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This post is part of our ‘A Day in the Life’ segment, where we showcase the lives of legal professionals. The segment aims to help you make inspired and informed career decisions.
Sammith S. has spent over a decade at the Bar, steadily carving out a niche in Government & Regulatory practices. Recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a Future Star for four consecutive years (2022–2025), his practice reflects both depth and versatility.
After three years at India’s magic circle firms, Sammith embarked on an entrepreneurial journey by founding Sanctum Law in 2018. Since then, he has been at the helm of matters with a cumulative value exceeding INR 10,000 crore, primarily rooted in the Bengaluru real estate sector. His diverse practice spans municipal taxation, land acquisition, regulatory disputes, constitutional challenges, family partitions, and arbitration matters.
Sammith’s professional diligence rests on a strong academic foundation. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Business Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he was awarded the Jhunjhunwala-LSE India Scholarship, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Law from University Law College, Bangalore, where he graduated with two gold medals for academic proficiency.
What inspired you to start your own firm, and what were the biggest challenges you faced while establishing your practice?
After working at Tier 1 law firms in Mumbai in a niche practice area, I genuinely felt the urge to return to Bengaluru, my home town and establish a more generalist practice to widen my horizons. Although my father had a successful law practice, I was always apprehensive about starting out on my own given the overwhelming responsibility it presents having seen him slog through my formative years. However, once I took the leap of faith, things fell in place gradually.
For the first 9 months of practice, I had to make do with just 1 or 2 interns, without even a court clerk. My first hire after 9 months of establishment was a court clerk, which eased a lot of menial administrative tasks.
In the first few days, although my litigation mandates were far and few, I made up for the lack of litigation in corporate/real estate non-litigation work which I got from my friends and former colleagues. Then as fate would have had it, my father had a serious health issue, due to which I was compelled to attend to a few of his clientele and their pressing matters since his office too was undergoing a period of transition.
A few interim orders later, those clients came back to me directly for all their matters and word spread. It also helped having the then President of Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India (CREDAI)- Bangalore chapter as my client, which gave me a substantial foothold into the real estate sector.
Can you describe your specific responsibilities in this role?
When I started out, initially my responsibilities included everything from peon to proprietor. Gradually, as we grew, my responsibilities at present involve end-to-end management of the legal side of practice, starting with business development (which we have purely relied on passive word-of-mouth modes rather than any other active modes such as publications, sponsorships, etc.), client management and retention, matter overview, draft reviews, guidance to colleagues and interns, fee recovery and most importantly, balancing different personalities – be it clients, colleagues, staff, or the court.
What is the most important thing you’ve learned since starting in this role?
Patience. As the cliché goes, good things always come to those who wait. Be it clients, matters, colleagues, staff, office space- one thing I’ve realised is haste makes waste. Everything should happen organically. Rushing things almost always leads to failure.
What are the biggest challenges you face in running or managing a law firm as a partner?
Fee recovery and workload management. The former, a corollary of any entrepreneurial adventure; the latter, a function of pure human subjectivity – gauging colleagues and sometimes misjudging their capabilities.
What’s the one thing that surprised you about the job when you started?
My own expendability – both for clients and colleagues. Both have way too many options in the market. To borrow from pop culture, even Thanos found out that he was not as inevitable. The quicker this realisation dawns, the higher you can grow your firm.
What does a typical day in your life look like?
Most days I am up around 6-6:30 am, running through my files for the day and preparing. While initially I used to find time to exercise, with the growing demands of profession and case load, it has become quite difficult.
Unlike most other litigation firms, we start the day a little easy around 10am (except Mondays, when we gather at 9:30 am to plan for the week ahead).
Starting the day late means, scurrying to courts (mostly the High Court) and finding my feet there amidst the flurry of matters listed. Until some time ago, I and the colleague who is staffed on a particular matter used to lug around the file bag, thanks to LiquidText that has since changed.
I have realised that having the office nearby to the court complex is always a blessing. It does help me indulge in my homecooked lunch almost everyday without having to depend on court canteens/ restaurants nearby.
Post lunch, once again get to the courts and finish the matters for the day.
Once done at courts, back in office, I would have scheduled my client meetings/ senior counsel briefings which run on till about 8pm. In between the client meetings, I make it a point to have an evening snack- a strong tradition which has stood the test of time at my office.
Post client meetings/ senior briefings, I try to wrap up reviewing drafts, stock taking for the next day’s matters, and taking care of task messages from my admin staff on pending invoices and payments. On an average, I aim to leave office by 9pm nowadays (up until 2 years ago, never left before 10:30-11) so that I can go home and relax with my wife and toddler.
What are the Pros and Cons of your work?
The biggest pro: I am my own boss. I get to take decisions, and have to live with them- good or bad. Apart from that, being an entrepreneur inevitably means that there is a continuous thrust of ideas that keep my mind occupied always (of course, some may see it as a con while I see an engrossed mind as a definite pro).
The cons: the list is endless if I wish to be a pessimist. However, if there is one thing that perturbs me most is the sheer lack of empathy the profession and the position brings along. You become numb to others’ problems, and are consumed by your own.
What qualities do you look for when hiring young lawyers or interns?
Hiring interns and young lawyers are a gulf apart.
While I have not handled internship applications for the last 3-4 years, when I did previously, I always used to look more at the covering e-mail- the language, their areas of interest and what they want to do with the internship. I never considered CVs to be the determining factor.
When hiring young lawyers, the two things I look for- hunger and astuteness. So long as the applicant demonstrates that he/she is street smart and has the eagerness to learn, all other attributes fade away. Intellect is only a function of experience, and those who are eager enough to learn will always find a way to become intelligent.
What advice would you give to students or young lawyers who aspire to lead or build a firm one day?
Take the leap of faith. There are enough and more opportunities and cases. As the economy grows, the clamour for good lawyers will always grow louder.
Start small. Never take on more than you can chew. Do legal notices, cheque bounce matters, small agreements, testaments, money recovery suits in small cause courts. Smaller things lead to larger mandates.
Get a court clerk on priority. A good court clerk is your knight in shining armour on many days, and sometimes outshines even a good younger colleague.
Never disregard or disrespect anyone in the system. Be it clerks, colleagues, opponents, clients, staff, judges- at some point, you will need them.
Never forget your initial clients. Even if they are low paying, small mandate clients, treat them with utmost care and prioritisation.
If you start alone, then always find an ear to hear. Bottling things inside you will land you with more problems than solutions.
Listen to and trust your intuition. Silence the deafening noise around and do what your gut says. Believing in yourself and your abilities is paramount to success.
Find your zen. There will always be one thing you will excel at which makes you happy. It may be drafting, reviewing, reading a caselaw, counselling a client or even just standing before the court hall and observing masters of the craft in action. Just do it.
Never stop learning. Each matter, each client, each colleague, each court and each experience is a gateway to more knowledge. Take a lesson out of every single thing and get better every single time.
Follow through. Never start something and let it go midway through. Have the conviction to persist till the very end.
Please recommend any books or resources that you think every law student should explore.
‘Man’s search for meaning’ by Viktor Frankl, ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull’ by Richard Bach and ‘Who moved my cheese?’ by Spencer Johnson- Three books that have had a real impact on me.
I would also recommend hearing ‘Everybody’s Free (to wear sunscreen)’ by Baz Luhrman to as a ‘lift me up’ on gloomy days.
Disclaimer: Interviews published on Lawctopus are not thoroughly edited to retain the voice of the interviewee.
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