This brief has been written by Preeti Pallavi Jena from Kiit Law School.
The Speaker: RAMANUJ MUKHERJEE
Ramnauj Mukherjee is an alumnus of the National University of Judicial Sciences, Kolkata. He is the CEO of LawSikho and co-founder of iPleaders. His previous work experience includes being part of the Private Equity and M&A Team at Trilegal, Mumbai.
Table of Contents
What is the most glamorous, well-paid profession as a lawyer?
For most lawyers, it’s a corporate law job. Everyone dreams to work in a big law firm and earn money after graduation. The corporate sector has a great charm because some companies pay 1.5 lakh to fresh graduates also. Everyone wants jobs that pay well & should bring recognition of working with the top clients & provides the security of the job. There are many litigators who want to switch their job and join a corporate law firm if asked.
What are the different kinds of law firms?
There are 2 types of law firms:
- Full-service law firms
- Boutique law firms
Full-service law firm
They provide all services. Whatever work you need, they will help you in that and you don’t need to go to any other firm. These are big law firms which deal with every type of service.
Examples: Luthra & Luthra, Khetia, Sai Krishna & associates.
Boutique law firms
They don’t go for every service, they stick with one or two but they do that properly. They have the best reputation for that one thing and they can also charge more money. Not only full services can charge more money. They try to grow and become full-service law firms.
Examples : Anand & Anand, AK Law Chambers, Remfry & Sagar.
Is it possible to move from a small law firm to a big law firm later?
Yes, you can do so. Everyone or most of us start with small law firms and then we go for the big ones now and there is no hard and fast rule regarding this. It’s always up to you and how much potential you have. If you get an opportunity then join anyone which will be best for you.
What are the different practice areas in a law firm?
- General corporate
- Merging & Acquisition
- Investments
- Banking & Finance
- Projects
- Project Finance
- Funds Formation
- Capital Markets
- Niche Practice Areas (IP, Tax, Competition, media, technology)
- Litigation & disputes work
What do corporate lawyers do in translation law practice?
Some fundamental stages are given by the transaction:
Deal structuring:
This says what all transactions have been made, what is the structure of the deal that is made, etc. This has been done by the senior lawyers, investment bankers and not the junior lawyers.
Due diligence:
Before investing in a company we need to know about the due diligence of that company. We should know the security given here. If we notice or find any red flag or problem then no investment will be done.
Documentation (contract drafting) & negotiation:
Depending upon the deal structure different kinds of documents need to be signed.
Deal compliance:
People get fired in law firms because they generally forget to do this, this can have a huge penalty and loss of clients on your behalf.
Benefits of working in a small law firm?
In small firms you can get better and bigger responsibilities of work as no lawyers or seniors are above you but not in the case of big firms. In these small firms you learn to work independently soon and can take 2,3 clients per day but this does not happen in case of big firms. In big firms you may not even get a chance to talk to clients and deal with them till 1 year or even more, because there are huge working lawyers. You get to run your own transactions sooner, you can manage clients, then you can also make transition to a bigger law firm once you have your own clients, books and are reputed in the area.
How is automation changing things?
Deal compliance becomes very easy. So less junior associates are being hired because now softwares is able to do more. Clients are also not able to pay so much to these lawyers.
What lawyers do at different levels?
There are 2 levels:
- Junior Associates(A0, A1,A2) ( for 3 years or some also till 5 years)
- Senior Associates(S1,S2,S3)
- Principle Associates
- Partners
Junior associate:
He does the research work, deals with the due diligence and compliance. If you do this well and the senior associates like it then they may ask you to help them with some other work which is drafting agreements and if they notice you are good at drafting then they can give you to negotiate agreements etc.
Senior associate:
They are expected to handle his own transaction or help another senior associate for managing a deal, depending on how big the deal is. If it is a small deal then you will manage it individually.
Principal associate:
They are above senior associates and before getting to be a partner. Minimum 5 years of experience required to be a principal associate. They are very powerful. They hire people. They recommended you for a job. They are ready to become partners.
Partner:
Big opinions need to be given by them. They give advice to everyone. Their work is business in india.
There are 2 kinds of partners in law firms:
- Rainmakers: The growth of firms depends so much on rainmaking that partners focus there in growing law firms.
- Executors: they are also important but a rainmaker is more important than this.
THINGS TO LEARN:
- Learn how to do work
- How to conduct a due diligence
- How to negotiate
- How to draft different agreements
- How to do compliance
- How to navigate various regulators
- What challenges you might face at different stages
- What are the different compliances you have to do for different kinds of deals?
- Learn to make a specific list of skills
How can we help you in Lawsikho?
- Weekly assignments provided
- Opportunities to write and publish articles
- Build good social media presence
- CV and application review
- Job opportunities
- Mentorship can be done
- Get identified by people to get recommendations.
Students of Lawsikho courses regularly produce writing assignments and work on practical exercises as a part of their coursework and develop themselves in real-life practical skill.
LawSikho has created a telegram group for exchanging legal knowledge, referrals and various opportunities. You can click on this link and join:
