Hammurabi And Solomon Founder Dr. Manoj Kumar Delivers Lecture At ILNU On Growth Opportunities In Indian Legal Industry

Institute of Law Nirma University (ILNU) recently held a guest lecture by Dr. Manoj Kumar, founder & managing partner, Hammurabi and Solomon law firm, on ‘Future Growth Opportunities in Indian Legal Industry and Tips to be Practice Ready for Next Gen Lawyers’. This lecture, held on October 13, was open for students and faculty of Nirma University and active participation was seen by the undergraduate students of Institute of Law, Nirma University.

The major theme of discussion was the changing aspects of the Indian legal industry and the growth opportunities therein. Dr. Manoj Kumar started with discussing about how public policy would turn out to be a changing field wherein new aspects would be developed. Further, he discussed the pre-liberalization state before the arrival of computers in the industry and how all the work had to be done manually by referring to books and Acts whereas now the situation is completely changed and most of the work is done on computers or laptops or through the help of online search databases like Manupatra etc. in relation with the onset of artificial intelligence in the legal industry, he also referred to the case of ‘LawGeex’ a company which serves the purpose of automated review of legal contracts having a 94% accuracy in the field. Dr. Manoj Kumar questioned that with so much development in technology, how much lawyering is left for us? However, answering his own question, he also said that AI would make lawyering more efficient as then it would be the lawyer’s job to be extremely clear and precise meaning that when a person would go to a lawyer for any legal work, there would be no copy-pasting but actual working.

Dr. Manoj Kumar discussed the qualities that a next-gen lawyer needs to be practice-ready and this includes two major qualities being persuasion and collaboration. Discussing these further, he said that in regards to persuasion, it is a must for any lawyer to be able to persuade his audience or people before him, as far as collaboration is concerned one cannot collaborate with the judiciary as that may lead to unfair means, however, in the coming 8-9 years, this collaboration may prove to be very important and useful. He concluded the lecture by talking about the collaboration across disciplines meaning collaborating with engineers or doctors for making the legal industry more efficient, collaboration across geographies and overcoming cultural diversity for a widespread access and also about maintaining ethical borders in the legal industry.