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Kinat Sisodia, Legal Manager, Star India, on being a media and entertainment lawyer, and work at Radio Mirchi
Kinat Sisodia graduated from Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur, in 2008. After spending years with Shemaroo Entertainment and Radio Mirchi, Kinat has recently shifted to Star India in capacity of Manager – Legal for its channels Life Ok, Star Jalsha, and Jalsha Movies.

In this interview, we speak to him about:
- Working for radio and television
- The Indian entertainment law regime
- Striking work-life balance
What motivated you to choose law as a career?

My family as most other families laid emphasis on education with freedom for each member to pursue their own educational interests. My father studied pharmacy, which was an unconventional choice of education at his time, and my elder brother went on a completely different tangent to opt for hotel management later. In a similar way, my calling for law came with the opening of National Law University in my hometown Jodhpur. I researched on the changed scenarios for law as a growing choice for a profession and then followed my family tradition of pursuing my own education path.

How did you come to join Universal Legal?

I was introduced to Universal Legal by my mentor Mr. Venkatesh Prabhu, with whom I had the honour of undertaking an internship during my final year of college. Under his able guidance and advise I interviewed with Universal Legal’s offices at Delhi and was shortlisted to join. But due to recession, the hiring got frozen. I was later given an option to join their Chennai offices, which I happily availed and joined the firm in February 2009.

You left a lucrative law firm job and had joined Shemaroo Entertainment as an in-house counsel. What prompted this switchover?

My move from Chennai was majorly based on sentimental grounds of being away for too long from home, folks and friends. I never planned to make a switch from a law firm to an in-house role, but the chance to be part of glamour and Bollywood was part of the initial appeal for me along with the option of staying close to family and friends.

After joining Shemaroo, I realized the workload as an in-house counsel demanded almost similar timelines like a law firm. The major practice areas there were contractual drafting and to devote a time and focus on understanding copyright aspects for such drafting.

How did you get inducted into an FM Radio company?

(After working with Shemaroo for almost a year Kinat joined Radio Mirchi.)

Media industry lacks lawyers and therefore with my one year of media experience I started getting couple of job offers. Amongst those offers, I got intrigued by an offer to experience and be part of the events business as part of Radio Mirchi. This gave me a chance to be part of organizing large scale events, viz. Mirchi Music Awards and Spell Bee school competitions to name a few and handling various intellectual property aspects in relation to organizing events.

What were your primary responsibilities as Senior Manager – Legal at Radio Mirchi?

I started my stint at Radio Mirchi as part of their events business. Then I also worked for the core FM Radio business for routine compliances, music licenses while negotiating and drafting several different commercial deals. I was also majorly involved in advising and representing the company’s concerns before various forums and courts in relation to changes in the legal system with the introduction of the Indian Copyright Act, 2012.

With experience in establishing the legal implications for the FM Radio business, I, along with my senior, were also asked to help a sister company for building the FM radio model on the evolving internet radio broadcast business.

Tell us about your venture into TV.

That’s a standard interview question I have faced at several times in my career so far. I believe my journey in the media industry started from dealing copyright content (by way of (acquiring/ creating/ licensing) at Shemaroo; later as part of my work at Radio Mirchi I was helping in exploitation of copyright content on the FM Radio and internet platforms on an audio only mode. The logical next move for me therefore was to move towards a platform for exploitation of copyright content on an audio-visual basis and hence television.

This belief was fueled in the right direction when I was approached to move from top of the FM Radio players to be part of India’s top television network for its relatively new channels Life OK and Bengali channels Star Jalsha and Jalsha Movies.

How different is the experience of working with a television conglomerate as compared to a FM Radio Company?

It’s actually a very short time to make any comparisons since I am barely three to four months old at STAR. The significant difference I feel for now while working for television is to be involved in larger projects which have a larger impact on the audience. Also, the functioning and processes for a television conglomerate are many folds since the broadcast happen simultaneously in the entire country as opposed to FM radio where each city has its separate localized broadcast.

How do you distinguish your role and responsibility as an associate in a law firm and as that of an in-house counsel?

Working in-house for almost 4 plus years, I have realised that being in-house, lawyers are required to understand the exact requirements of the company not only from immediate legal point but also from a long time business perspective. This becomes a little different for lawyers in law firms since they cater to requirements of multiple clients across different industries on a regular basis. Further, growth for an in-house lawyer is not only on basis of legal knowledge but on an overall understanding of company’s business to support the company’s visions.

Do you think courts in India are equipped to handle entertainment and media law cases?

The High Courts of the country are witnessing unique intellectual property cases these days and are dealing them in a commendable way. However, a nation-wide understanding on similar approach remains desirable to effectively mitigate the new intellectual property issues that keep arising.

The major concerns for all digital platforms are monitored and effectively dealt by a special designated tribunal in India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). TRAI not only provides regulatory framework for all digital platforms, but also takes inputs of the stakeholders from such digital platforms to effectively protect the concerns for each platform.

How do you maintain a work-life balance?

I feel it can all be handled well if you are able to segregate your work time and family time. It may be little difficult to practice this in the early stages of your career, but it is very important not to carry any work stress once you leave your workplace. In fact, I am pretty sure all of us have handled time crunch in our college lives as part of project deadlines or exams. None of those things bothered us much then because we didn’t carry the stress back, and the same approach needs to be adapted to work life.

What are your long term objectives? Where do you see yourself by the end of five years?

Honestly, I didn’t plan my career path to move in any particular way, but here I am after five years in the media and entertainment industry. Nevertheless to answer your question, I would like to make a point that I have been involved in giving suggestions before the passing of the Indian Copyright Act, 2012 in the beginning of my media career. With the way the Indian Copyright Act, 2012 is now being interpreted, I foresee a lot of excitement and challenge to keep me engaged in the media and entertainment sector for the next 5 years hopefully.

Lastly, what would be your message to an Indian student pursuing a law degree?

Law is an amazing field and has a plethora of opportunities for everyone. Just maintain your focus for what opportunity you want to aim for and not just because the majority is doing it. Hard work and dedication will take you where you will be content in the long run.
September 18, 2014
Gopalakrishnan R, Co-founder, Ekalavyas, on basketball, sports journalism, and founding his startup
Gopalakrishnan R. graduated from NLU, Jodhpur in 2011. He was always keen on journalism, and worked as an Associate Commissioner Editor at LexisNexis for close to two years from May 2011 to February 2013. He later quit it in March 2013 to pursue freelance journalism on a full time basis.

Gopal’s interest in Basketball led him to work on positive media presence for basketball. That is when he started up with Ekalavyas.com, India’s only website for Basketball news. Ekalavyas’ idea is to use their legal acumen to represent the interests of Indian players, to aid in assisting Indian children in getting athletic scholarships in foreign universities and to work on many other avenues where sports, law and journalism meet. They also plan to work on finding out apathetic government policies in sports and curing them through litigation.

In this interview we speak to him about:
- His interest in sports journalism
- Ekalavyas’ vision and goals
- His plans for the future
Tell us about your years in high school.

I did my high schooling from the Little Rock Indian School which is situated within the district of Udipi, the popular temple town in coastal Karnataka. The decision to study law was made after the 10th standard. Right upto 12th I was a hardcore science student (Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology) because even though my school was under the CBSE syllabus, we didn’t have the option of studying humanities after 10th. Anyway, my dad was of the firm view that at least till 12th standard science is a must.

Even though I liked science, I never seriously considered pursuing the standard options of Engineering or Medicine. I did give the state Common Entrance Test and All India Pre-medical tests, but by then my mind had already been made up that I would study law.

The decision to study law came about because I had enjoyed taking part in debates in my final few years of school. Also, like most others, I wanted to do meaningful work that can contribute to society as a whole. [Obviously, once you join law school, all these charitable fundas usually get thrown out the window.]

Plus, being equally interested in multiple areas of knowledge, I felt law was the perfect multi-disciplinary course that demands a fundamentally sound understanding of various streams of knowledge. But even while I was keen on studying law, at the back of my mind I knew that I would eventually club journalism and law. The reason I did law was simple curiosity in the sense that law is something that affects each one of us and which we should all have a basic understanding of. Also, I knew that an integrated BA.LLB incorporates many of the arts courses that a journalism course has. So legal journalism was the intent I had when I started applying to law schools. Also, I am a first generation lawyer.

Tell us about your time in NLUJ.

To be honest, this is something I’m still figuring out. I kind of have mixed feelings about it.

Positives:

NLUJ degree & internships

On the positive side, a degree in law was a basic prerequisite for a job as an editor at the legal publishing house LexisNexis Wadhwa. So I wouldn’t have got a job at a leading legal publishing house had I not studied law. Also, what really helped are the internships that one must do in between college semesters. Each internship made me realise what I liked or disliked and helped me eliminate options. From my second year onwards, after interning at litigation and desk type law firms, I realised that my initial hunch that I was meant to be more into journalism was correct and I began doing multiple internships at Bar&Bench, and in an effort to move more from reportage into substantive legal journalism, I interned at LexisNexis during my final year and was offered a job there. I really tried to make every internship count and preferred a quality over quantity approach. Many of my batchmates preferred a quantity over quality approach where they did as many as fifteen to sixteen internships some of which were only two to three weeks long. I found that such a hectic schedule did not work for me as I needed more of a work- non-work balance.

The residential college experience

Also, any residential college experience is something you will always cherish. It really exposes you and opens you up to different kinds of people each with their own quirks. You realise soon enough that all those little personality traits back in school which you considered really important don’t really matter. Just to cite an example: when I joined an NLU at the age of sixteen, I thought that people who smoke were bad people. By the time I graduated at the age of 21, I was vociferously arguing that marijuana should be legalised! So that’s quite a maturity leap, all thanks to the wholly unfamiliar college environment (i.e. moving to a different city, different people, cuisine and different academic courses).

The travel bug

Also, one unique advantage of studying in a historic city like Jodhpur, Rajasthan was that my friends and I traveled constantly every other weekend to places like Mt Abu, Pushkar, Osian or Jaipur. So my travel bug is all thanks to college. All this travelling is coming very handy now that I’m into sports tournament coverage at different locations. It has taught me the value of packing light and to go with the flow.

Dealing with failure

Also, NLU most importantly taught me to deal with failure. I mean this in the most literal sense. Many of us used to easily average above 80 to 85% in school and had never failed at anything before. But in college I had my first experience of flunking two subjects in my third semester. So that way, studying at an elite college in India, where most of your peers are of top quality, naturally helps you deal with repeated failure, grow and adapt.

Negatives

Not a multi-disciplinary environment

On the negative side I found that when I joined NLUJ, it didn’t possess the multi-disciplinary environment that I hoped an elite university in India would have, like most universities in the west do. What I mean by multi-disciplinary is having systems in place where students can also pursue parallel extra-curricular interests outside law. Of course, in due course I realised that when I joined NLUJ, it was still only five years old, unlike western universities that have hundreds of years of heritage behind them. I painfully appreciated that for every institution, it takes time to create diverse extra-curricular environments, which in any case have to be largely student run initiatives. So once I got over all the self-pity and whining and understood that the buck stops with us students, then I took the initiative to bring about a cultural change in the field I was most attached to i.e. sports.

Not fully equipped to handle first generation learners

I felt that the current system of legal education presupposes previous legal knowledge. It isn’t fully equipped to handle first generation law students, who approach law not as “lawyers” but mostly as science students who need things to be black and white. For people like us 2+2=4, but in law school, a lawyer is told beforehand that 2+2 can equal four, five, or six, depending on which client you are representing! In other words, there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to law and that really threw me off initially.

Coming from a non-lawyer, science background family, and especially being from a small town, I naively went into law school fully dependent on the faculty. But I immediately realised that college professors aren’t the same as school teachers. I was very dissatisfied with the classroom atmosphere and the way majority of the faculty handled student queries during their lectures. I firmly believe that learning can only happen in an environment where teachers and students alike are invested in getting to the root of the issue at hand. Unfortunately, I found that many of the questions that were put forward by me or some of my friends in the initial few months were either laughed at, ignored or considered “unrelated to the syllabus”.

With faculty not really helping, the next option obviously is to turn to books, but I found that even existing Indian legal literature is meant more for practitioners than first or second year law students. So by the end of second year, some of us stopped contributing to classrooms debates altogether and just did the minimum required to get a degree.

Questionable academic policies (mandatory minimum attendance, marks for attendance and too many project submissions)

Apart from the classroom atmosphere, certain academic policies absolutely irritated me, and still do:
- the minimum attendance requirement;
- marks for attendance;
- the mandatory need to submit as many as six projects every semester, for a total of 60 projects over five years!
I think attendance requirements need to be done away with completely. I’m fully aware that the Bar Council of India Rules mandate a minimum 60% attendance. But if you look at many other elite universities, there is no such requirement to attend classes. If you do away with this rule barely 10% of the students will turn up to class on a regular basis. I think that is a real indicator of the quality of the faculty in some of our law schools. Some of my friends barely scraped past minimum attendance requirements but are happily working in leading law firms. So that obviously shows that students don’t really consider their classroom education to be of any great value. A very close friend of mine even carried a pillow to class and happily snored away and he is now working in a tier I law firm! Secondly, the marks for attendance rule is a clear case of trying to coerce a student into attending class. If the faculty really were qualified then such underhand tactics don’t ever need to be used. Simply giving tests and assignments without any attendance requirements should be more than enough.

Another practice that I abhorred was how padding was encouraged for all projects, tests and assignments. It was generally accepted that the longer your answers/projects were, the more marks you would get. So what usually happened was that tons of paper were wasted just rewriting the same points over and over again, and written exams became a race on who can fill up more supplementary sheets. Specifically when it came to projects, instead of six lengthy projects every semester (which leads to rampant plagiarism), it makes better sense to just have two projects each semester (one law and one non-law in the first three years), and also have page length and footnoting limits (not more than six pages and not more than two footnotes per page). This will help in cutting down copying, facilitate original research, make writing concise and improve the overall quality of Indian legal research papers.

