They may be rigged, but also remember - IAS and IPS officers cracked one of the toughest exams in the world. Their kids have lots of social capital, but some of them also have a lot of fire and drive.

See Vineet Buch. He decided one day "I am going to top IIT JEE". He did.

But his parents had to get certain textbooks from Russia for him. They were IAS officers, and they asked the Russian embassy to send English copies of those books for their son. The guy used his privileges, but topping JEE is not a joke either.

Gen zs are A0s and A1s. They don't have any clout or authority to change/ influence anything. Also Gen z is not a homogeneous entity, every individual is different having their own circumstances. For those from humble backgrounds who may have dependent family members, or unpaid loans, retaining a high paying job might be the priority over work life balance. Not everyone is coming from generational privilege to virtue signal from an ivory tower.

At few firms, Cap Marks has become highly rewarding at least monetarily. Attrition remains high for the fact that pressure and volume of work is usually high. Earlier the work used to come in cycles, but now given the number of IPOs in India, there are no cycles and work comes in 24x7. WLB is quite non-existent in majority of the T1 cap marks teams including at CAM, SAM, Tri, KCO, JSA.

Not all of us were born affluent. Not all of us have the luxury of choice. Every interaction in this profession is an opportunity. The day I find a better one where I can truly add value, I will switch. Until then, I will keep working relentlessly to make ends meet. After all, someone has to pay the bills and there is no shame in accepting that.

Hi all, I wish to switch from an in-house banking role to the M&A and PE/VC practice of a T1/T2 law firm in Mumbai. Please note that I have a PQE of 3-4 months, so its a little tough to switch. In-house hours are reasonable and the work environment is healthy, but the problem is the work's just not intellectually challenging. I am of the opinion that one needs to experience the rigor of a law firm at least in the initial stages of their careers, and maybe move in-house after a couple years down the road. I have been trying to land an interview opportunity for the past 3 months, but I have hit a dead-end. Please let me know how can I switch.

An A1 at a Tier-1 firm working in a mid-team. Whenever there's a dip in work, I feel inherently terrified that they are not giving me work only to eventually fire me. I did make a few mistakes some time back which could have been avoided but this terror of getting fired gets to me and I am losing my sanity instead of enjoying the down time.

Hi,

Every month, 2-3 interns are assigned to my team. That makes it roughly 30 for the year.

Almost 90% of the interns are pretty good - well read, hard working, etc

It’s not practical to offer jobs to all these interns.

We are then required to filter the best amongst equals. At one instance, we were required to chose between two highly motivated interns - the decision boiled down to which intern adopted the firm policy style in their work product.

The competition is really quite tough and the benchmark - very high.

The situation will worsen with the increase in decent number of law colleges.

Best of luck!

My advice to you would be to remain in Kerala. Your command of Malayalam, and your instinctive cultural alignment there, will serve you far better in Kerala than here. Delhi is a very different civilisation altogether — our language, our social codes, our temperaments — they don’t naturally overlap with yours. You would feel perpetually out of joint here. Besides, why would you want to live in a saffron state? Wouldn't you rather live in a state governed by a "left" "secular" "liberal" political party? Think about it 🤔

Yes, the Supreme Court is in Delhi, and several important appellate forums as well. And by all means — do come, argue your matters, appear physically when required. That is always welcome.

But as a matter of comfort and long-term fit — Kerala is home for you. Delhi is a place you visit, not a place where you must force yourself to belong. If the people don't, the smog will surely shoo you. Enjoy God‘s own country. I know I would - if I were a Keralite!

I once wrote a comment which went something like this:

Many years ago I left a Tier-1 disputes practice in Delhi and moved to a High Court practice in a Tier-2 city. I wasn’t sure it was the right decision. The idea was simply to try it and see. I don't regret the decision.

A few lessons from this side:

(a) In the beginning, remuneration will be around 10–15% of what you make in a Tier-1 firm. Maybe even less. It will be a bigger issue than you think.

(b) But the pay will rise steadily, and your cost of living will go down dramatically as you will be living in your hometown.

(c) The work initially may appear routine, but it will probably be better than what you did in the firm. I read more judgments in the first two months here than what I probably did in firm practice. And no case notes, argument notes, list of dates, or “notes” of any kind.

(d) You get to appear and argue much more. If you argue well, judges start addressing you by name. One gets to learn the art of adjourning cases which takes some skill (something even partners in Tier-1 firms sometimes brief Seniors for). Then one gets to argue!

(e) Work–life balance improves. You have more control over your time. Family is closer.

(f) No more Delhi–Gurgaon–Noida traffic.

(g) Disputes practice in a tier 1 firm is very different from actual litigation. A 100 million arbitration claim filed after many billable months cannot match the thrill of arguing admittedly not-so-complex cases every day.

But I suggest staying at the firm for at least two years. The firm teaches you many things. It will broaden your horizons and teach you how to think and act like a professional (and I am not talking about ChatGPT etc.). And you will have some savings.

