Super Lawyer

Tag: Legal Consultant

  • Yamini Malhotra, Legal and Compliance Recruitment Consultant, Aquis Search, on IPR, and her diverse experience

    Yamini Malhotra, Legal and Compliance Recruitment Consultant, Aquis Search, on IPR, and her diverse experience

    Yamini graduated from the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi and cleared the AIBE in 2012. Prior to that, she held a degree in Sociology from Jesus & Mary College, University of Delhi in 2008. Having a keen interest in IPR and litigation, she started her legal career at Anand & Anand and later moved on to work at Global Legal Associates and Lall Lahiri & Salhotra. She then moved to Aquis Search as a Legal and Compliance Recruitment Consultant. 

    In this interview we speak to her about:

    • Her time in Delhi University
    • Being a legal recruiter
    • Her experience in IPR

    Tell us more about your law school days at Delhi University.

    I read law from the University of Delhi while working at S&P Global, and hence, had to juggle between multiple responsibilities during my day. This was not only challenging but very enriching as well since it taught me how to multitask and excel towards something I always aspired to become. The most interesting part of my law school days was the fact that my class had individuals aged between 21 and 60 years and came from diverse professional backgrounds such as civil services, journalism, finance, etc.

    The course was structured in a way that instead of theory, it focused on discussions around case studies. This was one of the differentiating factors that made the classes exciting and thought provoking instead of being mundane and boring. The moot sessions provided practice in developing relative arguments and brought together viewpoints from different individuals, which was crucial for a beginner like me.

     

    Who was your mentor who motivated you all along the way?

    My grandfather who was a civil servant had a keen interest in law. During my initial years, he always motivated me to study the subject. I come from a family where girls are encouraged to venture into professions of their choice and that has always kept me going. I have had my share of failures and each of them has taught me to work harder and be more focused towards my goal.

     

    Tell us more about the nature of work you had undertaken as a Research Associate at S&P Capital IQ.

    S&P Global is one of the top most financial data providers, which through its technology and people turns raw data into actionable insights. During my stint there, I was responsible for extensive research and compiling of data related to professionals and linking them to the relevant data fields to ensure a robust and enhanced database. One year into the role, I also took up the responsibility of developing training plans and mentoring the new employees to ensure their smooth transition in the company. My core responsibilities also included quality checks to ensure correct representation of data on the platform and conducting feedback sessions with the team members to resolve guideline related disputes and queries.

     

    When and Why did you decide to join Anand and Anand? 

    Since I had a keen interest in IP, Anand and Anand was an obvious choice.  I spoke to my IP professor, who had suggested that I apply to Anand and Anand. Once I had done my research and had a general sense of the firm, it was all a matter of applying and interviewing with the firm. Luckily, Mr. Safir Anand liked my previous experience of research at S&P Capital IQ and took me in.

    Being the biggest IP firm in the country, it provided me with an opportunity to work on some cutting-edge matters for high profile clients. My work primarily included IP prosecution and advertising law. Additionally, I was involved in writing various articles for the firm.

     

    What do leading firms that specialize in IPR such as Anand and Anand look for in prospective candidates for internships, retainerships or recruitment?

    The firm invests a lot of time in choosing the right candidate. They look for candidates who will be with them for long term. Based on my experience at the firm, they take into consideration the following factors (not an exhaustive list)-

    1. A strong educational background
    2. Ability to work hard
    3. Team player
    4. Good communication skills
    5. Strong on technical knowledge
    6. Being creative as well is not a bad idea at all

     

    Tell us more about your experience with Global Legal Associates and Lall Lahiri and Salhotra. 

    While Anand and Anand was a great place to learn, your role tends to get highly specific and specialized. I personally felt that it was too early for me to specialize in one part of IP.  I moved on to joining Global Legal Associates as part of their Dispute Resolution team.  At GLA, I worked under the able guidance of Mr. Ravinder Narain and Mr. Rajan Narain. I represented the firm’s clients across fora, which involved appearing and arguing matters before Courts and Tribunals, research, drafting and drawing up pleadings, submissions, notices, briefing and assisting Senior Counsel and research.

    At LLS, I had the pleasure of working on some ground breaking IP work under the guidance of Mrs. Anuradha Salhotra and sharpened my skills in cease and desist notices, responses and litigation.

     

    Why did you choose to venture out to the business side of law and take up a job with Aquis Search? 

    Having such diversity in my profile, I feel I found my niche in the legal recruitment business. Aquis happened, when I met Rishabh Chopra-Head of India at Aquis Search. Rishabh inspired me to join Aquis and then I knew I wanted to be a part of Aquis Search’s journey.

