

    As cases of substance and importance fascinated me, I moved to Delhi with the urge to practise in the Supreme Court but landed a job as an associate in Singhania & Co. Advocates. The two years of my association with Singhania was extremely useful as I was frequently worked on different tasks, right from IP to Corporate to Dispute Resolution to Firm Management. Singhania was my first experience of practising in international scenario and it was just the beginning.

     

    What are your views on the importance of higher education?

    Pursuing higher education leads to better prospects. It enhances knowledge and skills enabling a person to analyse things deeply and view a situation from different perspectives. It aids in providing a competitive edge in the career market, higher pay opportunity and better communication skills and makes a person more focused, disciplined and responsible. As LL.M is now a one-year course in most Universities in India and abroad, it makes sense to go for it.

     

    Describe your work profile at Titus & Co.

    I usually start my day in the office early. Every day is challenging as it brings up new issues of diverse nature. Meetings with clients, working on opinions, formulation of strategies, drafting, legal analysis, court and arbitration appearances and guiding and supervising associates and senior associates takes the entire day.

     

    Can you recall the first time you appeared in a significant matter in court?

    I prepared for my first few cases by organising and reading files, doing Law research, preparing notes, discussions with seniors, getting tips from colleagues and inquiring about the general attitude and nature of the concerned Judge.

    These days most of the Judges are welcoming and supporting young Lawyers. They encourage young Lawyers to come forward and plead their cases without any fear.

     

    Which are the good areas for the practice of Law?

    Any and all areas are good. It depends on your personal liking. I would suggest that one should be open to do all kinds of different assignments during the initial few years of Law practise and then choose what fits him or her the most.

     

    How do you see the future of young law professionals?

    The future of the profession looks quite promising. Opportunities in the profession are immense. With Law getting more and more complicated and of specialized nature, sincere and smart Lawyers would continue to do extremely well in the profession.

     

    What are the skills one needs to develop to succeed in the legal profession?

    To succeed in legal profession, one should have good communication, analytical and research skills and creativity and ability to persist and convince. One should be focused and have a practical approach.

    Students and young Lawyers can develop requisite skills by regular reading on Law topics, participation in debates, interacting with people in the profession and watching court proceedings. One should focus not only on curriculum, which comprises of studies, mooting, debating, etc., but also learn time management techniques, be positive and always keep looking for new learning opportunities which will help one to broaden horizon and thus help in facing new challenges that come one’s way.

    Most importantly, learn to enjoy the profession!

  • Pinky Anand, Additional Solicitor General of India, on studying at Delhi University and at Harvard, and on the formative years of her career

    Pinky Anand, Additional Solicitor General of India, on studying at Delhi University and at Harvard, and on the formative years of her career

    Dr. Pinky Anand is considered one of India’s top lawyers. She is the current Additional Solicitor General of India and a Senior Advocate. An alumna of the Campus Law Centre at Delhi University, she went on to pursue her LL.M from the prestigious Harvard University on an Inlaks scholarship in 1980. She recently came out with the much acclaimed book, Trials of Truth which is available on Amazon. In conversation with Manushi Desai, she shares her experience as a lawyer and the formative years.

     

    How were the formative years which resulted in such a strong yet warm personality?

    My parents were married very young. My mother’s sensible nature has rubbed on me and so has my joint family’s sharing and caring nature. I have grown up in the streets of Old Delhi and have fond memories of sharing everything with my family which is my support system and I greatly believe in the idea of balance which my family taught me. I further studied in a convent school and the values of discipline and good virtues were inculcated very firmly in my outlook. I endeavoured to participate in all extra curriculars, especially during the law faculty days where I was the student leader within BJP as well.

     

    How was your Harvard experience?

    It was an ambition to go to Harvard and I achieved it by providing a systematic approach. I was inspired by the movie Paper Chase based on Harvard. I applied for Rhodes actually, I did not get the Rhodes, however, the Rhodes committee recommended me to the Inlaks foundation and that’s how I got into Harvard. Years later, I was called back to Harvard to give a lecture which is when I stumbled across my thesis in the Harvard library archives which is a must read even now to know more about the concept of public policy in arbitration.

     

    How were the initial years as a lawyer?

    I am a first generation lawyer. After marriage, circumstances were different since my husband is a lawyer, my father in law is a lawyer, but the intial years were not the same. I did not have any benevolent hand in that sense which is quite a necessary part. However, I did not have as bad a struggle as I should have is because my friend Geeta Luthra, who is a senior advocate now and I started practice together. It was very unknown of women partnering with each other in the profession.

     

    How did you join politics?

    My tryst with politics started when I joined ABVP as a law student and contested the prestigious Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections. However, when I went to Harvard and later partnered with Ms. Geeta Luthra, politics took a back seat. This changed later when I headed the BJP National Legal Cell as the first woman convenor which gave me a chance to change people at a grassroot level.

     

    You have risen high in your domain and have even been named as India’s top influential women in a book. How was the struggle been?

    The principle struggle is not being a part of the old Boy’s club. There is also a prejudice against engaging women counsels. However, beyond a point when you prove yourself, you actually were acknowledged. You have to continue to be twice a man. So the demonstration effect and the visibility or your proving your mettle is something which has to be done at the first degree level. Having done that, you need to have people who kind of support you. My family is a very big support, my in-laws are very supportive and I think that’s a very important feature too, because professional life is a tough one.

     

    What was the tipping point in your career?

    I fondly state my tipping point to be the retainership we had from a Marwadi business group through which I got exposure to various kinds of cases. It proved that you learn far more on your feet than you learn from any text book. We got a wide exposure to wide variety of cases from that group not only in Delhi, but in various parts of Delhi. We used to go to various even district courts and in fact I think even trial courts.

     

    Why practice in trial courts when you could, as a Harvard graduate, have easily started in the Delhi High Court or Supreme Court?

    Trial courts are great fun! I think you learn the most there and you have to understand the set up of what law is about and how law is made. For young lawyers, you are trusted far more with the trial court cases than you are with Higher Court cases- so it was a relation you build- you go up the ladder. The ladder is a very slow one, like snakes and ladders – you go up and then you sometimes come down.

     

    What is the secret sauce to your success?

    I believe in confidence and determination apart from the support of your loved ones. There is constant juggling of the work life balance but it is important to set goals and challenges and strive to achieve them as well.

     

     

    This interview was taken by Manushi Satyajeet Desai. Do read her blog at desaimanushi.blogspot.in and follow her on @manushidesai on twitter and instagram.

  • Ashok Kumar, Chalfont Chambers, Sydney on the jurisdictional differences between Australia, New Zealand and India

    Ashok Kumar, Chalfont Chambers, Sydney on the jurisdictional differences between Australia, New Zealand and India

    Ashok Kumar did a Diploma in Law and an LL.M. from the University of Sydney which enabled him to be admitted as an Australian Legal Practitioner in 1998. He also holds CA qualifications and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant both Australia & New Zealand. He enrolled as Barrister at NSW Bar since 2001 and is heavily involved in litigation matters. In the initial days of his career he was attached as paralegal to Dr Ajit Swaran now District Court judge in Auckland, NZ.

    Mr. Kumar has been involved in many leading matters in Australia and New Zealand which have been published in professional journals and also overseas. He regularly appears in migration judicial review and appellate cases.

    In this interview, he gives us great insights to:

    • The jurisdictional differences between Australia, New Zealand and India
    • How has the change in technology impacted legal research?
    • Can a candidate with Diploma in Law and an LL.M. from the University of Sydney practice in India and England?
    • His message to the young lawyers.

    When did you start your practice? How do you recall the first year as a legal professional?

    Before I commenced work in the legal field I was employed in the accountancy field. In my last role, accountancy / legal matters overlapped.

    In my preliminary foray into law, I was attached as paralegal to Dr Ajit Swaran Singh of Auckland, New Zealand to complete my required training to be admitted in New South Wales, Australia. Dr Singh was appointed District Court judge in 2002 and currently sits in Auckland.

    I commenced work as a paralegal in July 1998. I was admitted as a lawyer of the Supreme Court of NSW, Australia in October 1998 and in New Zealand in November 1998. My admission in New Zealand entitled me to commence practice as a barrister. I continued to work with Dr Singh through to about February 1999. A commercial Law firm that we were doing work in those days approached me to join them as a solicitor. I found work as a solicitor boring and returned to independent bar in Auckland in 2000.

    As a barrister with Dr. Singh who at that time moved to practice in wide range of criminal matters including a murder case although Dr Singh is Fiji’s former Deputy Solicitor-General and Acting Solicitor-General. He had left Simpson Grierson, a pre-eminent commercial law firm in Auckland as solicitor and joined as partner of a boutique law firm (McAlister Mazengarb) which he left before commencing as a barrister. I was a junior running around doing research and ensuring that the files were in order. We discussed case theories of the case we were tackling. Not only I learnt how to strategize and run law cases but also instilled discipline and also reminded of the professional ethics as a barrister. Having learnt the Law in Law school this job put me at the coalface of the application of the Law to actual cases. He was doing interesting cases including a murder case; working on murder case with him at the start of my career was very interesting.

