Super Lawyer

Tag: AOR

  • Kailash Vasdev, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, shares his experience on the struggles, challenges of a career in litigation

    Kailash Vasdev, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, shares his experience on the struggles, challenges of a career in litigation

    Kailash Vasdev is a Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India. He has worked with Senior Counsel Nonit Lal, then Justice BN Kirpal, former Chief Justice of India. He cleared the AOR exam in 1981. He became member executive of Supreme Court Bar Association in 1991 and was instrumental in creating 1st Advocates Welfare Fund in Supreme Court. He was designated as Senior Advocate in 2000. He has a huge number of cases to his name, including sensitive cases like that on the death penalty. He has more than 1400 reported judgements to his name.
    In this interview we talk to him about:
    • Designation of Senior Advocates
    • Qualities expected of a fresh entrant in litigation
    • Importance of mentors at the starting of one’s career.

     

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

    I am a lawyer who respects the law and prefer to discharge my duties without fear. It is a lawyer’s obligation to discharge his professional obligations with promptitude, correctness, and expedition.

     

    COULD YOU TELL OUR READERS ABOUT THE FIRST TIME THAT YOU APPEARED IN COURT?

    Within fifteen days of joining the profession in 1975, we were appointed as amicus to assist detenues under the Detention laws prevailing during the emergency. We were to assist the detenues in obtaining facilities in detention like medical care and other amenities. I knew nothing about detention. The Judge and the Additional Solicitor knew everything about this law. It was challenging for a fifteen days old lawyer to stand frightened in court with a single purpose of getting in client relief. Success came with learning.

     

    HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO HAVE MENTORS FOR A YOUNG LAWYER IN STARTING HIS CAREER IN LITIGATION?

    That can be controversial because in today’s professional ethics new entrants necessarily look at high incomes. Good mentors do not have high incomes because they follow ethics both in fees and practice. Youngsters do not accept this. It was after fifteen years that we felt that we had learned some law. Today the feelings are different because all learning comes from behind the screen. Therefore, mentor selection is a choice for young lawyers.

     

    WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO BECOME AN AOR?

    Drafting – learning to draft well because when you draft a petition you learn to be precise on facts and specific on the law. The absence of either kills a good case. Drafting is a learning experience.

     

    DID YOU REQUIRE ANY PREPARATION TO APPEAR FOR THE SUPREME COURT AOR EXAM?

    There is more to the AOR post exam. There is a prescribed syllabus. One needs to follow the syllabus and prepare themselves for the exam. But the real skills are developed post the exam.

     

    WHAT SKILL SET IS REQUIRED FOR A YOUNG LAWYER AIMING TO BE DESIGNATED SENIOR ADVOCATE IN THEIR CAREER?

    There are no more skills set – especially after 2017 judgement laying down guidelines for designation of a senior advocate. Eligibility set down by S.C. contractionary to Advocate Act where seniorship was a privilege by the court.

    After Supreme Court judgement and High Court Rules it requires eligibility and skills are no longer required.

     

    WHAT QUALITIES WILL YOU LOOK FOR HIRING A JUNIOR?

    A young entrant is to learn as he gets along. He must be dedicated. The only single requirement is dedication.

     

    PLEASE TELL OUR READERS OF SOME OF YOUR MOST MEMORABLE CASES?

    1. Bhushan Singh v. the State of Punjab, 1983 judgment: Three people were sentenced to death; the Supreme Court acquitted one and reduced the sentence of two to life.
    2. R.C. Sood v. the State of Rajasthan: High Court had created false evidence and relied on non-existing persons.
    3. Detention Cases: On false implication, many people were taken into custody. The satisfaction of getting a detenue released on a false accusation is unparalleled.

     

     WHAT WOULD BE YOUR WORD OF ADVICE TO OUR READERS?

    Keep money as your last call. It comes with dedication. Most importantly dedicate your time reading, understanding and improving the judicially settled law because you can change the judicial pronouncements.

     

  • Arjun Krishnan, Advocate-on-Record, on arbitration, studying at Oxford, and securing AIR 2 in the AoR examination

    Arjun Krishnan, Advocate-on-Record, on arbitration, studying at Oxford, and securing AIR 2 in the AoR examination

    Arjun graduated from NLSIU, Bangalore, in 2005. Thereafter, he received the Inlaks Scholarship to study at New College, University of Oxford, in the prestigious BCL programme. Since 2006, he has been practicing in India. Between 2006-2011/12 he was the junior of Gourab Banerji, Sr. Advocate & Barrister. In 2012, he took the Advocate-on-Record exam, and was awarded a silver medal and the Mukesh Goswami Memorial Prize for obtaining the 2nd rank in the Supreme Court’s AOR examination. Thereafter, he branched out and set up an independent legal practice.

    In this interview we speak to him about:

    • His time at NLSIU
    • Preparing for the AoR examination
    • His new role at Samvad Partners

    How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers? Do you come from a family of lawyers?

    I do not come from a family of lawyers. Some of my more distant relatives were lawyers, but that did not influence my career, or my decision to pursue law. Having said that, I am from what you would call an ‘upper middle class’ background. Where you start from does make a difference to where you end up – without that I probably wouldn’t have made some of the decisions or taken some of the opportunities that came my way. Perhaps, these choices or opportunities would not have presented themselves to persons who were not as in the same position as me.

     

    What was it that got you interested in the legal field?

    When I started my legal education, I had no idea about the law, other than the distorted picture of what cinema and television gave us in the late 1990s. My father had a big role to play. He was keen that I join a profession, and had heard about the National Law School at Bangalore. He encouraged me to give the entrance exam (there was no CLAT back then), which I did. I passed – I was last on the list of candidates who made it. In retrospect, I was quite lucky, because my 12th Standard board exam performance was not exactly stellar. I got into the legal profession without knowing anything about it.

    How was your experience in NLSIU? 

    Simply put, it was a defining and enriching experience – the value of which is inestimable. In every way – socially, intellectually, morally – I think I came out of the institution a better version of myself. And everyone there made a big contribution in this. We had some excellent professors. They taught students to question and challenge what they had read about. This is a really important skill for a lawyer – we do this every day, sometimes without thinking. Here I must commend the multi-disciplinary approach at NLSIU. We had to read history, economics and political science apart from the law. In my experience, it was our history professor – Dr. V.S. Elizabeth, who first taught us to challenge and question some of things we took as gospel truth. I hope she reads this and knows what a great contribution she made. There were a number of others who were great teachers in their own way – Prof. Jayagovind, Prof. Ramakrishna, Prof. U.R. Rai, Prof. A.K. Rai, Prof. Ramesh, and many more.

    But more than anything else, it was the other students there who challenged you to do better and be a better person all the time. My closest and best friends are all from my college days. All law students should make the most of their years in college. The lessons learnt outside the classroom are generally the more important ones.

    As far as extra-curricular activities were concerned, I was part of the Literary and Debating Society. Quizzing was very big in Bangalore back then. We reached the semi-finals of University Challenge, a TV Quiz Show. A team that I was part of was ranked second in the State of Karnataka. Frankly, I found mooting to be quite boring, though it does teach you a lot of skills you can use in the practice of law. I think legal writing is far more important. I did some of that – writing articles and trying to get them published in journals. As a lawyer, the ability to put across legal arguments clearly in the written form is a valuable skill – whether you end up as a corporate lawyer or as a disputes lawyer.

    I don’t really count internships as extra-curricular because they were a part of the curriculum when I was at NLS. We got grades based on the feedback the lawyers would give the interns and based on what we did during the internships. I think its important to take internships seriously. What to do after law school is a difficult choice, at the best of times. It is important to try out different kinds of legal work to see what suits your personality.

    Did Law School prepare me for the real world? – yes and no. I think legal practice is very different from learning about the law. Nothing can prepare you for all the things you are going to face when you get into a law office.

    But some of the skills you learn in law school can help you a great deal in legal practice. Firstly, the basics are important – contract law, criminal law, property, constitutional law, tort – without this you will spend a lot more time struggling in the initial years. Secondly, you don’t need to know all the law, but you do need to know where to find it. I can’t stress the importance of good legal research skills in the workplace enough. By this, I don’t just mean being skilled at using a legal database (though that is also important nowadays) – you have to know where to start. Usually, this is with the statute itself or with a good book.

    What were your areas of interest in law school? How did you recognise and cultivate such interests?

    In law school, I used to be very interested in Intellectual Property as a subject. I read a lot about the subject, attended all the talks and lectures about this field. I even took on the assignment of being a teaching assistant. Alas, the charm wore off when I joined legal practice. As a subject, I think it is more interesting in the books, than in actual practice. Competition law, on the other hand, continues to be of interest to me. I have been fortunate to be able to work with the Competition Commission of India on a number of cases.

     

    Can you describe your experience at Oxford? 

    The whole Oxford experience was nothing short of magical. I went to New College (which ironically was founded in 1379, as the New College of St. Mary of Winchester at Oxford). It really is the most magnificent and beautiful place. I was fortunate to be amongst an amazing group of graduate students, from across disciplines.

    I think in terms of quality and teaching methodology, there is no course like the BCL at Oxford. Its one of the few graduate courses where there is a tutorial system – essentially either individually or a small group of students sit together with the law tutor to discuss the law. We were taught by some of the leading lights in their respective fields. For instance, Conflict of Laws was taught by Professors Adrian Briggs and Edwin Peel. One course which stood out for me was Philosophical Foundations of the Common Law – I could actually make connections between jurisdprudence and the actual practice of law.

    I was very fortunate to be awarded a scholarship by the Inlaks Foundation to cover almost all my expenses of studying abroad. I am not sure if the process remains the same – but there was a written application and two rounds of interview. During the final round there were at least a dozen people in the room, all past scholars and some of them famous personalities who were instantly recognizable. It was quite inspiring to see what people had gone on to do after being awarded an Inlaks scholarship.

    How can students increase their chances of obtaining a scholarship? Working hard and getting good grades is very important. There is no substitute for that. Other than that, you have to set yourself apart from the crowd. Another very important thing is your references – be it professional or academic ones. Unless you were able to impress your professors and senior colleagues at work, you are unlikely to get good references.

     

    What are your views about the importance of further studies beyond the undergraduate level? 

    There are two or three aspects to this, from the point of view of someone who doesn’t want to pursue an academic career but become a practising lawyer. The first is that it’s a great experience – in and of itself. You do learn to think about the law in new and different ways. If the graduate degree has a specialisation, then this would certainly help your career in that specialised field. The second thing to know is, further studies will not make you a more successful lawyer. Just because you have an LLM doesn’t mean that you are better than the rest. The qualities that go into the making of a successful lawyer in this country have more to do with hard work, perseverance, the ability to interact with and impress clients, and most of all – a healthy slice of good fortune. The third thing is – money. Further studies (particularly abroad) can be quite expensive. If you cannot afford it, or you do not have funding, then you should not worry too much about further studies. It will not make or break your career. But if you can (afford it) – go for it!

     

    What made you decide to litigate instead of taking up a job at a law firm, which seems to be the trend these days?

    When I was in Law School, I interned with a number of litigating lawyers. I also interned with a law firm. But I found that I found litigation more interesting – I could see myself doing that for the rest of my life. One of the persons I interned with was Gourab Banerji, a barrister and a Senior Advocate. He is one of the finest commercial lawyers in the country, and very fine human being. I was very sure that I wanted to work with him when I completed my studies. Working in his chambers as a junior advocate to Mr. Banerji was my first, and only job. Working with him gave me the skills and confidence I needed to begin practice independently.

    But I couldn’t have done it without the support of my parents, who also live in Delhi. I always knew I had their support, and didn’t have to worry about paying rent or worry too much about money. Without the support of family –both  financial and moral, practicing independently would have been a much bigger challenge than it was.

     

    How did you prepare for the AoR examination?

    (Arjun ranked second in the country in the AoR examination.)

    It is not an easy exam, and I am firmly of the belief that you have to take some time off from work to prepare. I took a little over a month off, and tried to avoid going to court altogether. Luckily the exams are held in early June, and the Supreme Court closes in mid-May for the summer vacation. I think the key is to practice writing because finishing the paper and attempting all the questions can be very challenging.

     

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

    I do remember my first significant appearance and it is a very vivid memory. It was a case in the regular hearing list of the Supreme Court, before Justice A.K. Mathur and Justice Dalveer Bhandari. The case had been in the regular list for months and it never used to reach. But that day, it did reach. My Senior, Mr. Banerji, was arguing a case in another court. The briefing counsel was also held up elsewhere. I was the only one there. I asked for a short adjournment, but the bench was not agreeable. They passed over the matter and told me to be ready to argue. I must confess, to my great embarrassment, that I was not prepared. I quickly went over the written notes, and when my turn came, I made my submissions to the Court to the best of my ability. I remember being extremely nervous and my hands were shaking. Eventually my Senior arrived and rescued me. I have to say that the Bench was extremely indulgent, and I will be forever grateful for that experience. It’s a reported judgment – “Nadia District Primary School Council v. Sristidhar Biswas & ors”. But I learnt a lesson the hard way – if you are holding a brief, be prepared to argue it, or at least know what it is about. It’s a story I always share with my junior colleagues in the hope that they will do better than I did, if caught in a similar situation.

