This article is being republished from A First Taste of Law. It was originally published in 2010.

So, when you find that the dream jobs that everyone run after are not actually that exciting, and involves pushing papers which you personally find quite meaningless, and your creative energy or entrepreneurial mind is not satisfied at all by the monthly bank deposit in form of salary, what do you do? Well, I am sure there can be a bevy of correct answers to this question, but Kian Ganz had a crazy answer. He left his job at Clifford Chance at London, took up journalism, worked for The Lawyer for a while and then finally travelled to another continent and set up a first of its kind legal news website in India. It has been slightly more than six months that LegallyIndia.com is online, and it is by now a website almost everyone in the Indian legal world knows about.
LegallyIndia is a not only a portal that publishes news concerning the lawyers, law students and others connected to the legal world, but it has also proved to be a forum with considerable exchange of opinion happening on issues that often go undiscussed otherwise due to the lack of opportunity to speak up (LI let readers comment without disclosing their identities).

Given the fact that LI is still in a very early phase of evolution, it has already dared to kick up some serious dirt. Apart from hiring stories, corporate restructuration news and well-researched articles on law firms, LI has been providing us with insight on work conditions of associates in law firms, interviews of megalomaniac Bar Council officials, legal reforms in India, opening up of the legal sector, strategic alliances between Indian and international law firms, and all of these written in great style.

It has also been covering stories related to law students, including articles on internships, higher education, and scholarships. I am grateful to Kian personally for carrying out a few stories about the fee hikes in law schools, especially NUJS.There is no doubt that LegallyIndia is doing well: its number of visitors is jumping up every day, major feeds in the web world are providing LI content, and it is actually being discussed among lawyers and law students. LegallyIndia also seems to have caught the imagination of the international new seekers interested in the Indian legal market. LI seems to be regularly followed by a junta on lawyers working in major law firms in the UK and the US. In fact, once a partner of one one of the biggest US law firms (who was visiting NUJS) was trying to tell us about Above the Law (a legal blog or BLAWG in the US) during a lecture in our class. Finally, he settled the issue by saying that Above The Law is the LegallyIndia of USA.

While we think that LI has a great future ahead, Kian is quite concerned about the present. He found time to meet me in Bombay one evening out of his extremely busy schedule. As we feasted on some Parsi dishes at the lovely Cafe Universal at Fort, he told me that LI is yet to break even in terms of financial success. I don’t think that would be very far away given the brand name he is building.

Apart from having a head start in this area, his stories are extremely well written and hit the issues on the right note. He works with sincere commitment and professionalism that others will find difficult to reproduce. His experience at the legal tabloids in the UK will also be a factor. It’s true that at present scope for financial growth is limited given the ‘no advertising for lawyers/law firms’ rule of the Bar Council, but if Indian firms have to go global (as BCI emphasises of reciprocity, I understand that they mean they want Indian lawyers to go global if global law firms are allowed in India), they will find this rule difficult to stick to. Also, there is the market for the advertisement of legal publications (including law books and software) and other lawyer related services provided by non-lawyers. Law related advertising sector is yet to develop in India, and I would bet LI will see a lot of action on this front given the sort of traffic it is attracting.

While LI may be flourishing, was it a good idea for Kian personally to leave a firm like Clifford Chance to take up legal journalism? Does it make economic sense to leave the coveted post of an associate at the biggest law firm in the world to pursue journalistic adventures? Well, it doesn’t look to me like he has lost out on the pecuniary side completely. In the short run, he may have to meet his expenses out of his savings, but let’s just say he is into something much bigger.

When I thought I shall interview Kian, the subject I had on my mind was LegallyIndia. After talking to him for a while, though, it became evident that there is more to the Kian Ganz story than just a legal news website. He has been able to take up his passion as his profession, and that is something many budding lawyers dream to achieve. Did this take a lot of planning? What gave him the confidence to leave a tried and tested career path to venture into unchartered territories? Is not a career at a law firm like Clifford Chance intellectually challenging enough? Kian had simple answers to all these questions – “There is definitely a lot that is challenging about law, both intellectually and in many other ways, but ultimately the career path of being a lawyer at a big firm just did not appeal so much to me. I had also always enjoyed writing and been fascinated by journalism so I thought I’d give it a shot before I was too old to experiment with my career.” He also added that practicing in law is definitely a good grounding for whatever one may choose work on in there in life, especially so in India. “To be honest, my ‘career path’ and ending up here was mostly just caused by unpredictable combinations of circumstances and choices. I definitely could never have imagined running a legal publication in India a year or two ago. And it’s definitely been far more exciting and challenging than I expected” said Kian.

He is so far the only provider offering niche news to the entire Indian legal community, which is huge both in terms of a number of lawyers and revenue earned. He might be the catalyst in his own way in the evolution of the Indian legal system with his responsible journalism (as he brings up issues that mainstream media neither understand nor care about). Also, though there is some risk, he is also looking at some resounding economic success in the long term. Kian is bullish on Indian legal market because of its great fundamentals, and I am bullish on LegallyIndia as the man behind it is fundamentally great.

I had asked him a few questions over email, to which he had some really interesting answers. I am sharing them below:

What made you choose law as a career? At what age did you make this decision?

I picked law because I felt that it was a useful and interesting profession to get into. However, as a 16/17 year-old, I had very vague ideas about what this would actually mean in practice. I think for most it’s very hard to make such decisions at such a young age and be fully aware of all implications, for any career.
When you joined a law school, did you want to practice at the bar or did you want to be a transactional lawyer from the beginning?
I studied law as an undergrad when I did not really know what I wanted to do with it. Like much of my year, and like many of the Indian law school graduates now, joining a law firm seemed like somewhere that offered a lot of exciting options – plus good money.

Why did you join Clifford Chance?

I joined CC mainly because of the international network and the opportunities for working abroad.

Did you have any previous experience in writing or reporting?

Some, but mostly just as a hobby and out of personal interest.

How was it to work at The Lawyer?

It was a steep learning curve in the beginning but it was a great grounding in journalism, writing lots of different kinds of articles, stories and styles.

How did you come up with the idea of Legally India?

I was covering the India from London for The Lawyer and it seemed like a very dynamic market that had huge scope for more reporting. I also felt that there would be many interesting stories to tell. That and the general enthusiasm in the UK legal scene for everything Indian was definitely infectious.

Any advice to those law students who are ready to look beyond the obvious career choices and want to do out-of-the way things, especially to do with coverage of legal news or writing?

I think Indian law students, more than those in the UK or US, are a lot more entrepreneurial and willing to experiment with career choices already. Law has spawned a large number of entrepreneurs and people successful in a number of different professions in India. If you want to do something, a law degree will not hold you back. And of course, India is probably the last major jurisdiction where lawyers can still set up their own corporate law firms and have the opportunity to build something successful. That is very exciting in itself. The Indian legal market is still in major flux and no one really knows what it will look like in 5 or 10 years. If you look at the UK or US, there are dozens of sectors and thousands of people employed in industries that work with or for law firms in one way or another, including legal journalism. That does not yet exist here but I believe there is massive scope.

Any comment on the Indian legal publishing industry? Where do you see LegallyIndia in the future?

I hope that the legal press can be a positive influence on the Indian legal industry. Having accurate information about the market available is important for the legal market to grow and provide the best legal services possible to clients. I also hope that it will open doors to the world of law for those who are interested.
I hope for Legally India to become the trusted source of such information about the market, as well as be an enjoyable platform for Indian lawyers to interact.

Any negative experience as a legal journo in India?

Negative experiences, no not as such, but many firms and partners are not used to talking about themselves or they wonder why anyone would be interested in reading news about them. It’s a learning experience on both sides.

Any advice or message for the Indian students planning to join law firms in the UK?

It’s not the best time right now althoug opportunities still exist. However, the overseas recruitment boom of a few years ago is definitely on hold for now. Most UK firms are still licking their wounds and making do with much reduced headcounts, while revenues and profit figures are still not stable.
Recruiting heavily from Indian campuses is therefore not at the top of their mind anymore.
Nevertheless, it is probably always worth trying, just make sure that your application is spotless and very targeted to the firm in question. In your cover letter, explain precisely what you could add to the firm and what makes the firm different from others.