    I returned to Sydney to focus on bigger litigation jurisdiction in 2001.

     

    What would be your advice to young lawyers who are just starting out?

    I came to the Bar having worked in accounting / finance / management with a chartered accountancy background.

    I started out as a barrister with very good but short experience as a solicitor branch of the profession.

    I was an outsider at the Bar for many reasons. Many come to the Bar having worked in litigation area as a solicitor. They have many contacts that would provide them with work. In my days there were only few Indian barristers at NSW Bar. In that sense too I was an outsider. These days there are many more Indians at the Bar.

    My advice to people starting out is that Bar is not for the faint hearted. You have to be passionate about some area of Law. If you have interest in Law and its development you would do well.

    One of the most important qualities in my view is patience and perseverance. You might lose a case because of are too junior to a more senior lawyer (advocate in India). The loss should not be a deterrent. With time one will succeed but tenacity is required. Believe in yourself but remain humble.

    Always seek mentors whether it be Law School colleagues. In NSW we freely guide people who came to bar much later than us. If I am in complicated case I would ask other people in my chambers or friends at the Bar who practise in that particular area of law whether my approach is correct. Never be afraid to ask questions. Some would not help but many would.

     

    How has technology changed over the years in your experience?

    I believe that the technology has changed the practise of Law in many ways but in particular one can practically access Laws of other countries in an area there may be no case Law as to how court would apply particular provisions. Australian and New Zealand lawyers are able to research how a particular provision of similar legislation has been interpreted in each other’s jurisdiction. English Law too is available online. These days even less developed countries have started putting the legislation and case Law online. In my view this has given power to practitioners.

    Law firms have harnessed the availability of legal talents such as countries like India and a lot of back end work is now being outsourced. Technology has also enabled the practitioners to work from home. A lot of barristers, both junior and senior are able to do a lot of work from home whereas as in old days hard copy of loose leaf would be in the chambers together with bulky files had to be carted. A lot of briefs these days are sent online. It has definitely helped barristers with young family work from home. Legal research has become much easier. With smart phones and the like there is better connectivity.

    By using the technology I certainly have limited my travel to chambers.

     

    At what stage did you decide to go for an LL.M. in Tax and Corporate Law? In hindsight, how would you say it impacted your career?

    I also hold CA qualification having worked amongst others with CA firms. As I was completing my undergraduate Law course I decided that Master of Laws would complement the qualifications and experience I already had in both in chartered accountancy practices and in commerce. I commenced my Masters before admission as a lawyer in Australia and New Zealand.

    So starting out it was completely my thought but I did know a few law students who were already studying in the LLM program at University of Sydney and certainly they encouraged it.

    I believe that Master of Laws degree has definitely impacted my career. Some firms particularly a lot of Asian law firms’ value strong academic skills. My relationship with these law firms in Australia and New Zealand has started because of this.

    Sydney Law School where I did my LLM is regarded as most prestigious Law school in Australia probably has assisted.

     

    What are the primary jurisdictional differences you have found in your practices in Australia, New Zealand and India?

    One thing that is common between Australian / New Zealand and Indian legal system is that all these jurisdictions being former UK colonies have inherited the British Common Law system. Many old imperial Laws still have application today.

    Many factors play out the differences in Laws of Australian / New Zealand to that of India. The primary differences are the first two are western countries. India has different norms and customs. The Indian Laws therefore reflect those differences. So much could be written but here I can only refer to the big picture of the differences in Laws of these States.

    Both countries, there have been much litigation surrounding the Constitution. My area of practice has certainly meant that we have challenged legal provisions and whether laws are valid. Both countries have robust judicial review procedures to challenge the validity of the decisions of administrators as well as the judges as well as the appellate mechanism although there are increasing attempts to curtail these rights. The cases like Bangalore Water Supply v R Ranjappa 1978 AIR 548; 1978 SCR (3) 2018; (1978) 2 SCR 213 at 215 where India’s own character was defined.

    Owing to the differences the laws have been enacted to accommodate the particular society. There is enactment in India such as anti-dowry laws that is not existent in Australia. laws to assist Dalits have been enacted to deal with particular situation in India.

    From time to time Australian superior courts, although not that often, have considered and applied laws as interpreted by Supreme Court of India (leading case like Bropho v Western Australia; Tasmanian Dam case).

    Often solicitors call us in respect Indian clients call us in matters where the implications of laws of both jurisdictions (such as in Family Law cases / dowry cases / property cases) so these complexities. The differences in laws create difficulties.  Even solicitors from larger Law firms have been intrigued and have called for assistance.

    I am aware that Indian lawyers immigrating from India have done well as solicitors. I am not aware of any Indian advocate who has joined the Bar in my time. Very recently some may have joined but I am not aware of any myself. I believe most are local graduates.

     

    As a Barrister in Australia and New Zealand, how would you compare the Bar exam in those jurisdictions with the one in India?

    The first point to becoming a lawyer is to complete LLB or equivalent course recognized by Legal Practitioners Admission Board (in case of NSW). The second phase is to then attend Practical Legal Training course which can be done online or by attending approved institutions (such as College of Law) and obtain pre-admission experience of 3 months. I understand that Bar Council exams in India are done at about this point. At this point the candidates become entitled to be “Australian legal practitioners” and can obtain practising certificate as solicitors (issued by NSW Law Society or other law societies (issued by NSW Law Society or other law societies in the relevant jurisdictions). There are no further requirements to be Solicitors.

    The barrister branch of the profession imposes additional requirements on solicitors. The starting point is to enrol in bar exam papers in Legal Ethics; Practice and Procedure; and Evidence with pass mark of at least 75%. Then follows intensive Bar Practise course which runs for 4 – 5 weeks (all these detailed requirements could be found on the NSW Bar Association’s website). There are more hands on practical type training.

    I believe that in India the practice as advocate in the superior court is by level of experience. Barristers undergo training as Court advocates. I am not able to comment about Indian Bar exams as I am not aware what is tested and understand that there are no exams to be court advocate in India.

     

    You have been a part of the Legal Aid Committee and Equal Opportunities Committee of the NSW Bar Association. How is your experience being a member of the same?

    It is indeed been a great honour to be included in the above Committees. Just because one gets appointed to these committees does not mean one is there for prestige. Many hours of our time has been devoted to doing many things that was required to be done. These Committees I have been part of and have been instrumental in bringing considerable changes and actively putting the members’ views on many issues.

    Our Committees played big role in the introduction of Best Practice Guidelines; work on various briefing policies; child care; fund raising for important causes and of course issues affecting legal practitioners.

    The Committee work has been immensely satisfying. As team members we have achieved many things. Of course, friendships have also been forged. Some of the committee members have moved on to become judges or given other statutory appointments.

    There have been frustrating moments when members do not pull their weight or failed to turned up at sub-committee meetings.

     

    Please tell us a bit about your primary practice areas.

    (Barrister Kumar has worked with various commercial Law firms in New Zealand and Australia.)

    I have only worked for one commercial firm in Auckland. The primary area in that firm was property; commercial matters and some general work. Litigation tasks were also assigned. The primary tasks such as preparing submissions fell on me although the principal may often himself argue the case or run the trial.

    Apart from litigation we did considerable transactional work and I prepared the written opinions for the client. Returning to the Bar from that law firm I have been constantly engaged in running trial matters as well as appellate matters.

    My current practice areas are appellate, commercial, tax, property / leases, family law, administrative law and constitutional law. I have also done considerable work criminal law field. My work is mostly in superior Courts including the apex court (High Court of Australia) often in the original jurisdiction as well as special leave matters. I also appear often in NSW appeal courts.

     

    You have had considerable work experience in top accounting firms. How did you find the work there as compared to the Law firms you worked at?

    As an accountant I have top roles in companies as well as chartered accountancy firms. I worked for Touche Ross in those days. The firm I worked for now has been restructured as PwC. Some of the partners from my days remain as consultants or partners.

    One of the things about being a barrister is that you are in independent practice and on your own even administrative aspects are handled by chamber staff. As an accountant you can call upon other staff to assist. Even in the circumstances something urgent needs to be done the deadline is not fixed like that of the counsel. We get briefed in matters only because of our specialist skills. Whilst researchers can help the case would be ultimately be argued by the barrister. A barrister has to work under great pressure. The Court orders cannot just be ignored.

    Although I have done interesting accounting work, there is always challenge as a barrister. The solicitors who instruct often cannot figure the issues themselves and that is why the matter is briefed as it involves challenging application of Law

    With a Diploma in Law and an LL.M. from the University of Sydney, can you practice Law in India and in England?

    I qualified in Australia and have also been admitted in New Zealand. I have not really explored the possibility of joining the Bar in India. I understand that Indian PIOs (Persons of Indian Origin) have some relaxation of rules to be admitted as advocates.

    Again as for admission in the UK, I have really not explored the topic as I have not considered moving there. After accumulation of about 2 decades of experience I do not believe that I would have any problem getting the experience recognised or being admitted. There are some transfer tests for solicitors. Upon passing the transfer test Australian solicitors get admitted in that jurisdiction. Some barristers practice in both jurisdictions (UK and Australia). There may not be additional requirements for Australian barristers to practise in UK but I cannot be sure.

