“An up-at-dawn, pride-swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about, ok?”
This is how Tom Cruise describes his relationship with Cuba Gooding, Jr in the movie Jerry Maguire.
It is also how most first-generation, financially self dependent, ill-networked litigating lawyers will describe their initial years at work.
The following nuggets of wisdom are a result of several ‘interesting’ experiences (to put it politely) that I and some of my friends have gone through.
1. Money. There will be very little of it, if at all.
A well known senior lawyer practising at the Delhi High Court once told me:
Juniors should be grateful for anything they’re paid for the ‘first few years’, after all, college doesn’t even teach the basics of practising in courts.
Juniors at his office start with a monthly salary of Rs 5,000. He’s a generous man.
One of the most successful lawyers in India doesn’t pay his juniors a dime for the first one year.
The chances of working with a well-paying lawyer/law firm are very few unless you’re from one of the national law schools or belong to a well-connected family.
Wait, scratch that.
The chances are very few, simply because there are very few lawyers / law firms which pay a respectable amount.
Two reasons are offered by most lawyers:
a) Law School leaves you ill-prepared for practising before courts.
It takes a few months before a fresh graduate is of any use for an experienced lawyer.
There is a fair bit of truth in the first half of this reason.
The irony however is that the Bar Council of India, which is a body of several accomplished lawyers, regulates law schools.
So basically, lawyers decide what/how law will be taught, only to (rightly) claim later that the training imparted by a system they regulate isn’t good enough.
b) ‘You shouldn’t even think about money when you start, you should focus on work.
Believe it or not, the practice of paying juniors a pittance is considered a proud custom.
Senior lawyers speak fondly of how even they weren’t paid anything respectable when they started and emotionally communicate to the fresh graduate that the baton of this custom is being passed on to him/her.
I’ve heard instances of lawyers taking offense at their associates asking them how much they will be paid.
Advice: Try to compensate for what law school doesn’t teach you by working hard in your internships and don’t hesitate from having a polite and honest conversation with your senior about your remuneration (or lack thereof).
2. Prejudiced and sometimes predatory clients
Everyone wants to get Harish Salve and Ram Jethmalani to fight their case.
Those who can’t afford them / don’t have the kind of cases these lawyers take, go to other lawyers.
Clients, like banks, want to give you their money / work if they’re reasonably certain that you don’t need it
Since lawyers are prohibited from advertising, how does a litigant decide which lawyer to engage? The answer is a combination of “Let me ask my friends / family / colleagues” followed by an analysis of how big the office / cars / clientele of the lawyer in question is.
“He’s so rich, he must be a good lawyer’ is the popular perception. Clients, like banks, want to give you their money / work if they’re reasonably certain that you don’t need it.
They assess these needs by how fancy your office is and how many cars you have. (Yes, they do.)
Some Clients even try to exploit young lawyers if they know that the lawyer in question is desperate for work.
Payments will be delayed and sometimes never made.
Some people offer tons of future paid work if only a particular assignment is done for free.
The work never comes, of course.
Advice: To counter the prejudice, try and work out an office sharing relationship of some sort with a friend or a senior - it will make a major difference. Do not share with your clients that you’re struggling. To put it very crudely, fake it till you make it. To counter the predatory tendencies, always request that a part of the fees is paid in advance to you. If this isn’t possible and the work represents a great learning opportunity, do the work expecting that the promises made to you will not be fulfilled, it will prevent disillusionment.
3. Your family will be the brand ambassador of an MBA Degree
Mom, I had a great interview with a lawyer I applied to and I’m starting work tomorrow. Congratulations beta! What is your annual package? Beta?
Beta?
1 year later:
Beta there’s still time, why don’t you pursue an MBA and get a ‘Normal’ Job’?
If your family isn’t aware of the unique customs of this profession, chances are you will have a hard time convincing them that you’re not supposed to even ‘think about money for a few years’ while sacrificing any notions of work-life balance that you or your loved ones may have had for your life.
You will be constantly reminded of all your cousins and friends who, having attained the popular MBA degree, have ‘settled down’ with good ‘packages’.
Advice: Talk to your yourself and then your parents about your reasons for doing this. Persevere.
This post isn’t meant to discourage aspiring lawyers.
If you’re passionate about practising law, there are few professions which are as fulfilling and as challenging.
Also, for those of you who care, make sure the next generation doesn’t have to go through the same obstacle course that you did, for starters by paying a respectable amount of money.
Dushyant Arora is a Delhi-based advocate. He tweets at @atti_cus
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I have an MBA degree from pretty much the best there is in India. and am a lawyer. In litigation. In Delhi. for a decent amount of time.
I do law as well as a lot of management. to be honest doing the MBA was the pretty much the best decision I could have taken.
so have issues with the last point.
Rest, yes, I agree.
1. A simple degree in law is theoretically enough to get you to practice law, but to get the right network and the right 'distinguishing'/'differentiating' factor in your life and on your CV, get a CA or MBA (only top-rung b-schools please).. unless of course, family is socially "up" there.
2. Teach in B-Schools - assure yourself of about 40-50 K every month by teaching in B-Schools on weekends. For the first few quarters, this may be just about all you end up making!
3. Network like mad - no occasion is too small or boring ;
4. If possible, find a partner/spouse who can help you through (food/shelter) the first few years. Post which you better return the favor! :-)
5. Stay alert like crazy - opportunities come un-announced and in the strangest places. You Snooze, You Lose!
6. Relax and take it easy. No practice worth its name/salt was built in anything less than 12-15 years. Put in the hard yards, hang on to your integrity (after all, its the only precious thing you May have!) and hang in there..
7. No publicity is good publicity, initially at least. You can't be screaming from roof-tops about how good you are at This or That.. you are what your clients say you are good at. Period.
8. Find an unconnected passion - art, music, dance, photography, sports, trekking, diving - whatever makes you glow. And whenever you feel like the walls are closing in, just Do That - find 'yourself' and jump back in to the heat and fever of things.
9. Have no expectations, but Keep Investing in people. This can be the most difficult part. You will keep seeing the lowliest of human beings seemingly succeed in many ways. Believe me, the 'returns' from a single grateful person is greater than the pain of a dozen ingrates who seem to have forgotten what you did for them.
10. Stay positive. We have only One Life. It will be whatever you Want it to be. No time for lingering on pain or negativities. The world is enough. Or not enough. Your Choice.
LLM, MBA (from two Tier-1 B-Schools).. Sanad of 1994, ex-AM, independent practice of over a decade.
full time. residential. from one of top 3 B Schools in India. (from author of post 1)
How proud you are ! Four years spent pursuing MBA from a "top 3 B School" (which means the third best in your opinion LOL) and you get back to law practice. Dude, either you have loads of time to burn or money to burn, most probably both. You sound pretty confused too.
your advice of "get a CA, get an MBA" is pure rubbish and misleading. Unless someone has an unca judge / senior / sugar daddy these qualifications are BS. The BA LLB with good grades and hard work is the only way to have a shot at success.
By the way "ex-AM" means nothing. Ex-AM lawyers are more common than stray geckos these days and will most probably become even more common.
Not of other comments. The advise given at post 1.2 is not me.
I am not Ex AM. And that is not my advise. under post 1.2 i.e. under pseudonym "free gyan"
I attended IIM Calcutta.
I have nothing against AM. neither do I have anything for them.
MBA gave me lots of business gyan. I took the course majorly from a networking purpose. but frankly the business education, pretty much blew me away.
It involves more math than you can imagine and the doors that open are slightly more than purely for a lawyer.
should every lawyer do it ? your call.
take care.
Extremely difficult for a classic "i'm-the-end-of-the-world" lawyer to even Imagine what it is to undergo a 2-year residential program in management from a highly competitive premier school, so maybe we should stop trying to explain.
