HIGH (in) COURT: A Drunk Mooter Prays For A Flowing Stream of Fun

If it may please the honourable court

I would like to proclaim:

The counsel is not ‘feelin' well,

He swears in God's name.

The night before was a trail too long,

Singing li’l life's crazy song

While each and every bit of me

Went 'round Kolkata feeling so Bong.

Your Lordship, hic! I may be wrong

But what is wrong with a first year

Who has hit the gong?

Looking at the memo, a night passes through my mind,

Of all the scenes in Kolkata, in my soul, in my life.

That night was surely the truest bliss,

Like my life giving me a midnight kiss

A kiss that drove me high

And left the judges with a wry,

Smugly, smile on their faces.

But now here is the point, where I plead, for the court

To give a heed, as the counsel gradually proceeds

To the prayer, of all those things, he humanly needs:

A flowing stream of fun; a sky shining with life;

A life without any reasons, and letting destiny to decide;

For till the day comes, I would continue to stress,

Upon this point until your Lordship agrees to be your 'HIGH' ness.

PS- This is not by me. This is by Pipo...my friend.

Suppose you have hired a wheeled vehicle drawn by animals in any municipality or cantonment area in India where such transportation is as common as wheeled vehicles (and as all of us are aware that such places are plenty in ‘Incredible India’, not in consideration of our efforts to save the world but necessarily from economic backwardness) and a dispute arises between the you, the hirer, and the driver of the carriage, as to the amount of the fare payable by the hirer under any rule (made under this Act), such dispute shall, upon application made in that behalf by either of the disputing parties, be heard and determined by any Magistrate or Bench of Magistrates within the local limits of whose jurisdiction such dispute has arisen; and such Magistrate or Bench may, besides determining the amount so in dispute, direct payment together with such sum as compensation for loss of time as such Magistrate or Bench thinks fit

Any sum determined to be due or directed to be paid under this section is recoverable as if it were a fine. {As to recovery of fines, see the General Clauses Act}

The decision of any Magistrate or Bench in any such case shall be final.

When any such case is heard by a Bench, any difference of opinion arising between the members of such Bench shall be settled in the same manner as differences of opinion arising between such members in the trial of criminal cases.

If, at the time any dispute mentioned arises, any Magistrate or Bench of Magistrates having jurisdiction in respect of such dispute is sitting within the local limits to which the rules apply, the hirer of the carriage may require the driver thereof to take him in the same to the Court of such Magistrate or Bench for the purpose of making an application under that section.

Any driver neglecting or refusing to comply with such requisition shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one month, or with fine not exceeding fifty rupees, or with both.

Guessing which is such a well worded legislation?

            The legislation is called THE HACKNEY-CARRIAGE ACT, 1879

Since such disputes are not confined to hackney carriages, wondering whether we have similar dispute resolution laws for city transportations in wheeled vehicles sans animals.

In 2005, the Delhi Police launched a sms based complaint system against auto rickshaws In order to enlarge the reach of the commuters to  lodge complaints against auto rickshaw drivers, whereby any person having complaint against Auto drivers for (i) refusal (ii) overcharging, (iii) misbehavior and (iv) harassment could lodge a complaint through SMS on phone number 6767. For the complaint of refusal, one has to write "REF" followed by registration number of TSR followed by Location and time and SMS to 6767. Similarly, for over-charging the letters "OVC” has to be used, for misbehavior "MIB" and for harassment "HAR".

Delhi Traffic Police claims it has been taking action on these complaints against auto rickshaw drivers by spot prosecution (ii) by sending decoys (iii) by ascertaining the facts from commuters.  But one isn’t sure under which law and under which procedure such a ‘spot prosecution’ is being conducted. Are the auto-drivers deemed guilty till proved otherwise? What is the nature of such ‘spot prosecution’?

Any info on the same would be useful.

Legal process outsourcing (LPO) companies are giving stiff competition to law firms in the talent hunting stakes, writes the Eco Times today.

The article quotes several people working at LPOs, who claim that compared to law firms the companies offer:

1. better growth opportunities,
2. decent working hours and less work pressure, and
3. good salaries.

In the article I briefly argue that LPOs still have an image problem and remain second choice for the top law graduates, despite the recent inroads LPOs have made.

Do you agree/disagree?

Would you ever work for an LPO or is it still not a popular choice for most 'real' lawyers / 'dignified clerks'?

Or do you work at an LPO and can tell the story how it really is?

Disclaimer: This is purely a law student’s perspective of plagiarism awareness that has had a sudden impact on the lives of people making submissions of any kind. I am a loyal supporter of originality/original content and always value and appreciate the same.

Present:

 Law schools fortunately/unfortunately have undertaken this trend of purchasing plagiarism softwares in order to check for originality of content for any type of submissions made. Life has been tough ever since, and there is no time to sleep or eat with people mostly trying to think of the best ways possible to beat the software.

Past:

Life used to be simple. Surf the web. If the college has access to any legal database of considerable repute than life used to be simpler. Cut, copy, paste and projects/papers are ready within one night.

Future (Then):

Faculty Members used to have these papers/projects/dissertations submitted get published in their name in the form of articles or conference papers.

