Rainmaker Gold - G.E. Vahanvati (Part 1)

by Anonymous | June 04, 2011

Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati spoke with Rainmaker in January 2010, and said that while it may be quite attractive to work at a big firm like Amarchand or AZB, doing litigation first will help young lawyers with their first principles. Click on the video below to start playing it. It is best viewed in full screen.

Edited extracts from the transcript of the interview

Mr. Vahanvati observes that a lawyer must have knowledge of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 and the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 to know the ropes of the law. “Jean Paul Satre said that some people become adults without ever having been children. Some lawyers become very successful without ever having dirt in their nails. You have to know how the registry and filing works. After that, you can branch off into transactional work, if you want, but first principles of law must be absolutely right”.

The Attorney General then speaks about the three things a young lawyer has to keep in mind.

“First of all, you must be prepared to work very hard. Unfortunately, today, with word processors, it is a cut-and-paste job. Everything is very easy with search engines and all sorts of finders”.

The second is integrity. This is required for everything done in the legal profession. “If you are appearing in court, you must exude the aura that the judge will believe what you say”, he says. That is the most important thing - never mislead the court. He notes that even if one is doing non-litigation work, one should never mislead an opposing counsel, because then, “He will never trust you again”. He points out that a lawyer has to do the best he can for his client but must not resort to sharp practices. “Once your reputation is gone, it is gone forever”.

“The third is don't run after money. Money comes”, he remarked. He reflects what Atul Setalvad had told him in 1976: “Fees are like water in a reservoir. They will build up over a period of time because solicitors don't pay immediately, but, after some time, the water will flow regularly”. As the profession stands today, lawyers have to resist the lure of money, Mr. Vahanvati observes.

Attorney General G.E. Vahanvati in conversation with Rainmaker.

To youngsters who feel that litigation is the poorest of the options that they are faced with, he only wishes to say that a good argument in court is immensely satisfying. “It is a high. There is nothing like facing a judge who does not agree with you, and then you turn him”.

He also states that it was high time the seniors in the legal profession realised that junior lawyers need to be paid. “I pay my juniors”, he says. “There was a young junior who came to me when I was Advocate General of Maharashtra", he recalls. "He couldn't afford to stay in Bombay. He was from Orissa and wanted to practice in Delhi. I called Ryan Karanjawala and asked him whether he could help him. Ryan took him up and paid him fifteen thousand rupees a month. Today, he is doing very well.” He said that seniors in the legal profession have to learn that whatever they have is a gift that must be shared with young lawyers.

“If you give young lawyers some money and see that they are doing well, their enthusiasm is at a different level. An unhappy junior will never be able to assist you. A happy junior will give you the best he's got”.

Describing some aspects of his relationship with his juniors, Mr. Vahanvati says that he gives his juniors a fixed amount of money every month, and then tries to get them associated with certain matters to help them earn some additional income. Once they get some exposure, they go ahead and start getting work on their own, he observes.

He also says that it is unhealthy for young lawyers to start practicing directly at the Supreme Court. "I have appeared in the City Civil Court of Bombay for a fee of thirty rupees. I have appeared in the Small Causes Court on rent eviction matters”, he points out.