#and then 2 years later my team won moot court so.

[notbecauseofvictories]

I realise you're years removed from this life but how did you deal with retaining necessary info and arguments during oral assessments in law school? I can keep my cool fine but sometimes fumble my recall at the start from nerves and have once or twice gotten badly thrown during questioning, should I just continue to drill myself and do as many mocks as possible to make stuff stick? I'm not struggling enough that it's been raised as a concern but I feel like an embarrassment.

Personally, I was an on-fire human disaster during oral arguments and so probably not the best person to give advice. (Seriously, I think of myself as a pretty solid public speaker, but the second you stuck me behind a lectern and told me to talk about the brief I had already researched and written, I fell apart. It was embarrassing.)

However, there are a couple things I wish I had done, based on later experiences coaching other people through oral arguments, moot-esque competitions, and just...figuring out how to do the law thing.

1. Break Down Your Argument Into Anchor Points

The truth is, your oral argument probably only makes 3-4 actual points. Everything else about your argument is extraneous---additional evidence, sub-arguments, case citations, underlying logic, etc. etc. So really what you need to communicate during oral argument is those 3-4 points, in whatever form you can cram them in.

(To be fair, these points might include case law or evidence or pertinent logic. It's different for every argument.)

Don't drill a 15 minute monologue into your skull---you might get interrupted, you might lose your place or drop a word, and then where will you be! Instead, memorize is those 3-4 points, know them inside and out and extemporaneously, unconnected from the rest. That way, when the judge interrupts and eats up minutes of your time, you can jump to Point #2 without worrying about all the extraneous detail you might have missed with Point #1.

2. Come Up With Fuzzy Non-Answers

Listen, I don't know how your law school does oral arguments, but my professor had local attorneys come and play judge for the day. (I'm pretty sure they got CLE for it, which is why they volunteered.) They were all very busy people, and so probably skimmed the brief <24 hours ahead of time, and retained maybe 50% of what they read.

It means that sometimes they were asking questions that I couldn't answer---they hadn't read closely, or were bringing their full-scale attorney knowledge to bear on a very limited fact pattern. It was terrifying.

In hindsight, I wish I'd developed a set of knee-jerk responses that were, actually, non-responses---"that's an excellent question, I'll look into it and get back to you, your honor." "I can't speak to that strand of case law, but we will do our research and amend our filings appropriately."

It's cheap, and everybody knows you're ducking the question---but it's worth it to have a couple non-responses ready to go in case of a question you legitimately don't know how to answer. It'll get you back to those important 3-4 points, and that's all you should care about.

3. Practice, Practice, Practice (I know, I know)

When I was a TA, I had office hours on weekends so that my 1Ls could run through their oral arguments with me. Simultaneously, I was practicing my oral arguments for a particular presentation/competition. And the deciding factor, the thing that yielded the best results on both sides?

Just fucking do it. Over and over, with people who will suggest things, stop you when you start babbling, reset when you're getting in too deep. It's not just practice, but practice with feedback, that makes the exercise valuable. If you have a TA or a tutor, seek them out. If you have a 2L mentor or a professional connection who can help you out on weekends---let them help you.

Some of that advice will be unhelpful because some portion of advice always is. But the more you practice, and think about what you say, how you do this...the less daunting and impossible it will seem. The better you get at making the connections sooner, or not getting thrown during questions, the overall better you'll get. It's truly unfortunate, how much boring grinding ignominious work goes into being good at something; unfortunately, I have yet to find a shortcut for it.

....and if you don't get better, if you aren't good?

Well, in 6ish years, you'll be able to laugh and groan and talk about how terrible you were in oral arguments, and it didn't stop you from liking law anyway.

[postolo]

Interview with Anubhab Sarkar, Founding Partner at Triumvir Law

Anubhab Sarkar graduated from KIIT School of law in the year 2015 and currently the Co-Founder of Triumvir Law. After graduating and garnering experience at top tier law firms, he founded his own firm: Triumvir Law. The firm has offices in Bangalore and Mumbai and will be expanding operations soon. His areas of interest being varied; commencing with International Law since his law school days to working in areas of Arbitration, ICA, Foreign Investment, Cross Border Commercial Transactions.

Despite running his own law firm, he still finds time to cater to another interest of his: mooting. He is still very much involved in advising, coaching various moot court teams and of course, judging rounds in national competitions. He also is a guest faculty at law schools and never hesitates from advising and conducting sessions for law students.His achievements during the 5 years in law school has been unparalleled. He was also one of the few students who got the opportunity to work under the esteemed Prof. Martin Hunter. He will discuss about his journey from law school to running his own firm, experiences in working abroad, mental health in the profession of law and of course, about his firm.

