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

Everyone says that we must walk the extra mile.

Everyone thinks that they would walk the extra mile.

Everyone is motivated to walk the extra mile.

But what happens when you actually start doing that?

The extra mile is a lonely place.

There is nobody else there. 

When you actually reach that place, you tend to say: wait a minute! Why am I the only one here!

I must be doing something wrong! 

Then you go back to being like others, and stop going the extra mile.

Let me give you an example from LawSikho. When the lockdown started, as a company, LawSikho decided to do a lot of webinars everyday. Within a few days we hit 3 to 4 webinars streaming in a day.

What was the first reaction?

This is too much! How will people attend so many webinars? They will get bored and attendance will drop.

Where will we find so many speakers so regularly?

Nobody else does this. Hundred webinars in a month? Who does that? That’s crazy!

What if we do just do two webinars everyday instead?

Walking the extra mile is scary.

The extra mile is an annoying place when you have no blueprint, no proof of concept, no guidelines!

Just your willpower and intuition until results start showing. And results take their sweet time to show up. Most people drop out of the extra mile long before results could cook.

When you are at the extra mile, you’re working away without any validation, praise or assurance of success. 

And you see normal people having it easy, enjoying their life in what seems a commonplace way and you begin to wonder WTF you have been doing with your life.

The extra mile is a very uncomfortable place.

When you are at the extra mile, people question you, judge you and even ridicule you.

If you want to win the popularity contest, the extra mile is no place for you.

The extra mile is filled with opportunities that nobody has known or found yet. And it is also filled with unrecognisable perils. 

But the rewards are so high, I would wrestle with those perils anyday.

But of course, walking the extra mile is not for everyone. It takes strength of character that you may need to develop first before you can even start.

Most importantly, when you are walking the extra mile it seems utterly unnecessary. It looks like a mistake, as if you are throwing away resources when you should conserve it. 

The kind of people who walk the extra mile are explorers and adventurers.

And in times like this, walking the extra mile could be the difference between a lifetime of success and a life of mediocrity.

Here are 5 ways in which LawSikho students and our amazing team are walking the extra mile:

1. We hired a placement officer and brought her down to Delhi in our co-living facility just before lockdown started, because we knew how important it will be for our students during the lockdown. 

Now we have dozens of internship and job opportunities lined up for our students. We have been reaching out to our network, alumni and well wishers at this time of distress to help our students get internships and jobs. 

We are even spending time with them working on their CV and preparing them for their interviews. And it’s working! 

But getting a job for an internship is just the beginning. Our real challenge is to train our students to work virtually with amazing efficiency. Also, another challenge is how we can get the employees who are providing these opportunities to give us video testimonials about how valuable these interns or employees (LawSikho students) have been for them and their business. 

Only then we will stop. Only then we will believe that we are doing our work right.

Nobody does this in the online education industry. Nobody does this even in top universities that charge tens of lakhs in fees. We do because we must walk the extra mile. That’s who we are.

2. When the lock down hit, we knew that lawyers will need a bunch of new courses that cater to the needs of time. COVID is creating new opportunities for the legal profession. We must support the lawyers who want to learn new skills to capitalise on these opportunities.

And we did exactly that while launching courses very fast on areas that are becoming super hot in light of COVID. the areas will generate maximum client opportunity and revenue followers in the months to come. 

Competition law: 

In the last few weeks, the Legal Metrology department has received a lot of complaints about sudden price increases on certain products. They are being sold at 10 percent to even 100 percent over the maximum retail price (MRP) due to the COVID-19 scare.

For example, one such complaint on how the price of a hand sanitizer rose from Rs 42 to Rs 350. Such complaints have been filed to both the Legal Metrology department or the National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) in the last few weeks.

Once the COVID-19 lockdown is over, all these complaints will be taken up before the right authority, generating a lot of work for the lawyers specializing in competition matters.

We have created a specific course in this legal niche. As a lawyer, if you want to equip yourself with practical knowledge to tackle complex competition propositions, click here for full details.

Banking and Finance contracts and disputes:

The banking sector will see a lot of upswing during this COVID crisis. Many businesses struggling with debts will need to raise funds and their first resort will always be loans from banks.  

Apart from these sick companies, even healthy companies will reach out for more funds as they make more and more greenfield and brownfield investments during and post this crisis period. 

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The banks will need someone to help draft the contracts, negotiate the terms of the agreement and make sure the whole process is legally compliant. 

While corporate financing is going to be one hot area, there will be many who will default on their existing loans and someone needs to recover the due money from them. The onus falls again on the lawyers who specialize in recovery matters.

