Guidance to Junior Advocates to build career in the beginning.

S. Basavaraj, Senior Advocate & Chairman, KSBC Law Academy

The problem. The immediate problem of a junior advocate who starts independent practice is meeting his daily/monthly expenses towards ration, fuel, rent, school fee etc.. The mind of a junior advocate is completely immersed in earning whatever he can to take care of these basic requirements.

It is impossible for a junior advocate to completely depend on fee to meet his regular expenses. Getting cases and adequate fee is completely unpredictable. Even if juniors get cases in a month, they may get fee towards the cases the next month or even after few months.

There are clients who entrust cases to junior advocates on regular basis. Be it cheque bounce cases or money recovery cases or real estate work.

Reality. The basic requirement for a lawyer is to have calm mind so that he can focus completely on the work. However, if his mind is submerged in finding means to meet his regular expenses, it would result in dilution of professional commitment.  

Solution. The most practical advice I can give to overcome this problem is to have “Retainership” arrangement. When you get continuous work from a particular client, either a company or firm or even individual, seek retainership on a smaller scale instead of charging higher fee. Believe me this works as a magical remedy to meet your regular expenditure.

When I started independent practice in 1995, I convinced three of my clients to pay me retainership instead of fee for all their cases/work. This helped them since they would get comprehensive professional help for a particular sum of money. My first retainership was for Rs. 500 per month.! Second one for Rs. 2000 and third one for Rs. 7500. With this assurance, I could focus on legal studies, research for the cases.

I am not boasting, but today I have such huge retainerships with international schools, business houses and even with a reputed law firm that I need not come to Court even for a single day.!

The biggest advantage of a retainer arrangement is; it is a win-win situation. While it assures steady income to lawyer, the client feels he has created a ‘Firewall’ to protect himself at all times. 

Rules. Here are the rules you must follow.

1. Retainership amount shall be comparatively less than the fee you quote otherwise. Remember, it is a win-win situation.

2. Clients are always afraid of having a written commitment with lawyers. So make it clear that the retainership can be terminated at any time without assigning any reason. (See the enclosed format).

3. You must create a feeling that you belong to the retainee. This way, the client feels you are dedicated to work and might refer your name to others as well. (This has been my experience)

4. Never ever avoid calls or send usual system generated messages like ‘’can I call later” etc. Always type message with client’s name. For example “Mr. …xyz, I am in Court. I shall call you in ten minutes”. Same with emails. Always respond to emails promptly.

5. As for as possible avoid visiting the client’s office. However, you must attend very important Board meetings or conferences since it shows your involvement and you will have a chance to demonstrate your professional skills.

6. At the initial stage, you can include even court litigation in the retainership arrangement. However, you can exclude litigation since it involves lot of work which cannot be anticipated at the inception.

All the best of the best 

…to be improvised.

Retainership Format: 

From,             

xxxx                                                 

To, 

Mr. .......

Advocate, 

Sir,

Sub: Your empanelment as our legal advisor. 

Pursuant to our discussion today, you are hereby appointed as our legal advisor until further orders subject to following terms and conditions:

1. This appointment shall be at our sole discretion and can be terminated at any time without any prior notice.

2.  You shall render legal opinions, issue legal notices, etc. as and when requested by us.

3.   You shall participate in teleconferences and provide us the personal conferences in your office to discuss the issues that may arise from time to time.

4. You will be paid the consolidated monthly retainer fee of Rs. ....../- [Rupees Twenty ......].  This is inclusive of all your professional charges. The retainership shall be effective from .....

5. You will not divulge any information about the litigation or the affairs of the school to anyone without written consent.

6.  You will not be part of any legal proceedings against us, directly or indirectly.

7.The retainership fee does not include professional fees towards court cases and statutory expenses such as court fee etc.