it means you should concentrate on how you're making your argument, whether you're structuring it correctly, whether your analysis is thorough and bullet proof, whether you've addressed potential counter arguments, whether you have thought about the issue from different points of view, whether you have used appropriate examples, illustrations, whether it all ties in to make a convincing but concise case. structure and method.

Hi. I’m an associate with a T1 law firm in New Delhi. Our team is quite big in size. Whenever I send a draft to my senior her / his only comment is “this is not a well thought out draft. Think like a lawyer when advising”. Till date I don’t know what thinking like a lawyer means. Any guidance on how do I improve this skill?

Hey! In my experience, no one is ever "dumb", nor do people lack analytical skills. It really is a numbers game - mostly because it takes a level of experience and exposure to get things down pat. Speaking your mind is the biggest part of that. Of course, there is a fear of being wrong, but thinking out loud ensures that there is no way to go but up. You might be better able to distinguish where you went wrong.

Often times self-rejection is your biggest enemy. I think your attitude toward improvement is admirable, and it's a matter of trusting the process. Oftentimes, people who've known you for a long time don't make the effort to understand you or keep up with your growth. No matter their connection to your, or their well-meaning intentions, no one is ever an authority on you - trust yourself, and more importantly respect yourself.

I know I don't have many tangible suggestions, but I hope you learn to respect yourself and trust your own thought process.

Good luck! I believe in you!

Filed a petition, forgot to add the annexures. The judge points out to my senior that besides the impugned order nothing is on record so he can't pass any orders. Application was withdrawn (obviously), client ran away to some other office.

I apologised to the boss, he didn't say much - he's good natured and I hadn't really fucked up often so probably allowed a pass.

--

At the very start of the career, didn't know district courts (in Delhi at least) had a separate list for bail matters, based on the bail-roster of the district. Told the boss that our matter is third, not taking into account the separate list of 15+ bail matters. He reached the court at 10, only for our matter to be taken up around 12. He had to miss at least two other hearings in other district courts because of this mess up. He was fuming the entire time, but didn't say much to me directly.

See, judiciary has tag of a 'sarkari Naukri'. I won't discuss about the Judiciary lifetsyle which 'please' has already highlighted. I will try to discuss on this sarkari naukri charm as a whole.

Let me explain the factors which are majorly responsible for charm of any government job:-

1] Introduction of LPGs: - Before 1990s we did not have many MNC Culture Jobs.
Most of our fathers were either -
Type 'A' - government servants (10%)
Type 'B' - professionals (CAs/Advocates/Doctors) (10%) OR
Type 'C' - were running businesses/self-employed/agriculturists (70%) [please note that for sake of discussion it includes BPL population].

Economy was also small. Not many could afford luxury of a car or fridge. The Type B and Type C often struggled in shops (who have become much richer through the years now) and looked to lives of Type 'A' people with ambassador and padmini cars. Even Today business or proffesion is not very stable. I am sure we all have heard of any acqutaince whose business has hit rock-bottom due to pandemic. Infact, the EdTech bubble is now starting to burst as educational institutions have reopened. In short, stability and job-security.

2] Access to information :- Before the internet, smartphone & Jio tetrad though there was access to information but still a lot of people did not know simple things like 'how to become an IAS' . Now we have whole NCERTs , NEET and JEE syllabus uploaded on youtube and other websites. Access to education and information has become very very fast and cheap. Also, population was also comparitively low. Today most of indian population is youth and there is scarcity in market. There is job crisis. we all want the best job , best apartment , best partner and best money. Youth are doing anything to get settled in life.

3]Indian Society: Study between 21-23 , Stable Job between 24-26, Marriage between 26-29 , first child between 30-34 and second child between 35-40. That is how indian society works. So, the JEE/IAS/Judiciary syncs perfectly with the demands of indian society. Its a lot tougher to get married later (doubly challenging if you are trying to find a partner of your caste). So, matrimonial value of judiciay is much much higher. In contrast, if you are an advocate then you will have a tough time setting up a practise or even getting married at the right age after that. It maybe a different story if you are in law firm. Often they get someone with similar job profile.

4] Education Industry: Given the huge population of India and the young population, we know that education industry is a big big business. Coachings, Booksellers do promote the hype. Remember till 2012/2013 JEE was a big 'fad' ? Everyone wanted to join Bansal/FIITJEE and become an IITian without assessing their caliber. (Not saying IITs are not a good.One of the best in India). And in ny government exam applications are 20x the actual vacancies. The unsuccessful aspirants having experience often open coaching and teach well. A man has to eat?

5]Social Media: Instagram and youtube shorts are littered with videos like 'Your entry after becoming IAS' . When we are 18-19 our minds are very impressionable. We immediately get swayed away by these posts and talks. Most of these instagram pages are being run by shopkeepers and photocopy people. I know one book seller personally who had set up a state psc group early in 2012 and it has over 30k members now. Whenever he gets a new book , he posts in group.

But yes, it is a stable job with life of isolation (or peace?). There is respect, if you care. There are many other heirarchial politics and other things which can cause stress. You will really write judgments till 10 pm at night.

Work life balance: what's that ? You remain in the court atleast till 6 PM in the evenings. You come back home only to understand what the advocates have argued in the morning. You finish your work anytime between 9pm and 1 am in the night.

More than 80 percent of the advocates do not know the law themselves and this aggravates the life of an already average judicial officer. They throw random sections and case laws at the trial court judges and make a request that the matter be disposed of on merits.

Please also note that the job of a magistrate requires him/her to be available in the station 24 7 to make sure the so called offenders are produced before him/her within a span of twenty hours. Then, there are the requests for recording a dying declaration at odd hours. At times, when you have a big government hospital close by, you may end up receiving requests even at 11pm in the night.

We often think it is the judiciary that is the reason for delay in disposal of cases. But, that is just one side of a coin. Advocates request adjournments in 90 percent of the matters even when the cases are five years old. Despite knowing the cases to be devoid of merit, advocates file cases only to strike a forced compromise out of the court. Also, they create fake and concocted stories only to delay the proceedings and file random miscellaneous petitions in every second case. If you dispose of such petitions swiftly, they take them up in appeal and delay the proceedings on this pretext for another three months.

You are likely to be perplexed in the first six months because you end up giving adjournments till 11.30 am. Most of the advocates do not argue and file necessary documents unless the matter is atleast four years old. If you insist on completion of trial, they end up taking the pretext of the case being a relatively new one.

Most importantly, you may be asked to make arrangements for the private trips of high court judges whenever they visit a famous place in your station. Be prepared to receive brickbats even if the security officer of visiting high court judge does not get proper food to eat. One of my friends was pulled up for not accommodating a high court judge's security guard in a proper room.

Above all, be prepared to be stationed in towns and enjoy pathetic infrastructure. The building you would sit in would barely be habitable.

How is work-life balance, stress and workload as a judicial magistrate in lower judiciary, be it civil judge to District judge. Is the job really great if one wants to live a good life and time for family and maybe friends. What are real restrictions they have.
An insight and comparison with other famous law grad careers like corporate, litigation, academia, etc, will be very helpful

Yes for banks (you could try some new-age fintech NBFCs that are more liberal). It is challenging because normally, the credit approval checks are done on the basis of ITR filings proving you have a job. Bank staff are trained to process ITR-1 (which is for salaried persons). Advocates and other self-employed persons do not file ITR-1 but generally file ITR-3 and is the more complex form. They are not really trained for this and you'll end up realising that most bank staff... are all salespersons and just... do not know finance or tax laws/concepts.

You may get hundreds of calls and pre-approved offers from sales teams. These are all subject to credit approval which will usually fail because you appear to be unemployed and unlikely to pay your bills.

Previously, I got a secured credit card - which has no credit risk - and the bank later lifted the lien on the FD (so they made commission on 2 financial products). Later I scored a credit card with no job and no questions asked when I crossed a higher relationship value. Then I started working in law and have been unable to resolve the credit approval process. The common denominator in all this is that it is tied to the commission/targets the bank RM will be able to achieve.

Hi, the short answer would be "it depends on what you want to do".

To give some background, I'm not from CLC but from LC-1. I also got through Jindal and GLC but chose DU for reasons which seemed reasonable at the time. However, over time I have developed an interest in transactional law and the transition seems extremely difficult now.

If you are looking for placements directly after college or even internships through college, please forget about it. Law faculty has pathetic infrastructure, most experienced faculty has moved to other places, and large class sizes make any kind of quality control a joke.

In so far as repute and clout are concerned, it won't help you land any internships or placements per se. The only positives about law faculty are:
1. its teaching methodology through case-law (which is available online free of cost and which to my understanding has been adopted by various colleges now)
2. its proximity to the various Courts. Should you choose to get into litigation, you will be able to manage your litigation internships during college semesters without too much stress.
3. you will get to interact with a wide variety of individuals coming from all socio-economic backgrounds. Now this specific point does not help you with anything except teaching you how to deal with possible clients (litigation) and perhaps helping you develop "contacts"/network should you choose to get into litigation. As evident from the video posted above, it is a battleground for student politics and you will get to see a lot of entitled folks from the political class as well.

