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While we are hammering away about the legal profession with a focus on younger lawyers, my friend @vladivastard reminded me and @abhik_chimni, there is a section of d litigation industry that are most crucial, yet highly precarious and vulnerable: "Clerks". 1/n
Underpaid, over-worked, and precarious, Ive heard of firms laying off their support staff while retaining associates during C-19. There are no work-contracts when a clerk is hired in chambers. Bonuses and increments in salary are a matter of charity, and most lawyers charge 2/n
"clerkage" which most often does not 'trickle down'. They are not just resource persons, they are instrumental to a lawyers' practice. Any lawyer here would vouch for the need for a "good" clerk, and the power "clerks" of senior counsel wield over day-to-day decision-making. 3/n
Although they may have unions for eg. the Supreme Court Clerks' Association, they are not considered a stakeholder in decision-making. I pointed this out here, when discussing the reaction of the Supreme Court to Covid-19 and the move to VC. https://www.livelaw.in/columns/crisis-structural-change-154047 4/n
Clerks, the most affected by the move to tech solutions, are a section of the litigation industry that have no say in it. The answer to this, and other issues that comes from attitudinal defects in the employer/yee rlship cannot be solved through a humanizing touch, or charity5/n