     

    What would be your message to young people who aspire to contribute to the legal fraternity?

    My primary experience has been in litigation so far as my legal experience goes. The Bar is only small part of the legal industry. The majority of lawyers in NSW and NZ are solicitors.

    The law school only teaches you the basics of the law. As I mentioned above, you need to go beyond and read areas of Law that interest you. Reading generally is also recommended as it would broaden your understanding. Sometimes widely read lawyers have that skill to express themselves well in court.

    Otherwise just be yourself.

  • Harsh Sharma, Ex-Member, Special Committee, Bar Council of Delhi, Founder, Prosoll Law Inc on his glorious thirty years in the legal fraternity

    Harsh Sharma, Ex-Member, Special Committee, Bar Council of Delhi, Founder, Prosoll Law Inc on his glorious thirty years in the legal fraternity

    Harsh Sharma, a celebrated name in the legal fraternity graduated in Law from Delhi University in 1987. Hailing from a business community, he developed a fascination for litigation. He is the current Standing Counsel for Bar Council of India since 2014. He represents matters in the Supreme Court of India, Delhi High Court and District Courts of Delhi.

    With aim and vision of great vertical extent, he decided to set up his own practice under the name “Prosoll Law Inc.” a leading law firm with an objective to render the best legal service to society with the highest standard of professional and moral ethical standards.Possessing immense knowledge and experience in various streams of law but Mr. Sharma regards each day as class of new learning being a student of Law.

        “Patience, Perseverance and Constant Study is Basic three Essentials to be a Good Lawyer!” -Harsh K. Sharma

    In this interview, he talks to us about:

    • The relaxed environment of Delhi University back in the ‘80s.
    • How importance does he assign to mentorship in litigation?
    • Some of his high profile cases.
    • His glorified experience of being in the legal fraternity for over thirty years.

    What motivated you take up legal studies? Is there any specific moment that you can recall?

    (Mr. Sharma completing his B.Sc. (Hons.) in Botany from Hansraj College, Delhi University in the 1983.)

    After completing my B.Sc. (Hons.) Botany from Hansraj College, Delhi University, I joined my father’s business of automobile spare parts for full one year. At that time, my father’s firm was the sole distributor for the entire country of a particular branch of automobile spare parts, used by most of the motorcycles, mopeds prevalent at that time as original equipment.

    Yet, now it seems that my destiny was different and was all together away from my dream of thoughts. One of my distant maternal uncle, who unfortunately is no more with us, was a lawyer and was a member of D.A.V. College Managing Trust. He impressed upon my parents to disassociate me from my family business and let me join and pursue LL.B. course from Delhi University. One of my friends from Hansraj College was also planning to join Law course, he only brought the application form for me to apply to Campus Law Centre for LL.B. course and as the luck would have had it, I became a law student but still I did not leave my family business. I used to go to Campus Law Centre in the morning and after completing my classes I used to get engaged in my business activities as usual.

    So far as I remember that in business community, particularly the automobile spare parts industry, legal profession was not considered as distinguished as any other profession. The general impression was that lawyers charge exorbitant fees for the cases pertaining to sales tax & income tax assessment, particularly on the pretext of bribing the corresponding assessing authority.

    Coming from such business community, I was reluctant to become a tax lawyer. After completion of my Law course, I opted for litigation.

    So here I am, litigating from the past 30 years or more, practicing mostly on the cases relating to Prevention of Corruption Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act and other Economic Offences.

     

    How was the environment in Delhi University in the early ‘80s?

    Environment in the Delhi University in the early ’80s was extremely relaxed. To be honest, I purchased almost one book on each of the subject, from a vendor selling books at the Campus Law Centre Complex itself on the very first day of my studies in Campus Law Centre. After I had paid him the money for the books he asked me to purchase few more books and he handed over me one of those books. That book was merely containing questions and answers. I asked him about the said book. He responded that it is called “Dukki”. Each book is a key of a particular subject and if I study only the contents of the said book, I can not only clear the exams but may get distinction too. Though I was sceptical, but I bought them. Please remember these all event happened on the first day of my LL.B. 1st Year, 1st Class. In class I found that none of the fellow students were carrying anything. In my first lecture, probably it was given by Dr. K. Madhav Menon, he informed us that we will be getting cyclostyle assignment/case law free of cost from a place near the canteen and we have to study only such case laws and the course of the corresponding subject would be complete.

    No co-curricular activities or Annual Festival were conducted back then and majority of the law students were I.A.S. aspirants, having law as an alternative subject for their exam. People used to be extremely relaxed and no culture of compulsory attendance.

     

    How do you recall your first hearing at court? What was the attitude of judges towards litigants and advocates and would you say it has changed over the years?

    I remember it was the month of June, 1987. I joined the chamber of one of my friends’ father in the Hon’ble Supreme Court. He was Advocate on Record. By that time, I had also completed a course in Forensic Science, so casually I asked him as to how the same can be utilized by me, in my profession. He jokingly asked me to join the trial courts as the field of Forensic Science has some utility in the trial court only. That motivated me to explore the trial courts. Apart from appearing before the Hon’ble Supreme Court for a short period of four months, I used to hear the arguments addressed at bar. Slowly I realized that it would be better if I switched over to trial courts for the initial stage.

    My first day at the trial court was in the court of Mr. Jaspal Singh (the then Special Judge, Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi). I appeared as junior to one of the lawyer, representing a Magistrate (under suspension), who was facing charges of accepting bribe, at his house, from the complainant. As per normal routine, the court staff called out the name of the said Magistrate who was facing trial to make him appear before the court. Mr. Jaspal Singh (who later retired as a Judge of the Delhi High Court), reprimanded the said court staff in open court by asking as to whether he does not recognize the said Judicial Officer. He further asked him as to why he did not simply go to the said Judicial Officer and requested him to come forward. He then categorically told all his court staff that the said person is still a Judicial Officer and deserves full respect as Judicial Officer till the time the case has been concluded.

    This experience is still a lasting experience for me, as I am representing a large number of senior politicians, bureaucrats, senior government officials and a number of business tycoons. I still advise every lawyer who works with me, in those cases, that it is the misfortune of the litigants that they are facing trial but we should not anyhow show disrespect to them on any account. They are innocent till they are held guilty. I believe that this attitude of judges towards litigants, which I learnt on the first hearing in the court, is slowly weeding away.

     

    What importance would you assign to mentorship in litigation and who was your mentor?


    After completing my LL.B. from Campus Law Centre, when I joined courts, the concept of mentor was not in existence. One had to merely join an advocate and he was expected to work for him, as his junior normally without any reciprocal emoluments. I originally joined an Advocate on Record in Hon’ble Supreme Court. Being Advocate on Record, his work was primarily confined to drafting and filing SLPs and other misc. petitions in Hon’ble Supreme Court. Thus, I got chance to learn drafting of SLPs.

    I distinctly remember that while drafting an SLP, challenging an order of conviction by Allahabad High Court, I suggested one of the grounds to the A.O.R., with whom I was working, which was in relation to challenging the Ballistic Experts’ Opinion and his deposition. The reason for suggesting the said ground was that apart from completing my Law course, I had also undertaken a course in Forensic Science from Anthropology Department of Delhi University. I was rebuked and I was told that in case I intend to use my Forensic Science Knowledge, I should switch to Trial Courts. Tis Hazari Courts was the largest court in Delhi and the second court was Patiala House Courts. After this particular instance, I joined a lawyer who was having a few cases of Prevention of Corruption Act at the Tis Hazari Courts.

    As the luck would have had it, in January, 1988, Ms. Kiran Bedi, IPS (as she was then DCP/North Zone) ordered the arrest of Sh. Rajesh Agnihotri, (a lawyer practicing in Tis Hazari Courts), paraded in handcuffs, in Tis Hazari Courts at the office of DCP/North Zone. This led to a large protest by the Lawyers, asserting that Sh. Rajesh Agnihotri had been framed. Ms. Kiran Bedi, directed the lathi charge on protesting lawyers and this led to injuries to multiple lawyers. This strike of the lawyers continued for two months and it ended only when the Hon’ble Delhi High Court appointed a two judges commission, to probe the said incident. Justice D.P. Wadhwa Committee found that arrest of Sh. Rajesh Agnihotri, was justified but his handcuffing was illegal and the lathi charge on lawyers was also indiscriminate and unjustified. The report of the committee also observed that Ms. Bedi had connived with a Municipal Counsellor in organizing transporting a mob to Tis Hazari which indulged in violence against the lawyers.

    However, these two months were a blessing in disguise for me on two accounts. The first is I got my Tis Hazari Courts’ Chamber constructed and second is that I started my independent practice. Therefore, from my experience having a mentor or not having a mentor do not count, for any personal or professional development. One has to work hard, keep his knowledge of Law up-to-date and more one learns more successful he becomes.

     

    You established your own practice “Prosoll Law Inc.” in 1987; what are its core areas of practice?