The only benefit of the clout/repute you would get is the one-off employer who might give you a chance on the basis of your college. But that would not be the standard rule. You would have to work hard to get anywhere.. way harder than students at other colleges (even non-NLUs) which have tie-ups for internships or functioning placement committees.

Having said that, if you are someone who is disciplined and can make that extra effort (on top of managing exams which are again horrendous with no uniform standard of evaluation-imagine checking 2500+ copies), you would have more options and time to explore internships and work opportunities.

Currently work in data is still relatively limited. But, India is in the process of overhauling its data privacy regime. And a new law - the Personal Data Protection Bill - is in discussion for a long time. Once that happens (likely, soon) there will be a lot of work in this space, much like after introduction of GDPR in the EU, data work has increased significantly. You can prepare for this, of course. Read up the discussions that have happened around various iterations to the PDP Bill to get good context to the law. Most important being the Srikrishna Committee Report. Then read up the Puttaswamy judgment that held privacy to be a fundamental right. There are several important foreign judgments such as Shrems. Read up the GDPR of course. You will good material on the law on gdpr.eu. Read how the GDPR compares with the Indian approach to data protection at https://www.ikigailaw.com/comparative-analysis-general-data-protection-regulation-2016-and-the-personal-data-protection-bill-2019/ . The Ikigai Law and Nishith Desai blogs generally have a lot of material on data privacy. Great stuff on iapp.org as well. Check out the top data protection law firms in India at https://www.legal500.com/c/india/data-protection/ and apply for internships.

This was a punch to the gut. Like the OP, work is okay. Actually its more than okay. Its great. However, I am underpaid. I have no idea why. I know I am competent because, they do not have any problem assigning me work where there is no oversight and work which actually has a significant impact both in terms of revenue and market reputation. There is high degree of independence and the type of work is amazing. Only if I could pay bills with experience.

One day, had enough. Sent out two applications. Both were great opportunities. One called back. Had seven interviews, with people interviewing me across three continents and at all times of day and night. Being as objective as possible, I know I did well. If I had not, the subsequent interviews would not have been set up.

A week after the last interview, I was fielding office meetings and phone calls on a Monday. Mondays are hectic. My personal phone rings, its her. I greet her and am quite happy. How could I not be, I went through seven interviews with senior management. I had it in the bag.

I did not get it. Phone call lasted all of 20 seconds. Went about my day. When I went to bed, came the waterworks. Sucks.

5AM: Awake. Exercise/Run. Coffee.

6.30-8.00 AM: Drafting/reviewing drafts of pleadings that need to go out to the client during the day.

9-10.30 AM: 2-3 conferences. Prepare for Court. This is crazy hour. Depending on the conferences and requirements of the matter, could be many last minute details and items required for Court.

10.30 AM - 4.30 PM: Court hours. Sometimes very heavy substantive hearings throughout. Sometimes there is an interregnum during which one can head back to office and finish reading, research and drafting.

4.30 PM - 5.00 PM: down time.

5.00 PM - 8 PM: a mix of conferences, debating with our counsels, reading, research, drafting.

8 PM - 9/9.30 PM: further work depending on the exigences of the next day.

Yes it's a demanding life. But the rewards are as none other. Would not trade this for anything.

As follows:

A1 (Fresher): 9L fixed, approx 1L (base) bonus
A2: 10.2L fixed, approx 1L (base) bonus
SA1 (generally you are promoted after two years, but it’s not by default): 12.6L fixed, approx 1.5 (base) bonus
SA2: 14L fixed, approx 1.5 (base) bonus.

In your first four years, if your team does well, you may also get a few extra thousands every month. As a PA (typically after 4 years), you have a variable component of about 10% (based on how your team performs vis-à-vis its targets).

Hope this helps!

You’ll get very biased answers on here because the platform is populated by new naloos. Honestly, what are y’all even thriving on? CLAT isn’t the behemoth you think it is. Go and prepare to lose your Jessup trial, while you slog for your next six hour exam that won’t teach you jackshit about the world.

