Courtstorming: Anand & Anand's Pravin Anand (L) with recruits looking to the future

FAQs

Why an IPR lawyer? Global business profits depend increasingly on intellectual property ownership. Disputes here will grow as India globalises. What does it pay? Starts at Rs 20,000 a month at a law firm. It doubles and quadruples, depending on performance. A firm 'partner' can earn in lakhs every month. How do I start? Stay aware of IP issues. Specialise your law education. Opt for an IPR-focussed internship at a law firm. How do I shift to IPR from corporate law? Read, read, read. Understand IP. Then convince the recruiter of your interest in this field.

Disputes aren't what they used to be. It used to be property of the brick-and-mortar kind that used to get people rattling sabres and rolling up sleeves. The nature of 'value' has changed over the years, and now it's the ownership of things intellectual that's being fought over. This has two good implications, if any good can come of disputes at all. One, the warring in itself is turning intangible, with voices starting to replace fists. And two, intellectual property lawyers are in big demand.

A globalising India means that Indian businesses are party to the global scenario too, and as international intellectual property rights (IPRs) take hold, expect more and more litigation of this kind. Add to all this the growing realisation that one must safeguard the property one is legitimately sitting on.

Independent Area

Intellectual property (IP), as the term suggests, refers to a product of the human mind that the law grants private ownership of. It could be an invention, a chemical formula, an idea, a brand logo or a work of art. Law firms such as De Penning & De Penning, Remfry & Sagar and Anand & Anand have been practising IP law for decades on end, but what's happening now is new. Globalisation.

"Till a few years ago, IP was never considered an independent area of practice," says Sajan Poovayya, Managing Partner of Bangalore-based Poovayya & Co., "Post-WTO and trips, the entire IP scenario has changed." Suddenly, it's booming, with talk of copyrights, trademarks, patents, geography indicators and even the molecular structure of chemical entities pouring out of the ears of these black-robed case makers. "Their work has seen a 10-fold increase," estimates a lawyer, referring to the past three years.

It's tricky work too. In businesses where profits depend directly on IP ownership, such as pharma and biotech, sub-specialisations are becoming apparent. After all, the scientific intricacies of the arguments involved call for intense knowledge beyond the books of law. The fields of entertainment, media, music and arts, meanwhile, are not easy to understand through a legal lens either. One man's inspired attempt to vibe with a creative idea might be another man's theft. The finer views on this are still being shaped.

"So," says Diljeet Titus, Managing Partner, Titus & Co., a Delhi-based law firm, "the job of an IP lawyer is also changing radically." From nothing five years ago, nearly a third of Titus' revenues are now from IPR tussles.

A Just Opportunity

A trainee IP lawyer can start on a cool Rs 20,000 a month and work towards partnership at a law firm. "A fast tracker can become a partner in seven years," says Pravin Anand, Managing Partner, Anand & Anand. A partner at a big firm could take home anywhere between Rs 50 lakh and a crore every year. There's also the chance of stardom, and your very own firm, for which the game is to work towards a reputation that can net a fraction of the sums at stake (Ranbaxy's generics' battles alone have over a billion dollars' worth of sales in contention).

No wonder youngsters like Munish Mehra, 23, are so besotted by the opportunity. A graduate of Bhopal's National Law Institute University of Bhopal, he switched from M&A work at Amarchand Mangaldas to IP work at Anand & Anand.

Sumit Kumar Roy, a young IPR attorney at Titus & Co., however, was clear right from the start that tomorrow's successes would emerge in new fields of practice-and what better than IPR. There's so much happening, you see.

Says Tarminder Singh, Partner and Co-Chair of IP at Kochhar & Co., "IPR will see good recruitment in the next two-to-three years. We're getting hundreds of applications from young lawyers who want to become IPR attorneys." There's no need to fear a glut of IPR lawyers, though. The opportunities are vast and multiplying. The Indian music industry, for example, which loses revenues of about Rs 600 crore every year in IPR theft, is on the lookout for legal protection. Software piracy and cybercrime are growth zones too. Plus, there is an opportunity in documentation work as well; a us attorney charges $300-$400 (Rs13, 200-Rs 17,600) an hour for patent drafting, while the same job costs just a fourth of that in India. Moreover, you could join a company instead of a law firm.

Test The Case

A stardom caveat, though. Law in India lacks the glamour of other professions found in the media spotlight. But then, this country has very few of the crazy litigation seen elsewhere, from literally ludicrous attempts to appropriate the 'six-day work week' as an original idea, to absurd posthumous paternity claims. Regardless of anybody's own assertions, justice must pass the universal test of reason. And to an earnest lawyer, seeing that happen is a bigger reward than any personally adulatory glories given by people who barely understand the rule of law.

SPOTLIGHT
Translators

Anuvad Parishad's Tandon: Word wizardry

If you believe that language should not be a barrier to progress based on understanding one another's most thoughtful thoughts, have a go at a career as a translator of the written word. "Today, there is more demand for translated literature rather than original works," notes P.C. Tandon, Director, Bhartiya Anuvad Parishad, and Senior Reader, Hindi Department, University of Delhi. It calls for a mastery of genuine bilingualism, down to the most subtle of nuances, without any bias one way or another (the tough part). Officially, the government's Staff Selection Commission hires about 400 translators (not interpreters, mind you) every year. There are jobs at diplomatic services, global thinktanks, media houses, academic institutions, book publishers and exporters too. The pay? About Rs 12,000 for a beginner, rising to many times that figure.

-Payal Sethi

COUNSELLING
Help, Tarun!