    The idea behind establishing “Prosoll Law Inc.” was to provide ‘Pro Legal solutions’ to my clients. I believe in effective legal representation, in a cost effective manner which begins with understanding our clients’ quandary.

    Prosoll Law has grown as a team possessing high standards with deep expertise in the field of law. Team Prosoll focuses primarily on quality, ethics and promptness in handling legal disputes and to provide effective professional services.

    In January 1988, I got my first case under Prevention of Corruption Act and it was followed by particular other briefs which included petitions under Delhi Rent Control Act, Summary Suits under Order XXXVII CPC, Probate Petitions, Company Winding-up Petition, Trade Mark Registration and Litigations etc. However, in the year 1995, I was having more than 50 Trap Cases, both registered by CBI and the Anti-Corruption Department of Delhi Government. Somehow, thereafter I started focusing only on the cases originating from Prevention of Corruption Act, both under Old i.e. 1947 Act & New 1988 Act and since then, my area of interest are economic offences rooting from Prevention of Corruption Act and allied matters. However, I take deep interest in the matters pertaining to Constitutional Law.

    Prosoll Law Inc. comprising of enthusiastic advocates having expertise in different fields of Law, handles a gamut of cases pertaining to several substantive laws like conventional crimes, Information Technology Act, the Society Registration Act, Civil Procedure Code, Special Relief Act, Patent and Trade Mark Infringement Cases, Matrimonial Cases etc.

     

    How many years of practice are required to build a firm clientele?

    (Mr. Sharma has been handling a gamut of clients ranging from bureaucrats / high ranking officials of various government/non-government departments/former judges to politicians and private persons.)


    There is no hard and fast rule, whereby one can assume or assign a definitive period of practice which could be said is required to build a firm’s clientele. As a matter of fact, which is my experience also that one has to constantly endeavour new means to deliver the relief to the client. Of course, these means must originate from respective statutory provisions.

    To illustrate, I wish to reproduce a very scantly used provisions of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, which by its plain reading makes it clear that when in a Criminal Trial a judgement of conviction is passed to which fine is part of the sentence, the fine is not to be paid till the time appeal is filed or the prescribed period of filing the appeal had expired. This provision also specifies that once an appeal is filed, where fine is a part of the sentence, no such fine is to be paid till the appeal is finally disposed off.

    The corresponding provision of Cr.P.C. 1973 is as follows:-

    1. Order to pay compensation.

    (1)  When a Court imposes a sentence of fine or a sentence (including a sentence of death) of which fine forms a part, the Court may, when passing judgment, order the whole or any part of the fine recovered to be applied-

    (a) in defraying the expenses properly incurred in the prosecution;

    (b) in the payment to any person of compensation for any loss or injury caused by the offence, when compensation is, in the opinion of the Court, recoverable by such person in a Civil Court;

    (c) when any person is convicted of any offence for having caused the death of another person or of having abetted the commission of such an offence, in paying compensation to the persons who are, under the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855 (13 of 1855), entitled to recover damages from the person sentenced for the loss resulting to them from such death;

    (d) when any person is convicted of any offence which includes theft, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, or cheating, or of having dishonestly received or retained, or of having voluntarily assisted in disposing of, stolen property knowing or having reason to believe the same to be stolen, in compensating any bona fide purchaser of such property for the loss of the same if such property is restored to the possession of the person entitled thereto.

    (2)  If the fine is imposed in a case which is subject to appeal, no such payment shall be made before the period allowed for presenting the appeal has elapsed, or, if an appeal be presented, before the decision of the appeal.

    (3)  When a Court imposes a sentence, of which fine does not form a part, the Court may, when passing judgment, order the accused person to pay, by way of compensation, such amount as may be specified in the order to the person who has suffered any loss or injury by reason of the act for which the accused person has been so sentenced.

    (4)  An order under this section may also be made by an Appellate Court or by the High Court or Court of Session when exercising its powers of revision.

    (5)  At the time of awarding compensation in any subsequent civil suit relating to the same matter, the Court shall take into account any sum paid or recovered as compensation under this section.

    Though I am repeating myself, but in order to bring clarity on the subject answer, I wish to add that a large number of statutory provisions are never agitated upon by us in order to seek relief for the benefit of our clients.

    Thus, I conclude that such measures and constant research to find the exact provision of law or the corresponding case Law, enabling us to seek relief is the only means which a firm needs to build its clientele.

     

    Please share some of your experiences.

    (Mr. Sharma has been a part of some high profile cases like- The Railway Bribery Scam, the Coal Gate Scam, the Micromax Bribery Case and a lot more.)

    Everyone, whosoever is dealing with such cases or any case for that matter, must read each word of the charge sheet filed by CBI/Prosecution. It is the charge sheet from where the defence would originate. For the purpose of developing strategic defence in any Civil or Criminal Case, the contents of the pleadings of the opposite party, will provide the exact defence required to break the case.

    Illustratively, if a case is based upon Surveillance having been mounted by the CBI/Prosecution as is the case of Railway Bribery Scam or Micromax Bribery Scam one must know delicacies of Electronic /Digital Evidence. One must understand, the Information Technology Act, Section 65-A & B of Indian Evidence Act. The method by way of which, Primary or Secondary Evidence, pertaining to Electronic /Digital Evidence is firstly admissible and secondly it is impeachable.

    Similarly, analysing the Coal Gate Scam, since it involves multitude of institutions like PM Office, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Power & other Allied Ministries, State Government, Institution of State Government like Department of Industries, Mines of States and apart from them certain corporate houses or individuals to whom it is alleged that allocation of Coal Blocks have taken place, after hatching a conspiracy to do so. It is my belief that in one of the charge sheet filed by the CBI/Prosecuting Agency, no tangible evidence had been brought on record by them, reflecting either meeting of mind amongst the persons working in multiple institutions referred before or a common thread, detailing that work of the corresponding persons working in the different institutions, had a common object. Though there are multiple order of conviction in Coal Gate Cases but on the other hand is the 2G Spectrum Case and the judgment therein had categorically reflected that the element reflecting common object amongst multiple persons, institutions was not in existence.

    Therefore, I intend to highlight that for any given case, the defence lies within the pleadings of the other party, and the attempt which is required to be made is as to how that weak spot in the case of the opposite party is to be found and then exploited.

     

    What are the skills that you look for when you hire juniors under you?

    Sharpness in responses, eagerness to explore the unexplored field of Law, good command over English (both spoken and drafting). Always an honest attempt to communicate one’s thoughts to the other person coupled with patience and perseverance are the only qualities which I wish to find in any lawyer who comes to me, to become my colleague. I personally do not want to call anybody as “Junior”. My reasoning is that they might be “Junior” to me by age but everyone has equal capacity to imagine, to explore the unexplored and most importantly fresh lawyers always bring fresh ideas.

    The skills which I have highlighted above are to be developed by a person on their own. These are no mathematical equations, which one can provide to another. It is the function of the brain, which will only start functioning when a person puts his brain to work. So, development of skill in legal profession cannot be guided, it is self-development process and that is exactly how I did it.

     

    As a Member of the Special Committee of the Bar Council of Delhi, what were your roles and responsibilities?

    I remained a Member of Special Committee of Bar Council of Delhi for a short period. We as Member of Special Committee were expected to discharge all the functions of Bar Council of Delhi which included Enrolment of fresh lawyers, looking after Disciplinary Proceedings and to discharge all the functions which Bar Council of India had assigned to the Special Committee.

     

    How would you describe your experience of over thirty years in the legal fraternity?

    “Satisfying” is the only word, which can describe my experience in the legal profession. If I look back and analyse these thirty years, as a lawyer, I find it really surprising that a person, having no prior experience of the field of litigation, has not only survived in this competitive field but is presently discharging all the duties of a Defence Counsel for a large number of politicians, bureaucrats/high ranking officials, former judges, large corporate entities etc.

    Please provide us insights to your daily schedule. What is a typical work day like?

    Being an advocate, dealing with a handful of cases before different forums, my daily schedule is segregated in a manner whereby I intend to utilize the time in most efficient way.

    Any typical day for me starts at 9.00 AM, when I start for the courts. The work schedule at the court normally ends at 4.30 PM, thereafter I start for my office, wherein I prepare for my upcoming cases and attend conferences between 5.00 PM to 8.30 or 9.00 PM.

    In case, the case is fixed for Miscellaneous Proceedings before the trial court, I normally request any of my colleague advocates to appear, appraise and assist the court appropriately. However, if a case is fixed for evidence, either for examination in chief or for cross examination, then I personally attend it as a priority matter. However, the Stage of Arguments, be it Miscellaneous or Final, are normally taken by the Court at the end of the Board. Thus, I plan my schedule accordingly, so that all miscellaneous work, evidence are diligently catered to in advance and I am available for rendering appropriate assistance to the Court for and on behalf of my client.

    However, for proceedings in Superior Courts, I normally organize my time as per the cause list of the respective court in such a manner that my Trial Court work do not suffer and neither my case pending before the Superior Courts.