    As far as the attitude towards junior counsel is concerned (I can only speak from anecdotal and personal experience), I have had a varied experience. In the Delhi High Court, I think the experience, on the whole, has been that judges have been very patient and encouraging to juniors, as long as they are able to exhibit that they are well prepared. In the Supreme Court given the stage of proceedings, the time for presenting your point is quite short. It is a very difficult skill to put the best part of your case, anticipating what the Judges have in mind. For this reason, more experienced counsel tend to fare better.

     

    What caused the decision to join as a partner at Samvad Partners? 

    There are a number of reasons. The primary reason was that I found that there are limitations to practising as an independent practitioner. Without the organisation and infrastructure that the law firm setup provides, it is not possible to meet the challenges posed by large commercial litigations. At the same time, being part of Samvad Partners does not mean I would have to give up on arguing cases, which I enjoy. It was a win-win for both Samvad, and me, personally. I have been interacting with them for quite some time now, and I was impressed not only with their professionalism but also their ethics. Another reason is that, whether we like it or not, the hitherto disorganised or unorganised legal market is tending towards greater organisation – in the form of partnership firms and LLPs. But after having practised as an independent practitioner, there are very few places that I could adjust to working in – Samvad Partners seemed to be the perfect fit for me. My role at Samvad is to grow their disputes practice in Delhi from the ground up, and in this, the firm has given me a lot of freedom and flexibility. Above all, Samvad is a partnership in the truest sense of the word – everyone gets their due and the work environment is underlined by compassion.

     

    Can you give law students some advice on how to go about researching and drafting their work? 

    I think the important thing is to first concentrate on the written work that is part of the curriculum. Don’t plagiarise – when you start out at law school no one expects you to produce original academic research. Concentrate on in-depth research. Once you start seeing that there are two sides to every argument through your research, you will be ready to start writing something that may have a chance of getting published. To begin with try to get your articles published in the journal sections of law reports, and then move to peer-reviewed journals.

     

    Generally speaking, what qualities are most important to succeed in the field of litigation and how can law students develop them?

    Of course, hard work and perseverance are the most important qualities. But I have to admit that I was very naive when I joined the bar. If I had known how difficult it was going to be, I am sure I would have had second thoughts. I always used to wonder why do juniors in litigation get paid so little. After ten years of practice, I still think juniors are a terribly under-paid lot, though there has been an overall improvement in pay. But there is a flip-side to this. If I was paid handsomely, what incentive would there be to make a niche for myself and develop a clientele of my own?

     

    Do you think arbitration is the future of dispute resolution in India? 

    I think arbitration has a future in India, but it is not the future of dispute resolution in India. Arbitration in India suffers from a lot of problems and we are quite a long way away from addressing them. Unless we sort out our problems with justice delivery through the system of courts, we can’t begin to address the real, practical problems facing arbitration in India today. The people who are stakeholders in the arbitration system are not different from the stakeholders in the court system. Lawyers in India (on the whole) take on too much work, and too much of that work is underpaid. They are not able to devote sufficient attention to any particular case. Wherever we see arbitration thrive in the west, schedules are maintained scrupulously. Part of the reason for this is that lawyers are incentivized to do this. So if a court hearing or arbitration is fixed for a particular set of dates, nothing else is scheduled around the same dates. A lot of things have to change for this to happen in India. This is just one example. As a result, arbitration is neither speedy nor cost effective. I think arbitration clauses are inserted into contracts nowadays without much thought. Nobody seems to be thinking – are we better off with or without an arbitration clause in this contract?

     

    How do you stay up to date about the recent developments in all the fields you work in and have an interest in? 

    My Senior advised me to go through the loose/unbound parts of law reports as soon as they were delivered to the office. It was a great way to keep in touch with the latest judgments. Nowadays, things are much easier – all the updates come to your inbox or through social media!

     

    What advice do you have for our readers who are primarily college students?

    Whatever you do, enjoy yourself. If you don’t, you will regret it. These are the best days of your life and they won’t come back.

  • Vaibhav Kumar, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India, on litigation, ADR, and his diverse experience

    Vaibhav Kumar, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India, on litigation, ADR, and his diverse experience

    Vaibhav graduated from Campus Law Centre, University of Delhi, in 2008. He has handled litigation as well as advised clients across a broad range of issues like commercial disputes, information technology law, intellectual property law, drafting and vetting of contracts, sale/lease deeds, corporate issues, consumer disputes, arbitrations, writ petitions, appeals, real-estate, matrimonial & family disputes, Wills and estate planning etc. An ardent supporter of alternate dispute resolution mechanisms like mediation and counselling, he has also assisted several clients in resolving their disputes amicably. Amongst his clients are up and coming companies in the SaaS, ITES and e-commerce sectors who deploy cloud-based solutions like AWS, Salesforce etc. for enterprises across all sectors, as well as other medium and small enterprises whom he has helped on various aspects like corporate structuring, shareholder issues, advisory services related to expansion to other territories, drafting of Master Service Agreements with clients, Vendor agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Employee agreements etc.

    In this interview we speak to him about:

    • Being an Advocate-on-Record
    • His passion for litigation
    • His interest in ADR

     

    Given that most of our readers are law students and young lawyers, how will you introduce yourself to them? 

    I am an independent lawyer, with a broad focus from civil to corporate matters. Early in the profession, I recognized that practising law at all different levels – from the District courts to the High Courts to the Supreme Court – was not only something I enjoyed, but was something that gave unique value to my clients. Since I practise along this broad spectrum, not only do I serve the A-Z needs of my litigating clients, but I am also in a unique position to advise my corporate clients. Having recently been designated as an Advocate-on-Record, I look forward to the AOR practice adding another dimension to my practice.

    I gained inspiration to study law from my maternal grandfather, Justice Gyan Chand Mathur, who was a judge several decades ago in the Allahabad High Court. Unfortunately, my decision to join the legal profession came several years after he passed away, so de facto I have had to build my practice as a first-generation lawyer. I did not even benefit from his comprehensive legal library, which we donated to a charitable institution soon after he passed away.

     

    What made you decide to pursue a career in law after obtaining a BA degree? 

    I earned my B.A. degree from Kenyon College, USA, with a major in Anthropology and a minor in Mathematics. At the time of my undergraduate studies, law was not anywhere in my mental framework, and initially I had considered a career in academia in the field of Anthropology. However, several circumstances brought me back to India, when I narrowed my choices down to doing a MBA or Law.

    The legal profession stood out to me as uniquely diverse in that a lawyer could in the same day work on a large corporate matter as well as on a pro-bono/ public interest matter. Secondly, I recognized that so long as you worked across a range of matters and didn’t narrow yourself, the variety of cases you can be involved in would ensure that life never got boring and each day would be different from the previous one, even more so if one was practising in different courts. Especially at that age, the idea of being stuck at a desk, day in and out, seemed extremely undesirable to me. Thirdly, if you have your own practice, you have the power to determine the pace and path of your professional career. I had recognized early on that building my own practice was a definite goal for me, and I have been extremely happy in this role as an independent practitioner. And so, the choice to do Law was a fairly easy one over doing a MBA.

    I graduated with a three-year LL.B. degree from the Faculty of Law (CLC), University of Delhi. I am a big proponent of the three year LL.B. program after a Bachelor’s degree, because having a Bachelor’s degree in something unrelated gives a person a broad horizon and a general understanding of a larger world. Law is something that we will knock our heads against for the rest of our career, and the years after school are some of the most formative years of a person. It is not by accident that historically some of the most accomplished litigators were people with a tremendous breadth of interest in the arts, music, literature, etc.

     

    How was your experience in law school? Have you ever felt the NLU- non NLU divide?

    Ours was a three-year program, and there weren’t many opportunities for us to interact with NLU students. In the practice of law, I feel there is no divide between NLU/ Non-NLU and really what defines you in this profession is your personal abilities and achievements, not which law college you come from. Maybe if you are working in a firm, the institution you studied Law might be relevant for the first couple of years in the profession, especially in the recruitment of associates fresh out of law school, but after that it’s not much of a factor.

     

    What was your first job after law school? 

    I started my practice working with Ms. Maninder Acharya, who at that time was a standing counsel for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, and has since been designated as a Senior Advocate. Her office was like jumping into the proverbial deep water, as with the volume and time sensitivity of our work, I had to hit the ground running immediately. With multiple matters listed every day (if I recall correctly the maximum reached 26!), her office was perfect in giving me unmatched exposure and responsibility in handling matters myself. I found myself appearing almost daily before the Delhi High Court and that helped me tremendously in gaining confidence in arguing matters.

    From Ms. Acharya’s office, I moved to Mr. Virender Goswami’s office, which was a truly formative experience. Mr. Goswami is in my opinion of the most formidable lawyers I have seen especially when it comes to witness examination, which is an art that is unfortunately lost on most in our profession. In his office, I was given the opportunity to be personally responsible for several matters, and was given the chance to appear in several courts, especially the District courts, where I feel the true meat-and-bones of any case really lies.

    I got both these positions by way of recommendations through personal and well-meaning contacts, and I am thankful for that serendipity.

     

    How important is CGPA to recruiters? 

    Everywhere that I have worked so far, has been in a litigating position and typically in small to medium offices, so I can’t speak for recruitment in corporate and large law firms. In my experience, while every recruiter would certainly want to review your resumé, good recruiters would put the most emphasis in the interview, because that’s where you can tell a lot about a person’s personality, maturity and capability. In my opinion, there’s little correlation between your CGPA scores and your professional success, so for a recruiter to place undue importance on CGPAs etc. would eventually be detrimental to their own organization.

     

    Do you recall the first time you argued a matter in court? 

    If anyone ever told you that they were confident the first time they appeared before a court or argued a matter, they would be lying! Arguing in court is immensely challenging, because if you want to be good at it, you need to not only know your facts and law inside out, you also need to know how to read the judge and the flow of the proceedings. While arguing, you are of course a bundle of nerves, but if you do perform well, in my experience most judges are very receptive and encouraging, as are other members of the bar. On occasion, I have had the counsel for the other side comment positively on my arguments, and that always adds a little spring in your step! If I had to give only one piece of advice, it would be to never ever appear before a judge without reading the file, even if you are just stepping in for a colleague to ask for a passover or adjournment.

     

    Can you describe an ordinary day of a litigator?

    The best part about being a litigator, and a generalist at that, is that there is no “ordinary” day. I could be working on a motor accident compensation case one minute, then a property dispute, and then be advising a client on how to structure their company when expanding to new areas, and then be counselling a couple having marital discord. While you work as an associate under other lawyers, they would of course set the tone for how the office works in terms of work timings etc. I have seen lawyers who are unforgiving of unpunctuality (“9:00AM means 9:00AM, and not 9:01AM”) and I have seen lawyers who give you complete flexibility to work as you want to, even from home, provided that the work is never compromised and deadlines are met. I personally gravitate towards the latter, as I think not only does it keep everyone in the office happy, but also boosts productivity and creativity at work.

     

    What are the skills one needs to develop in order to succeed as a litigator?

    That is an extremely tough question, not in the least because it presupposes that there is a single definition to what is “success” as a litigator. Some people define it in terms of money and the car that you drive, while others define it in terms of the respect you get from the bar and the bench, and there are numerous other criteria you could posit. What each person needs to do is to discern what is their definition of success, and then understand the skills you need to achieve it.

    That said, a few skills that that one could say are somewhat universal are communication skills, your ability to think out of the box, paying attention to detail, ability to deal with different personalities with respect to your client, the other side’s lawyer, the judge etc. Moreover, as a litigator you need to be master of a number of other skills in order to run a successful practice, not the least of which are time management, ability to manage an office, ability to keep a track of billing etc. One of the most important tasks in running an independent practice is business development, which comes easy to some and harder for others.

     

    How did you secure a position at O.P. Khaitan? 

    As with my other positions, it was a colleague who was aware of a requirement at the firm who introduced me to them. By this time, I had practiced with a number of lawyers, and I felt joining a firm was the natural progression towards my career growth. At O.P. Khaitan, I worked on a number of litigation matters ranging from corporate disputes, real estate disputes, matrimonial matters, etc. and was also introduced to new aspects like filing trademark applications globally for clients who were expanding their business in a big way. I had a great experience there and got to work with the Managing Partner and a Senior Partner directly, and was also given the responsibility to handle many matters on my own. My decision to leave was based on an offer I received from Luthra & Luthra.