Teaches the “what” but not the “why”

I guess my fundamental issue with my college education is that it did a great job with the “what” but did nothing to explain the more important “why”. They tried to teach too many things shoddily rather than a few things well. All of this is a result of learning to be too compartmentalised and the administration trying to pack a six year programme into a five year ‘integrated’ course. While on paper, the 60 odd courses that are taught across five years are great as they all directly or indirectly relate to the field of law, our faculty and legal literature needs to become more mature in becoming cross-disciplinary within each course.

For example, in many tests or classroom lectures the teacher would go through the entire semester starting from section 1 of Indian Penal Code, narrate the section in class, follow it up with a bunch of case laws under that point and then repeat the same exercise for two and a half months with the remaining sections/other related legislation. Ideally in a course on Indian Penal Code, a part of the time needs to be spent on understanding criminal psychology/deviant behaviour, forensic tools (on how evidence is gathered) and then the select oft cited sections and caselaw should be incorporated. This will make for much more engaged learning.

Another example is the course on Company Law, where the first few weeks ideally should be spent on understanding how entrepreneurial or disruptive business ideas develop in the first place. Only with such an understanding (where law students put themselves into the shoes of businessmen) will lawyers be able to advise their corporate clients in a simple, effective and cost saving manner.

I think all the above issues I have with my legal education stem from a major difference in orientation towards how I viewed law and how it was viewed by some of my peers and most of my faculty. For those who taught me law, they did so as if law is a standalone subject. For me law is usually an ancillary ‘effect’ and never a root ‘cause’; it is ‘procedure’ to the ‘substance’ that is life. Simply put, law is usually always the ‘sidekick’ and never the lead hero (except maybe when it comes to fundamental rights issues).

Tell us about your relationship with basketball.

I wasn’t remotely great. In fact, if guys from my team in college read this they will laugh their ass off! But considering that lawyers aren’t really known for their ball handling skills, it was very easy to get onto the university team. So it was definitely a case of being a big fish in a very small pond.

In fact in my second year, I remember how most other seniors backed out from the team before the NLS sports fest and I happily appointed myself as the captain and took a bunch of guys, many of whom were new to the game, simply because I wanted to play!

But yes, more than my limited playing abilities, I definitely pride myself on being able to convince many of my batchmates to drop everything else and travel days on end to tournaments across India to places like Bangalore, Kolkata and Lucknow. I felt that if I could convince my fellow lawyers with my arguments to play basketball than it is an incredible achievement! Some of the guys on the team still curse me even today for either being too hard or else too talkative.

But despite all our problems (low attendance, cash crunch and not enough practise), we did manage to win a few tournaments and shared great camaraderie. My favourite memory will be captaining our NLU team to its first ever basketball tournament win at the RMNLU, Lucknow sports fest in 2010.

In one particular two to three month phase, I got so much into creating a “basketball culture” at my university, that I used to spend an unhealthy amount of time on the basketball court- as many as ten hours: three hours in the morning coaching the girls team, then seven hours in the evening and night with the boys team and watching countless YouTube training videos! I think I’ve learnt more from Kobe Bryant than I have from Hofeld!

Tell us about Ekalavyas’ unique blend of journalism, law and basketball.

You are correct, Ekalavyas stands at the intersection of diverse streams of knowledge- not just journalism, law and sports (i.e. basketball), but in fact even management (considering that we provide media management and PR services to tournament organisors).

The broad notion of Ekalavyas came about because as a student of law, basketball and journalism (and to a much lesser extent music), I found that there is a huge gap between what students really need to know to succeed in a professional environment and what they are currently being taught in the classrooms, or during training sessions. This leads to a lot of confusion and self-doubt, not to mention a tremendous loss of time as students have to unlearn the wrong lessons and relearn the right techniques.

So with this in mind, my co-founder Aravind came up with the Ekalavyas motto “Know Your Game” which is at the core of our attempt to ensure that learning should happen at the right time, in the right way, to the right people and from the right instructors. In the larger sense, just like the mythological Ekalavya figure, we firmly believe that those individuals who learn for the pure joy of learning become successful icons in their chosen field, for others to follow in their footsteps. We want to create a society full of such Ekalavyas, where free thinking individuals rationally choose to live amongst one another for individual and community gain.

How did you find your co-founder?

It wasn’t really difficult to find my co-founder considering that he stayed in the room diagonally opposite mine in the same hostel! Ekalavyas was co-founded by my college batchmate Aravind Mokkapati. Both of us immediately became friends because of our shared craze for sports. While I was in-charge of the basketball team, he was part of the university football team. We used to talk for countless hours almost every night to discuss strategies on team building for our respective sports. We would then go and apply these strategies to our respective teams with varying degrees of success. In doing so, we naturally began thinking about the larger picture of sports in India and realised that we would like to apply our tiny NLUJ sports management model to a larger pan-India scale if given the opportunity.

Regarding long term partnership, in our case, we make it very clear that all partners need to be in this for a long haul. Most importantly, all partners need to truly believe in our credo to free up information from the clutches of select elite institutions or organisations for the equal benefit of all. We insist that all Ekalavyas partners should have parallel jobs that take care of their basic financial needs, so that when we do Ekalavyas related work, we do so not with the stress of having to make money, but because we enjoy it. Of course profitability is important, but simply as an indicator of efficiency and because it allows us to reinvest that back into our venture.

What would you say keeps the majority from starting up?

I actually think the contrary is true. More lawyers today are willing to take calculated risks much sooner in their career. That being said, of course there will always be a sizeable majority from each law school who will choose to join another law firm or company. There is nothing wrong with taking up a job elsewhere. In fact in many of these cases, law students do so to pay off their students loans and to save up enough to quit later on. Also, work experience under other individuals or institutions immediately after college is crucial as it helps you understand a professional work environment. Such experience is also valued when applying for higher studies.

Are you hiring associates?

Just to be clear, Ekalavyas is not a law firm, we are primarily a sports media/management enterprise, so we don’t hire “associates” as is understood in law firm culture. But considering that we have grown from three people last year to thirteen as of today, we are definitely constantly on the lookout for more associates.

We are very picky when it comes to getting more people on board. Ekalavyas is quite a unique business model, because we don’t have any full time “employees” as such, but are wholly reliant on freelance reporters, photographers and artists. But once we activate our player representation arm, then we will definitely be keen on getting on board law students or young lawyers who are interested in a career in sports law. For now, among lawyers/law students, we are on the lookout for people who can contribute articles on sports law. Those interested can shoot us a mail on info@ekalavyas.com.

Where do you want to see Ekalavyas five years from now?

Five years from now, we want Ekalavyas to be the ultimate destination for all Indian basketball related news. We want to percolate our coverage into all school, college and senior basketball events. Simply put we want to be in a position to document each and every time a basketball is bounced anywhere in the country.

If things go as per plan, we definitely hope to diversify by duplicating our basketball model to other alternate sports in India starting from football; and eventually to other creative professions (like music and arts). We feel that the problems faced by creative persons are common across all fields whether it be sports, music or arts. With our legal background, we would like to be the external support system for talented individuals to freely follow whatever their line of passion is.

How did you approach your clients in the beginning?

As of today, all our clients are sports tournament organisors. Our major coup is that we are the official media partner for many of the major national and international events organised by the Basketball Federation of India. We either directly place cold calls to potential clients, or else clients themselves reach out to us via our website (http://ekalavyas.com/) or through our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/EkalavyaPosts).

Does Ekalavyas have scope of internships as well?

As of now, we are fully relying on freelance contributors. So we definitely welcome those who wish to try their hand at sports writing, action photography, live text commentary, player interviews, sports based comic strips, or else contributing articles on sports law. Interested persons can send in samples to info@ekalavyas.com.

You also worked as an Associate Commissioning Editor at LexisNexis, Gurgaon for close to two years. Tell us about your experience.

Experience in legal publishing worked out great especially for someone like me. The decision to join LexisNexis came about by pure chance. In my penultimate semester, during the course on jurisprudence, I first tried reading Salmon and Pound. Obviously, I found that this was very dry reading. A close friend of mine happened to have a book called Lectures on Jurisprudence by NK Jayakumar, where concepts were explained simply and poignantly from an Indian context. In the typical behaviour of most book lovers, I quickly went to the inside front flap for the publication year and details of the publisher. I found out that the LexisNexis office was in Gurgaon and I applied for an internship that very winter semester break. My internship went great and I was offered the job on their commissioning team.

A commissioning editor’s job is to study and analyse all the new and revised book projects and then make recommendations to the publishing board comprising the heads of other departments like sales, marketing & editorial. During these meetings, we give the other departments the heads up on the key features of the book that concerns them. For the editorial team, we point out how the content is structured and the various elements of the book (chapter break up, common editorial & grammatical idiosyncrasies to watch out for, possible copyright red flags and content additions needed). For the sales & marketing team we intimate them on the readership segments they need to target, as well as how the book should be packaged (i.e. whether hardback or paperback) and priced. Once the board gives its approval then we co-ordinate with the authors (either by personal visits, email or phone calls) to ensure that they send in their revised scripts on time.

At LexisNexis, I got the chance to work on a whole gamut of legal literature that was in their publication cycle from mid 2011 to early 2013: from the latest edition of DD Basu’s multi-volume Constitutional hardback tome to the popular Nani Palkhivala’s Courtroom Genius paperback, or even Q&A based textbooks to help students crack the CLAT or judiciary entrance exams. My time at LexisNexis really helped me understand the different contours and branches of law, not to mention a fairly in-depth awareness of the publication industry and the workings of a typical nine to five company.

One major plus point was that I was incredibly fortunate to get to interact with many of India’s most distinguished judges, senior advocates and academic scholars. In particular I will always cherish my meetings with Justices AP Shah and Muralidhar (who were on the Delhi HC two judge bench that passed the landmark decriminalising homosexuality verdict), Senior Advocates TR Andhyarujina (of Keshavananda Bharti fame) and Mr. Arvind Datar, and retired judge CK Thakker (the famous Takwani behind the Civil Procedure books we all went through during law school).

Many students after completing law are in the pursuit of entrepreneurship. What is your advice to them?

It might be premature for us to advise others as we have only just started out. However, that being said, I can only advise that make sure you have a concrete and long term viable plan (at least on paper) before taking the plunge. Do it for the right reasons. Don’t do it to “prove a point to someone” or because it “sounds cool”. Also, I’d advise them to do a lot of varied internships and first try and fit into the existing system. If that “fit” is not possible then go ahead and start something on your own. Entrepreneurship, at least for me and my colleagues, was the last option and not the first.

You have been shuttling between India and Nepal to document all important basketball tournaments. Are there any episodes you would like to share?

Well, there are a couple of episodes which are standout memories. Some pleasant and others not so much. One huge incidental benefit is that I get to travel on the job.

At my first tournament in Mumbai in mid 2013, I remember I was doing a post game interview, when suddenly a 6ft 5 inch international player stormed up to me as he was unhappy with the way I had quoted him the previous day. I definitely felt that this dude could kill me for sure. Thankfully, things settled down pretty quickly.

The second, and perhaps best memory I have is from earlier this year at an international tournament in Nepal. Considering the financial crunch that most new enterprises have, I didn’t have the funds to fly into Kathmandu. So I decided to travel to Nepal from Bengaluru by the traditional route, which is a complicated three day journey by rail, road, bus and car. While crossing the border from Gorakhpur into Nepal, unfortunately that was the same day that Gorakhpur went into the national polls. So the whole border was blocked for close to fifteen hours and I was stuck in the 40° heat and dust from 6am to 9pm! But once I got to Kathmandu and covered the tournament, the entire Indian men’s team and their Coaches personally came up, shook my hands and thanked me for documenting the event. That is a memory I will take to my grave. It felt like all that back breaking travel was totally worth it in the end.

What is your message for your readers who want to start up on their own?

Anybody wishing to start on their own will face opposition. But however difficult this may sound, it is important to try not to worry about what the other person is doing. Each one of us has a distinct set of interests and we should stick with it rather than falling prey to the perception of what should or shouldn’t be done. So if you wish to start up on your own don’t expect others around you to truly understand and support you. There will come a point when the only person who sees sense in your idea is yourself. So you need to have the courage to back yourself up when no one else around you does. Luckily, in my case, my immediate family and close friends have been insanely supportive.

Photo credits: Cathy Scholl
September 17, 2014
Shreya Sood, Law Graduate, RGNUL, on cracking the SSB and joining the Armed Forces
Shreya Sood graduated from RGNUL, Patiala. She has cracked the Services Selection Board exam and is all set to join the Indian Army.

In this interview we speak to her about:
- Her time at RGNUL
- Her preparation procedure
- Plans for the future
What motivated you to join the army?

To answer your query, I must say that I have always been a big fan of the Indian Armed Forces from a very young age. I always admired what they did. The tales of raw courage and valour, courtesy the media, on war anniversaries or books, struck a chord within me from an early age itself. The Olive Green became a dream. A long time back, I used to say to myself that wouldn’t it be great if I could be an Army officer? Then I realized that there was no reason that I couldn’t be one! And moving ahead from admiration, I decided that I would opt for the Army as a career when it was time for me to make a choice. A big chunk of my life is related to this. I was an athlete throughout school, but got distant from it while doing law though I did stick to a bit of volleyball. I love travelling, writing, and aviation. My ultimate goal in life is to be of some use to my country, because I am one of the privileged who had access to the best education and resources possible. I am not guided by jingoism, but simply by a sense of responsibility towards India.

What was your law-school life and routine like?

Doing law had more to do with practicality than a direct interest in spite of having a grandfather who was a judge, an uncle who is a lawyer and a brother who is the Founder/CEO of the Be More America movement. I wanted to have a professional degree as back-up in case my plan of joining the forces didn’t work out. However, from my very first week in law school, I got hooked to law. I enjoyed every semester thoroughly. Apart from academics, I devoted my time to writing papers, extra reading, volunteering for college events and even a couple of moots. I was always amongst the top ten of my batch. Its necessary for me to dispel the flawed logic of only those joining the army who are weak academically/unaccomplished. All in all, it was an enriching and wholesome experience. I am glad I am a lawyer!

Please tell us about your interview?

