Legally India’s best commenters of the past month talk LPO, defamation and women in law.

1. Bubbles are bliss until they burst.

Ex-NSN legal chief joins ‘disruptive paradigm’ of LPO UnitedLex
ABC — 15 September 2012 - 08:15

Thanks Kishen. I think being lawyers, sometimes we tend to overdo reading between the lines. For example, there is no reference in my earlier post on the time period when law firms with corporate practice became a reality of legal practice.

So lets not get onto the discussion whether it is a 'recent' or 'ancient' event. My point is the scope of legal service has expanded over time in response to demand. There are law firms that engage its associates in doing long term contract management for its clients, and although it might sound good on the surface that those associates are working in a 'law firm', if one cares to look deeper, their work is not very different from an LPO.

As per the requirement of a 'law degree', well, you may be surprised at the amount of knowledge a seasoned 'munshiji' in any of the chambers of a senior counsel may have compared to that of a practicing lawyer with fewer years of experience. A law degree is at best an entry ticket.

Whether it is needed, is more of a question of regulatory gate-keeping than quality of work. Every work requires some use of brain, and if one commences a comparison of all components of the legal profession (the 'pure' one that is) in terms of intellectual fulfillment, the result will most likely be that a large section of lawyers are doing monotonous repetitive work, and only occasionally come across anything intellectually satisfying.

In other words, they only have the second best option. I wonder if we should start looking down upon those 'DUDE's as well, only to reassure ourselves.

2. Battle of ideas

Natco sues SpicyIP’s Shamnad Basheer for Rs 25 lakh defamation
GoodLord on 4 September at 3:29 PM

Dear Lex Witness,
A majority of us think that your comment is silly and defamatory. Unfortunately, that does not give us the right to ensure you are banned from ever accessing the internet.
Even if "Freshers, Interns and lawyers with zero practical experience" are proffering poorly analysed blog posts, why has that harmed the IP profession? Are you honestly saying that people do not have an option to ignore an opinion given on the blog and forced to agree with its ''inadequate" views?

Spicy IP and any such blog does not lay down legislation. People and judges are free to agree/disagree with its views and especially those of "Freshers, Interns and lawyers with zero practical experience." And here I was worried that such litigation may restrict interested academics from airing their opinions without the threat of suits looming on their heads.
By the way, Defamation 101. Defamation has nothing to do with the quality of the blog. But you knew that already, didnt you? A discussion on whether the blog amounts to fair comment would be more useful.

Your practical experience will be useful here.

3. The pros and cons of a career in academia for a foreign-university-LLM-holding-top-law-firm-fee-earning woman.

Blog Post: Why does no one want to teach?

Educated to be confused! On 29 August

This indeed is a rather interesting post - partly because of my personal interest in teaching as a profession and partly because of the varied views on the same.

For an intro, I'm an advocate with an LL.M. I've been working with a fairly good law firm since over a year but somehow teaching as a career option has always been there at the back of my mind. I won't shy away from admitting that my only reasons for not wanting to take it up are the monetary compensation and the prospect of having those laid back - disinterested- babu type of people as colleagues!

All the same, I think I'll still probably end up being in this line maybe 10 years hence for it does provide the comfort of a balanced life, no doubt. As a member of the fairer sex, I look at it as a very comfortable option.

I am not trying to be gender biased here. On the contrary, I feel women can be rather competent corporate honchos. Given a chance, I too would like to be on that side. But then it's also about looking at the larger picture - what do you REALLY want out of life. Speaking for myself, I think I would much prefer a happy, well settled life with a balance between my professional and personal responsibilities rather than a very hectic, taxing and in most likelihood, a lonely life.

Not all corporate women have personal issues but let's face it - we live in a society which despite having progressed in many ways still retains a slightly regressive character with respect to women. Even in today's date, unless it's a love marriage, people are wary of selecting an advocate as a daughter in law.

And irrespective of the profession, everyone -well mostly everyone - expects the woman to tend to household duties and commitments as a priority. Moreover, one cannot deny the physical limitations that a woman has. Taking a year off from teaching might not cost you so much professionally as taking as much time off from a corporate job would.

I only wish this line was treated with a lot more respect - the way it is overseas. Why do we prefer foreign universities? Apart from the frills of living in a different country and meeting new people, the most important reason is their emphasis on education and good educators.

And I completely agree with N - rather be the king in your own little world than be a lost name in the crowd.

I'll conclude by saying that at the end of the day one should chose a career option by looking at their situation and interest in entirety and just in case like me, you too haven't been able to decide for sure...just try every option out a bit...it's nice to learn from other's experiences...but you'll never know till you try it yourself!

Remember while I may love apples, another might hate them - you wouldn't know till YOU take a bite!