     

    How did you secure a position at Luthra & Luthra? 

    I joined Luthra & Luthra to work under a partner with whom I was acquainted over the years. He was looking for someone with my experience and the ability to handle matters independently, and I think it was a good fit both ways. In L&L, apart from general litigation, I got the chance to work on some high stakes matters such as those involving some of the largest telecom companies, arbitration matters etc. I left L&L when I felt it was time to start my own practice, and I had enough experience, skills and confidence commensurate with what is required to build your own practice.

     

    How was working at a law firm different from working at a lawyer’s chamber?

    The smallest office I have worked in was two lawyers (myself included!) and the largest about 200. They are completely different experiences, and I encourage young lawyers to try them both before making a long-term choice. Law firms are great in terms of the exposure they give you to large clients and important matters, as well as to have a steady and good income, but can be restrictive in terms of personal responsibility, bureaucracy, politics and most importantly skill growth. Working in a lawyer’s chamber can be invaluable in terms of the skills and independence you have no choice but to embrace.

     

    What are your areas of specialisation as a lawyer? 

    I have been conscious of not narrowing down my work to specialized domains. Even in terms of my clientele, I assist SMEs as well as individual clients. I love having a wide breadth of work and enjoy exploring new domains of law that I have not previously dealt with.

    As for fresh graduates finding their domain, if you do not already have a strong leaning towards a particular specialization by the time you graduate (and it’s okay not to), I recommend working for a chamber or two that has a wide breadth of work, and you will over time either organically gravitate towards a specialization, or like me find out that you prefer to be a generalist.

    Can you briefly tell us about some important matters you have worked on? 

    I wouldn’t be at liberty to talk about specific matters. However, as far as preparing for a day in court, there are no surprises there. If there is an argument, one needs to be well versed with the file and the relevant case law, and you need to anticipate the arguments the opposing counsel is likely to lead, and prepare for your response to them as well. That said, there is never a point you feel 100% prepared. Every now and then, you will feel prepared, only to appear and have the judge throw a googly at you. An important skill set is how you respond and react on your feet in this position.

     

    Have you ever considered pursuing higher education? 

    Over the course of my career I had thought about applying to LL.M. programs on several occasions, but never did. To summarize a whole lot of advice I got from numerous people in India and abroad is this: a LL.M. is great for your personal development in terms of your knowledge and skills (which you can control through studying and hard work), and can also be great for developing a network (which you unfortunately have little control over and left largely to luck). That said, most LL.M.s especially abroad are extremely expensive, and from a financial perspective you get little-to-no-value in terms of career growth and jobs. Most people who get LL.M. degrees return to the same city and perhaps even the same office they were with before, with little-to-no-growth in terms of promotions, salary etc. (certainly not commensurate with the money you would have paid for the program). So, in a nutshell for most people: if you are blessed with the financial means and have value for personal growth (skills and knowledge), then pursue a LL.M. Else, don’t.

    What is the process of being designated an Advocate on Record? 

    To become an AOR, there are some stringent qualifications you have to meet, but briefly put you need to work with an established AOR for at least a year, and then pass the AOR examinations that are held once a year. The examinations are tough, and it doesn’t make it easier that most people appearing would have last taken an exam anywhere from 5-10 years ago. Nor are most people accustomed any longer to writing for 3+ hours straight every day for 4 days straight! I don’t think there is one set path to success in the exams, especially since the examiners can change every year (and hence what they look for in the answers also changes), but what worked for me was to review the past several years’ exam papers, as well as to use the literature provided on the Supreme Court website and make my own notes. If you practice with a good AOR, then the Practice & Procedures and Drafting papers may require little effort and just a little bit of brushing up. For me personally, the last paper, on leading cases, was the most difficult as there is a LOT of information to digest there, and I would highly recommend that you space out reading those judgments over one or two months leading to the exam.

     

    What do you think is the future of ADR in India?

    I am a big believer in the power of mediation and counselling. I have seen cases where you would think the parties would not be ready to even talk to each other, much less compromise, eventually open up in the semi-formal setting of a mediation before an independent mediator, and resolve their issue amicably. The power of mediation and counselling is immense especially in domains like matrimonial law, where prolonged litigation really only serves the lawyers in the case, and the parties end up depleting their mental, emotional and financial strengths. My advice to clients, in matrimonial matters especially, is to aim for a divorce by mutual consent, and even in the business world, most business leaders recognize that litigation should only be a last resort after expending all efforts to find a middle ground. Increasingly, businesses are themselves building in mandatory mediation in the dispute resolution provisions in their agreements.

    However, I am less optimistic about arbitration, as I feel the same deficiencies have crept up in arbitration as is the bane of litigation (long adjournments, unnecessary formalities, arbitrariness, bureaucracy etc.). However, if we were to embrace the model used abroad where formal institutions administer arbitrations and mediations with more adherence to a transparent and efficient process, I think that could be a game-changer.

     

    What are the challenges you have faced in building your career as it stands today? 

    The single biggest challenge for me as an independent practitioner has been business development, and the never-ending process of looking for clients and work continuously. As lawyers are not allowed to advertise or solicit for work (which therefore relegates lawyers and clients meeting each other only through word of mouth) this particularly makes it harder for first generation lawyers to build their practice, and easier for generational lawyers to build upon the existing practice. The best that I can do is to maintain high-standards for the services I provide to my clients and a high level of integrity, and trust that satisfied client would not only return but would recommend me to others. So far, this strategy has worked for me and a majority of my work comes through referrals, and repeat clients.

     

    How do you maintain a work life balance?

    A part of my decision to go independent was to be able to manage my own time, clients, personal and professional time as per my needs. I am fortunate to have my office in Neeti Bagh, which also happens to be my residence. Due to this, I am able to cut travel time, and most courts are quite close too. I feel a lot of lawyers are victims of inadequate time management skills and regressive work timing policies, and a lot of time in law offices especially is spent unproductively. By culling this unproductive time from my life, I have been able to be actively involved in raising my daughter, and have also had the time to follow other pursuits like travelling. I see this change in my other colleagues who have their own independent practices as well, who have been able to balance their focus not only on work, but also on personal time and space.

     

    What advice do you have for our readers who are primarily college students?

    I think a lot of lawyers you have interviewed have probably covered the basics. What I would add is that you should use your internships and time in college to see how different career paths in the legal profession work. Don’t do it for the certificate. This is an invaluable time for you to explore and discover what attracts you the most. Law has a very high attrition rate (globally) with very few people studying law ending up being involved in the legal profession five years after graduation. I think a lot of that has to do with unrealistic expectations of your day-to-day life in a law office, and I know of several young lawyers who burnt out too fast working in offices which demanded fourteen to sixteen hour workdays, six to seven days a week. The good part is that even if you decide not to have a legal career at the end of it, the law degree is uniquely advantageous in that it will enhance virtually whatever you choose to do in life.

  • Debesh Panda, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India, on mooting, internships, and arbitration

    Debesh Panda, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India, on mooting, internships, and arbitration

    Debesh graduated in law from NLSIU, in 2008. He is an Advocate on Record before the Supreme Court of India. He is also regularly engaged to appear before various High Courts and Tribunals. He specialises in Arbitration and his thesis at the Geneva Masters in International Dispute Settlement, focused on the intersection of the Arbitration regime in India with the standards prescribed under the New York Convention.

    In this interview we speak to him about:

    • His time at NLSIU
    • His passion for mooting
    • Studying in Geneva

    How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

    I’m a first generation lawyer, practising in New Delhi, after graduating in 2008. I’m originally from Bhubaneswar, Orissa. Although I primarily practise as an Advocate on Record before the Supreme Court of India, a significant part of my practice involves matters before various High Courts and Tribunals, both in Delhi and outside Delhi.

     

    Why did you choose to pursue a degree in law?

    I got done with school after 10th grade (we can opt to join Junior College in 11th grade in Orissa). I took up science and started preparing for IIT, since that is pretty much what everyone was doing and my family also wanted me to consider a career in science and engineering. A year later, I realised it was a mistake. I also did not want to take up my father’s profession (Chartered Accountancy) since I had seen it from my childhood and realised that I did not have the aptitude for it. That’s when I started looking around for options. One of my father’s dear friends, who is a leading practitioner of International Arbitration, was kind enough to spare time over his summer vacations and gave me a bird’s eye view of what he does as a profession. Deviling with him over basic concepts that vacation at Delhi piqued my interest in law, and that’s how I ended up applying to NLSIU.

     

    Give us a brief overview of your life at NLSIU. 

    Law school was truly a life changing experience. Credit must go to the ethos and the culture of education, which is largely peer based. NLS made me think, but within the microcosm of some extraordinary individuals who were always happy to give direction to such thinking. Like every academic campus, there was politics, but it was self-contained and self-tempered and not like what you see in many academic campuses these days. One reason for that could be that the community understands what it has taken to earn the tag and in order to retain that tag, one must keep achieving academically without letting political considerations predominate. The entire culture of NLS is built around the student community. Even the alumni are extremely well connected with each other. It has been my experience, for instance, when I was mooting on an unfamiliar area of law, that I could virtually close my eyes and approach any senior or alumni who had exposure to that area. It was amazing to see the kind of effort they put in to help me out. I don’t know how it works in other universities but I am happy to acknowledge that I owe a lot to NLSIU. Even now, I try and do whatever best I can, whenever someone from law school writes to me or calls me up for any help with mooting or any other activity. I am also in touch with some of the faculty, like Dr. Sairam Bhat. I try to contribute in whatever way possible towards the institution.

    What are the subjects that you took particular interest in, during your law school days? 

    I was not the most academically inclined when I was at law school. When I graduated, I did not even have a five point CGPA. The only lectures I thoroughly enjoyed were that of Professor U.R. Rai (Constitutional law) and Mrinal Satish (Criminal law), but that was more because of their perspectives rather than the subject itself. I actually loved mooting/advocacy, which is what drew me towards law in the first place. During the course of moot courts at law school, particularly the Vis East moot which I participated in during my fourth year, I developed an affinity towards Commercial law and International Arbitration. Although we crashed out in the Semi Finals on a razor thin margin, my partner Amarta Roy and I both received Honourable Mentions. Some of the arbitrators who heard us during the arguments fondly remembered us, as I discovered, when I went back a few years later as an Arbitrator. Two of them have remained in touch although it has been nearly ten years since we first met, and have also helped me throughout my professional career. So, compared to the subjects taught at law school, I would say mooting played a greater role in my career and the choices I made. 

    What activities, both academic and non-academic that you engaged in as a law student? 

    Anyone who knew me in law school would vouch for the fact that the only non-academic activity I engaged in was eating out! I would sincerely recommend it as a “necessary experience” if you are in Bangalore. It is an activity that drives me even today, although most joints at Delhi do not hold a candle to some of those old favourites at Bangalore! The only other memorable activity I remember was being a part of the Moot Court Society (with an amazing bunch of people like Mihir Naniwadekar, Preet Inder Singh and Shantanu Naravane) and co-founding the NLS International Arbitration Moot in 2008.

     

    What drew you towards arbitration, and dispute resolution in general?

    In my practice so far, I have not yet come across any two matters, which are exactly alike. That is what I enjoy about dispute resolution, there is always something new to work on everyday! I do not see myself becoming a practitioner who specialises in only one area of law because variety is the essence of my profession as a litigating lawyer. Sometimes, I think of cases as a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces are missing and both sides invite the judges to paint the missing pieces and put the picture together from their points of view. That’s when you start realising that what the most successful practitioners of this art do – they have perfected the art of balancing out when being strategically technical with the law gets results, and when you must discard technicality and dive headlong into the matter to present a perspective that would meet the sense of justice of the Court. The law just ends up filling up the vacant slots in the process. As far as your question on arbitration goes, I guess it stems from a love for civil trial. A good trial is more a battle of the wits of the lawyers rather than their respective clients and is often, a pleasure to conduct. Unfortunately, given how overworked our trial courts are, it sometimes ends up not being very professionally satisfying. Arbitration lets you have your cake professionally as a trial lawyer and eat it too!

    What kind of internships did you engage in during your student years which you feel were invaluable to you in reaching your current position?

    I used internships at law school to get a sense what I did not want to do, rather than what I wanted to do. I started in Orissa High Court in my first year, where I felt pretty lost and did not get any clue of what was happening. The second year I worked at a firm in Delhi that specialised in Dispute Resolution and realised that I was not cut out to work in a firm. The third year I focused on criminal trial and decided that criminal defence in trial courts was sometimes too hardcore to be my cup of tea. There was also a time in between when I got tired of the law and on a whim, dabbled in investment banking. So I ended up doing a stint at Goldman Sachs, only to realise that I loved the law a lot more than investment banking! Fourth and fifth years, I interned at the Supreme Court and also with an excellent civil trial lawyer in the High Court (who is now a judge in the Delhi High Court). That’s when I realised I was right at home, and came back to Delhi after graduating.