The SSB interview was the trickiest and the most difficult interview I have ever faced, simply because it is designed to test your reactions under pressure, to poke you, provoke you and delve deeply into your psyche. The interview was on my birthday, and I don’t think I have ever had a scarier birthday! And yet, it was also fun. I mean, how often do you get to talk about yourself endlessly? The interviewing officer asks fifteen to twenty questions in one go, and once he is done, you start answering, depending upon the questions you manage to remember. This cycle is repeated three to four times. My interview lasted for around 40 minutes, and I was dazed by the end of it. (Going into more detail here doesn’t make sense because then it’s going to be a never-ending post.)

I cleared CDSE four times. The first three times, I appeared for the exam simply for the heck of it, knowing very well I wasn’t eligible for SSB. Around this time, I discovered my ineligibility for the flying branch of the Indian Air Force due to crossing the age limit by a mere one day, and this caused an immediate dip in my enthusiasm as I had always wanted to be a pilot. I applied for LL.M to a number of foreign universities, and got accepted at almost all of them- Berkeley, UCL, SOAS, Essex, etc.

I thought I was headed to Europe by September for sure! Then the results of my fourth CDSE exam came out, and I received the letter informing me of my SSB in Allahabad in May. I couldn’t attend it due to final exams in college, and was unsure about the absentee batch in June as I was sure I wouldn’t have my law degree by then. Call it divine intervention or whatever you may, but somehow, exactly a week before the SSB was scheduled to begin, I received my mark sheet, degree and all other important documents from college!

This put me in a frenzy, because a week was simply too less to prepare for something as challenging as the Service Selection Board! I relied solely on the advice of two of my closest friends, who themselves had cleared their respective SSBs with flying colours (one of them will be an officer by this time next year). Coaching was out of question primarily due to lack of time, but I did download some sample psychological tests and tried working on those. I was a nervous wreck and was sure I would be coming home after the Screening test on Day 1 itself. I even made the train reservations accordingly! Knowing that other candidates must have been preparing for months automatically placed more pressure upon me, which in hindsight was completely unnecessary. We have control over our preparation, and should focus entirely on that.

What efforts to you make to stay physically fit and train for SSB medical test?

Physical fitness is as important as mental toughness is one’s physical fitness. In my case, I was exposed to sports at a very young age so running, swimming and cycling were a part of life. Upon moving to Delhi, I started training four times a week in the Israeli martial art of Krav Maga, which was a fantastic workout in every way. Sadly, I couldn’t continue with any of this in law school due to the pressure of its own commitments. I did manage to play a little, and I also completed a gruelling mountaineering course which made me a certified mountaineer. Even if you are not headed into a career where physical fitness is important, you must develop it for your own sake. The old cliché of a healthy mind in a healthy body is actually true, especially in the highly competitive and stressful times of today.

Regarding the fitness for SSB, I made no special effort as I wasn’t even sure about going, but now that I was free from college, I returned to my running and krav and that helped me. Here, I must add that reporting for SSB at the given time might have been doubtful initially, but once I made up my mind, there was no turning back. I approached it more seriously and strategically than I have ever handled anything else, and that alone is the reason why I not only cleared it but got AIR 3 in the final merit list. Good things in life do not come easy, and every major goal needs commitment, dedication and preparation. Coaching or not is only a tiny part of any prep.

How difficult is it for a woman to get into the Armed Forces?

Well, in a society like ours, gender-related realizations come at a dizzying pace. For women to get selected for the army is not much different than it is for men, except that the seats are lesser. The real test lies in proving your mettle to those who believe that the army must stay a man’s bastion, simply because women are not ‘good enough’. And I am prepared to prove that point, beyond any reasonable doubt. I would like to be judged on how I handle the responsibilities entrusted to me, rather than my gender. And yes, people tend to react a little differently once they get to know I am going to be an army officer. It is still not a common career-choice for women to make, I guess. I have been met with respect, admiration, glee, shock and horror. I have heard everything from ‘wow!’ to ‘you are ruining your life’. I met a very senior judicial official of Indian Judiciary on the train back from Allahabad, and he was appalled at my career choice. The whole gamut of reactions the sentence ‘I am joining the Indian Army’ evokes is very amusing!

Tell us about your travelling experiences.

Travelling is in my blood. I used to take a number of road trips with my parents, and as I got older, I started travelling solo or with oddly assembled travel companions. I have traveled the length and breadth of India, along with a few foreign trips. Some of the most memorable experiences include riding from Khardung La to Leh on a bike; getting chased by the police for setting up a tent on what turned out to be forest land in Uttarakhand; and a marriage-proposal from a drunken tourist in Bhutan!

Given a chance to turn back the clock would you have done anything differently from what you’ve done in life?

By nature, I have been headstrong and stubborn. I have often gone and done exactly what I wanted to. Consequently, I have learnt a lot of tough life lessons, just as I don’t have too many regrets at this stage. Therefore, I really wouldn’t want to turn the clock back. But yes, I wish I had taken TOPA a little more seriously.

What’s the next goal on your list?

My one and only goal as of now is to do justice to my military training that starts next month in OTA, Chennai. I am not thinking of anything beyond that, because how I handle my training will reveal a lot to me about myself, based upon which I shall look ahead.

Given the license to be preachy, what would you like to tell our readers?

Ahaan! Given the licence to be preachy, I want to give a holler to all the ladies out there who have dreams and ambition, but are in doubt. Make your own path. From being a partner in top-notch law firm to a volunteer with an animal shelter, from being a Supreme Court judge to a primary teacher, from being an Army Officer to a nun- IT’S YOUR CALL! You alone must choose your future, and not allow society, peers, friends or foes to dictate the course of your destiny. This isn’t about subscribing to feminism or some other sociological phenomenon. It is about standing up for your own self, and never allowing someone to tell you that you are not good enough for this or that. Only you can truly understand your talent, dedication and drive, so make sure you put all of it towards achieving what you want to achieve, and not pandering to what is expected of you.
September 15, 2014
Yuvraj Narvankar, Advocate, Bombay High Court,on cyber law, cyber forensics, and his experience
Yuvraj Narvankar graduated from ILS, Pune in 2010. He has already set up a reputed practice at the Bombay High Court. His expertise in Cyber Law and Cyber Forensics has led the Mumbai Police to consult him in various matters from time to time.

In this interview we speak to him about:
- The role of a mentor in the first few years of graduation,
- Importance of grades
- Working on important cases
Tell us about how you decided to study law.

My father is an advocate practising in District Court. It was possibly those interesting discussions in my home about court life and clients which made me choose this profession.

I was always fascinated by people who have the gift of the gab and I always thought of this profession as noble and very influential. I always liked to speak and convince people on some topic and my participation and accolades in several elocution and debating competitions were out of my desire to talk to people than any urge to win.

The fascinating thing which I liked most about the law was its nature. I always felt that law is not alien to our life but every part of it is a law. Law is nothing but a codified common sense. If you think that something should be this way and if your logic is correct, you would inevitably find law or case-law to that effect. So the power of thinking on your own legs is something which makes this faculty most interesting field to study and explore.

Have you even been motivated by the desire to revolutionize the legal regime in the country?

I was very active in the field of Legal Aid and was given an award for my contribution in Legal Aid. When I interacted with people from rural areas, I realized the gross ignorance of laws and exploitation of this very ignorance by a few prominent people. And when I entered the profession, fortunately, I was able to espouse several social causes and they also turned out to be milestones in my career.

What are the tips and strategies you would like to share with our readers who are currently law students?

(Yuvraj has been among the top rankers in LL.B from Pune University and LL.M from University of Mumbai.)

For me every subject of law was interesting. In my college days, I was fascinated by books by Lord Denning and writings of other authors like Bryan Garner, Blackstone. It’s interesting to study the genesis of concepts which have shaped legal regimes over centuries. I always wondered about the sophistication of faculty of law in the countries like UK and USA. Just for example for us drafting is all about the precedents and forms but that that is a craft in itself and has to be treated like one. Even oral submission and persuasion are amazing arts and can’t be left to be learnt at an advanced stage of your career. In fact law college is such a platform where you can test all your skills without fear of any professional blunder or injuring your clients’ interests. It’s like the more you sweat in the practice, less you will bleed in the war. I think the best strategy or tip to study law is to study it out of interest and not because it’s in your syllabus. For example, if you are reading a section, put yourself in the role of the client who would be in the trouble which the section seeks to redress and then read the Section again. The section in statute/Article is like key and the problem/case is like a lock. The problem with our educational system is that we are taught to use the key without lock and when you have to actually open the lock (A case in your professional life) you would have forgotten about the key.

So the best way out is to apply every section practically or look for a situation in your life where you can apply any proposition of law you have learnt. This way you would imbibe law in your thinking and law would be no more in black and white but would be a an amazing colourful spectrum and a panacea for all your problems.

And I firmly believe that any rank and Gold Medal is a mere by-product of your studies. It may follow or it may not but the actual capital you gain is your habit of hard working, knowledge and thinking process. The knowledge of law does not mean knowing a law by heart but to know how to interpret the law.

Do you think top notch grades have given you an advantage over others in your arena of litigation?

Possibly. As Steve Jobs says, it’s all about connecting the dots. Today standing in a court of law while arguing a matter, no one bothers about my rank or medal. But to get here I had to find some mentor, and the ranks helped me to get good mentor and seniors. So it won’t be wrong to say that the ranks did help me to get along with the right persons and at the right time which paved my way to a career in litigation. Because, though unfortunate, rank or marks is the symbol of your capability which can testify about your capacity to some stranger. And once you get a good launch pad, your performance will speak for itself and you have to put your medals and certificates in the cold storage. Gold medal, certificate, or law degree is like a driving license which allows you to drive the Car. Once you get behind the wheel, its your performance that matters and gets you to the destination and not your License. Because when you drive a car, what helps you is the knowledge you gained for obtaining the license and not the license.

How difficult would you say the first few years after graduation was for you?

The first few years after graduation are really tough and I won’t describe them as we all know about them. Particularly the starters in litigation know this feeling. In fact, since I always aspired to work in Litigation, I didn’t go for campus placement as I was looking for some hands-on experience in litigation. After my graduation I could make it in one Litigation Firm so I could sustain in Mumbai. This was the time when I did all kinds of matters and appeared extensively in all forums. In fact, all the senior members of the Bar are your mentors and teach you something. Even some Judges teach you law very well. The Court Room is the best class room a law student can get but unfortunately he gets it after he graduates.

After my stint in the law firm, I took a bold decision of resigning and joined the chambers of Mr. Rafique Dada, former Addnl. Solicitor General of India. It’s only after you move out of your comfort zone and take a plunge into uncertainty that you can achieve something. You must have the guts to move out when you know the ‘cheese’ is turning ‘stale’ though the journey to the unknown is scary.

It’s because you have to manage without any fixed source of income and what is more deadly is to be without any work. I could learn a great deal of court craft with my senior who is one of the living legends of Bombay Bar.

My bolder decision came when I decided to even leave his chamber and start on my own without having any place to operate and firm client base. But I always had strong sense of urgency and strong urge to see this world of Litigation without any shelter of firm or senior over my head. Soon I found myself struggling with all odds.

But I always kept moving ahead somehow and it would not be fair to boast that all my efforts were directed to achieve some goal or aim. Frankly speaking those were only efforts and one must keep walking and one day he would be able to connect the dots. So it would be unfair to other possible modes of walking if I illustrate mine. Only one thing is at the core and that is faith in yourself and in your capability.

Can you tell us about the law diploma you pursued from NUJS offered by iPleaders?

Yes. I have taken up several courses like Cyber Law, Housing Law, etc and the latest one being business law course from NUJS. Firstly, any course keeps your learning faculty agile which may otherwise die because soon we get the feeling of contentment. What I liked about the course of business law from NUJS is the curriculum and practical approach of the faculty. I found all the faculty very knowledgeable and very pro active. In fact iPleaders should go ahead and try to make this course part of curriculum in colleges which would benefit students who aspire to become a litigator or a law firm lawyer.

How difficult would you say it is for a fresh law graduate to get inducted into a litigation firm?

Yes. It is a challenge for someone like me who doesn’t opt for campus placement because PPOs can make things a lot easier. If you start early and prove your mettle, the law firms would certainly welcome you. Your rank and merit also goes a long way in securing a good position in a law firm. If your basics are good, nothing can stop you.

The one who wants to make it in litigation, must make it a point to work in a trial court, howsoever uncomfortable it seems at the outset. Because, that is the first step of ladder and it gives you an edge over others when you argue in High Court and Supreme Court.

How helpful has been mooting in litigation?

Tremendously helpful. Moot Court is like training on simulator. You learn without any casualty. I did several national and state level moots and I really learnt a lot from them. Only make it a point to learn from every moot. No academic/moot performance should be the same as the previous one. It’s a race with yourself and not with anyone else. And you have to come out of this ‘illusion of competition’. I think one must focus on making oneself better every day and small daily professional improvements will pile up and take one to the Zenith.

How did your first hearing as an independent practitioner go?

First thing which I would like to share is about the cases a junior gets to handle. One must remember that you can’t get open and shut cases in the beginning and rather you would get hopeless cases to argue and the briefs which others have said no to. But make it a point to sweat on the small stuff and get into details and try to make something out of those cases. It may seem very hard at first,but once you are master of these ‘messy causes’, you would enjoy working on good briefs.

For an arguing lawyer every case is close to his heart but to mention a few:

To begin, within a month of joining the Bar, I had an opportunity to argue a very interesting case on a preliminary issue of Jurisdiction (S.9A of CPC) against one giant at the Bar. It was a very interesting case to argue as there was one Apex Court Judgment against us and issue was narrow and no more res integra. But after hearing me for a whole day, the court dismissed the opponents’ application for framing preliminary issue. To my interest, this was the case which reaffirmed my faith that law is all about your own thinking and you can turn the case if you think a little outside the box and genuinely convey your emotions to the judge without hurting the ego of the senior advocate for the opponent.

In fact this case in the first week itself, gave tremendous boost to my confidence and went a long way in shaping my career.

Later, I appeared in the much spoken about Air India employees case on behalf of the Cabin Crew members and it was a great learning experience.

When I was working with my senior, I had an occasion to work on BCCI/IPL matter, Coal scam matter and Goa mining case in Supreme Court.

Then, I had an occasion to conduct some good criminal trials and conducted cross examinations of the witnesses leading to acquittals of my clients. The well conducted cross examination is sheer joy and great learning experience and gives insight into human mind and interplay of emotions.

