The backstory: What I learnt about the inequities of a ‘noble’ profession

In October, I interviewed lawyers across different courts, and with different levels of experience, to understand how their work was affected by the pandemic, and if they wanted courts to open up physically. I found that many senior lawyers actually found it easier to attend multiple hearings in a day at courts across the country, while most junior lawyers were hit by an overall reduction of work and the loss of the ability to network.

The impact on lawyers also depended on the forum in which they practised. All the top lawyers in the country practise before the Supreme Court, which began functioning online in March, the same month the lockdown was announced. Many district courts, meanwhile, never got around to setting up online hearings.

As one senior lawyer put it: “The pandemic led to consolidation at the top, fragmentation of the middle and decimation of the bottom.”

In the course of writing the piece, I had many conversations that were more broadly about the profession: about the work lives of lawyers, their outlook towards the profession and the deep inequality that exists in the legal world.

In my conversations, many lawyers, especially juniors, were very hesitant to say anything on record about it. Those who were just…

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