    However, the most important stint before I started practicing independently would be the one at Senior Advocate Mr. A.K. Ganguli’s chamber, which was for nearly a year and a half. He truly made me slog it out and it was a steep learning curve during those eighteen odd months. An old school practitioner who doesn’t use computers much, he simply remembers everything off the top of his head! Citations, statutory provisions, a petition he drafted ten years back…it is amazing how everything is right on his fingertips, always. An incredibly hard taskmaster, he would leave no opportunity unturned to fine tune any petition or written submission, before presenting it in Court, even if it meant I had to figure out how to do the last minute research and keep everything ready for the hearing in Court at the eleventh hour. I will never forget the time he made me draft 41 versions of a review petition to be filed before the High Court at Chandigarh, till it came down to six pages from the original 22 page draft I had prepared. The High Court declined to review the judgement, but the reaction of the judges in the Supreme Court when the SLP came up for hearing was nothing short of memorable. I still remember the look on the faces of the judges when the matter was called for hearing. They just smiled in unison and said “NOTICE” and “STAY” before anyone uttered a word! Working with him taught me the importance of being fair to a Court, rather than being hard-nosed on facts and law and how that, by itself sometimes gives you greater leverage than all your preparation and research. During that time, many of the Advocates and law firms which used to engage him also started giving me drafting work as well as briefs as junior counsel. I also got a few opportunities to brief several leading senior counsels. That stint in his chamber is when I truly started learning the law and realised that Courts always know the judgements we research on and cite. The difference lies in the perspective with which these leading practitioners present that point, which is what makes all the difference when the judges have to form an opinion as to which way to lean.

     

    Tell us about your Geneva Masters experience and briefly describe your thesis.

    Frankly I would not have been able to do the Masters if it wasn’t for Amrita (my wife). After we got married, this is the very first thing she made me agree to, spoke to my professors at law school, got the letters of recommendations organised, and also persuaded Mr. Ganguli to recommend me. Having practiced for five years, I was pretty unsure whether to leave it all and head out for a year. Ultimately, Amrita and I both agreed that instead of an “academic” masters like Oxford or Cambridge, a masters like MIDS or Queen Mary was better suited for a practitioner like me who loved Arbitration. Many of my colleagues from the Vis East whom I asked for advice also concurred. Ultimately I ended up choosing MIDS because Professor Zachary Douglas, who is one of the leading practitioners and academics in the field of Investment treaty arbitration, had recently shifted there from Cambridge, and the courses he was offering like International law in Domestic Courts and State Contracts, focused on areas, which may be of utility to me during my practice in India in the long term.

    Geneva had a lot of useful takeaways for me as an Indian practitioner. My thesis dissected the numerous interventions by the Supreme Court of India in commercial arbitrations seated outside India over the years, and sought to demonstrate that this was largely attributable to unexplained oddities in the Indian statutory framework when compared to the text of the UNCITRAL Model Law and the New York Convention. Keeping in mind the White Industries case, I tried to demonstrate that such interventions may implicate treaty obligations and the Supreme Court of India, by declaring in BALCO that the law laid down by it would apply only to arbitration agreement executed after 16.09.2012, may just have left the door open for more investment treaty claims against India. My analysis was significantly influenced by what was taught by Van den Berg during his course on the New York Convention and what Professor Douglas taught during his courses on Arbitration and State Contracts. I think MIDS is a good option for Indian practitioners who are looking to take a break for a year and pick up a little more depth in subjects like Arbitration, Public International Law and WTO Laws.

     

    Which is the ideal time to do an L.L.M? Right after undergraduate studies, or after a few years of practice post undergraduate studies?

    It depends on what you want from the LLM. A lot of people prefer going to Oxford or Cambridge right after law school if they are getting a full scholarship because it allows them to finish their academic pursuits before they start working/ practising. Personally, I would not prefer to pursue an LLM simply because I happened to apply and got admitted with a full scholarship, unless I was sure that it was taking me forward in life. By the time I applied for an LLM, I had practiced for nearly five years and had a broad idea of the fact that I needed more depth in the subject of Arbitration if I was going to take up more work in that area. That is how I ended up choosing MIDS. So I guess its best to do an LLM whenever you are sure of what you want to do long term.

     

    Could you please offer a few words of motivation for those who’ve either never tried mooting or for those who’ve tried but have faced defeat, from your treasure trove of experience?

    (Debesh has co-founded the NLS International Arbitration Moot Court Competition, one of the most reputed arbitration moots in India.)

    Its not work going to waste. That’s for sure. I spent six months working on the Vis Moot and lost in the semis, but the research I did on pathological arbitration clauses helped me settle six arbitration claims against two of my clients (although they were all prior to the Enercon judgement!). The opposite party understood during the mediation that the entire arbitration would be a non-starter and even if they got an award, it may not survive proceedings under Section 34. In my second year at law school I had spent four months on a moot on the concept of repugnancy under the Constitution of India, which we also lost. That research gave me the clarity to draft a writ petition where we got a stay order on the first day itself in high court and relying on our order, several other assesses also got relief. I guess one of the reasons the Court was inclined to grant interim relief on day one because we formulated the proposition with a lot of precision and within the four corners of what we argued, it was difficult to see how the action of the State Government was not colourable. So if you take up mooting, please do not do it to add to your CV or to get a medal. Mooting is just another way of learning skills of deconstruction, problem solving and presentation. Also, I would encourage students to never underestimate writing a memorial. A good draft is a mirror to a clear mind and what I have learnt in my experience so far is that a well drafted petition can sometimes be more decisive of a matter rather who was engaged to lead the arguments at the hearing. The same goes for memorials in moot courts. Judges in moot courts and real life do take time and read the brief before coming to the hearing. Quite often, I have seen Courts not even let Petitioners counsel open their submissions if they have understood the point pleaded and the opposing counsel is straightaway asked to explain why the relief sought for, should not be granted. You get a clear first movers advantage there. Why should you lose such an opportunity?

     

    How many hours a day do you spend at work? 

    We have no fixed hours in our office. If you done for the day, you can leave even in the afternoon, and if you are not done, there is a bed available should you need to do an all nighter! Sometimes, a single matter can take hours to work on, if it involves complicated issues and on other days, we manage to turn in a lot of work and head out for dinner together in the evening. The only thing I regret is that the frequency of dinners has reduced in the last two years but I intend to work on it during this year.

    For instance, last year, while representing the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons before the Committee headed by Justice A.P. Shah (Retd.) in the Gas Migration disputes arising out of the Krishna Godavari Basin, I had less than two weeks till the final hearings to get up to speed on the matter after being instructed. It was one of the most challenging hearings in my life simply in terms of how factually and legally complicated the entire case was, leaving aside the fact that it was a totally new area of law for me and I had to also learn the science of Oil and Gas exploration overnight to appreciate the intricacies of the dispute. I virtually worked round the clock on that one single case for nearly a fortnight to formulate our strategy and submissions before the hearings commenced. It was truly gratifying to see all that preparation pay off when the Committee gave its report in August 2016, accepting the submissions we had made, in toto.

    Our office had a similar experience while defending a real estate developer before the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in a class action under Section 12(1)(c) of the Consumer Disputes Act, 1986. Two of our interns did an excellent job of digging up  case law under Order 1, Rule 8 of the CPC which was pat on the point and helped us persuade the NCDRC that there was no scope for a “joint complaint” under Section 12(1)(c). That one matter took long hours, and many of us worked for days altogether researching. But the long hours paid off in the end.

     

    Is there any other suggestion you would like to give to our budding lawyers?

    Enjoy your work. If you don’t enjoy what you do, you will find it hard to give it your 100%. Also don’t expect any results overnight and don’t have unreal expectations. Take your time in identifying what you like. It is an incredibly human profession and a lot of it is built around one-on-one relationships and perceptions. Even judges learn to trust you only after they have heard you in a few matters, and feel that they can trust you to not mislead the court factually or legally. Enjoy the journey and don’t keep thinking of the destination only.

     

    Are there any other activities you are presently doing which are related to the law?

    There is a project being conducted by Centre for International Dispute Settlement, Geneva on how Bilateral Investment Treaties can be used as a tool for good governance, where I am working with Professors Zachary Douglas and Shalini Randeria. This is a long term project where we have been working comparing domestic legal systems in Mexico, Argentina, Czech Republic and India and seeing how the domestic system in each country is responding to changes in the Investment treaty regime. It is an exciting time to be doing this project since India has been dynamically changing its BIPA/BIPPA regime in the last two years and given India’s emerging international clout and reputation as a destination for Foreign Direct Investment, this research will be of considerable importance for other developing economies.

  • Ayush Sharma, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court, on IPR, and starting independent practice

    Ayush Sharma, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court, on IPR, and starting independent practice

    Ayush Sharma graduated from NLUJ in 2006. He started his career in 2006 as legal associate in a KPO Quislex Legal Services Pvt Ltd., Hyderabad where  worked on technology agreements.  After a few months in Hyderabad, he moved to IPR Litigation Division of LakshmiKumaran & Sridharan where he worked on Intellectual Property litigation (primarily Patent Litigation) at various High Courts, IPR Tribunals and Supreme Court. He subsequently decided to pursue independent practice. He is currently Advocate-on-Record under the Supreme Court and a registered Patent and Trademark Agent.

    In this interview we speak to him about:

    • Being a fifth generation lawyer
    • His expertise in Trademark and Patent Law
    • Starting independent practice

    How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

    I am an independent litigator, patent agent and Advocate on Record. I have been practising law for more than a decade (class of 2006 of NLUJ), specializing in intellectual property and civil litigation.

     

    What motivated you to pursue law?

    Though neither of my parents are lawyers, I come from a family of lawyers. Growing up, whenever I visited my grandfather’s and uncle’s chambers, I was extremely fascinated by the law books in there and always wanted to have my own chamber and library of books there. Of course, at the time I did not know how much hard work it would take to reach there.

     

    Give us a brief overview of your life at NLUJ.

    Five years at NLUJ were some of the best years of my life. I not only found lifelong friends but also learnt so much from the teachers therein. I would specially want to thank Prof. N. L. Mitra and Mr. Sanjay Pandey for being guiding lights during my time at NLUJ. Everyone in the legal circle knows our first Vice chancellor Prof. N. L. Mitra and what a visionary he is. It was he who saw the future of IPR law in India and wanted NLUJ to produce best patent lawyers in the country. Back in 2004, at NLUJ, we were taught patent drafting by two US Patent Attorneys, which in my opinion was very progressive and way ahead of the time. I still remember discussing Prof. Mitra’s vision (regarding patent law) during internships with students from other law schools and they would not take it, but I am really grateful to him and his vision that if it wasn’t for him I would not have been a patent lawyer.

    Well, I cannot really comment on other universities as I have only studied at NLUJ. However, I have worked with some brilliant lawyers who did not go to NLUs. Therefore, I feel its more about a person, their hard work and zeal than the law school they attend. Having said that, the NLU tag really helps in getting better internships and may be the first break in profession but then you are on your own and only your hard work coupled with luck can make you reach where every law students hopes to reach.

     

    What are the subjects that you took particular interest in, during your law school days?

    Since I studied science subjects in schools, they drove me towards picking up B.Sc.LLB (Hons) at NLUJ. Once I started studying B.Sc. subjects, I developed interest in patent law because that’s where I could combine science with law. That is what drove me to pursue a in the IPR department of LakshiKumaran & Sridharan and wrote the exam to become a patent agent. Thereafter, I did multiple patent litigations as part of the LKS team which contributed immensely to my learning and gave me confidence and courage to start my independent practice.

     

    In your opinion, what are the law school centric activities that you would recommend as necessary experiences for every law student?

    In my opinion, one must participate in all the opportunities that are present at the law school because everything shapes up the professional you finally become. By participation in moot courts and writing papers one can really hone their research skills which come in handy when one starts practicing. Surprisingly, I still remember most of the key legal points I researched for my class projects and otherwise and they come in handy at times to know what direction to take in a matter.

     

    What are your areas of specialisation in law? 

    I specialize in patent and trademark litigation, along with that I do fair bit of civil litigation and IPR prosecution. My decision was based on my interest in the niche practice area and having a background in science.

    Where does this passion for IP law stem from?

    As I mentioned that I was interested in both science and law, and IP law particularly patents was an opportunity to combine both my interests.

     

    What internships would you recommend to a student who also aspires to pursue studies in IPR?

