Dinesh Jotwani, Founder of Jotwani Associates has nearly two decades of experience and deep understanding of policy, law, technology and government relations, especially in software, trade, IPRs and internet law. He has been an In-house Counsel, Partner in Law Firms and also has been an Independent Consultant to several technology companies, such as NCR Corporation, Microsoft, Symantec and Evalueserve. Dinesh also holds two US Patents on ediscovery processes used in litigation/ investigations.
He was interviewed by Shreya Gupta, HR Manager at Legal Desire. Here’s a candid conversation with him:
Why did you choose law after B.tech?
“Well it was other way around, I did my LLB from Delhi University and thereafter, I did B.Tech and then did lot of litigation. I think every young lawyer should know a little bit about litigation. After doing litigation I joined this technology company. In fact I have been working with a lot of big technology companies like Symantec, Microsoft, NCR Corporation and worked for Cisco for a while. So being in a technology company, being part of Symantec Corporation when I was their general counsel I realised the need of technology at that time and fortunately our company had a corporate engineering program which I did and I learned computer science there. So I think it is very important these days for lawyers not only to know your subjects, it is presumed that you know your subject but something in addition to that, something to do with technology, cyber law, something to do with chemistry or pharmaceuticals. I think that will be an added advantage for students these days.”
What were your favorite subjects from law?
“When I did law in the year 1994, we had very limited subjects actually. There were traditional subjects like Family Law and Muslim Law and things like that. But I think my favourite was contract law, it was one of the things that really inspired me in transactional law as you say. The second thing I liked was also the Companies Act, not only confined to Companies Act itself but it had Partnership Act, you learned about proprietorship and about different entities. So I think that was pretty interesting part about doing LLB in those days.”
What was the triggering idea to start you own law firm, Working in companies like Microsoft and Symantec, when did you thought of having your own law firm?
“Well actually I always had an idea that I would go back to the practice, I would go back to the chamber again because that’s where I started my practice but I think taking best practices from big companies like Microsoft and Symantec, I learned a lot there and I am trying to incorporate that in my own practice from last two years or so. I think it’s a blend of corporate law and IPR law and litigation that helps my firm now.”
There are so many law students graduating these years from different law schools. What are your views on the job market and salary which are being offered to the new/fresh law graduated in the fields of corporates and practicing?
“I am asked this question several times. People say that now there is mushrooming of law colleges all across India. Bar Council of India (BCI) is being liberal in granting recognition to colleges for law and which is good. Now lot of lawyers are coming in but are there enough jobs? What is the salary? What do they do after doing law? Because probably the size of the courts have not increased. Will it create unemployment for them? I believe in theory that supply creates its own demand. When there is a lot of supply, the demand will automatically increase. So now we are finding various new kinds of practices which are taking place, something in Intellectual Property Rights, something in patterns, something in cyber laws which is an entirely new kind of a field, immigration is another practice which lots of youngsters have taken up. So looking art these new arenas of the law which are coming, I think this huge supply of young lawyers coming up is perhaps good for the country and for the overall legal system itself. So have patience, I think when these young lawyers will grow up we will definitely see an improvement in legal system, we will see newer things coming up, new ways of doing business and I think the youngsters are pretty good in technology. So we will definitely find their coming into the practice and coming into the courts and chambers in the time to come. I think as far as salaries are concerned they will definitely increase over the time, you may see a little glut right now but they will as big companies keep on coming to India, we will definitely see a rise in their pay area also.”
What are your key take away from your journey of being a corporate lawyer?
I think being a corporate and IPR lawyer my advice to the students and young lawyers would be to always learn about your client’s business. In fact when I was in Symantec, I briefly worked with U.S. also so my boss would tell me forget the law, we presume that you know law. When you go to the market you should stand probably in a big mall and try to sell the product of your client. So if you are able to know that how your client actually makes money, what is the business of your client, I think that really helps a corporate lawyer. The drawbacks that I find now with the 5 years college system is that there is too much emphasis on law which in any case you learn over the years but very less emphasis on learning the ways business that are being carried out. I think very important thing for the lawyers is also to learn the business and specially being a corporate and IPR lawyer.”
What is your advice to law students who want to pursue career in corporate law and IPR and do you recommend a student to complete his LLM and then start his career or do you recommend him to start his career right after he completes his LLB because he is fresh and he has all the knowledge which is required for a law student in starting his career?
“Okay, So I will answer the second question first. I will advise that after LLB just give a little break and try to learn whether you like law or not. Take up a job somewhere, maybe it’s not that much paying but you will be able to learn at least what going on and this certainly will help you in deciding also in which field you want to do LLM. You should do post-graduation and if time permits even the Doctorate but at the same time it is very very essential that you know the industry, you know how the businesses are run, you should know how the courts function, you should know how the law firms function because unfortunately what is happening is when you come out of LLB perhaps you are good in studies but you don’t know exactly how the legal system works or how the courts function. It is very essential that you are not only having bookish knowledge but you are definitely having some practical knowledge. Give yourself time for say 2 years or so, work in a legal environment and then you will be able to decide better in which field of LLM you should go, that’s my advice to the youngsters.”
“As I mentioned in corporate and IPR, first is essential that you should understand the business of your client. A corporate lawyer means understanding how your client makes money and in IPR, I think it’s pretty essential that you should love technology. I don’t mean to say that you should be a Btech or an engineer but you should have passion for technology, to understand different ways in whatever fields whether it’s chemical engineering or pharmaceuticals or perhaps space or perhaps marine law or perhaps computer science, in whatever field it is you should have a passion for technology and learn about that and I think then you can be a successful IPR Lawyer because lot of that has to do with protection of the invention and sometime you really get a cutting edge invention which you should be able to at least understand and express that in a patent application. So the second point I’ll say you should have a passion about technology to be successful as a corporate and IPR lawyer.”
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