Calcutta High Court lawyer Pranit Bag called to Bar Council of England and Wales as member of Gray's Inn

Pranit Bag, a practising counsel at the Calcutta High Court, has been called as a Barrister to the Bar Council of England and Wales, as a member of The Honouroble Society of Gray's Inn. .Having graduated from law school in 2010, Pranit hails from a family of distinguished lawyers and judges. His father, Justice Ranjit Kumar Bag, was a former judge of the Calcutta High Court. Recounting the early years of his career, Pranit mentioned that he was always inclined to counsel practice since the beginning. He began his journey in the profession as a chamber junior to two of the most celebrated senior lawyers in Calcutta - Senior Advocates JP Khaitan and Abhrajit Mitra."I owe a lot to my Seniors, whose support and guidance have held me in good stead since the beginning," he said. .Pranit has been practicing as a counsel at the Calcutta High Court for over 10 years and also makes appearances at the Supreme Court intermittently. With a varied practice in matters pertaining to tax, insolvency, civil and corporate matters and arbitration, he has also been extensively involved in international commercial arbitration matters at the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris, the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). .Speaking about the process to getting called as a Barrister to the Bar Council of England and Wales, Pranit said, "One needs to first enrol for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), after which there is the Bar Practice Course (BPC) to complete - which happens in 3 stages and then you get called to be a member of the Bar. In the process, you have to become a member to one of the four Inns (Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple) from where Barristers are called. So once the course is completed, you get called to the Bar as Barrister.".On being asked about how he went about preparing for the Bar Practice Course, Pranit said,"As a counsel, there are no set working hours; you have to chalk out your daily schedule according to whatever is expected to come up on a given day. Since being called as a Barrister to the Bar Council of England & Wales was always on my mind, before I got busy with my independent counsel practice, I was well past a good chunk of my preparation. Nonetheless, it was definitely challenging on the whole given how demanding the entire process is. But there is no substitute to hard work, however cliched that may sound.".Pranit, who is currently in London engaged in an ongoing international arbitration, admitted that he was "relieved" to finally get called as a Barrister to the Bar of England and Wales since it has been a goal he set his mind to ever since graduation. .Speaking briefly about his plans, Pranit said that he intends to practice in Indian courts while also developing his international arbitration practice..As advice to younger lawyers aiming to take a similar path, Pranit said, "Definitely aim for the scholarships available - that's very important, although they are extremely difficult to come by. More than that, it is a whole lot of hard work. Be on the lookout for opportunities - keep your eyes are ears wide open. The only additional factor that you don't have control over is luck. Once that comes, the journey completes. So you have to work hard and keep the door for luck open - whenever it clicks, it clicks.".He added,"One piece of advice I would like to give anyone wanting to join the legal profession is never give up or be disappointed with setbacks. These are inevitable, and you need to brush it off and start afresh - that's the journey of a lawyer. With every single matter, there is a chance that it may go your way or not, but you can't sit down and ponder too much about it. So other than hard work, it is important to 'keep going'.".The Indian members of Gray's Inn include Senior Advocate and former Solicitor General for India Gopal Subramanium. He is also a member of 3 Verulam Building..Gopal Subramanium called to Bar Council of England and Wales as member of Gray's Inn