    Fortunately, in the present scenario of Artificial Intelligence and other electronic facilities, the time spent by me commuting in my car, i.e. heading to court complex, or commuting amongst different court Premises or while reaching back home, is utilized by me for research purposes, which I do on my I-Pad, with the help of internet facilities.

    As a concluding message, what would be your advice to budding lawyers?

    Please be prepared to work hard, which include research on various Statutory Provisions and the interpretation thereof, as is pronounced by various Superior Courts. Be courteous not only to your client or to the judges, but also to the court staff and all your colleagues so that a feeling of an extended family is established amongst you and all the persons with whom you interact while discharging your responsibilities as a lawyer. Please do not run for money at the very start of your career, as it is bound to come to you automatically once you establish your own identity and character in legal fraternity.

  • Sundra Rajoo, Director, KLRCA, and Managing Director, Sundra Rajoo Arbitration Chambers shares his insight on the arbitration world

    Sundra Rajoo, Director, KLRCA, and Managing Director, Sundra Rajoo Arbitration Chambers shares his insight on the arbitration world

    Datuk Professor Sundra Rajoo graduated in Law from University of London, England in 1994. Currently, he is the Director of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (KLRCA). He has also been the President of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) Global, which is the world-wide leader in training, accreditation and practice of alternative dispute resolution. Sundra is the Past President of the Asia Pacific Regional Arbitration Grouping (APRAG), a federation of  fourty arbitral institutions in the Asia Pacific region.

    A Chartered Arbitrator and an advocate and solicitor of the High Court of Malaya, Datuk Professor Sundra Rajoo is also a professional architect and registered Town Planner.

    In this interview, he talks to us about:

    • His illustrious practice in Malaysia.
    • How to acquire skills to become a great arbitrator.
    • Are grades really that important?
    • His role in legal academia.

     

     Tell us a bit about your childhood and pre-college life as well as educational background. Did you have lawyers in your family?

    I grew up in the state of Malacca and later moved up north to Penang. I attended the Francis Light and Penang Free School in Penang during my primary and secondary education. I then obtained my first honours degree in Housing, Building and Planning from University of Science Malaysia, Penang in 1979. Following that, I proceeded to Australia and obtained two professional degrees in Architecture and Town Planning, after which I pursued Law at University of London, England and obtained the Certificate in Legal Practice. I also hold a Master’s degree in Construction Law and Arbitration (With Merit) from Leeds Metropolitan University where I was the winner of the Annual Prize, North-East Branch, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, England; and a Master of Philosophy in Law from Manchester University which I completed as a Chevening Award holder.

    I was not surrounded by relatives who were lawyers but shared a close relationship with my father who often told me stories about my great grandfather who was a war hero during the Malayan Revolution period, sparking an interest in history and Law.

     

    How did you gravitate towards the field of law? Where did you study initially?

    Initially, I pursued my education in the areas of Housing, Building and Planning, and Architecture and Town Planning. I worked for the Central Bank of Malaysia as an Architect and Town Planner in Malaysia and Australia. I gained extensive experience and exposure in construction law. That coupled with my interest in law since I was a child motivated me to pursue my education further in Law.

     

    Were you a top scorer in your educational journey? How important are grades according to you?

    I fared were very well in the courses that I pursued, however, while grades are important, I do not necessarily believe that it is the most important aspect of education. In my opinion, what is most important is how one equips oneself with the ability to apply the knowledge gained in real-life situations.

     

    You were a writer, and have been published in various national journals. Do tell us, how you pursued your love for writing.

    Although I was a light-hearted and playful child, I picked up the habit of reading at this stage. Starting with books on war, my interest in reading continued to grow and expand – a habit that has certainly served me well over the years. This motivated me to pick up writing as I developed ideas, thoughts and opinions that I wanted to impart to others. When writing articles, it is important to understand who your readers are to ensure that the message you are trying to send across is conveyed clearly.

     

     Please give us an insight into your role in academia.

    (He is a visiting Professor at the Faculty of Built Environment, University of Technology Malaysia and Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya.)

    From 2000 to 2003, I continued to lecture at local universities including in the Arbitration Law course offered in the Master of Laws (LL.M.) Programme at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya. I have been a guest lecturer on arbitration at the Law Faculty, International Islamic University and on the Master’s in Contract Management at University of Technology. I was also an invited contributor to the MSc in Construction Law and Arbitration Programme offered jointly by National University of Singapore and King’s College, University of London in 2004.

    How do you instill creativity and innovation in your employees and in the work environment?

    I instill creativity and innovation in my employees by encouraging brainstorming sessions with them where we make observations and approach things from a new viewpoint, together.

     

    If I want to be a great arbitrator which university should I go to? Which courses would you recommend?

    Since arbitration is international, you ought to choose an institution that offers programmes of an international nature to ensure that you are remain relevant to as many countries as possible. The most renowned courses to pursue would be, traditionally, those by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators however in light of changing times and how everybody is looking to the East (think ASEAN Economic Community, Belt Road Initiative, etc.) it would be wise to think Asian institutions such as KLRCA that offers the same.

     

    How do you keep yourself updated with the latest arbitration issues, news and cases?

    I keep myself abreast of latest developments in arbitration by news related to arbitration from an international front as well as attending conferences and talks on the same.

     

    Who are the stalwarts in arbitration that you follow?

    That would be the late KC Cheang, a former President of the Malaysian Institute of Architects. KC was well-regarded in the industry. He was skillful and knowledgeable. Everything he did personified professionalism and leadership.

     

    As the winner of the Cedric Barclay Prize by  the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, share some tips to our readers.

    A love of reading, perseverance and the drive to succeed are the essentials.

     

    What qualities do you think have helped you achieve your current position and stature?

    Perseverance is definitely the key to success. Every once in a while, you will fail, and most of the time, the circumstances will be well beyond your control. The key to overcoming this; is this – DO NOT let your failures keep you down. Compose yourself, dust the dirt off, take a deep breath and get back up on life’s saddle and keep going. Failures are part of life. If you don’t fail, you don’t learn. If you don’t learn, you will never change. The world doesn’t care how many times you fall down, as long as it’s one fewer than the number of times you get back.

     

    What are the skills a law student should try to imbibe to successfully carve out a niche in the arbitration world?

    Analytical reasoning and logical reasoning – law students must learn how to process voluminous information, interpret them analytically, and structure their arguments and reasoning in a logical manner.

    Legal research – it is essential for law students to master the art of legal research especially in terms of legal authorities and citations.

    Technology – With the rise of software and applications used in legal work, it is now a must for students to be familiar with technology.

    Time management – a strong work ethic and the ability to carry out multiple tasks are important and for this, law students are required to manage time well.

    Communication – law students need to equip themselves with both written and oral communication skills in order to convey and gather information clearly.

  • Chakradhar Varadarajan, Head-Corporate Legal in Godrej, roles and responsibilities as In-house Counsel

    Chakradhar Varadarajan, Head-Corporate Legal in Godrej, roles and responsibilities as In-house Counsel

    Chakradhar Varadarajan holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the first batch of five-year law course (1983-’88) from the Government Law College affiliated to Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. He is the Head-Corporate Legal in Godrej Industries Limited (GIL). He is also the authorised signatory for Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) and Nature’s Basket Limited (NBL).

    Chakradhar’s current role is to add value to the businesses as a trusted advisor, shape up and maintain a client-focused in-house legal team. His work areas engage him to manage and advice on risk analysis and mitigation including M&A, indirect taxation, brand protection enforcement, business advisory, compliance and regulatory aspects.

    In this interview, he speaks to us about:

    • His decision to choose a five-year law course at a very nascent stage of Indian legal education
    • The culture back in his college days.
    • His role and responsibilities as Head-Corporate Legal in Godrej Industries Limited (GIL).
    • The reason behind giving up litigation practice and accepting an in-house legal counsel role.

     

    How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

    I am a student. I continue to learn every day.

     

    What prompted you to choose a five-year law course?

    (The five-year law course was newly introduced at that time.)

    Most of my junior college buddies were focussed on graduating as either engineers or as doctors. A new engineering college was set up in our town back then and also a renowned Government medical college. Probably this contributed to many of them opting to becoming engineers or doctors.

    My upbringing in a middle class family of a State Government employee (my father) and the situation of two of my elder siblings already aiming then to become doctors made me think differently.

    Living in Kurnool town surrounded by an agrarian economy in a drought-prone region of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, I was more influenced by the agenda and focus set for social and industrial development by Telugu Desam, CPI & CPM.  I was keen to talk about the growth of industry & commerce in the region. Kurnool, Anantapur, Nandyal, Tirupati in particular started looking out for industrial and educational renaissance.

    Rayalaseema Paper Mills had just started production in those days, granite export industry was slowly picking up, Tungabhadra Industries Limited was producing vegetable oil products including Vanaspati locally and APIIDC was taking steps to create industrial parks.  Amidst such socio-political-industrial climate, the travel of my thoughts took direction of further studies in commerce and law.

    Had it not been for Justice Chandrachud (Retd) starting a five-year law course in the 4 law colleges of Tamil Nadu (Chennai, Trichy, Madurai & Coimbatore) during mid-1983, preceded by a newspaper advertisement issued by the Directorate of Legal Education, Tamil Nadu, I probably would have turned a commerce graduate in Venkateshwara University and opt for a 3 year law degree in Anantapur or Hyderabad.

