The Gujarat Seniors: Mihir Thakore

The son of a former Advocate General of Gujarat, Thakore originally wanted to become a mathematics professor before being “persuaded” to take up law by his father. In this interview with Bar & Bench, he talks about his legal education, working in Gujarat, his love for teaching and much more..Bar & Bench: Why law?.Mihir Thakore: That is a very difficult question to answer. When I passed my 11th exam, I was very keen to either take up a career in medicine or become a mathematics professor but my father persuaded me to take up law. At that young age, I suppose I allowed myself to be persuaded..I hardly attended college though. I was mostly found in the compound of the college, eating dal vadas and what not. But when I would reach home at 12 noon, I would study and study till the evening..B&B: Was there any particular subject in the law course that you enjoyed?.MT: Well, I enjoyed constitutional law, the law of property, and Hindu law. I have read Mullah on Hindu law, Seervai on the Constitution etc – all by myself. In fact, I got a gold medal in Hindu law, wrote articles while in college. But I was not attending college..B&B: Your father was a lawyer –.MT: My father was the Advocate General of Gujarat from 1962 to the year 2000, close to forty years..B&B: He never asked you to attend?.MT: Oh he would say, “Nobody attends law college”. He himself has not attended! My mother was a solicitor – she has also not attended [college]..B&B: So after graduation, you worked with?.MT: I worked with Niranjan Bhatt for 6 years in the city civil court. My father had asked me to join him. This was original side work, completely civil work. And even today, most of my matters are civil matters..B&B: Do you remember your first appearance?.MT: I don’t think I do, to be honest. I think my senior told me that I did not put the case aggressively enough, he said that I had been too timid – that is the memory I have of my first appearance..B&B: It is a bit difficult to believe that someone said you were timid in court..MT: When you are a junior, you will be timid. Look, you have never addressed the court before, you do not have the confidence. My senior would allow me to address the court in small matters. It was a guru shishya relationship that we had with our senior..B&B: Do you think those relationship can still exist today?.MT: I think so. It is the only way. To learn a profession is by seeing and hearing. You have to go to the court everyday, go to the chambers everyday, see and hear how your senior interacts with the client, how he deals with the law, how he prepares the matter – that is the way you learn..B&B: Did you ever get impatient?.MT: No, perhaps because I was very well of, I never got impatient. I must have earned barely two hundred rupees in the first two years of my practice. I used to leave for the office at six-thirty in the morning, take a bus to work and come back home late in the evening. That was my routine for the first five years..B&B: And after your six years there, you branched out on your own?.MT: No. I shifted to the Gujarat High Court and joined S. Vakil. I worked with him for five years. I was allowed to take up my private matters but I was not being paid any salary. So whatever I earned, it was my money. He may pass on some work to me for which I might get money..B&B: Was it difficult to get clients as a young lawyer?.MT: See it is very difficult, frankly speaking but you get openings and you have to seize those openings. For example somebody wants to file a matter and he knows you are the son of the advocate general. He asks you to file a vakalatnama so you get one client. Then you get another, and another after that..B&B: So coming from a family of lawyer evidently helps..MT: It does. But I was never directly connected with my father and we never had any common clients. Who was his client may have come to me after 25 years but there was never a linkage between the two of us. In fact, we have even opposed each other in court. I have opposed him in a Full Bench matter for fifteen days..B&B: But doesn’t it affect you?.MT: We may have dinner together but we don’t discuss [the case]. You can chat with your friends over tea and then oppose each other tooth and nail in court. And at quarter to two you are having lunch together..Even if we have fought in the court, we don’t discuss it outside. This is very common in the profession. We represent somebody else; we are not representing ourselves. And you have to be conscious of this..B&B: Have you ever refused a brief?.MT: Usually, I represent anyone. But suppose I am on a retainer with a connected or opposite party, I cannot accept the brief. Two, sometimes it so happens that a client feels that you have not done justice to his matter. In such cases, it is better to return the brief..In this profession, you meet clients who do not understand law. They feel that some points should be argued which, as