Saturdays, as Ive hinted in a previous article, are a little deviant from the routine.

Theres one whole class outside classroom. It is during this class that we form acquaintances with professionals in varied legal fields, and gradually acquaintance remoulds itself. We familiarise with the fringes of their work scenario, and somewhere, Im sure most of us see a blurred picture of ourselves after a few years in our law life. I call it blurred because I like to take things bit by bit, without any haste and expectation. And, interestingly, blurred adds the flavour of uncertainty and adventure. When the phrase corporate law is uttered, the sense that one gets can be described in terms of rising mental adrenaline. The dynamics of corporate law attract most law aspirants, and the general trend suggests that with the corporate world minimizing into a global village, legal professionals find for themselves a reserved position already. And this brings me to this weeks topic of discussion. It was a talk on Role of Law Professionals in Corporate Governance and Opportunities by Mr. Niraj Patil, Head General Legal, Shoppers Stop Ltd. When talking of the business world, he hinted that it was the retail industry really making it big in the present time frame of the contemporary world. For any business, the key to long term survival is to conduct business in the interests of the shareholders. Corporate governance can be understood to be what every corporate lawyer aspires to achieve in its truest sense. It refers to application of the best trade practices, compliance with the law and adherence to ethical standards. A corporate lawyer, we learnt, could be best tagged as a Preventive lawyer- someone providing that suspension against risks arising out of legal fallouts of a business. For a corporate lawyer, finding solution to a problem is never a problem, the real problem is understanding the true nature of the problem. This suggests that the solution lies within the problem itself; it is not something external to the problem. Familiarizing with the nuances of the problem is the key. In a rather riveting tone, the skills required of this preventive lawyer was put. This adage holds good for the preventive lawyer - An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A corporate lawyer must possess the diagnostic skills of a physician, the business savvy of an executive, and must couple this up with the teaching skills of a professor. The diagnostic skills come handy when understanding the nature of the problem. Nuances about the business help one relate to the business, cause a corporate lawyer does not want to be treated as an outsider in the business! It is the skill to relate legal techniques to non-professionals in the business that does it all for the corporate lawyer. This is because all the business wants is sound solutions to facilitate the sail through a sound legal course. When a question was put to about how suddenly corporate law grew to such eminence that it enjoys today, Mr. Patil said the rise can be attributed to the collapse of large corporations in 2001. This event instilled what we today call the rising legal and regulatory interest. It was realised that corporate governance and economic development is intrinsically linked, and that their treatment in isolation spells disaster. Mr. Patil was extremely kind to spare some time with the Reporting team at SLS. We enquired about his experiences at Law School, to which he categorically responded that academics are only one part of legal education. Lack of groundwork, i.e., lack of practical

experiences with those working on the field provide the much needed skills that have no substitute. We eagerly asked about this whole aura of admiration surrounding corporate law, we wanted to know a little first hand information about it. Before this day, it was only cliche comments like corporate law has a lot of scope these days that wed heard. So Mr. Patil enlightened us on this- he said the whole fascination with corporate law began with its analogy with the software engineer like work. And this analogy was inferred as more of a similarity between the two. Flexible work hours was one of the attractions, coupled with low work load. But corporate law is way more than passing files around the office. It is integrating the legal acumen with business opportunities to bring about some terrific consummation! He told us that broadly, the legal issues of his firm revolve around Property and General Legal. The property wing searches new locations with clear titles, manages the capital so required and work right upto the grant of lease for that particular plot. The General Legal department, he added, deals with regulatory clearances, agreements and the whole bulk of work concerned with the legal nitty gritties of the firm. So, there we were, awestruck by the whole array of information that lies to be absorbed, legal issues that need to be addressed, and work that needs to be done. And as I left the august office of my Director, wherein we sat for a tete -a-tete, I stretched my arms and said to myself: at law school, theres no time to spare. And I thought all one needs is a little pat on the back and one is good to get going. :)