I am Prachi, a Legal Editor working in the Legal Publishing Industry

I am Prachi Bhardwaj, a Legal Editor working in the Legal Publishing Industry for the past 5 years. I hold the position of an Assistant Editor at Supreme Court Cases, the most widely published and relied upon Law Journal in India.

As an Assistant Editor my job primarily involves creating a topic-wise digest of the entire Supreme Court case law from 1950 till date for legal practitioners. This includes reporting the latest Supreme Court updates and Legal News on the SCC Online Blog. There is a direct link to my post on the SCC online.

Apart from that, I have started sharing articles on Medium.

Who is a Legal Editor?

If there will be a survey on the most misunderstood jobs, the job of a Legal Editor will be in top 10. Because without understanding the nature of our work, people brand us as proofreaders.

A Legal Editor is someone who has essentially a degree in law, legal research skill, command over language and a fair idea of requirements of the legal practitioners or law students in order to create a work that suits their needs. It is also not limited to Legal Reporting/Correspondence. Because in Legal editing, you are not just reporting the latest legal updates but also creating vast reference material that will be relied upon for years to come.

Legal Writing and Editing

A Legal Editor is someone who has a fair idea of requirements of the legal practitioners or law students in order to create a work that suits their needs.

What did you want to be when you were in higher secondary school?

To be honest, I was a very confused person in school.

I wanted to be a CA but when I actually started working towards that goal, I realised it was not my cup of tea.

After my Senior Secondary exams, I came across this new integrated 5-year LLB course and given my outspoken personality and observational skills, I thought it was the best option for me and that’s how my journey in the world of Law began.

What do you do and how do you do it?

In our organisation, the role of a Legal Editor differs from department to department.

As an Assistant Editor working with the Digest Team of Supreme Court Cases (SCC), my responsibilities are divided broadly into 2 categories:

Digesting the Supreme Court case law on various topics starting from 1950 till date for the easy reference of Legal Practitioners:

SCC is a law Journal in which the Supreme Court (SC) judgments are published chronologically in endless number of volumes. Now if a person is looking for all the cases on, let’s say ‘Family and Personal Laws’, finding the case law in those volumes will be an almost impossible task and that’s when a Digest comes into play. To cut the long story short, I prepare topic-wise compendium of the entire case law on various subjects for the Supreme Court Complete Digest (SCCD) and sometimes for Supreme Court On (SC on) series. These case laws are short summaries of various law points in a Judgment.

SCC Online Blog:

I am in-charge of the Supreme Court updates that are published on the Blog. I do the in-depth analysis and reporting of the latest judgments & orders of the Supreme Court of India, sometimes of the High Courts, International Courts and Foreign Courts too.

Also, I write Legal Columns for the SCC Online Blog that mainly deal with information on Supreme Court case laws.

Why you didn’t choose to be a Lawyer/Advocate?

During my Law School days, I was actively involved in Legal Writing activities.

I was a member of the Editorial Board, wrote articles for MightyLaws and presented papers in various National Seminars. Doing this gave me nothing but joy. I learned a lot during my internships with the Advocates and Law Firms and I have a huge admiration for what these people do. But, I also realised that I did not enjoy what I did there and chose to stick with what I truly loved doing i.e. Legal writing and editing.

What do you wish you knew before you started preparing for this career?

Frankly, I was hoping to be a Legal Reporter/Correspondent. But when I joined SCC, I thought that I will not get the kind of work that I was hoping for. Two days into the job and I was working on a project that was very close to my heart. Be it editing or reporting, I have done almost every kind of work that the Legal Writing and Editing industry can offer.

What do you love about your current role?

The work hours may seem long but they are fix which leads to a great work-life balance. Also, the work keeps the creative juices flowing. I have great superiors who are very understanding. The Editorial head office of our organisation is in Lucknow but ever since I got married, I’ve been working from literally any place that has a good internet. As long as the quality of the work is not compromised with, they do not mind me working away from office.

What are the challenges you face in your career?

People do not understand what I do and often take it for granted, here I am talking about the legal professionals. Legal Publishing Industry is the backbone of Legal Profession. I hope that people realise it soon.

Can you please summarise your career journey?

Senior Secondary: Commerce-Maths stream.
BA.LLB from Mody University, Lakshmangarh (Rajasthan) where I was a Gold Medalist.
Certificate course in Intellectual Property Rights from World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
Short summer course on International Law from Indian Society of International Law (ISIL), Delhi.
Internships with NGO, Advocates in Rajasthan and Delhi HC and Supreme Court.
Internships in Law Firms.
Wrote articles for MightyLaws.
Presented papers in various National Seminars..
Participated in National and International Moot Courts both as speaker and researcher.
Participated in Essay Writing and Judgment Critique Competitions.
Applied to SCC off-campus and joined right away after appearing for final semester exams in 2012.
Worked as an Editorial Assistant initially for 2 years (2012 – 2014).
Got promoted to the post of Assistant Editor (2014 – Present).
Over 15 volumes of the Supreme Court Complete Digest, that I have worked on, have been published till date, apart from other publications.

What sort of experiences helped prepare you most

The fact that there was absolutely no one to guide me during Law School days is what has helped me the most.

