BY LAWZ BUREAU.
“Foreign Law Firms Would Bring International Professional Culture”
After completing his law and Economics (Hons.) from Delhi University, Parag Tripathi got admission in the Harvard School of Law for his Masters in Law. But he had no intention of staying there as he wanted to come back to India and start his own practice. After working for a year in an Indian firm, Mr. Tripathi joined a leading Senior Counsel. Here he got an opportunity to develop his hidden talents. Mr. Tripathi was designated as a Senior at a young age and today he has a team of good supporting juniors and is doing well in practise. Mr. Parag Tripathi shares his views about the legal profession with our correspondent Renu Sharma.
Why did you decide to take law as your subject and profession?
There are two distinct things about law which are missing from other professions. One is that this is one profession where you get intellectual fulfillment and at the same time you are financially well off. The second distinct and good thing about law is that there is no retirement age in this profession, and like an old wine you keep becoming better as you age.
How were your initial years of practise as a lawyer?
When I had entered the profession in 1982-83 I had in my mind that I probably would not have enough briefs for at least 5-10 years. I would not say that I had as hard a time in the profession as I thought I would, but at the same time it was not as easy also. I had gone to Harvard for my LLM after completing law from Delhi University. I refused placement there in a very reputed U.S. based law firm, as I wanted to come back to India, to do my own practise. Back home I joined a solicitor firm, where I was paid a salary of Rs. 3000/- p.m. But being Delhi based I was well placed with that kind of money as I had no overheads. After staying for a year in the said firm, I joined a Senior counsel. I had a nice and good experience in the firm and also while I was working with my Senior. I got opportunities to appear in cases on my own and also to argue. There was immense hard work involved but at the same time there was no starvation for the briefs. Later on I started my own practise and by God’s grace I am doing well today.
The recent Supreme Court judgement with respect to strikes by government employees has triggered off a lot of protest. What are your views on this judgement?
See, before we comment anything on the judgement, we must firstly understand what the judgement says and what is the context on which the judgement has been delivered. It is a judgement based on the context that about 22 lakh employees of Tamil Nadu state who went on mass strike. There was some kind of political aspect, visible in this strike, in order to grind the whole administration to a halt. Now in that context, the issue came up before the Supreme Court and there the Supreme Court has said that Government employees as a class, i.e. irrespective of their salary and official status, do not have any fundamental right to strike. This is wholly an unexceptional statement and actually and rightly represents the current status of law. The judgement also talks further of the moral rights to go on strike. I do not find anything wrong about this judgement. It is a very well written judgement.
Do you feel that our judiciary is working independently as is ought to or is it under the influence or pressure from the legislature?
There are two issues involved here when you talk of independence of the judiciary. One being corruption in the judiciary, which I think is conceptionally very different from interference in the judicial functioning by the legislature and the executive. Interference by the executive and the legislature cannot be commented upon as nothing till date has come into limelight on this issue. But the greater concern today is of the corruption which is believed to have crept into the judicial system. Yes, I can say that it cannot be ruled out today that corruption is not there in our legal system. That apart, I would still say that majority of our judges, specially in the High Courts and the Supreme Court, are still very conscious of their oath and they also try to see that justice is done.
Would the entry of foreign law firms affect the practise of individual lawyers and Indian law firms?
Yes, if foreign law firms come to India they are definitely bound to affect the fortune of several of our law firms and senior counsels. But on the whole I think that there would be a change for the betterment in the legal profession. I say this because these foreign law firms would also bring with them international professional culture, which I think to some extent is missing in our system. Their entry however must be subjected to certain conditions, like there should be no right for the foreign nationals to address the Indian courts. This would then not affect the lawyers community as a whole. But in the larger interests of all it would be better for our young lawyers, as they would get to work in these law firms and adopt their work culture and ethics.