    Aquis Search is a premier international corporate governance executive search firm headquartered in Hong Kong and having offices in Beijing, Delhi, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore and Taipei. At Aquis, I work closely with law firms and corporations in India and the Middle-East to fulfill their legal and compliance recruitment needs and providing them with quality candidates at junior and mid level.  I also support the India team on senior level searches.

     

    Any suggestion you would like to give to our budding lawyers?

    You should have the right kind of attitude towards the legal profession. It’s always advisable to have novelty and be innovative to develop a personality of a true legal professional. One should be determined, patient and remember that there is no alternative to hard work. You should never be disappointed, as failure is an integral key to success. All the best!

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Simon Z. Rajan, Legal Consultant, Ployprathip International Law Office Co., on working in Thailand, and his diverse experience

    Simon Z. Rajan, Legal Consultant, Ployprathip International Law Office Co., on working in Thailand, and his diverse experience

    Simon Zubin Rajan graduated from Symbiosis Law School in 2010. He is currently Legal Consultant at Ployprathip International Law Office Co., Ltd., where he handles Private Equity transactions and Commercial law related assignments. His profile typically entails contract drafting, due diligence, Board of Investment Promotion, Labour Law advisory as well as litigation support.

    In this interview we speak to him about:

    • His time in Symbiosis
    • Independent practice in Calcutta
    • The work ethos in Thailand

    How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

    Well, when I am not being a suit pursuing some obscure objective or an arguably just cause, I am a novice culinarian and an armchair aviator. I am in awe of the sky and the machines that take to it. I like food, drink and song, preferably with a pinch of class and refinement, but I am not averse to slumming it either, so long as the company and conversation are worth it.

     

    Are you a first-generation lawyer? 

    Is that what we are referred to? A relegation to antiquity of sorts, but I could get used to it. To claim I had a ‘career plan’ would be specious–deceitful even. Like most youth, or at least that self-appointed semi-conscious intelligentsia, I had absolutely no idea where I was going to nor what it was I wanted to do–Diderot may have approved. I seriously doubted that I had a commercially viable skill set at all worth the expense of an education, until the education persuaded me otherwise. In hindsight, the law was something that happened to me. It let me take my time, and more importantly, it let me find myself. I have always had innate interest in human relationships and its constant bed-fellow, conflict. What higher ideal could there be than to resolve this, be it in the boardroom or the bedroom? To my mind the law is a means to an end–to keep or restore balance appeals to my aesthetics and affords me a sense of achievement when the day is won.

     

    Tell us a bit about your time studying law as an undergraduate student at Symbiosis Law School. 

    As with most mishaps, professional or otherwise, expectations weren’t defined prior to embarking on the perilous business of acquiring an education in the law. My time served at Symbiosis Law School was more often than not characterised by a glaring lack of discipline. I should imagine that is probably why the rather feeble imposition of a uniform by the college administration. I did manage to get a word in at the occasional debate and essay not just for myself but for others too. Learning how to swim at the Khadki pool, was a personal epoch on the extra-curricular front, an experience that resonated with my academic struggles when a trusted fellow opined in rather deadpan tones over heavily chlorinated water, “Dude, the lifeguard will throw you out if you don’t learn to swim within the next ten minutes. That, or I will drown you!”

     

    Could you tell us about the internships you took up, and what you learnt from those experiences?

    Internships seemed to reinforce a rather droll suspicion I harbored of the faculty who had the grave misfortune to teach me–that they were dispatching the lot of us to a pre-determined fate ill prepared and none-the-wiser. Poor attempts at levity aside, internships lent much needed perspective to the overly pedantic leanings of legal commentary and misconstrued interpretations. My internships were almost always at the solicitor firms of distinction and repute that crowd Old Post Office Street opposite and adjacent to the High Court at Calcutta, and usually over the holidays as an ostensible ruse to keep me busy and out of trouble.

    My novice years were often enlightening in ways that I never expected. One particular interaction with the venerable R.N. Jhunjhunwalla at Khaitan and Co., Calcutta, during the summer of 2006 if memory serves, is worth the reminiscence. Subsequently after a breathless but convincing spiel as to why I sought to intern at his firm, I enquired of him as to who was the most important person in his office. After some deliberation, he pointed to his chauffer. Throwing caution to the wind, I probed further to discern the reason why he of all the mighty souls at Emerald House was anointed with this rather heavy onus. It turned out the indubitable chauffeur was then the only keeper of the keys to the office and nobody would be able to get in without him! The fact that R.N Jhunjhunwala was magnanimous enough to pay yours truly a stipend in honorarium–a princely sum of a few thousand rupees still affords me a sense of warmth even today when freezing the family jewels in an ivory tower.

