Like any aspiring, ambitious and star-y eyed child of 18, I too trotted along from one college campus to the other in the summer heat of Delhi in the year 2010. After much deliberation, “Law School it is”, I thought to myself, grinning from ear to ear. That was the first time I pictured myself in the future, wearing a black suit.
Of course, there are lectures, projects and exams but for any law student the most coveted of them all are the Moot Courts. Days passed and soon the opportunity of participating in the first Moot Court competition came along. It was time to make the image of that confident girl wearing a black suit, become reality. With much excitement, I walked into a Van Heusen showroom, eager to begin my journey as a lawyer and buy my first ever black coat. The first black coat, which I will always remember and the one which will always be most special to me.
As Miuccia Prada puts it, "What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language." Wearing that smartly tailored Van Heusen suit and walking into the Moot Court Competition gave me immense confidence in myself. Since that day, there have been many variables like going from Law school to B-school but the contribution of the Aditya Birla Group has been constant. And that is how the Aditya Birla Group has influenced my life, by giving me the first gush of confidence right at the beginning of my professional life.
The Newbie
I graduated from college and started working at the age of 23. A fresh graduate ready to test the waters. However, all situations are not so straightforward and I was about to learn that in the coming days. As a fresher, I knew that I had to work hard, do research, have case laws on my finger tips and pick up the nitty gritties of drafting in order to do well and prove myself to my colleagues and seniors, after all, I was at the bottom of the food chain. I burnt the midnight oil and gave it my best shot.
My father had often said to me that whatever profession one opts for, they must know how to do the work of every person in that field from the bottom most till the top level. Soon, it was time for execution of all the hard work that I had put in till now. It was time for filings. I took it upon myself to learn each and every aspect of filing, running from one counter to the other and actually getting the case listed before the court. Because of my effort to proactively learn all aspects of litigation, I gained respect of the law clerks (munshis), this also helped me become more efficient in coordinating with them regarding all the tasks that had to be undertaken in the future.
I did not wait for an adversity to occur and then take corrective measures, I prepared myself from the beginning. In my second stint, working with a lawyer where support staff was limited, the know-hows that I had learnt helped me to perform my job efficiently.
