In this article, we get to understand, the three considerations that one should give a thought to while entering into a contract with a Social Media Influencer. Today’s post has been contributed by Nadia Bubennikova, who is the Head of influencer marketing agency at BuzzGuru who helps brands, game and app developers to reach their target audience and bring the highest ROI from their influencer marketing campaigns.

There has been a paradigm shift in the way, the brands target their desired audiences. With the increasing influence of social media influencers on their followers, brands are considering to approach Social media influencers to promote their products and services. It becomes important to know some basic ground rules before engaging an influencer. So what are those considerations?

Nadia Bubnnikova-

Here are our three things to consider:

Draft Approval Procedure:
The first clause to check when signing a contract with an Influencer is the draft approval procedure. Sometimes the advertising materials that the influencers produce do not meet our expectations regardless of how detailed the task assignment was, so it is in our best interest to make sure that the contract includes some regulations for such cases.

The best practice is to include the link to the task assignment for the integration into the agreement and clearly state that the advertising materials must be filmed according to the Task Assignment and you have 2 to 3 rounds of edits in case the influencer misses something out.

This way you will be protected from having to pay for an integration that is below your standards. Another useful point to include is the timing for the adjustment of the materials after you’ve provided feedback requesting some edits from the creator. Otherwise it may take weeks and you will go far behind schedule.

Services Description:
When entering an agreement with an influencer for a paid collaboration, you should state explicitly what is it, that you need from the creator. You should always describe the ad format, the length of the promo part, and other actions that might be a part of the services the influencer is to provide. For example, after the deal is closed and the service is provided it would be very useful to get full statistics on the publication.

After receiving the payment Influencer tend to avoid other extra actions and are very unlikely to share the stats, so our advice is to put all such details in the description of services. If something is missed out you won’t be paying for it.

Payment Procedure:
Make sure that the agreement is built around the post payment model, especially if it is your first time working with a specific influencer or their representative. This allows you to hedge all the possible risks.

Of course, some influencers and agencies insist on down payment as a deal confirmation, but it is crucial to avoid the 100% down payment. In case you are interested in a specific influencer and they do not agree to work on a post payment model in any way, try 20-30-50% down payment after you have received a draft of advertising materials from the service provider.

This way the influencer will already do some work as a proof for you and you will be able to send the down payment of 20-30-50% without any risk.

Richard Brandenstein-

Richard J. Brandenstein is a New York-based attorney, and FBR Law Partner, specializing in Administrative Law. The areas he specifically focuses on include New York State Disability and New York State Workers’ Compensation. With over 40 years of experience as an attorney, he also trains new legal staff in his company too. 

As a business, what three main considerations should be, while entering into an agreement with a Social Media influencer for product endorsement?

Here are the three things that should be considered before a brand or company decides to work with a social media influencer:

Analytics:

Influencers’ analytics are important to consider. This is because it will give you a better understanding of their audience in terms of their age, gender, and location. This will then allow you to determine whether they are suitable for your brand and whether their audience is likely going to purchase your products or use your services.

Engagement:

Engagement is another significant factor to consider. While a person may have millions of followers, this doesn’t mean that all of their followers are actively engaging with their content. As a result, you may find it more beneficial to choose a smaller influencer to work with in comparison to a larger one if it means that their followers engage with the content more. 

Compatibility:

The compatibility of the influencer and your brand is essential and something you should take into careful consideration. The influencer should be a good fit for the brand and be able to portray what you’re asking of them.

Interesting Read:  How NFTs get their value?

The post Expert Corner – Three things to consider while entering into a contract with a Social Media Influencer appeared first on LexForti .

Lauren Blair on Key areas of an Artist Agreement

When drafting a written agreement between an artist and a producer for the artist’s services for a film, key areas include Ownership and Use of Work.

It’s important for the artist to understand if the contract is for a work for hire. If so, then he or she will have no ownership rights to the work. The artist will have fully and permanently assigned all rights in the work to the producer in exchange for the agreed-upon payment. As such, the artist has no right to receive any royalties from any film sales or any derivative works derived therefrom.

The Ownership section typically makes clear that the artist has no authority over, or approval of, any changes made to the work. The artist also will be required to relinquish any and all rights to derivative works based on the original work.

If the producer is not contracting with the artist to work for hire, but instead using existing art in the film, then the artist should make clear that he or she is not permanently relinquishing rights in the works, but only giving a temporary and limited license. The license would approve the use of the work in the film but not allow the license to be freely used or assigned to other entities. 

In terms of the Use of Work, artists typically have no control over the work, how it’s used, or even if it will be used in a film. Contract provisions concerning Use of Work generally give the producer the sole discretion to use or not use the work or services provided by the artist. In fact, there’s no guarantee that the film will be completed or distributed.

Company: FreeAdvice.com

LinkedIn: Access here

Arnold from “Spells and Curses” on Key areas of an Artist Agreement

As a recording artist and film composer myself, I have first-hand experience regarding what points are necessary to address when drafting an Artist Agreement between the producer and an artist for a film. These are the three main points to specify:

Payment and terms: This specifically refers to what the pay will be and what/how much music is required from the artists in order to receive said payment. This is important for both parties in that it allows the artist to decide if the pay is worth their efforts (in addition to other factors).