Then, I had an interesting case of bogus multiple Development Rights Certificates (TDRs) obtained on the same piece of land and the same was done very cleverly by the concerned revenue officers in connivance with developers. As most of the TDR/DRCs were sold in the open market and already purchased and consumed by the builders, several Senior Counsels were roped in to defend the case. I had to study a truckload of documents to exactly know, where the things went wrong and put in equal amount of efforts to convince the High Court about it, as the High Court is never willing to go into factual details in Writ Jurisdiction.

Finally, I succeeded and irrespective of huge financial stakes, the High Court set aside all the TDRs/DRCs. This case received very wide media coverage and acted as deterrent to Land Mafias.

The next interesting matter I argued was of ‘Collection of Toll’ issue in Western Maharashtra. In fact, this issue was very sensitive due to widespread opposition and local violence. As the project was on the verge of completion and the builder had already invested thousands of crores of rupees there was tremendous opposition in the Court of law and the courts were very reluctant to give any interim relief as this was a financial matter. Due to vital constitutional issues, even Advocate General of Maharashtra was issued notice and he appeared and argued extensively. I had to give all my devotion to this case to understand several technical and financial intricacies of PPP. I argued the matter for three consecutive days and the counsels for respondents also took equal time to respond.

Finally the Judgment was in my favour and first time the unconditional stay was given to the collection of Toll.

I also represented the students of engineering where we challenged the vires of the one arbitrary provision of the regulations framed under the parent legislation and finally succeeded to the big relief for the students.

Recently, I appeared in the illegal hoarding matters wherein substantive directions were issued by the High Court, on the lines of Vishakha Judgment, for immediate removal of the illegal hoardings and political banners in Maharashtra and Goa.

One interesting criminal case I argued was on the illegal detention of the person where after taking the court through the historical meaning of the term custody and concepts related thereto, I could drive home my point and succeed.

Recently four of my judgements were reported in Arbitration Law, Port Trust laws and Civil procedure law wherein some trend setting judgments were passed by the High Court.

What is your workday like?

When you are working in a firm the chances are great that work may fall in predictable pattern. But if you pursue an independent practice, every moment is new and challenging. My day begins at around 8 a.m. and my office remains open till 11/11.30 p.m. Unlike a firm, you have to set your own deadlines and it’s entirely upto you to have your work-life balance. Fortunately my staff is competent and the same is very necessary to operate an independent law office.

The day in court is always full of challenges and you never know what may come from the bench and also from the Counsel appearing against you. Full preparation and mastery over facts is the best assistant you can ever have in the Court; rest of the things fall in place. This is the world of ‘No-Excuses’.

What prompted you to leave a firm and start independent practice?

I would say it was my own gut feeling which prompted me to leave a firm and the same turned out to be the big decision for me. Today when anyone comes to me to join my office, my advice is to learn the basics of drafting and pleading from a litigation firm because unfortunately, though seniors in Bar are very competent, tremendous workload makes it impossible for them to take some time out and teach the junior. Whereas in the Firm you are made to work and you realize the importance of Discipline. Sometimes to maintain a proper file may matter more than arguing the matter.

But working with an independent practitioner has its own advantages and if you can keep your eyes open, that is the most fertile ground to learn and excel. Start appearing as early as possible.

And finally you can’t swim by watching others swimming so get into the water, although it may seem rough.

How is your experience presenting lectures on subjects like Cyber Law and Cyber Forensics?

(The Mumbai Police Dept. consults Yuvraj on Cyber Law issues from time to time.)

Yes. I have delivered several lectures across Maharashtra in Bar Associations, Rotary Clubs etc. My subjects vary from Cyber Laws, Succession among Muslim laws, Euthanasia etc. I have completed my advanced course in Cyber laws and Forensics with 1st rank. I have represented the police department in several matters involving cyber law issues and forensic investigation. In one of the recent cases, the accused was refusing to cooperate and refused to give access to his laptops and approached High Court espousing his right of privacy. We contested the case on merits and we succeeded. Maybe it’s the faith you gain in course of time which makes people come to you and entrust their cases.

Many notable jurists have stated that it is important to know the judge more than the case. How much truth do you find in this?

So true, but not more than your case. You have to read the Judge and give what he wants and not what you want to give. Don’t suppress anything and be absolutely fair to the Judge.

I would go a step further. You have to know every person you are dealing with and should be able to express yourself accordingly. At one moment you may be talking to some Law Firms’ partner you are briefed by and the next moment you may find yourself advising a client from distant rural area. You must be able to connect with and adapt yourself to the person you are dealing with.

How difficult would you say it is to build a reputed practice?

It depends on what kind of matters you have argued and how much you are known within and outside your circle. Fortunately, I had an occasion to argue some good matters which went a long way and also got me firm clientele. Hard work is something I would not comment on as it is something which is not some special quality for a lawyer but has to be a part of his nature.

What would be your parting message to law students who want to litigate just after graduation?

Keep your eyes open and you will see abundant opportunities floating around you. Work hard and read beyond the books as a lawyer cannot sit in an ivory tower and operate. Litigation is fun and a way of life. Focus on your strengths and work on your weaknesses and excel. You must not restrict yourself and build walls around you. Only one word of caution, in the early days of success, many unscrupulous people (Which are many in this profession) may try to use your knowledge or expertise to get something which is unfair or unethical etc. So a junior lawyer must have the guts to say no to such briefs and be always loyal to the court and dignity of this noble profession. Delayed success is always better than the tainted one.

Best of luck !
September 14, 2014
Manoj Bhati, Civil Judge/Judicial Magistrate, MP Judicial Services, on cracking the exam and his experience
Manoj Bhati graduated from the National Law Institute University in 2011. In the same year he cleared the Madhya Pradesh Judicial Service Examination. He has been serving on the MP Judiciary for the last two years.

In this interview we speak to him about:
- His experience as a law student at the National Law Institute University.
- Preparing for Judiciary during college years, without coaching
- Tips on clearing competitive examinations in the country.
How would you introduce yourself to our readers?

First of all I would like to thank SuperLawyer for giving me this opportunity to have some words with you. For our readers, I am a BA. LLB (Hons.) from NLIU Bhopal. In the same year I got selected in the M. P. Judicial Services as Civil Judge/ Judicial Magistrate. I have been serving on the Indian Judiciary for the last two years.

What motivated you to choose law as a career?

I agree. Back when I joined BA. LLB, pursuing law was considered by the ones who had no other option (I have confirmed it from many seniors of mine), many of my neighbours had no idea how graceful and career oriented the course could be. They only had a thought that like others I too would go and sit in court to become an advocate but now things are different. As we see young chaps are leaving IITs, etc. and joining law programs through CLAT and other exams. As I told earlier I decided to study law to get legal knowledge that would have helped me in my IAS exam.

Prior to entering law school did you ever wish to be a Judge?

I never really thought of being a Judge. Initially at NLIU I was a person who wanted to join the corporate sector just not to be an unemployed person whose ultimate destination was civil services. A teacher I knew of, used to teach at Bhopal University, and she became a judge back in 2008. Her selection motivated me and her guidance helped me in preparing for the exam.

When did you start preparing for the exams?

I started preparing formally at the beginning of 4th year. But I had already started to focus from the 3rd year on subjects which were asked in judicial service exams. My advice to the aspirants is to start preparing by the end of your 3rd year of a five year course and focusing more on subjects like CPC, CrPC, IPC, Evidence act, Constitution, contract act, Hindu Laws, Muslim Laws etc. when we study them in the Law School. It helps us in reducing the workload when we prepare after College. New Subjects which we are not taught in Law School will need time to be prepared thoroughly.

How valuable do you think coaching institutions can be for preparation of judicial exams?

To be very frank, I am not a big fan of taking coaching classes. I did not attend any coaching classes. For me, coaching classes just help you in getting disciplined e.g. you will at least study at the coaching time and at home whatever taught at coaching on a particular day. Law school is very hectic and after attending classes 9 through 5 the energy level goes down. On the other side, it is a boon for those aspirants who have not been able to focus on studies due to some problem during college or who need some base to start with. My advice for students is to get Standard Text Books for each subject and start with yourself and if they find it difficult to prepare themselves then only switch to coaching classes.

What are your views on taking notes in class?

For me, taking notes is the most important part of your preparation. Notes will help you in revising your subject as you need to revise the subjects more frequently. Better take rough notes in classes and later mend them as per your need to make useful notes.Notes save your time when you have lesser time in between Pre & Mains Exam. I did not adopt any special strategy except to focus on those subjects which are asked in Judicial Service Exams. One should give more time to subjects like CPC, CrPC, IPC, Evidence act, Constitution, contract act, Hindu Laws, Muslim Laws as preparing them in college means preparation half done!!

Did you undergo a rigorous academic schedule?

As we know life at a law school is very tough. You have a hectic schedule and time management is a very important aspect. At law school I chose evening time when everyone was busy with sports, gym and other things to avoid disturbances. I still feel sorry for my dear friends who used to knock my door to go to the market or outside but I had to refuse them.

Tell us about your time at the Judicial Academy.

For training of new Judges of the District Judiciary of MP we have the State Judicial Academy at Jabalpur. In future when I visit National Judicial Academy as a Judge I will share my experiences with the readers. For me, training period has been just like 1st year at college. You have to start afresh and go ahead just like a beginner. Gradually you grow in confidence with your experience. Thousands of people attempt for judicial exams and only a few get selected.

Which are the prime skills and expertise required to crack the exam?

Competition at judicial services is very tough. My tips to aspirants is to start preparation early after you have been taught procedural Laws such as IPC, CPC, Crpc at your college. Starting too early is a waste of time as you won’t be able to understand these subjects without a basic idea. A candidate for judiciary should be well versed at procedural laws because they form the very base of your knowledge. You should be focused on studies. Get previous question papers from the market and try to get a basic idea about sections on subjects which are important and how to prepare them. Maintain good writing speed by practicing as main exams are lengthy and you have to attempt the whole paper to get selected in a tough competition. Prepare Self notes on each subject; they will help you in a quick revision as time is very limited. Keep revising the subjects continuously because if you prepare a subject and then don’t revise, you will end up losing command over it.

What is the importance of CGPA for law students for judiciary aspirants?

If you want to join corporate sector CGPA is very important. But for Judiciary CGPA is only important to the extent that you must have a prescribed minimum percentage to sit in the exam which is generally 50-55 %. CGPA does not make a difference at the interview, only the questions during the interview do. The honorable interview committee mainly focuses on legal knowledge, besides how many placement offers you had bagged, why would you want to leave a lucrative city life and want to work in a rural atmosphere and whether you would be able to work at small districts and villages. Besides subjective questions, basic questions on international law and events were asked.

What is a typical day at work like?

You have to work 10 AM to 7 PM, 6 days a week. You can say life is just like that of the corporate sector. Important files you have to read at home for the next day’s work i.e. you have to prepare in advance. You have to devote the most of your 24 hours.

What do you think of the Indian judicial system?

Indian judicial system is one of the best judicial systems in the world. As we see judiciary has been protecting the rights of people since independence. Every system has some flaws, and so does our judiciary. For me, the notable thing is legal delays, the reason being lesser number of judges and more number of cases. In India we need adequate number of judges and need police reforms in effective justice delivery system. Plus we need drastic changes in old laws. A judge can’t go beyond what the law is and old laws need changes with respect to changing times.

What will be your suggestions to our readers who wish to join judiciary?

Best of luck to all readers who want to join this noble cause. You should develop good reading habits, accumulate knowledge with as much reading as you can, try to be a good listener and prepare thoroughly. You must remain focused and patient.
September 13, 2014
Arpita Majumdar, Law Graduate, on preparing for CS and being AIR 13
Arpita Majumdar is currently a student of Bangalore Institute of Legal Studies (BILS) and shall graduate in 2015. She has secured All India Executive Rank 13 in Company Secretary Course and has interned at top notch firms.

She tells us about:
- Preparation for CS exam and bagging AIR 13
- Coaching Institutes and CS
- Importance of Internships
How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

I am a fifth year law student from Bangalore Institute of Legal Studies and a potential Company Secretary. I was born and brought up in the vibrant city of Indore in Madhya Pradesh and completed my schooling from St. Raphael’s Girls School, Indore. Having been nurtured in a Convent School, I was inducted into public speaking quite early in my school life. Fortunately, it has continued to remain a passion ever since.

What motivated you to choose law as a career?

Although I hail from a family that has seen a generation of Engineers, fortunately I was encouraged to pursue a career of my choice. However, given the lack of awareness about varied avenues available to a law graduate, my peers were skeptical of my decision. Also, I believe that there is a peculiar dogma and a certain amount of disrespect associated with the legal profession in the smaller towns.

My first encounter with the legal regime was as a National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteer whereby, we undertook a project for the education of female inmates in Jails. This tryst with the justice mechanism motivated me to pursue a profession that infused a feeling of empowerment in an individual. Although, I must admit that initially I was perplexed between journalism and law; eventually the decision to opt for the latter came quite later in time.

As a law student which activities did you participate in?

Well, I believe everybody should invest considerable time and effort in exploring diverse opportunities that law school has to offer. It provides the requisite perspective to make an informed decision regarding your preferred area of practice.

I have always tried to maintain an effective balance between academics and other activities. Along with, a consistent endeavour to maintain good scores throughout law school (as clichéd as it may be); I also, play Chess and have represented my College at “Spiritus” –the Sport’s Fest organised by NLSIU, Bangalore. I have also been a member of an Expert Panel Study on Access to Healthcare in India by IIM-Bangalore and University of St. Gallen, Sweden.

Mooting has been another formidable part of my law school life. In fact, in my very first year I represented my institution in the Amity University Constitutional Law Moot; in which we were the semi-finalists. I have also, participated in NLIU Juris Corp, NLS Arbitration Moot and Surana&Surana Corporate Moot. However, it was eventually, the Nani Palkhivala Tax Moot Court Competition that had the effect of framing the course of my future endeavours and hence, the greater emphasis on CS Course.

I was privileged to have few very proficient seniors who guided me through every effort of mine at law school, ranging from academics to moot courts, internships, etc. In all fairness, although, institutional guidance was very limited; I am particularly grateful to our Moot Court, Faculty-in-Charge for providing the desired opportunities.