I am a 25-year-old science graduate currently working as a Senior Sales Assistant (Corporate Marketing) in a reputed organisation. Before this, I was working as a Sales Executive in a construction company. I want to improve my pay potential, and am interested in entering the field of public relations (PR). Please advise me on what prospects the PR industry has to offer and what I can do to beef up my current qualifications to get 'that' dream job.

Frankly, with your current qualifications, you would be better off doing field sales than the desk job you are doing. Sales offers you good opportunities, both in terms of money and growth prospects. PR is a good profession, but its scope in India is limited. I suspect you are a little enamoured by the glamour of the profession without really knowing what it entails. I would suggest you speak with some pr professionals to enhance your knowledge of the function. If you still want to go ahead, you could pursue courses in pr offered by various institutions. Depending on where you are in the country, you could locate institutions that offer the course and have a good placement record.

I am a 21-year-old BMS (Bachelor of Management Studies) graduate, and have been managing a Rs 20-lakh turnover unit for the last three years. I am interested in the field of human resources (HR) and would like to pursue a career in it. But, given my time constraints, I can only commit myself to a part-time correspondence or online post-graduate course in HR. What would be my job prospects after such a course and would my experience help me in landing a good job?

You are only 21 and have a lifetime ahead of you. You need to think about your long-term career rather than your short-term constraints. I think you should take the opportunity and do a post graduate management course with specialisation in hr, if that is what you are interested in. An online course would have been preferable if you were older or had constraints where you could not leave your job for two or more years. However, at this juncture, it is best that you do something that would put more weight on your resume as well as your learning. Your resume too would look impressive with that degree you so badly want.

I am a 27-year-old pilot working for an international airline. Though I love my job, certain unfortunate incidents relating to complacency on safety issues on the part of non-operational managers have been nagging me. The views and needs of pilots, whose concerns pertain to safety, are ignored or overruled. When profits and safety collide, it's profits that prevail. I am cagey about taking up the matter with the top management, since my job may be at stake. What should I do?

No one likes to hear bad news and no company wants to have a whistle blower. You need to be sure the issues that are being ignored or downplayed are really important. There needs to be a balance between the technical and the commercial in any business-while technical guys want the perfect product, the commercial ones want profits. The question is how far can one go without jeopardising others' lives? If you truly believe in yourself, then have a talk with the top management. However, your job, as you suspect, may be at stake. But, if safety is ignored, your life may be at stake too-which is it going to be? The decision is yours to make.

I am a 30-year-old investment advisor working on my own. Four years into this profession, I've assembled an impressive list of clientele, who've relied on my advice and given me a free hand to handle their portfolios. But, recently I got an offer from an investment bank with an impressive pay packet. Though I am tempted to take up the offer, what if I don't like the job and decide to strike it out on my own again? I will have lost all my clients by then. What should I do?

Well, one thing to do is to take the clients along with you to the investment bank (if that is feasible). If not, keep in touch with them anyway. That way, if you ever have to go back, you will have those contacts to tap. As for your new job, well, you are probably going to do the same work albeit with bigger clients and bigger stakes. However, you will not be on your own and will have a structured environment to work in. The option of doing your own thing is always open. If you think this job is going to add to your experience (and wealth), then you have to steel yourself to make changes in the way your professional life is going to be.

Answers to your career concerns are contributed by Tarun Sheth (Senior Consultant) and Shilpa Sheth (Managing Partner, US practice) of HR firm, Shilputsi Consultants. Write to Help,Tarun! c/o Business Today, Videocon Tower, Fifth Floor, E-1, Jhandewalan Extn., New Delhi-110055..

Critical Path Security
Private security outfits seek B-school skills.

Topsgrup's Nanda: Both brains and brawn

India's thriving Rs 5,000-crore private security services industry, that bastion of ex-army men, is holding its breath as new recruits stream in with books on operational research methods tucked under their arms. It's a new sort of 'intelligence' being sought, and B-school grads are welcome. Of either gender.

This is not a business of allotting guards to watchposts, asserts Diwan Rahul Nanda, Chairman and MD, Topsgrup, a firm that has MBAs from such institutes as Bajaj and NMIMs on its rolls, and recently recruited 50 women bodyguards as well. Apart from the regular it, hr, operations, quality control and marketing jobs, smart security entails the big picture analysis of threats. Complete with encoded material of amazing variety (fancy a 'mad king format'?), this arena is anything but boring. For all the martial trappings and shielding work, there's a romance of sorts to it. But the industry is not of uniform quality players. "Very few, like Topsgrup, Group4 and trig, are organised ones," says Arunisha Sengupta, Vice President, Topsgrup. As for the pay, "At the management level, it matches the best," she assures.

-Indrani Rajkhowa

Commodity Savvy
Far-flung jobs for online commodity traders.

In just three years since they started, India's three national commodity exchanges have seen trading soar to roundabout Rs 5,00,000 crore in 2004-05. The potential, enthuses Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), is about 11 times that figure.

Good going. Now that these exchanges are promising to penetrate India's heartland via computer networks, will that create jobs for commodity traders in far-flung places? Not immediately. Around a lakh traders are already at work, but in the cities where trading and analytical skills are to be found. "We have just scratched the market: as more commodities are added and more players enter the market, the trade volumes will grow further and will have a positive impact on all kinds of jobs-dealers, research analysts and back-end staff," says Anjani Sinha, CEO, Multi-Commodity Exchange of India (MCX). The networks, though, are reaching out in search of an urban-rural blend of skills. "We need people with agri-education and rural orientation,'' says Sabnavis, who expects NCDEX's base terminals to touch 9,000 in three years, up 50 per cent. That's about 7,500 more dealer jobs. Some of them far-flung.

-Kumarkaushalam