Indu Bhan, a veteran journalist with the Express Group, is the author of ‘Legal Eagles’ that looks at seven of the most successful lawyers in the country..In this interview with Bar & Bench’s Smrithi Suresh, the author shares the journey of the book itself, and what inspired her to pen down the biographical accounts of the most successful lawyers in the country..(Edited excerpts).Smrithi Suresh: Tell us more about the book..Indu Bhan: Legal Eagles is about the legal journey of seven of our top legal luminaries who have helped shape the legal landscape of modern India. The book comprises their crisp and engaging life-sketches and is a recap of their personal and professional journeys..Their biographical sketches take one through the finer shades of their personalities and what emerges can at the best be summed up as their perseverance, dedication, quest for perfection in their preparation methods and the finesse with which they carry out their tasks. It’s an inspirational book for young budding lawyers..Smrithi Suresh: What was the inspiration behind the book?.Indu Bhan: I was always interested in writing a book related to legal profession especially about the laws that have impacted our economy and corporate world and in particular our society. But it all crystallized when a senior editor from Random House approached me for penning down biographical sketches of some prominent lawyers, who have been changemakers at a macro-level..Smrithi Suresh: How did you proceed with narrowing down the personalities featured in the book?.Indu Bhan: When the idea of Legal Eagles started taking shape, a wide list of lawyers came to my mind. The legal community being a society in itself, it was a daunting task to select these ones. I consulted a large number of lawyers, both juniors and seniors as well as retired judges before arriving at the final names..With bias and malice towards none, I have respect for each and every professional in this field. However, their selection is not random..I drew my list on what I saw as a journalist for years together and after studying the feedback from my other counterparts, leaving out certain names who were a part of the government then..The significant six—except Justice Rohinton Nariman— are also amongst the most highly paid professionals in the country today. For every big company, they are a must..They represent a different generation after the era of eminent corporate lawyers like Fali Nariman, Soli Sorabjee, K.K. Venugopal, Ashok Desai, and so on..Smrithi Suresh: Tell us more about your experiences with court reporting..Indu Bhan: I have worked almost in all business newspapers in different capacities. I joined the industry as a trainee sub editor with The Observer of Business and Politics and then moved on to work with other dailies. I worked on opinion pages, did feature stories on women, lifestyle, SMEs, health etc before starting with the legal beat in early 2005..Covering the legal beat involves too much of hard work, running around the courts and understanding the intricate issues with a correct interpretations of court orders and judgement. One cannot and should not go wrong, otherwise one will be hauled up for contempt of court and other legal proceedings..Not every lawyer cooperates in giving information and it becomes too difficult when high-stake corporate matters are involved..Smrithi Suresh: How long was the research process for this book?.Indu Bhan: The moment I decided to work on the book in March last year, research started immediately..It was done in a phased manner: drafting content plan, collecting information from the public domain and reading biographies of eminent lawyers, content analysis, field and one-on-one with structured interviews with these eminent lawyers, their families, friends and staff..As I said earlier that I had to leave out certain names who were a part of the government then like senior lawyers Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram. Yet another senior lawyer’s name could not be included owing to certain defined parameters. Admittedly, this has been a source of criticism..Smrithi Suresh: Which story (from the book) personally inspired you the most?.Indu Bhan: I won’t say that a particular narrative has inspired me as all are unique in their own way and in their own setting. Salve’s court craft and quick wit, Rohatgi’s swiftness, Singhvi’s time management, Rohinton’s grasp and phenomenal memory, Datar’s never ‘give up attitude’ and determination, Sundaram’s approach towards life, Bhushan’s activism – these are qualities I want to imbibe in my life..Smrithi Suresh: Any specific challenges that you faced during this journey?.Indu Bhan: Mostly all the lawyers tried to accommodate me whenever I approached them. But at times it was difficult getting appointments due to their busy schedules and commitments. I had to cope with their odd time schedules. It was all about cutting corners and adjusting and rescheduling, prioritizing things in already watertight compartments..The book kept me engaged as many developments took place as the manuscript progressed. For example, Rohinton Nariman was elevated to the Supreme Court. Mukul Rohtagi too became the Attorney General for India. Then there was Prashant Bhushan’s association with Aaam Aadmi Party. Each passing day, there were many developments in the important cases handled by these lawyers and I had to keep accommodating the changes.
