An Inspiration to Young Advocates, One for the Limelight!
Known for his sharp wit to crack complex legal problems through an arsenal of exquisite interpretational skills, Pawan Reley is a first-generation lawyer and advocate in the Supreme Court of India. He’s also an author of a book and more than forty articles on National and International platforms, a Lex Falcon Awardee of 2023 and an inspiration to lakhs of students across India who aspire to be a practising advocate. Mr. Reley was born in a very small town named Panna in Madhya Pradesh, Inda. His father was a teacher in a Government school. Pawan Reley completed his schooling at M.D.R.L.V.M. Panna (M.P.), which was a wholly Hindi Medium School, later completing his law from SLCU, Christ University, Bangalore in 2015 and then came to Delhi to practice the law in the same year.
The man is capable of dealing with a wide range of cases dealing with various issues, including scams, white-collar crimes, anti-competition, environment, complex contractual matters and Constitutional matters. He believes that what sort of cases one handles in courts depends majorly on the clients. When any lawyer starts practising law, he does not choose the area of practice and expertise, but it’s his clients who choose it for him and in which he has to display his bravura before the court blazingly. Mr. Reley believes his toughest challenge and the biggest obstacle to success is hidden inside the mind, our perception, our reaction to different situations and our differing personalities. He claims that “most of us nowadays lack the sheer determination to do something. We just plan to do something if we are not able to do it in some time, then we shift the plan or the task itself. We are the ones who convince ourselves what is suitable for us and what is not, what is right for us and what is not, and what we can achieve and what we can’t.” Setting our own limit as per our comfort zone, thinking but not taking action, or doing without thinking and having a vision. Once we overcome these obstacles inside us, there is no one outside who can stop us from achieving our goals, exclaims Pawan Reley. The second thing he ensures is that we must avoid procrastination. Whatever needs to be done today must be done now as there is no ‘tomorrow’. Tomorrow is also yet another ‘today’, and hence we must perform the task at hand without delaying it for the future.
In the initial stages of practising law, Mr. Reley believes that in the initial stages of practicing law, the first big challenge faced by any young advocate is to find the right mentor who were a good lawyer and a good human, who could give his juniors the opportunity not only to seek adjournments and conduct research but also to argue some small matters at the beginning of his practice, someone who did not disrespect his juniors and can show them the right path and guide them in case of any need. The second big challenge for any young advocate, according to Mr. Reley, is to survive with a meagre income in the beginning and continue developing his/her skill sets. In this profession, one has to prove one’s worth to get more. This is one of the major issues which make many young lawyers reluctant to choose practice. The fourth challenge, which comes after getting an independent client, is to retain the client’s trust in him/her while working hard in the case. The fifth challenge is to have patience for the court proceedings. He says no lawyer, however, can rest upon his past laurels for new briefs, calls for fresh diligence, sustained hard work and painstaking attention for each individual case.
Pawan Reley has taken up several ‘pro-bono’ cases in terms of providing social justice ranging from environmental causes to basic human rights issues such as manual scavenging without any monetary gains. He believes that it is an uncalled duty of every lawyer to serve society. “A lawyer should have better reasons to deny the case than the poverty of his client. I belong to a very small town. I have always been in a society of underprivileged and lowermiddle-class people since my childhood. I have seen their struggles even to get one birth certificate from a municipal corporation, to get clean water, to receive medical treatment from government hospitals. Even for trivial matters, they have to run pillar to post,” he exclaims. He urges that all advocates must realise their power and authority to question anything and everything which deprives people of their rights. For him, the law is the most powerful tool to serve society, and advocates are the custodians of it!
And with this, lastly, he shares that “A Man can achieve anything and everything with his sheer determination, right mindset, consistency and hard work.”
