The simple reason that the legal profession and the lawyers are able to generate so much of interest, right from the pre-independence era to the current time, can be attributable to the fact that lawyers have always played a constructive and critical role of problem-solvers and innovators, willing to assume new responsibilities, handle new challenges, master the subject and navigate an ever-evolving legal system. The dynamic and everchanging landscape provided by the legal system makes each day unique and fosters an enjoyable, fulfilling work experience.
The legal profession has long been regarded as a noble and elite profession. Lawyers have always given direction to the country right from the pre-independence era. Most of the freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Lala Lajpat Rai, C. Rajagopalachari, CR Das, Madan Mohan Malviya, Sir Saifuddin Kitchlew and many others were lawyers. As a result, the legal profession has continued to hold its charm and attraction, resulting in careers in law remaining as one of the most sought-after professions
As the economy is crossing international borders and expanding across the globe through mergers, acquisitions, consolidation, and collaboration with foreign companies, my interest has always been towards globalization. I enjoy structuring a complex merger or acquisition deal and provide support to the client in terms of FDI policy, Foreign Exchange Regulations, obtaining approvals as may be required for the deal and to close the deal with happy faces. This gives me an opportunity to expand my horizons and the opportunity to work in a multinational, cross border challenging environment.
Success to me is a relative term that has many components, however, in terms of a law firm, there are four essential aspects – Integrity, passion, commitment, and loyalty. It is extremely important that the client should always feel that he/she is in safe hands in terms of honest opinions, problem-solving attitude and committing to the timelines. Being known as a respectable, ethical, and integrity-driven people is the key to success. Having the highest ethical standards, both at work and at the client’s place brings that comfort which results in long-lasting relationships and a happy client. There is nothing more important than your brand and your reputation. Integrity allows one to uphold ethical values and build a reputation as a trusted business professional. Exuding genuine passion and commitment for the client fosters a unified, mutually respectful business culture and results in the firm being always preferred and “go-to” partner.
As an officer of the court and the business enabler to the client, it becomes important for the counsel to adopt FIERCE values – Focused on the Issue, Innovative, Entrepreneurial, Respectful, Courageous, and Empathetic. As the legal profession demands strong articulative communication skills and the ability to draw logical conclusions on the basis of facts and the research done, it is extremely important to adopt an innovative and entrepreneurial skill to improvise on each matter handled. It is important to yourself in your client’s shoes and analyze the situation at hand as though you yourself are facing it and partner with the client to come up with a solution. The role of legal professionals is expanding and to my mind innovation and intent are the two keywords to keep pace with the ever-changing legal system.
Definitely- there can be no two thoughts about it! Running a law firm presents tremendous business challenges, especially if you are managing a small firm with limited resources. The solution is to make effective use of resources, collaboration with the right set of people and having a clear process roadmap. In fact, managing the law firm becomes more challenging than managing a business, as an additional aspect of ‘integrity and trust’ is added on each member of firm while providing business solution to the client and being a partner to the client rather than acting as a consultant, the client relies heavily on the advice provided by the firm and bases major decisions on the same. For example, any other business can easily digitize bulkypapers books and can store in the cloud with minimal expenses. However, as a lawyer dealing with the sensitive business information of the client, one cannot take a risk to digitize and upload random papers to the cloud just to save on infrastructure as even a tiny leak leads to the breach of the attorney-client privilege.
With the ever-evolving business of the company, the in-house counsel needs its partners to be problem-solvers, innovators and flexible to assume new responsibilities and step into the shoes of the inhouse counsel and provide guidance. Proactiveness is the need of the hour. As lawyers are likely to interpret the law in a similar way, having received similar training and drawing reference from similar journals and judgments, it is important to innovate and always look at the problem with a solution-oriented attitude. I have repeatedly heard this when I was a junior lawyer and since then have always believed in it and implemented the same – “Saying No to a business idea is very easy but the beauty is to communicate it to the management/in house counsel after conducting a comprehensive and exhaustive research on the feasibility, draws pros and cons, take information about competitors, collect and provide a brief but precise white paper on the same. Let them conclude and handle business risks.”
In this era of globalization and competitiveness, it is extremely important to attract, develop and retain talented people in the workforce. Legal services are delivered by people and hence it is important to ensure that the lawyers are happy by providing a good work-life balance and it automatically reflects well on the firm.
Employees cannot be treated as machines that are only important for complying with deadlines and targets without expressing their concerns. It is important to exercise due care towards employees by knowing their concerns, both work-related and personal to make the employees feel that the management cares for them and considers them as family. This can be achieved by taking regular feedback and providing a stress-free environment with flexible working hours. Possessing talents is a source of competitive advantage and thus retaining the best talents is always beneficial for the sustainable growth of the firm.
Tags: MHA Legal
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