1. Hi! It has been an incredible journey since law school. How did you start your journey with the area of Law?

Thank you for having me. I am not sure whether I would take the liberty to call my law school journey to be ‘incredible’.  I thinka better-suited word for those five years would be ‘adventurous’, primarily because I set small targets for myself and in order to achieve them I embraced whatever challenges that came my way. That period was a fantastic time in life where I could pursue any goals without any apprehensions.

I started flirting with the idea of being a lawyer as early as a 5-year-old when I used to see my mother dawn the gown to go to the court. However, my career aspirations changed with time, as is with any kid. There was a time I was pretty sure that I wanted to become an economist as Amartya Sen had just won a Nobel Prize and I thought to myself that this could be something I should be okay with. No pressure at all!

The idea of joining a law school came to me towards the very end of class 12, when I figured that I really didn’t want to be an engineer. In addition to my mother, my father had a huge contribution in making my decision firm in becoming a lawyer. Here I am 9 years later trying to do justice to all the expectations and sacrifices anyone has associated with me.

2. Walk us through your journey of law school. You have had some incredible achievements during the law school,any fond memories? Do tell us about the exceptional opportunity of working with Prof Martin Hunter and at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer?

As I mentioned before, the 5 years at law school were extremely formative years in my life and career. In addition to having phenomenal professors, I had seniors whom I absolutely revered. To be honest, I wouldn’t be where I am today if those seniors didn’t push or inspire me to do the things I did. The mood at KIIT Law School was very different at that point of time, as it was a fairly new law school and everyone had that hunger to make it worth it. Quite similar to the mood at Manchester United with the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Talking about fond memories, during the second-year of my law school, my teammates and I came 6th in the Intra-Moot organised by the university leaving

behind quite a few formidable senior teams. This meant that during moot allocation we could choose any moot that we wanted to. I had my focus firmly perched on Jessup’s, the world cup of moot courts, however, after much consultation with my teammates we came to a consensus that as second-year law students it would have been much more prudent for to go for the Oxford Media Law Moot or the Henry Dunant Moot.

A day before the allocation, my dear friend and senior, who had a significant role in me becoming what I am today, convinced me to take up Jessup’s and made me believe that it was possible. As fate would have it, I represented my University at Jessup’s only as a second-year student.

Another milestone during my law school journey, of course, was getting the opportunity to work with Prof. Martin Hunter and at Freshfields. It was a phenomenal experience to get a chance to work with Prof. Hunter at Essex Court Chambers and that truly changed how I looked at the profession or how the profession looked back at me. Other than getting the opportunity to work on major cases it taught me how to become a better human being. It taught me that it is important to stay rooted to the ground while reaching for the stars. Freshfields gave me the taste of the working of a major London law firm. As a 21-year-old law student from India, getting an opportunity to work with world market leaders in the industry was a phenomenal experience. These experiences have certainly helped me in becoming the person and the professional I am today. Even the small things that you pick during these experiences add up to the larger picture and your growth.

3. Coming to your post-law school journey. You had the opportunity to work at some of the best law firms in the country. Tell us about the journey and the learning process.

On the very first day of my law school, if someone told me that I would have gotten the opportunity to work at few of the best of law firms of the country, I probably wouldn’t have believed that person.These law firms, so far, has given me my life’s biggest lessons.

It taught me to be patient, grounded and value the other colours of life. The colours of life,in this case,being able‘to lead a holistic and healthy life’. At these institutions, you

work with the best in the business, so the work,as well as the learning curve, is rather steep. You are expected to deliver quality results at every point of time, at times in unrealistic time frames. In my opinion, in relation to your work, how organised you are has a direct impact on your learning curve. In most top Indian law firms, the processes and systems in place definitely have a positive effect on your performance. Therefore, working in any of the top tier Indian law firms definitely prepare you to face any challenge in life and in this profession

4. Triumvir Law-it has been almost a year since you established your own law firm, how has the journey been? Give us some details about the firm. Also, why the name ‘Triumvir’?

It took us quite some time to narrow down on our name. The background behind calling ourselves Triumvir emanated from the Roman triumvirate and the trayambakam mantra (a verse from the Rig veda) which signifies stability of mental, emotional and physical health. Alternatively, this also has reference to Lord Shiva’s three eyes, indicating ‘an individual who can see the past, present and the future’.

