This interview has been published by Anshi Mudgal and The SuperLawyer Team
What initially inspired you to pursue a career in law, and were there any specific events or formative experiences that shaped your decision to embark on this journey? Reflecting on your law school years, how did your education influence your understanding of the law, and how did it help you develop a foundational approach to legal practice?
Even though I was in the science stream, I was never drawn to any of the subjects. I saw myself getting intrigued with current affairs and news in the public domain. In school, I used to take part in Youth Parliament competitions where we used to debate laws which lay the foundation for me to study law. I also always found myself to be an advocate for rights of people from a young age. I also saw myself getting drawn to opportunities of public speaking. Law as a profession sat in the middle of all my interest areas, hence it became an obvious choice for me.
I went to O.P. Jindal Global University gave me immense exposure that shaped my world view and opinions. Unlike someone who always wanted to find a reason to stay out of the classroom in School, I mostly stayed in the library or classroom in law school. We had a vast and impressive library and an endless scope for learning which I made good use of. I took every opportunity to expand my horizons so I even took a summer course to study at University of Oxford on international human rights which gave me an opportunity to learn from people across the world their outlook towards human rights and how differently in India we perceive the same rights given our socio-economic background. These experiences helped shape my thinking and become more adaptable and accommodative. I chose my internships and moot court competitions according to the subjects I had studied so that I could get into more depth about those subjects. Soon into law school I realised I wanted to get into litigation and I wanted to be in Court arguing matters regularly so I chose to intern with different offices that were active in High Court as well as trial courts. I took electives and courses that would assist me in areas of constitutional, criminal and civil law, all of which were litigation intensive spheres. The things I learnt in these courses are still relevant in the work that I do and being diligent during law school years has proven to be one of my greatest allies in my professional career.
Beginning your career as an Associate at the Chambers of Advocate Ankur Sood must have been pivotal experience in your professional journey. Could you share some of the most valuable lessons and experiences you gained during this early phase, and how did you navigate the challenges of building your reputation as a young lawyer amidst the fast-paced world of legal practice?
They were most certainly the most transformative years for me as a lawyer. As I always dreamt of having an office of my own, the first valuable lesson I got was the importance of having good professional ethics and organisational skills. I saw my seniors being applauded by clients as well as colleagues for their remarkable abilities to manage an office. The second valuable lesson I got was the importance of having a simple yet impressive legal draft. Easy and well organised drafts always strike a chord with the clients and are designed to make law and justice easily accessible which is a vital legal right of the people. The third valuable lesson I got was that there was no alternate to being well-researched and well-read before appearing in Court. I remember I was once asked in the High Court to argue a matter on my own, barely one month into practice while I was only expecting to take a Passover for my senior. However, being put on the spot and made to argue gave me a massive confidence boost and I never looked back because I learnt that it was only upon me to build my own reputation in the fraternity and that nothing would spread word of mouth faster than my own abilities in the Court. Being a young first general lawyer is not easy, therefore, I grabbed every opportunity to develop a new relation or a new client because I had the confidence in my ability to do justice to my client. No doubt I faltered at times but I was a quick learner and I did not let any shortcomings ever bog me down. I did not shy away from doing cases that did not pay at all or paid very less as long as they were matters of areas of law that I found interesting and had the confidence to deliver in. The profession requires unrelenting hard work and long hours which I was willing to put in because I saw every hour being put in the work as being a way to hone my skill. We are always learning to be more convincing in court which is a place where we stand alone to represent our own craft. I started my independent office just before COVID-19 struck, however that period came as a blessing in disguise for me as I started appearing in different courts all over the country thanks to the VC facility. Good luck and hard work have both paid off in my case.
Transitioning from a focus on civil law to specializing in criminal litigation presents a significant shift in approach and skillset. How did this shift refine your abilities in handling complex criminal cases, particularly high-stakes matters like those related to murder, theft, and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act? Can you describe a particularly challenging case that you came across on the criminal side?
The most important skills in either area of law are your ability to be diligent with the facts and preparedness with the latest law on the subject. I feel as a lawyer you are anyway taught to wear different hats at different times so you automatically learn to have different approaches to any given situation. Dealing more with criminal cases taught me the value of being brief and direct, something that is lost in the pleadings of civil cases. It can be challenging to move from the civil and commercial side to the criminal side because of the habits developed in civil law to be as detailed and explanatory as possible. For instance, in civil law, you cannot lead evidence beyond your pleadings, so one tends to expand and leave room for directing the case in a particular direction. But largely, both parties are aware about the broad ambit of the case of either party. There is no such concept in criminal law, nor is there scope for filing pleadings at trial. You uncover a criminal case like a plucking petals from a flower, i.e. you keep on opening up your case one layer at a time to check which strategy is giving you the best result. Whether you are prosecuting or defending, it is very important to not delve into detailed merits of the case in the early stages of a criminal case so as to avoid giving away your strategy.