    In my final years at law school, I interned with Marzia Rohani-Dalal, an intellectual property legal consultant in Pune. It was under her tutelage, that I half-learnt that a highfalutin vocabulary and unwarranted hubris do not maketh the man; integrity and kindness do.

     

    What areas of law interested you during your legal education?

    Constitutional Law, Evidence, Medical Jurisprudence, Philosophy, Psychology, Criminology and Criminal Law, International Law and Political Science.

    Tell us about your early professional experiences at Radhika Singh & Co. 

    Green but beady-eyed from law school, hers was the only offer on the table. That and naiveté, were the  deciding factors.

     

    What prompted your move from Radhika Singh & Co. to taking up a position with R. Ginodia & Co.?

    I loathe being diplomatic but this once I will peg it down to professional differences. R. Ginodia & Co., was a buttress from a looming fate of becoming a professional bum–culturally a much favoured vocation of the youth of Calcutta. Pecuniary compensation was pathetic to say the least, a reflection of the paltry value ascribed to human life not just in the glorious state of West Bengal. The omniscient chief minister had even contemplated a thousand-rupee stipend for aspiring young legal beagles–verily a shining example of State apathy to the monetary incentive required to take up the practice. As a tyro, people will do and say their damnedest to impress upon you the nobility of the profession and how long and what they did to establish themselves, but you have to look deep down inside to find what it is you truly stand for. You can go only so far with someone else’s reasons.

     

    What kind of cases did you take up after you started independent practice in Calcutta in 2011?

    The work profile typically entailed international as well as domestic transactional work and even some criminal matters, besides advisory and drafting assignments. Naturally, getting work was the primary concern but it was not something I lost too much sleep over. Strife and hardship, if one is mindful about it, breed a sublime sense of self-confidence. Once the volume of work started to build, biting off more than I could chew became the next dilemma. While you shouldn’t be afraid to share and spread the wealth, collaboration has its own pitfalls–you must be very careful as to whom you choose to work with.

     

    Please share with us some of the interesting cases that you worked on.

    Without going into yawn worthy details, I cut my teeth with one of my first advisory assignments. I was privately counselling a regional union leader in the giddy sway of the popular vote elected to proceed with a strike action while on the payroll of a loss making public utility service, despite a court order and advice to the contrary. From the client’s perspective, in light of severely throttled salaries and arrears over a period of six long months of penury, a strike was perhaps justifiable. Alas, not quite under the law. The contempt proceedings that followed may have been a vindication of advice rendered, and even earned me return business, but there is a distinct truth in the old proverb, ‘the path to hell is often paved by the best intentions’.  Your advice is discrete from a client’s actions. Professional detachment is mandatory. This certainly helps during collection.

     

    Could you tell us about your transition from litigation to core corporate work?

    My being a foreigner precludes the possibility of appearing in a Thai Court of Law–hence the transition. Nevertheless, litigation avoidance, negotiation and alternative dispute resolution are still within my domain of expertise besides corporate work.

     

    On what parameters do you choose the projects you work on? 

    Fee quote acceptance and execution capacity are the foremost considerations. I certainly do attempt to specialize in a specific body of work–being private equity transactions and arbitration. Of course, bridging the gap between desired work and actual assignments could possibly be a task better suited to the Bombay Sappers.

     

    Can you tell us about your role as the Senior Associate at Ployprathip International Law Office, Bangkok, Thailand? 

    My profile has evolved from being execution centric to now involving client handling and liaison, and as a result has acquired an element of management that covers engagement, workflow and personnel, client retention, as well as billing and collection; in other words, the entire work cycle-reminiscent of my days as an independent practitioner.

     

    What is the experience like working in Thailand? Do you intend to return to India eventually?

    When I first arrived here on holiday in 2012, Thailand struck me as the India that never was. The cultural and religious similarities echo in many aspects of daily life. Our best attributes are manifest. Confrontations and conflict will be assiduously avoided–professionally and legally even. Thai dispute resolution procedure incorporates provisions for court supervised mediation which are regularly invoked thereby effectively reducing the caseload unlike in India where the pendency of cases is only mounting with every passing day.

    You can’t get away with irate and inconsiderate conduct–your job just won’t get done. Procrastination can be an issue especially with impossible deadlines, but with relationships taking precedence, there is always a way here in Thailand. I have acquired a reputation of being a hustler, as is typical of most of Indians abroad, one that I am not averse to.  