     

    How was the culture back in your college days (1983-’88)?

    I joined five-year law in Coimbatore, a city that was fairly well industrialised in 1983 with many textile machinery manufacturing units & spinning mills (serving as the back office for the Mumbai mills).

    No other State (including Andhra Pradesh) started any such course in law by then and National Law Schools were not even established. The experience of being soaked in a completely different and industrially vibrant atmosphere as well as being in an educational hub of Tamil Nadu planted bigger dream of managing and leading legal services for companies, early in life.

    Our college being a Government Law College, resources for us were limited so, the students of 3 year law batch & five-year law batch both used to attend college in the same premises in morning and afternoon sessions respectively.

    India’s gender diversity efforts & girl child education were getting evident in the early ‘80s itself basis the statistics that in our own law class.  We were a total of 78 students of which 18 were girls.  Some of them are doing well now in the profession and practising law in courts today.

    Our five-year law curriculum being new, some of the books prescribed for study were not available in stores or our own college library, so we undertook visits to State and/or District libraries in different cities to gather material to study and used to share notes with other classmates.

    With no internet and Google, no online research tools, preparing for inter-collegiate debates, competitions or moots was a group activity with a lot of excitement peppered with visits to other educational institutions as well as local courts in search of willing seniors who could guide us regarding various topics.

    Our professors treated us more lovingly as we were seen as fresh and young buds who were enthusiastic to listen, be more regular to attend lectures and moots.

    Our initial law college studies also involved the experience of receiving guest lectures from professors of other colleges teaching liberal arts (Political Science, Sociology & Economics, History of India & developments leading to Constitution) as our 1st 2 years curriculum was mostly related to these subjects, apart from English, Logic & Reasoning, and Legal Writing in Tamil.

     

    How did you overcome your initial jitters in a courtroom full of experienced lawyers and judges?

    (He holds the distinction of being the first ever five-year law graduate to be enrolled as an Advocate in 1988 with the Bar Council of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad.)

    Preparing for the day of enrolment, wearing that black coat, tying up the white bands around neck and entering the High Court of A.P in Hyderabad with a gown on the shoulders had been a ‘dream come true’ (which actually was not so financially, as I experienced later in courts for about two and a half years but I had to go through that phase as part of the process).

    Joining a chosen senior’s office (after closely following up as to whom to join) and then getting paid Rs.750/-, a princely sum back then at the end of the first month (when no other senior counsel generally paid money to any junior) is a cherished high. A High Court judge and a District Court judge encouraging me to argue the senior’s brief and guiding me while I put across a defence. Such experiences probably are rare now due to paucity of time in courts today. The attention and time the judges gave for testing the skills of juniors like me, to observe and correct the preparedness was also a blessed high. When a District Judge advised me stoutly across the bench in an open court stating professional ethics demand that an Advocate should not visit a complainant’s home and talk of settlement on behalf of the client who engaged him was a low and as well as a learning moment.

     

    What lead you to give up litigation practice for accepting in-house legal counsel role?

    Prior to fully involving in active court practice, I attended a corporate internship in Hyderabad, a first for me in a reputed corporate group in Hyderabad. Almost 2 years later, I was blessed with an enquiry from them as to my interest in a vacant position of ‘Law Officer’. Based on the evaluation of my socio-economic background coupled with my own need for a stable income and a big dream of going in-house, I said yes to such an opportunity.  I consider myself lucky too that my joining as in-house counsel coincided with onset of liberalisation in 1991.  On personal front, the contributing factor to be unwavering in continuing to being in-house counsel was the loss of my mother a year later and then marital responsibility. There was no looking back after I joined in-house, though I did have a fair share of mirage of reflections to see myself as a practising Advocate to which I did not yield to!

     

    How are internships helpful for a law student? How was the scenario back in your days?

    Internship in an Advocate’s office and attending the courts were part of planned curriculum for our five-year law study.

    Our internship was for the entire five years of study. We would start by 8.30am in the morning in our assigned law office, work there first and move into Court and be present there until 1.00pm and later on, reach our Advocate’s office again by 5.00pm and remain there until 8.30pm. Such hours of internships for learning were possible since our classroom lectures were between 1.30pm to 5.30pm.

    The curriculum made it mandatory for us to attend a senior Advocate’s office, learn drafting,  observe client guidance by the senior as well as work of the court clerks, do case law research, know professional etiquette and ethics, observe and learn court decorum.  At the end of the year, we had to submit a project paper over the aspects learnt in our internship.  All our learning during such internship was assessed for marks as our internals by our college.

    I am happy that now, apart from internships in law firms, students of law also have the benefit of focussing on gaining knowledge through internships in corporates. Such internships are no doubt preparing the law students to be much more agile, employable and professional and learn a lot about crucial transactional non-litigation work which is a large share of corporate in-house roles.

     

    Currently, you are the Head-Corporate Legal in Godrej Industries Limited (GIL). What are your roles and responsibilities?

    Our team in Godrej Corporate Legal has about 11 in-house counsel and 2 paralegals. The team has 4 sub-function group heads. Sub-function head managers are there for (i) Contracts, M&A and business/category advisory; (ii) Brand Protection/IPR, category advisory & International business; (iii) Indirect taxes management and (iv) Litigation management.

    My role as strategic function business partner is to provide in-house legal services for the Consumer Goods, Chemicals, Retailing and Corporate HO. The role also partners with Godrej’s M&A team initiatives for inorganic growth of the consumer goods business in Indonesia, in Africa for about 14 countries, the USA, Chile & Argentina.

    An average work-day in Godrej is ‘a day to look forward to’ since the consumer goods, the most dynamic amongst all, sets up an agenda of good amount of in-house legal service activity both for India as well as overseas. At the same time, the work-life balance afforded to the employees by Godrej are of world-class standards offering us flexible working hours (core hours being defined as 10.30am to 5.00pm), well laid out policy on gender diversity and inclusion, a ‘work from home’ facility when required and approval for sick leave without a limit when such a situation arises.

    Godrej’s philosophy of human resource assessment relies on 3 key pillars (Leading Self, Leading Others, and Leading Business).Further, ‘the Godrej way’ makes it important to constantly remind myself about ‘Godrej way and the Purpose/Objective’, the importance of ‘Trust’, the characteristic to ‘Be Bold’, to undertake the best effort and ‘Create Delight’ for your customers and therefore ‘Own it’ to deliver, and simultaneously ‘Be Humble’ and ‘Show Respect’ to people as much as you expect from them.

     

    What are the qualities which Godrej looks for in one’s CV while applying for internship?

    GIL offers law students internships and the intake is limited to 2 students per annum at present.  The applications for such internships are received processed by our Corporate HR based on prior assessment and notification of such intern needs by the heads of the sub-function groups.

    Criteria in Godrej for assessment of any candidate’s CV are (i) individual’s Initiative, (ii) hunger to learn & improve, (iii) emotional and social awareness and (iv)positive mind-set for collaboration’.

     

    You were bestowed with “India’s finest in-house counsel” in 2016 .What is the success mantra?

    (This recognition is given by the Indian Corporate Counsel Association & the Ministry of Commerce.)

    Any bright young lawyer who is able to practise the following principles will definitely taste success and will himself amongst ‘successful in-house counsel in India’ :

    1) Believe in yourself; 2) Be humble to learn every day; 3) Be respectful of others; 4) Have patience to practise and persevere and (5) Accept to kiss & hug any change.

  • Santanu Mukherjee, Founder, Ex Lege Chambers, and his involvement in multilateral negotiations at the global level

    Santanu Mukherjee, Founder, Ex Lege Chambers, and his involvement in multilateral negotiations at the global level

    Santanu Mukherjee graduated in Law from South Calcutta Law College, Calcutta University in the year 1998. He is an Advocate and an accredited Mediator practicing in New Delhi. He is currently the founder and Head of Ex Lege Chambers, Advocates and Regulatory, Policy Advisors, a boutique law office.

    Over the past twenty years of his work experience he has worked in Statutory and Regulatory Policy, Commercial Mediation and Litigation practice while specializing in Intellectual Property Rights, Competition Law and International Trade Law. His clientele comprise of entities from governments and large corporations to start-ups.

    Recently he has been awarded the prestigious Intellectual Property Lawyer of the Year Award 2017 from the Indian National Bar Association.

    In this interview, he gives us insights into:

    • The importance of extra-curricular in shaping your personality.
    • His international work at the South Centre.
    • Setting up his own firm- Ex Lege Chambers.
    • Honing one’s legal research and communication skills.

     

    How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

    I would like to introduce myself as a legal professional and a mediator, who is passionate in seeking solutions to legal problems and ready to go deep into a matter that I take up. Someone who is passionate to continuously learn, be a thoughtful leader and a change agent, someone who does what he believes in.

     

    Tell us a bit about your childhood and pre-college life as well as educational background. Do you have lawyers in your family?

