Leaders Speak - Breaking all In-House Myths

SABUJ D. CHOUDHURY – My next guest is someone who I have the privilege of working with closely. Extremely happy to chat with Sabuj on different issues regarding life of an in-house counsel and breaking some myths.

Sabuj D. Choudhury is Vice President – Legal & Company Secretary for Flex India Operations which includes Global Business Services (Chennai & Pune), CIP (Chennai Manufacturing) and GSS.

Sabuj holds Law & Accountancy degrees from the University of Calcutta. He is a qualified Company Secretary and also holds a diploma in HR.

Prior to joining Flex, Sabuj was the Chief Lawyer for a leading Swedish Engineering Company in Pune, India.

1. Thanks for speaking with me today, Sabuj. I want to start off with asking you about your in-house journey, especially how it was starting your career with an in-house role?

The legal profession has greatly evolved in the last 20 years since I started my legal career. In 1995-96, I first started as a Management Trainee and since 1997-98, I started working full-time.

I have seen a big change in in-house role in the last 25 years. The lawyers instead of being a mere “support-function”, have now come into the core business group. Lawyers now are in the forefront, driving the decision-making process, rather than just be a background support function.

For example, Aditya Ghosh rose up to the position of CEO of Indigo Airlines from being a GC of that Company. This would have been very rare even 15 years back. That has changed now, the in-house lawyer with his better knowledge of the Company’s strategies and customers, are able to contribute at the highest levels.

Lawyers are now driving business. Legal profession has now elevated its position within the Company.

Earlier, lawyers were mostly involved in regulations and compliances, and they used to be over controlling. Today, instead of being a critique, lawyers need to learn how to drive business within the legal parameters. They have to be solution driven. That is the big change that has taken place over the past few years.

Even with law firms there is a sea- change. A decade ago, there were only a few blue-chip law firms who were controlling the entire business with global corporations and Indian multinationals. But if we look around us now, we will find so many niche, boutique law firms which have come up in the last few years , who are operating on a different model altogether and are giving the bigger law firms a run for their money with more focused attention to their clients and their business.

2. What made you decide to start off your legal career with in-house, considering it was not the most popular option 20 years back?

When I had to kick-start my career, I decided to start in-house for my personal reasons. However, I feel for any young lawyer it is good to have the first 2-3 years of their career with law firms for better exposure. Life in a law firm is hard, grueling and there is a lot of stress. So, first it is good to work in a law firm for initial years and then decide whether to move in-house for better work-life balance reasons.

Earlier, the legal education in our country was not as good as what is available currently. The quality of our law schools were significantly lower to international standards. All that got changed with the National Law Schools and with a few private law colleges of global standards. Many companies used to hire Company Secretaries to get better quality professionals to deal with their legal work. But looking at the quality legal education now, with several good NLUs and other good private universities, legal education quality in our country has gone up significantly.

3. In addition to being a lawyer, you also possess a CS degree. Do you feel a CS or other similar degree helps in being better suited for in-house roles?

No, not right now. Rather, I would say doing an LLM from a good foreign university is a much better option.

The role of a CS has significantly come down for several reasons –

· Foreign companies got de-listed from the stock exchange

· Conversion of public to private entities when in 1990 the economy was liberated, and the investment ceilings were removed for foreign companies in most of the sectors

4. Having a team of 20+ lawyers, what are the ideal qualities you look for when hiring?

I generally believe in hiring young lawyers. The first thing I look for is positivity, someone having a positive can-do attitude.

Today, in addition to being a lawyer, you are a business facilitator. You need a positive mindset, to quickly understand the business and multitasking is also the need of the hour.

To be a full-fledged lawyer, you need to be good overall, not just in certain parameters.

You need to have first - hand knowledge of business and apply the laws in a way to achieve your organization’s business objective. This is where your legal creativity works.

5. Any words of wisdom to our readers looking to enter the world of in-house?

Lawyers can no longer afford to be sitting in their ivory towers and pass judgment. As an in-house lawyer, you need to understand and facilitate the business, help your organization achieve its objective in a compliant manner. Ultimately, your success in the organization is based on that.

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