At the risk of sounding highly conceited, I daresay that across all of India, there may be, in legal practice as of now: CS/LLB or CA/CS/LLB - a few dozen, US/UK LLMs - a few hundred, top Indian B-School educated (2-year residential programs) - a dozen or so, US/UK Ivy-League MBAs (Harvard/Oxford/Stanford/Yale, year-long or more residential programs) - perhaps 4 or 5... and Ph.D's from such premier institutions, perhaps as rare or rarer still.
How it helps etc, is not easy for any other [BA/BSL/BLS - LLB] to understand - so all kinds of stray gecko comments are likely to be unleashed when clear That is one summit too far.
1.2.3.1 calm down, dude... life is long.
What do those statistics prove? That sensible lawyers who want to do lawyering realise that spending two years doing an MBA will not prove very useful.
Here's another statistic: How many senior counsel in India have an MBA? Zero. How many partners at the top firms (AMSS/AZB/Luthra/Trilegal) have an MBA? Zero
Now why would that be? Hmmmmm wonder why that is...... surely not because of the "mind-blowing" stuff they teach at B-school.
Quoting Free Gyaan:
The only geckos here are the unfortunate few who thought it's "cool" to do an MBA and feel "cool" about at. Sadly that piece of paper hardly helps a career in law. Now if you want to become an entrepreneur (in a non-law field) maybe it will help. But not to become a more successful lawyer.
But cheer up boys and girls, I'm sure there are worse things in life than being an unsuccessful lawyer with an MBA. LOL
I'm faking it right now, but imperceptibly, I'm also making it :-)
not because they have a choice. but because they don't.
I know of MBA passout's working for 20k per month. MBA is not all that hunky dory that it used to be!
Offcourse Litigation comes with its own trials & tribulations & frustration!!
Always bear in mind that the client is good paymaster and your mentor too if you are ready to serve him.
All Seniors are made by their Clients only and they climbed the ladder from step 1 to the top.
For client work or for mentoring or for clarity you are welcome to contact me on
- Don’t loiter. Your firm pays you for your hard work and not for loitering around.
- Sitting and gossiping from 9am-4pm and then working from 4pm - 12 midnight is not intelligent working. It just indicates there is no one at home to go to!
- Stay away from nasty politics. Avoid blame games.
- Learn to take onus of your work. Do not eppect to be spoon fed.
- Do not be so full of yourself. Having LL.B/MBA/LL.M does not mean seniors will get up and offer their own seat to you!
- Never attend meetings without a notepad and pen.
- Reach office on time.
- Adhere to the guidelines and policies of the firm. Freedom to work as one pleases does not come from Day 1.
- Don’t be shabbily dressed. Your in a law firm not an ad agency. Be conservative about your dressing.
please elaborate
I am not saying its entirely logical but Sound Advice does have a point. I mean would you let someone who claims to be a first class surgeon operate on you if he dresses like is partying in havana?
maybe the day you reach a level when your reputation precedes you, you can dress the way you want.
The ironic part being, successful litigation lawyers will openly criticize young lawyers for joining a law firm and how the honour of being a litigation lawyer is being replaced by the more prolific decision of joining a law firm.
Its not like smart, talented junior advocates who have a passion to practice before courts of law have an option to do so, unless they are from a finally stable (understated) background. There is a simple principle of remuneration- good payment for good work. If you expect a junior advocate to bend over backwards every day of the week for hours at length, without a breather, the least you can provide is ample remuneration to show something for it.
Stop driving young advocates away from litigation because your seniors did not pay you well, and you ended up doing well nonetheless. Its tantamount to the proposition that you are a terrible parent, because you had terrible parents and you turned out fine despite that. The times have changed. Life is expensive, and so is education. We have progressed to an age where just having a law degree with minimal investment is not an option. We not only are expected to have a law degree, but also from a college with reasonable repute.
Stop being proud of archaic customs, because if there is anything this country has learnt over the years, it is that just because something is a custom, does not make it right.
Best wishes,
Prachi
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