I did not have a legal background like some of my batchmates did. So I had to find way around things on my own. Almost everyone in my family has done something different career wise, so I knew that I will also manage in this field even if it was new for me. All the courses and internships gave me a better perspective of what to expect when I enter the real world. If any of my family members had been in the legal profession then maybe everything would have been easier for me. But, I would not have worked so hard. Having a strong backing is certainly a boon for some, but for me, writing your story on a clean slate is an experience that can’t be compared.

How do you like to spend your free time?

It is very important for any person to have a life beyond work.

While people are falling into the trap of the ‘workaholic’ culture, I like spending quality time with my loved ones. Travelling, watching movies, listening to music or just doing nothing at all, is how I like to go about it.

What are the skills required to be a Legal Editor in 2020?

Just having the basic editing skills is not enough.

Ability to analyse, to read between the lines and to convey the meaning in a simple and clear manner is what is important. If a person is able to do all these things, he/she is the best Legal Editor in my opinion.

Nobody wants to read complicated material these days because people do not have time for that.

Strong Legal Research skill is something that any one working in the Legal Profession requires. But as a Legal Editor, it becomes even more important because you cannot create a reading material without having researched on it.

What are some alternate career options for a Law Graduate?

Oh, there are many! Study Law and a plethora of options await you at the end of your Graduation.

Become a –

judge/magistrate
lawyer (allows you to practice in various fields of law)
law make
legal advisor
law clerk
professor
Legal Correspondent
an Associate or Partner in a Law Firm
work in a Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO)
do a combination course with law like CA, CS, MBA, etc., to get an upper hand
join Government Organisations as Law Officers

The list just goes on and on.

The best thing about this field is that you can combine it with any other field of your choice with so many interesting fields coming up like sports law, forensic law, commercial law, etc.

The number of careers a person can choose from with a Law Degree in hand is insane.

What do you think potential recruiters look for in a fresh Graduate?

The kind of society that we are living in today, say that most of the recruiters look for students from the top colleges or the ones that have strong references.

However, there are still some genuine recruiters out there looking for genuine candidates.

For a first-time applicant, it is important to have a good resume that reflects the skills that are required for the job that they are applying for. For me, luckily, I was hired on merits. I had all the right ticks in my resume that were required for this job. Since I wanted to be in this field, I focussed more on Paper Presentations and writing, and less on Moot Courts. I applied off campus, gave a telephonic interview, got selected for training, successfully completed a project during my training period and was offered a permanent position.

Who do you think should take up this Career choice?

Go for it, if you :

are a keen observer.
question everything and try to find logic behind why something was done the way it was done.
find yourself looking up for answers to random questions because curiosity will just not let you sleep.
are someone who has an impeccable ability to articulate.
do not get tired of reading not so interesting books.
do not shy away from speaking your mind.
enjoy reading social science more than science.

If the above mentioned things convince you a little, then:

go and watch some courtroom dramas or TV series
read stories of people who have made big in this field
watch legal debates
go and observe a Court proceeding if you can

After having done all or at least some of these things, chances are that you’ll either hate the profession or will be on your way to a coaching Institute to prepare for the CLAT exam (Common Law Admission Test).

Any recommended resources for students who are interested in Legal Editing?

Intern in a Legal Publishing House during your graduation, preferably in the first or second year of the Course. Because that is how you will develop your legal research skills that will help you in future internships, article writing, paper presentations, mooting, etc.

Follow Legal Blogs like SCC Online to understand how Legal reports are summarised.

What do you think everyone leaving higher secondary school should know?

In general:

As long as you are not a very poor performer, your grades will not matter much. Just think about what you want to do after school gets over and start working on that goal. Everything will fall into place.

If you want to study Law:

Then join a good CLAT coaching. However, if God forbids, you do not get through any NLU, go for a private college. Even the worst ones are not that bad if you are doing the right thing during your Law School days. Once you are in college, study well (obviously) but also intern well. Plan your winter and summer internships well ahead. Doing genuine work at internships is very important. If you’ll just keep collecting certificates by using references without doing actual work, you will not be able to know what is good for you and what is not.

If you want to

be an Advocate – do a lot of mooting.
go in the research field or writing & editing – write articles and present papers.
become a lawmaker – participate in Parliamentary debates/MUNs.
join the judiciary – start preparing from at least your 4th year in college (for 5yr LLB) or 2nd year (for 3yr LLB).

How the family and the people you surround yourself with make a difference to the decisions you take?

For Parents:

In this day and age, it is very important for parents to understand that, they have to let their children have a say in what they want to be.

If they genuinely feel that they know better than their child and forcing him/her to take up a course of their liking will only make things worse. Have an open conversation and then come to a decision.

With so much competition around us, only the people that we surround ourselves with can make the journey easy.

For Students:

But, it’s also important for children to realize that being a total rebel might be the coolest thing to do but sitting down with your family and talking them through with your plans is the way to go. If you have a vision about your future that your family doesn’t want you to go ahead with, convince them with logic.

Ask them to give you a chance and do everything in your power to make them feel proud of your decision.

Any final thoughts?

If you want to prepare for your future, it’s absolutely necessary to take everything very seriously, at the same time its sometimes good to go with the flow.

It’s okay to be confused.

It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do. I did not know I wanted to study Law till the very last moment and I know many people who had no idea about their future and are doing great today.

All the experiences that you will have, will help you in taking an informed decision. Do not rob yourself of the joy of experimenting and exploring the options!