    One must aim to intern with a law firm/ individual that does fair bit of both litigation and prosecution work so that one can get a fair idea of the kind of work it will entail if one decides to pick it up as a subject. One should also work with the legal department of a corporate which has a good IP Portfolio because this will give you a perspective about in-house counsels and the business problems they deal with everyday. My internship at Cadila healthcare (Zydus) gave me a wonderful opportunity to understand the problems from the perspective of in-house counsel as what they need from law firms/lawyers. If you are able to think the issues from the perspective of in-house counsel you are well equipped to solve the issues in better way.      

     

    How were the first few years after your graduation? 

    It’s a myth that law school teaches you everything about law and legal practice and prepares you for the real world; but it does get you accustomed to the long hours and the hard work. Since day one in law school, I used to work hard for mandatory moot courts for each subject, internal projects and practical exams (science subjects), etc. which made me tough enough to work in any circumstances.  

    As soon as I joined LKS, I found myself working in two of the most high profile patent contentious matters, but five years in law scohol had prepared me to to work fourteen to sixteen hours on weekdays and even more on Sundays. All one needs is some Maggie and cheese toast for company. During that time, I learned from my partner Mr. Parthasarthy that you need to work smart and work hard at the same time. Each day at LKS was a great learning experience to observe and learn from my superiors about analysing the problems and conceiving their solutions.

    LKS gave me lot of responsibilities and freedom where early in my career I got the opportunities to represent clients in various courts and tribunals ranging from district courts to IPAB, and for this I will always be thankful to Mr. LakshmiKumran and Mr.  Parthasarthy.

     

    Are you from a legal background?

    Yes. I am from legal background, actually I am the fifth generation lawyer of my family. I have always heard intriguing stories from my grandfather about his grandfather working in Courts of Bharatpur’s king. I still remember one of the talks with my grandfather about law and society and that day I decided to be a litigator.   

    Legal background always plays a crucial role in taking up litigation as a career because you have a fair idea about the difficulties you would encounter in the field and how to be patient because if you are honest and good with your work it will all be worth the initial pain.

     

    What does it take to bag a job at a Tier-I firm like LKS?

    All law firms look for legal acumen, quick thinking and problem solving abilities in the candidate because time is money, after all.     

     

    When did you decide to take up independent practice?

    As I mentioned earlier, I always wanted to be a litigator, it was just a matter of time when I decided to jump into the uncharted territory of being an independent litigator. When I took the decision I was very well prepared for the same (at least handling clients and matters), the only thing that was of concern was the finances. It was a tough decision going from a well paying law firm job to not knowing how much work will come my way and how much I will get paid, but I was willing to give it a shot. I would like to thank my wife for being there backing me, every step of the way and today I am glad I made that decision.

     

    Give us a peek into what a regular working day looks like for you now.

    Being an independent litigator does not give you the comfort of weekends and time. I start my day at 6:30 AM in the morning revising my notes for courts and working on emails from foreign associates as my team does a lot of IPR prosecution for foreign clients. I suggest all the lawyers to start their day early as I believe that one hour of morning work is equivalent to two hours work in the evening. On a normal Court day, I usually work for fourteen to fifteen hours and around nine to ten hours on weekends, which of course depends on the work.   

     

    What is your message to our readers?

    Never doubt yourself even for a second and you will be able to achieve what you aimed for and working smart is as important as working hard.

     

  • Krishnayan Sen, Partner, VERUS Advocates, on starting his own firm, and his experience in arbitration

    Krishnayan Sen, Partner, VERUS Advocates, on starting his own firm, and his experience in arbitration

    Krishnayan graduated from National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata in 2006. After graduating from the second batch of NUJS, Calcutta, he joined the chambers of Mr. V.R. Reddy, Senior Advocate and former Addl. Solicitor General of India at the Supreme Court of India. Thereafter, after the sudden and untimely demise of his father, he held the reigns of his father’s legal practice – Udayan Sen & Co., when he was 24 years of age. After a couple of years in Calcutta, and about eighteen months in a mid-sized firm at Mumbai, he started Verus in early 2011, along with a few spirited friends.

    From humble beginnings in 2011, Verus has grown to a mid-sized firm with five partners advising on both transactions and disputes. Verus was recognized as the Best New Law Firm by IBLJ in 2012, won the Deal of the Year (Disputes) in IBLJ Awards 2015; and has been recommended by IFLR in its Indian Firm Rankings for its banking & capital markets practices. Krish is also the recipient of the NaniPalkhivala Medal (2004) and G. Venkatasubramaniam Gold Medal (2005).

    His principal areas of practice include international arbitration, corporate-commercial disputes, litigation advisory and banking litigation. Krish is qualified as an Advocate-on-Record at the Supreme Court of India and has been the Standing/Nominated Counsels for statutory and government undertakings.

    In this interview we speak to him about:

    • His experience in arbitration
    • Starting his own firm
    • His plans for the future

    What prompted you to think of law as your career?

    I actually aspired to be a footballer; I was a decent forward at school-level tournaments. However, I quickly realized that my ambition far exceeded my talent to seriously consider it as a career option. So I went along with what most Bengali middle class families considered safe, and chose science in my senior secondary (Class XI-XII). I was an average student and didn’t have a particular interest or aptitude for Science subjects. In fact, in hindsight, I should have taken Arts. Around that time, my parents who were both lawyers, mentioned that I could consider law as a career option. But what really got me interested in law was when I started going through the law entrance exam books which my father would get from Delhi – I remember there used to be one from Universal’s. The section on logic and analytical reasoning appealed to me – may be because it didn’t involve much preparation, and seemed more of common sense. So I sat for the different law entrance exams and got through NUJS. Looking back, I think one great thing about my dad was that he never imposed himself on me to take up law. Somehow I didn’t feel the pressure of joining the profession, which many with legal backgrounds ordinarily face. My parents were quite happy, maybe more relieved, that I had cracked NUJS. Deep within, I knew I was terribly lucky to have somehow got through a national law school.

     

    What is the importance of a good mentor in the early years of practice

    A mentor shapes your character, both as a person and practitioner, and instills certain values, ethics and principles in you which would define you. The most important thing to have happened in my professional life was to have Mr. V.R. Reddy as a senior and mentor. He was a former Addl. Solicitor General of India, Advocate General of Andhra Pradesh and Chairman of Bar Council of India under whose Chairmanship the NLSIU, Bangalore was conceptualized and instituted. Like most juniors I tried picking up some of the skills and tools of my senior by observing him closely, hoping that some of his qualities would somehow rub off on me. He was more in the old-school mould with meticulous preparation and incredible hard-work, always fair to the court and opposing counsel, never misled the court, superb articulation of the main points and keeping his arguments brief and to the point. His attitude toward fees was, “We take fees for our briefs, but not briefs for our fees.” He would keep reminding me of the 5Ps – ‘prior preparation, prevents poor performance.’ But where I felt he was different from others, were his qualities of the heart. If I had to sum up my senior’s qualities in one word, I would say it is compassion. In February 2007, when my father was on his deathbed in a hospital in Calcutta, VRR, who didn’t know my father personally, flew down to Calcutta to see him at the hospital. My father, by then already sinking, softly thanked him for his kindness, to which VRR replied, “Wouldn’t Krish have done the same for me?” VRR’s love and affection towards his juniors was, and is, almost paternal. That’s what a good mentor does. He doesn’t see his junior merely as a resource or an asset in his firm or chamber who is there only to get his work done. He genuinely wishes well for his juniors and maintains the relationship and association long after the juniors have flown out of the nest. I realized that stark difference when I joined a law firm a few years later under a senior partner who was a good lawyer, but all mind. That’s the unfortunate truth at many firms; where juniors are only treated as resources and billing machines.

     

    What drove you to establish your own law firm, Verus?

    There were many factors behind starting Verus, but the most important urge was to create something new and fresh. I think many of us were quite disillusioned with some of the big law firms on both external parameters (like client service, partner accessibility, billing patterns, value chain) and internal parameters (like family run management style, treatment of associates& staff, happiness at work, salary structures). We felt an alternate model was not only possible but absolutely imperative. Why couldn’t we live and work in a state of mind which was fun, enjoyable and adventurous? And so we started in early 2011 from a small one-room office at Mumbai. Six years on, while we have grown to larger premises and added both lawyers and offices, it’s still very much a work-in-progress as we continue to experiment with entrepreneurship and delivering alternative service models. Clients have been very kind in taking this journey with us. I must mention here something that I should have said at the very outset, I could have never started Verus without the support of my wife, Atreyee. She was the breadwinner in the family and stood by me like a rock in those difficult years.

    The initial challenge in running the partnership was to understand how to do business between friends. But the dust settles after a while, once you understand the different working styles of each partner and learn to give each partner his or her operational space. What is also important is to learn to appreciate each other’s role in a partnership; since partners would ordinarily possess complementary strengths. I was fortunate to have incredibly supportive founding members in Dipankar, Rishad, Charles, Gandhar and the one we lost, Jay. The founding team and a group of passionate lawyers across our four offices form the backbone of the firm. Despite your best efforts, there would be setbacks, and you will need to learn from each of those setbacks, pick up the pieces and move forward.The most important challenge, however, is to ensure that at all times, the soul of the firm remains intact. The form of the firm, as in any other organization, may undergo change, the firm will grow; the leaders in the firm would also change; so may the nature of the work too. But the members of the firm must see to it that the spirit of autonomy, innovation, excellence, togetherness, forthrightness, transparency and joy on which the firm was built, brick-by-brick, always remains alive and unscathed. In the end, it is this soul of the firm that would define who we are.

     

    While hiring lawyers, what kind of skills do you look for in their CV?

    Actually, people in the firm often mock me for not looking at the CV at all. But that’s not entirely correct. I do look at the CV cursorily just to get a basic background of the candidate; but then form any impression of the candidate only at the time of the interview. Studying the CV too closely could often cloud your judgment on a candidate. I ordinarily look out for candidates who show some degree of independence and autonomy. I may ask a few legal questions during the interview, but ordinarily I try to assess if the person would be a good fit for Verus and what are the drivers for the candidate to join the firm. There have been times when I have been quite impressed with the lateral thinking of a candidate or his accomplishments in earlier assignments but I thought he or she would not be a good fit. Despite being a product of a national law school, I genuinely feel that law firms give way too much importance on national law school graduates and thereby do a disservice to non-national law school graduates, most of whom just do not get a level-playing field and opportunity to really come into their own.

     

    The Government of India is planning to allow foreign law firms to enter into India. Do you think the Indian law firms will be confronting to fight with the tough competition foreign law firms entering into India?

    Entry of foreign law firms will be the great “wolf-wolf“ moment in the legal services space – every Government has given the threat but none have had the heart to execute it. Anyhow, if somehow foreign firms are permitted to eventually enter the Indian market, then my predictions are: (a) Bigger law firms will most likely decide to stay independent and compete with the foreign firms (pretty much like what we have seen in Singapore and Hong Kong), and it will be a battle for survival-of-the -fittest; (b) Mid-sized firms will have to decide whether to merge or enter a JV with the foreign firm; (c) There could be a consolidation of the big Indian law firms where two or three big firms may merge to form a domestic behemoth; (d) Smaller or boutique law firms who do not wish to merge with bigger firms will most likely carve out niche practice areas like IP, competition, tax; (e) Litigation firms would be mostly insulated from the entry of foreign law firms, except for those firms who are involved in only high-ticket litigation.  

     

    It is a general assumption that the fresher graduates have to struggle a lot during the initial years. What was your experience?

    I am afraid this is true. A beginner will basically need four things, which generally come in the following order: legal curiosity, hard work, legal intuition/temperament and some luck. Litigators need an additional trait, patience. A lawyer is like a skilled mechanic, he requires honing certain specific skill sets with a certain mindset. Whether you are a corporate lawyer or a litigator, both streams require learning certain fundamental skills which in legal parlance, we call learning the ropes of law. Struggle entails three things: first, learning the technical skills – researching, comprehending and analysing, strategizing, articulating, drafting, presenting, advocacy or negotiation skills etc; second, learning the soft interpersonal skills – interacting with clients, colleagues, understanding seniors, learning to work in a team, understanding and fitting into the work-place; lastly, and this is usually the tricky part, is to pick up the ethical principles which would guide the way you conduct yourself in the profession, the moral and ethical code you would like to follow. You pick this up from observing simple things like how conflicts and confidentiality are dealt with within the firm or chamber, how billing is done within the firm, whether proper risk disclosures are made to the client, whether your senior deliberately misleads the court or is unfair to the other side, and whether the firm or chamber indulges in corrupt and questionable practices.

