“Hang in there”: Maharashtra Advocate General Birendra Saraf to young lawyers

Advocate General (AG) of Maharashtra Dr Birendra Saraf urged young lawyers not to give up hope and hang in patiently even when things look bleak in their legal practice. .Saraf recalled how he himself entertained self-doubts and was depressed during his second year in legal profession when he was still trying to earn enough.“In my second year of practice, I almost gave up. I was married without much income and I almost had some kind of low depression and I thought this is not happening. And in these initial years they were two solicitors who mainly briefed me. I am just sharing a message to some young friends of mine. The only way to survive in this profession is to hang on. There will be moments when you will be low and you will be depressed. But please hang on. You will always find someone, who will hold your hand, who will encourage you. And if this average lawyer is here today, you all are much more brighter and much more brilliant,” he said.The AG was speaking at an event organised by the Bombay Bar Association to felicitate him after his appointment as the AG..Pertinently, Saraf also reminisced his days as a junior of with the current Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud who was then a busy lawyer in Mumbai.He spoke of the CJI's teaching style and humility, traits which he has tried to emulate.“I used to watch with admiration and awe, a young and whom I used to find a very handsome looking lawyer who was Dr. Chandrachud whose chamber I joined. From him I learnt the strength of hard work and humility. He had a very strange way of teaching. He would re write my entire draft and give it back with a smile and say ‘Thank you’. If I told him on a given day, that I couldn’t find any judgment on any point, all he did was next morning when I entered his cabin, he would hand over some judgments and say ‘Biren, just check these judgments’. And when I checked those judgments I found them bang on the point, so I would be hiding around for two days," he said..Saraf also spoke about the CJI's industrious nature. "We (juniors) reached his house at 7.30 in the morning to start working, only to realise he had already worked for 3-3.5 hours. So that was the kind of person I saw and I tried to emulate,” the AG recalled. .After Justice Chandrachud was appointed a judge of the Bombay High Court, Saraf joined the chamber of former Advocate General Ravi Kadam before starting out on his own.“After the elevation of Justice Chandrachud, I was at a kind of loss, and at that stage, Mr. Kadam absorbed me in his chamber. His had an entirely different style of teaching. He would speak very little, but when he did, he didn’t mince words. He taught me apart from law, to have belief in myself which I feel I lack. He taught me how to stand strong in adversity. I used to at times harass him with late night messages expressing my insecurity and quite contrary to his nature he would hold my hand and he saw me through,” Saraf recounted. .Saraf then enlisted what he learnt from each senior whom he observed in the High Court, closely worked with or against. Senior Advocate Virendra Tulzapurkar - art of arguing forcefully without raising his voice; the art of saying with a smile, things which can never be conveyed with words. Senior Advocate Iqbal Chagla - erudition, oratory, art of delivering arguments. Senior Advocate Virag Tulzapurkar - meticulous reading of brief and preparation. Senior Advocate Rafique Dada - strength of grace and dignity. Senior Advocate Janak Dwarkadas - miraculous art of advocacy; a magician, whom you give any brief and he can turn something out of it and how not to run away from a bad brief or a bad case. Senior Advocate Darius Khambata - meticulous preparation, thinking of every pros and cons of the case, the strength and weaknesses and preparing for each of that.Senior Advocate Aspi Chinoy - art of focused arguments and brevity. Senior Advocate Dr Milind Sathe - art of handling adversity and difficult persons with poise.Advocate JJ Bhat - ability to see hidden facts in a brief. .Saraf said that he has tried to absorb a little from each of the senior but then he realised that he could not absorb even a fraction of what he had seen in them. “Whatever positive you see in this lawyer here today, is entirely a gift of these seniors of mine. The shortfalls are entirely my doing”, the AG said. He ended his speech with a promise to give his best and put in hard work during his tenure as the State's top law officer.