    My childhood and college days had been fascinating, I was always interested in extra-curricular, was extremely disciplined and loved to do social work. I studied in Don Bosco Bandel School and was very active as a boys scout. It was long time back but I still cherish the memories of public cleanliness initiatives we took up and volunteering activities in community fairs and traffic rules awareness programmes. Of course the adventure activities were fun, hiking, rock climbing, trekking and the competitions. It developed a deep bond of brotherhood that is still live; I am in touch with many of my childhood friends and my scout brothers even now. Finally an acknowledgment for life, it was a great honour to be awarded by the Hon’ble President of India as a President’s Scout.

    Then came the college days, at South Calcutta Law College, studies were as one could expect in a Law college those days, no frills of moots but occasional debates. However, here again I was focused on some different type of extra-curricular, I enrolled with No. 2 Bengal Air Sqn, National Cadet Corps (NCC) and was the only student from a Law college at the NCC unit. It was again another wonderful memory, the weekly parades, the skeet shootings, the glider flying, the extempore preparing for the best cadet competition, it was a unique experience. In the three years of Senior Division NCC, I rose to be the Senior Under Officer, a learning of leadership that is a training for life. Preparing for the Republic Day camp was an ordeal; I was selected as the West Bengal and Sikkim contingent senior and with it came a sense of responsibility, fellow feeling. The camaraderie was unbelievable, the contingent was tight even during challenging moments, and these thoughts still make me nostalgic. The love and support of my trainers, fellow cadets enabled me to work hard and get the Best Cadet of West Bengal and Sikkim Directorate medal from the Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal. My childhood was adventurous and full of activities of rather unconventional outdoors. I am sharing these thoughts since I want to make a point that there is learning in everything, in sports, in community work, in adventure activities, all can contribute to making our personality.

    I do not have lawyers in my immediate family, my father was a polymer technologist and my mother is an artist and home maker and both of them have always been a great inspiration for me. My only sister has not taken up legal profession either, however my maternal cousin, who is elder to me, had been a practicing lawyer at the Calcutta High Court. She inspired me a lot but I specialized in IPR early hence professionally could not gain much when she was a general litigator.

     

    In India there is bit of resistance towards legal education even now. What motivated you to choose law as a career?

    Yes, very true, legal education was not at all promoted; some people even had a very negative perspective of legal professionals. Things have changed now to a certain extent and is improving every day. I think a lot of credit goes to structured legal education that has been introduced, the contribution of the National Law Schools and entry to legal education through Common Law Admission Test.

    Typically when one talks of Law as a career, one thinks of becoming a lawyer who would interpret Law and of course aspire to be elevated to the bench one day. In my days as a student, my Law career goals were similar, only that I always wanted to work on international issues and wanted to be an expert. I was exposed to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) at an early phase, when I was preparing for the NCC Best Cadet competition; I read about the General Agreement on Trade Tariffs (GATT) and the negotiations on IPR, discussion on the ‘Dunkel Draft’ was in the newspapers. My curiosity made me read more and I liked the IP Law discipline and at the final stage of my Law studies was already more aware than most practising lawyers (those not practicing IP law). However, gradually what really intrigued me was ‘Law making’ and this has been a constant motivating factor, to be able to draft a Law from scratch and the grand finale perhaps to be able to move it as a Law maker.

    You have a varied work experience, how did you start, how was your initial days of law practice?

    It’s true that I have a varied work experience, in fact I always wanted to get a 360° exposure to different works in Law. Having started as an Advocate at the Calcutta High Court, I moved beyond whenever I got an opportunity. I started as a Law trainee at S. Jalan and Company, a leading Solicitors’ chambers in Kolkata and was fortunate to be under the tutelage of Mr. Shyamanand Jalan. He was one of the leading corporate and commercial lawyers of the time in Kolkata at that time and I will always be indebted to his guidance towards meticulous drafting and his pragmatic approach. The GATT 1995 was already signed and the World Trade Organization was formed. The Agreement on Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) was one of the pillars of the WTO multilateral trade regime. My interest in IPRs landed me at D. P. Ahuja and Co., one of the leading IP Attorneys at Kolkata. I was quickly drawn into IP litigation work, new learning experience amidst some of the legal experts in IPR practice, one of whom was later elevated to the Bench at the Calcutta High Court. I was bonded to IPR domain for ever while gradually expanding to different other areas in the days to come. Later I went to York England to read Law at the College of Law of England and Wales, now University of Law, York, UK.

     

    You were a British Chevening scholar in UK, can you let us know how was your interview to give our readers some tips to nail the scholarship. What did you study and how was it helpful in your career? During this time you were also a visiting lawyer at the Littleton Chambers, Inner Temple Bar, London, how was your experience?

    Indeed, I attended the British Chevening Programme for Young Indian Corporate, Commercial Lawyers 2000 at the College of Law of Engaland and Wales at York, now University of Law, York, U.K. I understand that this programme is not continued any longer, I am told that instead the number of LL.M. Chevening scholarship offers have been increased. I qualified in the preliminary interview at Kolkata and appeared before the final interview in New Delhi. It was a panel interview of five members which included a Supreme Court practitioner, two academic faculty members of the College of Law, one of who was also a qualified British barrister and the other a solicitor and I think there were members from British Council and the High Commission in New Delhi. I enjoyed the interview which was more of a discussion about my career plans, IPR issues and a tricky trademark infringement matter and some generic questions.

    The scholarship programme was a customized for legal practitioners and touched on laws of England and Wales and the European Union as well, often drew comparison with the Indian laws. A number of corporate and commercial Law subjects were covered but what I really found fascinating was the trainings in lawyering skills. The Woolf Reforms and the Civil Procedure Rules of 1998 had just come into effect the year before we went to England. The legal drafting style in England and Wales had already experienced a sea change, crisp lucid language was in vogue. We were quite taken by surprise but the unlearning of the Indian legal drafting style and adapting to the new style was perhaps necessary. The drafting sessions and the courses on negotiation and advocacy which I attended in the programme were excellent and definitely helped me later on as a lawyer.

    I had already gained some experience in drafting and negotiating skills working at the Solicitor’s firm in Kolkata hence wanted to get some exposure to good advocacy. This made me split my practical attachments between Beresford and Company an IP Attorney Firm well known for their hi-tech practice (now Beresford Crump LLP) and Littleton Chambers, Inner Temple Bar. At that time Littleton Chambers was not one of the leading chambers for IPR matters but had quite a wide variety of matters. I wanted to gain maximum from this wide exposure hence opted for the Littleton Chambers to get a real life experience of advocacy in English courts. I could join different barristers at the Royal Court of Justice in London, the Employment Tribunal in Leeds and watch them plead. They had also arranged a visit to the Old Bailey (the central Criminal Court of England and Wales) for me; it was quite a unique experience. I liked the work culture of the chambers, the discussions and the warmth. I could also get a ticket to attend a lecture of Lord Rt Hon Lord Woolf who was the author of the legal reforms, it was quite a treat.

     

    You have spent some time in doing legal research work and policy work, how did you get interested in such works?

    The founding stone to my interest in doing legal research is actually my master’s studies at Bern, Switzerland. The IPR related issues that I worked on were interesting but I was interested to understand the interface issues between IPR and international trade laws as established under the WTO regime. The first five years of the transition period for developing countries to adopt TRIPS was over and India had already suffered a setback at the first IPR case. The Panel of the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the WTO found India’s Patent law not in compliance with its WTO commitment. I felt that for a developing country like India, WTO regulations would be important for the coming future and it would be worth studying it deeper.

    At that time, a friend informed me of the World Trade Institute in Bern, Switzerland providing a Master’s programme in International Law and Economics with exclusive focus on WTO regulations. Although initially I was reluctant since it was a new institute but given the reputation of Bern University and having some of the leading names from Yale, Oxford, Columbia Universities and many others as members of faculty I was convinced. I managed to get a scholarship from the Institute and successfully complete it and I gained immensely from our Managing Director, Prof. Thomas Cottier who was also the chairman of the first IPR case decided by the WTO between USA and India. I had already done an internship at the WTO Secretariat in Geneva which gave me an inside view of how the WTO worked. Further, it also gave me an opportunity to sit in the TRIPS Council meetings and understand the importance of strategy and the play of tactics in multilateral negotiations.

    My master’s studies involved significant legal research and actually it also opened my door to policy work which involved critically analysing laws, recommending changes and took me to a step ahead of my interest in drafting laws. It gave me a feeling that I can contribute in works that can have mass effect and encouraged me to undertake deeper legal research based policy work rather than rhetorical advocacy. By now I had already noticed that in continental Europe, lawyers dedicate time doing legal research while in India such research is only taken up by academics. I decided to adopt this model and try for some fellowship at some renowned research institute and my exploration led me to the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law (MPI) in Munich, Germany. At MPI, I worked on interface between IPR and multilateral trade regulations under the WTO and the Indian Patent Law and protection of traditional knowledge and the research foundation helped me all through later. Based on my work published an article at their peer-reviewed journal, IIC and made presentations including at the Global Salzburg Seminar on Trade, Aid and Development.

     

    Tell us about your international work at the South Centre, what was the nature of your work and your return to India.

