IIFT PI @ IIFT Kolkata 06/02

GD- Employability v. Research- where should Indian Universities focus?

M1, M2, M3 (all cutu dadus)

M1- Helloo

Me- Good evening, Hello Sir!

M1- So, tell us something about yourself

(M3 had almost dozed off)

Me- …I like to divide my life into three parts…

M3- (opened his eyes and looked at me) oh, three parts

Me- ……blah blah…

M3- What is deltiologist?

Me- It’s the art of collecting and sending across postcards to people in the entire world.

M2- How does it work?

Me- (explained the mechanism)

M1- So, why do you want to shift from law to MBA?

Me- If I could lead you with a personal anecdote… blah blah blah…

M2- What are your short term goals?

Me- I have 3… (explained)

M1- You were earning X at the law firm and now (X-Y) in litigation, the difference is quite a lot. Why did you shift?

Me- Law firm helped me hone my analytical skills, however, I wanted to align my long term goals of interacting with people on a regular basis, know their stories, make a greater impact than I had been making in the law firm.

M3- What type of cases do you handle in the court? Civil or criminal?

Me- I handle family law matters pertaining to matrimonial disputes, so that is-

M3- Civil

Me- Yes, Sir

M3- Do you think you will be able to interact with clients here?

Me- Definitely, Sir. I believe the interactions will be far more and the impact I want to create will be relatively greater.

M3- You practice civil now, so, you are not in touch with corporate law?

Me- No, Sir. However, I am still very much aware of the current happenings in the corporate legal scenario.

M2- So, you know Kapil Sibal, and the how he earns 10 Lakhs per hearing, you will not be able to earn that much after an MBA, what do you think of that?

Me- (smiled coyly) Sir, like you had mentioned about my remuneration difference pertaining to my work at a law firm v. litigation, I believe it is clear that money is not my objective right now. I want to upskill myself as much as I can, and not that financial stability is not something I do not look forward to. It’s just that I am trying to gain as much knowledge and skill set I can at the moment. Plus, in the longer term, I plan to have some business of my own, and who knows maybe I will earn like Mr Sibal (smiled widely)

M2 nodded

M1- Have you done anything pertaining to international law, intellectual property law?

Me- Yes Sir, like I mentioned (there was a breadcrumb in my TMAY) I have drafted a primer on IPR aimed at founders and creators which gained traction and was launched by the Honourable Justice Pratibha Singh. It was infact launched in 13, sorry, 8 regional languages-

M1- What was the language?

Me- Punjabi, Bengali, Telegu, Tamil, Kannada, Odia-

M1- Okay, alright. So, you made a primer which had all the whats, do you think a founder will be able to peruse and handle the filing of a patent?

Me- Sir, a lawyer can help the person understand if the product is indeed patentable, but when it comes to say, uploading a patent, a founder can simply go to www.ipindia.gov.in and register their patent. It’s a pretty straightforward and a smooth process.

M2- Alright. You may leave. Thank you.

Me- I have a question, if I may (since there was a lot less to and fro, I wanted to gauge their interest in me)

M1- Yes, you may

Me- … blah blah.. what do you expect from a lawyer in classroom, and I am looking for a professor’s point of view.. blah blah

M3- Lawyers, do come for our course, and more than in the classroom, they-

M2- add value in the companies they go for

M3- Yes, as you must be aware already, that lawyers are very important in a corporate setting, so, they have a lot of value

Me- Yes Sir! Thank you for your time!

And I left.