    With regard to returning home, this is not on the immediate horizon especially since the prevailing rate of taxation is significantly lower than in India given my level of income and more so because there is a greater tangible correlation between the infrastructure provided by the government in return for taxes paid.

     

    What are the key nuances in advising clients successfully and developing a proficiency in corporate drafting and advisory? 

    Comprehending commercial intent in context of what is permitted by the law and what is not, is crucial. Often, you may have to ground your client and when you do, you should have a better alternative to the one whose plausibility you have called into question.

    Outlining expectations and billing is imperative-especially when payments are due from clients in different jurisdictions unfamiliar with local ethical rules. Never lose sight of the money.

    I apply the OODA (Observe, Orient, Decision, Action) loop to my work process, (somewhat synonymous with the IRAC methodology) which is an air combat theory propounded by USAF Colonel John Boyd, that emphasizes on agility over power (or leverage) to manoeuvre within an opponent’s tactics. It is especially relevant to adversarial situations and even business continuity planning where it is comparable to the Shewhart cycle. There is an order to chaos.

    #1 lesson for rookies-Know Your Client! Know exactly whose interest it is your job to uphold and where the line must be drawn between professional care and personal obligation.

     

    Did you have a mentor or guide during the formative years of your career? 

    A fair number of my friend’s hail from top tier firms and are kind enough to keep me informed of trends and developments in the practice, especially the best sources online to continually enhance my knowledge quotient–so they are my guides and benefactors. In fact, I try and learn something from every single person I meet or do not meet–this way I transcend the superficial and build meaningful relationships, however brief.

    Mentorship is vital. You need to have someone not just to inspire you, but to also point out a better and faster way of getting the job done-somebody to watch and learn from while you practice your art.

     

    How do you manage your time between your professional and personal interests? 

    I believe in getting things done on time and honing my situational awareness to anticipate and act decisively before things go FUBAR. There are certainly days when time-management goes out of the window, but the objective of a successful practice is for your client to take a calculated risk acting on reliable advice as opposed to an uncalculated risk hinged on arbitrary time and cost constraints.

    While the practice of law itself has managed to pique my curiosity over these last seven years, at the end of the day, the nature of the profession is such that we are bootmakers to kings, to borrow an expression from the film, The Good Shepherd. Lincoln could not have put it better, ‘A lawyer’s time and advice are his stock in trade’. It would be dangerous to allow the paucity of one to impinge on the other.

     

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

    The hurdles have almost always been a construct of fear; a trepidation of whether work would be futile; if futility was obvious, how was I then to improvise and get around and on top of a situation; fear of how a maverick strategy would be received and implemented; fear of committing to something; a performance anxiety in a manner of speaking-but then as you get older, you begin to appreciate and work with it-it is verily the harbinger of the thought process that makes a good idea better; that failure in itself is a test by fire so that you can improve on the enterprise you embarked on so long you keep at it. Ultimately somebody is going to give up. It just isn’t going to be me.

    Five years down the road? ‘Do I dare to eat a peach?’ Partner, if my practice is up to snuff.

     

    Giving the dynamic nature of the field you practice in, how do you keep yourself updated about the latest happenings in the law?

    Read voraciously. Read, read, and read some more. Digital, paper, whatever-anything you can get your hands on. Subscribe, if you must, to blogs and online legal news. Find out what your competitors are up to. Have an ear to the ground. Take the time to acquire actionable intelligence. Be curious. Be flexible. Not knowing, is not an excuse.

     

    What advice would you like to give our readers, who are mostly law students and young lawyers?

    Stand up for what you believe in. If you can’t, you are probably not going to do a very good job of representing someone else. And if you are going to take a stand, know your ground.

    “As soon as we abandon our own reason, and are content to rely on authority, there is no end to our troubles.” Bertrand Russel.

     

  • Smita Reddy, Legal Consultant, Lexstart, on assisting other start-ups from their incorporation to being their in-house counsel

    Smita Reddy, Legal Consultant, Lexstart, on assisting other start-ups from their incorporation to being their in-house counsel

    Smita Reddy graduated from Gujarat National Law University in 2011. At present she is working at LexStart. LexStart is a start-up which primarily caters to other start-ups assisting right from their incorporation to being their in-house counsel.

     

    In this interview she talks to us about:

    • Importance of CGPA.
    • How her appointment at LexStart took place.
    • Difference in working at LexStart from Amarchand & Mangaldas.
    • Strategy to deal with errors and mistakes.