Future (Now):

Now even if one comma or full stop is found to be similar, marking is brought down to zero and people on the verge of passing out are made to work non stop, sometimes even after getting placed.

Reason for change in Stance from Future (Then) to Future (Now):

Fortunately/Unfortunately, these articles and conference papers presented by Faculty members at some point in time got caught by plagiarism detectors used by organizers of conferences or journals where they were sent.

Conclusion:

ALL in ALL, the Circle boils down to this, While at law school, utilizing another person’s effort or skill for personal gain reaches such insurmountable limits that at times people even forget to check material taken from people or given to people.

While students use materials available on the net or databases to finish papers/projects/dissertations purely for the purpose of fulfilling their curriculum requirement, they do not derive any material benefit from it in any way whatsoever. The maximum they do derive out of the same is marks which cannot be equated in any way to any benefit unless of course future earning potential calculated over an ‘x’ number of years depending on where that set of marks places you, can determine the same. Why can’t material be used by students with a stipulation being imposed upon them that each source should be properly cited or is duly acknowledged. Along with the same, another requirement of complete blatant copy pasting could be dealt with strictly while being inspired from certain articles or papers in order to complete the paper with appropriate citation could be made permissible. It’s after all being used for an educational purpose. Rights of the author of the paper upon which the submission is based upon can’t have an issue with it unless explicitly stated. If the student does want to use the project or paper as a platform to get a publication or a conference paper published or made, then the onus would obviously be on him/her to make sure that non-original content does not creep in along with his/her own personal liability being attached for any violation which might take place due to the non-original content.

Prima facie, it may seem that I am encouraging plagiarism but that is not the point of this post. When dissertations of a minimum of 100 pages, need to be submitted and articles/papers discussing the same already are readily available, won’t a citing of each source thanking each one of them suffice? Trust me, even today, you can still find a marked sigh of relief when students are asked only for a hard copy of their submissions in contrast to the dread that creeps into them when they are asked for soft copies. While complete original content should be encouraged in cases where there is a limited and reasonable page stipulation along with only original ideas being asked for like a critique of some sort for instance, the same cannot be made for a dissertation in excess of a 100 pages where only distinguished jurists having been able to properly analyze the topic in question. The reason being that a dissertation is a compilation of information related to the topic with your take on it or on the information so made available.

Solution:

A plausible solution to this problem could be the encouragement of original content being made subject specific such as the success or failure of the SEBI in regulating the capital market for instance, while inspiration from sources could be made permissible in cases where it has to be relied upon by default such as the role of FII’s in the Indian capital market.  This would require cooperation between both faculties and student to list out such topics along with an option being given to students to choose what exactly they would want to work with.

It started with Foucault.

“Do not ask me who I am and do not ask me to remain the same ... let us leave it to our bureaucrats and our police to see that our papers are in order.” 

A good way, we felt, to headline the invitational notice of a forum whose primary aims include questioning the identities we’ve had so painstakingly constructed  for us in the first place.

We started small. Three of us, huddled around the less rickety of the two tables at our friendly neighbourhood coffee shop, throwing around  ideas about scope, structure, organization, readings, and most importantly (we felt), the group name. Unable to come up with something sufficiently quirky, we stuck with the staid but hopefully respectable “Gender and Sexuality Forum”.  The minutes of the meeting were stored as text messages on our mobile phones. The modus operandi  was simple : discussion and debate, film screenings, and street theatre.

Like I said, small.

The number of people who turned up for the first meeting though – not small at all. With 60 active participants, and 10-odd curious onlookers, this was pretty much a wildest-expectations-matching turnout.   We started with playing to our strengths :  What better way to kickstart a group conceived by a couple of queer students, than to weave in a discussion on the Naz Foundation judgment ? The theoretical tool to be used was intersectionality;  the object of application -  a critique of the judgment by the current Vice-Chancellor of another of India’s premier legal institutions.  While the critique itself starts with a disclaimer against making  any kinds of value judgments, the statement “Naz Foundation …. has picked up and placed in the central stage an issue that I doubt deserves so much prominence….  “  was hardly very encouraging. The group agreed with us, and debated on how those in positions of power or privilege could easily afford to create a hierarchy of oppressions, placing whatever didn’t serve their interests at positions lower in the hierarchy. An hour later,  and we’d finished the meeting, flushed with the adrenalin of a good  discussion.

And so, it began.  Small as we might have started,  we’ve allowed our hopes for the Forum to  get pretty darned big. For my part, I like to think of it as an epochal development in the admittedly short  history of our law school (a decade, to be exact) , and my life (two decades and counting). For the college, it marks the first open forum to discuss and deconstruct issues of gender and sexuality, to critically explore  areas which our often staid curriculum refuses to even  glance at. For me, it marks the latest checkpoint in my  coming out journey.   

