Why are Indian lawyers more businessmen than professionals

Recently, I had read books on the medical profession such as http://www.amazon.in/Dissenting-Diagnosis-Arun-Gadre/dp/8184007019?ie=UTF8&keywords=Dissenting%20Diagnosis&qid=1477762824&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=8-1  and http://www.amazon.in/Ethical-Doctor-Kamal-Kumar-Mahawar/dp/9352640098/ref=pd_sim_14_6?  _encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1CTG40KCX9RYQRE0FVWW
This got me thinking about other professions including law, and therefore this law. The reason I write about law is the importance of it in the growing litigious environment amidst the legal shambles. No other profession gets such negative coverage, be it the advocates agitation/strikes, 'tareek pe tareek'..While reading about this topic, I saw that the list of misconducts cited in the below article is mind boggling
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/article/professional-misconduct-of-lawyers-in-india-1665-1.html

Without much ado, I proceed to my grouses

1. ·         Advocates strikes/hartals/bandhs-even at the cost of their clients 
2.  ·         The culture of adjournments
3.  ·         ‘Eternal’ arbitrations
4.  ·         Probono very care, legal services cell hardly in vogue
5.  ·         Preferential treatment to Senior Counsel-unjustified that their reputation is formalized and fee earning capacity enhanced, by the result of a opaque process without any continuing obligation
6.  ·         Too much separation of work-Advocate, Solicitor, Counsel-many folks to pay fees
7.  ·         Limited effort to insert ‘Plain English’ in drafting
8.  ·         No scale of fees/standard rate chart-

Remedies

1. ·         Startups to assess win/loss odds like in UK basis type of matter, number and outcome of hearings, case status(upheld/overturned)-This is a formal assessment of succcess rate and efficiency which could help for mass litigation matters
2.  ·         Automate ‘routine’ stuff like legal contracts-This while reducing bread/butter business, would help lawyers do more value adding work
3.  ·         ADR allowing for other professionals such as CA/CS/CWA, who are regulated more strictly
4.       Simplication of laws, procedures and court/police procedures, so that the common man can represent himself/herself in court and largely via written submissions 
5.      Restriction on # of matters a lawyer can take at a time(~ceiling on tax audits of CA) so that the culture of adjourments reduces
6.      Court Management Introduction to address delays in proceedings     

Dear CAs in industry, just 3000 votes can elect a ICAI Central Council Member from Western Region

I have often felt that members in service despite constituting 52% of the overall members of ICAI, are not adequately represented on the ICAI Central Council. I decided to delve deeper into the 2015 election results to see why this is so.

I noticed that the Western region with 88000 members saw a 44% turnout for 11 seats, thereby needing 3230 votes(total of first preference and others). This represents merely 3.7% of the total members, or 6.5% of members in practice! Imagine the power of CAs in industry, if they turnout to elect, even taking the 40% turnout, they can combine and ensure that around 5-6 members of their choice are elected from WIRC.

Also, if we notice the votes secured by the 11 finally elected members, we notice that 6 members obtained merely between 50%-65% of the required votes on the first ballot, with remaining votes via 2nd/other preferences. Therefore, there is still hope for those who marshall above 1600 votes on the first preference ballot. 

Member Finally Elected	1st preference votes	1st Pref as % of threshold
BHANDARI ANIL	1692	52%
CHHAIRA JAY AJIT	2685	83%
CHHAJED PRAFULLA	1666	52%
GHIA TARUN JAMNADAS	2083	64%
HEGDE NANDKISHORE	2558	79%
JAMBUSARIA NIHAR NIRANJAN	2058	64%
KHANDELWAL DHIRAJ KUMAR	1683	52%
KINARE MANGESH PANDURANG	1603	50%
SHAH DHINAL ASHVINBHAI	2925	91%
VIKAMSEY NILESH SHIVJI	3112	96%
ZAWARE SHIWAJI BHIKAJI	3264	101%
Others tranasfer
Others voters	13433
Votes lost
	38762

When will ICAI presidents stop regionalism?

Last week,  I attended the ICAI international conference in Hyderabad. There, the chief guest Venkiah Naidu(Urban Development Minister, also from Hyderabad) said he had accepted the invite because "A local person has brought this event to Hyderabad". It struck me then that the very reason for chosing Hyderabad is because it is the president's town. But this is not an isolated instance as one can see below, each past president brings atleast ONE major/international/annual event to their home city.

When Railway Ministers used to relocate Railway headquarters/launch special trains to their hometowns, I used to laugh at their power hungry nature. But when such a thing happens at my own professional body, I wonder what to do!

President	Year	Zone	City	Event Held in the city
CA. Amarjit Chopra	2010-11	CIRC	Delhi	International Conference on Accountancy Profession: Catalyst to Sustained Economic Growth
CA. G Ramaswamy	2011-12	SIRC	Chennai	International Conference: Leveraging Challenges for Inclusive Growth
CA. Jaydeep Narendra Shah	2012-13	WIRC	Nagpur	International Conference (ICON 2012) for CA Students
CA. Subodh Kr. Agrawal	2013-14	EIRC	Kolkata	Accountancy Profession: Emerging Frontiers of Future Growth” from November 21-23, 2013
CA. K. Raghu	2014-15	SIRC	Bangalore	Accountancy Profession: Building Global Competitiveness; Accelerating Growth from January 29th-31st, 2015
CA. Manoj Fadnis	2015-16	CIRC	Indore	Accountancy Profession: Spearheading Excellence
CA. M. Devaraja Reddy	2016-17	SIRC	Hyderabad	ICAI International Conference-Hyderabad-2016