What kind of work did you have to do during your internship at AZB Partners and Nishith Desai Associates?

The nature of work varies according to the place and the team allotted. At Nishith Desai Associates, I was assigned a Mentor and highlight of that internship was the fact that interns could work with all the offices and were not confined to the location office. At AZB there are no watertight compartments so I was not assigned to a particular team, as such. Also the work environment is extremely interactive and you tend to get feedbacks which help you to improve. Through the course of my law firm internships, I was allotted research works, reviewing contracts and drafting opinions.

How was your experience interning with Senior Advocates?

My litigation internships have been under Senior Advocates, Mr. Soli E. Dastur and Mr. Arvind P. Datar, both eminent Supreme Court counsels and renowned tax jurists. Both the internships were very rewarding in terms of, the quality of interaction with Mr. Dastur and Mr. Datar and the quality of work that I was assigned. In fact, during Mr. Datar’s internship I worked as a Student Editor on his upcoming revised edition of the Constitution of India. Also, having observed them argue in Court, it gave me an intricate understanding of the critical nuances of law practice and the art of Court craft.

While at a law firm the work is primarily based on research for client advisory or proposed transactions; a litigation internship offers more diverse research experiences. At the same time, it offers you great insights into the judicial mind based on the Judges response to a well-researched argument to which you may have contributed substantially. I personally, enjoyed the respective challenges offered at a law firm and under a lawyer; although, with an inclination for the former.

Did you pursue your internships throughout law school as part of a deliberate plan or did it all just happen by chance?

In my opinion, internships are an outcome of the initiatives you are willing to take in furtherance of your career. So when I say initiatives, it would be fair to state that it was well planned; although, the execution required considerable effort. Given that I had identified my area of interest fairly early at law school I was determined to intern with the best law firms / lawyers in the area. Being from a non-NLU, internships are not as forthcoming as one would expect. Therefore, one has to pursue it relentlessly and with a great deal of vigour. In most cases, a well-structured application with a comprehensive CV and thereafter, periodic follow ups fructified into a positive response.

Personally, I believe in any profession academic scores do not validate one’s practical knowledge. The University curriculum fails to invigorate any innovation or analytical reasoning – attributes that I found to be quintessential during my internships. Therefore, an active engagement in Moot Courts, internships, research papers, conferences, etc. are indispensable to acquire practical knowledge of the discipline. Thus, there needs to be personal interest to research deeper into the subject and not merely cater to the requirements of routine examinations by reading a few prescribed books.

What does your CS score card read?

(Arpita has secured All India Executive Rank 13 and South Zone Rank 1 in the Company Secretary (CS) examination.)

To be honest, I was expecting good scores but not a Rank as such. So when I checked my results I was fairly satisfied with my scores and frankly, I did not even glance at the merit list. It was only later in the evening that I was informed by a friend that I had secured the 13th Rank. I was pretty thrilled actually although, it took quite some time to sink in.

When and what inspired you to pursue CS course?

Pursuing CS was largely driven by my proclivity for Corporate and Taxation Law. Moreover, since Taxation is taught in the last semester, I wanted to learn the subject in advance.

I have been very impressed with the course curriculum particularly, because of the way it is structured. The practical insights that the course offers and the examination pattern that seeks to test the same are largely, based on one’s knowledge of the subject and not merely memory. I would personally, recommend it for students with an inclination towards Corporate, Securities and Taxation Laws, especially, those belonging to State Universities where such areas are not adequately dealt with. I believe in such cases, it serves to give you an edge over your peers.

How did you remember the sections of the Acts in your syllabus and leading case laws on varied areas of law?

Though CS is an extremely concept based course, this particular aspect is not very different from preparing for law papers in LL.B. curriculum. However, it demands more detailed attention to the fundamentals of a concept. I particularly, do not think one is expected to remember every case law and sections that you come across during the course of your preparations. Having said that, certain significant judgments involving intriguing questions of law and relevant sections that test one’s reasoning ability ought to be remembered. This may not require much of an effort if you have done a thorough reading of the subject coupled with an interest in the same.

How did you prepare for the exams?

My semester examinations were scheduled around the same time as the CS Examinations, so I was particularly constrained for time. But I am personally of the opinion that with satisfactory time management it is fairly easy for a law student to crack CS Examinations. Securing a rank may require a little more effort. I had put in about a months’ preparation; however, it was only possible because most of the subjects were covered earlier in the LL.B. Curriculum.

CS Course material is more than sufficient for preparations for examination purposes; the only exception being Taxation and Accountancy. Additional materials are available in the form of Guides (usually referred as “Scanners” in CS parlance) – which is basically a Question-Answer Summary Guide of past years Question Papers. It is advisable to refer Taxmann Student’s Guide and V.K. Singhania’s book for practical problems pertaining to Taxation laws and Shukla & Grawal – considered the ‘Bible of Accountancy’. I have been fortunate to have some CA friends who have helped me greatly in this aspect.

How would you say a student can go about studying and having distinction in CS subjects?

I strongly opine that each individual has their own study methods. In some cases, it may be studying for long hours while, others may have a preference for short study hours. My study method was modulated around the latter. I base my study on thorough reading and preparation of short points on every topic. On the eve of the examinations, I studied from these notes because there are no breaks between CS papers and it is quite impossible to revise the entire syllabus within such a short span of time. Also, unlike the Law examinations administered at my University, one cannot afford to engage in selective study; in that case, the idea of merely passing the examination may also, appear far-fetched. As such, time management is undoubtedly a pre-requisite.

Did you take any guidance for preparation?

Initially, when I started my preparations for Executive Examinations I attended a Coaching Institute which proclaims to be the best in South India. Unfortunately, it took little time to comprehend the falsity of such proclamations.

Personally, I do not advocate Coaching Institutes. They not only hamper self-study but at times derail your preparation by misguiding you. Moreover, pursuing Law and CS at the same time, sufficiently eases the burden of Law subjects and nullifies the requirement of a CS Coaching Institute per se. Practical subjects like Accountancy and Taxation may pose a handicap, for which a decent Coaching Class which satisfactorily addresses the concepts involved in these subjects shall suffice.

Any dos and don’ts you would like to share with the future CS aspirants?

It is fairly simple the way I perceive it. I have been advised against CS on the pretext that there is sufficient overlap between the two courses. I strongly beg to differ on this. At the cost of repetition, I say it once again, it gives you a wider practical perspective; and in any case, knowledge never harms, does it!

Frankly, if you are not dedicated enough to pursue it all the way thorough kindly do not take it up in the first place. It is tiresome and entails considerable financial and time investment.

Do you think that being from a non-NLU made any difference?

Actually, it is not the opportunities per se that are limited; but the awareness about such opportunities that is found to be deficient. In any law school, your peers have a cardinal influence in generating such awareness which shapes your career decisions. This particular aspect is woefully scarce in certain non-NLU institutions. As such, being amidst the right kind of peer group largely determines one’s success in law school. However, the relaxed institutional framework provided me the time to pursue CS, in particular. And as a matter of fact, every coin has two sides!

What are your plans after graduating?

To be honest, I am not too inclined towards pursuing a career as a full time Company Secretary. I am studying to be a Lawyer, and that is what I would like to be. As of now, I plan to join a law firm where my credentials as a Lawyer and a CS would be adequately employed, preferably one having taxation as its core competence.

Lastly, what would be your message to our readers and to the future CS aspirants?

Stay focused, fight for what you believe in and pursue your goals with a great deal of determination.
September 12, 2014

Kumar Rahul, Law Graduate, NUJS, on cracking the MP Judiciary

Kumar Rahul graduated from NUJS, Kolkata, in 2012. After working for some time he quit to join his true calling, the judiciary. He cracked the MP Judiciary exam, being ranked 4th in MP. His preparation comprised taking mock tests, studying the basics of his law school curriculum, and going through the previous papers of MP Judiciary.

In this interview he talks about:

Preparing for the Judicial Services
Books and other knowledge sources helpful in preparation
Staple questions which are asked

What motivated you to appear for judicial services?

Coming from a small place called Dumka in Jharkhand, I was lucky to have completed my graduation from NUJS. When I was studying law at NUJS, I always thought about pursuing something which would have a direct bearing on the society and people. However, after graduating I joined a corporate firm which I left to join a Public Sector Company but the same did not work out owing to certain exigencies. So, at this stage I had the option of going back to a law firm job or doing something which I had always dreamt of doing. Then, I zeroed in on the two most prestigious services in the country namely-Civil services and Judicial Services. But the higher degree of uncertainty with respect to civil services and my earnest desire to remain associated with the field of law had cleared the dilemma and I started my preparation for judiciary.

How did you prepare for the judicial services examination?

I took coaching classes. Coaching helps immensely in saving time as going by the vast syllabus, one may need more than a year to prepare notes while the same is done exhaustively at coaching within ten to eleven months. The second biggest advantage of coaching is that it enables one to focus on core areas and thereby facilitates strategic preparation and the mock tests for prelims as well for mains provide a platform for regular assessment. Apart from this, the environment also keeps one motivated as there are regular interactions between like- minded individuals pursuing a common goal. However, I must say that coaching is not indispensable for preparation but a good and committed coaching institute polishes your concepts and nurtures the judicial bent of mind required for clearing the exams. But one may always prepare on their own with hard work and proper planning.

I took coaching from one Rahul’s IAS from Mukherjee Nagar, New Delhi. I would definitely recommend this place if anyone wants to join coaching for judiciary.

Did you take mock tests during your preparation?

Yes, I did. Mock tests help an aspirant to test if he is able to execute his strategy which includes important aspects like time management, prioritising questions, finding out weak areas and keeping a check on the scores. Sometimes, questions which one has attempted in Mock tests are repeated in judicial examinations as one practices an inventory of questions. Since each mark is important so even if there are three to four questions which are exactly the same as that of the mock test then it provides an edge over the other candidates.

When did you start preparing for the exams?

Since I had not decided to write Judicial exams during my college years, I started preparing for the same when I left my job. I think this exam requires one year of preparation and therefore, if anyone wants to sit for judicial service exams, he/she should start preparing for the same during fourth or fifth year of law school.

How many hours did you put in for your preparations every day?

I never followed a set routine for everyday during my preparation. I did not study much in the beginning but within five months of my preparation, the notification came for the exam and the number of hours subsequently increased but I would like to mention that one should have fixed targets for the day or a week and not go by the number of hours.

How much time did you give to each subject?

I haven’t allocated any fixed time but subjects like CPC, CrPC, IPC, Evidence require more time as compared to less voluminous subjects like SRA, Limitation, etc.

What approach did you take to remember the sections of the acts in syllabus?

I have heard from many people that the judiciary exam is all about how much you can remember sections and language of Bare Acts. However, this is a common misconception among the aspirants. The exam primarily tests your concepts and knowledge of law. With the sound understanding of the concepts it is easy to retain important sections more effectively. There may be very few direct questions on a Bare Act in prelims exam. Therefore, only mechanical reading of Bare Acts will not suffice.

How much of a case law do you need to remember?

For prelims, one has to remember landmark cases in subjects like Constitution, CPC, CrPC, IPC etc. However, case laws help in writing answers for mains as they develop one’s ability to think like a judge and enhances the application of judicial mind. The quality of answers also automatically improves when we substantiate our answers in mains with the help of case laws.

One should be updated about the cases which are in news for interview.

What strategy did you adopt for preparing the subjects you had studied in college?

Since, the ambit of law is very broad, it becomes important to know what not to read for any competitive examinations. It is humanly impossible to learn everything in all law papers. Therefore, it becomes very important to plan a strategy for preparation. I made a strategy based on the previous year paper and focussed more on important topics.

Truly speaking, I have not studied subjects like CPC, CrPC, Evidence, IPC properly etc during my college and since, these subjects are very important for judicial service exams, I focussed more on these subjects.

It does help in your preparation if you have studied in college. I shall advise the judicial service aspirants to make a habit of reading Bare Acts and Case laws. This exam does not require research on any topic but instead, you have to be very smart with your preparation. You may study less but you should revise regularly whatever you study.

Which books/materials did you rely on while preparing?

Since, I got immense help from the notes which I prepared during my classes at coaching institute; I referred to books only for clarifications on few topics.

However, here is the list of books which one may refer:-

Subject	Book(s) Recommended
Constitution of India	Bare Act, Pratayiogita Darpan (Polity issue), M.P.Jain
Code of Civil Procedure	Bare Act, Takwani
Transfer of Property Act	Bare Act, Poonam Pradhan (lexis Nexis)
Indian Contract Act	Bare Act, Avtar Singh
Specific Reliefs Act	Bare Act, Avtar Singh
Limitation Act	Bare Act, J.D.Jain
Indian Evidence Act	Bare Act, V.P. Sarathi, Batuklal
Indian Penal Code	Bare Act, K.D. Gaur
Code of Criminal Procedure	Bare Act, Kelkar
Negotiable Instruments Act	Bare Act
MP Accommodation Control Act	Bare Act
MP Land Revenue Code	Bare Act

Which books/material did you use for preparing for the general knowledge section?

For the static part, I referred to Upkar, Lucent’s GK and Arihant’s GS for MP and for current GK, I referred to a Hindu newspaper and monthly issue of Pratyiogita Darpan.

How would you recommend one should prepare for the English knowledge and computer knowledge sections?

One may refer to Objective General English by R.S. Aggarwal and Lucent’s Computer for questions relating to computers.

Did you regularly read newspapers?

Yes, I regularly read the Hindu and it helped in attempting General knowledge questions and writing the essay in mains paper. One should at least spend an hour everyday to read any good news paper and if possible, he/she should note down important points. The editorial part regarding legal developments is a very good source for essay.

How would you rate the preliminary examination question paper on difficulty?

I honestly do not consider prelims to be difficult provided one prepares with hard work and diligence. Since prelims is gateway for mains and interview, it becomes really important to focus properly on the bare act and one cannot afford to be selective in his preparation for prelims as even a single question can make a huge difference. One should practice questions from a standard book on each subject.

How did you prepare for the segment on certain state acts passed by the M.P. legislature, since they are not taught in law schools?

