Law & Politics
Law and politics go hand-in-hand as career options, for it is the training received to become a lawyer that hones one's qualities as a skilled communicator, critical thinker, and leader.
Introduction
Have you ever wondered how many lawyers have risen to positions of leadership? Or how many contributed to India's struggle for freedom?
Arun Jaitley, a prominent leader of the ruling party, once criticized the then ruling party (Congress) stating,
“The problem with this government is that it has too many lawyers advising it”.
The irony of this statement was that Arun Jaitley himself was a lawyer who practised for nearly 40 years before his passing in 2019.
Law & Politics
Law and Politics have a deep connection. The two subjects are closely related to each other for it is the training received to become a lawyer that hones one’s quality as a leader.
Tracing the exact origins of this connection is difficult. But this does not change the fact that the two have been closely intertwined since ancient times, and this is not limited to any one country or region, but is a truly global phenomenon.
Law & Politics: The Past and the Present
- From Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi to Abhishek Manu Singhvi, politics has seen an abundance of lawyers in the past and the present.
- Looking back, the freedom movement and the constituent assembly were driven by lawyers. Sardar VallabbhaiPatel, BR Ambedkar, C Rajagopalachari were all lawyers.
- Our first president, Dr. Rajendra Prasad was a lawyer as well.
- Among “LAL, BAL, PAL” (Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal), the first two were lawyers.
- Almost 250 members of the 348-member strong constituent assembly were lawyers. The constitution was therefore drafted predominantly by lawyers themselves.
- The Bar Council of India estimates there are over 1.5 million enrolled advocates practising across the country today.
This isn't simply a past trend; today's politics is dominated by lawyers as compared to other professions. The exact number of lawyer-politicians keeps shifting with each election, but lawyers consistently remain one of the largest professional groups represented in both houses of Parliament.
Some of the prominent politicians who are lawyers include:
- Subramanium Swamy
- Sushma Swaraj
- Salman Khurshid
- Arun Jaitley
- K Parasaran
- Palaniappan Chidambaran
- Abhishek Manu Singhvi
- Prashant Bhushan
- Kapil Sibal
- Vivek Tankha
- P. Wilson
The predominance of lawyers in political life has been a recurring talking point across party lines. Arun Jaitley famously initiated a parliamentary debate on the subject that lasted nearly a fortnight.
The ironic truth however, is that lawyers aren’t just limited to dominating the political ground. In fact, the escalation of lawyers is equally high in public life as well.
Take for example the Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement, prominent spokespersons like Prashant Bhushan, Kiran Bedi, Shanti Bhushan, and Manish Tiwari (from the opposing side) were all law degree holders.
This does make one wonder, what is it about the law degree that makes lawyers become politicians?
Anatomy of a Lawyer
Law schools are not the place where you just learn the “theories” and “acts” and “sections”. Your training in law school is not about mugging up precedents, but about learning to analyze a problem, taking it apart bit by bit from all sides.
The case study approach followed by law schools helps students hone their problem-solving and analytical skills. A lawyer masters the skill to apply principles and doctrines with clarity and precision to the ever-tangled coil of human affairs.
As a result, it becomes fascinating to see the application of a lawyer's analytical skills in politics and administration. They develop these skills by constantly asking questions, challenging assumptions, and predicting consequences.
Legal Education deepens a person’s reasoning skills and that helps a person learn numerous skills, such as:
- Understanding and respecting the perspectives of others by responding to arguments from competing points of view.
- Examining the origin of a dispute, generating solutions, and most importantly, learning to negotiate.
- Using negotiation to create new alternatives and allow competing sides to find shared solutions.
- Anticipating disagreement and deciding what to do in real time.
- Developing strong oratory skills for effective public speaking and persuasion.
- Building research and writing skills that help articulate complex ideas clearly and convincingly.
All these qualities enhance one's leadership skills. Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality, and legal education provides exactly that; the analytical tools, the collaborative mindset, and the practical skills needed to work with diverse groups and solve real-world problems.
Law: Gateway to Politics
This is true not just in India; across the world, some of the most influential leaders have come from legal backgrounds. Barack Obama taught constitutional law before becoming the 44th President of the United States. Hillary Clinton, a Yale Law graduate, served as Secretary of State and U.S. Senator. Closer home, leaders like Arvind Kejriwal's key allies and several chief ministers across Indian states have legal training. Law is a noble profession and one of the most powerful gateways to public life and politics.