The legal profession is a marathon, not a sprint: Utsav Trivedi, TAS LAW

Utsav Trivedi is co-founding Partner at TAS Law, Advocates and Solicitors. Even before graduating from Christ School of Law in Bangalore, Utsav was offered a litigation role at Parekh & Co, where he worked till June, 2015..In July, 2015, Utsav moved on to Karanjawala & Co., working in the Civil Commercial & Real Estate practice at the Supreme Court, as well as litigation advisory..Late last year Utsav co-founded TAS LAW, with a law school batchmate of his, Abhinay Sharma. In this interview conducted by our Campus Ambassador Rahul Kumar, Utsav shares some of the learnings he has made, the challenges of setting up a law firm, and more. .How did you end up doing law and then practicing in New Delhi?.Law is something that happened by default to me. After finishing my 12th Board examinations, I visited my cousin in Bangalore along with my parents. During this trip, I came across a pre-law coaching class in the building where I was staying and I saw that as a perfect escape route from engineering entrance exams..It didn’t take too long to convince my parents to leave me back in Bangalore and let me prepare for law entrance exams as they were very conscious of my under-preparedness for engineering entrance exams. As there were not too many options in Bangalore and I missed filling out the form for NLSUI, I decided to join Christ University because of its huge reputation..Insofar as New Delhi is concerned, that was a calculated and a well-considered decision. While in law school, it became quite vivid to me that I would be taking up litigation practice. At that stage, I was advised by various people that New Delhi is the perfect place to start one’s career in litigation since the exposure here is much better than any other city. I ensured all my litigation internships were in New Delhi. I was offered a Pre-Placement Offer at my last place of internship, i.e. Parekh & Co., which I took without thinking twice..How was your experience at Parekh & Co. and then Karanjawala & Co.?.Right after graduating in 2011, I joined Parekh & Co., which turned out to be a very good decision. Parekh & Co. had a huge presence in Supreme Court and I was involved in a large number of high profile matters right from day one. The work at Parekh & Co. was in abundance and not even a single day went by without learning something new..After spending four years at Parekh, I was looking for new opportunities. This is when I came across a vacancy at Karanjawala & Co. in Ms. Ruby Singh Ahuja’s team. I still remember her taking my interview in the Supreme Court corridors!!.Veteran Karanjawala lawyers Nandini Gore, Ruby Singh Ahuja and Sandeep Kapur made Senior Partners.At Karanjawala, I did matters ranging from telecom to tax, real-estate to insolvency and many more. Apart from being involved in big ticket matters, I was also given the opportunity to argue final hearing matters before the Supreme Court, NCLT, NCLAT etc. One thing that was given in abundance at Karanjawala (especially by Ruby Ma’am) was confidence. We were taught not only how to deal with existing clients but also how to build new clients..What I learnt from and about Karanjawala & Co. is that there is nothing more important in this profession than building relationships..Lastly, Karanjawala was not just a work place for me, but a place where I made lifelong relationships on a personal level – including my wife, who I met there..How different are these litigation firms from chamber practice?.While there is no answer as to which is better for a lawyer from a career point of view, there are basic differences that I’ve observed over the years. First, the work in a litigation firm is largely ‘client centric’ whereas in a chamber, work is more ‘matter centric’..Secondly, the remuneration is better at firms than in a chamber. This is also because the responsibilities in a firm are more than a chamber..Lastly, every person in a firm is the face of that firm and answerable to a particular client – which may not be the case in a chamber, where the main advocate will always be the person answerable to the client..While this may not be the case when one compares all firms and chambers and there may be a few exceptions here and there, this is largely what I have noticed after discussions with various colleagues. .What led you to set up TAS Law?.I had always harboured the ambition of having my own practice since law school days. .After spending eight years into the profession, I felt mature enough as a lawyer to be able to handle work completely on my own. By this time, I also started getting some work on my own which I was forced to refuse as I was working at another firm. This is when I discussed with a batch mate of mine from law school, Abhinay Sharma, of setting up a firm. Eventually, it took us one more year to set the ball rolling and take the plunge..Since both of us had always worked in a litigation firm, we decided to set up a practice on a similar model. It was not because this model is superior or otherwise, but because we were more comfortable with it and knew how it worked..What is your vision for TAS Law?.TAS Law was six months old when our country hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Considering we were operating on a firm model, we had quite a few overheads and to be fair, it did make us doubt ourselves..However, by mid May 2020, work started to come back and God willingly we were able to weather the storm. In one year of its existence, TAS Law is a ten member firm..We already have some corporate advisory work coming. The next step in our journey is to expand TAS Law into staunch corporate practice as well and have an office in another city, may be in the next five years..My vision for the firm would be achieved the day another person sits on my chair in the firm. The secret of success for any firm is that the interest of collective should outweigh that of an individual. Like any other place, we give the most importance to merit and loyalty (in that order)..Where do you see the future post COVID for litigation and expanding your practice?.It may be impossible to go back to the earlier situation of “overcrowded” courtrooms, unless the country is completely free from corona virus. In my view, we will see a fine blend of physical and virtual hearings. However, considering the lack of infrastructure, we may not see any reduction in physical hearings before the trial courts at least..What Covid-19 has taught us, the litigators, is that it is much more convenient and less tiring to do virtual hearings than physical hearings. However, we do miss our canteen sessions..On a lighter note, I think the Supreme Court registry should also give out VC link for canteens and corridors!.Any advice for students graduating this year and facing the job crunch due to pandemic?.Don’t be disheartened by the present situation as there is no retirement age for a lawyer. Remember, this profession is a marathon and not a sprint and therefore, consistent efforts with or without the pandemic will make you land at your destination sooner or later.