Deadline: Having a clear understanding about due dates are important for the artist to know how much time they’ll need to invest in the project, especially if they are balancing other projects as well. This will also accommodate the producer by making a clear and set finish line for the artist.

Point of communication: A lot of times, film production can get chaotic. It is important to specify who the point of communication will be just. Is it the producer? Director? Music director? Etc. Specifying this lets the artist know who they can reach out to for any questions as well as a point of reference about anything regarding the project, or even their own progress.

Website: Access here

Sample Artist Agreements by the DocPro

Artist Agreements could be of three natures. These are as following:

1. Neutrally Drafted
2. Drafted in the favour of Artist
3. Drafted in the favour of Customer hiring an artist

The samples of each of the above could be accessed here.

The post Expert Corner: Key areas while drafting an Artist Agreement appeared first on LexForti .

Rohit: How would you like to introduce yourself to our audience?

My name is Jason Rosenblum and I’m the founding member of The Law Office of Jason H. Rosenblum, PLLC, an Intellectual Property Law Firm. So, we protect our clients – their products, their brands, their businesses – from getting ripped off, so they can focus on their business. 

We have clients in the software industry and many entrepreneurs who are starting their businesses, take my services. Back in 2008 and 2009, when a lot of people had their side gigs and their side hustles, which a lot of them have now made it full-time.

So, it’s great to see when a client quits their day job for the side job and it’s a success. My clients range from solopreneurs, all the way up to, you know – I think my largest client has around 300+ employees! 

Rohit: That’s really amazing! 

Jason: And…some of them, you know, even some of the smaller ones, their revenues are pretty high! So, you know, they’re very successful clients, in all sorts of areas- of fashion, music, a lot of software-based (or related to it). 

Rohit: So your clientele is very diverse, isn’t it?

Jason: Correct. You know, sometimes, we’d have patents, and attorneys will be very focused, in a very specific area, because that’s where their technical background is? But for the majority of the business – trademarks, design patents and copyrights – it might help to know a little bit about the technical aspect, but you know the fun part about it is learning something new in a particular area of study. 

Rohit: Yeah, exactly. So, whenever we talk about a “new area”, NFTs pop in! Do you think we have any legal work associated with NFTs? You know, majorly IP-related? 

Jason: Um, you know, I have a few clients in the blockchain field, that is, again, software related (blockchain), not you know, specifically with NFTs, but I have been speaking to some potential clients who are interested in taking some of their existing IPs, and turn them into NFTs of some sort. 

Rohit: Could you please tell us what exactly an NFT is? Because when I started to learn about NFTs, it was super-perplexing and extremely difficult to understand.

Jason: So, I think first we have to look back on blockchain. What is blockchain? It’s essentially a piece of ledger. So, in the States when you buy a piece of property, you usually record the deed with the county you bought it in. So this way, if someone wants to buy that piece of property, they can always check with the county deed registry to see who is the proper owner, and buy it from them.

The exact same thing we do with patents, with trademarks – you’re at the USPTO, you’re able to record  any sort of change in ownership. So if any company bought, or if a brand’s bought out from one company, you can always look, and they should register it at the USPTO. You can see, actually, who is the right owner – of that piece of property.

What the blockchain does, is make a decentralized ledger of ownership. And you know- it should not, if it’s done correctly – you can’t change it. So, you know it’s accurate, in a way. What NFTs are, they’re built on top of blockchain technology, and there’s only one of those tokens,  so that’s why they’re called non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This is so that you know, that whoever this person – whoever holds this, is the true owner because the blockchain can help prove that. 

Rohit: Okay, so here’s the confusion. What I believe is that anything gets its value because of the legal sanctity. Because, you know, you can prove your ownership in front of the court, that “Hey, I’m the real owner”. How would you prove the same in case of, say, if you hold an NFT? This aspect goes over my mind. Because there is no legal transaction, and no legal documentation. It’s simply a transaction over blockchain technology. Does it get any legal sanctity? Or does it get its value over something else.

Jason: Well I think that in some way, this whole blockchain technology is going to start  alleviating the need for some kind of legal aspects. Because a lot of that legal aspect is to ensure that someone complies with the legal contract. For blockchain and NFTs, you will be able to remove some of those, because you know, a smart contract will automatically execute when a payment is supposed to be made, and if something happens, they automatically checks it, so you know, you don’t have to rely on a person to do what they said they will do. 

Rohit: Definitely. 

Jason: Because the contact is essentially self-acting, the smart contract. So in place of getting rid of the law, it supplements it. This is done by way of contracts. You know, the one NFT that I did look at, it was of a regular contract – talked about the transfer of ownership of some items, and one of them was an NFT. So they do like to play together, but I like to look at blockchains like I would look at a deed, like you would, for a piece of property. And that shows who owns it, it shows the history of that, and it travels with it. 

Rohit: Well, that sums it up! Let’s talk about the main issue that we face with regards to this subject. After a transaction is completed, do you believe that there might be trademark disputes?

