00:00Hello my dear friends, I am Nidhi Singh, Founder NRI Legal Services.
00:06Of late, in our offices in the UK, in Canada and other parts of the world, and also through
00:14our online systems, we have been receiving a lot of enquiries of people who have their
00:22existing cases going on all over India.
00:26These are cases that they want us to file appeals because they have not been able to get relief
00:32in the lower courts, or they have been dismissed in default, or somewhere down the line their
00:38communication seems to have broken down with their chosen lawyers.
00:44Why is this happening, it really makes me wonder, and does it mean that the lawyers all across
00:52India are not working, are not giving proper services, and why so many of these cases are
00:59coming to us and especially those who live overseas.
01:04To understand that, you will have to understand the way the legal system in India is structured,
01:12the way the litigation is designed, and how a litigation should be carried on.
01:20Simply thinking that you have hired a lawyer, and that you have paid him a fee, and now he
01:27will take care of the entire litigation or representation that you need in India is something that is absolutely
01:35not possible, and in fact it is something that is the root cause as to why so many problems overseas
01:45persons
01:46of Indian origin or NRIs face while fighting their cases in India.
01:52To make you understand the situation completely, let me start by telling you what is a typical day
02:01in an ordinary lawyer's life in the court and outside the court, in his normal day, in his normal
02:11business hours. So a local lawyer goes to the court from morning to evening, comes back at 5 o'clock,
02:18once he is back in the time span that he has, which is 5 to 8 or 9, he has
02:25to take care of 3 or 4 major things.
02:27First major thing is that he has to read up on the cases that are next day, and he has
02:32to prepare those cases
02:34with his team. The number 2 is that he is also waiting to attend to new clients who are waiting
02:42to engage him
02:43for their matters. And the third, there are these existing clients, the resident clients who are waiting,
02:50whose cases are pending with him, and they are there to discuss their matters with him, to give them,
02:55to give him support, to give him guidance, and generally have a feel of what he is doing with their
03:02matters.
03:03Now, in a situation where a lawyer is doing all of these things in a span of one day, how
03:11much do you think
03:12of importance or time or value he can provide to an overseas client, who is firstly not browbeating him with
03:22his cases,
03:23since the communication is not daily, and secondly he is not there to guide him, he is not there to
03:32assist him,
03:33he is not giving any valuable contribution, and he is actually an invisible client, compared to what he has in
03:42front of him on a daily basis.
03:43So, we can very well infer that the value that he will be giving or the contribution that he will
03:50be making,
03:50even if with the best of intentions would be absolutely less than what he would be doing to probably the
04:03local cases that he represents him.
04:06So, once you understand the situation and you understand that only by hiring a lawyer, a general lawyer,
04:17your problem in India or your legal matter in India is going to be resolved is a very tough ask,
04:23and it should not be taken in this spirit, and in fact you have to be very proactive, you have
04:34to understand the nitty gritties of litigating in India,
04:40and you have to act accordingly.
04:41So, how to choose the right lawyer from an overseas location, for that you have to understand what are the
04:52four key elements that are very very important for a litigation to be successful in India.
05:01These four key elements are number one, the submissions and the briefs that the lawyer submits to court,
05:09they have to be checked by you, before they are submitted they have to be discussed with you,
05:17the lawyer has to give you a full reason in forms of a discussion as to what is he writing
05:25and why is he submitting that,
05:27because that is what goes to the court and all the adjudication is done on the basis of what a
05:33lawyer submits in the court obviously.
05:35Number two another very key element is that what kind of information or documentation support that a client provides to
05:47a lawyer.
05:48This is the most critical part and this is a client's responsibility,
05:53because whatever information, whatever guidance, whatever documentation you will be providing
06:01to him is what is going to substantiate your matter and is going to help him prepare the case,
06:07which is to provide evidence in your matter, to do the final arguments.
06:13The little nuances on a regular basis with your lawyer will really help to give him an overall picture.
06:21Since you are just one case for him and he needs to understand the entire situation for him to be
06:27absolutely well armed and well equipped in the court.
06:32The third key element and a very important element is that have you been able to communicate to your lawyer,
06:41what is your overall agenda for this asset.