    After completing my research at the MPI I was contemplating moving back to full time legal practice when I got an interesting opportunity. The South Centre, an intergovernmental organisation of developing countries based in Geneva working along the UN organizations and chaired by Dr. B.B. Ghali, former Secretary General of the UN was looking for a Fellow with IPR practice and research background. I was familiar with the Centre’s works and also that our former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was its chairman when it was still in the form of South Commission, I was quite excited when I cleared the interview to join the South Centre. As a Fellow I worked in the capacity of a consultant and enjoyed certain perks as an international civil servant similar to the UN staff which itself was a new experience.

    My main work was on pharmaceutical patents and how developing countries could draft examination guidelines in a manner helpful to their developmental needs, but remaining within the TRIPS Agreement. I was also deeply involved in preparing negotiating texts for on-going IPR negotiations at the WIPO and WTO including those on geographical indications. It was quite an unique opportunity to prepare draft laws and amendments to patent laws for member countries that lacked capacity and it’s very satisfying to note that some became laws in those countries. I worked very closely with WIPO, WTO UNCTAD and other IGOs on different international issues. South Centre used to hold training sessions for commerce ministry officials of member countries regularly, it was absolute pleasure to model such training courses and teach these trade diplomats. One of the new learning was to present technical matters in a non-lawyerly manner since the bureaucrats were seasoned generalists but not always familiar with legalistic approach. Once my project was complete, instead of waiting for some other project, I thought that I should return to India and explore opportunities back home.

     

    You have been working in Delhi for about 10 years now and have started your own Law office, how did it come by?

    Many friends had advised me against leaving Geneva, they tried to convince me that I would be able to contribute more by being there rather than returning. However, I took the decision to return to Kolkata and after an initial year moving back to legal practice and consulting, I realised that if I want to continue working on policy, I needed to move to Delhi.

    Once I decided to move to New Delhi, I started discussing work possibilities with some Law firms when Qualcomm, an advanced wireless technology company based in San Diego, California approached me for a lawyer role. I was not aware that Qualcomm’s presence in India was big enough for an India-based role and that too they were looking for someone who had a background in IPR and a deep understanding of the international trade regime. Initially, I was not that convinced for the position since had never expected myself in any in-house role but as it happened with me, “never say never”. After some thoughts and discussing with some seniors whom I consider as mentors, I concluded that this would be a new experience for me and fulfil my aim of getting exposed to law at 360°.

    I tried to chalk out what should be my learning in the three to five years that I intend to stay and thought that it would be worth understanding how to form legal strategies, manage outreach and learn how they engage with governments. It was a great experience as I moved in with the global team within a short time. I was a part of an international team with lawyers from different countries all working in synergy. The experience of working with multiple internal clients in different jurisdictions in a wholesome manner considering the business impact is something unique and completely different from that of an external counsel. As I engaged in different works I never realised that even when I had thought that I will transit out after five years, I continued for 8 years enjoying every bit of my work.

    Finally, I decided that it is time for me to return to mainstream legal practice and discussed my intent of moving back to practice with friends and family. It was a difficult decision since I was a family man and the corporate legal work comes with some leisurely perks and a different work style. I talked to some senior lawyer friends and finally took the decision to join Luthra and Luthra Law Offices after talking to Mr. Rajiv Luthra, Manging Partner. I joined as Partner and Head of International Trade and Policy Advisory practice and enjoyed the policy advisory work including trade matters working closely with different governments as well as private corporate clients. However, I soon realised that I would not be able to introduce a number of prospective clients even when they have approached me and I have an excellent relationship with them given the conflicts problem that affect large firms across the globe. I understood that with the firm’s established clients, it would be difficult for me to create my own clientele and felt an urge to be independent. As it has always been, once decided I have never looked back, I started Ex Lege Chambers, a boutique law chambers, an independent effort with strong support from close friends.

     

    You have founded Ex Lege Chambers and call it a boutique chambers, how is it different from any other law firm?

    Always fascinated with my experience at Littleton Chambers in London, when I introduced this concept to a dear friend, a litigator at the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court, he was game to it. From day one he supported me as a co-founder and I established Ex Lege Chambers, Advocates and Regulatory, Policy Advisors in New Delhi. Typically like chambers legal practice elsewhere and distinguished from law firms, the lawyers are independent members and share costs and not profits. Keeping costs as low as possible, our aim as a boutique chambers is to provide complete support to our clients in a dedicated manner rather than be in a hurry to scale up.

    At present we are mainly focused on Dispute Resolution, Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Policy Advisories as well as corporate legal support. We aim to increase our commercial mediation work within the ADR services and hopefully make our mark in deal mediation. Given the global move for resolving conflicts quicker, mediation plays and will increasingly play a major role and I think that India would gain from adopting mediation in a major manner. Being a boutique chambers has also helped us to address needs of the start-up clients providing complete legal service package for all their needs.

    The chamber does not follow the concept of hiring lawyers at any level. A client work would be supervised by a lead counsel (as of now the founders) and considering client requirements, a team of counsels at two levels. The first level with around five to seven years’ experience is retained as members and the second level with three to five years’ experience as junior members. Depending on the nature of work freshly qualified Advocates can also find a place as trainee members. Trainee members are exposed to close mentoring and get an opportunity to learn.

     

    You have been involved in multilateral negotiations at the global level can you share your experience.

    Apart from my involvement in WTO, WIPO, UNCTAD and ITU while working in Geneva, while working with Qualcomm too, I was actively involved in some multilateral negotiations. One such experience is at the United Nations Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP). Interesting to note that in these negotiations only governments can be negotiating parties while the decisions taken affect many stakeholders including private sector. To address private sector concerns, it is possible for private sector to engage in track 1.5 / track 2 negotiations, i.e. attend the COP as observers and hold parallel negotiations with country delegations. I was part of the delegation of Business Council of Sustainable Energy which held an observer status at UNFCCC and attended the COPs at Copenhagen (2009), Durban (2011) and Doha (2012).

    I was focused on the technology-transfer negotiations related to climate change mitigating technologies. The debate on access to patented clean energy technologies negotiations through track 1.5 track 2 at a number of COPs with extreme positions being taken by negotiating parties.

    Like any other multilateral negotiations, the engagements started early in the morning and went on until late in the evenings. Just to give an idea of the works, we would access country positions that were published in UNFCCC documents and changed as the negotiations proceeded, analyse them considering client needs and as needed, prepare alternate texts. Then we used to hold parallel meetings with different relevant delegations to explain our position substantiating with data and valid reasons so that once convinced, they can raise these at their negotiating meetings.

    In between there were different meetings and briefings to attend, Among the COPs that I have attended, I will remember the Copenhagen COP vividly because of its administrative collapse when I waited for eight hours at minus 12°C to get an entry pass. There were also massive protests and police action against demonstrators. The negotiating styles of different countries were also worth noting and how these styles actually manoeuvred the results of the negotiations.

     

    Many lawyers are submerged in work most of the time and often find it challenging to juggle between your personal and professional life? How do you look at work-life balance?

    Lawyers’ work demands a considerable bit of time, I think that in the initial years’ lawyers would need to work very hard and long hours would be normal. However, there seems to be a growing trend in law firms to stay back for long hours to create a perception that one is working hard, this unfortunately brings no dividend and I think should be avoided. For me, being independent gives me the flexibility to take up work that I can manage and can give sufficient attention without compromising on my other interests. Apart from spending time with family, my other interests include lecturing at law schools at times engage in public discourses in seminars and conferences and writing articles.

     

    The trend is now on gathering various internship experiences at different places. Was the scenario same while you were pursuing law?

    I believe that internships are mandatory in the five years law curriculum hence the students spend time interning at different law firms during their vacations. While I think internships are important, I do not think that doing a month’s internship at a place during vacations allow the students to gain any meaningful exposure. Although some are very hardworking and able to gain some good experience, I think one would need at least for two or three months to get a good exposure. However, since the setup is such that students would hardly get few months’ time, the students should plan well in advance and try to learn different lawyering skills through their practical exposure while being attached to work related to the discipline that they like.

    During my law college days there was no concept of internship although those coming from lawyer’s families usually spent time at the firms and chambers. I realised that since I was not from a lawyer’s family, getting practical experience was essential hence managed to join a law firm as legal trainee and worked there beyond college hours.

     

    As a concluding message, what would be your suggestions to law students / younger corporate commercial lawyers?

    Law students while they are still at school/college need to make sure that they improve their listening skills, communications skills, both written and verbal and legal research skills. All the rest can be developed while working as freshly qualified lawyers. If they are interested in any particular legal domain, they should put in an extra effort to know more about the subject through reading of learned articles, following good blogs and also writing articles at law journals. In addition they should also read news and current affairs in a manner that they are well aware about what’s happening around them. This would help them engage in any pertinent discussion without difficulty. The skill of being able to initiate and engage in a conversation is always helpful for a lawyer. I wish all law students and young lawyers to be able to put in their best to contribute in whatever field they pursue, as I stated earlier, law is a discipline in which a 360° approach is not just possible, it can be rewarding.