If there's work, there's work.

It's irritating but you kind of get used to it and you learn to make adjustments. And overtime others start trusting that you will work / deliver - which gives you a litte more control over your time because nobody is breathing down your neck 24x7.

Needless to say this is not true for all teams. Some are better than others. Some are hellish half the year, some are toxic pro max. No generic answer to this.

What you are doing right now—pausing, observing patterns, and trusting your discomfort—is not overthinking. It is professional judgment developing in real time.

A few points that may help you frame this:

1. Context matters, but patterns matter more.
In law firms, weekend calls, informal check-ins, or social invitations can exist on a wide spectrum—from genuinely work-related to clearly inappropriate. Any single incident can often be explained away. When multiple anecdotes from unrelated sources point in the same direction, it is reasonable to treat that as data, not gossip.
2. Discomfort is not an accusation.
You are not required to label someone’s conduct as misconduct to decide it is not a work environment you want. Many juniors struggle because they believe they must prove wrongdoing to justify discomfort. You don’t. Professional boundaries are allowed to be personal boundaries.
3. Yes, the profession has normalized boundary-blurring—especially around powerful individuals.
This is changing, but unevenly. Historically, success and seniority have often insulated people from scrutiny. That does not make the behaviour acceptable; it only explains why it persists. Being aware of this dynamic early is an advantage, not cynicism.
4. Background research should absolutely go beyond reputation and deal lists.
Culture is learned informally—through alumni, former interns, junior associates who’ve left quietly, and patterns of attrition. None of this requires mudslinging. You are simply assessing risk, the same way firms assess candidates.
5. You don’t need to “wait for proof.”
Early career moves are not court judgments. If something feels off and the firm does not offer strong institutional safeguards (clear HR processes, multiple reporting channels, visible accountability), it is rational to reconsider long-term plans.
6. One internship does not define your career trajectory.
Making a switch early because you listened to your instincts is far less damaging than staying somewhere that teaches you to suppress them.

Finally, a practical note: keep interactions professional, documented, and within work channels. Not because you expect trouble—but because clarity protects everyone.

You’re asking the right questions at the right stage. That, in itself, suggests you’ll build a career intentionally rather than by inertia.

Wishing you clarity and confidence as you decide.

I am currently interning at a boutique but well-known law firm in Mumbai. I joined the firm despite being aware of certain rumours surrounding one of the partners. He is widely regarded as extremely accomplished and highly respected in the securities market practice, which was a significant factor in my decision to intern here.

At the same time, there has long been a cautionary narrative associated with him. A commonly repeated refrain is that women should avoid the firm—although, interestingly, the firm does employ more women than men. I chose not to rely entirely on second-hand warnings and decided to make my own assessment by joining.

About a week into the internship, the partner called me on a Sunday and asked about my plans for the day. To be fair, it is entirely possible that the call was work-related or meant to check availability—something not unheard of in law firms. However, this interaction did not exist in isolation.

Separately, I had already heard that in the past he has called interns or former interns asking if they would like to “go out for dinner” or meet at a pub. I have also heard of at least one instance where an intern visited his residence months after her internship had ended—something that is, of course, her personal choice and not inherently questionable on its own.

But here’s the issue: when these facts are viewed together, they begin to resemble a pattern rather than coincidence. Each individual incident is defensible in isolation. Collectively, they create discomfort—and that discomfort is hard to ignore.

Here’s the blunt truth bomb: the legal profession has a long history of excusing boundary issues as long as the person involved is influential, successful, or “too important to question.” Excellence at work often becomes a shield against scrutiny, and juniors—especially interns—are expected to give the benefit of doubt even when their instincts say otherwise.

My question is whether such behaviour is genuinely normalized in parts of the legal industry, or whether this still falls outside what should be considered acceptable professional conduct. I am actively looking to join a firm where I can build a long-term career. I would prefer not to internalize discomfort or rationalize unease as a rite of passage, nor do I want to make multiple switches early in my career simply because I ignored early red flags.

Should students and young lawyers be doing deeper background research when choosing firms—beyond reputation, deal value, or the stature of individual partners? Or am I overthinking what could be dismissed as isolated, innocuous interactions?

I would appreciate candid guidance from seniors and practitioners. Please do not speculate about or attempt to identify the firm or the individual involved.

How to make lasting amd meaningful connections in an internship especially with the associates.

