In Conversation with Atul Juvle, General Counsel, Compliance Officer & Company Secretary—India & South Asia, Schindler India Pvt. Ltd

Many Congratulations on featuring in BW Legal World’s General Counsel 100 list for the year 2020. We’d love to know about your journey so far, your most memorable experiences, and your thoughts on receiving this Award.  

I am sincerely grateful to BW Legal World for organising the ‘Top 100 General Counsels’ list compilation for the year 2020. This was one of the soothing parts in the year 2020, which was unique for all of us.   During the year all the events/awards were postponed, when BW Legal World alone made it.    

Awards & Recognitions are important for all professionals, they differentiate Leaders from the crowd and create new aspirants & keeping them inspired for running an extra mile to enter the elite group.   

I was craving to be part of recognition and awards since 2010, but got first success in the year 2016, after continuous year on year excelled performance at the company level as well as beyond Industry level.  My featuring in ‘100 Powerful GC list- 2016’ published by Legal-500, UK, was the first recognition and receiving it in public function at Delhi, was one of the memorable experiences.   Thereafter I ensured to keep the winning streak on.    

The year 2019- I did a hattrick of awards & recognitions. The year 2020 started well but suddenly country slipped into lockdown.  This disrupted everything. People were worried about bread and butter and no one was dreaming of cakes.  Even after the opening of the lockdown, the worry continued and hence almost all the awards and recognitions were deferred. At the backdrop of these pressures, BW-Business World Legal announced ‘TOP 100 GC compilation. This was like a gentle breeze in 40 temperature.  

What do you attribute your success to? What would you say has helped you emerge as a top General Counsel in your industry? 

Success is difficult to achieve, but more difficult is to sustain. Year on year, focused hard work to excel beyond, helped me in sustaining success, I feel, three basic habits kept me going, year on year with comfortably managing survival with growth–  

1. Constant upskilling- I am habituated to earning at least one degree/certification, every three / four years.  Stephen Covey mentioned this as 7th habit of Highly successful people- Sharpening the Saw.  This keeps me updated and agile all the time. 

2. Setting Tough Goals- personally & professionally- This not only keeps me busy and going, but also keeps me fit to manage survival with ease.  This is also confirmed as the first habit ‘Set Big Goals’- in best sellers’ book “8 habits for High performance” by Mark Effron. The biggest advantage of Setting tough Goals, is you don’t enjoy celebrating marginal achievements. One additional benefit is, even if you take longer than plan, people respect you. 

 3. Focused hard work- there is no substitute for hard work, irrespective of how much intelligent you are or whichever level or position, you are at.  Someone said hard work puts you where, good luck can easily find you. 

What advice would you have for others who want to set off in a similar direction?  

Based on my experiences, for success in the profession as well as reaching top, two basic qualities are – Integrity & Confidentiality- Integrity means the following honesty when nobody is watching.    Confidentiality means the ability to keep confidential information secret and it must be more than 100%. These two basics lead to the formation of trust, which is the foundation for reaching top.    

To this, add two more. The famous quote by Steve Jobs- Stay Hungry, stay foolish.  Let me explain this with more clarity. Stay Hungry for work exposure/education/learning at all times. Never keep boundaries for knowledge and experiences.  Always avoid – it’s not my area / I am not paid for that / work-life balance. The hungry attitude keeps the competency updated all the times.  Versatility brings comfort in handling new challenges. Last but not least, staying hungry for work exposure, offers a freebee of survival.  

Now Stay foolish- means never ever worry about failures or what people will say/think. Keep trying new methods/solutions. Don’t allow your past to destroy your future.  One caution in this, never ever repeats the same kind of failures, to prove the dictionary meaning of foolish.   

Would you please share with our readers the array of work you handle at your organization? What is your in-house team size, is it less than 10 or more than 10, and would you please allow us a little peek into your routine at work? 

As a GC, Compliance officer & company Secretary my role & responsibility comprises of pan-India compliance of all the applicable laws to business, factory, CRD & overseas distributors.  In a legal- strategic advisory, opinions, litigations- filing / defending. Code of Conduct- training, audits, investigations. Company secretarial compliances are applicable to company, board & management.  

 I am supported by able, qualified, young, highly energetic TEAM members.  Our TEAM size is below 10.  

We follow the practice of weekly planning. So, priorities are set for the week ahead, on Friday.  We keep five days to work and two balance days to adjust if the plan needs modification.  The priorities are divided in five working days, with each day items, not exceeding three. This ensures us having enough time, for emergency matters cropping up at the last minute. Our day starts with checking legal updates including court decisions.  The updates consist of general updates and specific updates relevant to our company business.  If there are specific updates, then the same are shared among the team for information, review and discussion.  We try to circulate relevant updates as soon as possible, to all the relevant stakeholders in the company to ensure awareness & compliance. Post updates, day proceeds with priorities set.  The day goes on with already scheduled calls, priorities. Before closing day, stock taking is done and pending items, if any, are carried forward.    The weekly priorities are rearranged, whenever necessary.  We don’t believe in micromanagement, but each one enjoys independence responsibly. The open-door culture with ease of access helps in cross-connect / help support.  