Our mandate also pushes us towards exploring readings far outside our comfort zone. Case in point : a discussion centering around a paper where the writer, a self-identified paedophile, makes a case for consensual sexual relations between adults and children. Heavy moral outrage was expressed at the start of the meeting. The conclusion of the discussion, too, involved unanimous disagreement with the writers’ argument.  Somewhere in between, though, was where we felt the forum was achieving its purpose : the moral outrage was replaced with logical, nuanced argumentation : rational thought over pre-adjudicated prejudice.  Slowly, we worked our way around the fact that while we may think of ourselves as free, liberal thinkers, throw something at us from outside our lived experience or comfort zone, and it was hard to keep  our disapproving  moralities from  kicking into action.

Its been two months since that first Foucalt-headlined notice, and I’ve been catching myself thinking - this shouldn’t work. Not here. Here, in a law school I’d assumed  found it hard to care beyond basic CV building exercises, where so-called “student groups” flare out even before they’ve started, where the pervading sense of ennui has often stopped the most steely initiative in its tracks.

And yet, we have this.  We have a space, an open space, where we confront our preconceived notions, our most deep seated prejudices on a weekly basis.  We have the kind of discussions that constantly surprise us, where we invariably end up learning something new, often about ourselves.  We’ve observed the importance of seeing how conversations are avoided, on the same level as how they’re made. Our  vision is  expanding, we’ve started thinking bigger : Future plans include getting academics on board, taking the forum beyond the confines of the campus and into other colleges in the city, a conference on Gender and Sexuality, and, my personal goal – a Pride March in Hyderabad.

Law, said Justice Frankfurter, is what lawyers are – and lawyers are what law school makes them.

Call me a dreamer, but I’m feeling pretty darned  optimistic about the law right now.

Hi folks,

Those of you who may missed today’s TOI may not have come across an article discussing , among others , two interesting question which are pending adjudication in a PIL before the Delhi High Court. You may read the article http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Can-retired-SC-judges-advice-be-used-in-courts/articleshow/5692225.cms and an earlier one at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Delhi-high-court-to-examine-if-retired-judge-can-work-privately/articleshow/5557490.cms

The questions are:

1. Whether rendering opinions in writing on a point in issue to be produced in a court of law is a violation of article 124(7) of the Constitution which prohibits a retired judge from acting or pleading before any court or tribunal.
2. Can retired SC Judges' advice be used in courts?

Thoughts anyone?

Hi guys! I am Priyam….I belong to that category of unfortunate students who have always found Logical Reasoning, Critical Reasoning and verbal reasoning, massively elusive. Not only would I be confused between answer options, sometimes I would arrive at the conclusion that the question itself was wrongly framed. Due to my weakness in this section my score was dropping pretty badly; until the time I decided that it was high time. I needed to do a reality check instead of ignoring my faults and expecting them to take care of themselves on their own. But when I actually did analyze my faults I discovered that most of my errors were silly mistakes and could be rectified by following some simple guidelines. And trust me I didn’t need to put in any rocket science logic.

To start with, let us go back to the basics….

1. Read slowly, read carefully.

 Most of us are always in such a hurry to finish reading the extract, that we miss out important words like only and if and only if, etc, which can totally alter the meaning of the sentences. So read slowly but read attentively. Why would they want to check your logical aptitude? To check if you are logical in your thought patterns or not, right? If you miss out crucial details while reading you will invariably arrive at the wrong conclusions.

2. Avoid repetitive reading of the same lines. From my experience, if you can correct this problem you can easily shoot up your accuracy rates by a good margin. Run a pencil or a pen underneath the lines you are reading. This will ensure you do not loose track.  Do not go back to a line as soon as you have finished reading it. If you keep on doing that, it would result in thorough confusion. net result, you have t5o go back to line 1, and start reading again. When you keep over reading a particular part of the extract, your mind seems to get stuck to a point. So keep reading even if you think you do not fully comprehend the facts. Finish one reading of the full passage first. This will give you a general idea of what the passage is talking about. Underline words or phrases you don’t understand. Go back to them later.

3. Eliminate irrelevant answer options. This is the best way to arrive at an accurate answer out of all that are available.  You will generally have two out of five options which you may eliminate right away (if you are lucky it may even be 3). After this look for similarity in reasoning structure, like cause +effect =conclusion or is it that you need to derive the cause from the effect given the conclusion. This should help you narrow down your choices to the last two (again if you are lucky, as you are in most cases this should give you the right answer itself). Between the last two look out for similarity in words and phrases used. You will get your answer.

4. Stick to the information provided within the paragraph. Do not go beyond it. Even if it deviates from the general idea that you may have about a topic, stick to what is given in the extract. Moving beyond it is the biggest mistake of all.

5. Pay attention to single word differentiators used in the question. Things like ‘except’, ‘but’, ‘doesn’t ‘, etc. can change the whole answer options. Also in options which have all of the above, check only two and tick it. No need to individually check all. But yes, if along with all of the above, there is another option that says either a or c, or only a and b, then you do need to check all of them.

This is enough gyan to start with.

Till next time,

Take care!

Al izzzzzzzz wel!

Its that time of the year when suddenly the attendance sheets are almost perfect, the collars crisper, the spirits well guarded and the efficiency or the visuals of professional motion much more swifter. It’s the end of the financial year and thus the time for enhancements in the paypack. And this year, formally, there is no ‘economic downturn’ to cast a suspicious cloud on hopes and future plans. And especially now that the law firms are ‘openly’ boasting about their best performance through the ‘recession’, the young law firm aspirants know that it’s a recession proof sector.

