There comes a time in life when you are finally happy and at peace knowing that you have graduated from college. And for a course as extensive and lengthy as law, you are just relieved that you are finally a degree holder in the 2nd oldest profession of the world. But the happiness of graduation is short lived as you realize that you need to enter the work culture, which is a whole new world filled with all work and no play funda, but you come to terms with it, enticing yourself to the only good thing about it: "income".
But as time passed i found out that as i did not get placement from my college, i had to struggle in the rat race to find a job in a competitive city like Mumbai. So the sturggle began, i started sending out emails to firms with newer and more polished CVs every single time. But time and again the disappointments just increased with every reply to the mail ending with, "We wish you luck for future endeavours" or "Currently we have no vacancy but in case of any we will contact you". So this become a monotony of sorts, as every email i sent out was met with the same reply. Frustrated and disheartened i started Masters from Mumbai University and there too i didnt get into Business Laws as i had wanted but had to opt for Environment Law, but with the company of a close friend to conquer the two more years of Master i took the step to jump back into studies.
As the First year ended i was facing some pressure from my own expectations as i had by now moved out of the place that i was living in rent free since the first day i had come to Mumbai and now i had to pay rent to move to new place and my expense would shoot up. So in this final call of desperation i was trying every way to get a job in a law firm or with a lawyer, something that would make me believe that i was worthy of my education and would boost my confidence along with a monetary incentive. So then finally after my sister's well placed sources came to my rescue i got a job in a law firm in Mumbai, whose main office was in my hometown Ahmedabad (and they were pretty big back there, the main person was solely responsible to ward off the best law firm in India, from Ahmedabad, due his well placed contacts).
So there i was, a Junior Advocate in a law firm with its office in Nariman Point, the premier location for every office in the city. This was my dream when i had joined GLC three years back. But somehow the dream was not that worthy as i slowly found out that the firm that i had got into was not dealing in a lot of High Court Matters, something which i wanted to learn and do. I got to learn a new act instead something which was related to eviction of tenants from premises of banks. Initially i had my bad days where i would stand at the bench addressing the court and representating the opposite party instead of my client and days where the judge taking into consideration that i was new to the practical aspect of law would dictate orders also quoting me even though i would have only said who i represent. The initial learning days were mixed with fear and excitement the kind of feeling you only face when you are new at something that you have no idea about, the practical and theory parts of law are two different sides of coin. I was just learning the latter side now.
As time passed i came to understand how the profession works and subsequently my confidence also increased. I came to know how there was this circle of network on every level. The lower most level was of the Court Clerks, they had this whole network, like the one in my office says, "we know the procedures more than a senior counsel does but only lack because of the absence of a degree". They form the back bone of any law office, as they are the ones who do the field work, once you strike up a nice rapport with them you will never have bad procedural days. Most of the law firms dont respect them enough but thankfully that was not the case in my office, there was no discrimination between me and the clerks we all sat at the same table during lunch and also had tea breaks together. They would co ordinate with the clerks of other advocates and many a times make the task of reaching out to other Advocates more easier. They through their wide network keep track of senior counsels and which side they will argue, how many matters they have on a specified day and sort of things. They not only get certified copies of the Orders but they also get you the info as to who' s working for whom and how the bribe went from the lenders pocket to the receiver's pocket. Court clerks are like police informers, they give tip offs on a lot of things. A good law office necessary has a good set of Court Clerks, they cannot exist without Court Clerks, the lower most tier of the law fraternity.
Then come people like me, Junior Advocates, fresh law graduates who have dreams of conquering the law profession in their eyes and get squashed like flys in the initial stage of their careers. Junior Advocates are people who for most of the times dont know what they are doing, they dont know the facts of the case and can be easily confused, they are best used as tools to get adjournments against tough judges who dont grant easy adjournments but would do so when a newcomer comes up for the case and they would go soft on him. So i was the adjournment weapon of my firm and would take dates in the DRT Courts when there were a lot of matters for my senior to handle. But then one day i was given an opportunity by her to argue a case, i was elated and made my own notes and all of that but i had no experience of arguing. Finally when the time came up i started arguing without giving a back drop of the case as i had assumed that the judge was familiar with the case, my confidence was shaken by the time i realized as to what had happened and the opposing advocate was a tough one and he started opposing my arguments and pointed out my inexperience to the Court. Lucky for me, my senior was just behind me and stepped in to argue and the case was not ruined, but somehow it had shaken my confidence which took sometime to be build back and finally did when i argued in front of a Special CBI Court almost 6 months later. Junior Advocates are the sophicated lot of the Court Clerks as most of them are familiar with each other being from the same college or batch. I would a lot of times run into my batch mates in courtroom and it would be nice as we would then exchange our experiences with each other and share knowledge that we would have gained after making mistakes. We also have a network, but mostly this is a network of which place is better to work at and most junior advocates socialize after office hours so that at some point they would be helped by their friends who are juniors at other places. It is more of an informal setup in which people on the threshold of their career get a push that helps them go far away.
The Third network is of the Advocates who are more experienced then the Junior Advocates but not as experienced as their superiors. There are variety to the kind of Advocates this tier comprises. There are nasty ones who will question your confidence and the angels who will push you into the ditch so you can learn how to climb up. I was lucky enough to work with the latter group. They have a more polished network and have direct contacts into other law offices and if they wish they can either make your career through their influence or break it. They are qualified dictators to their juniors and would put every single burden on them from finding a file in the office to a simple google search to be done. I still havet yet had a bad experience dealing with this class but m sure one day i will.
Then come the Big Bosses, they range from your partner to counsel and senior counsel. They are the actual masters of law and they are the people who do minimum of manual work. They earn more with their minds than with anything else. As they are highly experienced no one questions them. If it is a partner in a firm then everybody fears him/her and stays out of their ways and butter them constantly for personal gains. Junior Counsels are the people who have not settled for practice and have just the right amount of experience to carry on with the case, till date i havent seen any remarkable junior counsels. The senior counsels who feature on this tier are the most experienced ones, they are the people who, you can say rule the roast in the legal field. My sir once told me about a senior counsel of the Supreme Court where the matter was for admission to the Supreme Court and its a well know fact in the legal circles that the Supreme Court does not entertain cases that much, so apparently the judge had disposed the file when this guy walks in and tell the judge that "My Lords i appear in this mattter and the Judge actually picks up the file again", this is their standing. And the power of the Senior Gown comes from its way of arguing cases, all have their unique styles, there's one Counsel in the High Court of Mumbai who will scream at the top of his voice to get his way where as another will not even raise his voice a decibel, so they are the most pure breed in the legal field charging anything between 1 to 10 lac. per appearance.
All i can say is that as a new comer to this field of law and featuring in the lower most tier, i still have a long way to go, more insults to be thrown at my way, more firing to come around and more embarrassments waiting to happen but all in a nut shell this is where i want to be.
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