Every business and legal journalist in India keeps a short list of lawyers they call when a judgment is delivered, a bill is introduced or a regulator issues a circular. Being on that list brings a steady, credible kind of visibility that no amount of self-promotion can buy. Getting on it has surprisingly little to do with seniority and a great deal to do with habits.
How a legal story actually gets written
A reporter covering a Supreme Court ruling at three in the afternoon may need to file by six. In those three hours they must understand the judgment, find out why it matters, and get two or three voices to explain it. They call the people they know will pick up, understand the question quickly and say something clear. If the first person does not respond, they call the second. The story is filed either way.
Seen from the reporter's side, the qualities that matter are obvious, and most of them are within any lawyer's control.
What reporters value
- Speed. A thoughtful reply at eight in the evening is useless to a story filed at six. Lawyers who become regular sources treat a journalist's deadline as seriously as a court's.
- Clarity. One plain sentence that explains why a ruling matters to ordinary businesses is worth more than a paragraph of carefully hedged analysis. Reporters cannot quote what their readers will not understand.
- Range. A lawyer who can speak across a sector, not only about one provision of one Act, is useful for more stories.
- Accuracy and care. Journalists remember who made them look good and who left them exposed. A source who is careful with facts gets called again.
- Generosity with background. Sometimes the most valuable help is not a quote at all but ten minutes explaining the context off the record, so the reporter gets the story right.
The line advocates must not cross
Rule 36 of the Bar Council of India Rules specifically prohibits advocates from furnishing or inspiring newspaper comments about cases in which they are engaged, and from producing photographs connected with those cases. That rules out the most tempting kind of coverage: talking about your own matters.
The safe ground is commentary on law, policy and judgments you were not involved in. Conveniently, that is also where journalists need help most. They rarely want counsel in a case to comment on it; they want an informed outsider to explain it.
What to prepare
Lawyers who want to become reliable sources can make it easy for journalists in a few practical ways:
- Choose two or three subjects where you can genuinely add clarity, and stay current on them.
- Write short explainers the day something significant changes, and make them easy to find.
- Keep a two-line description of your expertise ready, so a reporter can introduce you accurately.
- Agree internally who in the firm speaks to the press, on what, and how quickly comments are approved.
- Be clear about attribution. Agree at the start whether a comment is on the record, on background or off the record.
Relationships follow usefulness
Many lawyers approach the press by trying to build relationships first, through lunches and introductions. That rarely works on its own. Relationships with journalists grow out of being useful, repeatedly, on deadline. The lawyer who explained a complicated ruling clearly last month is the lawyer who gets called next month.
Media visibility built this way compounds quietly. Each good quote makes the next call more likely, and over a few years a lawyer becomes one of the recognised voices in their field without ever having advertised.
For CA and CS firms
Business journalists need chartered accountants and company secretaries as much as they need lawyers, and often more. Budget day, GST Council meetings, a new SEBI circular and results season all send reporters looking for someone who can explain the numbers or the governance question quickly and accurately. The same habits apply: be available, be clear, and comment on the issue, never on your clients.