 However, in most businesses, including that of law firms, salaries/ retainers/bonuses is kept secret. It is almost universally untested as to what exactly would ensue in a law firm if the fee earners knew what their colleagues, their bosses or – gasp – the Partners were making, officially.

Fundamentally, one of the most important reasons mooted as to why there should not be any such secrecy is that it creates an element of bitter frustration and any unfairness (real or perceived) can’t be addressed directly.  People talk, you know. And they would continue to do so whether the management likes it or not. And more so when it comes to lawyers, that’s all they talk about. Especially if they are not the court going types. As George Simmel (first generation of German sociologists) aptly states that Secrecy sets barriers between men, but at the same time offers the seductive temptation to break through the barriers by gossip or confession.

Well, secrecy is the enemy of efficiency and we all know it. The Right to Information Act , 2005 was brought about after so many years of concerted struggle by numerous lawyers and activists, among others, to break through the shield of secrecy wielded by the government against the exercise of fundamental right by a citizen. Thus, we all understand the element of efficiency in transparency.

  Getting back to the topic.

Opening up of salaries seems more dangerous in legal workplaces primarily because they may not be currently fair and therefore making them open seems even more dangerous.

The usual reasons cited for variations in paychecks , enhancements and bonus(es ) are X doesn’t do a better job, but because she simply drives a harder bargain when it comes time to negotiate salaries Or sucks up to the boss, Or is aromatic or has some censored pictures from the last christmas office party … never mind.

But that doesn’t seem fair, does it? More importantly, it doesn’t do any good to you and more importantly the Boss is least bothered about how you feel especially because

·        There are loads of people dying to take your place at half the price of your secret salary

·        No one is indispensable

·        Bitterness affects efficiency, don’t be bitter

Go ahead and wait endlessly to reply promptly to the firang client’s email which the Gora would type at his convenience in his time zone (GMT +whatever)

Thus the question remains is whether it makes much more sense to determine salaries/compensations based on people’s value to the organization. (A seemingly difficult proposition with suspicious, argumentative and desperate lawyers on board) Thus the scope of HR increases in law firms (beyond peeved cheesy and uber-stupid peer evaluation sheets)

To discuss HRs and their ‘job policies’ is yet another painful tale so lets not even get there.

But when people agree that openness is better than secrecy, in life, why not in law firm business. Every relationship between two individuals or two groups will be characterized by the ratio of secrecy that is involved in it. In the absence of any provision mandating partnership firms/ LLPs to disclose their profits and disbursements and the same being inaccessible to the public as a ‘public record’, the element of secrecy seems to be an impediment in choosing the law firm employer, be it for a fresher or a lateral. And Mr. Drucker is not of much help. And not all of us are good at ‘game theory at the work place’.

We agree that salaries are a sensitive subject, but whether open communication is important enough and that it should be tested, even if there is a price to pay? It’s at the very heart of a shared culture. If discussion of salaries is taboo, what else is off limits?

 In his book ‘The Seven-Day Weekend’ Ricardo Semler says ‘Making salaries open yet another pocket of information that the power-hungry would otherwise use to consolidate their positions – to the detriment of co-workers and the organization’

(it’s a different story whether your partners have ever heard of this book or imbibed the rays of sunlight contained therein, whether they desire to spread their Firm to 60 locations in 30 countries in a span of the next thirty years of their expected life span, create an institution and not just a few rich people.)

Jeremy Bentham said that Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government and I think it ought not to be part of regular governance of law firms either.

As they say, Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

What do you guys think?

CRICKET AND IPL : LESSONS FOR LAWYERS AND LAW FIRMS

Here a few lessons law firms and lawyers need to learn from the way cricket/ IPL is played.

1.)   Do one thing. Do it well.

Irfan Pathan was a huge success till he did one thing. And you bet he did it awesomely well. Left arm fast medium, 135ks, the ball swinging into the right hander. What a beautiful sight it was! The girls liked him too!

Then he tried to be super quick. That didn’t happen. He now is actually medium fast. He then tried to develop the ball the goes away from the right hander. Didn’t happen. He worried. Grew bald. Even the girls left him! The blue eyed boy of Indian cricket is now groping in the dark. Sad.
 

Many lawyers who concentrate on a single practice area are doing great for themselves. Take Mr. Pavan Duggal for example. He does Cyber law. Obhan and Associates do patents. That is it. Mr. Veeraghavan Inbavijayan: He does International Arbitration. Nothing else. But they all do it really well.

On the other hand, lawyers/ law firms who try to expand too much, too fast have more often then not fallen flat on their faces. 

The cat who knew to climb trees escaped the hounds; the fox who knew a hundred myriad tricks fell prey to them.

2.)   Great things remain great.

Australian cricket team was great, is great. Imagine this: no Waugh brothers, no McGrath, no Warne, no Gilchrist, no Hayden, no Langer. And you begin to think if it is really the Australian team. But in comes Mitchell Johnson, Nannes, Bollinger, Hussey, Clarke, Haddin et al. The Australian team still remains a world beater.