I don’t believe in calling any matter having a higher stake than the other because every client comes to you with the hope that you are their last hope. As a nation, we are not very litigation friendly and my experience is that in most cases people come to lawyers when they have no more avenues in front of them. As a litigating lawyer, every day in court is a day involving high stakes because the orders passed on a daily basis form a basis for the final judgment that you are expecting in the case.
One particularly challenging case that I have seen on the criminal side is one which I am currently handling. This case involves an alleged GST fraud where the accused is alleged to have prepared forged documents for creation of fake GST registrations in order to pocket large sums of money thereby causing losses of many crores to several persons whose GST details have been allegedly forged. The defence of this person rests on proving that it is not his usage of the laptops that has caused any of the fake GST registrations but rather it is the act of a different person who has impersonated or gained illegal access to my client’s laptop to create the fake registrations. An offence of this nature would be covered under Section 467 IPC which contains a punishment of life imprisonment and therefore becomes an extremely crucial matter that involves knowing technical know-how and the interplay of law and technology.
After gaining invaluable experience working with prominent legal minds, what inspired you to establish your own practice? What were some of the key obstacles you encountered while setting up your independent practice, and how did you overcome them to build a sustainable and successful legal career?
I think almost everyone enters the field of chamber litigation with a dream to run their own office and I was no different. I was lucky to have an amazing set of mentors who gave me the confidence in a short span of 3 years to venture out independently. While there is no right formula to this, I had two critical factors in mind while starting my own office. The first was confirming with myself whether I knew what advice to give to a client who came to me with any kind of legal query. It required knowing what next steps were to be taken in any kind of litigation in order to strategize for the client. This confidence I had got because of a wide variety of cases that I had dealt with before different fora in a span of three years and I had already seen many cases go from the first date till the date of judgment so I was sufficiently abreast with what was required at each stage. I did not feel the need for any more handholding in terms of what lay next in any kind of litigation.
The second was the frequency of my appearances in court. I did not want to start my own practice and spend the majority of my days at home or in the office. When I saw that I had sufficient work that would require me to give more importance to it than I could give to my senior’s office, I thought it fit to move on. From the first month of when I went independent, I had 15 appearances in a month in different courts which I thought was a decent tally to be on my own.
Key obstacles that I faced were the anxiety of finding more work and building connections. For first generation lawyers, finding work is often tough. I was not in the habit of going out to network and find work. Luckily work flowed in at a decent pace for me as word of mouth spread and many law school friends of mine from other states reposed great faith in me to pursue litigation for their clients in Delhi. In the initial phase, the pace of growth was slow and the outbreak of COVID-19 proved to be a period that required a lot more hard work to be able to sustain a practice. During COVID-19, I spent the first six months gorging on legal commentaries and SCC Online in order to expand my knowledge base. To cut costs, I used to manage the filings by myself and did not keep a clerk until it became essential for me to hire someone. I made many judgment compilations on key legal points that are of great help till today.
When handling complex criminal cases, especially those involving multi-jurisdictional issues, what strategies do you employ to navigate the legal intricacies of different courts and jurisdictions?
Different courts and jurisdictions often mean that the rules of procedure as well as general practices of courts and investigating agencies differ. We have in our country several different wings of investigating agencies and all of them have entirely separate rules of functioning. Scandinavian legal theorists propounded that the life of law is not logic but experience. This is best exemplified when one is faced with multi-jurisdictional issues. Different jurisdictions bring with them challenges and frameworks that are prevalent only within that jurisdiction and the best way to deal with them is to fit in your case within that framework. Every Court has its own procedures, customs and practices. It has to be seen whether any party is indulging in forum shopping in order to invoke different jurisdictions to suit one set of procedures or practices.
I am currently dealing with a matter that spans across three states with multiple investigating agencies involved. At the outset, it is always important to look at whether the case is even maintainable under multiple jurisdictions. It is then important to check for overlaps and conflicts in the different jurisdictions and see if they can help in identifying loopholes found during different investigations. For instance, I am handling a case where statements given by one witness to different investigating agencies are contrary to each other fundamentally and a comprehensive reading of the same would allow us to safeguard our client from prosecution in both jurisdictions.
In litigation, every step that you take becomes a matter of public record and it is very difficult to hide missteps taken along the way. Therefore, it becomes very crucial to be fully aware about the expected reliefs in any given jurisdiction and to file appropriate pleadings in order to minimise the risks of unfavourable outcomes.
Given your extensive experience across a wide spectrum of judicial and quasi-judicial forums from the Supreme Court to specialized tribunals, how do you craft your litigation strategy specifically for RERA matters? In your view, what distinguishes real estate litigation under RERA from traditional civil or commercial disputes?
RERA disputes come in various forms, i.e. judicial as well as administrative. These proceedings are largely summary in nature, i.e. there are no trials or leading of evidence or cross examination etc. in the traditional sense. Real estate litigation can be very complex because it requires a specific expertise in knowing local land laws, environmental laws, understanding of developmental contracts, builder buyer agreements and also understanding the interplay between government departments and private entities. Since it is a fairly recent legislation, there are several areas of law that remain unexplored and it allows for more room to have fundamental jurisprudential arguments.