There were two local Acts which are asked in MP Judiciary: – Rent Control Act and Land Revenue Code. I have analysed previous year papers and found that the questions were almost from Bare Acts. Therefore, I have referred to Bare Acts and a few High Court and Supreme Court cases on important topics.

During the main exams which consist of four papers, you are given two question papers simultaneously. How did you divide your time between the two?

I gave equal time to all the papers as the marks allotted to each were identical.

How did you manage your time among the questions in each paper?

Since, in the first paper, all questions were from law carrying equal marks, I gave equal time to every answer. In the second paper, I divided my time according to the marks allotted to the questions asked in the paper.

Would you say some of the sections are easier to score compared to others?

The questions on essay writing, precis and translation do not require as much effort and with weekly preparation also one can excel in those areas whereas the questions of law are more demanding as they require regular revision and brushing of the concepts.

What structure did you follow for answering a question in the main exam?

There were mostly theoretical questions from law in Paper I and therefore it becomes very important how you write your answer in mains within a very limited time. I have tried to include object, policy and landmark cases as I believe that these are the requisites of a good answer.

Did you practice writing the answers?

I practised writing answers to almost all questions of last ten years which helped me immensely while writing answers during exam with respect to content and time management.

Had you prepared some topics in advance for the write up section?

I had chosen a few topics based on the questions asked in previous year.

How did you prepare for the summarization exercise for the exam?

The question on summarization exercise was pretty simple. I have not referred to any book for the same. I practised a few questions asked in previous years.

Did you practice reading lengthy court documents to increase your reading speed and comprehension?

No, I did not refer to any such documents. However, I read few judgments of MP High Court for judgment writing in mains.

What is the level of Hindi proficiency required for the translation exercise?

Since Hindi is mostly used in the lower courts in MP, one should have fair understanding and at the same time the ability to write in Hindi. If one wants to refer to any textbook then Sighal’s guide is a decent book available in the market.

Did you practice translation exercises during your preparation?

Yes, I practised a few questions which were asked in previous years.

How did you prepare for the judgment writing exercise?

Judgment writing is very important to clear mains. Out of 200 marks in mains, 50 marks have been allotted for judgment writing. This is the part which many students ignore and since there is a minimum cut-off for each paper, it becomes very important to get a good score in judgment writing.

There are two judgment writing questions asked in the mains- one on civil law and another on criminal law. It is advisable to follow the format of trial court of MP for judgment writing. The main part is how you appraise evidences in a given factual situation. You may decide the case in anyone’s favour but your reasoning should be sound and cogent.

For judgment writing, I practised previous year papers and read a few High Court judgments.

How would you rate the main exam question paper on difficulty?

The exam is not difficult as such provided one has prepared well with a good strategy.

Did you appear for mock interviews?

Yes, I attended a few mock interview sessions organized by my coaching institute. These mock interviews helped me a lot in building confidence.

Any specific strategy you used during the interview?

I haven’t adopted any specific strategy for my interview preparation. I simply revised all my notes before the interview and prepared questions based on my background, home town, college, work experience, recent legal developments etc.

Do you remember any of the questions asked during the interview?

Questions were mostly from simple concepts of procedural law (CPC, CrPC) and local Acts and my background. Some of the questions which I can recall:-

Why do you want to work in MP?

Where have you worked previously?

Why the Judiciary?

How are issues framed in Civil cases?

Provisions and safeguards regarding arrest under CrPC

What is an interpleader suit under CPC?

Question on power of court under S.313 CrPC.

Questions on 2013 CrPC Amendment Act.

Who is a pauper according to CPC?

Difference between inherent powers under CPC and CrPC.

Whether accused can be acquitted after prosecution evidence in Court of Session trial?

Questions relating to Nistar Patrika and Wajib-ul-arz as given under the MP Land Revenue Code.

Can there be an investigation in a complaint case?

Lastly, what message would you like to give to graduates aspiring for judicial services?

Graduates aspiring for judicial services should not be in awe of this exam but move ahead with confidence and a positive attitude. This exam requires constant absorbed hard work with proper planning throughout the preparations. One should be able to identify the core areas of the subject and focus more upon them. Candidates should have their own strategy whatever suits them and stick to it. They need to stay focused and shall remain detached from any distractions especially the ones coaxing them to think about other career options. Aspirants should never get paranoid about the time they spend while preparing as at the end of the day all their efforts will reap sweet fruits of success. No hard work goes in vain.

September 11, 2014

Manveen Singh, Research Associate, JGLS, on pursuing a PhD in Patents, and a career in academia
Manveen Singh graduated from UILS, Panjab University, Chandigarh, in 2012. He then went on to pursue his Masters from UCL in Intellectual Property Law. He is currently working as a Research Associate at Jindal Global Law School, Sonepat . He enjoys teaching and plans to pursue a PhD in Patent Law (Intellectual Property) this fall.With six international participations, nine internships, five research papers, one book chapter, sixteen national conferences, he was an extremely hard working, consistent and brilliant law student.

In this interview we speak to him about:
- Studying abroad
- The legal education regime in India
- Pursuing a future in academia
Tell us something about yourself.

Well, I am someone who is very honest, emotional and passionate about everything I do. I am a firm believer of destiny and I also believe that if you have your heart set out on achieving something there is absolutely nothing that can hold you back.
What truly unwinds me is football. Manchester United is well, the love of my life. Besides that I love travelling, reading and listening to music. One thing that has always given me peace is photography.

When and how did you decide to pursue law?

Before joining law, I was basically a science student. However, my shifting from science stream to humanities was purely co-incidental with my father’s taking up a prestigious assignment as the founder Vice-Chancellor of one of the reputed National Law Schools of the country. Though my father never wanted me to study directly under his supervision and stewardship, lest it could affect my independence and academic blossoming, his constant hammerings for my understanding of the basic concepts of law and for an in-depth study and critical analysis of some of the legal doctrines nevertheless inculcated in me the strong and never ending desire for taking up legal studies as a means to embrace the ever challenging and exciting career in the field of law, the decision that I feel proud of having taken when I sit back and reflect pensively

Tell us something from your days at UILS!

I have very fond memories from my time at UILS and Panjab University. My graduation from such a reputed university, rather the best Indian university in the world (as we may call it now, based on the latest rankings) and my five year long and close association with some of the most committed and dedicated teachers showing paternalistic interests in me inculcated in me the never ending quest for more and more knowledge. I was always an active participant in all the legal as well as other academic events that took place at UILS and the University and not to forget, good in studies too.

Besides that, college life gave me friends, friendships and more that shall stay with me for the rest of my life.

What made you pursue your LL.M in the UK?

I always wanted to go abroad for my post-graduation; the only dilemma being whether to go straight after law school or work for a year or two and then go. It was not until I entered into the final year of my undergraduate degree that I made up my mind and applied to all the top universities in the UK. My parents and teachers were unanimous in their advice to the effect of my going in for my masters straightaway.

For me it was always going to be the UK over the US. Also, my father did his PhD. from the UK so there was always that connection and motivation towards handpicking UK over other countries.
I applied to a number of UK universities including University College London, King’s College London, London School of Economics, Queen Mary University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) as well as University of Oxford. I got through to all of them with the exception of Oxford. I had my heart set on UCL and as destiny would have it, UCL it was.

How should one zero in on the law schools? Should consideration be paid to living expenses in that particular place?

There are multiple factors that you need to take into consideration while zeroing in on the right law school. Ranking, of course plays its part but besides that you have to be sure of the area you wish to specialize in, whether that university offers you that specialization and lastly, the concerned faculty. As far as the living expenses are concerned, when you pick a country there is not too much difference in terms of the living expenses within the different cities. On that front you would rather adhere to the overall profile of a university and then come to the advantages of being in a particular city.

Tell us about the course structure and specialization of Master of Laws at University College London?

Well, UCL offers you the chance to specialize in a whole lot of areas of law. I personally, have always been very fascinated by Intellectual Property Laws so one of the reasons behind my choosing UCL for specializing in IPR was the fact that the Faculty of Laws at UCL has arguably the best IP faculty in the UK.

How diversified was your batch at UCL?

Well, my batch at UCL was one of the most diverse ones out there. The quest for learning bringing together all these people from different parts of the world to brainstorm and share their ideas and expertise in the various fields.

Most of them are now back in their own countries plying their trade while some of them stayed back in the UK as they were hired by some of the Magic Circle law firms. Some even made it to the UN.

Do you think that nowadays, some students do an LL.M because it seems the “right thing to do” and not because they know what they want to study or why they want to?

Well, to be honest, I don’t really subscribe to that view of it being the “right thing to do” or not. At the end of the day, it’s a matter of choice whether or not one wants to go in for his/her masters. If you’re up for it, just go for it. There’s no looking back.

I would like to add a quote here, “If you force yourself to go outside, something wonderful always happens”.

What do most foreign universities look for among candidates?

Most foreign universities require a well drafted SOP and a couple of LORs besides good grades.

What is the key ingredient of a well written SOP?

A well written SOP is one which truly reflects your thoughts and intentions behind pursuing a master’s degree and how it is going to be beneficial for your career interests. You can, of course make it personal but the language must be formal. One thing that is highly appreciated by foreign universities is community work. Surely, that has got to be one of the key ingredients of an SOP.

An honest tip to those making their SOPs would be to be as honest as possible and not cook up things or achievements. That’s the most common mistake people tend to make which has more chances of landing one in trouble than not.

Do you think that having your recommendation letters written from distant acquaintances with influential position may backfire against you while making your application?

Essentially, every foreign university requires two academic LORs, preferably from the professors who have taught you during your undergraduate degree. In addition to that any other LOR is considered as a supplementary document and the role it would tend to play in the success of one’s application is very subjective and depends from university to university. So there is not too much you can do with the standard established protocol.

How do you think one should go about their chances of securing a scholarship for an LL.M program?

Securing a scholarship at a foreign university is one of the first and foremost things that every Indian student tends to look at and with the cut-throat competition out there, it has become more of an uphill task in recent times. Good grades coupled with practical internships and community work is the key to securing a scholarship for an LL.M. program.
UCL has quite a few categories of scholarships available to students all over the world. If we talk about the scholarships for Indian students at UCL, there are two awards; one being the Master of Rolls Scholarship for Commonwealth Students (one award for a student from the commonwealth nations) and the Chief Justice Scholarship. I was a proud recipient of the former for my LL.M. studies at UCL.

What are the criteria for an LL.M graduate to enter the teaching profession in India?

The minimum basic requirement for entering into academia is a master’s degree. Most of the universities require you to be NET qualified while at the same time there are some that allow you clear it while in service.

How are you going ahead with the PhD application procedures?

Yes, I wish to start off with my Ph.D. as soon as possible and shall put forward my candidature at various universities as soon as the applications open this fall.

Describe your teaching style.

I would say it comes to me naturally since it runs in the genes. My father is an academician and so was my grandmother. Now that I look back and try to find the inspiration behind my joining academia, I would have to give a major chunk of the credit to my friends since I taught a few of them during my university days and they would always encourage me by telling me how good I was at it.
One thing I still can’t forget is the fact that I taught a friend of mine and he outscored me in one of the semesters. I think that did it for me.

Well, I am someone who tries to give his 100% in every lecture while at the same time try to get the best out of the students. Not every student is the same so my endeavor always is to reach out to every student and make them comfortable with the subject that I’m teaching.

I try to use as much of practical and real life examples as possible besides the conventional theoretical methodology in order to make every lecture as interesting as possible. Although I give my students PowerPoint slides for every lecture but while teaching I want them to listen to what is being taught for I think that is the only way for them to master the concepts.

What do you like best about teaching at JGLS?

There are a couple of things that I like about JGLS. Firstly, I feel that the academic freedom you possess as a teacher and more so as a young faculty member is something that is very important. JGLS gives you that freedom and so much so that the only way you can repay it is by doing full justice to your job. That is something I cherish day in and day out.

Secondly, it’s the students. They just get the best out of you as a teacher. Every day is like a new challenge for me. There are so many things that you as a layman would not be inspired to read or write on but the ideas that flow from classroom teaching are unparalleled. If the students are smart and intellectual, it will inevitably push you to give your best as a teacher and I think that is one thing I like the most about the students at JGLS. The sense of satisfaction that you derive out of standing in front of 60 students and delivering a good lecture is absolutely priceless

I have been teaching for close to ten months now; all of those at JGLS.

Which subject(s) do you teach?

I have only taught a couple of subjects as yet; Labour Law being one of them. I am mostly interested in commercial and criminal law subjects. The one subject that interests me the most is of course, Intellectual Property Law (IPR) since that is the only subject that keeps me connected with science while at the same time being a commercial law subject. I shall be teaching Law of Evidence next semester and I am already looking forward to it.

After your experience abroad, why do you think LL.M in India is a little less sought after?

I think it flows from the fact that the two systems are quite different. Firstly, the biggest reason for students preferring to go abroad for LL.M. was in India being a 2-year degree. Secondly, the overall structure, the breaking down of the modules, the style of teaching and the tutorial system are so different from that in India that it is quite difficult to compare the two.

Do you think legal education in the country needs an overhaul?

I don’t think there are any drastic changes that need to be made in the existing system but something that can surely be done is to change the conventional orthodox system of legal education and adopt a more practical approach or rather strike a fine balance between the two and enable the students in competing with their contemporaries from around the world.

Do you opine that law schools have become largely expensive?

Yes, I do think some of the new law schools are relatively expensive as compared to the traditional universities but at the same time, I strongly believe that the kind of exposure and the opportunities that one would get at some of these privately funded or national law schools is incomparable to that being offered by the traditional universities.

What would be your message to our readers?

For those of you who are really keen to pursue an LL.M from abroad, remember what I earlier wrote: ‘If you force yourself to go outside, something wonderful will always happen.’ It’s a new and different exposure to behold. I wish all the very best to others in their endeavours.
September 10, 2014
Navneet Brar, Masters candidate, University of Bristol, on scholarships, SOPs and higher studies
Navneet Brar graduated from University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS), Panjab University, Chandigarh, in 2012. She holds an LL.M in International Law from University of Bristol. She was also awarded a scholarship to pursue International Winter Course on Human Rights and Asia, at the Seoul National University. She is keen to pursue further research in “International Human Rights law or International Criminal law” this fall.