Fox Mandal, a great firm got into a very bad shape off late. Partners broke away. Spin-offs were quicker than Shoaib Akhtar’s 150 km/ hr thunderbolts. But Fox Mandal persevered. Today it is hale and hearty and the piggy bank too seems to be growing.

      3.)   Great captains are cool captains. Great captains are brave captains. Great captains are innovative captains. Great captains are fun.

Kian Ganz is cool. He is the editor/captain of this site folks.

He lets every comment pour in and be put on an open forum.  He is brave.

He has this blog competition running. He has a thriving discussion forum on. He has a job portal too. Kian is innovative.

Kian has a party every Saturday and Sunday. Kian is fun.

Dhoni never loses his cool. He tackles media with his philosophical one liners.

He parades the team before media to show unity. Dhoni is brave.

Dhoni uses Raina as a death bowler, Amit Mishra as a night watchman. He is innovative.

Dhoni loves bowling. He has even opened the bowling in a Test match. Dhoni is fun.

4.)   Things that don’t come on TV/ Newspapers are dead.

Many lawyers come on TV. CNBC, NDTV Profit etc. are some of the favourite hunting grounds of the eagles and beagles. Their news comes in various business newspapers. Big, visible news. They surely are living well. Domestic cricket matches aren’t even telecast live on TV. The news space of a Ranji match is, at best, microscopic. Domestic cricket is dead.

 
ps- more to come!

Before commencing with this blog post, again I REPEAT:

This post is based on the sample crowd of the law school I study in. Situations may differ according to where the person reading this note comes from.

Facts:

4^th year of law school having studied 42 varied subjects with litigation and corporate internship experience, moot court achievements, paper presentations, articles and all that is required to make a glossy CV (Curriculum Vitae).

Place:

A National Law University still trying to make its mark with no strong alumni base.

Issue in Question:

Asked to fill a recruitment registration form in order to register for campus recruitment.

Moot Point:

Column which states, “Please specify your area of interest in order of preference”

A recent conversation that I had with a classmate made both of us land up in utter confusion with regard to what to fill in the area of interest section. The discussion began with putting in Corporate Law to covering all procedural laws to arbitration to Public International Law. We reached a deadlock and decided that we should ask the faculty as to what could potentially be the area of interest we could put in to which a but obvious reply was that ‘how can we tell you your area of interest, you should know best what your suited for and what you like’. A logical counter to that very argument was that, ‘Madam, unless we practice in something for a long time or we have experienced varied areas, how would we know what to fill in here.’

This backdrop again would give you a logical answer that internships are undertaken for this very purpose, so that a person can figure out his/her area of interest. I do agree with this view and so would any other logical and prudent man since it would all fit in like a math equation which looks something like this:

Area of Interest= Internship Experience+ Personal Choice+ Place of Practice+ Available Openings

That’s that then, everything seems to have fallen right into place, then why did the confusion arise in the first place? Let’s get back to question that we did actually want to ask the faculty. The points to be highlighted in the question are plain and simple:

-          Time

-          Experience

How much time and experience do internships normally last, one or two months in case of a summer or winter break where work which ranges from research to observing proceedings in court to how exactly arguments take place and preparing briefs with research backup for senior counsels. This is generally what most people would experience barring exceptions of course. How exactly can a candidate of law decide which area he/she fancies within this short time span?

Fine, for the time being, let’s keep aside the internship aspect for now, let us only consider the subjects a student studies at law school. There are certain subjects he/she fancies and which he enjoys studying. But, does that necessarily mean that these subjects graduate to the level of being called as an area of interest which he/she would want to specialize in.

Again, let’s consider the so called sterner arguments which may arise. Firstly, no one can spoon feed you while at law school and you are to decide what is best for you, Secondly, if you can’t decide what is best for you, no one else can. Thirdly, ask people in the field, speak to people and ‘feel’ (yes, I have heard this many times but never understood how wide its ambit can be) your way around.

Agreed that no one can spoon feed a law student and he/she should best know what he/she is fit for and also that he/she should ‘feel’ his/her way around in the profession. But, where is the time for all this? Does anyone realize that even before a law student realises it, he has to sit for a recruitment interview where in most cases, areas of interest are adjusted according to the available openings and the needs of the firm or counsel in question. Forget spoon feeding and ‘feeling’ your way around, the poor guy would be revising his basics of corporate or securities law despite having a small part of him wondering that he may be best suited for IPR.

To conclude, the point remains that law is a profession where maturity is late and it is this late maturity that makes it such a beautiful profession. Owing to the current market trends and the changing needs of law students, situations have changed and people often do get mismatched into a particular area where they are in a doubt or a constant question mark which is, ‘What if, what if I had given myself more time to think this through.’ The final argument that I can think of would be that five years is more than sufficient time for anyone to decide where he/she wants to be. Again, does this law student have time to actually sit and think as to where he/she wants to be with hectic submission schedules and internship acceptance/rejection anticipation mails?

As a distinguished Supreme Court Judge had told my friend, a long time ago, ‘Son, unless you actually get into the profession and see a variety of matters coming up, you won’t be able to assess where exactly your area of interest lies.’

