In this interview Mr. Shubham Sharma, a graduate of 2017 batch of Indian Law Society’s Law College, Pune ventilates about his expedition from a law student to an associate working with Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas. He gives a cognizance of how law firms function and what they may actually look for in their lawyers.Further, he dispenses guidance on how law students should try to perform in law firm internships and excel in their career.
Please introduce yourself to our readers
I am currently working at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas in the Projects Team, which deals with corporate work in relation to infrastructure projects in India – think roads, ports, airports, power infrastructure, etc. My work is primarily with respect to transactions such as acquisitions or financing or advice in relation to infrastructure projects.I graduated from Indian Law Society’s Law College, Pune in 2017, and thereafter worked with Welspun Group for around two years, and post that I joined Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas in November 2019,and since then I have been working here.
- I understand that you started your career with in-house practice and subsequently shifted to a law firm, how would you describe that shift?
I acknowledge that there is a good deal of confab about how this shift is hard. I would like to gainsay, it precisely depends upon what field you want to be in. If you are in a company, where you are naturally exposed to corporate law and related work,it is not that hard to move to a corporate practice in a firm.From my point of view, I would describe a shift from in-house practice to a law firm as moving to an industry which offers a more diverse set of challenges than what the business of an individual company may throw at you. Numerous attorneys have a goal oriented plan for the sectors they are on a lookout for working in, but others may be open to a distinct variety of work.
- What kind of clients, cases and projects are most typical of your office?
Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co is a full-service law firm with a mission to enable business by providing solutions as trusted advisors through excellence, responsiveness, innovation, and collaboration. Speaking for the Projects practise, we generally have clients who are either investment funds, Public Sector Undertakings or financial institutions. Basically, infrastructure projects provide good return on investment for funds and they are low risk and provide a certain return on income so therefore are attractive investment opportunities for investors. The key practice areas of our firm include General Corporate, Banking & Finance, Competition Law, Insolvency & Bankruptcy, Dispute Resolution, Projects & Project Finance, Capital Markets, Tax, Intellectual Property Rights and Venture Capital. Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas represent major transnational corporates on their India entry and business strategy and we are globally known for our exceptional merger & acquisition, tax, competition law, dispute resolution & arbitration, regulatory litigation, capital markets and private equity practices.
- How is your organization affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic? Would you say that it has impacted the type of work your office undertakes?
The perceptible spread of COVID-19 has played havoc with the lives, livelihoods, communities and businesses worldwide. I would not be naive enough to say that our organization is not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Having said that I believe that we are technologically capable enough to work from home without it impacting work substantially in any way. However I would not be able to comment on what/how the other teams which are more dependent on outside of office work are doing/performing. I am of the opinion that this pandemic will drive a new wave of ESG consciousness and acceptance.As a result of COVID-19 an entire host of latest business owners are expected to turn up and lawyers may be required to help companies evolve and come to the fore.
- What kind of internships did you undertake during your law school and which one in your opinion has benefitted you the most?
What kind of internships a law student should do or what basically should a law student aim for in college, these questions do not have a straitjacket answer. When a student is in a five year integrated course then the idea is just that decide and strive to pick up a set of skills.That skill set could be anything because when I use this term “skills”, I use it in the broadest meaning possible. For instance, a student could learn how to draft, he could learn how to research and these two skills would be applicable in almost everything one would do as a lawyer. So, the entire objective is not to specialize in any one stream, because at first, in college,you will not know what stream you will get after you graduate from your law school and second if that’s something you would like to do or not. So one is not capable enough to make that choice at that point in time. Therefore it is best that you try to pick up a set of skills that you can apply everywhere and by the end of your last year you should be capable enough to research or draft on anything, basing off those previous examples.
- What is the history of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas in hiring interns into permanent positions?
That seems like a very motivated question in itself. So, speaking of Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas and its history in hiring interns into permanent positions, the record has been pretty good. There is no specific criteria per se but it depends a lot on the intern and also on his or her performance during the course of his or her internship. I believe that interns are evaluated on a continuous bases. The firm definitely has a good record of calling back people who have done good work. I personally have seen many of the interns being hired into permanent positions as a result of their diligent performance. Therefore in my experience there will be opportunities always and you have to make the best use of them to succeed.
- How much responsibility is given to the interns at Law Firms? Could you please try and describe a typical day for an intern at your firm?
This seems a very interesting question to me. So the idea is just this, that an intern who comes in is not given any ground breaking work in the beginning. Having said that the work given is still an important work. While an intern may not appreciate receiving lots of research work, the work itself is critical to how you would move forward with your advice or transaction. Even something like making a list of documents or list of dates, while not something requiring a continuous application of mind, are extremely critical from a documentation perspective. Now this document that does not require a lot of application of mind and has to be made and keeping in mind the opportunity cost – would you rather have an associate, who could be using his time in a much – much more productive manner, making that or would you rather have an intern?
To be reasonable, the answer to the above question can be concluded as assigning the said work to an intern, mainly because of the opportunity cost. So what I am trying to convey is that, the work which one may get, he or she shall not really appreciate the value of that work as an intern but it is an extremely valuable work. So work that is given to interns is definitely work that is important from the perspective of the firm. The idea is associates do really rely on interns work, be that in terms of research or in terms of making documents.
- What kind of assignments do junior associates get to handle?
I think it is a coordinated team effort, that is, everybody has to perform their respective jobs and the integrated efforts come out to be the final work which is in turn reviewed by a senior.Therefore, in that sense, it is a collaborative effort.
- Any piece of final advice for the law students?
My sincere advice to all थे law students is that you should pick up a set of skills which you can imply during the course of your internships before you graduate from law school.
Lastly, please remember the words of Napoleon Hill – Do not wait: the time will never be ‘just right’. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along.
