[blindLaw] request for advice to be better prepared for litigation work

Fri Sep 29 08:28:19 UTC 2023

Hi all,

On some reflection, I have identified the following action items for me:
1. before a meeting, aska a colleague what is on the agenda, to ensure
better preparedness, given inability to shuffle pages and documents on the
fly.
2. Figure out asap how to navigate through bookmarks in adobe reader, as
many court files do not work with bookworm - my pdf reader of choice.
3. articulate the difficulty being faced in accessing information without
feeling guilty and apologetic about it or feeling that this will lower the
client or senior's confidence in you, such that they will not want to work
with you. important to convey your problems and needs that are genuine,
rather than letting a feeling of inadequacy overpower you.
4. Make the intern that I am working with make a table for me of the
documents in a given file - annexure number, page number, accessible or
not, as soon as I am seized of a matter.

How do these sound? Any other ideas?
Rahul

On Mon, 25 Sept 2023 at 20:10, James T. Fetter <jtfetter at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Rahul,
> That's helpful, and yes, those are significant differences. My only
> advice, other than getting a Braille display so you can read aloud from
> longer documents, is to push your firm as hard as necessary to get *all*
> documents in a format you can read. They can't critique you for not being
> prepared on the one hand and fail to provide you the documents that
> everyone else has on the other. If documents are handwritten, then they
> should provide a qualified reader who can read aloud from them on command
> for you. If they're in electronic format and/or hardcopy, then they can be
> converted into accessible format with readily available, off-the-shelf
> technology.
> Best of luck; it sounds like you're in a very challenging environment!
> James
>
> On Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 10:22:01 AM EDT, Rahul Bajaj <
> rahul.bajaj1038 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> James, thank you. Litigation here is practised very differently. Arguments
> or not time bound. So lawyers spend hours arguing their cases and read out
> extracts. My firm is willing to be inclusive to the extent necessary.
> Although they are bit reluctant and have to be pushed. I need to figure out
> a system for being better prepared for cases. Let me know your thoughts on
> my reply to the message by San Ho.
>
> Sent from Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* James Fetter <jtfetter at yahoo.com>
> *Sent:* Friday, September 22, 2023 6:06:28 PM
> *To:* Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> *Cc:* Rahul Bajaj <rahul.bajaj1038 at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [blindLaw] request for advice to be better prepared for
> litigation work
>
> Rahul,
> If you are arguing in hearings,you need to know the record, or at least
> the parts relevant to the hearing, extremely well. Ideally, you can direct
> the court to your best evidence very quickly.  This might and often does
> require many hours of preparation for a few minutes of action. I’m not sure
> how things work in India, but it is very rare for lawyers in the US to read
> aloud from anything during a hearing. If a lawyer were to do so, the judge
> would likely cut them off with a sharp admonition to stop wasting time.
> Also, if any important document in the record is inaccessible, priority
> No. 1 needs to be making it accessible. This burden should be on your firm,
> not you, but realistically, you will have to do some extra work to ensure
> that this happens. If your firm expects you to handle hearings but can’t or
> won’t make most if not all record documents accessible, then that is a
> serious problem and could sabotage your career
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Sep 22, 2023, at 7:44 AM, Rahul Bajaj via BlindLaw <
> blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >
> > thanks, sanho. Here is what I read currently:
> > 1. If it is a suit, I read the plaint where we are for the defendant.
> > 2. If it is an appeal where we are for the appellee, I read the appeal
> from
> > the appellant.
> > 3. I read the orders to date, if it is a matter in which hearings have
> > taken place before.
> > 4. if we have filed a written statement or a response, I read that.
> >
> > What I do not read:
> > 1. annexures accompanying the pleadings. because of 2 reasons: I have
> > difficulty figuring out which ones to zero in on and a large number of
> them
> > are quite inaccessible and bulky. so I tend to shy away from reading
> them.
> > during arguments, I find it hard to follow when the lawyer from the other
> > side is reading a particular annexure and I have not read it before. this
> > also ahppens in meetings with senior lawyers and case discussions. it is
> my
> > biggest weakness.
> > 2. If it is an appeal, I do not read pleadings in the courts below which
> I
> > can do if they are accessible or make them accessible if not.
> > 3. I don't bookmark properly and pinpoint key pieces of info in a quickly
> > retrievable format.
> >
> > Rahul
> >
> >> On Fri, 22 Sept 2023 at 16:57, Sanho Steele-Louchart via BlindLaw <
> >> blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >>
> >> Good morning,
> >>
> >> It's hard to say what you could be doing more without knowing what
> you're
> >> doing already. What's your current process?
> >>
> >> Warmth,
> >> Sanho
> >>
> >>> On Sep 22, 2023, at 3:01 AM, Rahul Bajaj via BlindLaw <
> >> blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> Hi,
> >>>
> >>> Good afternoon from New Delhi. I have joined the bar in New Delhi and
> >> have
> >>> been in active legal practice for around 14 months, in the areas of
> >>> intellectual property law and disability rights law. The feedback that
> I
> >>> got from the law firm where I work, albeit expressed subtly, is that I
> >>> should prepare better for matters, to be able to provide valuable
> inputs
> >> in
> >>> an ongoing conference or hearing. they said that asking for time to
> look
> >>> for the relevant information may just result in the hearing or meeting
> >>> becoming ineffective, and therefore I do have the unfair onus of going
> >> the
> >>> extra mile.
> >>>
> >>> If you have 5 minutes, could you outline  what I could be doing more? I
> >>> have an intern who has been appointed specifically to address my
> needs. I
> >>> need to develop a system to be more practically useful in hearings and
> >>> conferences.
> >>>
> >>> Rahul
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> --
> >>> Rahul Bajaj
> >>> Attorney, Ira Law
> >>> Senior Associate Fellow, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy
> >>> Rhodes Scholar (India and Linacre 2018), University of Oxford
> >>> Co-Founder, Mission Accessibility
> >>> Special Correspondent on the rights of persons with disabilities,
> Oxford
> >>> Human Rights Hub
> >>> Coordinator of the working group on accessibility, e-Committee, Supreme
> >>> Court of India
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> BlindLaw mailing list
> >>> BlindLaw at nfbnet.org
> >>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
> >>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> >> BlindLaw:
> >>>
> >>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/sanho817%40gmail.com
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> BlindLaw mailing list
> >> BlindLaw at nfbnet.org
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> >> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> >> BlindLaw:
> >>
> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > --
> > Rahul Bajaj
> > Attorney, Ira Law
> > Senior Associate Fellow, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy
> > Rhodes Scholar (India and Linacre 2018), University of Oxford
> > Co-Founder, Mission Accessibility
> > Special Correspondent on the rights of persons with disabilities, Oxford
> > Human Rights Hub
> > Coordinator of the working group on accessibility, e-Committee, Supreme
> > Court of India
> > _______________________________________________
> > BlindLaw mailing list
> > BlindLaw at nfbnet.org
> > http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindlaw_nfbnet.org
> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> BlindLaw:
> >
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindlaw_nfbnet.org/jtfetter%40yahoo.com
>
>

-- 
--
Rahul Bajaj
Attorney, Ira Law
Senior Associate Fellow, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy
Rhodes Scholar (India and Linacre 2018), University of Oxford
Co-Founder, Mission Accessibility
Special Correspondent on the rights of persons with disabilities, Oxford
Human Rights Hub
Coordinator of the working group on accessibility, e-Committee, Supreme
Court of India