It is the industrious and steadfast who are gifted with the capability to soar to great heights. Mr.Tarun Gaur is one such person who with his impeccable hard work has achieved what many dream of.
Q. How was your experience pursuing your graduation from University School of Law & Legal Studies, IP University? Do you think there are some advantages in pursuing law from traditional university?
A. The main campus is really good. There are some really amazing teachers. Studying in a traditional university has its own advantages. I got a lot of time to take up courses outside my college and develop a knack of reading and analysing material on my own. I also used to visit one of the trial courts in Delhi daily after college hours. I learnt drafting in my spare time and I am really thankful for the time I spent there. I did not have to begin learning basic skills needed in litigation after five years since I was already working on it for quite some time. I have always believed that the NLU tag has nothing to do with your competence and capabilities. You might have to work a little harder sometimes but there’s absolutely a lot of scope for people who are willing to give what it takes.
Q. You secured an AIR 1 in AILET for LL.M. in 2017. How did you manage to do that?
A. For cracking exams such as AILET, your usual guide books, that are sold in the name of LL.M. exam and so on, are not enough. I feel, for an exam like AILET, syllabus of which consist of wide variety of subjects, guide books for judiciary should also be consulted. At least I referred to the books on judiciary more than the regular books for LLM. I also referred to my law books for this purpose. Besides books, I also feel that one should definitely keep himself abreast with all the recent cases/legislative initiatives, it will help one in any exam for that matter. Further, it would be a miss if I don’t mention that the online specialisation courses that I have done also played some role in my cracking AILET. This is because through those courses I had better and in depth knowledge of certain subjects from which certain questions were there in the AILET exam. Besides those courses, my internships during college also helped me a lot to understand criminal law, constitutional law and commercial laws in a better way which helped me in answering certain questions in the paper which were directly on the basis of cases that I used to refer in while assisting counsels in formulation of arguments and pleadings. Only area I had to work on was jurisprudence as that is one subject which has never been my strong suit. It is nevertheless very interesting and the basis of pretty much everything we study.
Q. Why did you not take admission in NLUD eventually?
A. To this day, I do get to listen both good and bad things about letting an opportunity like that go. But frankly, for me it has been a decision I don’t think I will ever regret. The main reason due to which I did not take admission there was that I was always interested in pursuing litigation and I had realized by then that spending one year in doing masters will probably not be worth in comparison to the time spent learning the basics of litigation. It takes a lot of hard work for someone with absolutely no legal background to carve a niche in litigation. Besides I got placed in the office I always wanted to join hence there was absolutely no point of letting such chance go.
Q. An increasing trend of pursuing online certificate courses can be seen nowadays. Having pursued many of them, do you think they are quickly replacing classroom courses?
A. There is no denying the fact that my knowledge base has immensely increased having pursued online courses. Based on my experience, I feel that classroom learning is important, but on the university level, you’ve got to learn more. Especially, when you have no legal background and you’re in traditional university, these courses help to broaden one’s knowledge base and horizon. It gives you a new and wider perspective to think about legal problems in a way one would only do after spending few years in practice in normal course. Further, with the advent of specialised courses that are available online and are easily accessible, one gets the chance to enrol in the course that offers his/her interest area which then helps in getting a better understanding of same in the university level only which then helps that person in performing well in his professional life and he doesn’t have to suffer with overwhlemness and confusion in the starting of practice.
Q. The way you have structured your CV is immensely appreciable. Would you guide our readers regarding building a strong CV?
A. A strong CV isn’t a choice but a definite need. I know the kind of hurdles I had to cross in order to build the profile I had today but looking back now I feel it was all worth it, it all paid in the end and helped me in reaching where I always wanted to be. I always tell my juniors to focus on building a very good CV since their college days and one way of doing same is to get good internships. For securing good internships on your own, it is important to develop a good network of your own. This is a skill not many people talk about. Merely joining an internship and leaving it at the end of the month might look good on your CV for once, but developing real connections during your time there goes a long way.
Q. In your recent FB post with fellow advocates and few other posts, there was a hashtag “#lawyerissues”. Which issues were you participating to address then? Are there any other issues that you think are coming up which needs to be looked into with respect to lawyers?
A. This was regarding our demands from the government to sanction Rs 50 cr fund for the welfare of lawyers.
According to me, major issue nowadays that needs immediate attention is the increasing tendency of roping in of lawyers who render commercial advice to individuals/corporations, in almost every case of money laundering, corruption etc by the enforcement authorities without there being any nexus of those lawyers with the actual offence in picture. I feel it is not right to rope in lawyers and accuse them simply because certain people/companies whom they represented or advised are being accused of offences under commercial laws such as Companies Act, Corruption, money Laundering etc.
Also, I think it is important to develop a culture of taking as many pro bono cases as possible. After all, our larger objective is to be there for our community. I also undertake pro bono cases on the aspects which I feel should be heard by courts. Of course, I have a lot to do, but I am in this for the long haul.
Q. With many successful publications, would you enlighten our readers with aspects of research methodology?
A. I don’t think I will be the right person in giving any kind of advice on research methodology as I am not an avid writer. But I feel, when one is in the field of litigation, one must develop a good sense of research as a lawyer which must involve a good understanding of the black letter law, as well as its historical and sociological genesis. As far as my publications are concerned, most of them are on platforms that require legal analysis. Sometimes you’re merely providing information to laymen so the research is only descriptive in nature. However, while writing a piece for any journal, online platform etc., it is important to set out the issue first, more in the nature of your ‘statement of problem’. Then you set out your objectives behind writing that particular piece. Subsequently, you give information regarding relevant laws and analyse them. It is important to conclude your work with the objectives in mind that you had set out earlier. Of course, if you’re writing a piece for some legal journal, the research methodology has to be more precise and clearly mentioned with all the steps, viz., Statement of Problem, Objectives, Hypothesis, Research Design, Data collection and interpretation.