DU CLC is cheap and great place to get a professional degree for anyone who wishes to turn their career around. Around a few decades ago, NLUs didn’t exist at all and neither did the now-famed five year degree. Globally, most places offer the three year degree and people do great for themselves. If you look at the Supreme Court and many HCs, you’ll find it populated by DU law grads or people from Stephen’s or GLC. That’s because they’re old and prestigious; and have been commanding respect since before the granddaddies of the current NLU VCs were even born. Not everyone has the means to pay for an NLU degree either and at 18, many people don’t actually want to devote half a decade to law.

It’s not good to pit institutions against each other, we’re good but we know the mettle of DU CLC too. They might not have the best grants from the government or infra or legal clinics, but if you were to tally the number of Rhodes scholars, people who won other scholarships, or are established lawyers in the country, you’d find good ol’ DU beating all NLUs combined.

Firstly, congratulations on your admission! As a former Columbia grad, I can say that the LLM is a great experience. However, not sure if I would have gone through with it if I had to take a loan for the full amount. Advise which I received prior to the LLM, was to not do it if the sole objective is to work abroad. The LLM has a lot of benefits, which are 'softer' in nature and you may not see immediate gain professionally in the short term. Getting a job post the LLM is definitely a possibility, but is contingent on numerous factors such as PQE, practice area, networking skills etc. Wish you the best!

Kicking and screaming in the bed he has been lying in for weeks, Gregor Samsa, now an unsightly beetle but as eager to attend to work as he once was as a human, is unable to fathom that another human simply prefers not to join him in the dung heap of contemporary history, employed as a beloved and valuable asset at a Tier-1 firm.

In house salaries are as under:
0-1 year-6.50 Lakhs
1-2 years- 9.60 Lakhs
2-3 years-12.50 Lakhs
3-4 years- 16.00 Lakhs
4-5 years- 20 Lakhs
5-6 years- 24 Lakhs
6-7 years- 28.50 Lakhs
7-8 years- 35 Lakhs
8-9 years- 42 Lakhs
9-10 years- 50 Lakhs
10-15 years- 90 Lakhs

This is as accurate as it gets.

https://asialawportal.com/krishnayan-sen-founding-partner-and-head-of-disputes-practice-at-verus-is-set-to-merge-his-practice-with-l-and-l-partners/

All set to bounce back. The Litigation practice will flourish very soon and we will be T1 again.

Litigation always seems more interesting, but your switch is not uncommon.

You'd be on better footing, if you are familiar with contract law, corporate law (companies act, FEMA, etc.). Apply to all firms (tier I included) - I know of quite a few corporate partners in tier 1s who started off with litigation.

If you seem like a quick learner who knows what he is talking about, firms always hire competent trainable talent, irrespective of prior work experience - be prepared for them to start you off at a lower position than you feel you deserve though - this should get rationalised once you show how well you can do.

Just one tip - do not bullshit if you don't know, interviews are not college exams, and the interviewer already knows answers to the questions he is asking, so you will not be able to confound him/her with made up nonsense.

Only rely on any books for pre if you have trouble understanding the concept from bare acts. Books will help you in mains. For pre sepecifically, go through every bare act 10-15 times that way even if you dont sit and 'memorise' them in traditional sense, they will be imprinted in your memory. Questions in pre are asked directly from bare acts. Another advise, dont go doing a phd in any subject and drown yourself in thick books. Understand the concept, know what the section's language contains and refer to a couple of cases for that section- both landmark and current. Source- qualified HJS and DJS.

Valid question, but that is what NLUs were designed to do, no? If you wanted to follow the pre-1986 model of legal education of learning from practice with the LL.B. enrollment being a joke, one could always choose GLC over NLS. That model was there before the NLUs and that model will be there after the NLUs.

The point of NLUs was to teach you (not you in particular) the social context of law - to think and challenge whywhat we do is done. If you think that NLU graduates quote Foucault and Marx, and are representative of intellectualism and wokeness, I think the NLU model succeeded, right? One always has to measure success towards the aims it was intended to achieve. Otherwise you would just be chastising IIT students for being bad painters.

I'm sitting on my desk, working on a draft that is to be filed in less than a week. I'm tired and my eyes are weary, but I don't hate the work, it's okay, it's just work. I've been doing it for a little over three years now. It could've been much worse, I tell myself. I could hate my Partner or my team or I could be back in college with severe depression. It's only one more week, I think, I'll manage. Besides, I've been applying to places I'd like to work at, now that I've been here a few years and it's time to move on. Maybe, wherever I go, it'll be be much worse - and then I'd just miss where I am now. Or maybe I'm trying to rationalise months of no sleep and mountains of work.

