Anil Singh (AS): During my college days, I attended college in the mornings and assisted my brother at his shop in the evening. After completing my legal education, I decided to start my practice. At that time, I did not have anybody to guide me as to which court I should start my practice from and I had nobody to refer me to a senior to guide me for the same. My school friends helped me during this time. Some of my school friends had referred a few matters to me, which I used to appear for regularly in the City Civil Court. At that time, one of the leading legal practitioners in the City Civil Court was Advocate Dinesh Gandhi. During one such hearing, he saw me arguing in court and later on appreciated my arguments. Upon hearing such kind words from Mr Gandhi, I immediately requested him if I could join his chamber. He asked me to meet him in his office. I regularly followed up with him for the next few months, and then finally, he agreed to take me as his junior in 1986.
As time passed, I generated a sizable amount of work in the City Civil Court and the Small Causes Court. With time, I also started appearing regularly in the High Court, especially in the ‘appeal from order’ (AO) courts. However, during these days, I had to constantly struggle to make it on time for matters before the City Civil Court and the High Court. At times, my juniors were constrained to take adjournments on my behalf. One such time, when my junior sought an adjournment before the AO court, Justice Arvind Sawant, called me and in open court told me,
“Mr Singh you have a considerable amount of matters both in the High Court and the City Civil Court. However, you will now have to select one court and stick to it. My advice to you will be that you must stop practising in the City Civil Court and shift your practice entirely to the High Court.”
The late Advocate Milind Sakhardande, who was present in court during this discourse, immediately called me to the library after my matter. He expressed his agreement with the suggestion given by Justice Sawant and suggested that I shift my practice entirely to the High Court. I decided to follow this advice. My senior supported my decision and that is how I shifted my practice to the High Court in 1996, at the age of 35. I did not appear in the City Civil Court even once, until I appeared as ASG in the Peter Mukherjee matter in the sessions court, which is in the same building.
Source: Barandbench
