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What is striking, though, is watching commentary from people who have never spent a day worrying about where the next brief is coming from. This particular gentleman has enjoyed the extraordinary privilege of spending his entire career in PIL work and activism, largely because he was born into circumstances that insulated him from the commercial realities faced by ordinary lawyers. Being Shanti Bhushan's son comes with certain advantages.
More than ten years ago, he publicly disclosed that he was worth around βΉ100 crore. Good for him. But that rather undermines any claim to understand the daily realities of practitioners who must earn mandates, attract clients, meet payroll, and run viable practices.
The truth is that there is a certain type of lawyer whose entire worldview is shaped by never having had to compete in the marketplace. They mistake financial insulation for moral enlightenment and activism for professional achievement. It is easy to sneer at networking when one has never depended on it. It is easy to dismiss commercial success when one has never had to pursue it.
So by all means, let him speak about activism. On that subject, he has experience. But when it comes to the business of law, client development, or building a successful practice, he is about as qualified to advise the profession as a trust-fund heir is to lecture people on making payroll.