a lawyer, you cannot argue..B&B: Initially, as a young lawyer was it difficult to recover fees?.MT: This is my advice to everyone – every lawyer loses about 15% of his fees on an average, whether he is young or old lawyer. And I don’t think he should bother about it..Write it off without fighting with the client. You are unnecessarily spoiling relations..B&B: Coming back to your career, you were designated Senior in 1995. Do you think the institution should continue?.MT: Most of the Senior Advocates in Gujarat (pauses) let me put it this way are not functioning in the true sense of the term. They are running their own establishment and accepting briefs directly. In Bombay, on the other hand the rules [relating to] Senior Advocates is very strictly followed..B&B: Your thoughts on legal education?.MT: I take up courses in GNLU, I love teaching. Now I think the 5-year course is horrible. You can’t have ten subjects in a year; you are not teaching them anything. These are my personal thoughts and I am not an educationalist. But are you not over burdening students? It has become a job-oriented study, not a profession-oriented study..You cannot have more than three subjects and teach them properly. Why the hell are you teaching environment law and different branches of law? They will learn it once they come into the profession. .Jurisprudence should be properly taught, contracts, civil procedure etc should be properly taught. The basic laws should be properly taught. If you have 5 subjects in one semester how are you going to concentrate on law?.B&B: How do you think the relationship between the Bar and the Bench has changed over the years?.MT: I think the basic quality of the judiciary has deteriorated over a period of time, not necessarily because of the collegium system. In the earlier system, the judiciary was manned by [political] party people; in the [collegium] system perhaps it is being manned by persons who are able to garner the necessary influence among the judiciary. I have never wanted to be a judge..B&B: Why?.MT: Well my reason for refusing judgeship was I was offered after somebody, who was six months my senior and was offered the position first. This would have blocked my chances of making it to the Supreme Court. And this person was having a monthly income of around thirty thousand rupees while I was making that much per day..See you have to pick up people at the right age; those who would be tempted to give up a lucrative practice to join the judiciary so that they go to the Supreme Court. I don’t regret the decision..B&B: Speaking of the Supreme Court, your current Chief Justice had a public spat between the then Chief Justice of India on not being elevated to the Supreme Court..MT: I don’t know who made it public but our Chief Justice is a very nice gentleman and an excellent judge. I don’t know of any reason why he should not go to the Supreme Court. I am not saying he is the most proficient of all the judicial members in the country, nobody can assert that. But he is a good man who should be elevated to the highest court..B&B: What do you think makes a good judge?.MT: I think the most important principle is not the knowledge of law but the honesty of the person. Honesty of person will make a good judge even if he is not very efficient. And this honesty includes integrity. I also think that you should not have a set opinion. You should not be a leftist or a rightist. You should not be pro hindu nor anti hindu. You should see the facts and decide the matter..B&B: What has kept you motivated during the four decades you have been in the profession?.MT: I have nothing else to do (smiles). The profession is so “killing” in some aspects, you lose your hobbies also..B&B: Any advice for students of law?.MT: Please read literature not law. This will improve your language and your command over the language. And you will also understand human relations. Law you can study once you join the profession but you will never study serious literature once you join. .B&B: Initially, how did you handle a judgment delivered against your client?.MT: I must have been affected but now I am a bit removed. Although even today, you feel disturbed when you know you should have won but you did not. There are many matters where you feel you should lose but you don’t. There are matters that are 100% winning matters, there are matters that are 100% losing matters and then there are matters in the grey area. Now these grey area matters, if you lose you don’t feel that bad. But if it’s a 100% winning matter and you still lose, you do get upset..B&B: Are you a tough senior for your juniors?.MT: Not at all. They have full liberty to do what they want to do. Nobody can learn from me, unless they want to sit here and observe. They are free to sit here at any point of time. But I am not a strict senior at all. Perhaps once in a while I tell them, “Please work. Please work” but that is about it (smiles)