Renowned Advocate, Madras High Court, Ms. GEETA RAMASESHAN – known for her work in upholding the rights of women and a famed commentator on gender issues – delivered a most enlightening live interactive webinar session on the topic “FAMILY LAW” at Asian Law College (ALC) for its BA-LLB & LLB students and aspirants on Tuesday, 22nd December 2020 at 4:00 PM under its Legal Lecture Series (LLS). The webinar presented itself as a highly informative and helpful session for all who participated in it.
Ms. Geeta Ramaseshan has been practicing since 1982 in Chennai in the area of criminal law and family law. She has worked extensively with the legal aid system and has represented women living with HIV/AIDS, survivors of custodial violence, women and children who are survivors of sexual violence, undertrial prisoners, juvenile children, and minority groups that face discrimination. She has been a Special Public Prosecutor for the CBI and has been invited by the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal to deliver lectures.
Ms. Ramaseshan is a Heinz Fellow on Comparative Law, from the University of Pittsburgh, an Eisenhower Fellow on Human Rights, Public Interest Litigation and Justice and has been a guest faculty on International Human Rights Law at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also an adjunct faculty at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai where she teaches a course on Media, Law, and Society. Besides, she has co-authored a book on “Child and the Law” and has written many papers and articles to her credit on legal issues pertaining to women and children.
A core initiative of Asian Education Group (AEG) – considered as the largest center for professional media, IT, law, management, fashion & hospitality education in Asia with world-class facilities – this webinar was organized by Asian Law College (ALC) – which is a constituent group college of Asian Education Group and is ranked as one of the best Law Colleges in Delhi NCR – for all B.A.LL.B. & LL.B. students & aspirants. The webinar was followed by a lively Q&A session with the most distinguished guest.
The webinar session started with the illustrious guest, Ms. Geeta Ramaseshan, thanking the ALC team for inviting her for this session. She then straightaway got on to the topic of the day, i.e. “FAMILY LAW”, which she said was “challenging, fascinating … and at times, frustrating area of litigation that no doubt presented itself as a daunting area of legal action, but it was at the same time a very interesting area for lawyers to engage in.”
Eruditely outlining the challenges, the highly experienced lawyer said, “The problem lies in the definition of the ‘Family Law’ itself and it can be briefly summarized in three aspects. The first is that it is an area where emotions play a huge part, which cannot be discounted. The second aspect is that it cannot be seen in isolation, as it easily transcends the civil law and travels into the domains of criminal law, corporate law, etc. The third aspect is that the laws relating to marriage, divorce, inheritance, cruelty, etc. are not the same for every community (like Hindu, Christian, Muslim) in India. All this makes ‘Family Law’ a great challenging area for lawyers.”
Here, however, the much-respected lawyer of the Madras High Court with over 35 years of experience as a litigator and famously known for her work in upholding the rights of women, built a strong pitch for ‘Family Law’ and said, “Notwithstanding the fact that Family Law is a great challenging area for lawyers, but it is also one of the most interesting area of litigation where you will be your own master. The only real challenge is to box your emotions and avoid falsification and exaggeration!”
The distinguished guest then opened the session for questions from the students and participants. As expected, a barrage of questions – like, “Why did you decide to get into law? What motivated you to enter in this profession?”; “Marriages are said to be made in heaven and broken on earth” How far do you agree especially in compliance with the present Matrimonial laws in India; “You are personified for your work in upholding the right of Women and Gender issues…! What according to you is the true meaning of Feminism?”; “What is the biggest challenge as a litigator especially when negotiating relationship within the framework of Matrimonial Law?”; “Can you highlight the crucial areas in which litigation are majorly filed in Family Law? In such a situation, how do you handle them?”; “What is the current Legal Framework on Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage in pursuant with Article 142?”; and so on – were put forward by the enthusiastic students. The knowledgeable speaker answered each of these questions most authoritatively and convincingly to the complete satisfaction of the students and all participants.
Towards the end of her talk, the renowned advocate had some golden words of advice to give to all aspiring would-be lawyers. She said, “Today you have far greater options … and the sky is the limit for you! My advice to you is that you should enter litigation because it is a fascinating field of legal activity. It may be frustrating at times, but you will never get bored of life. Don’t ever feel disheartened … it will transform you in many ways.”
Once done, Ms. Geeta Ramaseshan was presented with a glittering “Memento” on behalf of Asian Education Group.
With this, the most enlightening session with the renowned Advocate, Madras High Court, Ms. GEETA RAMASESHAN came to a solemn end!