Hi. I’m an associate with a T1 law firm in New Delhi. Our team is quite big in size. Whenever I send a draft to my senior her / his only comment is “this is not a well thought out draft. Think like a lawyer when advising”. Till date I don’t know what thinking like a lawyer means. Any guidance on how do I improve this skill?

it means you should concentrate on how you're making your argument, whether you're structuring it correctly, whether your analysis is thorough and bullet proof, whether you've addressed potential counter arguments, whether you have thought about the issue from different points of view, whether you have used appropriate examples, illustrations, whether it all ties in to make a convincing but concise case. structure and method.

I can provide my two cents as a transactional and commercial lawyer.

As a lawyer, you need to question everything. When you have a draft in front of you, you need to dissect it and understand the meanings of all the clauses and how they interplay with each other. If anything is vague or seems axiomatic, its best the include a comment seeking clarity. You need to think of worst case scenarios and how your draft works in such situations.

For instance, if there is an insurance contract for business interruption - relief is only provided if there is a destruction of the premises interrupting business. But what if business is interrupted for other reasons and the premises are not destroyed (e.g. lockdowns during Covid)?

And also whether the terms are legally enforceable. For instance, non-compete clauses are par for course in most joint venture agreements and they are meant to apply even after termination of the joint venture. Under Indian law, are post-termination non-competes enforceable? If they are, does the draft need to be amended to ensure enforceability?

It is a vague direction because its hard to encompass what thinking like a lawyer means. But in essence it basically the ability to think of gaps and see how they need to be plugged.