A lawyer (also known as an advocate, counsel, or counsellor) is a licenced practitioner who gives legal advice and representation to others. A lawyer in today’s world may be young or old, male, or female. Almost one-third of all lawyers are under the age of 35. Women make up nearly half of law students today, and they may one day outnumber men in the profession.
A lawyer’s key responsibilities are to uphold the law while also defending the interests of his or her clients. A lawyer must know the law and be a good communicator to fulfil these responsibilities.
New Technology always offers great hope to mankind if used wisely and the legal profession is not an exception. Therefore, the use of new technology and tools should be welcomed. Though we are a little late in comparison to our counterparts of developed countries, the pandemic has given us a great chance which should not go in vain. Seeing pending numbers of cases and decades-old matter, we also need to restrict the time and length of our litigation.
New tools can be of good assistance to shorten the length of litigation apart from saving time in other activities like travelling etc. The responsibilities a lawyer can be painstaking. In an interview with Insights Success, Pradeep Kumar Jain, Managing Partner of Singhania & Co. LLP shares with us his views of being a lawyer and what goes in being a good lawyer. Mentioned below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief our audience about your journey as a lawyer.
Indeed, it was an interesting journey because I never wanted to be a lawyer though my mother used to say that I would be one, due to my argumentative skill. In fact, I enrolled in law after my enrolment in Company Secretaryship and completed my law and CS together. In 2002, I came to Mumbai and fortunately met a partner of Singhania & Co, LLP who advised me to practice as a lawyer instead of a company secretary. In one sentence I can say, “legal profession was not my choice but of the almighty and that’s why I got good name and fame because it was his choice not mine.”
Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the legal space through your stronghold in the industry?
I did master’s in mathematics and being a student from a science background I always felt odd between evens so tried to do something extra which gave me great results. Further, I always believed in the sentence ‘little less and little more’ which means to take little less of what you agreed for and do/give little more these little less, little more had left good impressions on our clients and gradually I got a good name.
Advise of founder partner, Mr. D C Singhania to work for client interest and offer a solution to his problems also left a great impact on clients resulting acquisition of new clients through the reference of our old and satisfied client. In fact, In Singhania, we were taught to use litigation as last resort and for the betterment of society and country, try to resolve commercial dispute fast as idle assets locked in litigation is loss of valuable resources of the nation.
Taking into consideration, the current pandemic, and its impact on global economies, how are you driving your organization to sustain operations and ensuring the safety of your employees at the same time?
It would be wrong to say that we came out unscratched from the impact of the pandemic, but it did not affect much because of operations as well as finances. Since we have been doing foreign arbitrations for decades, we are habitual of submission of documents and attending hearings through video conferencing or other modes of digital media and our experience helped us in coping with Indian operations.
As far as the safety of our associates is concerned, we advised all our associates to work from home and travel only when it was not avoidable.
What are the challenges you faced throughout this pandemic and how did you outpace them?
One of the best qualities of Indians is to develop personal relations very fast with the service provider or seller. Be it shopkeepers, doctors, owners of provisional stores, or even taxi drivers and lawyers. In fact, they are ready to pay extra to meet a lawyer even if it is unnecessary or avoidable. During the pandemic, it was very tough to make them understand that personal meetings can be avoided, and their work can be executed without meeting personally. Gradually they understood and started enjoying meeting through a conference call. Now half of the clients are comfortable discussing their matters through VC etc.
What would be your advice to budding lawyers who aspire to venture into the Indian legal space?
The legal profession always has a great impact on society. Whether it would be positive or negative, it depends upon the legal professional who is carrying the baton on behalf of his client. I have few bits of advice to our budding lawyers; viz:
The interest of the client should be paramount, work for a solution, be blunt in your opinion and use litigation as last resort. Further, listen to the client carefully as he is the affected party and can offer a good solution which the lawyer needs to fit in the legal framework. And last, no one can replace two important tools of law; logic and research so always think about whether your solution is logical or not and if logical then research to find supporting case laws.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run and what are your future goals for Singhania & Co. LLP?
It is said that the basis of the profession of legal and medical is fear but in Singhania & Co we don’t believe in it. Singhania is always loved by its clients. We want to protect this legacy of our founder Mr. D C Singhania by offering a solution without injecting fear into the client’s mind and body.
How to create an impact in this fast-paced business world?
Though the legal profession is considered a noble profession, it has all ingredients of the service industry. Therefore, delivering good or excellent services to your client and honestly protecting his/her interests are some of the few tools in your hand to leave a positive impact on your client. I can understand that in litigation, more than internal, external factors affects the performance of lawyers but still, he/ she can give comfort to his/ her client by providing information/ outcome on time instead of allowing his/ her client to chase him.
I believe ‘honesty is still the best policy’ and the interest of your client must be paramount. During the initial stage, the client must be informed about the merit/de-merit of his case and advise him accordingly as litigation is not only time-consuming but a bit expensive as well. I can say with my experiences that half of the commercial disputes don’t need litigation but the right advice of lawyers and can be resolved with mediation which not only saves the time and energy of clients but also precious business assets of a nation. I have been following the above two principles for a long time and always get appreciation and respect from the client and more clients from such satisfied clients.
I believe by adopting the above two principles, one can ensure growth as well as a good name in this fast-moving world.