06:45So, a lot of times we do not convey to the lawyer what is it that you are really looking,
06:53what kind of solution are you really looking.
06:55Are you looking to retain that property?
06:58Are you trying to fight this litigation and claim your asset?
07:03And this is very, very common for NRIs.
07:06Are you trying to basically claim your inheritance or claim your asset in India?
07:12Because you eventually want to sell it and you do not want to retain it.
07:16So, according to the long term perspective or goal that you have for your property,
07:25your lawyer needs to understand and accordingly plan the litigation whether an out of court settlement would be advisable,
07:33whether you would like to keep fighting and not come to any kind of compromise
07:40because you need to retain that property for whatever reason for sentimental value or for any other reason.
07:47But you have to make sure that you and your lawyer have to be on the same page as to
07:53the desired outcome that you are looking at from this litigation.
07:58And fourth, which is very, very important.
08:02Are you aware of what this litigation that you are fighting, this case that you are fighting is actually going
08:09to bring you at the end?
08:10And whether that end of this litigation is actually in consonance or is actually going to achieve what you think
08:21is what you need from this case.
08:25Now, why am I saying this?
08:26Is very, so many cases that have been filed already and they come to us and we study what has
08:34been filed in the court
08:36and then we discuss it at length with our clients.
08:39We realize that what is filed and this is really surprising but true that what is really filed in the
08:46court
08:46and what the client is really looking at as the desired outcome, they are not even matching.
08:52So, you spend your years and I give years the most important which is time.
08:58So, you spend your years, your effort and your time in a litigation which is not even going to get
09:06you your desired result.
09:08And that is really tragic and that is because the lawyer that you had hired hasn't even filed what you
09:17wanted.
09:18So, many times you are filing let us say I will give you an example.
09:23Now, you are filing for declaration of declaration of your right in a property right.
09:29Now, you after filing that case you are declared as an owner, but that property is in somebody's
09:36possession already and suddenly you do get declared as an owner, but you do still do not have the
09:42possession.
09:43Now, what good is a property in which you are the owner on the paper, but do you have the
09:47property?
09:48Do you have can you can you sell that property?
09:51Can you do anything with it?
09:52Because it is in somebody else's this thing.
09:55So, sometimes you are just pursuing a dead horse and years are spent on that.
10:01So, the most important thing and I cannot stress on it is that you must understand what exactly is the
10:08litigation.
10:09You must discuss this with your lawyer and what is it going to achieve at the end and that
10:16should be that should be in parity with what you are what you want.
10:21And sometimes because the litigation takes so much time sometimes it also the outcomes change
10:30change over the years.
10:31So, let us say your father had filed that matter and he is no longer there and you do not
10:36need
10:36that property for exactly the same sentimental reasons that he did.
10:40So, then what is advisable is that you tell your lawyer that now you are ready for an out
10:45of court settlement or some kind of a quick compromise because you are not looking to spend more years,
10:53more time, more effort, more money on the cases.
10:56So, these are some of the very important points that you must understand and your lawyer must
11:01understand and you both need to be on the same page.
11:04Now, how to do this from an overseas location is the challenge.
11:12How do you?
11:13Simply by somebody recommending a lawyer or simply by just asking or maybe coming down and meeting
11:23a lawyer is not the right way to choose a lawyer especially when you yourself are not present
11:28in India.
11:29So, if I were to tell you a few things that can be a guide, it is that check the
11:37ratings of
11:38the lawyer if possible, if you can.
11:41If that lawyer can provide you with some testimonials or some satisfied clients you can talk to,
11:48who can validate and who can verify the services of that lawyer saying that yes, they have received
11:55the services and satisfactory services from that lawyer especially to a client based overseas.
12:03And why I say is because there is a lot of difference, the people who are here can supervise,
12:09go to their lawyers regularly and communicate with them much more effectively than you can
12:15from an overseas location.
12:16So, you must hire a lawyer who has a proven track record for servicing clients overseas.
12:21It is absolutely not the same thing.
12:24It is a completely different set of services and you must understand that you need a different
12:29level of services from the lawyers than the local residents.