Triumvir Law is a boutique law firm based in Bangalore and Mumbai. Our principles and core values of hustling with integrity have been the key to our success so far. We, as a team, rely on effective communication, teamwork, diligence, discipline and undying initiative, in order to deliver the best work product to our client. Our team has individuals with experience in the premier law firms of India and abroad. In fact, our good association with our mentors in the past has been a strong force to keep us going.

At Triumvir, we seek to be known as an all service firm. We know the requirements of our clients and the legal profession now. So we provide a diverse range of services, in the corporate and disputes realm as well. An underlying objective is to do good work in the space of international commercial arbitration (especially Bilateral Investment Treaty advisory). We have been able to feel the pulse of the legal economy and in response to this, we have been able to advise start-ups on risks and compliance and in a way serve as a millennial law firm. In addition to this, our past experience enables us to meet the needs of our clients by solving a multitude of legal problems encompassing a wide array of law areas. Our consultancy services across the country are of great help in providing time-bound legal services and advice to clients.  In addition to that, we have made a conscientious effort to contribute to the dissemination of information relating to climate change and forced migration by our research efforts.

The last year, arguably, has been the most fulfilling year of my life. Tired of a lot of occurrences over a period of time and basking in our camaraderie. Akshay, Prathik and I founded Triumvir Law in Bangalore.  A set of three lawyers, with a dream, we started out with the love, help and hope of our well-wishers, financially bootstrapped by the three of us.

The first month, was mostly about setting-up process. We barely made rent that month. We uninstalled Swiggy and Zomato for a while. However, working together was quite the joy and we gathered momentum in the following months. In April, we had our first major transaction. In June, we had our first reported transaction. Things started to look up.It is rather humbling when our opposition parties are the top law firms of the country we might have worked with.

In July, Akshay took the plunge and moved back to Bombay to start our Bombay practice. In August, our friend Sujaya joined us and set up Triumvir Law’s litigation practice. We had no clue we would be able to sustain this for so long but here we are. It’s a different sense of contentment.

It’s been a year – offices in two cities, lectures in several law schools, goodwill of our clients. We are ever so grateful! Thank you to each one of you who have been a part of this and supported us through this!

4. One of the things, you have always addressed is the importance of mental health in the legal field. Any thoughts you want to share?

In my opinion, in your life – you take the call and no one, no one, has the authority to make you feel incompetent. Let nobody define your standards for you. Once you understand the importance of respecting an individual, it all falls in place. Unfortunately, we are a part of a profession where ‘getting one up’ against someone is considered a victory.

I firmly believe that, in this profession, it is important to be always extremelyreal and human. We often take ourselves for granted to meet that deadline, get those many billable hours while letting go of our purpose. The Indian legal market has, I believe, not developed as it has abroad. The focus, rightfully so should be on the client. But in order to keep your client happy one must not forget that the lawyers must be in that motivating and encouraging environment where everyone is not just on the brink of burnout. I feel the working environment needs to become more mature so that there is less hierarchical treatment and positive reinforcement is given for hard work.   Through proper delegation, realistic targets and a good relation with our clients we are able to achieve that work-life balance at Triumvir. It is important to understand that this profession takes a lot more from us as individuals than it gives us. Hence it is important to keep that balance to keep yourself going.

Please remember, there is no substitute to a healthy mind. There is no point putting in the hours and getting that bonus if your mind is clouded with negativity throughout the day. It is scientifically proven that all this negativity, adds up and proves fatal as you grow old. Eat healthy, exercise, pursue your hobbies and at the end of the day, have a good night’s sleep.

5. Apart from your stint at law firms, you have also increased your ambit in areas of teaching for online coursesand being the visiting lecturer at various institutions. Has teaching/guiding been always something you wanted to pursue?

Throughout my law school and career, as mentioned earlier, I have been extremely lucky to have some prolific mentors. In my opinion, teaching still remains the best way to keep on learning. I have been a visiting lecturer in several law schools in India and it is an extremely enriching experience. In spite of the hectic weekdays, I prefer spending my weekends visiting law schools across India sharing ideas, communicating concepts and meeting inspiring individuals. There is a lot to learn from how present-day law students approach the law and fantastic to ideate on legal concepts from their perspective.

In addition to teaching at various law schools, my colleagues and I have formulated several online courses for IPleaders for practitioners and law student concentrating on the practical aspects of the law. Therefore, I can safely say that teaching something that keeps me going thereby allowing me to maintain sanity in my day to day work.