Welcome to the Great Law School Placement Ordeal...
Over here you can find a blend of the so called successful people with 'cool' pay packages along with people who have tried but failed miserably and people who just haven't  bothered....Before embarking on our eventful journey of actually describing this wonderful and sadistic experience of scrutinising minute details of how crooked, cocky and 'professional' people can be over here, I would like to mention that the sample upon which this note is based is only that of the law school I study in..Therefore, situations may vary according to where exactly the person reading this note comes from.

4 years into law school, a national law university to be precise and there are certain things which need to be fundamentally learnt or imbibed while vying to get that elusive 'offer':

- You are not here to study law or how it is used or how it can be implemented. The only thing that matters is how much you score. Hence, always make sure you have condensed xeroxed notes at your disposal to memorise and reproduce in the answer sheet.

- Critical thinking or analysing is a strict no-no, your reputation, your status and your so called 'pay package' is going to be solely determined by the marks you obtain and by how much of a stick up you can be.

-Learn to be selfish and clandestine, This my friend is a prerequisite. Never ever share any information obtained about any competition or any other academic venture or else you may be 'doomed'. Well, people who do this are already doomed since they fear competition at its very inception.

-Do not be helpful or kind. Never ever lend a helping hand when people need it. IF by mistake you do advise someone as to what line to take or where to specialise in, you may be indulging in creating competition. And then again, you are 'doomed'.

-Follow the crowd, If the crowd decides that a certain course is an added advantage to your existing law degree, close your eyes, keep your mouth shut and storm straight into it. Individuality and Interest should always take a back seat.

-While doing any conference, writing any article or even participating in a competition. Remember! The more the merrier. Forget what interests you, storm straight ahead.

-Always move around in groups and circles, If you are alone and actually want to do something different, something what the law is actually meant for, you may be cornered and stomped upon. Learn to politicise every little issue available. The limelight always matters and always helps.

- 'Evil Eye'. This is probably the most powerful tool resorted to in order to make sure the other person is adversely affected. Every person who does anything worthwhile mentioning has to be singled out so that an evil eye is cast upon him/her'. In response the other person responds reciprocating the same. In short, There is this absurd, useless and pathetic feeling around college that the casting of an evil eye over another person's success will ensure that he does not succeed.

This is basically a synopsis of how exactly placement can be achieved at law school. People may feel this is written out of sheer frustration of not being able to match up to the hefty qualities listed above. But no, as far as I am concerned I am caught up in this web and now can't help it. People who dare to be different, who actually love the law would actually appreciate this note, For people who may be offended by what has been written, face it...this is exactly what you are undergoing right now.

District court lawyers in Delhi are observing a token day-long strike today to protest against increasing corruption in the judiciary as they gear up to meet UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Law Minister Veerappa Moily to discuss the issue.

Co-ordination committee chairman and spokesman of all Delhi District Bar Associations, Rajeev Khosla told PTI about striking lawyer’s demand to seek appropriate amendment in the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 that makes prior permission to probe charges against judicial officers a mandatory requirement.   

Treasurer of Dwarka Court Bar Association, Karan Veer Tyagi told Legally India: “We decided to go on a complete strike for one day to protest against the rising incidents of arbitrariness and corruption in the lower judiciary.”

He informed that lawyers also hope to get the pecuniary jurisdiction of district courts raised from the existing limit of 20 lakhs. Higher suit value cases are currently reserved for adjudication by the High Court.

Tyagi commented: “The objective is have our grievances resolved through peaceful means; we informed the District Judge beforehand and requested judges to not pass adverse orders in cases put up for hearing. Normally, lawyers are counted proxy for the day of the strike.”       

He added that a fair amount of inconvenience is indeed caused to the litigants, but a corruption free functioning of judiciary shall ultimately benefit the litigants only.

Tis Hazari, Patiala House, Karkardooma, Rohini and Dwarka courts are the various district courts of the capital.

Do you think strikes by lawyers are justified despite explicit SC rulings and prohibitive provisions of the Advocates Act? Is it right to curb the collective voice of lawyers against the democratic mandates of a civil society?   

Atlast Women reservation bill is passed. A right given to women or politics again by these politicians?

Tough to find out the answer. I must say any kind of reservation is not good for any society. We were against the reservation in the higher education institution but all those people who were against of it also favored this bill.

Now I need to know

1) For the upliftment of women?

2) Vote Bank

If its wrong then its totally wrong. We cant say its good for women and not required for downtrodden people in higher institutions. I agree both are the different things and cant be related to each other but will this reservation bill help women just by 33% or any percentage? Somehow I feel those who women who are really in need of help and reservation , they will not get any welfare out of it.

We dont create a base, we dont create such an environment which can help them but on the name of reservation these politictains are playing with the feelings. By doing this they are not performing their duties and by just passing the bill they can relax now that no one can ask them , Why women are still facing problems..

Legally Drawn is created by Vasanth Sarathy and is published on his blog www.legallydrawn.com

Happy first birthday Legally Drawn!