Jason: I believe I made a video on it not too long ago. Just because you have an NFT does not, all of a sudden take away all of the usual legal concerns you can have – like, “Is this NFT infringing on someone’s copyright?” | Is it infringing on someone’s trademark?” 

Rohit: When there is trademark infringement, you’d go and sue the person who’s infringing upon your intellectual property, right? So what action can the victim take to claim damages from an anonymous entity who’s having commercial benefit by selling someone’s trademark as an NFT? 

Jason: Well, you can always try and track down this “anonymous entity”. And, if anyone tries to sell your copyrighted work, they will be taking away rights exclusive to you as the copyright holder, but because of the nature of blockchain technology and NFT, it might be difficult to find out who they are.

So the best option would be to go to the NFT Marketplaces and alert them, and hopefully they’ll get taken down. It’s just like it happens on Amazon these days – or Ebay, or any of those places. Any copyright or trademark-infringing material, when brought to the notice of the correct authorities, they’re usually taken down. So, you know, you might not be able to stop them from trying to sell, but hopefully you’ll be able to stop them in open marketplaces so that it makes it harder for them to do that. 

Rohit: Many people suggest that blockchain is very dangerous – due to the anonymity it offers – and it should be banned. What’s your opinion on that? 

Jason: Would I ban it? No! I wouldn’t ban blockchain technology! If you think about it, everything on blockchain is out in the open. So every transaction, whatever is happening, is out in the open. You might not know who’s doing it, but you can trace the wallet – trace the transaction.

Whereas today, someone can steal the money and you’d have no clue where the money is and who the person is.  In the last year and a half, two years, the federal law enforcement – the FBI – has recovered a lot of stolen Bitcoins. They were able to track exactly where they were going. Now, I don’t know what technology they used to track it.  

Rohit: Right, so this understanding, that everything is “hidden” is definitely not true! Rather it’s the opposite. This technology is actually very open and things could be traced back. 

Jason: Well it might be hard to find someone right away, but it seems like at some point there’s a chance for you to start pinning it down who the person is, you know, somehow. In a regular crime, you might not even have that trail. 

Rohit: Who owns the copyright in an NFT transaction? 

Jason: For example, if you look at the NBA website, I’ve looked at it in the past, and you buy an NFT of LeBron James dunking – it specifically states there that you get no commercial rights, nothing, basically. You can’t license that to anyone else, you can’t do anything with it. You just get to use it as a status symbol – that’s there with a lot of NFTs. You just get to say, “I own this.” 

There’s a lot of things that can be done with it – this technology is still in its infancy. When you buy an NFT, just look at what you bought. They’re not all the same – some might come with more rights than another, but in general, just because you own the NFT doesn’t mean you own the copyrights. 

Rohit: Well, I think we have covered almost everything we could’ve about NFTs-

Jason: We haven’t covered everything, we only covered a small slice of the entire aspect! 

Rohit: (laughs) Yes. Definitely. Do you think there’s anything else in an NFT that you’d like to discuss that we may have missed? 

Jason: I think the main aspect is that you can’t get caught up in the image. There’s a lot more that can come along with it, you know. Like a lot of them are like a membership to a new club – it’s not just an image, I think there’s something called a “Flyfish” or something like that, and it’s like a dinner club! You get exclusive rights to go to a certain restaurant. 

Rohit: I think they’re called utility-based NFTs, am I right?

Jason: Oh I didn’t even know that there was a name for it! (laughs) But yeah, like I said, they could be used in any image, really.

Rohit: Jason I think we should conclude this meeting, because I do not want to take up more of your time. 

Jason: It was a pleasure speaking with you about this!  

Rohit: Thank you so much for your precious time! It was great to have this enriching discussion with you. 

The post Interview: IP Disputes in NFT transactions | Expert: Jason Rosenblum appeared first on LexForti .

1. Can you please introduce yourself to our readers?

I am Vincenzo Senatore, dual Italian/English qualified lawyer with over 14 years of combined experience representing and advising clients on matters involving corporate law, Italian and English law, domestic and international business transactions, business litigation, international criminal law.

I have had the opportunity, during my academic and working career, to interface with different legal systems that have allowed me to deepen and greatly increase my knowledge of the law in both Civil and Common law arena. After obtaining my Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Business Transactions and Trade Law at the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, Washington DC (USA), I worked as an associate in large American law firms (Wilkie, Farr & Gallagher LLP; Bryan Cave LLP; Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP) in the Milan and Rome offices, Italy and, then, joined the international law firm Giambrone & Partners LLP as a Resident Partner in the London and Naples offices.

2. Can you please give us a brief description of your journey to become an Italian Avvocato, an English solicitor, and a qualified lawyer to practice before the International Criminal Court (ICC)?

The journey that led me to obtain the dual qualification as a Lawyer and Solicitor was extremely challenging. For an Italian lawyer it is quite unusual to obtain a foreign qualification and to approach different legal systems, since the legal profession in Italy is still very traditional. In this sense, my great willingness to interface with realities different from the more traditional Italian one, has, undoubtedly, played a key role. On the basis of this, after my studies in Italy, I first approached the Austrian legal system and then the United States and finally the United Kingdom.

