1. Having received the prestigious Endeavour Executive Award from the Australian Government - Department of Education, Science and Training, I was prepared to commit time and intelligence in making the most of the opportunities which come concomitant to the award. I was determined to maximise the opportunity of visiting one of the most sophisticated economies of the world. Objectives of applying for the Award were to
(a) Observe a different jurisprudential system of law [emphasis on the educational sector and solicitor's practise].
(b) Compare and contrast with the system of origin [education and practise of law].
(c) Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of each system.
(d) Apply the knowledge gained to the areas of practise in the system of origin especially when and wherever relevant for my students at the law school; apart from a
(e) Personal growth as an individual living alone and working in a different jurisprudential system of law.
2. I planned my visit to Australia - Sydney , during the court vacations of the Bombay High Court, so as not to greatly compromise my existing practise in Mumbai. Sydney was chosen as the center for my training in Australia as I had a support base in the form of school friends who were married and settled there. Since time was a constraint and much to be explored in that limited period, I chose to further maximise this by opting to be at two different law firms rather than be associated with only one firm. On hind sight, this decision proved to be sound on more than one grounds. Firstly, I gained from observing the work practises and people in two different firms. Secondly, I made more acquaintances and friends. Thirdly, a calculated risk I took, on my ability to quickly assimilate the essence of situations and facts, allowed me to spread myself thinly, without substantially compromising on achieving depth to my training.
3.
I planned for my training over six weeks, to take place in two areas viz. law teaching and the practise of the laws. Therefore, I applied to be at the University of Sydney [USYD] at their Australian Center for Environmental Law [ACEL] - where I spent one whole week, commencing April 23, 2007, on a full time basis primarily engaged in meeting with leading faculty members, to discuss Pollution Laws; attending lectures on Environmental Laws, property law and international Arbitrations, to observe different teaching styles. What was noteworthy was to compare teaching styles on the same subject to two different student groups viz. the undergraduates and the post graduates. One of Australia 's leading property law academics, interested in looking at Bombay to teach conveyancing and drafting in "plain English" discussed with me the possibilities of approaching the legal practitioners as well as the academia to hold a work shop. Another meaningful discussion took place with the Dean of the Faculty of Law, USYD, when law review exchange was discussed and possibilities of Faculty exchange between the USYD and Government Law College , Mumbai.
4. The second and third weeks were dedicated to Clayton Utz (one of Australia's pre-eminent legal practices with 54 Partners), of which the first week was spent in Sydney and the second week was spent at the Brisbane offices of that firm - giving me a further opportunity to visit a new city and observe the work pace, ethics and practises in the city of Brisbane. It was a unique opportunity to assess the working of the same firm in two different cities. I have to say that as a recipient of the Endeavour Executive Award, I experienced so much more of the internal working of the largest law firms in Australia , within a short span of time, which not even the senior members in those law firms, would have the opportunity to perceive. Cases in point would be
a. An overview of the Australian Corporate landscape as it relates to Litigation
b. Insight into the infrastructure behind knowledge sharing in a large national law firm.
c. Meeting with the Pro Bono lawyers with their client and attending half a day of the Hearing for that matter in the NSW Anti-Discrimination Tribunal (concerning racial discrimination).
d. Participating at a key client lunch hosted by Andrew Rogers QC (a former Senior Judge of the Supreme Court of NSW), as a business development initiative in the shape of a hypothetical case on climate change, attended by several senior partners of the firm as well as senior Legal Counsel from leading Australian companies.
e. attending a NSW appeal court for a hearing in a contempt matter, giving me an opportunity to see both Junior and Senior Counsel in Chambers and in Court and noting that the system was so similar to the one adopted in Mumbai.
f. Meeting with the head of Litigation Technology Support Group to learn about the soft wares used in volume document management and electronic discovery.