6. During your time in law school, not only you had been an avid mooterbut also you were very much into coaching moot teams. This is something you still continue pursuing, whether judging for National Moot Courts or Coaching several teams. What excites you on this front and any advice to budding mooters?

I was always passionate about mooting right from the beginning. I believe that mooting is one of the few things in law school which really prepares you for the outside world. Your research skills, reading, communication, interpretation and ability to handle yourself in challenging situations is tested to the core and that is what the profession demands from you. I would advise mooters to prepare their case well so that they have the confidence of facing anything that might be coming their way. Even though it might be an overwhelming experience initially, learn to enjoy the thrill of it and keep yourself calm. Don’t forget that the judge was also once in your place so make sure you’re clear on the facts, law and overall have a good attitude and approach to the problem.

I don’t think I have ever get out of mooting. At present, in spite of my extremely hectic schedule, I make it a point to mentor teams, judge competitions and conduct training programs. This helps to connect with the younger generation and understand how they approach problems.

7. Coming back to your professional sphere, what are the areas you work on primarily? Also, you have a huge passion for International Commercial Arbitration and International Law, if you could advise the readers willing to explore these areas. Especially if the person is fresh out of law school.

At Triumvir Law, we mostly work in the areas of dispute resolution, corporate commercial, technology law, private equity and venture capital and other allied areas of law.

In order for you to pursue, International Arbitration one must be well aware of the nuances of procedural law.Though the best way of learning this is once you are in practice, one should keep up with the latest developments in the field. Your knowledge will always be your best weapon in all the competition. Additionally, I would suggest becoming a member of the ‘young’ arbitration chapters of various arbitration institutions. These organisations keep organising seminars and conferences which are a fantastic avenue to network and meet market leaders in this realm of practice. Moreover, it is also advisable to keep a habit publishing articles in various famous online websites such as i.e. Kluwer, GAR etc. There is no fixed formula to success, in this field. In my opinion, just being direct and honest to your aspirations often help the most in realising them.

8. Any advice for our readers?

It is absolutely imperative to believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will. We all are individuals. It’s important to keep your individuality and not blend in the crowd. One must know their interests and then work towards excelling in those areas. In our profession,it’s not talent but pure hard work that is the key to success. Needless to say, be aware of your surroundings. Be conscious of your principles and worth. Most importantly, be grounded and also remember that work is not your life, it’s just a part of it. Also remember, if you fall down, get up, dust yourself and get going again. As a first-generation lawyer, I have often found solace in these lines from the movie “The curious case of Benjamin Button”, they go something like this:

“For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start all over again.”

Shubhodip Chakraborty, a final year student pursuing BBALLB (Business Law Hons.) from KIIT School of Law, Bhubaneswar. He is also the SCC Online Student Ambassador for KIIT School of Law.

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[junker-town]

17 takeaways from Russell Westbrook's tense postgame press conference

Russ and a reporter got into a postgame press conference tiff. Let's break it down, point by point.

Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams gave a press conference yesterday after the Thunder lost to the Rockets in an exciting, close, and sloppy Game 4 during the first round of the NBA playoffs. Sorry, let me rephrase that: Steven Adams didn’t give much of a press conference at all, because when a reporter asked him a question, Russ stepped in and this happened:

Russell Westbrook goes off on reporter who asks about team's play while he's on the bench http://pic.twitter.com/oikTf0GxCj

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) April 23, 2017

[*Steps up to podium*] Let’s walk through this and break it down, because the hot takes concerning this one minute and thirty-five seconds of #content are probably only going to heat up as Monday morning progresses. And, in reality, I don’t think it’s all that take-able. It’s just a series of events that illustrate a series of facts, and I think these are the facts.

[*Turns on projector*]

1. Russ’s incredible season was based on his having to be superhuman while playing on a not-great team (truth hurts, Oklahoma). OKC’s lack of superstar talent makes the fact that Westbrook managed to average a triple-double and score thousands of points a night (seriously, thousands, look it up on truebasketballfactsthatarenotexaggerations dot com) totally wild.

2. In other words, the Thunder are pretty bad without Westbrook: On Sunday night, they were plus-14 with Westbrook on the floor, and minus-18 when he was on the bench.

3. The question the reporter asked ...

“Steven, second time in three games you guys really struggled when Russell went to the bench. You were out there for part of that, what goes on when he goes to the bench? Why is Houston so successful, and do you sense that they get an energy boost just from him going out of the game?”