In this interview we speak to her about:
- Studying in Bristol
- The Indian legal education regime
- Plans for the future
Tell us something about yourself.

Well, I would describe myself as someone with a sanguine disposition and one who is always striving to materialize her dreams. I believe in maintaining an open mind with an unprejudiced attitude.
In my spare time, I love to try my hands at photography. Besides that, what truly unwinds me is traveling and reading about new places and diverse cultures. In terms of my strengths, I think my independence and will power have always been the biggest boon to me. But I have a tendency to get stuck up on trivial details and loose time.

Tell us about your childhood and family.

Sports! That’s the first thing that strikes my mind. I have been a National level skater, State Volleyball player and also tried my hands at fencing, basketball, cross country racing. I was always into extra-curricular activities. So, quite evidently I was the kid seldom found in the classroom.
Regarding my parents, my father is a PCS officer working in the Punjab Co-operatives Department and my mother is a subject expert with the State Council of Educational Research and Training, Punjab. Thankfully, both of them have always been very open and supportive of whatever I wanted to pursue.

What made you pursue law?

Honestly, growing up, the legal field never crossed my mind. I have no one in my distant relatives involved in the legal profession. In fact after 12th grade, I had started undergraduate studies with Geography and History as my major. However, when I was towards the completion of my first year, I started feeling very dissatisfied with what I was doing. I discussed my concerns with my parents. A very good friend of mine, who was pursuing law at Symbiosis, Pune at that time hatched this idea to try the legal field. It sounded quite appealing and I took the plunge. So, here I am! Still very content with my decision.

How would you describe your five years of law school?

I started studying in UILS in 2007 and graduated in 2012. I must say I had a lot of fun during these five years. In fact, Panjab University was like a second home for me.

When I joined UILS, it was very new, as the first batch was still to graduate. In spite of that, the institution had made quite a good name for itself. As I look back now, it has come quite a long way in a very short while. With the new students bringing laurels to the institute each day, I expect to see UILS as one of the top law schools in the coming years.

Tell us about few legal luminaries or other persons that you highly admire.

I greatly admire Justice J.S. Verma. He truly was the face of judicial activism in India. Though he has always been the champion for the expansion of fundamental rights and women empowerment but I gained the utmost respect for his thought and ideas while I was working on my LL.M dissertation on criminalization of marital rape in India. The content of the comprehensive report which was submitted under his supervision is commendable!

When and how did you decide to do your LL.M?

Frankly, it wasn’t an instant decision. Over the law school years, I got a small taste of the litigation world while doing my internships. I had decided there on that I would instead like to go into academics and legal research. Even so, I always wanted to have an experience of studying in a foreign university.

How did you choose University of Bristol? What was the application procedure?

Well, firstly I was certain that I wanted to apply for UK only and secondly that I didn’t want to spend my masters living in London. The London part might confuse some people (it usually does!) but having lived in both London and Bristol, I would still never choose London!

Besides, University of Bristol is one of the top 30 universities in the world and Bristol Law School is also amongst the best law schools in UK. The application procedure is the standard as any of the UK universities. Applicants are required to have a minimum 2:1 degree and need to submit a Statement of Purpose along with two reference letters.
Image: Wills Memorial Building, University of Bristol, United Kingdom

How did it interest you to learn the nuances of International Law and Legal Studies?

During my days at UILS, Human Rights Law was one of my favorite subjects. Besides, I never studied public international law ‘formally’ as a subject during my undergrad but developed quite an interest through non-curriculum readings. So, I opted to do my specialization in it.

Tell us about the course structure and specialization of LL.M program at the University of Bristol.

Well, my study modules included International and European Immigration and Refugee Law, International Law and Human Rights, International Law and Armed Conflict and General Principles of International Law. Teaching includes tutorials and interactive small group seminars which are carried out each week. Marking was done on the basis of a written annual examination as well as written coursework, each depending upon the subjects of choice.

Was the academic year very taxing and rigorous? Was there ample time for extracurricular activities?

I think the best part about foreign universities is that they put fewer burdens on the students and instead encourage independent thought and self-motivated research. So, yes the academic year isn’t too intense and instead provides students ample time for independent research as well as extra-curricular activities.

Give us an insight into the extracurricular activities. Are there any clubs or societies?

Oh there are tons!! Usually in the fresher’s week, the universities organize fresher’s fairs where the freshers can approach the heads and members of societies and clubs available at the university. They all put up their respective stalls. These range from law, sports, cultural clubs to debate clubs; they are endless!

How diversified was your batch at University of Bristol?

It was quite multifarious. Apart from local British students, there were many from Greece, France, Cyprus, Kenya, Nigeria, Germany, Spain, St. Vincent, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Mongolia, Thailand, etc. Currently, most of my colleagues are either working in international law firms or practicing in their respective countries, while some of them have opted for further studies and research.

Tell us about your work experience.

During my undergrad, I was involved in various legal internships under established senior lawyers at Punjab & Haryana High Court. Besides that, I have also been a National Service Scheme volunteer for two years and also delivered lectures on drug de-addiction and HIV/AIDS. Thereafter, when I was doing the LL.M course I also tried my hands on part time work with River Island in Bristol.

After, finishing my LL.M I moved to London for a few months and worked as a fundraising officer at Pell & Bales. Through Pell & Bales, I got the chance to work on behalf of various organizations such as UNICEF, RSPCA, Cancer Research, British Red Cross, WWF, etc. It was the most humbling experience for me.

Did you have any Indians in your batch?

Contrary to the Indian students’ ratio in UK universities, we were just three Indians in the entire LL.M batch! However, there are different societies at UOB such as the ACS which bring together all the Indian students at the university for various cultural and religious celebrations. So, one doesn’t really feel too far away from home with all the festivities.

What is the status of placement and recruitment available for overseas students?

Placements! This is something that I have been asked by a lot of juniors. I hate to break it to them but ‘placements drives’ in the sense of what we have in India are not the same in UK. Yes, although hundreds of firms do visit the campuses but they do not offer direct placements. Such career conferences and seminars are good platforms for networking. An LL.M does not guarantee you a job in a firm in UK! One may apply for internships and has a fair chance of getting through. But, if one wants to work as a trainee/ solicitor in a firm you have to either undertake a LPC or pass QLTS.

Best/Worst things about University of Bristol?

I would only complain about the steep mountainous road called Park Street that one has to climb to get to classes! (Sorry, it’s just a common Bristolian joke!) Drollery apart, I think UOB has tons to offer to everyone. It has a very experienced and highly qualified faculty, with a great infrastructure to cater to everyone’s needs. It’s located in the heart of Bristol with everything just a short walk away. Besides that Bristol was voted as the best city to live in the UK this year!

How expensive was the degree at UOB?

Tuition fee for international students is almost three times that of what is charged for UK/EU students. So, yes it’s quite expensive keeping in mind that the tuition fee experiences a significant hike of up to 500 GBP each year. The fee generally ranges from 13,000 GBP to 18,000 GBP per year depending upon the choice of university.

Should consideration be paid to living expenses in the place where you are going to pursue LL.M?

Yes, definitely I would advise one to plan their expenses accordingly as the cost of living in UK is quite high, especially the rent.

But, thankfully there are plenty of part time opportunities available for international students both on campus as well as off campus. If one wishes to work, they must first apply for a National Insurance Number with the HMRC. The kind of part time employment ranges from paid internships in law firms to various on – campus opportunities. The on – campus opportunities generally offer a higher rate of pay from 8-10 GBP/hour. However, if one wishes to work off campus, there are abundant part time job opportunities to explore.

Tell us about the UOB scholarships program.

Each year, UOB offers a range of scholarships to international students. These scholarships provide assistance in the form of full/partial fee waivers to covering monthly living costs in the form of annual stipends. One can explore the forms of funding available at UOB by checking the following link: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/studentfunding/financial-help/search/

Tell us about the International Winter Course on Human Rights and Asia, at the Seoul National University.
I was awarded a full scholarship for the SNU course which covered the food and accommodation costs. The SNU was an intensive course which aimed at critically addressing Human Rights issues in Asia through various international human rights mechanisms (since there is an absence of a regional body apart from ASEAN).
The course was taught by an esteemed faculty comprising of UN Independent experts, members of UN Commissions, UN Special Rapporteurs and experienced professors from various universities, who shared their practical knowledge related to the field.
Besides, I got an opportunity to interact with students and professionals from all parts of the world regarding HR issues in their respective countries. More information can be found here : http://hrc.snu.ac.kr/eng/research/asia.php

How did you apply for the SNU Course?

I applied for the course on my own. Candidates were selected and respective scholarships were awarded on the basis of a candidates’ level of education/degree, field of specialization and any previous work/ volunteer experiences related to the theme of the course.

How are you going ahead with the application procedures for your PhD?

Yes, I want to pursue further research in International Human Rights law or International Criminal law. So, far I have submitted relative research proposals to various universities. Honestly, the application procedure can be quite taxing with all the writing samples, research proposals, reference letters, motivation letters that are to supplement the applications. And even though studentships are highly competitive, yet I’m being positive for a favorable reply.

Would you like to tell us about the universities you are targeting for your PhD?

PhD applications are a whole lot different because one needs to find an institution offering the similar area of research. So far, I have applied to Dublin City University, Ghent University, University of Liverpool, University of Sheffield and there are a couple more which I still have to finish with.

How do you expect your PhD to influence your further career goals?

I want to establish myself into academics as an avid legal specialist/researcher. A PhD opportunity would take me a step closer to my goal by giving me a chance to extend my knowledge and specialization in my desired field of law.

Would you say an LL.M abroad is worth the expenditure?

Yes, I agree an LL.M abroad quite truly can be a very expensive investment that may or may not rake out the same output in terms of remuneration. Therefore one should always give good thought and weigh all the pros and cons before taking the plunge. But, honestly if one can afford the expenses without any bursaries, it’s very much worth the entire exposure and experience.

Do you think that nowadays, some students do an LL.M because it seems the “right thing to do” and not because they know what they want to study or why they want to?

I won’t rule out that statement because it’s the truth in a few cases. I think it’s very important to be aware of the repercussions of such ‘casual’ steps as one might regret ‘wasting’ a considerable amount of time/money on something that they don’t put their heart into. It’s always good practice to have an open discussion with professors, professionals or parents when one is not sure about the next step.

What do most foreign universities look for among candidates?

Besides good academic potential, they desire candidates who are proactive and have significant practical experience in the form of internships or who have been involved in significant voluntary work.

What is the key ingredient of a well written SOP?

In my opinion, adding a personal touch to the SOP will definitely work in one’s advantage. All universities receive thousands of applications each year and they are always on the look for candidates who strike as different and interesting from rest of the lot. Thus, candidates should try to highlight their potential in a way that sets them apart from the rest.

Do you think that having your recommendation letters written from distant acquaintances with influential position may backfire against you while making your application?

It most certainly will backfire! Applicants should refrain from such practice as the universities consider a ‘strong recommendation’ to be from a referee who has known and closely supervised the applicant’s work for at least 12 months. Thus, the best option is to have recommendation letters from university professors or a significant employer.

After your experience abroad, why do you think LL.M in India is a little less sought after?

That’s quite a debatable topic actually. In my opinion, comparing both the education systems with each other won’t do justice to any of them. Both of them are incomparable, with each having its pros and cons. I agree however, that foreign universities appreciate and support innovative and individual thought process more.

Why do you think it is utmost important these days to have a LinkedIn account?

I think LinkedIn is a great source of networking and keeps users updated about the vast number of employment opportunities available. I think we are way past the newspaper classifieds era as they only cater to limited regions.
In my opinion, one should most definitely add the LinkedIn account URL in their CV! The reason being that majority of recruiters today use social media and especially LinkedIn to research candidates. However, one should refrain from doing so if their LinkedIn profiles are either not complete or blatantly mention the same things as their CV. In fact some of the foreign universities encourage for applicants to enlist their LinkedIn accounts while making applications. Personally, I remember making an application to one of the European universities and they actually had an option to make the application by connecting my LinkedIn account.

Do you think legal education in the country needs an overhaul?

Not an overhaul in the sense, but a few minor changes would be welcome. I think law schools in India should offer more international exposure to students along with introducing a practical course structure.

Do you think legal education continues to remain relatively inaccessible to several, owing to the fee structure?

Yes, I agree that many law schools nowadays are comparatively expensive. In my view, this applies more to law schools which are privately funded. But, some of them actually do provide better facilities and have established quite a good reputation amongst students as well as employers.

Do you think that the country’s law schools have a lack of adequate student representation in the decision making that affects the students?

Yes, I strongly feel that there is an absence of student legal bodies that have direct participation in decision making and putting forward the larger interests of law students.

Do you think it can help in improving the quality of law schools across India?

It most definitely will! I think the students know best about the short comings of their respective institutes or legal education system in India on the whole, as they are the ones at the receiving end of it.

Could you please share your feedback on SuperLawyer’s initiative?

I was introduced to this platform by my junior and interviewer. I’d like to say that SuperLawyer certainly has become a lucrative way for those who are in a fix to decide what path they have to choose ahead. From the experience and future expectations shared by others on this portal, it is a great one stop station for law students to have an insight into the academic, professional, scholarships. By sharing their relative experience, professionals are able to render effective career advice. So, it’s a very welcome initiative.
September 9, 2014
Harsh Gagrani, Director, LegalEdge, on being author, entrepreneur, and lawyer
Harsh graduated from NLIU, Bhopal, in 2011. He is the director of LegalEdge Tutorial. He also recently authored The Pearson Guide to the CLAT.

We asked him about:
- Starting up on his own with LegalEdge
- His advice to law students who couldn’t make it to top NLUs
- On CLAT 2015 and writing The Pearson Guide to the CLAT
Kindly acquaint us with your college life and your aspirations in college.

Studying in NLIU was one of the most profound experiences of my life so far. It helped me break out of my comfort zone, and hone my basic skills as a person. The students in NLIU are the chosen best from across the country, and my illusion of being at a higher pedestal in a few activities I have always been good at (quizzing, writing) were shattered right in the first trimester. Thankfully, leaving my comfort zone helped me prepare for the bigger battles I face every day now.