There will be a huge demand for lawyers who are not only well-adept with contract drafting and pre-litigation work, but also with interacting with counsels and taking matters to the court. 

Want to specialize in banking and finance laws? Click here for course details.

Technology contracts:

New products and services are being launched every day. New markets are being explored. The terms and conditions of existing contracts are being renewed according to the current market scenario. 

Frustration, extension or termination of contracts and invocation of force majeure will be rampant during this crisis. These need to be handled properly so as to minimize adverse legal implications.

Tech lawyers will be required to look over the legal aspect of these new launches, market exploration and redrafting and renegotiation of existing contracts.

On top of that, the COVID-19 crisis has suddenly fast-tracked the digital economy several years forward. Whether it is shifting towards online classrooms, working from home, ordering home deliveries from ecommerce stores or binging on Hotstar and Netflix, the whole economy became digitized in a few weeks only.

But lawyers like you should look at the BIG opportunity that arose because of this. When the tech sector is seeing a lot of action, who gains from it? 

Who drafts the terms and conditions, privacy policies, end user license agreements, and so forth? Who protects against theft of intellectual property and performs audits from time to time? Of course, lawyers like you.

It must be remembered that the legal fate of a tech product or service depends a lot on that piece of paper, and lawyers who specialize in technology contract drafting will always have a lot of work falling into their lap during and after the crisis.

In our Certificate course in Technology Contracts, we will teach the A to Z of technology contract drafting, from preparing the domain name transfer and settlement agreement to how to review a contract for GDPR compliance. And much, much more. (Click on the course link for full details.)

Introduction to legal drafting

I once interned under a senior lawyer at the Calcutta High Court, who later was elevated to a judge. He used to tell me how during his legal practice days, he would sit in his home and earn around 50k for a single draft that he wrote for his clients.

In his little chamber, surrounded by over a lakh books, he would put a few words on the Microsoft Word document, and that’s it. He used to say that real money could be made if you could draft legal contracts. 

Your being locked in your home these days does not mean you cannot make a substantial amount of money from your legal practice. If you have a laptop and an internet connection, start offering top-notch legal drafting service to businesses, big and small, and you are all set. Our course shows you how.

In our course, we focus on teaching the essentials of legal drafting, along with readymade drafting templates and formats ranging from memorandum of understanding to writ petition under Article 226 before the High Court.

You will also be taught how to write legal articles from start to finish. From extracting Master Data and Signatories Details of a particular company to the best text search hacks on Manupatra, we will show you how to start with a simple outline and make it into something worthwhile in the shortest possible time.

Click here for course details.

Judiciary and other government exam training

The judiciary exam is one of the toughest competitive exams in India. 

It is not only about writing an essay or being good with theoretical knowledge of law. 

It is about being that one person out of lakhs and lakhs of applicants who has the true mettle to become a judge. 

Now, while we cannot ignite the fire inside you, our judiciary test prep course definitely takes care of the rest. 

Looking for high-quality study materials? Check.

Looking for an affordable course? Check.

Looking for personal guidance and real mentorship? Check 

Can’t travel to another city and want an 100% online course? Check.

Want special guidance on the language paper? Check.

Want special guidance on essay and judgment writing? Check.

Want to get on special sessions with other toppers? Check.

We believe there is no other course like this in the market. 

If you are looking for something that not only covers all the law papers covered in the judiciary exams but also goes a step further and provides you with practical insights and battle-tested strategies from those who have actually cracked the exam before. 

Click here for course details.

In the pipeline:

Legal English

Knowing english is not enough in the legal world. You need to know legal english (yes, it’s a little different!) This course will teach you the fundamentals of legal english—a must-have skill for those who want to excel in their drafting skills and procure work from all across India.

The COVID-19 legal issues 

The COVID-19 crisis is like none other and it will present new challenges for businesses to tackle. What types of legal issues can arise for a business? How would you deal with those legal issues and fallouts, as a lawyer? How would you best cater to your clients during this critical period and make handsome money right away? This course bares it all for you.

Double your revenue in 180 days: a course on lead generation and conversion for lawyers

Are you earning Rs 10,000 per month? Let’s make it Rs 20,000 per month. Okay, so you already crossed the 1 lakh per month milestone last month? Why not double that in the next 6 months? That’s what we promise in this course—results, results and only results. 

(Frankly, it’s not a course. It’s a intensive, results-oriented program instead.) 

The list goes on.

We knew these months would be hard, so we worked extra and launched more courses that are spot on according to the need of the time. And it’s paying off!