I am very proud to be qualified as a Solicitor   but I always consider it only as a starting point in my professional growth, I want to expand my knowledge of law in other jurisdictions and, in light of this, I am studying in order to get qualified in the state of California and to get the Higher Rights of Audience in the UK.

My great passion for international criminal law then led me to undertake the tortuous route to obtain the qualification to practice with the ICC, acknowledgement of the hard work done over the years.

3. We were very excited to know about your practice in the International Court of Justice. We were wondering the nature of work you deal with while appearing there. Can you elaborate on that.

The ICC is the world’s only permanent international court with a mandate to investigate and prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. My involvement before the ICC was attending for just one day the most famous trial against Slobodan Milošević (President of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), who was indicted in May 1999, during the Kosovo War for having violated the laws and customs of war, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions in Croatia and Bosnia and genocide in Bosnia were added a year and a half later. Currently my involvement is quite limited as I am permanently based in London and running an international law firm takes a huge amount of time in the management.

4. Currently, outsourcing legal work as “freelance” is becoming a common practice, especially when firms do not have the capacity to practice in jurisdiction. What is your stance on that? Do you believe it is beneficial?

Nowadays, the legal profession has developed a lot from the past, once working as a lawyer outside of a structured firm was very difficult; today, however, the freelance lawyer is becoming a new way of practicing law increasingly on the rise.

In my opinion, the freelance lawyer is a very controversial figure, let me explain. On the one hand, it can be an added value to deal with if you don’t have in-depth knowledge of a certain area of law or of that specific jurisdiction, but on the other hand, it is always very difficult to identify a freelancer who is really very skilled and experienced in the issues presented to him. Again, this is essentially because, not being part of a structured law firm, it is difficult to identify a good freelancer on the basis of his or her resume and references alone. Having an established firm behind you is always a guarantee for both colleagues and clients also in term of insurance covered.

5. As an international firm, does Giambrone & Partners outsource work or cases to legal freelancers? If yes, why? And what is the extent of this collaborative effort?

At Giambrone & Partners we adopt a much more ‘all-encompassing’ policy. Through a great expansion in recent years we have opened offices in major European cities and desks in many other countries, always trying to put at the service of our clients, lawyers and legal professionals as complete and competent as possible in the areas of domestic law of that country. In this sense, our goal has always been to provide a service to our clients that is efficient and that can be carried out by the firm itself in all its aspects. Of course, in particularly complex cases, especially overseas where we don’t have offices, it may be necessary to cooperate with a freelancer from outside our law firm, but our goal is always to provide our clients with an increasingly complete team capable of meeting all their needs.

6. With the rise of legal work outsourcing, there has also been a rise in legal freelancing websites as a digital evolution of the practice. What is more preferable? Freelancing websites or an individual’s personalised request.

In my personal opinion, relying on a freelance website can always be a greater guarantee of the outcome of the work you will be doing. The personalized request can make sense when you personally know the freelance lawyer who will be giving advice on that particular matter, since, precisely because his skills are already known, a possible client or colleague will know in advance that the work will be done at its best. If this is not the case, it is always a great risk to rely on a freelancer whose direct references or knowledge you do not have.

In light of the above, a freelance lawyer’s website can be a greater guarantee precisely because the freelance lawyer’s abilities presuppose an upstream analysis, since the website will act as a kind of agency and the abilities of its consultants will enhance both its reputation and that of the freelancer himself, drawing both a double benefit, especially in terms of advertising.

7. How should one approach a law firm or a practitioner to seek legal freelance work?

Personally, I believe that when approaching a law firm or practitioner to seek legal freelance work, it is essential to have a clear understanding of the client’s background and situation. In this sense, it is very important for the client to provide clear, precise and timely information about his or her requirements and ultimate goal; only in this way will the legal professional be able to take the best course of action based on the interests the client wishes to pursue. In the same way, the law firm or practitioner, if provided with accurate and detailed information, will be able to provide its own advice or, in case of need or procedural uncertainties, especially with regard to sensitive cross-border issues, seek legal freelance work.

It is important to consider that a law firm tends to seek to have a professional staff to meet all possible client needs and, based on this, will always try to resolve any given matter through its own resources and is unlikely to seek legal freelance work elsewhere, except in cases of extreme necessity.

8. Any parting advice for legal freelancers?

In my view, it is essential for legal freelancers to be well-prepared and to have a very strong and well-structured track record, as well as a good reputation and promotion. In this sense, it is very difficult today to build a solid career in the legal industry without having a well-structured law firm behind you, which more often than not also acts as a guarantor of the lawyer’s work. However, for a legal freelancer who cannot rely on this “guarantee“, it is undoubtedly essential to have good advertising, excellent references, and to perform his or her work in the best and most professional way possible, considering that his or her work represents his or her only “guarantee” to clients.

9. Finally, for our aspiring readers, what is the one thing you would like to tell your younger self about making your way in the profession?

Persist and keep it straight, sacrifices always bring results and will be rewarded always.

More about:

• Vincenzo Senatore
• Giambrone & Partners LLP

The post Interview: International law firms on legal freelancing | Vincenzo Senatore appeared first on LexForti .

Brandon Dorsky is a licensed intellectual property attorney that practices in California and has been practicing for over 13 years. He has worked on high profile litigation and contractual matters, including matters with DirecTV, Snoop Dogg, and more. Brandon Dorsky also serves as Of Counsel as an intellectual property specialist for Frontera Law Group, California’s largest cannabis law firm.

Website: Dorsky Legal

How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Brandon Dorsky.   Please feel free to reference me as Brandon Dorsky or, as some of my clients like to call me, the wizard.  I am an Intellectual Property specialist with over 13 years experience as a practicing attorney.  

How did you begin your journey in this field?

My journey into legal practice technically began when my father told me not to become a doctor, although I’d point to my becoming a manager of artists and a talent buyer for The Blind Pig in Ann Arbor, Michigan as the beginning of my path into intellectual property law.

What is the one thing you would like to tell your younger self about making your way in the profession?  
Advising on intellectual property risk and strategy requires more than just knowing the related intellectual property laws.

What kind of work IP firms or practitioners outsource to the legal freelancers?

In my experience, legal freelance opportunities come in many different vehicles.   In the realm of intellectual property, there are a couple different avenues where I have had success recruiting opportunities for outsourced legal work.   There is a healthy amount of freelance litigation related discovery work driven by larger AMLAW firms seeking considerably cheaper discovery assistance.   Organizers of micro-communities are also a good resource for legal freelancers.  I have found success participating in micro-communities and making myself accessible to their organizers and members, whether its the coordinator at a recording studio or rehearsal space, a teacher or instructor of an art program, or the founder of a private membership club, being visible as a resource to communities that have an on-going and constant need has led to a pipeline for work opportunities.  

Why do IP firms or practitioners outsource their work?

IP firms or practitioners outsource work for not only efficiency purposes, but to fulfill their ethical and fiduciary responsibilities to their clients. 

What is more preferable? Freelancing websites like upwork/freelancer.com or an individual’s personalised request.

I prefer an individual’s personalized request as I feel there is more of an opportunity to establish a relationship and personal connection with the customer that leads to re-occurring work opportunities.

How should one approach an IP firm or a practitioner to seek legal freelance work?

Someone seeking to offer freelance legal work to an IP firm should begin by forging relationships with the operators of those firms, and or the attorneys responsible for delegating work on behalf of the firm or practitioner.   Actively networking with solo, small and mid-size firms that may not have the support staff in-house to fulfill all research and/or discovery demands at any given time is an excellent way to build a base of work funnels.

Any parting advice for legal freelancers?

Gaining familiarity with emerging bodies of law or significant changes to existing bodies of law is tremendously valuable as entrenched or veteran practitioners may recognize value in your specialized knowledge and be more inclined to continue engaging you for freelance work or referring work in that subject matter to you.

Also, never stop building your network and know what you don’t know. 

Brandon Dorsky

Video

Watch this video on YouTube.

The post Interview: How to get foreign Freelance opportunity in the IPR field? | Brandon Dorsky – IP Attorney appeared first on LexForti .

Abir Lal Dey is a Partner at L&L Partners (formerly Luthra & Luthra Law Offices). has rich experience in banking, projects & infrastructure, project financing, structured financing, insolvency and debt restructuring across various sectors including Solar, Wind, Road, Thermal, Oil & Gas, Transmission, Real Estate, Ports, Hydro, Warehousing, Aviation, Automobile. Abir is involved in advisory work related to various infrastructure sectors, including energy, transportation and mining. Abir is also actively advising on Startup and Fintech.

Would you like to tell something about your pre-college life? What was the driving factor to pursue law? What do you most enjoy about the law?

Prior to law school I was a science student and completed my studies at Kolkata. I got admission in law colleges both at Kolkata and Pune. My father persuaded me to   explore and study in Pune. This was the turning point of my life, as life outside Kolkata gave me huge exposure and honed me into the person that I am today, all thanks to foresight of my father.

I have been raised in a family of lawyers– my great grandfather, my father and uncle practised the law. Therefore, pursuing law was always one of my primary options. However, I never thought that I would work in a law firm at Mumbai and not be a part of my family practice.

Law as a profession not only helps you to undertake challenges faced by the people and corporates, but also gives you satisfaction when they get the desired reliefs.

I love reading about the development of constitutional jurisprudence and the evolving nature of law.

What were the activities, academic or otherwise, that you undertook in your law school days which in your opinion have shaped you and your career?

Symbiosis Law School provided me a platform for great learning and experience. My alma mater gave me the insight, confidence and exposed me to whole a new world. It provided me the support as a family. I have etched beautiful memories of my college and hostel days and made some friends for life. If I ever were to write an autobiography, my college phase would be one of the most pivotal chapters.

You are a Partner at L&L Partners which has grown to be one of the best international law firms. Please share with our readers about the challenges you faced initially and what is yet to be achieved?

The law firm life is very challenging but satisfying. You deal with issues, client expectations and a host of other things. It is a very dynamic platform and in many ways different from in-house and litigation practice. There are numerous challenges in this journey but once you endure them, the journey is truly enriching. There is a lot to be achieved, the law is ever changing and a lifetime is not enough to enjoy its vagaries.

What is the average workday experience of a Partner at a law firm like?

Typically, 10-12 hours a day but sometimes it can stretch even more. As you go up the ladder, responsibilities keep adding.

Who was your mentor, or main source of inspiration who motivated you all along the way? Any importance of having a mentor in this field?

My first mentor is my father who pushed me outside my comfort zone to make me resilient and self-sufficient. In college my immediate senior Sabyasachi Chatterjee (Senior Legal Counsel – Crescent Enterprises), just treated me just like his own brother and provided me the support and guidance that I needed.

My first job was at Wockhardt, where Mr. Shivaji Rao (now Regional General Counsel -John Deere) gave me a PPO and helped me in kick-starting my career. Mr. A G Karkhanis of India Law Services (now Link Legal) took me under his wing and gave me several opportunities to learn and grow. During my long stint at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Mr. Amey Pathak guided me to deal with high-stake and complex matters. Presently at L&L Partners my mentor is Mr. Bikash Jawar whose constant support and advice has helped me grow professionally.

A good mentor plays a significant role in not only motivating you to work harder but also interpret law from a diverse perspective, in turn addinghues of colour to your legal palette.

What are the qualities you and your firm look for in an intern?

Analytical, diligent, focused and team player.

What are the parameters your firm looks upon for the job of an Associate?

At the time of recruitment law firms typically do not expect candidates to be experts in law, most of the recruiters look for

(a) sincerity in an individual;

(b) strong fundamentals on things learnt at law school;

(c) strong inter-personal skills including communications skills;

(d) honesty;

(e) sound research skills;

(f) drafting skills; (for some recruiters as drafting is something one learns on the job) and

(g) right attitude towards learning.

In my view, if a candidate is able to demonstrate the aforesaid skill-set the recruiters would be bound to consider his/her application.

What would be your word of advice to young lawyers and law students? What qualities do you think one should develop in order to become a lawyer?

Studying law and practising law, in my view, are completely different ball games and therefore require different skill–sets. Having said that, I do acknowledge that skills learnt at law school definitely compliment the practice and a strong foundation will help build a strong structure. Please remember that sometime s opportunities may not come so easily. You have to be persistent and create the opportunity for yourself.

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“Students should be allowed to study legal journalism. It could be like a specialised subject in the last year of law school and could really help students bring up the entire sector.”

Ms. Sanya Talwar an experienced consultant in the field of Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace (POSH) across multiple sectors of industry stalwarts and offers Legal Consultancy, Advisory and Training. Awareness is her forte and she is currently empanelled with the Delhi State Legal Services Authority, directly reporting to Additional District and Sessions Judges at the Central Office in Delhi as a legal counsellor in the recently constituted Central Panel.

As a Legal Journalist, she has experience in Court Reporting, she also reports at Industry leaders (Currently spotted at Live Law – India’s No. 1 Legal News) in legal news is objective & succinct. Detailed legal analysis, legal briefs and summaries as well as writing opinions is within her scope of work and expertise. She has very well demonstrated experience in content creation and Video Journalism. She began her career as a litigation lawyer and worked in courts with senior litigators for 4 years. After that, she began her own work & worked with multiple organizations as a Consultant & independently handled clients in POSH & Litigation from 2017 onwards.

“It is very cliché but the day you start thinking that you have excelled in something you just stop growing. No one is bigger than their work.”

For the sake of our readers how would you like to introduce yourself?

I am somebody who is primarily working diverse legal sectors, i.e., prevention of sexual harassment at workplace and legal journalism. A lot of people often ask me how this works out for me, working in these diverse sectors but the truth is, both these sectors are not entirely  different from each other as both are holistically awareness-based sectors. So, when one focuses on awareness in their scope of work, some way or other both these sectors collide with each other. Journalism is something that totally works on awareness. You are creating awareness amongst people as to what happens in the Court, various kinds of Court developments, etc. It brings transparency in terms of what goes on in court. Similarly, the POSH sector is also about meeting people, making them aware of their rights, making them sensitized about what sexual harassment is, their rights under the law.

These both legal sectors are extremely new, did you ever have a mentor? Were there any difficulties that you faced in the case you didn’t have one?

 I never really had a mentor, but that’s also because of how I am as a person. I like to find my own way. In the journalism space, but there are a lot of journalists whos work I like. There is one Supreme Court Journalist named Utkarsh Anand who reports for News 18.

But again, I never really had a person that I used to look up to. I mean I like people and I like their work. I’ve always tried to make my own space because I wanted to work in a way which involved two areas and a lot of people don’t do that and most people think it is extremely naïve to even do that.

Therefore, I brought by my own journey and started working the way I want to work. Luckily the places that I’ve worked at in the last two-three years were very inclusive of that fact and I was allowed to do whatever I am doing but of course, I have to keep performing. This is one thing that I always keep in mind that if someone is giving me that much leverage then I have to perform my best for them.

I think one should just be resourceful. Keep performing. Keep in mind that I have to do this, this is my own journey and then you become your own mentor.

If you like doing something, if you enjoy doing it and if you are good at it then there is always scope for you to excel in it and I feel there is no need for anybody to keep guiding you through it. For how long can one expect to be guided? You have to be on your own at some point or another, so might as well start from the first day.

What was your inspiration for taking up the law?

My grandfather. He was a lawyer, I used to see him every day and I’ve always liked the way he was and the way he worked. He always kept telling me that law is something you should do and could do. I also liked the Law and he had always inspired me. I owe it to him completely.

How would you describe your journey towards becoming a legal journalist?

During the time that the Ayodhya matter was going on, I joined this firm called the Center for Law and Policy Research. They have a forum called the supreme court observer where they report the constitutional matters online.

I was doing my POSH practice that time and I was also doing bits and pieces of litigation. I always wanted to do Legal Journalism and Court reporting, while I was googling about it, I found out that CLPR (Centre for Law and Policy Research) was looking for someone to report their Supreme Court’s constitutional matters.

I sent them stories and pieces that I had written for various platforms. Then they reached out to me and said let’s give it a shot Then I gave it a shot and they liked it. Luckily, I started my court reporting with Ayodhya matter and that was really great for me.

It gave me a lot of good hands-on experience at a very early stage in this sector. Then I started doing videos for LiveLaw. It was just a matter of chance where one opportunity after another just started coming because I started looking for them.

You always have to believe in yourself. Your work. You need to believe that you are good at it and you will get better.

What do you think is the scope of legal journalism as a career?

Legal Journalism is growing now, there is a niche sector now where you are reporting court proceeding every minute by minute and now with the advent of technology, updates are breaking news by the clock.. The scope is going to get larger and larger. I get calls from my colleagues and friends who have been practising lawyers for 3-4 years and want to start doing this.

I am slowly noticing the change; earlier people were very averse to it, they used to say you are passing out of law so might as well just become a litigation lawyer or going at a firm, but that’s not the case now. People are taking up in different fields. In terms of monetary aspect also the options are mind-blowing. It is getting very competitive and very vast.

If you already know in college that this is what you want to do and this is where you see yourself then you should intern with lawyers, understand what happens in a court, how are proceeding conducted, What are the basics? Apart from that, one should always reach out to media organizations, they are always on the lookout for interns, I think even Live law is looking for interns right now. You can also shadow a legal journalist and observe how they work.

What are the changes that you think should be introduced in the POSH Act, now that during the pandemic situation has changed the workplace scenario?

The POSH act in itself is very comprehensive in nature and accommodates all workplaces, whether it’s a virtual workplace or a travel workplace because it says any extended workplace which may not be brick and mortar, so it takes into account all the areas of the workplaces, so the Act does not need to be changed, but the policies of a lot of companies do not know how to tackle these newer forms of sexual harassment that have started surfacing.

A lot of companies did not anticipate that employees might have to work from home for so long. Therefore, only basic tweaks need to be made like how sexual harassment can be perceived virtually, what to do when it happens etc. On top of this, the most important task is that the employees need to be made aware of their rights, they need to be told that even if you are working from home and engaging during your course of employment with other people and you feel sexually harassed you have the power to go ahead and complain.

Have you seen a substantial increase or a substantial decrease in cases of sexual harassment at the workplace during the Pandemic?

A lot of articles suggest that the cases of sexual harassment have gone down during the pandemic, and a reason for that could be that there is no person to person, human to human contact when people are not meeting each other on a daily basis, it is obvious that there will be fewer cases of perceived harassments.

It is very early to comment whether there will be drastic change or high reduction in the number of cases under the posh act, and such an observation cannot be made until at least a year. But I believe that a lot of harassment that happens on virtual workplaces is not being accounted for.

The polices and mechanics of work from home are unclear and dicey. The companies do not know what they should do when somebody gets harassed virtually. A lot of companies do not have policies in place for Work from Home sexual harassment. There is a lot of grey area now and it can only be figured out with time.

What is the process of becoming a POSH lawyer?

I started as a POSH Consultant and worked with a PAN India firm which only does POSH and ancillary work. They trained me extensively for 5-6 days and then let me out in the field, so the first thing you should do is intern with a firm like that. There are a lot of firms like that now, across the country.

You can also work with a consultant who is willing to have you as an intern. Just explore how they work and then do a proper certificate course from a Boutique Firm, then you are good to go. All you must do is to keep reading what the POSH Act is and keep reading Judgments.

What is your advice to law students out there?

My advice would be if you want to do something different and achieve something different and if anybody says this is not something you should do or can do then don’t listen to them. Listen to your Heart. Every journey is different. Just because somebody is on a path you don’t have to follow that path.

You can have your own rules and your own set of experiences. Don’t lose heart. If you keep going there will always be an opportunity for you. It is not rocket science to excel in any field in the world.

The post Advocate Sanya Talwar on building a successful career in Legal Journalism and POSH Law appeared first on LexForti .

Mr Singh is a Partner – Litigation at KSK, Delhi for last 8 years and is primarily concerned with commercial litigation and regulatory & compliance issues. He advises domestic and international clients and private equity stakeholders across a variety of sectors in strategic and financial capital transactions. His expertise areas are Insolvency & Bankruptcy laws, Banking laws, Insurance, Manufactures law includes Legal Metrology, Food laws, Drugs, Insecticide’s law.

How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers as a partner of KSK?