     

    How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

    My name is Smita Reddy. I graduated from Gujarat National Law University in 2011 and I am currently working at LexStart. LexStart is a start-up which primarily caters to other start-ups assisting right from their incorporation to being their in-house counsel!

     

    How important is a CGPA for recruiters to assess students?

    CGPA being extremely important for campus placements is a given. It helps recruiters understand that you are willing to give it your all, which is always a good thing. Since they don’t really have your work experience to grill you on, your CGPA is reflective of your attitude towards work.

    Having said that, I know of some brilliant lawyers who weren’t great students to begin with. So yes, while having a good CGPA is crucial, it is also imperative that you intern before you start working. I cannot begin to stress enough on how important internships are in shaping you as a lawyer. I see so many law students wasting their internships and so many wasted opportunities. What law students need to understand is that these internships also help you in networking, plus if you’ve done a good job, you’re sure to be called back or given a pre-placement offer.

     

    Did you face difficulties in the beginning of your work at Amarchand & Mangaldas?

    Yes and no, because the difficulties I faced were more to do with not knowing how to go about things. I was a little lost, but since I joined with 15 other people from my law school, the process may have been a lot smoother for me than it was for other people. It was quite overwhelming in that sense, but once I got the hang of things, knew what was required of me, it became easier.

    It also helps if you know and understand that no one expects you to know everything at this stage. This is exactly what I tell fresher’s. You only need to start worrying if you’re still lost at 3 years of working!

     

    When did the transformation from a law student to a lawyer take place?

    I think the transformation takes place from the moment you have to take charge of something. I remember the first major assignment (where I was solely responsible for things) I was given at AMSS was helping in filing Form FC TRS. Though it would have been simpler for my senior to do it, she assigned it to me because she thought it would help me understand how things work better. And it did!

    The moment you are responsible for something, you somehow take greater care, than you would if you had a senior reviewing your work. I was blessed that way, because I was always part of teams which weren’t too big to begin with, so good assignments would end up coming to the juniors in the team.   

    Do you believe that drafting legal documents is an essential skill that most law schools in India omit to teach their students?

    Yes! While, to be fair, we did have a legal drafting course in GNLU, a couple of months of a course do not help you in drafting legal documents. What is surprising is that drafting constitutes around 60% of your work as a lawyer, irrespective of the field you are in. It is a skill set which I believe is extremely important to have as a lawyer. Plus, if you have a course on drafting in law school, you are not just suddenly thrown into drafting a share purchase agreement, without knowing the basics.

    I have had interns who didn’t know how to do basic drafting, which is quite alarming,  which is why I think the current curriculum needs to undergo changes, maybe limit learning the theoretical aspect of law to the first couple of years, and focus more on developing you practically as a lawyer.

     

    How did your appointment at “LexStart” take place?

    It actually happened very quickly and at the right time, I must add. I live in Tirupati, I love the place but it isn’t exactly bustling with corporate lawyers. I had reached a point of my sabbatical where it was no longer fun to be doing nothing; I was getting antsy and had to start doing something.

    My first round of interview was with Anisha Patnaik, one of my co-founders. It happened thanks to this friend of mine who had reached out to me informing me that his senior wanted a legal consultant, and that it would even be okay if I wanted to work from home. That literally sealed the deal for me, because I wasn’t keen on moving out of Tirupati. Imagine you can reach from Point A to Point B in ten minutes!

    Anyway, I am digressing, once I heard that I could work from home, I immediately asked him to send me all the necessary details. The next day Anisha reached out to me and I just wasn’t prepared even though I had gone over my CV a million times before that. After my interview with Anisha, I spoke to my other co-founder, Karthik Chandrasekar. Post this I started working in a days’ time!

     

    How was the job interview? Do you remember any of the questions asked to you?

    It went rather well, given that I had absolutely lost touch with law in that one year of sabbatical! Also, my founders who took my interview made me feel at ease, being fully aware that I hadn’t worked in a while and may need some time to get back to the grind. They also encouraged me to ask them questions, which I thought was a pleasant change from the usual interviews that one is used to.

    I was asked questions around VC investments primarily; I was able to answer most questions, except for one. I remember it distinctly because the moment I answered the question, I knew I was wrong, the question was on liquidation preference and what does it mean for an investor.

     

    How is working at LexStart any different from working at Amarchand &  Mangaldas?

    I will always maintain I loved working at AMSS, Mumbai and Delhi and will always attribute my growth as a corporate lawyer to it.

