First Generation Lawyer

by Varun Sharma

Bharat?	5
Forewords
Akhilesh S. Dubey, Advocate	7
Ganesh K. Gole, Advocate	9
Feedback 11	23
Acknowledgment	12
A Note to The Reader	13
A Message to the First-Generation Lawyer	15
Prologue
Abhay, Aadarsh, and the Black Coat Dream	1
Introduction (Narrative)
Beyond the Syllabus: A First Day in Court	7
The Midnight Station - When Courage Wore a Black Coat	13

Chapter 1 Choosing without a Map	25
Chapter 2 Learning to stand where you do not belong	31
Chapter 3 Learning in Silence: The Unwritten Rules	37

Chapter 4 The Cost of Staying: Survival has a Price	45
Chapter 5 Choosing Direction	51
Chapter 6 Careers without Coordinates	57
Chapter 7 Building the Instrument	65
Chapter 8 Authority without a Title	77

Chapter 9 Power, Compromise and Quiet Choices	87
Chapter 10 Watching People Leave	95
Chapter 11 The Long Middle	101
Chapter 12 The Steady Accumulation	109
Chapter 13 When Invisibility Ends	115

Chapter 14 In the Intervals: Learning without an Audience	123
Chapter 15 Becoming the Reference Point	129
Chapter 16 What the Profession Teaches Slowly	137
Chapter 17 Staying without becoming Bitter	149
Chapter 18 Perspectives from Practice: Insights on the First-Generation Lawyer	155
Epilogue	165
Afterword	169