    In terms of hard work, I used to put in about sixteen to eighteen hours a day, sometime more, in my first seven years, as did my peers. In my first five years, I had taken only two holidays, the first of which was for my honeymoon. While a lot of law is in the detail, what is important in the foundation years is, what I would call, to get a sense of the law. It’s a bit abstract to explain, but in essence you develop a sense of fairness and broadly develop a sense of what the law should be.

     

    What do you find admirable in present generation of lawyers compared to that of your generation?

    I think the present generation are much bolder and greater risk-takers. They tend to prefer the experience and are not solely driven by the money. My sense is that the next wave of innovation in legal services – the “Uber”moment –will come from the present and next generations.

     

    Where do you see yourself five years from now?

    You know I would earlier make these projections for myself – five years, ten years. My original goal, when I graduated from law school, was to become a senior counsel by my late thirties. But with time, I have realized that life passes us by while we make grand plans for our future. Therefore, best is to live at the present. Personally, in five years, I do not foresee myself involved in any leadership or management role at Verus – which would pass on to the next generations. I would prefer acting on select matters and like to explore some of my other interests like reading, travelling and writing. Verus is also preparing for a major push on the artificial intelligence and technology front which could be quite disruptive in the legal services space. It’s still too early to speak more on it, but once we are through with the pilot phase, maybe we could share more insights on that.

     

    What would be your parting message to our readers?

    I would like to say two things: First, do not take your life in law too seriously people get so consumed in the rat race stressing on partner promotions, senior advocate designations, office politics etc., that they forget that life is quietly passing them by. Explore other things like books, sports, travel, gardening, enjoy things that make you happy like music, teaching, painting & crafts, gardening, cooking or some voluntary work; even simpler things like spending time with your kids, friends, family and pets which would broaden your worldview. I personally find reading and travel quite enriching and therapeutic. Secondly, it is my appeal to students and especially to law schools, please see that the students get a holistic exposure on the true potential of law. Most law schools today focus in making corporate legal robots. There is very little imagination. The search for the answer to the question, “why become a lawyer?” should take students to places where they observe from close quarters, the challenges that law is seeking to address, be it on global climate change, human rights violations in Africa, refugee problems of Europe, studying the civil rights movements or the trials of war crimes. Law students need to be sensitized to these topics, not merely in class rooms, but also by giving them real first-hand field experiences to enable them to take an informed choice on what kind of lawyer they wish to become in life. Unfortunately, I find that vital education, exposure and sensitization completely missing which is a great disservice and denial to the students. First and second year law students are so stressed on whether they will get an internship in BigLaw or not. Even simple gestures like doing a case study on a movie – like To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Bang Bang Club, A Few Good Men, Before the Flood, The Verdict, The Pianist –would evoke spontaneous discussion and debate amongst young minds and some of them may choose an alternative career path in law. But most law schools have developed a tunnel vision where the entire focus is in reporting how many PROs the graduating batch has received, what starting salaries their students have secured, how many law firms or corporates have come to their campus on Day Zero. I am a product of such a law school and am now also one of those recruiters, but my appeal to law students and law schools alike is to please explore all opportunities that law, as a discipline, has to offer – which goes much beyond a commercial law firm or a Supreme Court lawyer’s chamber – and only thereafter take an informed decision as to what would be most fulfilling and satisfying for you personally and professionally.

     

  • Rahul Bhandari, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court, on litigation, starting independent practice, and being a first generation lawyer

    Rahul Bhandari, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court, on litigation, starting independent practice, and being a first generation lawyer

    Rahul Bhandari graduated from Symbiosis Law School, batch of 2009. He has been engaged in litigation since then. He has assisted Senior Advocate and former president of Supreme Court Bar Association, Dr M.N. Krishnamani in Supreme Court of India, briefed him in various landmark Constitutional matters, Service matters, and Criminal matters in Supreme Court of India and in various High Courts of the Country before starting his full fledged independent practice.  He has been handling various matters on an independent level in Supreme Court and High Courts.

    In this interview we speak to him about:

    • His passion for litigation
    • Being an first generation lawyer
    • Starting independent practice

     

    How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

    I am an Advocate-On-Record at the Supreme Court of India and practising counsel for close to eight years now. I am a first generation lawyer and I come from a humble background. My father is a senior journalist with a leading Hindi newspaper and most of my family members including my brother are into print journalism. Therefore, establishing myself in the field of law was quite challenging as I had no legal background. However, Symbiosis helped me gain exposure and contributed greatly to the grooming process. I have been engaged with litigation since the beginning of my career. I started working with Mr. S.D. Salwan, a leading lawyer in Delhi, and was exposed to quality matters and independent handling of matters in courts. We closely worked with the Commonwealth Team and looked after their legal issue, worked for the India Today group and for the Government of Delhi. In the start, it was not easy and at times very frustrating since the stipend offered is not impressive. But the real test is to stay on and keep inspiring yourself. After almost two years of working experience, I switched to Mr. Rajiv Bansal, a leading lawyer in Delhi High Court. That was the office which gave me number of opportunities in terms of self exposure. Mr. Bansal being a Standing Counsel for DDA and Delhi High Court, had a plethora of matters and he trusted me and my confidence. Therefore, I had all the opportunities to appear and contest matters in Delhi High Court and Trial Court. This boosted my confidence greatly. Remember one thing; working with a lawyer who has government panels is the best thing in the initial years of your career. Since there are a number of matters in their office and some amount of calculative risk can be taken in the government matters before the court, unlike the private matter where a senior would not want you to appear and contest so often. It helped me a lot in gaining momentum and establishing my independent practice. I got pretty good exposure working for Delhi Development Authority, Delhi High Court, GAIL and so many other well known companies. Thereafter, I planned to switch to Supreme Court and that’s the reason I Joined Late Dr. M.N. Krishnamani, Senior Advocate (Padma Shree) and former President of Supreme Court Bar Association. Working with him was a phenomenal exposure and I consider him my Guru. I always wanted to go step by step and that’s the reason I ensured not to directly reach the Supreme Court, which in my opinion is very important for anyone who wants to pursue his independent practice. With him, I got an exposure to Constitutional Matters, Service matters and other matters of great importance in the Supreme Court. I got to learn how to advance arguments, the art of briefing, and researching, which eventually helped me in clearing the Advocate on Record exam in the very first attempt.

     

    Give us a brief overview of your law school days.

    Pursuing law in an institution like Symbiosis Law School is a matter of immense pride. Law school days were as challenging as they were joyful. Symbiosis played a big role in my career. When you actually start working then you realise the importance of a good law school. In today’s competitive world where even law has become glamorised and more people are being attracted to this profession, it is essential that your base be very good. I mean if you are from a good law school, you are respected and you have some initial confidence which makes you different in that big crowd of lawyers.  There are so many lawyers in the country,  but having a degree, and education from a good law school is all what you need to start well. During law school days, I was more into sports. But I was fortunate for it did not affect my academic performance in any way. I did my Diploma in International Business laws and in Intellectual Property Law apart from obtaining the degree. However, the fact is that scoring in law school and practising in courts is not the same thing.  A person scoring excellent marks during law school days may not necessarily do well and shine bright in litigation just because he or she was an excellent student during school days.

     

    What were the activities, academic or otherwise, that you undertook in your law school days which in your opinion have shaped you and your career?

    Our college has given us a lot of exposure. Good teachers, competitive environment and a cosmopolitan crowd make a difference. You learn from each other in such an environment. We had very good visiting faculty teachers which included the likes of Mr. Ram Jethmalani, among others.  Frankly speaking, I was more into sports during law school. Academically the only credit which I take is that I cleared my all papers without any backlog with first division and did some diplomas in order to have an extra edge over others. I did participate in some mock trials, and some moot court competitions but I believe that interning at the right places is more important. During our law school days, it’s important to focus on doing internships at a place of your interest as it gives an exposure which you may not get sitting in the classroom. Not to undermine the credibility of law school but I feel apart from just performing academically you need to do all kind of extra curricular activities which can shape your personality. Personality building is very important for this profession which can be very well done during your college days.  On a funny side, I must tell you last minute study was a common thing in our college.

     

    What kind of internships did you engage in during your student years which you feel were invaluable to you?

    Internships are very important during your law school days. During that phase, I interned with various law firms. I did internships in both corporate and litigation. Initially, I wanted to get the experience of both corporate and litigation in order to decide what would suit me for a long term future and that’s the reason I chose to intern in both streams. Initially I interned with a Lit Law Firm and got exposure to Courts. Thereafter, I interned with some of the big corporate law firms which included Udwadia and Udeshi in Mumbai,  Lall and Sethi an IPR law firm in Delhi, Associated Law Advisors and Rajinder Narain and Co. in New Delhi, a leading name in the Aviation Sector in New Delhi. After few internships, I realised that I want to pursue my career in litigation and came to Delhi. In fact, I had an offer from one of the law firms where I interned, but I chose to work in Delhi since I wanted to practise at the Supreme Court.

     

    Who was your mentor, or main source of inspiration who motivated you all along the way?

    Every office and senior would play an important role in your career and life. From your first office to last office, you would learn so many things, both good and bad, which are so valuable in shaping your career. Its very important to choose a good office which can give you good exposure, opportunities and confidence. If you want to see yourself as an individual legal practitioner, it’s important to utilise as many opportunities which come you way. For that you must choose an office which allows your individual growth, an office or senior who can give you opportunities to appear and argue in courts. And that’s very important, especially when you are a first generation lawyer as you will not get fixed clients and you will have to learn and inculcate those values, ethics and standards of the profession.

    As a first generation lawyer, its very important to have belief in yourself and patience in abundance. The initial years will throw a lot of challenges and I have seen so many of my colleagues leaving litigation practice and moving to companies and the corporate sector. Especially, the number of hours you would be required to work and the kind of stipend you are paid for that work would be minuscule. However, the key is to keep going. But it’s very important to learn the ethics and discipline of the profession which you can gain only from a good senior or good office. My first motivation was my father only though he was not a person from the legal profession. You need a lot of family support particularly who can believe in you and can allow you to take your own time for growing in this Profession. However my biggest inspiration and ideal from the legal sector was my mentor and senior late Dr M.N. Krishnamani , Senior Advocate of Supreme Court. He was a president of SCBA and four time recipient of the Padma Shree Award by the Government for his valuable contribution to this field. He was also a first generation lawyer and due to his sheer hard work and ability, he rose to such a position in life. I worked with him for more than two years and he guided me a lot in life. His ethics and discipline in the profession was unmatched. I remember, he always used to say if you believe and know  you are standing for the right values then don’t hesitate  to raise your point even before the highest court of law. He always used to say as a young lawyer you should not be afraid of speaking for the right reasons and there is burden on you to take the profession in the right direction and set up examples.  He never returned any client for the sake of money and always used to help struggling lawyers and clients who could not afford hiring such a big name for the Supreme Court. I remember reading a book on great Mr. Nani Palkhivala titled The Courtroom Genius where it was emphasized that a good senior is all what you need in the initial years of your career to shape up your future and that’s absolutely right. That came true in my life and am proud of the fact that I am from the Chambers of Dr. M.N. Krishnamani. With him, I had an opportunity to attend Constitutional Matters, Service matters, and various other matters. I was a part of some of the landmark judgments including the challenge to law of Defamation i.e. Section 500 of IPC in Supreme Court and a case of highest ever compensation granted in the field of medical negligence. There is always a continuous pressure to perform and deliver while maintaining the ethics of the profession if you are from such a chamber.

     

    At what stage in one’s law school life must one pick a field to specialize in?

    It all depends on your interest which you are picking up during law school days. I think, the last one years of your college, one should be in a position to make up his mind whether he wants to pursue corporate or litigation. Though I again feel there is no straightjacket formula and there are eminent lawyers in our Country who after working for companies and corporate  in initial years came to practice and earned a big name today. Internships are very important to decide the specialization that time.

    I would say, it’s your sheer hard work, determination and faith in yourself which works in this profession and there is no substitute for that. You need a single point determination to succeed.  You have to have a lot of patience and faith in yourself since the initial days would be very very challenging. The initial four to five years are very important for shaping your career and ambitions therefore one should be particular in choosing a good office and senior. And in my opinion, one who wants to work in litigation he or she must start from Trial/High Court and then come to Supreme Court because when you start on your own, you will have difficulties in conducting the case for clients and there will always be a gap in your understanding.  Have faith and confidence that you can do well and keep doing continuous self improvement.

     

    What would you say to aspiring lawyers who think that litigation and corporate drafting must necessarily be mutually exclusive?

    (Rahul has experience working in both areas of the law.)

    First of all, I must say I have yet not mastered both areas of the law. I am yet to learn and grow in this profession. But yes, I have worked in both environments. The point is very simple; both corporate and litigation requires you to apply your mind and work diligently. Both corporate and litigating lawyers have a different style and requirement of working. Drafting is very important for both. What I feel is that a person who has done drafting in the Lit side may have an edge over the people working in Corporate, since litigating lawyers are more exposed to courts. I have both corporate and lit clients. However, very rarely a person into corporate would be required to draft cases and appear in Courts.

