Why do young lawyers in India struggle to get a job that pay them enough?

September 5, 2019

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This article is written by Ramanuj Mukherjee, CEO, LawSikho.

The outgoing junior called me to one side and told me: never tell him that you can drive a car, or you will become his driver.

This is a story a lawyer told me when I was interviewing him for a job at LawSikho. This was his first day at the chamber of a lawyer, where he was joining as a junior lawyer. He did not drive his senior’s car but did pretty much every other menial task. He was the peon, the errand boy, personal assistant all rolled into one. Shocking, is it? But this is exactly how many senior lawyers treat their juniors.

Driver, munshi, file bearer, pantry manager, a showpiece in the office, and of course, a circle of juniors in the court walking behind lawyers enhance their glory.

It is not that there are no good seniors. Good seniors are sought after for a reason. However, a vast majority of junior lawyers are treated in a horrible way, and they have no option.

How come?

It is because the legal education system fails them. After 5 years of legal education, or 3 years for that matter, they do not learn enough to do client work independently. Seniors can treat them so badly and pay meager amounts and get away with it because these juniors have no alternative.

They have to somehow stick to their jobs and learn legal work from the senior through observation. This is how, once upon a time in England, lawyers were supposed to be trained. This practice has a historical root, and it was called devilling. In vast numbers of courts around in India, today this same practice has become a mockery, and an opportunity to exploit the young law graduates.

The sad part is that many senior lawyers justify this practice in the name of tradition. A very brilliant lawyer who is now a High Court judge once told me that this is necessary to build the collegial friendly atmosphere at the bar and keep juniors in their place.

I could not agree that day, as a very young lawyer, and I cannot agree today as I have seen more of the profession.

What do you think these law graduates do to survive? They go and find some gullible clients and make some money off them in unethical ways. This is how the standards and reputation of the legal profession have plummeted day after day.

A few lawyers manage to cut through this clutter and rise above this mediocrity and shady practices. This is because of their determination, focus, and self-education. However, above all, it requires patience and sticking it out no matter what.

At LawSikho, we have always tried to attack these dynamics.

Why are the vast majority of law graduates forced to suffer exploitative work environments and poor treatment? Is the solution for them to find better seniors?

What if there are too few seniors who are that good? Who are great at their work and also find time to teach greenhorn juniors selflessly year after year?

We thought we must short-circuit the learning process. Could we introduce high impact learning programs that simulate the learning process with the good seniors, but systematically, and in a safe environment where the learner is not afraid of judgment?

What if we could reduce the years that one spends in learning, and teach in one year what most learn in three years? What would we have to do? What would it take to run a course like that?

We have dedicated our careers to solving this problem, at LawSikho. We have a team of 35 strong professionals working on this issue tirelessly, creating and delivering learning programs that help young lawyers to stand on their own feet.

And you should be able to tell from the quality of the free content we put out into the world, as well as from the content that our students produce – what is the difference between us and the rest of the legal education industry.

However, it is one thing to learn how to do legal work. What about how to get your own clients? You can’t really be free from the clutches of exploiting seniors unless you can get your own client and start your independent practice?

A major breakthrough that we have caused recently was in this area, after months of work, is this course: https://lawsikho.com/course/legal_practice_development_and_management

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It is normally a 3 months course, but I am offering a unique opportunity to those who will enroll in this course today. I plan on running weekly classes for this course throughout the year, hosted by me, but where you will get to learn from top lawyers who built successful law firms.

I am inviting young lawyers who have successfully built their own law practices or law firms to come and speak with you and inspire you. I am excited about the quality of people who have agreed so far to be a part of this game-changing program.

So yes, it is a 3 months course, but you could check in to the classes around the year, for the next entire year. How is that?

I may not extend this opportunity into the future, so if you are interested, please enroll immediately. I have space for only 15 more people to join this program. The others who have joined as students are mostly lawyers with thriving practices and their own law firms. I bet that you would learn a great deal from your co-learners as well.

I do not only want you to start your independent practice, but I also want you to thrive and build a practice that creates wealth. My goal would be to create a revenue of at least 1 cr per year (topline). I would run the program with the intention that the learners get all the tools, skills and knowledge to reach that level.

Do not miss the bus. Here are the details of the course:

There are also a bunch of other courses in which you can enroll up to 15th of September:

Diploma

Diploma in Advanced Contract Drafting, Negotiation and Dispute Resolution

Diploma in M&A, Institutional Finance and Investment Laws (PE and VC transactions)

Diploma in Companies Act, Corporate Governance and SEBI Regulations

Executive Certificate Courses

Certificate Course in Advanced Corporate Taxation

Certificate Course in Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code

Certificate Course in Advanced Civil Litigation: Practice, Procedure and Drafting

Certificate Course in Legal Practice Development and Management

Certificate Course in Securities Laws, Insider Trading and SEBI Litigation