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

How does a good thing begin?

It was a tall glass building on Elphinstone Road. There were several top law firms housed in that building. We were two of the thousands of people who commuted that day from all over Mumbai to get to their desks and cubicles over there that morning.

Abhyuday was not sure about whether he was going to give up his legal career to try out a crazy, insane, idealistic path of starting iPleaders. He was hesitating for about a week.

I was trying to persuade him to quit together and start iPleaders in a new format. And I knew I was failing. He was not convinced. If he was not convinced, he would not take the leap.

Doing “nothing” needs no reason. Jumping into uncertainty needs a big reason. I was out of all reasons.

I wanted someone to walk that journey with me. I specifically wanted Abhyuday to come along because by then we knew each other. He was the first friend I made in law school. The first friend, I could share my childhood secrets with and knew they were safe.

He never ridiculed me for all my stupid antics, small town awkwardness or terrible accent like most of my batchmates did.

I knew he was a good person, and amazing at whatever he did. I could trust him. I knew my chances of hitting success will not just be double, but ten times more if Abhyuday joined me in trying to revolutionize legal education.

At that time, I naively underestimated the task. But still, I knew I am no match for it without a capable team. I was scared that I would have to start all of these alone. I was scared of the burden. I was scared of the almost certain failure that stared at me from the future.

So this is what I said as we were waiting for the lift.

“I don’t know what you will do. But I can’t try this. I am raising my hand and I am going to jump into this because if I never try I will always regret it”.

I still remember raising my hand in the air, in an act of defiance.

I had given up. I had accepted that even if I have to do it all alone I will do it. And I said it to Abhyuday plainly.

I saw the gears whirring and falling into place as Abhyuday’s facial expression changed. By the end of the week, he quit the law firm and started work on iPleaders. This was sooner than I expected. I myself didn’t leave the law firm till the end of that month.

So this is how things start.

The fish walks up onto the shore. Bumbling and fumbling, without knowing how to walk. It dares to take the first step. Maybe it fails, maybe it dies. Maybe it succeeds. But that first step needs courage, conviction, and giving up on comfort.

That’s how it starts. And the fish brings with it the possibilities of Lions, Elephants and Eagles. A future is created.

It’s irreversible.

I am the stupid fish as far as LawSikho.com was concerned. I was the first person to raise my hand when no one called and jumped into an uncertain future. But I am of no significance because what is to come yet is magical.

People think a revolution as some kind of upheaval. The Bastille falling. Or riots on the streets. Or some big changes at the top. A coup d’etat.

It’s not.

A revolution happens when a mind wakes up to what can be, what is possible and how pale, how ordinary, how unbearable the present is in comparison.

I can dream of what is going to come, as the future is created. As we have a new generation of lawyers and business leaders who do not only learn a bunch of case laws and sections in law schools and struggle to learn everything on the job then, at the client’s expense but continuously train and develop themselves systematically and grow really powerful in their knowledge and skills.

I am the bumbling and fumbling fish of legal education. But LawSikho is the revolution because we reject the status quo. We do not think the NLUs are the pinnacle of legal education. The legal profession, the country and the future lawyers and business leaders deserve much better.

I want you to be the Lion to my fish. The bird. The Phoenix. The unicorn. Or some other magnificent creature I cannot even imagine today.

Join us. We will not let you down.

Here are a few courses starting by end of January:

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 Entrepreneurship, Administration and Business Laws 

Executive Certificate Courses

• Certificate course in Advanced Corporate Taxation 
• Certificate course in Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code