INBA organized a career counselling session for Law Students and Young Lawyers so as to help them tackle with the ongoing COVID-19 situation with great patience and deep thoughts. The counselling session started with the inaugural address by Ms. Vinakshi Kadan, Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Advisor, INBA & Head, Legal Aid Committee, INBA giving a warm welcome to our distinguished and learned counsellors/speakers. Dr. B Ramaswamy, Legal Advisor to Members of Parliament, Legal Expert Member, Lok Adalat Court moderated the session by giving a formal introduction and welcoming the distinguished counsellors to the session.
 Ms. Vinakshi Kadan, Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Advisor, INBA & Head, Legal Aid Committee, INBA |
 Dr. B Ramaswamy, Legal Advisor to Members of Parliament, Legal Expert Member, Lok Adalat Court |
The prominent figure who were present amongst us were Sh. P. K Malhotra, Former Law Secretary, Ministry of Law & Justice, Government of India who provided deep insight and vision to the budding lawyers. Justice Vidya B Gupta, Former Judge Delhi High Court in his philosophical manner guided the audience to be wise, stay calm and wait for time to make a transition. He said, “It’s a bad phase. COVID-19 has ruined and put a stop to all our outdoor activities. Clouds will not remain forever and so is corona”. But that doesn’t mean that we stop thinking and pondering over what next….
 Sh. P. K Malhotra, |
 Justice Vidya B Gupta, Sh. P. K Malhotra, |
Sh. P. K. Malhotra gave his affirmation to this and said, “Don’t visualize on what you would have achieved, had Corona Pandemic had not halted our life cycle? Instead, develop good habits, read and read more books of Indian authors like S K Chawla on Arbitration or any other topic of your interest or where you feel you are weak.” Emphasizing on legal profession, he said, “Legal profession is very important. You just can’t ignore it. So, develop skills which you are short off and wait for everything to smoothen up”. Things would automatically start improving.
 Dr.(Prof) James J Nedumpara, |
Dr.(Prof) James J Nedumpara, Head, Centre for Trade and Investment Law further advised the law students and young lawyers to take their internships and research work seriously. He said, “Internships and research work is something which can make you climb the ladder you have been waiting for”. He further pointed out that with the ongoing situation, all internships with the government sector are closed and students should wait for the sky to become clear and things to go normal.
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Justice Vidya B Gupta, Sh. P. K Malhotra, |
 Sh. P. K Malhotra, |
 Dr.(Prof) James J Nedumpara, |
Dr. B Ramaswamy, Legal Advisor to Members of Parliament, Legal Expert Member, Lok Adalat Court |
During the Q&A session Sh. P K Malhotra pointed out that every district court do have their own system of carrying on official work in their regional language but then the High Court in all States and Supreme Court of India do follow a set pattern and decorum, where everything is in English, so the advocates should not find it difficult.
Former Justice Vidya Gupta stressed on getting the insurance done so that we don’t have to panic in difficult situation. He also stressed and advised to be wise and save money for bad times. This is what corona has taught us. Answering to one of the participants Dr. James said that for any economy to grow the production chart should always point higher, but how can one predict status of economy when there is no production. Also, the restrictions on import-export by European nations and US due to COVID-19 would certainly take time to uplift. Dr B Ramaswamy agreed with Dr. James and said that opportunities would certainly be there. Students should keep working steadily and success would be all theirs.
By
Babita Sharma
Editor, INBA