I am Raj Dev Singh. I have been working for KSK for the past 6 years. I have had a very diversified background; I have started my career by pursuing engineering and then worked in a few Tech companies like HCL. Then one day I came across a notice that was served to one of my clients, and that sparked my interest in the legal field. Upon the suggestions given by my well-wishers, I have pursued my LLB from the Delhi University, Campus Law Centre.

What is the importance of participating in any extra-curricular activities while in college?

I have taken a very active part in Theatre while I was pursuing my BTech. It is important to take part in extra-curricular activities, that has a special bearing on society. I have participated in many street plays and shows for WHO and NACO which are social awareness programs that tend to have a lot of impact on society.

It helped me a great deal in getting used to the courtroom environment. Performing in front of people will give you the confidence to overcome any stage fright and will help to communicate your ideas better. Not only theatre but I would suggest every law student take part in any sort of extra-curricular activities.

These kinds of activities give you a lot of exposure and a unique kind of confidence to make a lot of difference in their legal careers. There is definitely a difference between a person who has just done their five years of LLB and a person who has been taking an active part in various things during their time in the college.

It could be writing a blog or participating in social awareness programmes or something like that as in the end, it all comes back to society. Even though you are representing your client it is more or less like fighting for the society as well.

What are the qualities your firm looks for in an intern? What is the relevance of having a structured cover letter and what do you look for in a CV?

We generally prefer a student who has at least completed three years of a five programme or two years of a three-year programme because earlier than that it might be very difficult for the students as they might not be mature enough to be able to understand what exactly the senior lawyer is going to ask.

The best part about KSK is that unlike the big firms we don’t ask the interns to do clerical jobs, but we give them hardcore lawyer jobs. We always try to have the interns work parallelly with us. We even teach the interns to draft to help them understand the subject well.

As a firm, we have got a lot of different areas of law that an intern can join, and we greatly value and respect the interns. We always celebrate any events pertaining to our intern; for example, their birthday. We do not differentiate them; we treat them at par as our associates.

When someone applies for the Job in your firm, what are the new skill sets you look for in them?

I usually go for campus placement like NALSAR Hyderabad, Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad, UPSC, etc. We don’t hire more than one candidate from one campus in a particular year.

Quality-wise, we see communication skill as our pre-screening factor. Legal Knowledge is a must and then the reasonableness of the law is required. These qualities differentiate the potential candidates from the rest in the PI round.

In written examination, we check their drafting skills along with Objective and subjective questions. We then go for a group discussion and finally we go for the PI round.

What are the implications that legal professionals are facing during this Pandemic? And what are the consequences if this pandemic extends for foreseeable future?

The condition during the pandemic of the majority of the professionals is not good. There are individual lawyers, then there are law firms, however before proceeding, it is pertinent that the Big four law firms stand unaffected because of their mechanism, modus operandi, process, etc.

Corporate law firms have been substantially affected negatively because of the pandemic. When we talk about independent lawyers, the majority of them have been affected in the worst condition. It has been difficult for them. I feel like Judiciary has not been kind to the lawyers and reopening of the Courts should be considered. It is high time now that Court should reopen.

If we talk about our firm KSK, we have tackled this pandemic by continuing our legal services to our client in the form of giving legal opinions from our international to domestic clients. Now IBC processes are going on, so we are have been doing many filings. Apart from this, we have been doing many things ranging from drafting, compliances, helping client, etc. 

How was your journey from the position of Senior Associate to Partner in King Stub Kasiva was like to be? Any major differences in the role?

When I came here, I already worked for 5 years in the legal sector which made me matured with respect to the reasonableness. My respective partners always appreciated it. When I joined the firm, I was supposed to manage associates.

There was a lot of work which was given to me when I joined the law firm and the workload helped me tremendously. When I was in the tech sector, I learned various skillsets, which helped me a lot in my journey in this law firm. I explored various laws extending from IBC, Legal Metrology, Food laws, insurance laws, etc.

Doing this helped me to diversify my expertise, which helped the Law firm in return. In terms of power, I have always had the liberty to hire people, decide the salary; so in terms of power, there has not been any paradigm shift in this regard. But now as a Partner, my liability has increased compared to what it was when I was a senior associate.

What would you advise to young generation lawyers and law students?

When I was in the tech sector, I was earning a handsome amount of money and then I left it to pursue law and started from zero again. I took the risk and considered my passion. Pursuing law is not an easy task, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication.

My first advice would be to improve the communication skills. By good communication skill, I don’t mean it to be only English. It can be in their vernacular languages as well. Vernacular languages like Hindi are preferred in the Lower Courts. So good communication skill is of paramount importance. 

My second advice would be to put lots of hard effort; earning money should not be the main objective for any freshers, the focus should be on the learning.  Many freshers directly join the High Court and Supreme Court. But the proper approach should be to work first in Trial Court.

As a law firm also, we always prefer someone who has experience of at least 2 years in the Trial Court as a practitioner. Someone who has practised in the Trial Court is more competent than the one who never practised in the Trial Court.

So, all in all, the two main pieces of advice would be to improve communication skills and to learn litigation in the Trial Court. Finally, if there is a passion to do Law, then no force can stop him or her to successfully pursue their career in Law.

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