The General Counsel community is responsible for delivering their organisation from in-house legal issues and troubles. But their role has been limited to that extent as they cannot practice or appear in Court. There has been a lot of debate on this and consensus on the need to allow GCs to appear and represent their organisation in a Court of law is growing by the day.
The reason behind the exclusion of General Counsel from practice is the Advocates Act 1961, which is a very old legislation. With the progress the legal fraternity and our judiciary has made, the Advocates Act 1961 is also in need of reform.
In an interview with BW Legal World, Dr. Mukul Shastry, General Counsel, Cube Highways, on the issue of inclusion of GCs in Court appearances, said, "Firstly, this will enhance the pool of qualified and experienced practitioners even for the Bench. The country at present is struggling with both quantity and quality of judges, and I feel the GC community can be the one who could provide alternatives. If GCs are treated at par with legal practitioners, the GCs of large conglomerates could be a potential pool of talent to be elevated to the bench. GC on the bench would not only bring diversity, but the business savvy outlook could shape up the legal landscape which may have a wide-ranging impact. Like GCs who have been with technology behemoths or infra giants or pharma heavyweights etc. could bring a such perspective which even senior counsels with many years of experience may not possess."
Read the interview: https://bwlegalworld.com/article/in-conversation-with-dr-mukul-shastry-general-counsel-cube-highway-466044
General Counsel are reservoirs of corporate legal experience which should be utilised in a Court of law. Being well versed with company operations, GCs' appearances in Courts will enhance the justice delivery mechanism and make it more inclusive.
Shastry further said that extending the advantage of privileges available to lawyers to GC, would help in a more meaningful, stress-free conversation between GC and the business colleagues.
"This free-wheeling conversation would help GC advise strategically his/her business colleagues and it would help in corporates arrive at right decisions. The current scenario where GC doesn't have any privilege protection, GC avoid engaging in risky conversations. This leads to sullied advice to business teams generally which is of no value add to them," Shastry added.
In order to give the corporates a fair chance to address the problems they face and to ensure that there is larger pool of qualified and experienced professionals available from where to choose for the benches, GCs should be treated at par with the legal practitioners by making necessary amendments in Advocates Act, 1961.
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