Mr. Saunak Rajguru is an alumnus of KIIT School of Law, Bhubaneswar and a Bar Council of India Trust Scholar. He specializes in Constitutional and Administrative laws and has also been an avid mooter since his law school days. Here’s Mr. Rajguru in conversation with Ms. Priya Chaudhary, the Editor-in-Chief of Desi Kaanoon-
Q1 What do you count as the most significant learning experience at law school?
A1 It is quite difficult to confine my response to a particular learning experience as I draw my learnings from a plethora of opportunities during my time at the law school – be it participation in Moot Court or Trial Advocacy Competitions; Internships with Judges of the Supreme Court of India, Senior Advocates, Top Law Firms, AoRs; and other practical exposures during Parliamentary Debates, Conferences, Seminars. However, if I have to rate my sources of learning from 1 to 10, the skills learned during preparation and participation in Moot Courts and during my internship experiences would top the list.
My life at law school revolved around Mooting. Mooting nurtures you as a rational thinker and furthers your analytical skills – the two important qualities of any good lawyer. Mooting gives you exposure and allows you to interact and learn from people across the country and the world in the form of your judges and co-participants. My learning by participating in about 16-17 Moots during law school is undoubtedly from the opportunity to argue a case before the best legal minds. The learning during the oral rounds in Moot Courts is unparalleled. To share one instance from my Mooting chapter- in the final rounds of IIT KGP’s RGSOIPL Moot, my team had the honour to appear before a bench consisting of J. Tarun Chatterjee (retd. Judge, Supreme Court), J. Sanjib Banerjee (sitting judge, Cal HC) and Mr. Jayanta Mitro (the then Advocate General of West Bengal). It was an enriching experience to have argued and satisfied the Bench on questions of law pertaining to international patents and transfer pricing issues before such a distinguished panel of judges.
My mooting achievements helped me craft my internships (at least I believe so because I do not believe in coincidence). Skills learned while doing Moots such as quick and efficient research, or a general approach to a legal proposition, was always helpful during my internships. Interning with practicing Counsels and AoRs in the initial years of law school gave me a fair bit of exposure to Drafting alongside understanding court procedures. I had the opportunity to learn courtcraft, methods to have command over briefs and precision in legal submissions while working under Senior Advocates Mr. Amarjit Singh Chandhiok, Ms. Indira Jaising and Ms. Geeta Luthra. It was also an honour to have worked under Hon’ble J. N.V. Ramana, the current Chief Justice of India, which helped me understand the perspective of a Judge while adjudicating a dispute. In my Penultimate year of law school, I got an opportunity to work with JSA, New Delhi which changed my perspective towards Law Firms. It is rare for any Law Firm to have an entire office dedicated to Dispute Resolution practice. For the experience I had during my first internship, I saw JSA, New Delhi as the means to achieve my aim to become a Counsel.
Q2 How and why did you choose the moots you participated in?
A2 This is a very interesting question. In the initial years of Mooting, there were no criteria to choose a particular mooting competition. The idea was to explore and understand the activity, enjoy the process, and perform to the best of our capabilities. Bagging a ‘Best Advocate’ tag and the team reaching ‘semi-finals’ in our first ever Moot (NCU, Gurgaon – Environmental Laws) just ensured that there was no looking back thereafter. Within a months’ gap, my team also won the All-India Law School Meet, SOA University’s Moot. An elated KLS Mooting Society asked me to participate in the Bar Council of India Moot Court competition. This was my first big Mooting stint, and despite giving our best efforts, my Team could manage only being Quarterfinalists.
After having participated in about 3-4 Moots, I could understand the importance of choosing the right Mooting competition. From thereon, the areas of law dealt with in the Proposition (Factsheet) became the sole determinant to choose and participate in Moots. This started showing results. My teams eventually won (i) the 33rd Bar Council of India Moot, (ii) 3rd IIT KGP’s RGSOIPL Moot, (iii) Ranka Moot (UFYLC, Jaipur) and were runners-up in UPES’ Trial Advocacy competition. 4 Best Written Submissions (Memorial), 3 Semi-Finalists tags, reaching Quarters in Stetson (twice) are few other achievements. On a personal front, I was able to fetch the Best Speaker/Advocate awards in over 5 Mooting tournaments.
If you have to choose a Moot, my suggestion will be to identify your area of interest and/or prior experience, make the areas of law dealt with in the Proposition (Factsheet) as the sole determinant and align with your team to have a common goal to win the Moot.
Q3 How has the experience of coaching teams for moot courts been? What were the hurdles you faced?
A3 Mentoring the teams has been a mutual learning experience. Alongside judging in Moots, mentoring allows me to remain connected with the activity I love the most- Mooting. One of the hurdles I can think of is ensuring that the team maintains a balance between Mooting preparations and academic obligations. But I am thankful for the immense support provided by the admin of different colleges who value the importance of Mooting and make suitable arrangements for the teams to maintain the right balance.
Q4 Tell us something about how you landed up at the position of an Associate at J. Sagar Associates.