I have a few promising leads. I'm hopeful something will pan out. I don't know enough people who can get me through these doors, but I've done the grunt work, I think. It'll work out. I turn my focus back to the draft - only a few more hours until I'm done with this section. And then on to the next one.

I get a call in the middle of the day. It's the lady from the place again. My heart skips a beat as I attempt to speak in a measured, understated tone - yes, I'll be available to speak whenever you'd like. Yes, i went to so and so and have done so and so over the last few years. My heart beats a few times more each second than its used to. My life could change, I think. It'll work out.

A week goes by. My filing is done and I finally realize how exhausted I am. But at the back of my head, all I hope for is for that lady to call me back. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate my work. It could be much worse, I know. I am grateful it isn't. But secretly, and only to myself, I hope for that lady to call me back. My life could change, I think.

It's afternoon again, and I'm back at the desk. It's another filing and another late night. I've almost forgotten that I was to wait for the lady to call me back, but mostly because I try my best to make it hurt a tiny bit less. Almost suddenly, my phone rings and her number flashes before my eyes once more.

I hear her tell me they aren't hiring for the role anymore. I say all the right things that I've heard people tell me I'm supposed to say over the years. I try to be nice to her, to be professional. I understand it's not her fault, she's just another cog in the machine, just like me. Once she's hung up, it's just me. And my heart hurts but there's no one to tell. It's okay, I think. There's another section to finish.

I go online on LinkedIn. I see people posting excitedly about working at so and so. I remember for a second the sheer excitement i felt when I first heard from the lady. I catch myself smiling sadly, grateful there's no one around.

There's another section to finish.

I am going to let you (and the rest of LI) in on a secret. I was in a similarly precarious situation a few months ago, and you know what worked for me?

Apollo.io

1. Go to Apollo.io, get their premium plan (for 14 days its free, then you can renew it by providing new email address).
2. Put filter in (eg Delhi, Law, or Delhi, Law practice).

Voila, you have thousands of results at your disposal now. Now what should be done?

3. Get an excel sheet.
4. Input name of the firm, in second column, the email/portal, in third notes (relating to practice area) in fourth, add the response
5. Now go to every law firm/law office one by one. Conduct due diligence, see their practice area, customize the cover letter and send the application away.

You will have thousands of law offices to choose from (As in where to apply). Keep applying.
Keep a track of ALL the applications that you send out.

Sooner or later you WILL get a callback. The trick is to not get disheartened. Start with Tier 1/2 and move on to next tiers when things do not work out.

2-3 years in tier 3/4 will easily make your eligible for tier 1/2 (through recruiters or contacts).

10-20,000 are nothing in long run, for 1-2 years, try to learn as much as you can and Tier 3-4 firms can teach you just as much as T1 or T2.

Dont lose heart. Keep applying.

Himmat e marda, madad e khuda

Because Mr. Haigreve Khaitan comes from a long line of fan makers. When he broke the family tradition to go into the law firm business instead of fan making, he didn’t want to shut down the fan making arm. As a homage to his ancestors. Hence, the name ‘Khaitan & Co.’

Fun facts - All Khaitan & Co. offices have only Khaitan branded fans. This year, they're even planning to give out bonuses to A0s in fans. This is the reason why the new letters have no mention about bonus. Getting 4 out of 4 fans i.e., a 4 rating means that one is a top level performer. No more normal fans for him/her/that/it anymore. That life is behind them once they perform well at Khaitan & Co. Advocates, Solicitors & Fan makers.

ways to move to the UK

1. try for a training contract at a magic circle firm in the penultimate year of the law school

2. get two years work experience in India, then do SQE and shift to the UK as a solicitor

3. do GDL, then the bar course and then pupillage to become a barrister in the UK

4. do LLM, PhD and become an academic

for all the above keep focus on your academics (try to stay within the top 20% of the batch), publish a couple of papers (preferably in a scopus listed journal, co-authored will be fine), win some prize (any co-extra curricular would be fine)

speak to seniors from your uni who had taken any of the paths above

Congratulations, this is great news! Best of luck!
Just a word of advice, NLU-D is a great place to be. There will be people all around you who'll seem to know exactly what they're doing. Don't get overwhelmed, don't get pressured to do the 'in' thing.
But my one regret from law school is not being a consistent worker. I was one of the more active students, but there is still SO MUCH more I would've liked to explore. Why didn't I do more moots in new, exciting areas that I really liked, why did I only stick to traditional subjects that'd boost employability? ADR competitions are so fun, good learning experiences and are relatively low-effort. Why didn't I do more of them? Why didn't I apply for a vacation scheme, I knew about them since before joining law school, but I rejected myself. All of this isn't coming from a 'I might have been in a better place had I done that'. It's more of a 'Damn that would've been a fun thing to do I wish I'd done it'.
So I'll just say this: NLU-D gives you excellent opportunities, make sure you keep exploring and make the most of it!

