Three Young lawyers from NLIU opt for Tutoring Students as a Career

With a horde of law students joining the corporate and litigation sector, there are a few exceptions who have ventured their way into establishing academic institutions to train law aspirants and to train students to realize their talents and utilize it to the best. Former NLIU, Bhopal students - Deepu Krishna, Mukesh Chouhan and Harsh Gagrani have taken the initiative to train young minds.

Deepu Krishna, a 2006 batch pass out, worked with Law School Tutorials and Achievers Guild before setting up his own DK-Studs in 2011 which advises and counsels students/youths to realize their potentials and achieve great heights. Mukesh Chouhan, 2010 batch pass out, started Law Planet in 2011 with the intent to give out correspondence courses to students for CLAT while Harsh Gagrani, a 2011 batch pass out is establishing Legal Edge Tutorials which provides CLAT coaching.

All three have given up meaty offers after graduation, only to pursue their dream of training students. Speaking to Bar & Bench Krishna said, “I had the offer of joining at Mumbai office of Standard Chartered Bank but I chose to stick to what my heart answered. Then when I was setting up my Institute, I had an offer from another education institution but opted against it.”

Gagrani stated a similar situation, “My biggest sacrifice was that I had to give up my dream to make a career in the field of Intellectual Property laws, which has been my favorite subject since the first time I read about it. This also meant turning down at least 2 job offers, one of being a junior at Senior Advocate’s office and one of a law firm, working in the field of Intellectual Property. But that is what life is all about”

To them, it is the sense of satisfaction of seeing their students’ performance which is more important than any corporate job or litigation.

They did face initial challenges as freshers when they started and had little financial resources, but nothing has deterred them from living their dream. The more experienced Krishna states, “The problems I had to encounter were not based on logistics but more from other people. Out of all the obstacles I faced the worst was where I had to face a lot of backstabbing and betrayal from people I trusted. But then life is all about meeting different kinds of people and learning from bitter experiences.  Now the only people I can trust are my students”.

Gagrani added, “As a fresher, people hesitate to trust you and your abilities, but you can’t really blame them. However, this further firms your determination and perseverance to prove the detractors wrong, and the best thing is having fun while doing it.”  

When asked how satisfying this venture has been for them, Krishna said, “Each year when I see that the city’s topper is my student, the sense of satisfaction it gives is something that keeps me going.”  Gagrani echoes, “Training and mentoring students is one of the most satisfying things a person can do. There have been ups and downs, highs and lows, but seeing your students gradually improving makes it all worth the time and trouble."

To these men, the idea of establishing such institutions is not to mint money, but actually to prepare students for what they are going to face once they are in law schools. Krishna added, “Training is a difficult job and requires patience, perseverance and knowledge, and those who have the courage to have these three can only survive.”

Let’s hope to see more students take the less travelled and challenging path like these three young lawyers.