The magic that the black-and-white combination does is unparalleled, and one such profession with the dominance of the black-and-white dress code is being a lawyer. Lawyers are the most brilliant individuals who explore all grey shades of people, situations, laws, regulations, and justice. To solve disputes and help people who come to get aid from experts, being a lawyer it is extremely important to have in-depth knowledge, experience, skills, compassion and confidence.
Adv. Nupur Jain is an excellent example of an individual brain with a great memory, excellent communication and argumentation skills. Her intelligence, sharp personality, strong morale code and ambition for the law profession have made her achieve excellence in her field, and with these qualities, she has been helping the masses in legal matters.
A Family of Lawyers
Law runs in Nupur’s blood. As Nupur comes from a family of lawyers, she always has a passion for serving the legal profession one day in the future. Her paternal grandfather, Mr. Mangalchand Baid, was the Legal Head of erstwhile Esso Standard and now Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited. And this legacy and her mother’s support instituted her love for the legal profession.
However, everyone has a turning point in life, and Nupur’s inspiration comes from an incident where the family struggled for 12 years in a court case. “My grandmother dragged my mother and me into a 12-year court struggle when my father passed away without a will, which was ultimately resolved through mediation. Naturally, I began to investigate alternative dispute resolution, which protects the parties’ best interests, avoids conflicts, is less time-consuming, and isn’t as complicated as going to court.”
A Journey Towards Justice
Nupur shares her journey of becoming an accomplished lawyer. She started her career as a professional lawyer after obtaining a degree from Rizvi Law College in Mumbai in 2018. She worked at Regstreet Law Advisors for a few months and simultaneously started pursuing her LL.M. in Intellectual Property Rights from the University of Mumbai. She also used to visit faculty members at the Government Law College, where she taught Environmental Law for a semester.
Later in 2019, Nupur decided to focus on preparing for the Union Public Services Examination. Unfortunately, the attempts were not successful; however, these two attempts helped enhance her thought process. She furthered her career by restarting her legal career as the Legal Head of a Private Limited Company. With this experience in hand, Nupur decided to start on her own and establish her independent practice. Not just this, she focused on dispute resolution, arbitration, and family law.
Moving Towards Practical Solutions
In the coming days, staying innovative, active and quick is requisite. Moreover, instead of hiring for permanent positions, the new gig economy demands employees on a contract basis. In the legal space also, hiring a lawyer on a contract basis is more practical and cost-effective. In-house lawyers make about Rs 12–13 lakhs per year; on the contrary, lawyers on contract cut the company cost by 40%-45%.
This is beneficial for the company as hiring lawyers on a contract basis is a more economical option. Nupur admits that this approach has increased the professional’s efficiency, efficacy, and productivity. It has also decreased the use of resources like office space, training, and other benefits.
Along with the independent practice, Nupur is the legal head of a private limited company that works on a contract basis. With this, the company has successfully decreased expenses and improved its work culture. Moreover, she wishes to help the education sector with her expertise in law and expressing the same, she shares, “I am also in talks with an educational institution to be their legal head on a contractual basis.”
E-courts: Need of an Era
Traditional court sessions are witnessing a change now as there has been a need for online courts after the deadly pandemic when people were not allowed to step out of their houses. The legal system in India is adopting online hearings and ensuring the safety of court staff and litigants. This change inspired Nupur to start her virtual solo office and conduct the hearings online. The majority of her meetings are conducted electronically, and with this, she can effectively and quickly address the doubts of clientele. This initiative is beneficial as it saves Both the travelling time of lawyers and clients. “My office-related costs decreased as a consequence of this,” asserts Nupur happily.
Survival of the Fittest
Juggling a heavy workload with ongoing professional development is an issue for many busy legal practitioners. “Many people also view professional development as a burden they have to complete rather than a flexible endeavour that might advance their lives and professions,” says Nupur. In this scenario, staying ahead of the curve is difficult and still, Nupur managed to pursue new things in her life.
Additionally, keeping yourself informed is one way to stay ahead of the competition. Small modifications can have a big impact on the manner and effectiveness of the work, and staying personally informed about every change in state and central law affects the practice of lawyers. Understanding this, Nupur suggests that all attorneys must ensure that their work product reflects a current understanding of the law.
Learn, help, and grow!
Besides her individual practice, Nupur also focuses on learning and gaining different experiences. In March 2023, she received approval from IIM Calcutta for enrolment in its Executive Programme in Business Management in Corporate Law. The course consists of participants, form which sixty percent are from non-legal backgrounds, and the rest have expertise with more than 25 years of experience. This diverse group has enhanced everyone’s learning experience.
Moreover, Nupur invests in helping the careers of aspiring professionals. She shares an incident that inspired her to help them academically and provide appropriate data and legal materials. “When I was pursuing a Master’s in Law, we had no access to any guides or study material. With work, it was extremely difficult to research the study material in the library. So, I recently signed a contract with Write Order Publications to publish LL.M. textbooks and guides on my behalf. I hope this will facilitate pursuing a master’s degree in law for professionals.”
Technology is a Bliss
As every sector is using technology to enhance operations, the legal system should not lag, and thus, Nupur tries to implement technological advancements in her work culture. She uses automated alerts like Google alerts to keep up to date with the latest legal information. “This free tool enables legal professionals to create individual alerts that will notify them of any new content on areas of interest. Users can then be emailed immediately, daily, or weekly with a ‘feed’ of items of interest,” informs Nupur.
Making Judiciary Stronger
In the country of 140. 76 crore people, with a pile of cases to be resolved, the judiciary system faces a burdensome situation. It is necessary to lessen the load on the system and to resolve the dispute quickly; Nupur envisions that there should be a situation where individuals should learn how to settle their differences through mediation and/or conciliation.
In addition, she implored the Parliament to pass legislation governing mediation and grant the final agreement the same legal standing as an award in an arbitration process. She affirms that this decision would make the Mediation legally binding for all parties involved resulting in successful processes.
Pearls of Advice
As an experienced professional in the legal space of India, Nupur suggests to her budding legal professionals that it is essential for them to consider areas other than law in which they can expand their knowledge. As many developments that reshape the practice of law come from outside the profession and hence, she advises that it would be a great initiative to add these to their expertise. “The more you can add these to your existing expertise, the better prepared you will be to tackle the challenges and opportunities you will face,” concludes Nupur.
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