Lawyers’ Profession – Trial and Tribulations associated with it and the Need for Supportive Welfare Scheme.

There is no such profession like a Lawyer’s profession wherein you are not sure about your future career once you have passed out of the law college and still keep evaluating your choices for next 5-6 years to come. All the young law graduates have this basic dilemma after the college, that what they are supposed to choose and do to excel in this career of legal profession. Almost all of them do harbour a dream and a strong desire to practice in the Indian Courts and be a successful litigation lawyer. Alas! Very soon they realize that the practice path is not bed of roses and full of thorns unless their forefathers have already established the profession as practising Advocates. The path becomes more painful when the fresh graduate is a first-generation lawyer and wants himself/herself to establish as a litigation lawyer.

Everyone knows that to get a mentor and senior, who can lead the career path holding the hands of the young lawyer, is so difficult and on top of that it is almost negligibly possible that the graduate can secure a remunerated association with a senior lawyer in the early days of the career as a litigation lawyer. The issue is systemic and not individualistic. The way our legal profession has evolved, it is assumed, deeply understood and internalised that even after passing out of the college the young Turk has to go under the grind for next few years to understand, grasp and gain mastery over the art of law practice. This philosophy has been passed on from generation to generation. Here, I will not debate on the subject whether this philosophy is right or not but I will certainly say that it's a subjective matter and there cannot be one overriding statement making sense to everybody.

With the above scenario being prevalent there are other factors which make the life of a young lawyer and even the little experienced ones a bit difficult. There was no financial support from any institution (BCI has just started Rs. 5000 stipends to young lawyers) and there is absolutely no way to get a financial support from any of the Banking and Financial institutions to establish the office or the profession. There is no written rule but the banks and Financial Institutions do not want to sanction any kind of loans to the Advocates. There is no way, other than getting monetary support from the parents and families, to run the daily show and manage one's life for most of the budding lawyers. And this continues for quite some time.

Even for lawyers in the experience range of 5-10 years, who are into practice, it is not hunky dory in terms of financial stability. These lawyers still look up to the seniors for not only origination of cases and clients but also for making impact to the cases by the senior lawyers who have more brand value in the eyes of the clients. So, invariably they have to bear a cut in their fees either ways.

Although we keep referring to this profession as a 'Noble One" but the unfortunate part is that the lives and professional situation of lawyers, barring some of the exceptions, are not that praiseworthy. The situation becomes grime due to the apathy from the regulatory and governmental bodies. There has been a long-waited demand by the lawyer fraternity to ensure the financial safety and security of the lawyers. Recently the Bar Council of India raised its concerns with the Central Government and demanded budgetary allocation for the welfare of the Advocates. But all the voices fell into deaf ears with no substantial outcome.

We all have been mulling over this topic for ages and the steps being taken are not enough to fight the grime situation faced by the Lawyers in the Country. In conditions like this a genuine question is being raised. When the Public institutions are not able to take concrete steps can a private institution bring the change? I think the answer is yes, and it can because it is all about the passion for possibilities and better tomorrow.

With this idea of better tomorrow Vidhikarya (www.vidhikarya.com) took a bold and praiseworthy step to roll out group insurance policy for the Lawyers. On 28th February 2019, Vidhikarya successfully completed its three years of existence and providing a platform for genuine, cost effective and also pro-bono services, to the common people of India, to be delivered by the Lawyers brothers and sisters from all across the country. On its Foundation day, along with Mahindra Insurance Brokers Limited, Vidhikarya announced "VIDHI ASSURANCE”, an insurance-based welfare scheme for the lawyers. The scheme is absolutely free for lawyers and Vidhikarya is taking the complete financial responsibility of paying the premium on behalf of the lawyers.

This has been done with two major expectations: one this will ensure a better life to our brothers and sisters from legal fraternity; two this will, either directly or indirectly, positively impact the quality of legal services to the clients.

As they say journey begins with the first step, and Vidhikarya has taken the first step towards a giant goal of making the legal services industry better through providing better options and welfare schemes to the Legal fraternity.