3. How we are teaching law students to network and bag opportunities – and to go the extra mile?

This is not the time to send out blind applications for internships to law firms and lawyers. most of them do not know how to work with or manage virtual interns. Opening and reading internship applications is not high on their priority list right now. 

Does that mean you cannot get internships?

What if we don’t call it an internship?

What is the biggest concern of most lawyers right now?

They are big time into business development mode. Researching on emerging legal issues, writing articles, giving talks over webinars and some even trying to build up their social media presence.

Instead of reaching out for an internship, what if you wrote to them with samples of your previous articles and offered to research and write for them? What if you offered to help them to start a podcast or a YouTube channel?

One of my students had her internship cancelled. She was devastated and called me. I asked her to write back to the firm and say that she can help the firm to set up a podcast. Will they be interested?

She is now helping the founding partners, working with them directly, and assisting them with research for podcast content, and helping them to figure out issues related to production.

I suspect the firm won’t let her go anytime soon, and will even pay her a stipend to retain her. 

This is valuable service, not the kind of internship where you sit in a corner and read some old files or do proofreading and referencing hoping that someone will notice you in the office at some point.

This is an opportunity to build real relationships at the topmost level that you would not get when the lockdown is gone.

Imagine you are helping a law firm partner to do research for their next article. This is your moment to shine!

When they start hiring, wouldn’t they think of you first if you have done a good job so far, and they saw how knowledgeable and skillful you are?

And if you are not knowledgeable and skillful, this is the time for you to take a look at a LawSikho course, develop some real skills that clients and employers would happily shell out money for.

Because there is no shortcut. You must go the extra mile.

4. We never stop learning ourselves.

Would you be willing to pay the equivalent of your one year salary to sign up for an online course? I just did that. 

We have an office space next to the Metro station in Saket. And one office in kolkata. Both offices combined can seat over 60 people. If I combine the rent I pay for these office spaces for a year, even that is less than what I just paid for an online course. 

Why? How can an online course be so valuable?

Because we are aiming to quadruple our business in the next 6 months. Lockdown or not. 

We are learning how to improve our lead generation and media buying, from the best in the world. We are learning how to rapidly increase our sales force. We are learning how to ramp up operations without compromising on the quality of services that we are so proud of. And such training, when spot on, does not come cheap.

That’s going the extra mile. Fighting for growth where everyone else is scampering for safety. 

5. We helped the community by launching COVID focused free content rapidly. How to deal with various legal situations that are arising? How can lawyers do business development in this environment? How can young lawyers plan their career going forward? How can you make your CV better during this lockdown? How are specific industries being impacted? 

We have been writing dozens of articles, doing webinars and uploading lots of videos on YouTube to help you with every aspect of COVID and lockdown without charging a penny.

Here are some links that you don’t want to miss:

https://blog.ipleaders.in/coronavirus-impact-health-finance-life/ 

https://blog.ipleaders.in/covid-19-puts-technology-contract-drafting/

https://blog.ipleaders.in/survive-thrive-lockdown/

https://blog.ipleaders.in/utilize-lockdown-days-get-ahead-career/

https://blog.ipleaders.in/lockdown-long-will-lockdowns-last-will-impact-indian-economy-work/

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzs5G6XyVgreKnRlQWA-SlaOG1mVbjXGI

We will soon launch a free ebook on how lawyers must deal with COVID-19. (Stay tuned to our emails for the same.)

Giving value to our community comes first. We know when you see the work we are giving away for free, you will get a sense of how much we do for our paid clients.

And it’s not over for us yet. 

We at LawSikho would continue to walk that extra mile forever, without any doubt, without any excuses.

Remembering the words of an inspirational writer, Israelmore Ayivor:

“Everybody is standing, but you must stand out.

Everybody is breaking grounds; but you must breakthrough!

Everybody scratching it; but you must scratch it hard!

Everybody is going, but you must keep going extra miles!

Dare to be exceptionally excellent and why not?”

So true, right? 

Not only do we practice it ourselves but also we teach our students to do so.

If you read this article so far, I have only one thing to say to you.

Showing up is not enough. Walk that extra mile and make your presence known. 

To your success.

P. S. LawSikho is running hour-long webinars every day. Want to learn how to improve your learning skills? Prepare an LLM application to a foreign university? Career opportunities in new, upcoming areas of law? Don’t miss these high-quality webinars with industry and academic experts. 

Comment below stating “I want to watch webinars!” and we will personally send you the link to the webinar group on WhatsApp. From then onwards, you will receive instant webinar notifications on your mobile phone only.

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LawSikho has created a telegram group for exchanging legal knowledge, referrals and various opportunities. You can click on this link and join: