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July 23, 2006
Been there, done what?
THIS week, we speak to Agha Faisal, a thirty-something lawyer who always wanted to be a lawyer but worked in finance for some time before pursuing his true calling. After attending Lincoln’s Inn no less, Faisal set up his own practice a few years ago in Karachi and has not looked back since. He has also been lecturing at S.M. Law College once a week since 2001 (incidentally his first lecture was on the fateful 9/11) and describes his students’ motivation as remarkable.
Q: When did you know that you wanted to be a lawyer?
A: Anybody who grows up reading Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of the hugely popular crime solver Perry Mason, about whom he wrote 50 books) is romanced by the idea of becoming an advocate.
Q: How did you choose what school to go for your undergraduate degree and then postgrad?
A: Even though I’d always wanted to be an advocate, I did my Bachelor’s in finance because law wasn’t in favour with my father. After getting a B.Sc. in finance from Miami University, I got a job with Met Life in New York, never thinking for once that I’d ever be a lawyer. After a short while of my being in New York my father decided that he preferred me to be in Pakistan and the law degree/bar was a sweetener.
Lincoln’s Inn was the obvious choice for the bar as it carries the most recognition in Pakistan. Prior to attending it, I did my L.L.B (Hons) at the University of Buckingham, as it permitted you to do the law degree in two years rather than three.
Q: After getting your law degree where did you work?
A: I was introduced to litigation at the knees of (late) Khalid M. Ishaque and subsequently my grounding in corporate consultancy came about due to the tireless efforts of (late) Mohsin Tayebaly.
Q: When prompted you to set up your own practice? What fears/apprehensions did you have; do you still have any of them?
A: Each successful law firm eventually comes to a stage when they choose to concentrate on a particular field of law. So as an associate you have to decide whether you want to continue with the branch of law which is in vogue or do you want to explore the other facets of law? I opted for the latter and decided to print my own letterhead in February 2002.
Of course I had fears, even though I had already been working for five years. When you are working for a large law firm you do not bear ultimate responsibility for your client’s well being. Furthermore, there is always someone in the adjoining office willing to advise you. The process of weaning in law is very frightening and the quickest remedy — in my humble opinion — is to jump straight into the deep end. Either you’ll figure out how to swim or you’ll sink, in which case you can go back to the employed life without much further ado. As daunting a task as it may seem, the greatest motivation for going solo is the knowledge that almost every successful practitioner followed the same route.
Yes, I am still fraught with fears, albeit of a different kind. I’m still frightened of being asked a question by a judge to which I have not prepared an answer. No matter how hard I work in preparing a case, the next morning when I’m standing before a judge my mind swirls with all the possibilities that I haven’t considered. This fear doesn’t arise from vanity but from the realisation that the fate of your client may depend on how well you satisfy the judge.
Q: What are some of the best/worst aspects of your job?
A: I’ve been blessed with a tremendous sense of satisfaction in my job. People come to you looking for help and the feeling that someone thinks you’re capable of helping them is the greatest sensation. Then there is the privilege of spending six days a week in the company of some the brightest minds in the nation, whether they’re serving on the bench or at the bar. Finally, nothing in life beats the satisfaction of seeing your father’s pride every time you’re successful in getting relief for your clients.
I really don’t think there is any negative aspect to being a legal practitioner with your own chambers.
Q: If you could do it all over again, what would you do differently?
A: I would do almost everything the same, except that I would try and get more out of education than just high grades. All I did was to try and obtain the best possible grades, which meant understanding the examination system and then acing it. The drawback of doing so is that you don’t imbibe as much from your professors and environment as you should. I opted for Lincoln’s Inn only because I knew it would be a marketable qualification. My one educational regret remains that I didn’t follow my heart to Cambridge to read Islamic jurisprudence.
Q: Given that there are more law students than lawyers, is there a type of person who is cut out to do law?
A: In my humble opinion law is the easiest degree to do. However, of all the professions it has the highest infant mortality rate. That is because it takes quite a while before you are blessed with the financial rewards. People tend to get disenchanted with the initial limited financial rewards and gravitate towards other more lucrative opportunities. My first salary was Rs4,000 per month and in hindsight I can say that even that was undeserved.
The best candidate for becoming a lawyer is a person who is aware of his/her strengths and weaknesses and strives to advance the strengths and work on the weaknesses.
Q: What advice would you give aspiring lawyers?
A: Law is the most satisfying profession since it gives you the opportunity of being able to help people. Law is also a skill that gives you the opportunity to be self sufficient and permits you to earn your livelihood with dignity. An aspiring lawyer must be honest, hard working, a voracious reader and ready to burn the midnight oil for the rest of his/her life. No amount of preparation is ever enough because the deeper you delve the further you realise you need to go.
I once asked Mr Ishaque that no matter how hard I prepared my case, I would always have butterflies in my stomach the next morning walking into court to present my case. He replied that the day I felt comfortable enough for the butterflies to have flown away is the day I’d cease to be a useful lawyer.
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