As for other activities, as ironic as it may sound, I was never into anything that involved speaking (moots, debates et al), even though I’m a teacher now! I experimentally wrote an article for a website in the first year, and got seriously hooked to writing. Over the next few years, I wrote and got published close to a dozen articles, winning a couple of essay competitions on the way. Somehow, and this goes against popular wisdom, mooting never gave me the high that a publication did.

Any fond memories which you would want to share with our readers related to your days in law school?

A couple of them actually. The first was the publication of my first article, on a pretty obscure website. The article, when I read it today, seems like a complete piece of trash. Even a website publication barely added any value to my CV. But more importantly, it got me started and developed my fascination towards writing, which has helped me to this day.

The second, astonishingly, would be the moment when I decided against going for a job and starting my own venture immediately after graduating. In my final year, I did sit for placements and sadly (read: thankfully), got through none. As the end of college life was approaching, I had casually decided upon starting my own venture, but half-heartedly sat for placements to gain ‘work-ex’ of a few years, as that’s what the conventional wisdom said. Not getting through the placements came as an eye-opener for me, and I re-evaluated my plans. Luckily, my peers and family supported my fanatical plan of starting the venture without any experience. It has worked well for me so far.

What motivated you to start Legal Edge Tutorials?

As I’ve already stated, I zeroed in on starting my venture sometime in my final year. However, I was entirely clueless as to what I would start. I toyed with a few ideas, all of them requiring some prior experience, which I lacked. This included starting an e-commerce company (with absolutely no tech experience), starting an Indianized version of SSRN (if anyone is interested, I’m still game!), a virtual stock exchange (seemed promising then, seems absurd now) etc. I researched on all these ideas, met people, prepared business plan, spoke to interested parties and conveniently shelved the idea, seeing a lot of pitfalls in all of them.

The idea of starting a law test prep coaching was given by a good friend. Bhopal had matured well as a go-to destination for law aspirants from all over India, and regretfully, the feigned best in coaching business still yielded highly dissatisfied aspirants. We saw an opportunity and started working towards it. Luckily, we didn’t have much time to ponder over the idea and finalize business plans, as the ideal time to launch batches was already around the corner, or I’m sure I would have shelved this idea also. We set the ball rolling and launched within a month of writing our last examination in NLIU.

What makes Legal Edge Tutorials different from its peers?

The competition in CLAT prep industry, especially in Bhopal, is very tense. The city already has old guards maintaining their presence, brands spreading their presence and new players establishing their presence. Luckily, we’ve been able to carve a niche for ourselves. Why we’re different? I’ll deviate from clichés like ‘personalised attention’ and ‘best infrastructure’ and get straight to the point:
- We never compromise on faculty, which in my humble opinion, is the single most important determinant of any student’s success.
- Extremely high focus on developing great content. The content we give to the classroom students has been regenerated to develop best-selling books, twice.
- New modes of learning. I take close to 30 internal current affairs quizzes in a session, we regularly take newspaper reading and magazine reading sessions and conduct tons of inter-batch competitions. All these activities play a major role in getting even a disinterested student involved in the learning process, by making the process more fun and exciting.
Also, while we’re growing rapidly and trying to establish presence in various cities, we try not losing sight of the importance of our job. Students and parents trust us blindly. They swear by us in choosing what exams to take, what colleges to go for, what books to refer to and the like. These decisions potentially make or break careers. The constant realization of this incalculable responsibility, and the delicateness with which we try to deal with the same, truly differentiates us from the peers.

Five years from now, where do you see Legal Edge Tutorials?

A student I taught in the first year of LegalEdge, who missed securing a seat in National Law Schools by measly three marks, recently came up to me and told me that he is now preparing for UPSC. The habits he had developed while studying at LegalEdge, especially the reading habit, speed reading tricks and fascination towards subjects like GK, has been with him ever since. He says it has vastly helped him in his preparation for other examinations.

I’d like LegalEdge to replicate this for thousands of students over the next five years. Opening more franchisees and expanding our presence is a given, but I’d like LegalEdge to be an experience of a lifetime for students.

Do you think CLAT scores are truly indicative of a student’s potential?

We’ve been lucky enough to have hundreds of students every year who work to their full potential and give CLAT their best shot. However, due to the very nature of competitive examinations, not every student, and not even every brilliant student, necessarily cracks a good National Law School.

Message to those students- I’ve seen most of the non-National Law Schools, especially the newer ones, working even harder than National Law Schools to establish their presence. They get the best competitions organized, liaison with established authorities to deliver lectures in the college and connect with the students, devise a strict curriculum, help the students in getting internships and try hiring great faculties on a regular basis. If you haven’t cracked a National Law School but are lucky enough to be part of such a college, you’ve got pretty much everything a good college has to offer, National or otherwise. Be proactive. Participate in multifarious activities. Establish a good network. If you waste the fantastic opportunities coming down your way, the blame for failures later on in your life should then be reserved only for yourself and not your college.

CLAT 2015 is probably going to be online; how do you think students should get themselves prepared for an online exam?

The whole hullabaloo of CLAT going online has been due to an interview which the Vice-Chancellor of RMLNLU (CLAT 2015’s conducting authority) gave sometime in June, 2014. Since the official notification isn’t yet out, I’d suggest against going for online mocks for now. The notification, clarifying the online conduction of CLAT, should be out by November. Students at any level of their preparation would then have sufficient time to go for online mocks, and acclimatize themselves with this completely different test taking pattern. Till then, I’d say stick with offline mocks.

Do you provide any work opportunities for law students?

As a matter of practice, we do not hire undergrad law students as faculty. We’ve been fortunate to have some great NLIU, Bhopal alumni as faculty, including Kapil Duggal (’14 Batch), Swapnil Verma (’10 Batch), Shreya Dua (’14 Batch) and Shivendu Joshi (’11 Batch). However, we’ve hired some really good undergrad students in the content development team from five to six National Law Schools, with some of them working with us since the past three years now.

Please tell our readers, when and how you decided to write a book.

Sometime during the end of our first year, we realized that our Current Affairs section was becoming extremely popular among students, when we received dozens of inquiries for the same in a short span of time. It was then that I decided to compile the questions in the form of a book. Since we had most of the content, it didn’t take us much time to release the book. About 500 copies of the book were printed, which were sold out in a month’s time, about 90% of them only in Bhopal. It was then that I realized this big gap in CLAT preparation guide market.

I sent a few copies of my first books to about a dozen good publishing houses, of which Pearson and Macmillan replied. After the initial contract was signed, it took close to nine months for our team to deliver the content and come out with this 700-pages long CLAT guide. We’ve been fortunate enough to get rave reviews about the book from students, teachers and the publishers alike. Work on second edition of this book has already begun and it should be released sometime in January.

How is writing a book different from writing a blog?

Flexibility is what differentiates the blog writing experience from the book writing one. A blog can be written to cater to the needs of different target markets within the same segment. This doesn’t necessarily apply to the book writing experience. Which brings us to the point of aspects to be considered while writing a book. In my humble opinion, they are as follows:

Define your target market neatly: A book meant for all is a book meant for none. An author should always decide beforehand an ideal reader for whom the book will prove to be a boon, and ignore everyone else. My book is primarily meant for students at the beginning of their preparation journey.

Giving a strong answer to the ‘why’ question of buying your book: Think about the strongest reason why would you want your potential reader to buy your book over others. While working on the book, stay true to that reason. In our case, it was highly original questions. It sure took us much more time, but the effectiveness of the end product made it worth the efforts.

On requiring external help: In my opinion, bringing more people on board helps in churning out a much better work than working alone. However, don’t lose sight of the second point (staying true to the reason) while deciding upon the people to include on your work.

What does it take to be an entrepreneur?

Even more than the guts to start and invest, being an entrepreneur involves guts to carry on when the tides aren’t exactly in your favour. There are times when even your closest ones don’t really believe you can make it big. The self-belief shown during those times can sometimes make all the difference. Other than perseverance, here is a list of three most important skills an entrepreneur must possess:

Not compromising – Each business has at least one aspect which cannot be compromised, come what may. In coaching industry, this aspect is hiring great faculty. Infrastructure, material, other staff, location et al can all be compromised on and a prep centre can still work like charm, only if the quality of teachers is not compromised, though it is never the other way round. An entrepreneur should start his venture keeping in mind this uncompromisable aspect of his business.

Seeing the Bigger Picture – This is primarily what differentiates a follower from the one being followed. An entrepreneur should be able to see through the daily clutter the business generates, and broaden his horizons as far as possible. Business book E-Myth Revisited summarizes this aptly, “Work on the business, not in it”.

Ability (and willingness) to toughen up – Being a new entrant in the industry, we’ve screwed up the way any new venture does. But I’ve always made sure we face even our critics as they help us improve in a way a satisfied customer can never do. Actively solicit reviews to products and services, and have the courage to face the negative ones as well. They’ll help you improve beyond imagination.

Lastly, what would be your message to law students and young lawyers who want to pursue entrepreneurship?

Legal Entrepreneurship took its time to take off but has now certainly left its nascent stage. We’ve seen some great ventures taken up by law students/graduates in the past half a decade, including iPleaders, Lawctopus, CLATapult and LiveLaw. Here’s the message to budding entrepreneurs of legal sector:

Start soon, and start with something small. A blog. A YouTube channel (and keep updating it with relevant stuff), a social organization, a website to help CLAT aspirants (Joking! We already have quite a lot of those). You got the point.

Find a mentor. You’ll find people who have been there, done that, in every field. Connect with them. You’ll learn bucketful of relevant things with every conversation you have with them.

Do it for profits. There, I said the unspeakable. Take up a venture for the profits. Don’t make it your primary purpose, but don’t ignore it either. Profits are like oxygen for any venture. A venture should not be existing solely for profits, but in absence of profits, it’ll die down soon. The problem is that I see a lot of initiatives coming up with no definite profitability plan even after many years. They start-up for the sake of starting-up. Unless you don’t make profits as one of the purposes of starting-up, your motivation will die down soon and the venture will appear like a liability, serving you and your customers no good.

Final message- If you’ve been thinking about starting up, do it. Right now. Not after graduating. Not next month or next week. Start anything up right now. It doesn’t have to be big (it cannot be at this stage, anyway). But it’ll kick-start your entrepreneurship journey and prepare you for handling bigger ventures. And let’s connect if you need any help!
September 8, 2014

Blog

What motivated you to choose law as a career?

How did you come to join Universal Legal?

You left a lucrative law firm job and had joined Shemaroo Entertainment as an in-house counsel. What prompted this switchover?

How did you get inducted into an FM Radio company?

What were your primary responsibilities as Senior Manager – Legal at Radio Mirchi?

Tell us about your venture into TV.

How different is the experience of working with a television conglomerate as compared to a FM Radio Company?

How do you distinguish your role and responsibility as an associate in a law firm and as that of an in-house counsel?

Do you think courts in India are equipped to handle entertainment and media law cases?

How do you maintain a work-life balance?

What are your long term objectives? Where do you see yourself by the end of five years?

Lastly, what would be your message to an Indian student pursuing a law degree?

Tell us about your years in high school.

Tell us about your time in NLUJ.

Negatives

Tell us about your relationship with basketball.

Tell us about Ekalavyas’ unique blend of journalism, law and basketball.

How did you find your co-founder?

What would you say keeps the majority from starting up?

Are you hiring associates?

Where do you want to see Ekalavyas five years from now?

How did you approach your clients in the beginning?

Does Ekalavyas have scope of internships as well?

You also worked as an Associate Commissioning Editor at LexisNexis, Gurgaon for close to two years. Tell us about your experience.

Many students after completing law are in the pursuit of entrepreneurship. What is your advice to them?

You have been shuttling between India and Nepal to document all important basketball tournaments. Are there any episodes you would like to share?

What is your message for your readers who want to start up on their own?

What motivated you to join the army?

What was your law-school life and routine like?

Please tell us about your interview?

What efforts to you make to stay physically fit and train for SSB medical test?

How difficult is it for a woman to get into the Armed Forces?

Tell us about your travelling experiences.

Given a chance to turn back the clock would you have done anything differently from what you’ve done in life?

What’s the next goal on your list?

Given the license to be preachy, what would you like to tell our readers?

Tell us about how you decided to study law.

Have you even been motivated by the desire to revolutionize the legal regime in the country?

What are the tips and strategies you would like to share with our readers who are currently law students?

Do you think top notch grades have given you an advantage over others in your arena of litigation?

How difficult would you say the first few years after graduation was for you?

Can you tell us about the law diploma you pursued from NUJS offered by iPleaders?

How difficult would you say it is for a fresh law graduate to get inducted into a litigation firm?

How helpful has been mooting in litigation?

How did your first hearing as an independent practitioner go?

What is your workday like?

What prompted you to leave a firm and start independent practice?

How is your experience presenting lectures on subjects like Cyber Law and Cyber Forensics?

Many notable jurists have stated that it is important to know the judge more than the case. How much truth do you find in this?

How difficult would you say it is to build a reputed practice?

What would be your parting message to law students who want to litigate just after graduation?

How would you introduce yourself to our readers?

What motivated you to choose law as a career?

Prior to entering law school did you ever wish to be a Judge?

When did you start preparing for the exams?

How valuable do you think coaching institutions can be for preparation of judicial exams?

What are your views on taking notes in class?

Did you undergo a rigorous academic schedule?

Tell us about your time at the Judicial Academy.

Which are the prime skills and expertise required to crack the exam?

What is the importance of CGPA for law students for judiciary aspirants?

What is a typical day at work like?

What do you think of the Indian judicial system?

What will be your suggestions to our readers who wish to join judiciary?

How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

What motivated you to choose law as a career?

As a law student which activities did you participate in?

What kind of work did you have to do during your internship at AZB Partners and Nishith Desai Associates?

How was your experience interning with Senior Advocates?

Did you pursue your internships throughout law school as part of a deliberate plan or did it all just happen by chance?

What does your CS score card read?

When and what inspired you to pursue CS course?

How did you remember the sections of the Acts in your syllabus and leading case laws on varied areas of law?

How did you prepare for the exams?

How would you say a student can go about studying and having distinction in CS subjects?

Did you take any guidance for preparation?

Any dos and don’ts you would like to share with the future CS aspirants?

Do you think that being from a non-NLU made any difference?

What are your plans after graduating?