Interning at this chamber where they're all sweet and extremely helpful but i feel like approaching or talking about anything other than the allotted work would be overstepping and I don't wanna pester them, however would love to make meaningful and lasting connections.

Here are real numbers FWIW:

- I get £10.9k in-hand (8pqe, magic circle).
- Spouse earns £2k (unless your spouse is also a lawyer/tech professional, in my experience it is difficult to find high paying roles in most other industries in the UK).

Main outgoings:

- £2.4k rent

- £2k child school (includes fees and afterschool club (i.e. childcare from 3-6pm))

- £1k in non-discretionary costs (council tax, gorceries, utilities)

- £400 for house help (once/week cook + cleaner)

- £800 for the car (EMI, insurance, fuel, parking)

- £1-1.5k in discretionary spending

- £1k for travel (normalised and covers annual holidays, weekend getaways + trip to India)

Simply because no judge or minister is involved in the entry of foreign law firms, it's all in the hands of the BCI. Corporate attorneys are relevant to nobody except the cigarette vendors below their buildings, so there is no power concentration. Law firm EPs/MPs have less clout in the echelons of power than the average office boy. Money will perhaps sway the lobby guard at the Camellias but no one else.

Sorry to break it to you, but they were never coming. I work with a London MC and way back when the BCI first announced "liberalisation" with its vague amendments, most firms took a call to not setup a dedicated office in India because there was simply no commercial incentive to do so. In any case we cannot compete with Indian rates that go at pennies to the pound.

Seeking genuine advice from seniors as I'm under a lot of stress. I am Bo24 from a T3 NLU trying hard to make a career in Corp law. I joined a deadbeat firm, left the deadbeat firm, sat out for a while, and joined another firm that is deadbeat. I have a feeling that I'm cooked. Need recommendations of reputable firms which have a good learning culture. I don't care about the pay anymore. I can't be sitting around anymore. Also taking any suggestions to advance in this rat race. (Pls don't suggest litigation).

I implore you to please write a serious reply only. Thanks in advance.

The present generation has accent and diction that’s heavily influenced by modern TV and social media. A strange hybrid of Punjabi/Haryanvi/UP speech with American hip-hop speech. They speak quickly, don’t stress on syllables, don’t speak in a measured tone.

I think older generations sound different and classier!

I'll be honest, you will most definitely face consequences if you are going against even a potential candidate (regardless if they are independent or party supported) who's contesting elections. Your best bet would be to anonymously send that info to his opposition or secret enemies, if he has any.

I was looking at a fellow who misrepresented himself as a lawyer in media and election campaigning in the recent ▮▮▮ municipal elections. Which by the mods have deleted!! Why guys? I have not even mentioned the name of the fellow.

In digging through, I have realized that (1) There is a law firm in and around Mumbai, which is representing that persons who are not even law graduates yet, being shown as lawyers in the firm. (2) Googled their names, and I found their college had uploaded their internship completion certificates, same 2 or 3 no name firms have issued internship certificates to same set of people from the same college. I believe they are formality's sake.

My question is, can I do something about this without exposing myself? I don't want to get beaten up or thrashed or worse, murdered.

If money is no issue....LSE for sure. Do really well there - make sure you get a TC at a top Magic Circle/ US firm in London. Try to then qualify in a Disputes/ Arbitration team where you practice for 2-3 years after which you return to India and directly join a top seniors chambers. I know this is all a big IF and contingent on you doing well at LSE, but if you are successful - with credentials like this, and the fact that money is not an issue - coming back directly to a top senior's chambers will not be an issue.

Another reason why the TC is also brilliant is because you may seem to think you are sure you want to litigate, but you will get an option to try out other practice areas as well (such as mainstream corp, banking, anti-trust, etc.) - and you may realise you enjoy that more and decide you want to do that instead long term.

Having worked in multiple countries, this difference in legal cultures is all nonsense. As is the difference in laws. All of that can be learned - go to LSE, without thinking about it. Both for the opportunities, personal growth and academic rigor (and before some nalsar student kicks up a fuss, I studied there and it is, objectively, not comparable to LSE!).

Sorry OP and Mods, have to reply to this again. In a previous response, I gave my email as blindlaw2003@gmail.com to contact me (I specifically set this up for people with questions about law in the UK). Mods, if you wanted to check this out just to make sure, you may have gotten a bounce-back saying that my inbox was full: that was because I had also used its Google Drive, temporarily, as a storage space for some very large files,but forgot to clear the storage - apologies for the oversight. If you were to try again, you will no longer get the bounce-back, as I've cleared up the storage, seeing as I have no more need of it.