    LexStart has been a different experience from AMSS, since you act as legal counsels to companies that are growing with you. What starts with helping in the incorporation of a new company also leads to acting as their lawyers in their Series D round of funding. What this has also done is given me a fair sense of what founders in start-ups expect their lawyers to do. Since I was one of the first few people to be recruited at LexStart, I had my hands full with transactions which I was to lead, which was wonderful, since this immediately gives you a sense of work ownership. Plus, there is so much happening in the start-up space, that there is never a dull moment at work!

     

    What has been your strategy to deal with errors and mistakes? How would you suggest a young associate to deal with them?

    In the past, whenever I have made a mistake, I have made it a point to inform my senior. What this ends up doing if helping you learn how to handle mistakes.

    My only advise to young associates would be to always reach out to your immediate supervisor or a senior on the particular transaction and let them know. DO NOT try and hide it and hope no one would notice, because someone will, or even fix it yourself. They will do the necessary damage control. Most importantly, learn from your mistakes, check things twice or even three times before sending them out.

    Having said that, please remember you are human, and you are bound to make mistakes now and then. Move on, don’t be too hard on yourself, because that will just make things worse.

     

    What is your message to young law students?

    Relax and breathe!

    There is a lot of worrying about targets and deadlines coming your way once you graduate law school, but please do take internships seriously. Try gaining experience across all fields, whether it is litigation, NGO or corporate internships. It is good to know what you want from your first year in law school, but overtime you evolve as a person, and may not enjoy the fat-cheque-paying-corporate job you once dreamed of getting. Know that these varied experiences help you understand what you would actually enjoy doing and make an informed decision when its time.

  • Shreyas Tirunagari, Legal Consultant, Sriram Associates, on interning at the United Nations, being a judicial clerk, and plans for the future

    Shreyas Tirunagari, Legal Consultant, Sriram Associates, on interning at the United Nations, being a judicial clerk, and plans for the future

    Shreyas Tirunagari is a graduate from NUJS, batch of 2011. During his undergraduate years, he interned with the United NAtions, Since then, he has worked under Ministry of Finance, Government of India, as Associate and later as Consultant. He was also a judicial clerk to Justice Dipak Mishra, Supreme Court of India. Following his stint at the Supreme Court, he joined the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) on the Black Money Report commissioned by the Ministry of Finance in 2011.
    He is currently Legal Consultant at Sriram Associates, where he provides legal advice on various sectors including infrastructure, finance, real-estate and energy.

    In this interview we speak to him about:

    • His time at NUJS
    • Being a judicial clerk, the process of application and the responsibilities it entails
    • Plans for the future

     

    Why did you decide to study law?

    I did not really decide to study law as a career choice. Barring a few options such as Liberal Arts, in the Indian educational set-up students are required to make a choice of professional career at a rather young age. Most colleges are professionally exclusionary and do not permit students to transit from engineering to life sciences and then to law. Well, that being said, I was inclined to understand what bound a society together and so, law was a natural choice. As for how it came to be NUJS, it was a choice of city – Calcutta being steeped in history, culture and as a symbol of liberal development was quite an attraction. If you ask me about it now, I’d say I was mistaken – attending NUJS can and should be a compelling choice. It is a top-3 law school, it has a culture that embodies innovation and enterprise, and it provides a great platform from which to build a career.

     

    shreyas-t3Tell us about life in NUJS.

    One’s time in college is perhaps the most receptive phase of life—after early childhood—to the process of habit-formation in the human life. As such, the habits I formed at NUJS continue to occupy a sweet spot in my everyday life. For one, the library was the only room with an air-conditioning facility and it became habitual to spend time reading there. Since then, reading has become a habit and I continue to devote some time to reading despite moving across very different environments.

    That apart, NUJS has a very collegiate atmosphere that provides many opportunities to explore avenues within and outside of the law. During my time, I was also fortunate to have a very inspiring set of faculty members who drove students to understand, introspect and challenge the norm.

    Recently, we had a batch Reunion in Delhi where I caught up with some old friends and it led me to reflect on one critical aspect of the growth process–diversity. We had a very diverse student body with students from Punjab, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Shillong, Gujarat, Bihar, M.P. – pretty much all states were covered as were all income, social and cultural classes. This diversity set up a great recipe for embracing new cultures, taking up new initiatives and learning a lot in the process.

    Moreover, Calcutta is a city soaked in culture and arts. There are film festivals, book festivals, football games, quaint neighborhoods, some amazing culinary options and a relatively safe and indigenous nightlife. In comparison with the other NLUs, I feel that NUJS is a first among equals in the ‘uniqueness’ of the experience.

     

    Which one has been your most memorable internship?