12:33So, you need to have a proven track record, satisfied clients, testimonials.
12:38That is the first thing.
12:41Second important thing is that when you have a talk with any lawyer that you are planning
12:45to hire or engage for your matters in India, sass him out by the initial consultation and
12:53sass him out on what?
12:55Sass him out on the level of communication, how quickly they are communicating with you and
12:59and how easily they are communicating with you.
13:02It is very very important.
13:04Third sass him out on his knowledge on the subject.
13:07Does he understand what you are trying to get?
13:10How he was going to get you that?
13:13What is the solution or what is the strategy that he is going to adopt?
13:18And in that initial consultation call, you will have a general feel of whether that guy
13:24that you are planning to engage for such an important thing, does have a fair amount of idea of
13:30what he is talking about and is he making enough sense and you are understanding the sense that
13:35he is making.
13:36So, thirdly, the language.
13:39Do you have a language barrier?
13:41Now, we are filing cases all over India.
13:44And India is a very diverse country and there are language barriers, there are communication barriers.
13:51And sometimes we are dealing with the second generation or the third generation of immigrants.
13:58So, the property belonged to your grandfather, but now you have come on the picture because
14:03your parents are not there or and you probably do not even understand the vernacular languages
14:09that most lawyers speak.
14:11So, if you have a language barrier right at the start and you can assess that language barrier,
14:17then I would really advise that you should not go for that lawyer because communication as I have told you
14:23is absolutely the key of a successful litigation.
14:27So, even if you cannot even understand what your lawyer is saying, so there is no point going down that
14:32route
14:32because in the end there are going to be vital miscommunications that you can absolutely very well do to avoid.
14:42So, sass him out with the communication skills.
14:47So, the other thing that you must be very aware of when you are engaging a lawyer in India
14:54is that he should be on a, is he on a fixed fee module.
14:58A fixed fee would make sure that the lawyer does not try to unnecessarily delay your matter
15:04because he is anticipating more money which is pretty commonsensical.
15:08So, whenever you engage a lawyer in India, when you are yourself not present in India,
15:13then a fixed fee is the best option for engagement especially where the fee is concerned.
15:21Now, another thing that you must see when you are hiring a lawyer,
15:25is he willing to take complete responsibility of the matter end to end.
15:30He will provide you the complete service which means his in-court work, his out-of-court work,
15:37all the information, all the documentation, collection, anything that he needs to,
15:42any help that he needs for evidence or at different stages,
15:46would he be able to take up the complete responsibility of the matter single-handedly?
15:50Only then you engage that lawyer because you yourself are not going to be able to come
15:54and help him navigate through various stages or processes.
16:03Lastly, what if you need to access the lawyer because there is a change in circumstances?
16:10Is there a local presence in your country where you are residing?
16:16Do they have any representative there or an office there where you can quickly go and address your concerns?
16:24Or can they reach out to you if there are important documents to be signed?
16:29Any kind of help or facilitation that you want, is it possible in your own country?
16:36Because at the end of the day, the service that you require is in India but you yourself are staying
16:41outside India.
16:42So you need to have a lawyer which are willing to actually bridge this gap
16:47and give you a well-encompassed, rounded service and a comprehensive service.
16:54So these are very important things that you must see when you are engaging a lawyer for a successful litigation.
17:00And if you actually watch this and you actually adhere to this,
17:04it is very difficult for you to lose your matter in any court in India.
17:09I would only say that just like your health, your asset, your legal services are also very important.
17:22And if you want your financials, your health, your mental stress to be minimized,
17:28then you must choose and engage a lawyer very, very carefully.
17:34And you must understand the key importance of a litigation and only then make a very judicious decision
17:44of hiring a lawyer simply by someone recommending him and by somebody quoting a lower fee.
17:52And that is very common.
17:54People try to see that, oh, this lawyer is charging less.
17:57Let's hire him or her without understanding the level of services that you require when you are not present in
18:03India.
18:04So only on the basis of that, do not make a decision, make a careful analysis, careful decision
18:12and only then choose the lawyer when you are yourself not in India
18:17and you are choosing him from an overseas out of India location.
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