     

    Tell us about one particular matter that you’ve previously worked on, which left a lasting impact.

    There are a number of matters in different different offices. I remember working on one defamation case on behalf of India Today in the initial days of my career. In my first office, I was assigned to attend an outstation matter in  Trial Court in Bareily and there was a very interesting issue wherein India Today published an article relating to assassination of Gandhiji and RSS filed a defamation case against them. I used to read a lot during that case.  I also had an opportunity  to look after the issue of Commonwealth games.  I worked on various land acquisition cases in Delhi High Court. During my last case I got a lot of exposure working with my senior in Supreme Court on the constitutional validity of law of defamation section 500 IPC in Supreme Court. A number of matters were filed challenging the validity of criminal action prescribed under the said section. We were defending the said law. A number of eminent seniors were involved and I got see each and everyone arguing. A number of points were raised and we also presented our case. We worked on that matter for more than a month  and my senior Mr. Krishnamani used to ask us to research on different propositions every day. Ultimately, the challenge to the said law was dismissed by the Supreme Court recently in a reported judgment.  So it was an overall a great experience working on that case. Every case is a teacher.

     

    What is the charm of litigation, in your opinion?

    In one word, very addictive. The charm of representing your clients in Court and getting justice for them is unmatched. Litigation throws continuous challenges and with every case, there is something new to learn. The feeling of standing in Court and persuading the sharpest mind in your field gives you immense satisfaction and pride. For me it is like  once you have experienced it you would not want to leave it just because it takes longer to establish yourself. I don’t think in today’s world any field can be more enterprising and challenging than this. It’s very inspiring to work for others. I still remember my first case where I argued in Delhi High Court for a BSF guy who was not given an appointment letter, owing to a frivolous reason, despite him clearing the exam. I fought hard for him and got him the favourable order and he was taken back into service. The feeling of getting justice/relief for someone is unmatched. There are several events like this and with every case, you would individually grow and learn. It’s not static and you have to keep enhancing your skills. And if you are in Supreme Court, the standards are very high and challenging.  Which is the profession where even at the age of 70 or 80 you would be respected and valued this much? That simply works for me.  

     

    How important are grades, in your opinion?

    Grades are important but I don’t think they make a lasting impact. See, if you have done well in your law school days, obviously that gives you confidence and opportunities to grow. However, what we learn in college and in Courts are entirely  different things. I don’t believe that one’s GPA affects one’s ability to achieve great heights in the legal arena. You may be a topper in college but the actual execution of your knowledge starts when you are in this profession, especially when you are in litigation. Litigation requires a different attitude, confidence and belief in you. I know people who have done very well in college but are reluctant to come and argue in courts.  A practical experience makes the difference and that is a real test in litigation. What you learn in college has to be executed here and that’s interesting and challenging.  

     

    What are your views on pursuing a Master’s degree?

    An L.L.M is any day a plus point and if you want to study more and gain expertise in one particular subject, it may be relevant. It depends on the person entirely. I feel in litigation, it may not be of paramount importance whether you have done an LL.M. or not. For me personally, the stepping stone was becoming an Advocate On Record and that’s helped me more than anything else.

     

    If given an opportunity, what would you do differently in your career journey up to this point?

    I would want to not repeat the mistakes which I did at the time of assisting my seniors, at the time of conducting cases, conducting myself, and or any common mistakes which every amateur lawyer would do. One thing I would definitely want to do is to improve my focus towards that direction. It’s essential to have a plan but at the same time you need to work towards achieving that. You know you are going in a right direction when things happen at the right time with you. For me clearing the AOR exams in the first attempt and also becoming Amicus Curiae in the Supreme court gave me a belief that I am going in the right direction after all these years.

    Common blunders which a student should avoid in my opinion are to think of achieving everything in a limited span of time. I have seen  fresh law graduates  losing patience and wanting to establish himself/herself in just two or three years. In litigation, you have to have a lot of patience and dedication. You need to deliver a lot and focus on first learning things. It’s important to train yourself . Unlike Corporate, we don’t get good stipend or handsome salary in the initial years and growth is little slow. But if you have the will and determination then this will be worth waiting for.

     

    How has being an AoR changed your life?

    (Rahul is also on the panel of Amicus Curiae in Supreme Court.)

    Becoming an Advocate On Record was a matter of pride  and gave me a satisfaction that I am making the right moves in my career. I became an AOR in the year 2016. Fortunately, I was able to  clear it in the first attempt itself. The learning and exposure which I got in the office of my mentor Dr. Krishnamani gave me confidence in clearing the exams of AOR in Supreme Court. Frankly, I did not have much time to prepare since I used to work from Monday to Sunday in his office and I was given only the last month  to prepare for the exams. But I believe all your work experience apart from studying for the exams helps in clearing the papers. Being on the Panel of Amicus Curiae in Supreme Court is again a matter of pride and a huge responsibility comes with that status. Both are very important and as an AOR and Amicus you owe a big responsibility towards Supreme Court. Unlike legal aid matters, here you get a chance to assist the Honourable Judges on questions of law and you need to give it your best.

    As an AOR, you have to be very careful that you should not end up becoming just a filing counsel. You have to be very particular about your filings in Supreme Court, ensure that no reckless filings are done and should be present at the time of matters in Court. When you are conducting matters in Supreme Court, you have to be very dignified and disciplined. Here you don’t have the scope of committing mistakes. Supreme Court is very strict about reckless filings by the AORs, language used in the drafting and about their presence when the matters are called up.

     

    How challenging is it for a first generation lawyer to set up independent practice?

    As a first generation lawyer, it’s  quite challenging and tough to get clients during  initial practice . Therefore, you need to deliver your best. You need to focus and work in the right direction. I have been handling matters in the Supreme Court, High Courts and Tribunals. I do travel a lot for conducting outstation matters. In your independent practice , you  get to work for both individual and corporate clients. Getting variety of matters is a plus point as you tend to work on different subjects. For me , it has been a wonderful journey till now and I get opportunities to work for for some leading law firms in Delhi too. In your independent practice you are the master of your own acts and sometimes you have to take important calls relating to matters which are challenging and interesting. When you are working with a senior, you are dependent on his understanding and ideas but in your independent practice, you have to more responsible and committed. What I feel is the best client for a first generation lawyer who wants to establish his own practice is a lawyer and/or a senior colleague. As an independent professional, you have to ensure you maintain the professional ethics and standards which is very important. At times in order to grow soon, people do commit some common mistakes which we should avoid.  We don’t have to just do what the client says, you should be in a position to decide between right and wrong.  You have to really burn the midnight oil and keep yourself aware about the changes in law. But it’s not that tough and a common myth that it takes so many years to establish is also not correct. You have to just go in the right direction and then nothing is impossible. Time management is another task which we have to get used to in litigation.  

    What is your message to our readers?

    I would simply say believe in yourself and work hard.  Keep improving yourself. There is no substitute for hard work and dedication. This field requires continuous improvement. Decide your priority carefully and work in that direction.

     

  • Kabir Dixit, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India, on independent practice, litigation, and working in corporate firms

    Kabir Dixit, Advocate-on-Record, Supreme Court of India, on independent practice, litigation, and working in corporate firms

    Kabir Dixit graduated from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University, in 2006.  Subsequently, he worked in the chamber of now Solicitor General of India, Sr. Advocate Sh. Ranjit Kumar for a year. Thereafter, he worked full-time for two years, and part-time for five years with KSB Partners (now SB Partners), with special mention for Mr. Kilanbi Singh Bedi. He has been engaged with litigation since then.

    In this interview we talk to him about:

    • His experience as an AoR
    • The importance of working with a law firm in order to understand the judicial process better
    • His experience in litigation and at a law firm

     

    Tell us about your time as a law student.

    I ventured into law at a time when the discipline was considered a back-up option for failed engineering and medical aspirants. This was also a time when the NLU phenomenon was taking over the legal industry. In law school, I interned with Trial Courts, Centre for Study of Developing Societies, and certain law firms which did not deal with Corporate Law.

    In my first year after graduation, I worked with Sh. Ranjit Kumar who was a Senior Advocate then (now Solicitor General of India). He was a one man army and it was astonishing and encouraging to see how much a single person could achieve while sitting alone in a room, reading case laws and preparing matters at hand. However, because he did not ever feel the need for associates or interns, I probably could not contribute as much as I would have liked to.

     

    What motivated the shift from litigation to a law firm?

    Taking up a law firm job was mostly because of the necessity to pay living expenses in a city like New Delhi (remuneration with Sh. Ranjit Kumar was negligible and the law firm paid a lot). In the firm, I was earning equal to what my father earned while working as a Central Government employee. In addition to the monetary incentives, I also felt like I was making a more substantial contribution as the firm had just started out.

     

    How did you move back to litigation again?

    Inside my heart, I always wanted to pursue Litigation. I took a sabbatical of six months and went to my hometown to decide what to do further in life. A friend of mine made me meet Mr. Jaideep Narayan Mathur (then Additional Advocate General of Lucknow) and I joined him. There, another mentor of mine was his brother Mr. Dhruvi Mathur, from whom I learnt a lot. Both of them were top counsels and the experience was supremely exciting. The level of competence from colleagues was excruciating and the talent pool was amazing.

     

    How challenging was the experience of setting up independent practice and working in Delhi?

    I was very sure that I wanted to settle in Delhi and also that I wanted to work in the Supreme Court of India as I used to look up to Mr. Rohinton F. Nariman (who was also from my college). Practising in Delhi was culturally different than in Lucknow and a tad bit more competitive as high value matters were entrusted upon Senior Advocates and not young lawyers. However, I had good bit of work from the side of U.P. Govt as I was on its Panel of Advocates, but I wanted to help out individuals with their cases.

    The struggle of setting up a practice was to make others understand that you are a competent advocate. Such an impression can be created by a lot of material things like fancy cars, a lavish office, a Mont Blanc pen, foreign holidays, etc. and this is the reason why you can see a fleet of luxury cars in the SC parking lot on any given day.

     

    How did you crack the AoR exam?

    Till 2015, my private work grew and I started to lose interest in government side work. I always wanted to be an AoR at the Supreme Court and I took a shot at it in 2015. My conceptual clarity of laws taught during law school and experience in litigation helped me crack the exam in one attempt. I also think the way you write your answers determines your success.

    I was elated and overwhelmed to become an AoR and the fact that I was registered with the Supreme Court of India. Many new opportunities came my way as I was retained by PSUs and a couple of corporate. Also, I was treated specially by clients, and more recognition for work came towards me.

     

    What would be your advice to young law students?

    Students should have the sense of excitement and hunger and zeal to learn more. Command over the English language certainly helps, so if you don’t have it, make efforts in that direction. Don’t focus on money, be patient as money will eventually come, but give due importance to money. Also, entering into litigation, the stress free and thrilling environment (something new every day) makes work seem fun and you don’t need a foreign country holiday to rejuvenate. Life at litigation is a marvelous experience.

    I definitely provide internship opportunities to law students, they may reach me on  LinkedIn and send in their applications wherein I make sure that they learn drafting legal documents and researching case laws.

     

  • Dilip Annasaheb Taur, Advocate on Record, Supreme Court of India, on humble beginnings and work experience in Criminal and Civil Litigation

    Dilip Annasaheb Taur, Advocate on Record, Supreme Court of India, on humble beginnings and work experience in Criminal and Civil Litigation

    Dilip Taur is a graduate in law from MP Law College, Aurangabad, batch of 2003. He subsequently went on to pursue a master’s degree in law from Mumbai University. Born into a family of agriculturalists, Dilip braved all odds to become a first generation lawyer. Astute in both civil and criminal law, Dilip has fought and won several crucial high profile cases in the past. He is perhaps known best representing former Maharashtra Home Minister Madhav Kinhalkar in the controversial case of paid media charges pressed against former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan.

    With an illustrious career spanning over a decade and a half, Dilip has had experience in all levels of judiciary in India. Currently, Dilip owns and heads Dilip Taur & Associates, a legal firm that deals in filing cases at the Supreme Court of India, High Court of Delhi, National Green Tribunal, Delhi (NGT) and the National Consumer Redressal Commission (NCDRC).

    In this interview, we speak to him about:

    • The importance of getting a hands-on experience in legal procedure versus classroom curricula
    • His experience practising before numerous fora, across all levels of the judicial hierarchy
    • Battling pressure in high profile lawsuits
    • His inspiring journey from a small village in Maharashtra to the Supreme Court of India

     

    You graduated from MP Law College, Aurangabad. Can you tell us something about the experience?