For instance, I am currently working on a dispute that involves a developer who has abandoned a project and is looking to develop a different project on the same land by seeking new investments. Several key issues arise in this case, such as (a) whether a developer which has failed to deliver a project should at all be allowed to migrate to a different project on the same parcel of land. If yes, what sort of limitations can be placed on the developer for the second phase of development. If no, what happens to the parcel of land and how does one take a project towards deregistration; (b) whether a developer can be allowed to migrate to a different project on the same parcel of land without first satisfying the claims of its original allottees/buyers. It is also interesting to see how and before which forum these questions can be decided. I would put these cases in the hard category of cases because they require a very in depth analysis of RERA and its objectives and its interplay with other laws because often the plain language of the legislation does not provide all answers.
One very key factor that is always in mind is that RERA was not only enacted for the purposes of solving real estate litigation, but also for the enhancement of the real estate sector in this country which I feel plays a vital role in strategizing how to go about resolving a dispute. We are often faced with questions that pertain to public policy and socio economic reform. Sometimes, apparent and evident contractual remedies may not be the correct remedies under RERA and therefore our pleadings and arguments are designed in a manner to suit the objectives of RERA Act.
However, I must add that due to the proceedings being summary in nature, these disputes are usually faster to resolve than traditional civil and commercial suits. So one strategy always is to simplify pleadings and make concise arguments. Earlier, RERA orders were executed through different authorities that was leading to long delays but RERA has recently been given the power to execute its own orders which can often turn out to be a challenge and therefore we are constantly finding ways to shorten the execution proceedings to ensure speedier justice to the people who have secured orders in their favour.
What has consistently inspired you to pursue a career in law, especially given the high-pressure demands of litigation? How do you maintain a healthy balance between your professional responsibilities and personal well-being, ensuring sustained performance without burnout?
There is no greater satisfaction than a good day in Court. When you see the hours of toiling while doing research, making drafts and constructing arguments in the office yielding results, the adrenaline rush of a favourable outcome, however small or big it may be, is what keeps me consistently inspired. I also find that litigation allows one to wear so many hats in a day and puts lawyers in a unique position to understand different walks of life and allows us to have key insights into other professions. For example, doing medical negligence cases allows lawyers to not only learn the legal standards of medical negligence but also widens our horizons to understand hospital procedures. A simple cheque bounce dispute could make one get into understanding the internal workings of corporations etc. which I feel is rarely available to people in any other profession. The high pressure of litigation is therefore well-compensated by the diverse set of skills/knowledge that one learns on the job.
In a profession such as litigation, you have to learn to accept unpredictability. A seemingly jam-packed day often turns out to be completely free and vice versa. It is therefore important to find moments every now and then to do activities that lower down stress levels and ensure sustainable working models. I ensure personal well being by remaining physically active by playing a sport or regular exercise. I also like to meet my travel goals to help with the exhaustion of a high pressure job. It would be a good idea to not give up on pursuing hobbies and to take out time for them as and when the opportunity is available instead of waiting for a weekend to clear the schedule up. Lastly, in order to avoid a burnout it is essential to ensure that there is no conflict or doubt in your mind about practising law.
With your diverse and accomplished legal journey, what guidance would you offer to aspiring legal professionals? Are there particular strategies, learning resources, or a roadmap you would recommend for law students and young lawyers who aspire to excel in litigation or corporate advisory practice?
It is very important for young lawyers and law students to enter the field of litigation. I especially feel that more female law students must strive to enter the field of litigation as it will go a long way to break gender based barriers. I personally feel that there is room for female lawyers to enter the field of criminal litigation to ensure more gender sensitive dealing of criminal matters. So, I would really encourage young lawyers to come to Court and join litigation. However, this encouragement comes with certain disclaimers. First and foremost, I would advise every young legal professional to be sure of their key skills and capabilities because litigation and corporate advisories require a completely different set of skills to finesse. There is no substitute for a voracious appetite for studying and reading in litigation because it is very important to remain up to date with latest developments in the law and also having the skill to place the developments in the historical context of how the law has been shaped over the years. Lawyers are bombarded with information and documents day in day out and they are expected to be abreast of all developments and therefore presence of mind with a willingness to grasp more is a sine qua non for every litigator.
The second skill is learning professional etiquettes which is helpful not only at the bar but also with the clients. As the legal profession is a noble one, it is very important to uphold the highest sense of loyalty to clients as well as the Courts and know that short cuts and convenience must never take precedence. This is extremely important to uphold the dignity of the profession. Lawyers must protect this dignity through their conduct at all times.
The third advice would be to remain inquisitive. It is very important for a legal professional to understand the meaning, scope and applicability of any legal problem before him or her. This curiosity and inquisitive nature will allow room for creative uses of the law which is extremely important especially now that the world is transforming and artificial intelligence is percolating all walks of life.
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