As the old proverb goes, everything first has a special place in our life and the same is very true about the first year for a new entrant to the legal profession. The very choice to pursue law as a career option was a tough call, especially in the light of the mindset which prevails in our society towards lawyers in general. Anyhow, I was able to ‘convince’ my family members that still this profession is a noble one and still some of our best minds and people with noble ideas and clear conscience are able to sustain and earn their livelihood to begin with, and also are able to earn fame.

The next big dilemma which I faced was the choice of a good law faculty/college, as being a graduate the dream of making it to the national law schools and universities was out of question. Now, the natural choice for me, as I am a resident of Delhi, was the faculty of law, university of Delhi. However, getting into the prestigious Campus Law Centre (CLC) of the faculty was still a bigger challenge, as over a period of time the numbers, educational qualification and quality of applicants to the faculty have steadily increased, making it a big achievement to clear the entrance test itself!

The dream that I would also be making into the league of Narimans, Jethmalanis and Palkhivalas etc. turned out to be a short lived illusion and was hit the hardest when I realised that what is being taught in college is very different from what actually happens in the court. Even few seniors, who advised me that my focus should be to take a degree only and the rest I will have to learn in the courts itself, downplayed the relevance of classroom studies.

However, with the presence of stalwarts of legal education and a lot of opportunities for academic and extracurricular activities in the centre, not to belittle the presence of some of the best minds of the country among the students, many of whom are now the part of the “steel frame” of the country, I was able to concentrate myself on acquisition of ‘bookish’ knowledge and developing fundamental understanding of the legal concepts in the first two years.

In the third year, the hitherto suppressed talks and secret ‘news’ about this boy or that girl joining a law firm or a lawyer to intern became a usual discussion amongst the batch mates. It was again a time for revelation for me that your talent and good marks do not actually fetch you a good internship opportunity in a law firm or with a leading litigation lawyer and that it is the ‘link’ which fetches you the same.

I also realised that “black hole”, apart from being found in the outer space, exists on the earth as well, which is the ‘inbox’ of a HR Head of any good law firm, where all resumes go but no response comes! I also joined the bandwagon and started hunting for a good internship opportunity, which fortunately I found without having any such ‘link’. Thus, my days were divided into managing the attendance at the college, meeting the deadlines and completing the work entrusted to me by my senior and the mentor. For the first time, I realised how tough and demanding this profession could be, as attending the college in the first half every day and to work in the office in the next was like going to courts in the prelaunch hours and doing other legal work and preparing for the next day in the office in the next half till late night.

I also had to decide now in the third year whether I will join a law firm, which offers a lucrative salary and usually an air conditioned office to work or to go through the mill and literally ‘sweat it out’ in the overcrowded courts as a litigation lawyer.

The choice was not an easy one because at one hand, there was a charm of instant money and a bit of security which was the dream of many among us while on the other hand, a long unpredictable and excessively demanding option of joining a good litigation lawyer’s chamber and uncertainty of establishing an independent practice later on. This though promised money, name and fame but at the same time, demanded initial years of my young life and practice without any expectation either of making even the average money which any MBA from any college could make in a month or of getting fame which could have compensated for the same.

I, unlike many friends of mine, who joined law firms and whom I usually meet and who keep me showing their newest of gadgets and acquisitions in a deriding manner, decided to tread the less travelled path, which to me at that point of time like Robert Frost, looked equally exciting and promising.

Once I passed out from the law college and after many rounds of Bar Council of Delhi and paying a substantial amount to get myself enrolled with the same, a new hurdle of an All India Bar Exam, to get a certificate of practice waited for me, though it was yet many months ahead. In the meantime, I had to join a lawyer and being in Delhi, I was again faced with yet another choice to make i.e. in which area should I make my career- civil or criminal and further with whom to start my career- with a Supreme Court lawyer or a High Court lawyer or a Trial Court’s lawyer or a lawyer who appears in tribunals like CAT, AFT or consumer fora so on so forth?

Being a first generation lawyer, with no ‘uncle’ in the profession, I decided to start from trial courts to know the basic of trial, both civil and criminal, because some of the best legal minds of the country and abroad both from the Bench and the Bar, with whom I had numerous opportunities to personally interact while being the student convenor of some of the societies at the CLC, have advised me to devote some time in learning the basics of trial first and then only to move on, if I want to become a successful lawyer.

Accordingly after a lot of search, I joined the chamber of a trial court lawyer who had a vast experience as defence lawyer in criminal matters and had lately started taking civil briefs also. The first lesson I was taught there was not to run after money and instead focus on learning as much as possible. I construed it as though I will not be paid ‘much’ but since I am working and giving my 8-10 hrs daily, surely I would be getting something which would cover my commutation expenses as well as the miscellaneous expenses like sticking court fees on various applications and paying the processing fee etc.

However, to my surprise, I was not paid a single penny in the first few months. Though it would be very wrong to say that I was not ‘gaining’ anything but yes I was gaining good firsthand experience of the working of the first rung of our judicial super structure.

I also understood by interacting and observing some trial court lawyers the reason why the lawyers in general, except obviously the noble men of high morals and principles in the profession, are looked down upon by the common people and this experience made me to set my own principles to follow in my career ahead.

Occasional opportunities to go with my senior and sometimes alone to represent his client on his behalf to the High Court, other tribunals and consumer fora kept on proving a good change and an exciting opportunity for me to learn court practice, mannerisms and also to show my talent too. Soon my senior started developing confidence in my capabilities and now I was the person whom my senior would always send to the High Court and other fora. However, I was still not paid any fixed monthly expenses, though sometimes I got paid a bit by few of the clients of my senior on his instruction.

Since I was not getting paid like other juniors and was not in the regular employment of my senior, which now when I reflect back and think, was a boon in disguise because I was now very clear that I have to chart out my own independent career as a litigation lawyer. Fortunately, my senior also encouraged the same and allowed me to call and meet my first few clients to his chamber. He was gracious enough to help and guide me in my initial briefs and encouraged me to accept all and every brief without hesitating about my lack of experience and knowledge of the area of law concerned with the brief. I realised that this is a practice in this profession where the ‘guru –shisya’ tradition still survives.

Over the last 7-8 months in the first year of my life in this profession with the help of my senior, other seniors, colleagues and friends, I have just not only been able to survive but also to develop my own clientele, ‘face value’ and a vast experience in drafting and appearing in various courts and tribunals in Delhi. Though as compared to my other friends, I am still behind in terms of earning money. I also realised that it is very hard to get money from the client, even for your real hard work and that a new entrant is always tried to be short changed by one and all.

I have been able to get relief for my clients in my cases but have never been paid even 1/10th of what any other lawyer of some years of standing in the profession could have demanded and got and which the client would have paid willingly and with smile.