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Change is the Law of Life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future. – John F Kennedy
There is a continuous dilemma going on in our minds about ‘change’ or to ‘be’ the change in this fast-paced world (Pre-Covid 19, though!) and there are many instances of survival of the fittest in front of us. Post Covid-19 hitting all sectors across the world, there have been lot of deliberations around whether there would be a new normal for everyone. We all believe yes, but will there be a new normal for Lawyers?
Before, I express my views on this, let us look back how the legal profession has evolved over past few decades. The legal profession in India goes long back and can be broadly categorised into Four Phases, i.e., Legal Profession in Ancient India, Legal Profession in Medieval India, Legal profession in British India and Legal Profession post India independence in the year 1947. In ancient India, there was no institution of lawyers and only intellectuals under the Kingship served justice. When we moved to Medieval India, still no institution of lawyers existed but the parties in dispute appointed ‘Vakils’ who merely acted as a agent and not really defence lawyers. It was only in British India for the first time the institution of legal profession was set up by the advent of Mayors Court in 1726 in Madras, Bombay and Calcutta. But there was no focus on legal training and education to legal practitioners and post establishment of Supreme Court at Calcutta, procedures for administration for justice and execution of power were laid down in 1774. With passage of time, the legal profession evolved with numerous legislations being past to set up the legal structure in India supported by the India Constitution.
We are now at a stage where we have well-structured law school training for budding lawyers on one side and on the other side, independent lawyers practicing in various Courts, different scale of law firms and equally competent inhouse legal teams in many corporates to support business needs. Alas! making the legal profession as one of the most reputable and lucrative careers for many.
On the contrary Indian legal system also has a reputation of being very complex, time consuming and over whelming to lot of litigants who after a while do not have the will and patience to reach the end state…. While the world around us is changing rapidly but legal system in India continues to follow a ‘Rule Book’ leading to a complicated legal system highly dependent on loads of paper work, procedural formalities, precedents for decision making etc…
Many of us have to deal with challenges due to huge legacy of pending cases where facts are drowned in dozens of papers and in the minds of old generation lawyers who have seen the legal system grow over decades. In our law school trainings, we are trained to refer to precedents, but precedents also have to be easy to Access.
While consistent efforts are being made towards legal digitisation through online websites to track pending cases, court hearings, judicial orders with an aim to create a digital repository of old litigations etc. But there is a lot to be done particularly in the areas of conducting court hearings and filing of pleadings before the courts and the over functioning of the legal system.
To large extent this has to do with our traditional mindset of ‘experiencing and decision making’. Let us take an example when we plan to buy a new car we explore various websites and read reviews to shortlist top 3 cars but then its only after visiting a car showroom and taking a test drive we end up making the final decision for which car to buy !
Post outbreak of Covid-19, we are heading towards making lots of changes in our day to day lives and I would say a forced mindset change to live a ‘new normal’. This has resulted in many leading automobile companies to introduce contact less delivery programme including Volvo Car India, who has recently launched ‘Volvo’s Contactless Programme’ to provide customers the option to book their car services online with their nearest dealership location through an interactive online buying process, safe and secure test drive process, digitized finance offers, online documentation & finally an online channel to buy the car and get a contactless delivery. Will this be a new normal for automobile industry? There shall be a test of time but atleast there is a START! Similarly, in the legal industry the Courts are welcoming ‘Digital Court hearings & Filing of fresh matters’ but there have been limitations for it being effective due to technological and mindset constraints. Even for the past litigations, due to lack of digitisations and easy retrieval of documents the whole litigation system has come to a stand still with no effective hearings taking place which has made all us rethink and redefine our ways of working!
Will there be a new normal for Lawyers? Are we looking at a Contactless Legal System?
We are not prepared yet, but we are moving towards this journey and Covid-19 has preponed this process to large extent where there will be a new normal for lawyers to focus more on e-filings, e-hearings, increased working from home options for inhouse legal teams and moving into a direction of a ‘forced mindset’ change for many lawyers. Thereby, giving rise to a new phase for the legal system known as the ‘Legal Profession in Post Covid-19’!
Payal is working as a Director - Legal with Volvo Cars India and is responsible for handling all legal and compliance matters for its business operations in India. Earlier to this Payal was working with PepsiCo India for almost 9 years where she was responsible for handling all India business and litigation support for beverages and foods division of the company. She has overall 14 years of experience working across prominent Indian law firms and as Inhouse Legal Counsel in handling diverse and complex legal issues relating to Company Law, FEMA, Data Privacy, Food safety, Consumer Protection, Labour Laws, Indirect Taxation, Transfer Pricing etc. She has extensive experience in handling general corporate matters and litigation support for various sectors such as FMCG, Automobile, Real Estate, Information technology, Oil & Natural Gas etc. Payal also lead the GST Implementation for PepsiCo India as a Project Lead in 2017. Payal is very innovative and likes to use technology to address operational challenges of lawyers such as online tools for contract drafting, litigation management etc. Payal is born and brought up in Delhi and a law graduate from Amity Law School, Delhi. She is a second-generation lawyer and her parents are renowned practicing advocates at the Supreme Court and the Delhi High Court. She is happily married and blessed with two kids, a girl and a boy. Payal loves travelling, dancing and spending quality time with family.
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