The legal fraternity has been saddened by the untimely demise of Mr Sameen Vyas, Partner at Luthra and Luthra law office, New Delhi. Vyas spent 23 years in the legal profession before he passed away due to cardiac arrest. I never met Mr Vyas, nor heard of him before, but his story disturbed me a lot. His death has left many unanswered questions about professional growth in the law career. My friends from law firms have told me a number of times, that extreme work pressure and anxiety work conjointly for growth in law firms.
Law used to be considered a noble profession, which many people wanted to pursue, to fulfil their academic appetite, and to follow their debating interest. But due to economic development in recent decades, the need for law consultancy and advisory practice, have taken over the traditional court practice, and the charm of this profession has been diminished. Now, everything is about money and nothing else. This is not just causing the profession to lose its grace but is also putting young lawyers in peril.
I have personally observed through interactions with my lawyer friends, that we have become money-oriented, keeping our health and mental peace at bay. It is true that as young lawyers we must be focused on career growth, but at the same time, we should take our health seriously. In a rat race to beat each other, not only have we become mean and canny, but I have realised that we are forgetting our morals and becoming insensitive towards the cause of others. This is further making us ’emotionally anaemic’ and is also affecting our personal lives. Nevertheless, no one if realising the urgent need to improve the “quality of life” rather than “standard of life”.
Today’s young professionals are inspired by external sources, and instead of working on their own dreams, they want to live someone else’s life, without realising how badly the latter have been affected by their own problems.
Most young peoples’ life goals are now fixated on earning more and more money. This serves the economic interests of the organisation they are working with, but it is slowly ruining their lives. I believe that the day people start working on their inner happiness, and contributing more time to family and friends, most problems will be solved. As we know, neither will the organisations we work with embrace “work-life balance”, nor will our government introduce “National Gross Happiness” anytime soon. Hence, we need to understand that our life is precious, and we should keep ourselves healthy without waiting for help from others.
*The author is a lawyer based in New Delhi.