In Conversation with Mr Rohitt Salwan, General Counsel, Executive Vice President- Head Legal at Anand Rathi Global Finance Limited

Mr Salwan, would you please tell our readers what motivated you to pursue law and what the formative years of your professional career were like. What to your mind has been the biggest highlight of your legal career? 

I was a Science Student and graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Science from Delhi University. Law as a career was never my focus but as one say that “one small step in the right direction, takes you on the right path” holds good for me also. So like many, I also embraced Law accidentally. 

However, I soon realized that Law & Science have one thing in common i.e. Facts & Evidence. In science, a fact is a repeatable careful observation or measurement (by experimentation or other means), also called empirical evidence. While in Law, Fact is a true piece of information and Evidence is a fact used to support a conclusion. 

You started your career in litigation. What prompted you to transition to an in-house legal role? ‘Jack of all trades’ or a ‘legal business strategist’, which term defines the in-house Counsel of today 

Being a first-generation Lawyer I also came across many challenges in my initial active litigation days so I thought to switch myself from the active litigation world to the world of corporate as an in-house corporate lawyer. 

The in-house counsel of today’s world needs to be a mix of both i.e. ‘Jack of all trades’ and a ‘legal business strategist’. Profile of In house counsel requires one to come out with a quick fix and extempore solutions, best suited to the requirement of business & cost-effective at the same time.   

You have 17 + years of professional experience. It is said that success is easy to achieve but difficult to sustain. What has helped you achieve and sustain success over a long period of time? 

Looking down memory lane and my career path so far, I can modestly confess that way to success does not always take easy roads. As rightly worded by Mr Robert Frost  

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.”  

Apart from diligence, sincerity & dedication, one needs to take some tough decisions in his/her career which makes all the difference. One cannot have a green patch in the comfort zone.  I always believe that once you have earned your success it becomes natural to you to respect its value and it becomes easy for you to maintain that ground of success. 

Your legal career has been nothing short of an inspiration for many aspiring and young legal professionals. Who are the mentors you have looked up to and admired? How have they helped you in shaping your career? 

Calling a few names will be an injustice to the ones I don’t call out, so without getting into specifics of it, I must say that I have learned from every person which I came across and am still learning the same way. A mentor for me is a person from whom you learn anything and it can range from keyboard shortcuts to complicated legal issues. So one should not only look upwards (superiors) to learn, but also in all directions from horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and even downwards. If one is keen to learn and upgrade, the medium or source doesn’t matter. So it's up to a person to decide whether one needs to learn like Arjuna or Eklavya.   

How have in-house legal departments responded to COVID 19 in your experience? What are some of the operational issues in-house company law departments are facing today because of the pandemic? From LMS to document management systems, is there a tech toolkit every company can adopt?  

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption for businesses across the globe. As the sheer scale of COVID-19 unfolds, one needs to handle all sort of crisis scenarios with flexibility, while also planning for the future. So in-house legal department has also faced unique and complicated problems in the scenario when govt. regulations/policies/notifications were so frequently conceived with an ephemeral shelf life. At the same time as a legal department, one needs to be a part of the Business Continuity Plan with all sorts of adaptability and challenges like understanding and implementation of moratorium, restructuring, virtual court hearings, virtual execution of documents, contract management, renegotiations, and whatnot. COVID-19 also comes with a boon to the extent that it pushed and forced the entire legal fraternity to embrace technology and to think beyond limitations. So technological adapted lifestyle or work culture is everywhere in the COVID era & it will continue to stay and for many, it may come across as new normal also. 

 What do in house legal departments of the future look like? 

As I said whatever technology we have adopted in the COVID era is going to stay post-COVID also and it holds good for Legal Department also. Future Legal Department will be a mix of virtual and real-world wherein most of the non-legal or paralegal things may be absorbed by technology to free the bandwidth of the Legal department to do more productive work. There is a possibility that work from home will become a new normal for many. 

How do you see legal compliance frameworks changing with the emergence of AI in the financial services sector? 

As it is always said, technology may bring bane with boon. We are already into virtual court hearings, online arbitration, e-signing of documents, contract management, etc. So when we are discussing the use of technology in a legal framework, at the same time issue at hand is how to handle breach of privacy in such a scenario. Be it privacy of litigants, leak of sensitive data/documents, etc. Needless to mention execution and enforcement of e-contracts have their challenges wherein we need judicial precedential clarity on various aspects.  

What are your views on pre-litigation strategies for in-house legal departments? Do we see more thrust on ADR mechanisms in the near future? 

The preventive approach is always better than the curative one holds good for the Litigation approach also. Many prospective against cases can be nipped in bud if it has been handled tactfully at the initial correspondence level. Also before exercising the real litigative combat, there is no harm in trying cost-effective tools to curb the prospective litigation depending upon the ticket size and gravity of the matter. We have many such tools like pre-litigation mediations, conciliation camps, Lok Adalats, etc. 

Work from home brings unique challenges. What steps have in-house legal departments taken for addressing mental health issues amongst employees? Do you see leaders becoming more flexible and sensitive towards their teams after the Covid crisis? 

Work from home comes with its challenges like managing your schedule and time, strive a balance between personal and professional life, work amid homely distractions, reduced supervision and direction, inherited virtuality, challenges of communication and coordination, social isolation, keep oneself self-motivated, and many more. To overcome these issues the engagement level of Leaders has to be a level-up from the normal course. Communication is the only way to keep the morale of the team upbeat. Every organization and employee should understand that the work from the home scenario is only a notional extension of the workplace to your home and after your usual work hours let the home be a sweet home and not a bitter workplace. 

What is your take on the notion of Work-Life Balance? What keeps you busy other than work? Tell us about your hobbies. What are your sources of creative outlet other than work? Any movies, work of art, or books that have had a profound impact on shaping your personality? 

Work-life balance is a myth created by people who do not enjoy their work. However, to vent out the stress or negativity or toxins out of your system, one needs to adopt a medium for the same. That medium can be a healthy lifestyle be it any form of exercise or sports which can release toxins out of your body. One can also resort to some sort of hobby be it listening to music or pen down your thoughts in any form like poetry, blog, or something like that.  

I follow a mix of activities be it weight exercise to running, cycling, swimming, etc. to keep myself in shape. To vent out my thoughts I pen down some Hindi two-liners & to satisfy my occult side I occasionally do some numerology as a pro bono activity. 

What to your mind has helped you get to where you are and what advice would you have for others who want to achieve success in the legal profession?  

Take good care of yourself. A healthy body possesses a healthy mind. A healthy body and mind are all about making the right choices like being active, eating healthy, and improving your mental well-being. You cannot accomplish anything if you’re unhealthy. Stay Fit-Slay Hit. 

• Set your priorities. 
• Create an efficient mindset. Stay organized and plan ahead. 
• Prepare for the best and ready for the worst. 
• Maintain a positive mental attitude.

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