If you have noticed that whenever one sees the usage of the word “Client”, one knows that there just has to be lawyer or an architect involved since no one else in the 'white collar' business game ever seems to refer to anyone as “clients". On a train/plane you are a passenger (unless you are flying Kingfisher), in a hospital you are a patient (unless you are in some super specialty hospital where trust God,you are nothing but a customer), in a class you are a student, in the economy at large you’d be a consumer, in the polity, the common man (but now in the world of gender neutral addressal system, 'the common person').However, the doberman luckily seesm to have successfully avoided the ruccus and is not a  doberperson.(sorry! bad joke!). 
But when it comes to being a “Client”,the only people known to have clients appears to be lawyers, architects and prostitutes, all of whom have to live with the reputation that they are simply out to screw you. Only the prostitute is honest about it.

Did you notice? You sit on your computer thinking of doing something productive, and end up spending a lot of time on the internet – maybe on Facebook, maybe reading tweets, watching videos, looking at funny images and advertisements, sending mails, befriending and chatting with people or even reading some random blog. Imagine inside your head: a gigantic net, which is very, very sticky, and imagine yourself like a fly stuck in that net. That is internet for you. Are you getting stuck?

Probably yes, and don't blame yourself for that. Two decades of research, creativity and innovativeness of scientists, programmers, marketing professionals, artists and hackers have gone into creating and developing this extremely sticky net. It has so much of data, entertainment and information which has been custom built for you that you can never get through all the interesting stuff out there. You are not only reading, seeing and watching: Web 2.0 ensures that you are also taking part in creating more and more sticky yarns where new flies can get stuck. Internet is not your Sunday Newspaper that you will get through all the interesting articles, comments and insights on a lazy afternoon. Be careful. Are you getting trapped into the wonderful super-stickyness of the Internet?

You already know, I'd guess, that Internet can be a big barrier. Many people disconnect the LAN cable when they want to concentrate on pending work; or sometimes just switch the laptop off. It can definitely get worse, and many people suffer from a range of negative effects of spending too much time on the internet: starting from anxiety, depression, eye and back problems to a total lifestyle failure. However, more commonplace is the feeling that you have wasted a lot of valuable time on the internet doing things that you did not realy mean to do.

The solution, I'd say, must start from a good understanding of the problem. Have you ever realised that those addicted to the internet are actually enslaved by thousands of smart people who use the internet to snatch away some time from everyone and make millions in the process (if you count all of them, the industry is worth billions). When someone makes a good useful thing, it makes perfect sense to use it – because you are benefiting from the use. It is the right thing to spend some time on a good webpage, because you get some value out of it. However, things get complicated when you start using the internet unconciously; not because you need it, but because it feels good and you are in the habit of spending time online. You sleepwalk through emails, webpages, social networking sites, and before you knew it, your time is gone.

Just wake up! Look around and understand what is going on. That facebook quiz or the emoticon is not just a cute little thing – it is a money making tool for someone somewhere who knows there are thousands like you who will think it to be a cute little thing or irresistibly interesting, and spend their time hanging around in their websites, applications and online stores.

This is not how it needs to be. You can take control of the web aggressively. Use the internet to improve your life, not to give your time away to others so that they can make money from it. They value your time in terms of hard currency (or paypal account figures), do you value your own time?

There is no end to the power of internet – you can transform your life with it. It is sheer magic. Hack it (in the ethical way, of course! Read about what hacking means here. Read about my favourite hacker here and see how internet has been hacked to help students to prepare for law entrance exams here) and you could be a millionaire, learn from it and you shall find that it is the best teacher ever.

However, if you really need to read this article to know this, I guess I should also tell you where to start. It is important to have a target in your sight as you make a move to benefit from what you shall read here. Think for yourself, what is that you have been wanting to acquire very badly over some time now, but have been falling short of it constantly. Maybe it is learning a new skill – like baking a cake or something more complex – learning a language. Maybe an easy way to recover from your hamstring injury. Decide what you want to achieve using the internet. For the purpose of illustration, I shall assume you want to learn Spanish and you are an absolute beginner.

Become a finder: Search engines are the most powerful hacks ever. Everyone says information is power, but no one never knew what that really means till search engines like Google bloomed!

Think for a moment: why is google such a business empire? It all started from one thing – a great way to search the entangled web. It brought together a lot of information in an organised way, and it does that best till today. It is so big because of the value it creates for everyone who uses it. Use google right and you shall see your life has begun to change. Why? I shall give you a very strong reason.

It is highly unlikely that your problem, your situation is abolutely unique in this world. Probably someone else encountered that problem, that question before. Maybe they found an answer, or made some progress towards solving it. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just take their insights and solutions and apply in your situation, or start improving from where they left? These days, chances are high that the solution or the answer has been kept online for you to find. You can find it with a search engine. Some people know this, and that's why soemthing that looks as simple as google search is a superpower if you know how to use it. It combines your thinking, innovativeness and ingenuity with that of many others all around the world. It brings to individuals the information and the ideas that they can use to build something more valuable than the existing forms. Remember this, and start looking for solutions to your problems online. There's more useful things here than one can imagine.

Instead of wasting you time planting money trees for others on the internet, start looking for the information that can change 'your' life. I believe that everyone can change their life with the right set of information – but what will be the right information that depends on the person. Also, no one but the person himself will know what is the right information, and when he sees it, he will know it.