A4 I had applied for an internship with JSA, New Delhi for my 9th semester. Having received a confirmation, I interned in the month of June 2018 and received multiple assignments from different teams. While I was then interning under Hon’ble J. N.V. Ramana in July 2018, I received a call from one of the HRs informing me that I was being given a call-back internship (assessment) with the Regulatory Litigation team at JSA, New Delhi. I undertook the assessment internship in September 2018. At the end of the internship, I was offered to join JSA, New Delhi as a Legal Trainee/Permanent Intern during my entire 10th semester. Immediately upon my graduation, I formally joined JSA, New Delhi as an Attorney.
Q5 You’ve handled an array of cases at J. Sagar Associates, including those in Infrastructure and Regulatory Litigation. What is this specialisation like?
A5 Infrastructure and Regulatory Litigation is a vertical of the disputes practice of JSA and involves matters related to Energy (Power and Natural Resources), Environment, Public Procurement, Civil Aviation, Engineering, Procurement and Construction, Public-Private Partnerships etc. The Firm has acted in several prominent disputes in diverse infrastructure sectors such as ports, power, aviation, telecom, broadcasting, and oil & gas. It is recognised for its domain-focused specialised, full range regulatory practice, and is acknowledged for its strengths in grappling with complex legal issues involving public policy, market economics, technology, finance, and project management. As a part of this practice, the Firm is regularly consulted by governments, regulators, development financial institutions, think tanks, industry bodies, suppliers, lenders and investors.
Q6 As a Bar Council of India Trust Scholar, what was your roadmap to qualify for the scholarship?
Bar Council of India Trust awards a Scholarship to the best Speakers/Mooters (overall) of the Bar Council of India Moot Court Competition. Winning the ‘Best Male Advocate’ (overall) award in the 33rd Bar Council of India helped me fetch the Bar Council of India Trust Scholarship. The primary aim was to win the Bar Council of India Moot Court Competition. While bagging the scholarship was special, what was more satisfying was clean sweeping Bar Council of India Moot with the team bagging about 7 awards that evening! We got a red-carpet entry back in college with fireworks and felicitation flowing for days together. Bar Council of India’s win was much more than a personal achievement. KLS had won the Bar Council of India Trust Moot in 2013 and there was a drought for 4 years and thus the thirst. With a common aim and desire and with effective support from the college administration, including the then Director, Prof. Dr. N.K. Chakraborty (currently, VC, NUJS) and KLSMCS’ Faculty Convenor, Ms. Pratiti Nayak, the team brought back the Bar Council of India trophy to KLS after 4 years.
Q7 Would you like to share your experience working with the Partners at JSA?
A7 I am grateful for having Ms. Poonam Verma (Partner, JSA New Delhi) as my mentor at the Firm. The amount of opportunity in terms of work, exposure to the niche fields of law and the faith and support entrusted by her to me to deal with matters and handle clients has been immense. When I joined, we were a team of four. Within the first few months, two colleagues (including a senior) left the firm. With this, I was reporting directly to Ms. Verma, handling client-facing work, briefing Senior Advocates and Counsels, and sometimes arguing matters before Courts, all of this in the very first year of my legal career. Throughout my short legal career, Ms. Verma has motivated me to push my limits, has been a support system and a true Leader by all means. I also get the constant opportunity to brief and assist Mr. Amit Kapur (Joint-Managing Partner, JSA New Delhi) in our matters. His words of encouragement, guidance and advice have played a big role in my short professional journey. All these experiences undoubtedly made me a more confident individual.
Q8 Having delivered guest lectures and having conducted moot court workshops at different law schools and universities, what did you discover about the concerns of young minds regarding mooting?
A8 The primary concern regarding mooting from what I observed was how to do effective research. It is important to undertake a three-fold research process: –
- Reading the plain text of the law and understanding the legislative intent (through analysis of the statement of objects and reasons, preamble, etc.)
- A thorough analysis of landmark judgments + latest judgments. It is always good to read at least 5-6 judgments on each issue in its entirety.
- Ancillary research- Bring the “X” factor to your submissions by undertaking interdisciplinary studies. For example, understanding forensic science may be crucial for a criminal law moot.
Secondly, students struggle to deal with the queries from the Bench. It is of utmost importance to duly respond to the queries from the Bench as and when it is asked. Tactics like “the counsel will be dealing with the question during the 2nd issue” or “my counsel is dealing with the said issue” often backfire. Also, both the speakers should be absolutely comfortable in dealing with each other’s issues.
Lastly, students often ignore the Written Submissions/Memorials. Equal importance must be given to the Written Submissions/Memorials. I have seen many participants losing out on making it to knockout stages due to poor Memorials (the overall score goes down).
Q9 How did your approach in preparing for an international moot differ from preparing for national moots?
A9 There is not much of a difference barring the way you speak during oral submissions. While you may afford to be an aggressive speaker in national moots, you need to be polite, humble and maintain a slow pace during your oral submissions in an international moot (including national rounds). Every other preparation strategy may remain the same for national and international moots.
Q10 Being a Disputes Lawyer yourself, do you believe the present and future law students need to focus more on dispute settlement and ADR competitions to ace as a dispute lawyer?
A10 In my personal opinion, old school Litigation is here to stay. While ADR has made an impact, however, there have been increased instances of ADR failing and parties resorting to litigation. I will accordingly suggest that law students have a balance between participation in Moot Court Competitions and ADR tournaments to get appropriate exposure based on their respective areas of interest.