This was originally published in A First Taste of Law.
Lovisha Agarwal, a law student from Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies writes about the privileges of being a lawyer in Delhi. I personally think this just scratches the surface, but go ahead, read and leave your comments below to let everyone know what are the real perks! Over to Lovisha.
Delhi, being the capital of India, has a plethora of sui generis courts, tribunals and commissions, which provide an opportunity to the lawyers to practice in varied fields and areas of law. Supreme Court of India, AppellateTribunal for Electricity, Cyber Appellate Tribunal, Competition Appellate Tribunal, Competition Commission of India, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and Supreme Court Legal Services Committee are the examples of such bodies which are only situated in Delhi, thereby appropriating a multifariousness of work to be practiced by the lawyers. The Supreme Court of India exercises wide appellate jurisdiction over all Courts and Tribunals in India. Furthermore, it has exclusive original jurisdiction to the disputes between and amongst the central and state government. International Commercial Arbitration, Writ Petitions and Public Interest Litigations can also be initiated directly in the Supreme Court. Apart from this, the Principal benches of most of the tribunals namely Central Administrative tribunal, Armed forces tribunal, Railway Claims Tribunal, National Green Tribunal are located in Delhi having their regional benches in different states. Thus, a lawyer established in Delhi can conveniently practice in all these bodies simultaneously while practicing in the district courts and tribunals. Moreover, it is easier for Delhi’s lawyers to initiate appeals in time against orders of various tribunals and commissions to these appellate bodies without inconvenience. A lawyer specialising in Competition Law, Environmental Law and Constitutional Law has the most extensive opportunities in Delhi owing to Competition Appellate Tribunal, Competition Commission of India, National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court of India.
NCR has recently been witnessing rapid urbanization and emerging as leading financial and industrial centre. Top law firms of the country like Amarchand & Mangaldas, AZB & Partners, J. Sagar Associates, Luthra & Luthra, etc. have their offices in Delhi. Major policy research centres like The Centre for Policy Research and PRS Legislative Research which are among India’s premier think tanks in public policy are also established in Delhi. Thereby, all these increase the scope of practice and work of all the Civil, Criminal, Corporate and Commercial lawyers practicing in Delhi.
Moreover, all these bodies and the High Court are situated in the New Delhi district within the radius of 34 sq. km. and thus provide a vantage of territorial proximity to lawyers in Delhi as compared to other states where the whole state has a single high court, commutation to which is sometimes highly cumbersome. For instance, a lawyer practicing in Meerut will have to travel a distance of 600kms for initiating an appeal in the Allahabad High Court. This territorial proximity in Delhi, resultantly, accords flexibility to change from one area of practise to another or from district courts to higher courts and diversity of fields which increases the efficacy and efficiency of the lawyer without affecting his already existing client base, the work premises or anything substantial.
Due to this proximity, the litigants from Delhi and outside also prefer engaging Delhi lawyers itself to avoid extravagant fees owing to commutation charges. Hence, increasing the volume of work of Delhi-based lawyers.
Apart from this, the lawyers in Delhi are surrounded by the knowledge hub since most of the major and important legal conferences, seminars and meetings take place in Delhi, attending which updates lawyers with all the developments and changes in the provisions, policies and legislations. It also helps the lawyers in networking and creating their social circles. It is a recognised practice, arguably, that some judges have an entirely distinct attitude towards lawyers on their face value and there is sometimes a bias towards lawyers who appear recurrently in a particular court and have good experience and expertise. The law cannot be practiced in isolation. Networks play a vital role in the same. It helps in creating a good client base, engaging of a senior advocate by a briefing counsel and creating a good rapport between the judges and the lawyers.
Thus, the lawyers in Delhi specialising in any area of law, have an advantage of flexibility, diversity of practice areas, considerable volume of cases, good networks and social circle, and exposure on account of gamut of courts, tribunals, commissions, research centres, industries, conferences, clients and their territorial proximity.