    My most memorable internship was at a United Nations Agency, the World Intellectual Property Organization in New York during the summer before final year. I interned alongside 350 other people from over 50 different countries. In a nutshell, that is why it ranks as the best internship I’ve done during college.
    The wide variety of perspectives that were available provided an opportunity to learn from different cultures and critically evaluate the role of one nation vis-à-vis 192 others. Moreover, this was in the summer of 2010 – at a time when the Football World Cup was in full swing. For the first time, I had witnessed the enormity of a platform that was divisive and unifying while being friendly ! Watching a Nigerian Finance Minister and a Belgian Trade Representative let their hair down at the Vienna Cafe, the UN Lounge where all games were being screened, was a sight to behold, indeed!

    Beyond the global dimension to this internship, working at the UN was quite professionally challenging. I was assigned the task of covering ongoing negotiations and meetings at different segments of the UN ecosystem – in the morning I would be at the ECOSOC only to be told to rush to the Sixth Committee meeting by the afternoon, following which I would prepare reports, participate in meetings and draft memos to be sent to other UN offices. The nuances of diplomacy are deeply entrenched in cultural, social and professional engagements. As such, observing and participating in diplomatic interactions on the plank of intellectual property led me to see the ‘bigger’ picture within which economics works alongside politics which works alongside law which works alongside business and so on.

    Before this internship, I had worked in the securities division of Crawford Bayley, the office of Senior Counsel P.P. Rao, and the legal department of TCS. All of them were strictly legal internships that focused on handling legal transactions – both, corporate and litigation, and so in comparison, this was a truly unique experience. So while I cannot say that this was the best internship, it was the most interesting.

     

    How do internships help in the evolution of a legal profession?

    As I mentioned right above, internships are great avenues to evaluate what you read in the classroom in the real world. For example, most of the assigned case-readings for class are primarily Supreme Court judgments. And for a diligent student, it is likely that they will have a reasonable grasp over the case-law of the subject. However, if one were to go practice in the lower courts, it is more often than not other aspects of the law such as legislative instruments and local regulations that will assist one’s arguments. Internships help in understanding how theory fits into the dynamics of the world. It is also an eye-opener.

    To analogize in cricketing terms, internships are T20s – fun, short and exciting. Your career is the Test Match – strategically engaging, long and detailed.

     

    You were engaged as a judicial clerk in Supreme Court after your graduation. Why did you make this choice?

    Firstly, it is the Supreme Court of India and a place that, especially in these politically and economically volatile times, wields enormous influence in shaping the direction of the country. Even now, the Supreme Court’s recent judgments on 2G, Subrato Roy, the Novartis case and Section 377 have led the charge on financial propriety, global intellectual property and the individual-societal conflict of identity.

    In my fourth year of law school, I undertook a policy research project on the pharmaceutical industry, and found that the idea of government policy and processes fascinated me. The fact that millions of people can be impacted by a change in the script of one or two documents is something I that I found incredible. One government order here, one new court decision there, and all of a sudden interest rates are changing, investments are soaring/crashing, crores of rupees are released in pension schemes.

    The Supreme Court is one of those places that makes decisions on subjects that affect us daily in our lives – it’s like one of the control rooms in a big ship, and so when I got a chance to be in that room, I just did.
    Moreover, let’s not forget that as law students, most of our readings and studying had to do with Supreme Court judgments – it was but a natural progression to understand the judicial process and explore career options thereafter.

     

    Is it difficult to get a judicial clerkship with a Supreme Court judge?

    The difficulty of a clerkship I think is two-fold; the first rung of screening is perhaps a preliminary screening for eligibility. Most of the judicial clerks are selected from a handful of law schools such as the NLUs and a couple of others such as ILS and Symbiosis with the rest of the law schools out of the running. This makes the process numerically difficult. If one were to attend a lower-ranked state school, it is probably harder to get a clerkship. That being said, the NLU graduates compete internally with the graduates of similar schools for the clerkship positions. This makes up the second rung of competition.

    Within the application process, the first stage is to send in a completed application form along with a CV. After the court receives all applications, the Court conducts a preliminary screening. Following this process, the Court invites applicants for an interview conducted by a panel of three Supreme Court judges. A few weeks after the interview, the Court makes decisions and informs applicants.

    While I can’t definitively point out what contributed to my selection, I can only presume it is a combination of one’s academic performance, work experience, as well as the interview. At the time that we interviewed for the clerkship, a few of my classmates with higher grades didn’t make the cut while some with lower grades than me were selected. I think the Court seeks out candidates who they can find a workable fit with – it is very important that the clerk understand the Judge’s methods of working and adapt quickly to fill that role.

     

    What kind of tasks were you given as a judicial clerk?