You must be clear about why you want to move. If the motivation to shift is the belief that it is “easier” to become a designated Senior/ succeed simple because you are from a Tier 1 NLU with Tier 1 firm experience in a Tier 2 city, you would be wrong.

▮▮▮ has once again shown how good it is at protecting its own instead of doing what’s right. A student who has been here shamelessly for almost ▮▮▮ years allegedly took advantage of a minor — he convinced her to get into his car, made her drink, and then assaulted her in the guise of dropping her off in her city. When the girl’s family wanted to file a case, a female faculty member, who is the presiding officer of Internal Complaints Committee, stepped in and talked them out of it, saying it would “hurt the family's reputation” (we all know its the university's reputation they're worried about).

Now that same person still walks around campus like nothing happened. As students, we’re angry, disgusted, and helpless — because this university never responds, never protects its students, and never takes accountability.

Perhaps he recognises that he cannot simply refuse to speak to people he disagrees with. Ideological quarantine might be morally flattering, but it is also absurd when it would require him to write off nearly half the country — the same half that elected the BJP to power three times in succession. He knows that if he wants influence, he cannot pretend they don’t exist.

You, of course, are perfectly entitled to avoid whomever you like. But don’t insist that every other liberal adopt that same monastic boycott. Not everyone is obligated to varnish their principles with social absolutism merely to remain acceptable at the next cocktail party.

My team works insane hours - it's the whole day everyday - weekends are also working except a few. It is never like there is no work and you are sitting ideal. I am already putting in so much hours and our lunch-dinner timings are also like 10 mins on a daily basis. If i am already putting these many hours might as well shift for a better pay? My TMT Teams is one of the best TMT teams and the number of mandates picked up is insane with shorter deadlines to have that revenue I understand. Please help with advice.

I am a student at what would be considered quite a good college by most people. I am a first generation lawyer and have wanted to get into litigation since before law school. I do now find myself at a bit of a crossroads regarding the kind of litigation that I will eventually get into. Broadly, the choice is between appellate and trial litigation. I find both kinds equally fascinating but I am a bit unsure as to whether trial litigation will be financially rewarding.

For context, if I get into trial litigation, then I will practice in my home town (fairly big metro, but not in the same league as Mumbai, Delhi etc). One of the reasons why I have been thinking about this choice a lot is that there is no High Court in my home town. Hence, choosing appellate practice would necessitate me to incur quite a bit of expenditure without much to show in return for a few years at the very least. My family is not uber rich but relatively well off financially. Despite this, it wouldn't feel right being that much of a drain on my parents' money.

I would really appreciate any advice which can help me reach a decision. Thanks in advance.

Arre bhai, these “rankings” are made by western agencies who can’t handle the rise of Bharat! They give marks for how many foreigners are sitting in your classroom, not how much actual knowledge you produce. Do they count the CEOs running Google, Microsoft, and Adobe? All from Indian universities. Do they count ISRO, which landed on the Moon’s south pole before anyone else? No, because that doesn’t fit their “narrative”.

And what’s this obsession with “Harvard of the East”? We don’t need to be anyone’s East or West. Harvard should be dreaming of becoming the IIT of the West! Our IIT grads are building the future of the world, while others are just busy making fancy campuses for rankings.

Let them keep their “scores”. We’ll keep our brains, our jugaad, and our Made-in-India moon landers. Bharat doesn’t need validation from some foreign list!

Believe it or not, I knew an undergraduate law student in England a couple of years ago who managed to run a cafe in Salisbury at weekends while studying law at university in London during the week. (Her parents were in the UK armed forces.) She seemed to quite enjoy her life but found it boring after a point (especially around the end of her second and throughout her third year of LLB) and went off for a law firm career once she'd finished uni. Last I heard, she'd completed her TC and obtained a couple of years PQE but was stating sadly that she had never fully appreciated all the good things of her cafe-running life while she was living it.

Must have been tough, though, considering the workload. But she was super disciplined (suppose the army culture from parents came in there). Used to wake up super early in the mornings from what I was told - around 3am. But law firm life is so horrible that even people like that can't stand it.

Getting promoted is not everything bro, getting some time just to feel sane is important. In law firms you just cannot expect to get even bare minimum time for your self, what will you do with connection and promotion when you can't even breath. The hounding of in house jobs over law firm feels immature in the long run. Yes you get money, but you don't get the time to spend it.

Hey bro thank you so much for your invaluable sights. Altough dropping out at this point is a bit risky, I am confident that I can bag a tier 1 nlu provided that I have adequate time. Its just that I have gotten a lot of negative reviews from my seniors about the college and its scary when the college is not helping the students in internships or placements. I know that if I take a break year I'll definitely get a better college. But thanks a lot for your reply:) will carefully think about it before making any hasty decisions.