    I hail from the rural pocket of Marathwada. MP Law College was one of the only options available to me, owing to lack of resources and its proximity to where I lived. The college was not at par with other law colleges in the state such as GLC Pune or Mumbai. I was also fairly irregular in class as I was trying to focus more on practice-based learning by attending court sessions frequently.

     

    How did attending court proceedings regularly, as opposed to attending class, impact your learning?

    During my college days I would regularly attend JMFC and sessions court. I used to maintain a court diary and would follow senior advocates’ case dates without even knowing them. I used to attend every hearing of important cases. In fact, this experience helped me a lot with my education. The impact of court attendance was such that I was very confident while taking my college exams. I never felt like I was missing out on much by not attending classes in college.

     

    What is the importance of regularly reading judgments?

    Reading judgements has helped me understand the law, technical difficulties and procedural lapses while dealing with cases. It helped me grasp the various nitty-gritties of law and established legal principles which have been upheld by the Supreme Court. It boosted my confidence when I was drafting cases on my own. Law is constantly evolving and reading judgements helps you stay updated on ongoing developments in the field. I would advise all students of law and amateur lawyers to read judgements regularly in order to understand legal procedure better.

     

    You thereafter practised in the chamber of Mr. Raja Thakre in the Mumbai High Court. Tell us about the most memorable case you dealt with there.

    One of the most memorable cases I dealt with under the tutelage of Mr. Thakre was an application seeking custody of my client’s stolen property. Mr. Thakre guided me through the procedure and was very encouraging. He also gave me the chance to make an appeal to the High Court, which was my first appearance in the High Court.

     

    How did working in the chamber of Mr. Raj Thakre make you aware of the difference between being an intern and being a practising lawyer?

    During my time working in his chamber I realised that I should concentrate on drafting cases and work on my arguing skills. I would listen to him with rapt attention whenever he was arguing in court. I also learned a lot from my other senior colleagues whose expertise in the field of criminal law was edifying.

     

    Tell us about the skills you picked up during your time with Mr. Thakre, and how that paved the way for your litigation career.

    When I joined Mr. Thakre’s chamber I was an amateur with raw skills. Mr. Thakre’s working style influenced me to a great degree. I was always eager to hear his arguments. Initially I used to attend magistrate court sessions with him. Then I started attending sessions court in Mumbai. While working there, I was thoroughly impressed with the drafting skills of his colleague, Mr. Chimalkar, who continues to remain an authority in criminal drafting. I was fortunate enough to learn the craft from the best. In Mr. Thakre’s chamber I attended full-fledged trials, right from framing of the accused till the pronouncement of judgement.

     

    You had a sudden change of heart and decided to try your hand in the civil and corporate field. What made you make the switch?

    After working for almost two years in criminal law, I realised that criminal law has its limitations and it is restricted to the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act. So I decided to move to the civil and corporate field.

     

    Being someone who has practised both civil and criminal law, what are the factors aspiring lawyers should take into consideration before making a choice between the two?

    Someone who has had experience dealing with both sides of the coin will find himself at an advantage during a court proceeding. It helps you identify the criminal element in civil litigations and civil matters in criminal cases. I would personally advise young lawyers to familiarise themselves with both kinds of law in their initial days, before making a definitive choice.

     

    You have practised before numerous fora including the Supreme Court. Describe one memorable case you have dealt with.

    One of the most memorable cases I handled in the Supreme Court was the infamous case of paid news in the matter of Ashok Chavan, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and my client Dr. Kinhalkar, former Home Minister of Maharashtra. This case was very challenging and I worked very hard on it. I had briefed the erstwhile Sr. Counsel Uday Lalit (now a Supreme Court Judge) that the opponent was led by stalwarts like Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Singhvi and Mohan Parashar. I handled this case for three years before the Election Commission of India, then handled it for two years before the Delhi High Court and further two years before the Supreme Court of India. We won the case before all the fora. This case gave me the opportunity to closely work with Sr. Counsel Uday Lalit. During these five years of litigation I have worked under immense pressure but never succumbed to it. This case is very close to my heart and I will always cherish it.

     

    Another forum you deal with is the NGT. What is your view on tribunalisation of justice in India?

    Tribunalisation of justice has been a successful endeavour in India. Tribunals reduce the burden on the High Court and Supreme Court. Also most of the crucial issues related to obtaining environmental clearance for mining projects or disputes pertaining to the same are now being promptly resolved because of the NGT. Earlier, these files would just pile up in the offices of the High Court and Supreme Court, with no action being taken for years.

     

    For a prospective lawyer looking to go into litigation, how important is it for them to have prior contacts to help guide them?

    For a prospective lawyer I don’t think prior contacts are the only way. Yes it does matter, but all of it is secondary to your competence in the field. The briefing lawyers will identify you and can send the counsel briefs. In this way you can make contacts. Also by joining the chambers of senior members of council you can build contacts. I am the son of a farmer, I had to start from scratch, with no resources at my disposal. That should be testimony to the fact that it is your ability that takes precedence over everything else.

     

    Did you have such contacts? How did it positively affect your career?

    I started off with no contacts. My only priority was so work hard and in the process I made the acquaintance of some very influential people. Knowing them has helped my career in litigation.

     

    Do you believe in arguing cases you have don’t agree with morally? Have you ever done it?

    That differs from case to case. As an advocate, I believe I am obligated to fight every case that comes my way. I was morally conflicted during a rape case that I was handling, but that case got dismissed altogether eventually.

     

    How do you cope with pressure in case of high profile lawsuits?

    During my sixteen years of experience in litigation (three year as an intern and thirteen years of practice) I have handled various high profile cases. There was enormous pressure but I always found myself handling it with relative ease. I love the adrenaline rush of a high profile case. It pushes you to outdo yourself, it keeps you motivated. I actually look forward to sleepless nights; I find that it helps me stay at the top of my game.

     

    From being an intern to having your own firm, you have done it all. What, in your opinion, are the defining characteristics of a successful litigant?

    I have appeared before all fora from quasi-judicial authorities such as the tahasildar, collector, commissioner, minister and from magistrate courts to JMFC, sessions court, civil courts, High Court, consumer forum, tribunals and finally the Supreme Court. Nowadays lawyers start practice directly at the Supreme Court. I firmly believe that all lawyers should practise before lower courts for at least ten years before moving on to the Supreme Court, as it is in the lower courts that you learn the most.

     

    If you had to give one piece of advice to our readers, what would it be?

    My only advice to readers is that if you want to become a successful lawyer, work hard. Have experience before quasi-judicial authorities, lower courts. Follow at least 5 full-fledged trials before joining higher courts. Furthermore, work with honesty. Nowadays, even litigants are in pursuit of lawyers who are honest, rather than successful. If you are honest, success will follow.

     

  • Enatoli Sema, on being the first from Nagaland to crack the AOR exam and work experience with Mr. Neeraj Kishan Kaul

    Enatoli Sema, on being the first from Nagaland to crack the AOR exam and work experience with Mr. Neeraj Kishan Kaul

    Enatoli Sema graduated from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University in 2005 after completing a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Stephen’s College. In the pursuit of her determination to do litigation, she joined the chambers of Mr. Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Senior Advocate before starting her independent practice in the Supreme Court. Being the first from Nagaland to have passed the AOR examination of the Supreme Court, she talks in this interview about:

    • Her decision to pursue law
    • Experience at Campus Law Centre
    • Professional and personal challenges after graduation
    • Working at the chambers of a Senior Advocate
    • Cracking the Advocates-on-Record examination
    • Following her passion for litigation

     

    Please introduce yourself to our readers. Where did you grow up and attend school? What was your initial career plan?

    My name is K. Enatoli Sema, I come from the State of Nagaland. I grew up in Kohima and that is where I did part of my schooling and then shifted to the Convent of Jesus & Mary, a boarding school in Shimla.

     

    You completed your Bachelor’s degree from St. Stephen’s College in Delhi University, which is a very prestigious and difficult college to get admission into. How was your college experience? Did you decide from the beginning to study law after graduation?

    I feel privileged and blessed to have attended this prestigious college during the most crucial years of one’s life. It is during this period that I was constantly faced with situations and circumstances that questioned my roots, faith, identity, foundation and my core values. At first, I did not know how to respond to them but as a result I was forced to grow up and decide who I am and who I want to be rather than being defined by others.

    Studying law was also an option for me because of my family background but I was not too sure if I really wanted to do it immediately after graducation. In fact, after graduating from St. Stephen’s and after a year in CLC, I took a gap year just to be sure that I really wanted to study law.

     

    How was your law school experience? Looking back, do you wish you had done anything differently?

    (Enatoli graduated from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University in 2005)

    CLC was a very different experience altogether, something I wasn’t prepared for. I realised how sheltered and protected I was in St. Stephen’s. At first it was overwhelming, the sheer number of students in the class was enough to make you feel small and insignificant. There were some classes I enjoyed more as compared to others. We had execellent faculty members because of whom my love, interest and curiousity for law started. The one thing I wish I could have changed about law school was probably being more active in campus. I would usually try and find a quiet place in a corner and read and did not interact much.

     

    How was your first year after graduation? What were your thoughts and in hindsight how did they work out?

    The first few months after graduation was difficult for me. Nothing prepares you for what you are going to face especially if you choose to do litigation. There is no similarity between the theory and practice and it takes time to get used to it. As time passed, I grew more intrigued with the drama and process of how law evolved in court room proceedings. My first year went just fine, there is nothing I would like to change about it. But yes, I wish someone would have told me that it is OK to feel lost and clueless in the first few months of practise and that everyone goes through it.

     

    enatoli-sema-2

    You worked as an associate in the chambers of Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul from 2007 to 2009. What did your work consist of? Were you free to take up your own cases, independent of the ones your senior allotted you?

    Joining the chambers of Mr. Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Senior Advocate, was the one of the wisest steps I took as a young lawyer who was interested in doing purely litigation. Being in the chamber of a Senior Advocate, the work of the junior associates mostly revolved around legal research, analysis and assisting him with our notes and preparations. Working in his chambers trained and exposed me to the basics of law in a variety of subjects within a short span of time. In his chambers, I was not only taught law but I also learned professional ethics and discipline which is crucial for any Advocate who views this profession seriously.

    Mr. Kaul’s chamber was very demanding as working in any top notch Senior Advocate’s chamber would be so there was really no time to take up any independent cases and since I was just freshly out of law school, I don’t think I had the experience to take up cases on my own.

     

    You became the first from Nagaland to pass the AOR exam of the Supreme Court. How did you prepare for it? What do you think are the reasons that no person from your state has ever passed it?

    As I started my independent practise in Supreme Court, I realised that it was very important for me to take the AOR exam. I was encouraged and guided by AOR’s who had taken and passed the exam. I was blessed to get sound advice and guidance by fellow colleagues who were already AOR’s.

    There are very few lawyers from Nagaland practising in Supreme Court and partly that is the reason why there were no AOR’s from Nagaland. I hope that in the coming years there will be many more AOR’s from Nagaland.

     

    Please tell us more about the AOR exam. When do you think one should start preparing for it and attempt it?

    It is important to familiarize yourself with the syllabus and the study material that is available for taking the exam. I started preparing for it around the month of February-March since our exam was in June. It is always better to start preparing earlier because you have to juggle your work and studies at the same time. Sitting for an examination after years of gap did not help but the idea is to remain focused and hydrated in the Delhi heat! For me attending the lectures given by the examiners helped a lot while studying because they give you an insight of what to expect.

     

    Currently, you are Standing Counsel for the state of Nagaland in the Supreme Court of India. What do the duties and responsibilities include?

    Being a Standing Counsel for any State is a matter of great honour and a privilege. Since I have been away from Nagaland for so many years, personally I see it as a chance to stay connected to my people. I also see it as an opportunity to contribute towards my society as a legal professional. The duty and responsibility is to ensure that your State is effectively represented and that the Government is given sound legal advice and guidance at all times.

     

    What are your plans for the future?

    As of now, the only plan is to be a lawyer whose work is respected.

     

    Lastly, what advice would you give to law students wishing to make a career in litigation?

    Litigation has its share of fun and adventure but it is also taxing. Choosing to do litigation while your other friends from law school may be joining fancy law firms is certainly tough. But if your heart is in litigation and that is what you want to do, then don’t let go of your dream and be prepared to slog and work hard towards it.

    When I expressed my desire to do only litigation after a year into practise, I was advised and warned by a wise man to be prepared to put in a lot of hard work for at least 10 years. As a naive young lawyer, I thought that that his ‘old school’ philosophy talking. I now understand what he meant. This profession, specially litigation will also remain ‘old school’ and I hope that it continues to do so. There is no short cut if you want to be someone who truly works for justice.  So, take your time to decide if litigation is really what you want.