5 lessons on mentorship in a legal career

mentorship

There’s a lot of buzz around the word ‘mentorship’, especially in the legal fraternity. Law students believe that they need mentors to shine in their careers and young lawyers feel that if they don’t have mentors, then they are not going to excel in their careers. Most of us are always looking for that one special mentor who will give us a leg up in our careers. But the truth is mentorship doesn’t happen just like that. Here are five lessons about mentorship that I learnt from my mentors over my legal career of 12 years and legal education of […]

5 reasons why a lawyer makes a very good journalist (Offbeat Career series)

lawyer journalist

I have decided to start a new series on my website – Offbeat Careers – to bring to you information about what alternate, exciting and fulfilling career you can choose post your law degree. This past year 2020 has seen many of us, especially those graduating from law school in 2020 and 2021, grappling with uncertainty on recruitment front. The pandemic and the resultant lockdown has seriously affected global economy, leading to employers freezing new hires and trimming their existing workforce. More and more of us are in the already competitive job market. I would like all the law students […]

MentorSpeak #3 with Bharat Chugh

In this episode of MentorSpeak, I have an amazing free-wheeling conversation with Bharat Chugh, presently independent legal counsel and ex-judge and ex-partner of L&L Partners. We talk about – taking decisions on the various stops of our career path judicial services as a career choice skills to be honed by law students irrespective of the career path chosen in future components of a good legal article Hope this was helpful. Let me know in the comments. Do hop over to the Youtube Channel and subscribe. There are new videos planned to be shared with you soon. If you want to […]

MentorSpeak #2 with Satyajit Gupta

mentorspeak

In our second episode of MentorSpeak, I have a wonderful 30-minutes chat with Satyajit Gupta, Vice-President Assistant General Counsel and Head-Legal of EXL-India on – (i) a career in law firm vs a career as in-house counsel (ii) writing and publishing articles as a working professional (iv) not getting boxed in one practice area in a law firm career (v) things an interviewer look for in a candidate (v) combating mental health issues as lawyers Hope this was helpful. Let me know in the comments. Do hop over to the Youtube Channel and subscribe. There are new videos planned to […]

MentorSpeak #1 with Shivli

Hi friends, I am excited to introduce a new category of post on the blog – MentorSpeak. Over the last few months of writing for The Five Things Checklist, I realised that the biggest challenge that today’s law students face is lack of mentorship. They study well, do numerous internships, participate in moot court competitions, publish research articles and do everything that can be possibly done by a young law student; yet they are not sure of how to proceed in their career. There is a general sense of “I do not know enough”. They think “How do I know […]

5 things you need to know about Definitions & Interpretations clause of a contract

definitions clause in a contract

After a hiatus, I am back with an article on contract drafting, this time on the topic of the definitions and interpretations clause. Definitions are a ubiquitous part of a contract. Sometimes they appear right at the beginning of the contract just after the introductory clauses. Sometimes they are spread across the contract. If you are a law student and have done internships at corporate law firms, you might have received a thick contract and asked to review it for consistency and cross referencing. One of your jobs would have been to see that all the definitions are capitalized and […]

5 tips to ace legal writing skills (+ free video)

legal writing

Legal writing skill is the most important tool of the trade for a lawyer or a law student. The ability to write well allows you to communicate your message clearly and effectively. It bridges the gap between what’s on your mind and what you communicate. Therefore, it’s extremely important to master legal writing while you are a law student and continue honing it when you join the profession. Let’s look at what all lawyers need to write and why this skill is important for them. Types of legal writing Regularly, disputes lawyers or in-house counsel need to draft legal pleadings […]

5 Q&A from my law student mentoring session #3

mentoring session

If you are interested, you can find part 1 of this series here and part 2 of the series here. In my third law student mentoring session, I spoke to A, a final year student of a non-NLU with a very impressive CV. In this session, we spoke a lot about being an in-house counsel. A is interning at a company and wants to be an in-house counsel. From skills required to an ideal career path, we covered a broad range of topics. She asked me only three questions, so to remain true to my article heading, I have added […]

5 things on the introductory clauses of a contract

introductory clauses of a contract

Many times, we do not focus as much on the introductory clauses of a contract as we should. We think nothing major can happen in these introductory clauses. I am talking of the clauses that precede the core contract terms ie. till the recital. This makes up what is called the “Front of the Contract”. You might say, why, they are only the title, date, place and parties. Surely, one doesn’t goof up here. While reviewing contracts, I have found many errors, some of them grave, in the few introductory clauses that are present in a contract. Some mistakes, as […]

5 Q&A from my law student mentoring session #2

law student mentoring

Continuing my series on law student mentoring sessions, here is the second part where I spoke to R, a student of the graduating batch of an NLU with an offer to join a tier 1 law firm. But before we proceed, please read the part 1 of this series here. Ever since I wrote about my initiative to mentor law students on Linkedin on my profile, I have been flooded with DMs asking me to get on a call with them to clear their doubts. To be honest, I was taken aback at the sense of entitlement of these students. […]