Hi, I’m from a T1 NLU, and my end goal in law school is to secure a PPO from a T1 corporate firm. So far, I’ve done litigation and research internships to build my CV and gain experience. I’m a bit unsure about the timing for applying to corporate internships. Should I start applying to T1 firms during the break after my 2nd year (before 3rd year starts)? My goal is: if I secure a T1 internship, try to convert it into an assessment internship and eventually a PPO. Is the June break between 2nd and 3rd year too early for that? Would it make sense to apply to T2/T3 firms instead just to get more experience and strengthen my CV, even though ideally I don’t want to be placed there, so that I can target T1 firms in the October break? The downside to this is that since the PPO process at T1 firms is a 2 internship minimum commitment, the later i start, the less opportunities I get to secure a PPO with a T1. (example - I intern at x T1 firm, secure assessment, don't get PPO) Then, wouldn't the earlier I start give me more try and fail attempts with other firms before Day 0? (1st trimester of 5th year).

Any advice from people familiar with the internship and hiring process would be really helpful!

GDP fudged; skilled graduates migrating anywhere and everywhere; only 38% recruitment at IITs; falling foreign investment; licence raj; outdated labour laws...

https://x.com/TheDeshBhakt/status/2010963337635643704/photo/1

It's like a single team in a large firm. The usual pros and cons of a boutique firm apply.

PCP isn't extremely difficult to pick up, especially if you've done tax already. The PCP part of things involves much more variety than tax, so that keeps things interesting. Their PCP clients and work is good quality; you can take a look at Shreya's LinkedIn for the kind of clients they serve.

idk who is crying so much, but as an upcoming T1 A0, purely just my fixed pay is 16.5(Trilegal). Assume even a 15% hike YOY (below avg) gets me to 25 lakhs a year ( 2.1 a month) at 25 because I will be 22 when I join.

This does not even factor in the bonus, which starts at 3 lakhs for an A0 and might be 5-6 at the time I'm an A3.

even more pressingly the pay for most t1 lawyers will grow faster than most MBA's and we also get the added bonus of partnership pay and equity skyrocketing comp to 8-10 cr at T1's (aged roughly 37-38 if you start at 22) for equity partners as disclosed by Rishab Shroff regarding the starting Equity partner pay at CAM in an interview.

Tier 2 law firms can't match a Tier 1 MBA, the same way a Tier 2 law firm still outpaces a Tier 2 MBA.

We have countless cons from the stress, nature of work for some, the hours but crying about pay at a t1 is comical.

Thanks for the post. Although, why are you discounting the IB, strategy, consulting, etc roles? Placement from a T1 college at a T1 firm is also not guaranteed with Jindal and other colleges creating some takers for limited T1 firm jobs. So why not compare the entire picture? I would reckon that once the top mgt posts are considered, whose packages are much higher than general pay bracket of T1s, maybe the conclusion would change

Any lateral disputes hire has the same question - how much, if any, discount to the salary should they expect in comparison to their corporate peers? Will be grateful if those with insights can share their thoughts for some of the following firms:

Trilegal/Khaitan/

SAM/

CAM/

AZB/

NDA/

Luther/

Saraf/

Indus/

Argus/

For context, a (hopefully) outdated crowdsourced list of salaries (for corporate, I’m assuming) at these places is available for reference here - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ltk2xnERP1OWklq60BEsJFhl3eSuQX7nQEdo_v37ggs/edit?usp=sharing

There's one AOR, Kartik Seth who has done quite well for himself and that too being from Jabalpur and not even in Delhi circles but someone here had commented about him apparently being a fixer, so unfortunately 1st gen successful litigators face harsh scrutiny and incidentally he posted on LinkedIn about people in the legal profession being unhappy and jealous about others progress.

Regarding other names apart from their social media profiles, I have no clue about their actual practice so no comments.

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> Is it worth interning at RK Dewan after graduation, given that they have a minimum three-month internship policy? and What are the chances of converting the internship into a full-time job? I have a strong interest in ip and wish to work in this domain. Any advice will work!

In recent yrs i believe it has been observed that the placements for nalsar are better than nls in domestic t1 and in the magic circle firms and so i would like advice on whether it is better to go to nalsar or nls since nalsar has 100% placement but nls has 76% and the increase in class size will only make that more acute and like nls lacks courses in m and a and other corporate fields so pls advice.