What are your views on the second wave, how long it would take & its impact on Industry? 

The first wave was unexpected and gave each one of us on-the-job experience. I am confident that last year’s experiences/learnings, will enable us in defending with the second wave with confidence. I feel we all are mature enough to handle the second wave, in a better manner, with government positive directions/support.  Now how much time it may take, we are in May and I feel the statistics are positive (I mean in good sense).  So, without any confirmations, my personal view, we will be able to start the normal routine by end of June. We have seen, worst in 2020, this time expecting much less impact.  

What have been your key learnings as the legal gatekeepers of your company from the year past and what are your predictions for the future?  

Key learnings of 2020, as legal gatekeepers- we must be 

1. Digital,  

2. Agile and  

3. Resilient.   These learning I feel will be finetuned in coming future. 

Most legal activities not only entered digital mode but made us to be familiar and comfortable with the same.  The advantages of digital transformation are more than issues and hence this mode will not only continue in future but will forcefully enter the areas, where still physical presence is insisted.   

Agility must be at the best level to handle surprises.  Last year – one task gave us commando training in agility was interpretation of numerous regulatory circulars/directives across India and dissemination for ensuring compliance of the same. Running help to needy at short notice.  The comforting part was the support and co-operation with speed and humanity in clearances by the regulatory officers.  

Any significant legislation or decision of the top court that has been a welcome change or has been rather mistimed in your opinion.  

I would like to mention: 

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, which specifically provided Mediation as a mode of dispute resolution.  

Mediation is need of the hour, as the business has to go on and not the litigations or disputes.  

M/s. Afcons Infra. Ltd. & Anr vs M/S Cherian Varkey Constructions (P) Limited & Ors. (2010) where the Apex court held that all cases relating to trade, commerce, contracts, consumer disputes could normally be mediated. It clarified further the disputes which can’t be mediated.  

One more Apex Court decision was in 2017- Justice K. S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, which recognised privacy as fundamental right.  This was of utmost importance considering the proliferation of digital mode transformation.  

An experience, matter or person that left a lasting impression on you. 

Besides my mother, there are two persons, who left a lasting impression on me, both of them were my bosses.  

My first boss. In first meeting, he educated me that in the private sector, there is nothing like NO and if the answer is no, then there is no place here. This helped me to amend my vision- There is always a solution for every problem if one wants to resolve it. I started more focussing on resolutions than hurdles. This became my signature statement  - there is nothing like NO-GO, it’s always KNOW & GO. 

Another one taught me, the days of speed to market are gone and now its speed more than market. Agility is the crucial factor in dynamic world. I learnt it the hard way. But now enjoy.  

Views on Company Law Departments of the future?  

The compliance system has already moved online on the system, now it’s a turn of legal.  With the courts becoming comfortable working on a digital platform, the day is not far when the majority, (if not all) litigation related activities, including all types of ADRs, will permanently move to a digital platform. Future Law Departments/functions will have to be ‘Digital law Departments’.   The case management, data repository, database management, contracts review, contract cycle management, AI to get all the relevant past precedence’s, strategizing arguments, with hints on points where one may go wrong. Future legal department – will see gradually 60 / 70 % activities will be done online through machine learning or artificial intelligence. Eventually, majority litigation is expected to move to objective arguments & resolution.  The efficiency of working will improve multi-fold.  The speed and accuracy, of artificial intelligence, is amazing. Depending on cost-benefit analysis, I feel there may be two classes- big set-ups will have their systems in-house and small & medium set-ups may use external service providers.  Large size legal departments will need at least one tech-savvy counsel.  

What keeps you busy when you’re not working? Any favourite book or movie/series that you'd like to recommend to our readers. 

 Free time I spend in rejuvenating myself. I enjoy reading management books, watching movies, depending on mood & time availability, I mixed it with singing karaoke/dancing ZUMBA / writing articles. This keeps me 200% energised for eagerly facing Monday morning. I also do complimentary counselling including career to younger colleagues. It has been over nine years and happy to inform you, that the number poised to cross the 250 mark, soon. 

I try to follow a routine of 6  books a year. On books reading- I read the same book, which I like, at least three times, at different intervals. Every time the learning is at a different level.   My all-time favourite books are – ‘7 Habits of highly successful people’- Stephen Covey, ‘15 secrets Successful People know about Time Management’- Kevin Kruse, ‘5 seconds Rule’- Mel Robbins, ‘Eat that Frog’ -Brian Tracy.  A recent one, which I liked most, is – ‘8 Steps to High Performance- Focus on what you can change (ignore the rest)’ by Mark Effron.  

In the case of movies, the routine is one per week. I rarely miss this. Now graduated to web series’ mode in lockdown. This helps me to align my beliefs with the socio-economic conditions/changes.  

On Movies suggestions -Corporate planning / communication / strategy / culture - ‘Ford v. Ferrari’. Criminal Investigation strategy & execution and practical issues in the investigation- web series Delhi Crime.  Impartial investigation- Ek ruka hua faisla. Cross-examination & preparation- Badla