Indu Bhan, a veteran journalist with the Express Group, is the author of ‘Legal Eagles’ that looks at seven of the most successful lawyers in the country..In this interview with Bar & Bench’s Smrithi Suresh, the author shares the journey of the book itself, and what inspired her to pen down the biographical accounts of the most successful lawyers in the country..(Edited excerpts).Smrithi Suresh: Tell us more about the book..Indu Bhan: Legal Eagles is about the legal journey of seven of our top legal luminaries who have helped shape the legal landscape of modern India. The book comprises their crisp and engaging life-sketches and is a recap of their personal and professional journeys..Their biographical sketches take one through the finer shades of their personalities and what emerges can at the best be summed up as their perseverance, dedication, quest for perfection in their preparation methods and the finesse with which they carry out their tasks. It’s an inspirational book for young budding lawyers..Smrithi Suresh: What was the inspiration behind the book?.Indu Bhan: I was always interested in writing a book related to legal profession especially about the laws that have impacted our economy and corporate world and in particular our society. But it all crystallized when a senior editor from Random House approached me for penning down biographical sketches of some prominent lawyers, who have been changemakers at a macro-level..Smrithi Suresh: How did you proceed with narrowing down the personalities featured in the book?.Indu Bhan: When the idea of Legal Eagles started taking shape, a wide list of lawyers came to my mind. The legal community being a society in itself, it was a daunting task to select these ones. I consulted a large number of lawyers, both juniors and seniors as well as retired judges before arriving at the final names..With bias and malice towards none, I have respect for each and every professional in this field. However, their selection is not random..I drew my list on what I saw as a journalist for years together and after studying the feedback from my other counterparts, leaving out certain names who were a part of the government then..The significant six—except Justice Rohinton Nariman— are also amongst the most highly paid professionals in the country today. For every big company, they are a must..They represent a different generation after the era of eminent corporate lawyers like Fali Nariman, Soli Sorabjee, K.K. Venugopal, Ashok Desai, and so on..Smrithi Suresh: Tell us more about your experiences with court reporting..Indu Bhan: I have worked almost in all business newspapers in different capacities. I joined the industry as a trainee sub editor with The Observer of Business and Politics and then moved on to work with other dailies. I worked on opinion pages, did feature stories on women, lifestyle, SMEs, health etc before starting with the legal beat in early 2005..Covering the legal beat involves too much of hard work, running around the courts and understanding the intricate issues with a correct interpretations of court orders and judgement. One cannot and should not go wrong, otherwise one will be hauled up for contempt of court and other legal proceedings..Not every lawyer cooperates in giving information and it becomes too difficult when high-stake corporate matters are involved..Smrithi Suresh: How long was the research process for this book?.Indu Bhan: The moment I decided to work on the book in March last year, research started immediately..It was done in a phased manner: drafting content plan, collecting information from the public domain and reading biographies of eminent lawyers, content analysis, field and one-on-one with structured interviews with these eminent lawyers, their families, friends and staff..As I said earlier that I had to leave out certain names who were a part of the government then like senior lawyers Kapil Sibal and P Chidambaram. Yet another senior lawyer’s name could not be included owing to certain defined parameters. Admittedly, this has been a source of criticism..Smrithi Suresh: Which story (from the book) personally inspired you the most?.Indu Bhan: I won’t say that a particular narrative has inspired me as all are unique in their own way and in their own setting. Salve’s court craft and quick wit, Rohatgi’s swiftness, Singhvi’s time management, Rohinton’s grasp and phenomenal memory, Datar’s never ‘give up attitude’ and determination, Sundaram’s approach towards life, Bhushan’s activism – these are qualities I want to imbibe in my life..Smrithi Suresh: Any specific challenges that you faced during this journey?.Indu Bhan: Mostly all the lawyers tried to accommodate me whenever I approached them. But at times it was difficult getting appointments due to their busy schedules and commitments. I had to cope with their odd time schedules. It was all about cutting corners and adjusting and rescheduling, prioritizing things in already watertight compartments..The book kept me engaged as many developments took place as the manuscript progressed. For example, Rohinton Nariman was elevated to the Supreme Court. Mukul Rohtagi too became the Attorney General for India. Then there was Prashant Bhushan’s association with Aaam Aadmi Party. Each passing day, there were many developments in the important cases handled by these lawyers and I had to keep accommodating the changes.