This interview has been taken by Anandita Shekhar, a campus leader at Lawctopus.

This is an interview conducted of Dr. Shruti Sharma, Professor in Legal Department of the University. With special interest in Corporate Sector, Dr. Sharma has dedicated almost 2 decades to the field of law. Here is the conversation, led by one of her students that provides a little window in her inspirational life that may motivate law students and professionals alike.

What inspired you to pursue a career in law?

I think I always wanted to be in the corporate sector and calculating money, I always had an interest in finance but a then few things in society got my attention towards everyday injustices and subsequently I pursued law to be a voice of voiceless and unheard.

There are plenty injustices in the world and very few who are tackling it so I believe it’s indeed one of the best decisions that I made at the eleventh hour.

What are some of the key milestones in your career?

‘Milestone’ is a very relative term and may vary for different people. For me every meagre or controversial case that I have been part of during litigation which has brought some positive change in someone’s life is a milestone.

Every student who has changed the way they used to think about society and their role in it before they connected with me is a milestone.

Are there any particular moments however, that seem to stand out in your career?

So yes, I think that will be when I was arguing my case before Justice Katju, the then Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi who then complemented us all the lady lawyers standing before the court, coincidentally the front bench had four lady lawyers, I was assisting my Senior and on the other side Advocate Uma was assisting Senior Advocate Pinki Anand.

He appreciated our zeal and commitment towards the case and I quote “The future is yours not just for this is the decade of women empowerment but also because I can see the dedication and the vigour with which you four have been working on this case.”

What major challenges have you faced in your career, and how did you overcome them?

Challenges have been many for few, because the line chosen was in itself challenging, but for me the icing on cake was that I am quite a little sentimental with the whole idea of justice, fairness and equity so it got all the trickier for me.

Nevertheless, I am still glad that I took the law and stuck to it. I have had my hands on all the professions in the field of law and finally settled with the equally best option.

I have 2 mantras that worked for me and would work for most of us

• Don’t be in haste to take your decision
• Once decided do not give up until you succeed

This gave me reasons enough for working out solutions to all my problems and eventually helped me sail through it.

How do you handle stress and maintain a work-life balance?

I don’t stress myself thinking about ‘stress’ as that is part and parcel of today’s work culture. I simply stress out the stress.

Balancing between professional and personal life comes easy to me as I have clarity in mind and so I am able to prioritize things in hand. For any individual struggling through stress due to the work culture today, the only solution is to sort out your priorities and then plan your moves from there.

It has worked out for me well in my professional life and it might help the others struggling as well, because in my opinion clarity of mind is important in establishment of proper work-life balance.

What sort of legal trends do you believe law students should be looking into?

The students of all fields should necessarily keep themselves updated and law students particularly should be explorative alongside of being inquisitive since law is dynamic and changes with changing times and new developments

The best way to keep pace with the recent trends is to watch on activities across the globe.

Like fast paced development in AI, the speed it has evolved in is incredible and undeniably has as well as will have effect in legal sphere as well. The long-term implications of it are still to be observed but it has already started making an impact.

How do you see the field of law evolving in the next decade?

The field of law is certainly going to evolve in multitude dimensions but it isn’t very predictable as to what would sustain. Still my best bet is law in tech and tech in law.

What advice would you give to law students to make the most of their time in law school?

Making the most of the 3 or 5 years spent in a law institution by a law student is very important to identify/determine their interests and skill sets.

They should take all the opportunities to participate in curricular & co- curricular activities and should invest maximum time in planned internships in accordance with their career choices.

What changes would you like to see in the legal education system?

A complete overhaul in the education system in general and specifically in legal education is much needed. Law is a subject to explore and observe and so primarily students of law should frequently be out in the fields.

Field research should be core to the curriculum and more subjects of humanities and economics be introduced to law students for a strong understanding of society and finances. Internal assessments should be based on the real time experiments so that it connects the law students with the society.

Can you share some memorable experiences from your law school days?

Thank you for taking me back to my good old college days.I think there are many memories that I made during my time as a student, here’s one that I remember very well

The national seminar that was organized by the department and I was part of the organizing committee during my law graduation. There were 3 people as special guests, the then Vice Chancellor, the then Mayor of Lucknow, who happened to once be my teacher, and the then director of IIM, Lucknow.

I had the opportunity to welcome only one among them and all three held a lot of significance in my life. First was the Vice Chancellor of my alma mater, the second had been my teacher and the third was my career guru.

The choice was difficult but I, with my whole set of reasoning, opted to welcome my teacher and to my utmost surprise the host narrated the incident while welcoming the guests and the guest of honour praised my decision on the stage which though left me in an awkward situation then, as the choice was quite personal and the host narrating the event made the anecdote public, but now today as a teacher myself I realize that what would that must have meant to him at that time.

What are your future plans in the legal field?

At the moment I’m quite content in teaching but one thing I would want to do post my retirement is to start a non-institutional research club for students.

This needs a lot of infrastructure so it would be a little tricky but I would certainly make a sincere attempt in future however until my retirement I only wish to teach and mentor my students to keep them fairly guided. 

Is there any book related to legal studies that you would recommend to students reading this?

I would not restrict their reach by recommending any particular book rather would want to send a message to go beyond curriculum books and read books authored by the lawyers with a whole lot of real time incidents from their life to learn from their experiences.

To start with book on legends of law by V. Pai and then books by the legends like Nani Palkhivala. 

Lastly, has Lawctopus supported you in your career journey?

It has helped me in great deal by helping my students to find the right internships and encouraging them to take research in hand by posting it from time to time.

This interview is part of our Star Student/Faculty interview series, in which our campus leaders interview their college’s star student/faculty. Stay tuned for more!