... was therefore a valid one, given that the biggest narrative of the season has been Russ The Lone Warrior: Thunder Road.

4. And Westbrook’s reaction showed that the reporter clearly hit a nerve. Russ grabbed the mic before Adams could respond, and said this:

“I don’t want nobody trying to split us up, we are one team ... we’re in this together, don’t try to make us go against each other. I don’t want to hear that.”

Then he said “next question” five times as the reporter kept trying to ask Adams why the Thunder were bad without Russ. You think Westbrook would’ve freaked out like that if he hadn’t been hyper-sensitive to the situation already? No. But he’s entitled to this reaction. He never says the reporter is wrong, he just says that he isn’t going to sit there and say nothing while the reporter perpetuates a narrative that would be divisive to his team.

5. Furthermore, [*pushes glasses up onto nose, takes sip of water, ruffles papers on lectern*] the beauty of free speech — while we still have it — is that journalists can ask whatever questions they want, and subjects can answer those questions however they want. They can also not answer them at all. I saw a lot of tweets flying back and forth in the frothy internet wake of this press conference concerning what’s expected from both athletes and reporters. I think it’s fairly simple: Neither side owes the other side anything.

6. In those situations you do, however, have to make decisions based on the consequences of what you ask and how you answer. If, as an athlete, you regularly respond like a shit head, you’re less likely to get favorable coverage. If, as a reporter, you regularly pose questions like a shit head, you’re less likely to get athletes to talk to you. You have to decide when it’s worth making a fuss (and there are definitely people on both sides of the table who are less smart about this than others).

7. I don’t think either of these guys are being shit heads in this case. But I do think things got tense. And while the reporter isn’t wrong, he probably would’ve saved himself a scene by clamming up sooner when it came to this particular storyline. It wasn’t a question that could be served that well by an athlete’s answer — the points and stats tell the story better than a quote would.

8. But also, what on Earth would make you think that, after a season of being petty as all hell and holding one of the best grudges in the history of sports (hey, Kevin Durant, sorry, didn’t see ya there!) while having a historic season, Russ was going to finally give up and let Adams answer a question just because you asked it enough times?

9. He wouldn’t! This moment was illustrative of Westbrook’s ethos. He thrives on adversity. He seems to want people to test him so that he has an excuse to fire back.

10. Russ’s reaction is valid, though, because even if it’s true that he’s carrying the team on his back like a hiker attempting to complete the Appalachian Trail with no help [*points to map*], he can’t admit that. And he doesn’t want his teammates to have to admit that, either.

Basketball is a team sport, no matter how unhelpful the rest of your team can be sometimes. To hop in and save your fellow player from having to say, “Yeah, well, the truth is that we totally blow when Russ isn’t on the floor!” seems, in my humble opinion, a valiant way to protect what’s left of team chemistry. It’s certainly better than sitting there while your teammate in the NASA shirt fumbles to address why he and the rest of the crew are not performing well without you.

11. What Westbrook did, however, is pretty indicative of the Thunder’s season as a whole. Russ hopped in to bat down the idea that his stardom is divisive, but in doing so, proved that he is the star, and that he often controls what happens both on and off the court while everyone else watches.

12. Adams didn’t appear to want to say much, given that when he had a chance to answer, he just pointed at Russ. But Russ didn’t initially give him the agency to field the question himself.

13. And it’s worth noting that this was almost exactly like what happened a year ago when Durant stopped Westbrook from answering a question about how Mark Cuban said Durant was the only superstar on the team. “He’s an idiot,” Durant said of Cuban, defending Russ as Russ sat next to him in a charming fedora. Ah, the memories [*wipes away a single tear*].

14. HOWEVER: All of the previous 13 points above are moot because of what Russ is wearing. You can’t tell anyone who’s outfitted in a floral shirt, bandana, and John Lennon sunglasses anything. Russ looks a character from Dazed and Confused. Or like your older brother’s hot friend from college who was in that cool band you’d later realize was actually trash. In other words: He’s untouchable and allowed to say whatever the hell he wants.

15. I love when Adams just points at Russ.

Did a teacher just ask who put the whoopee cushion on her desk chair? Did your boss ask who was supposed to write up the minutes after a conference call? Did your best friend ask who ate the last slice of pizza and it was you, but you know she’ll kill you if you admit it, so you point to the friend people expect to do that sort of thing?

16. Steven Adams’s NASA shirt is good, too.

17. In conclusion [*stacks papers on top of each other, clicks off projector*] fashion won the Rockets-Thunder playoff series.