    My day-to-day duties would be flexible depending on the cases, the work for that day, conferences/seminars etc.

    There are of course, some tasks that almost all judicial clerks will do, and one of them is handling SLPs.
    The way Special Leave Petitions work is that the Supreme Court allows SLPs to be introduced on Mondays and Fridays, and invariably 30-40 such petitions always show up in every Judge’s office. As a clerk, you’re required to review these briefs, and prepare short summaries of facts, arguments and point of issue.

    This is a cyclical process – the Friday filings come into office by Tuesday, and the Monday filings come in by Thursday. That gives you two to three days to go through each set, and this cycle is essentially the first pillar of work schedule for most law clerks.

    In addition to SLP briefings, there are cases that are being argued at the court and when they move into stages of final arguments, there is a heavy focus on case-briefing, research and preparation for that case. This is the second pillar of work.

    Another pointer here is that unlike a law firm/lawyer who is free to hire many juniors, a judge is assisted primarily by his law clerks. And judges usually hire just two clerks. This limitation creates a situation where the clerks have to be flexible in their duties, and the workload keeps fluctuating depending on how many cases are being argued in court. Just as lawyers prepare briefs for filing in Court, judges must prepare judgments and pronounce them. This brings us to the third significant task and perhaps the most exciting one–helping the Judges in researching, editing and drafting judgments. In my case, I did get a chance to work on one constitutional case, and to me, that’s the holy grail – to be a part of cases that will later go into law textbooks.

     

    How do you think the experience of being a clerk is now helping your career?

    As I mentioned earlier, the Supreme Court more often than not adjudicates issues that have national significance. Given the nature of the work at the Court, a clerkship is one of the pathways to exploring the depth of an idea, broadening one’s perspective and learning to see ‘the bigger picture’. Other than that, let us remind ourselves that the Judges of the Supreme Court possess a staggering intellectual and strategic strength that is built over years of adjudicating complex issues. I believe in the idea that the people are shaped and influenced to some degree by their surroundings–in this regard, a clerkship is an amazing surrounding to be influenced and shaped by.

    Anyone with these goals in mind should pursue a clerkship. This is not to say that a clerkship is useful only for an open-ended exploratory mind; even a fixed and defined career path can benefit immensely from the process of understanding judicial process, understanding a broader context and building an essential skill set. Specifically, as a judicial clerk, you end up constantly reading briefs and so, finding the main point and evaluating it’s strength slowly becomes habitual. And that, I believe is a skill that can be useful both within and outside the courtroom.

     

    You also worked with the Government on financial policy and black money. What was the nature of your work and what is a day’s work like?

    It was a unique experience and one that I cherish. For most lawyers, including me, working in a corporate or litigation practice means that the work is focused, defined and there are clear pathways to get to solutions. This project was the exact opposite.

    Understanding illicit finance and the black money market means that you have to navigate a lot of uncertainty and dense materials. Let me give you an example – we all know that there’s a lot of corruption, that money gets distributed during elections, that money laundering happens, and so on. Now how do you find out how much money travels to the wrong pockets, and how does it get there? That was my job and my favorite part of my work there was in digging things out from layers and layers of dust.

    My team also made my work memorable because it was very flavorful – senior bureaucrats, policymakers, economists, lawyers and statisticians. I had never worked with such a diverse and multidisciplinary team before! All in all, that sort of work led to developing new skill sets, understanding and integrating multiple perspectives. In a nutshell, a day’s work involved lots of researching policies and briefs, discussions, meetings, and a lot of ‘figuring things out’.

     

    Do they take interns? How can one apply?

    Yes, they do take interns but a lot of it depends on the requirements of the current projects. If I had to guess, it would be that interns with backgrounds in economics, law and politics are preferred. When they are on the lookout for lawyers though, I am sure the national law schools are on their radar.

     

    What career goals have you set for yourself?

    I plan to work on developing an entity that integrates business with policy and thus, participate in the rapid global changes that are taking place. For now, that’s the most I have; as for the achievement bit, I believe in keeping my eyes and ears open, work hard and build opportunity where it arises. I picked up the habit after reading this book. Who moved my cheese? It’s a compact book with lots of wisdom.

    Sniff and scurry all the time, and things will figure out a way of falling into place! It is a formula that has worked in the past for me, and I am confident it will work in the future.

     

    What would be your parting message to our readers?

    The world is changing and the future will bring exciting developments at a pace and in ways that were previously unimaginable. For example, we have recently developed the ability to understand, modify and change genetic structures. Such developments will fundamentally alter our world. Let’s be a part of the story.