If you are yet to master searching, start this way. Make a list of five of your problems. Try to find the solution through google search. If you dont find at once, try changing the keywords. Using the right keywords is very important, and it takes a while to learn to find things on google only for this reason. This is your first step in learning to find solutions on internet. Make it a habit to look for things/solutions on google. With time, you will become a great finder of information. I will repeat, that in itself is nothing short of a super-power.

How can you use these insights to learn a language like Spanish? Firstly, Spanish is a very popular language all over the world, and there are millions of people learning and teaching spanish. There is no dearth of teachers or study material for learning Spanish. The best of it is paid, but a lot of good stuff comes for free. It is not only reading material, but you must look for audio files as well as videos that will assist you in learning. Apart from materials, you shall find there are several online forums for learning the language, where you can interact with co-learners, Spanish speakers and teachers willing to help you out. Locating none of these will be vey difficult, but deciding what works best for you may be more tricky and usually takes some time.

For me, a mixture of the following worked the best: daily newsletters from about.com, livemocha.com (you have paid stuff in this website, but a lot of resources and the forum are free. You can submit your assignments for other people knowing that language to rate and correct your mistakes as well), and a paid course from learningspanishlikecrazy.com (I paid about Rs. 2000 in Indian money for some awesome audio files for self-learning, much lesser than what I would have paid for a Spanish course in any langauage school, not even taking into account the time I would spend in going there, availabiliy of classes etc) and when I compare this to my attempts to learning a foreign language from a brick and mortar language school, I only feel that I have found a wonderful solution.

Become a giver: While it is a great thing to use Internet and google like a your private genie to solve the problems, on an advanced stage in your interaction with the web, you should be able to solve problems of others and give answers to questions that others are asking – on your blog, or webpage, or maybe on Facebook or Squidoo. When you are doing these things, you know you have a purpose of using the internet. You are free, not anymore chained to the self imposed chains of activities - like checking mail, replying, archiving, opening facebook, taking a quiz or reading a blog because you have nothing better to do. You would not feel like reading those silly articles if you had better things to do. many of the ridiculous Facebook quizzes that are so captivating now will turn out to be very boring. You will use the Internet now, and not let yourself get used on the Internet by strangers on their quests to make millions.

And then, you shall want your content, your blog or webpage to be found on the Internet by strangers from all over the world who may be interested in what you are writing, saying or performing. Then again, you can use google like a genie to ensure it takes your work to all the people out there.

With respect to Spanish, this will entail writing about your experience of learning spanish, the tricks you discovered, the courses and the habits that worked for you, the forums that you loved. You can write a blog, you can help people who are beginning to learn, and could do with some guidance on forums and social networking sites. This will cement your own learning as well and help you to meet a lot of new people pursuing similar interests as you are.

Join in the conversation: Everybody who matters is present on the Internet. Once you are free from the cyclic patterns that the average Internet-slave follows, you are an enlightened being using the Internet for growth and prosperity. Now you can join in the conversation. You should be using search engines properly and you would be on the way to become a master finder, and naturally you would be encountering a wealth of information, insights and greater things everyday. You would know you are doing it right when you would find it yourself because you want it rather than the content coming and finding you in your inbox, facebook wall or desktop without you ever asking for it.

Now you would certainly not be so bored that you shall have to take quizzes or open facebook once in every half hour to check if you have got another wall post or friend request. However, this is the time you shall start finding truly great people on the web – maybe people writing blogs, talking in webinars or developing things you want. You shall find yourself in conversation with them – sometimes on social networking sites, at other times you shall write your own blog, make podcasts or hold webinars to reply to theirs. You will not only learn from the masters out there on the web, but you will teach them too, and those others who care to listen. Realisation will dawn on you, and not at all dramatically: you are no average Joe or Jane born to serve the empire of Internet. Your time has come.

Join in the hunt: Whoever said hunting is illegal these days, had no clue. Today's internet is a great hunting ground: for knowledge, for skills, and for profit. All the time people are joining their forces on the Internet to bring about great things. After you have gone through the last two phases, you can be one of the hunters. Sometimes alone, at other times in collaboration with others like you, you will find solutions, create and teach hacks, moving and shaking things around internet. How would that be made possible? If you use search engines effectively, you will be privy to cutting edge knowledge and information that very few care to look for. You would be able to keep track of the best in the web, and the best of the web is normally really powerful stuff! You can find what you want quickly, you can pick up a new skill in a few days, you can have a readership. If someone comes with a problem to you, you can fix it up, or at least provide a direction. You can network on the Internet. And when you collaborate with other denizens of internet like you, great things could take place.

There is a huge demand on the internet for skilled and unskilled work. There is scope for starting your own venture as well as providing a service against money. There is demand for almost all sort of work - creative writing, photography, video editing, online marketing. You can learn almost any skill, and make money from it. The most well known places to look for work are craigslist, guru.com, elance.com etc. However, operating profit can be much higher if you can locate job yourself, or even better, if you can become an online expert on your area and let your customers / possible partners find you on the internet and approach you with work.