"Law Firms Need Lawyers Who Have Sound First Principles”: Sherbir Panag, Founder And Managing Partner, Panag & Babu

You have a formidable practice in White Collar Crime that is highly respected and acclaimed as a business crime specialist law firm in India and the US. What part of this success is attributable to your alma mater, Symbiosis Law School, Pune?

Thank you, that's very kind of you. Our success is attributable first of course to all my formidable and exceptional colleagues, who lay down new standards in white collar crime laws every day. What law school gave me was the opportunity to learn amongst an incredible cohort of talented individuals and in a fantastic city — Pune. Being a non-residential campus, most of us lived around the university and pushed boundaries together, learned from each other's diverse interests and also learned how to be competitive. Partly luck or partly law school I'd say, is that I met my two best friends and later partners on the very first day, and they have been the single largest influence in my professional life. I have never had to look anywhere for advice, counsel, inspiration or motivation, but them.

There have been tectonic shifts in the world of law in the last decade. How has this impacted the talent requirements of Law Firms?

The pace of law has become much faster than it was two decades ago. Cases, regulators, transactions and business decisions — all move much more quickly, and far more globally. The gestation period for law firms to develop young lawyers has naturally also shrunk due to demand of pace. Law firms need talent that can respond to the pace, master local laws but think globally.

What must law schools focus on to ensure students can meet these requirements?

Law schools and law students need to get over this obsession with internships. The average CV of an Indian law student conservatively has 6-8 internships, which are CV stackers as opposed to being meaningful experiences to make career choices or learn from.

I am aghast when universities tell me they have cut down course work to give more internship time to their students. This is problematic on many levels, the first being that it takes away time from substantive learning. Law firms need lawyers who have sound first principles, grounded in the law and commentary — not in their ability to navigate the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website. 

There is an overt reliance on "practical learning" with little empirical or scientific data to support how internships as they are structured in India i.e., with very little structure, contribute to practical learning. We are placing overt reliance on the tactical merit of procedure and ability to navigate databases, which all professionals can learn in no time and in any event artificial intelligence will soon make redundant. However, the fundamentals of law should not be learned on the job, when one has a licence to practice law—that is disingenuous. 

It breaks my heart to see my future colleagues at the Bar chasing jobs and internships with zeal and enthusiasm, however they are unable to address basic first principles in interviews, but have 10 internships under their belt. Law schools and the Bar Council of India must bring back the focus on the curriculum and substantive knowledge enhancement. Academic rigour needs to become the top priority and rather than giving time to do internships, law students should be encouraged to undertake research fellowships, teaching assistant positions, secondments to institutions with libraries.   
Not all the blame lies with universities and students, but also law firms who have to stop feeding this ridiculous cycle that robs the future generation of quality time for very little in return. We also have to reform internship programmes. 

Beyond college, what in your opinion is a must for students to prepare themselves for the global market?

At the cost of sounding like a broken record, I would always say — read, read, and read some more. Read about anything and everything under the sun, as the law on most days is a concerted effort in joining the dots. Perspective and experience never go to waste. 

I would also say that we need to dial the pressure back and encourage our future colleagues to have fun, enjoy the process of lawyering and labouring over inane words and phrases—so that they can sustain lifelong careers. The race is a myth, we have all the time in the world to build careers—courtesy the advantage the internet gives us. Some of the greatest lawyers came to the Bar late and as an afterthought and left indelible legacies.