5. During the third week commencing Tuesday 8 May 2007, spent in the Brisbane offices of Clayton Utz, I was invited to a continuing legal education (cle) seminar on GST; having discussions with Clayton Utz's human resources manager gave me insights on the staffing and retention issues pertaining to lawyers in Australia. Exchanging practice notes whilst meeting with partners practicing international commercial arbitrations, property laws gave me insights on the procedures and systems prevailing in India , Singapore , Brisbane and Sydney . During my stay in Brisbane , I organized a meeting with the Dean of the Law School at the University of Queensland , when exchange of Law Reviews was met with enthusiasm. I look forward to receiving the Dean on his visit to Mumbai, in September, 2007.
6. Becoming increasingly disillusioned with my existing litigation and arbitration practise (primarily on account of delays, administration of justice becoming diluted, contributing to poor job satisfaction, in turn leading to a feeling of becoming stagnated), I am looking to diversify to the practise of mediations as an effective alternative to litigation and arbitration. My fourth week was kept aside to undertake a four day training on Mediation techniques. Since the limited seats were taken up, I was not to get such training in Sydney . However, I was fortunate to be invited by Andrew Rogers to sit along side him at a mediation hearing on Monday 14th May, 2007 in Sydney , when the different mediation techniques were deployed by him to effectively settle a large commercial dispute. The rest of the week was intermittently spent with EA international, one of my host institutions [a legal head hunting firm], where I discussed with the managing director my insights to local working practices, which in turn has given me a better idea of how EA International works both in Australia and in India. EA, has accepted my offer of assistance in developing the business of EA international on my return to India .
7. My last two weeks in Sydney commencing Monday 28th May till Fri 1st June 2007, were spent at Freehills, (over 200 partners, across Australia and South-East Asia ), with their projects group and their litigation group for a week each. During these two weeks, what struck me most prominently, was
a. The magnitude in the scale of work [mainly global] - which was gripping, especially for someone like me who enjoys the vision first from the widest angle before gradually moving to the narrower considerations.
b. The economy in having partners who are super specialized in specific branches of the law; and
c. Effective utilization of common resources e.g. partner knowledge. It was exciting to get glimpses of matters ranging from
(i) Documentation and negotiations for major infrastructural projects for the development and maintenance of a marina - having residential units, commercial outlets, parking, restaurants etc with drafting focus on environmental considerations.
(ii) To supervising and managing a gigantic litigation post the September 11, bombings in New York and strategizing on its different facets including media management; insurance; lobbying and alternate dispute resolution.
(iii) Attending a high level partner meeting discussing strategies [short term and long term] for business development of the firm and to contra distinguish it from our domestic system (which treats law as a noble profession and not as a business). Fruitfully contributing to discussions involving environmental cases and property rights made me acutely aware of my own skills, training and competency.
8. Coming from a developing nation, where the economy is still struggling to reach sophistication, it was especially fulfilling to experience life in an already developed nation - where the government has to grapple with different problems (environment, drought), as distinguished from India, where our people are fighting poverty, illiteracy and corruption. As far as the legal system is concerned, I found the firm's practices to be on a much larger scale - more partners and a high degree of specialization. In India , since the firm structures are smaller (a maximum of 20 partners under the Indian Partnership Act), work profile of each partner is spread out to different laws and varied.
9. As regards the educational sector, I found the academics were mostly one time barristers or solicitors who preferred to teach and/or write on their respective areas of interest. Some of the academics also worked as consultants to the larger law firms, a practice which is similar to the one found in my law school. However, the facilities offered by the institutes to their students, were far greater - especially in terms of electronic access to data bases. Most of the students attended lectures with their own lap tops to take notes and the post graduates were already working either in law firms, corporates or with the government, a practice similar to the one found in India .
10. My experiences in Australia could be compared to that of a person who has had a first taste of the most amazing gourmet platter and would enjoy having the rest of it as well. At least two years in law firms in Sydney / Brisbane combined with undertaking short study courses on environmental laws, would be ideal for furthering ones development professionally.
Authored by Sunita J. Masani........ [July, 2007]