What does it take to be a part of the evolution of the legal landscape in India? What is the kind of wisdom that’s gained from navigating legal intricacies for more than 40 years? What does it take to make a legal behemoth? And what does the human side of a legal titan look like?
And for someone who has more than 40 years of legal expertise, what could they be hopeful about? And what would someone like that lose sleep over?
According to Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, “The 40s in a professional experience context has brought me a great sense of clarity and calm, pushing me to become a more authentic version of myself and for the firm. When you have 40 years of experience behind you, you may not have that same level of restlessness or insecurity as you may have had at the start of your career, but there is a sense of calm and sharp focus. I think I continue to be even more ambitious and my current approach is to creatively look at the future with two lenses: how to preserve the core of what we are and how to actively disrupt, because if we don’t disrupt, the market will”.
And what does a watershed moment look like for someone armed with more than 40 years of legal experience?
Shroff remarks, “I think I was fortunate to be one of the primary change agents for inventing the modern legal industry. The Indian legal profession was always a very respected profession, but there was a watershed moment pre-1990 and thereafter, particularly in terms of how talent was sourced, trained and groomed, creating scalable organizations… I think we created a fundamental shift moving away from jobs to creating legal careers… And I feel I played a critical role in modernizing the Indian legal profession. We always had a mindset of looking at new things with curiosity, constantly sharpening and refining our business model… So, building a modern law firm is a continuous exercise… The big drivers for me personally are longevity and legacy. We take pride in the fact that we’ve been around for more than a century and we’re always thinking about how we could live and thrive for another 100. And along with that comes a certain value system of always doing the right thing of not taking unnecessary risks, but at the same time, being sufficiently entrepreneurial. So, balancing the risk-reward, when it comes to different decisions, is a very important part of it”.
And what could ambitious and aspiring lawyers and leaders learn from someone with so much experience?
“When it comes to the legal profession, one has to think of their career in decades, not in terms of one or two years. One gets to be something only after at least a decade behind them, so my advice to young lawyers is to be less impatient, spend enough time developing oneself and have a long-term mindset. And sure, it’s easy for someone who has put in four decades, but I’ve seen this not only in my own case, but for many others. If you look at the tallest leaders in the profession today, they’ve all put decades behind them. I don’t know of any success story where people have managed to pull a rabbit out of their hat in a couple of years. So, one should think about what their legacy would be, develop depth and what their core value system is”, states Shroff.
Shroff declares, “Some of the things most important to me include humility, because it makes you curious. It’s one of the greatest risk management devices, because if you’re humble, you will listen and you won’t make mistakes. Then, there’s authenticity; nothing puts me off more than fakes or imposters and I’m naturally attracted towards authentic people. And I think hard work is absolutely critical, I’ve never had a problem working myself to the bone, because I never consider work to be work. Nothing of substance is ever achieved without putting in the time and effort. And integrity has to be part of your belief system… I try to listen with an open mind and not let ego come in the way. I’m a great believer in reverse-mentoring, where reverse mentors come and talk to me; some of my best ideas come from them. I don’t think one should just talk to people in the senior echelons, because at some point, they start giving you stale advice”.
And what is the viability of the 70-hour workweek?
Shroff opines, “The question one has to ask themself is what their goal aspiration is and what they want to achieve. One has to look at it mathematically. If one needs to reach a mountaintop, then 70 hours is the price they should be willing to pay. It’s in a person’s power to decide goals for big things to happen, like building large iconic companies. So, one has to either compromise on the hours or on the goals”.
Watch the entire interaction:
