Ajit Mishra (Intellectual Property Law LLM, 2005), interviews Arijit Prasad, Senior Counsel, Supreme Court of India.
On Friday 11th November, CCLS India Chapter hosted a webinar on the topic ‘Journey of a Young Senior Counsel – In Conversation with Arijit Prasad’. Ajit Mishra (Intellectual Property Law LLM, 2005), chapter chair, and Zafar Khurshid (Intellectual Property Law LLM, 2013), chapter committee member, moderated the webinar.
The following write up of the event is by Raveesha Gupta (Intellectual Property Law LLM, 2015):
Ajit introduced Mr. Arijit Prasad, and enlightened the attendees that he was one of the youngest lawyers to be designated as a Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court of India. Mr. Prasad completed his LL.M. in Corporate, Commercial and Tax Laws from LSE in 2003.
Mr. Arijit Prasad fondly remembered about taking International Arbitration classes in the QMUL campus during his LL.M. at LSE, which was then taught by Prof. Julian Lew and Prof. Loukas Mistelis.
Mr. Prasad was asked why he chose law as a career, to which he responded that he had grown up looking up to his father, who is a lawyer and a politician. His upbringing also including reading about the lawyers of this nation especially during the freedom struggle, lawyers who worked for the society and made a difference. Mr. Prasad stated that the society gives us so much, we should be able to give back and being a lawyer is a way of doing that.
Mr. Prasad chose litigation to help the under privileged and make a difference. After his LL.B., he worked at one of the biggest law firms in the country, where he was doing corporate law and then decided to go for his LL.M. in Corporate, Commercial and Tax Laws. After his LL.M., Mr. Prasad visited an old friend of his fathers, the then Law Minister who suggested that he should practice law in the Supreme Court, which is how he got to be on the government panel and eventually enjoyed doing it. He was appearing in court every day and found it to be satisfying.
Mr. Prasad told the attendees that he always looked up to the lawyers who were a part of the freedom struggle and most of them studied law in the UK, which motivated him to go for his LLM and the fact that LLM offers international subjects. Although, he always knew that he wanted to return to India to give back to the society.
Ajit asked if the LLM helped, to which Mr. Prasad replied that when you are in London, you meet and interact with the students from around the world, which makes you more perceptive. It allows you to exchange ideas and changes one’s personality, which makes you an international person.
In regard to getting work experience before LL.M., Mr. Prasad told the young lawyers that he had worked before going for his masters and he suggested to everyone to get some experience.
Zafar opened the dice for a few questions and one of the attendees namely, Ankit Jaglan asked Mr. Prasad if it was difficult to get back to India after obtaining an LL.M. from the UK and start over, to which Mr. Prasad candidly replied that once you get back, you have to work forever in life so why not go for your masters and build a structure. For a litigating lawyer, new files keep coming every day and you’ve to keep learning so you wouldn’t miss anything. He elaborated that the 1-year gap does not make a difference and the exposure during LLM offsets everything, it makes you a difference person.
Ajit asked Mr. Prasad about his experience of being designated at such a young age. Mr. Prasad said ‘I never thought I’ll become a senior advocate at such a young age, government work provides the opportunity of more appearance and more reported judgements and when you face the interview board, these things matter along with the articles and conferences that you’ve been a part of.’ His motto remains that hard work pays!
Mr. Prasad has around 400 reported judgements. He has carved out a niche by working in the field of tax among other subjects, which allowed him to appear before senior judges. He assisted some great senior lawyers, which as per him helped him to sharpen his skills and provided him with the necessary guidance.
In further conversation, Mr. Prasad mentioned that the litigation landscape has changed and if you are willing to hard work with sincerity, are thorough with the law then success will come to you as it is dependant on hard work and reliability.
Another attendee asked Mr. Prasad about the traditional court practice vs the modern tribunal practice, which is better. Mr. Prasad being the dynamic lawyer that he is said that advocacy requires a good mix of courts and tribunals. The main aim should be access to justice in the shortest possible time.
When asked about the arbitration sector and developments in India, Mr. Prasad gave examples of Singapore, London & Paris, which are the hubs of international arbitration and said that India is also trying to create infrastructure and law amendments along with proper fee structures of arbitration thus, he sees it developing in a big way.
Ojasvita, one of the committee member asked Mr. Prasad about his aspirations for the Indian judicial system. Mr. Prasad commented that the Indian judiciary is already one of the best in the world with its judgements being referred by other jurisdictions and the Indian judiciary is looked up to.
On a parting note, Ajit asked Mr. Prasad since he has already been designated as a Senior Counsel at such a young age, what are his plans for the next 5 years. Mr. Prasad said the endeavour always is to be known as a reliable and a good lawyer in addition to being a good human being, who cares about the society. He again emphasised the fact that there is no substitute for the hard work at any age or time.
Ajit extended his vote of thanks to our guest speaker and the event was attended by a lot of young lawyers who took away insights from Mr. Prasad’s experience and candid conversation.
You can watch a recording of the event here.