I stay in a 1 BHK in Bandra West (near Mount Mary). Office is in lower parel.

My budgeting is like this:
Rent: 40 K
Grocery: 8 K
Maid: 4k
Cook: 8K
Electricity: 2K
PNG Charges: 0.3 K
Commute: 10 K
Overhead: 10 K
Internet + Netflix and other OTTS: 2.5K

I am a recluse and don't socialise much. If you are a party person, add 15 k to 20 k on top of this.

I am a Columbia Grad. The answer to your questions is a lot of ifs and a lot of luck, unfortunately. I had a fantastic experience and I’d recommend it to everyone. However, if the ultimate goal and sole reason to do this is to get a job abroad, my answer would probably change. Specially if you’re planning to take a loan to do this. I don’t know the rest of your background, PQE etc but I’ll just share some facts based on my experience which might help you decide :
- if you’re at a Tier 1 firm, SA/PA level and have decent connections with folk within your firm as well as experience working opposite US counsel in biglaw, your changes of bagging a job become a bit better. An LLM in the US will be useful then.
- if you have debt or funds experience of 3-4 years, UK could be an option after the LLM (but you don’t need an LLM for this necessarily)
- if you’re a capital markets lawyer, your skills are more transferable and there’s a decent change of employment here, but again this isn’t necessarily dependent on a US LLM.

If you do take the bar and pass it, several opportunities do open up but I’m still of the opinion that an LLM is an investment in the long run. What is gives you is an exceptional and immersive experience, solid contacts over the world, and a tag you will have with you for life. I’m still not convinced it’ll pay back in the medium term though, and I wouldn’t take a 50-60 lakh loan to do it.

All the very best either way!

Hey fellas, I'm the dude who posted this:

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/230057--Is-it-too-late-to-switch-to-GNLU-after-three-years-

Just wanted to know I got NLUD yesterday, and will be switching.
Thanks to everyone who answered and helped!

I did this.

I was miserable intellectually (honestly, public policy is only slightly better, if at all), but so happy with the job security. I went in for the law firm knowing I will exit as soon as my financial goals are met. I think of moving back to policy as buying back time for the things I want to do since it cannot possibly eat away all my waking hours, and I will get time to read, think and write in future.

I guess it depends on identifying and balancing what you need and want to do from your life

Harvard p-grad here. Having a NALSAR or NLS background does help but only to the extent of being better trained and having great connections with your senior/alumni who have already done their LLM from here. That meant I knew exactly how to train, what to write and how to go about my applications. A great set of faculty or alums (who in my case was also my Partner in the law firm I was working) really helps with the recommendations. I guess the one major advantage of NLS/NALSAR supremacy has been its old school network-i.e. alumni and students...what I am trying to say is it is the students that make the university and not so much as the faculty or admin. But yes some faculty of NLS/NALSAR have been exceptionally well read and respected and yes if a word of recommendation can come from them it may make a lot of difference. Having said that my batch had people from India who did their LLB from non NLUs and I will say they were equally talented. So best of luck!

Wasn't that a casual scolding judges often do to the parties as well as to the arguing counsel? Practical exposure to courts definitely will make one aware that it is the accepted mode of practice in courts that judges make statements often harsh towards the parties, that doesn't mean it is 'judgement'. It's really disheartening to see LI forums, where people actually have exposure to the working of law acting as the same bunch of twitter bum-bums who doesn't have an iota of knowledge of how the law functions.

10km from Lower Parel includes Cuffe Parade, Bandra West, Mahim, Bandra East, and Dharavi. So the rent range will vary quite significantly depending on where you want to stay.

You'll have to take a call what you want to prioritise but at 50k for a 2bhk, you won't find a 2bhk in the nicer part of town or in the fancier buildings (think buildings with gyms, swimming pool, etc.). There isn't any one specific place where law firm people stay - you will find what you prioritise may be quite different from what someone else might. I personally started prioritising staying close to office (almost) above all else after a few years but I know people who didn't mind spending 1+ hour travelling back and forth since they liked living in Bandra West or Juhu.

I find a lot of people don't count the taxi fare to and from office when considering the "total all-in cost". It is for this reason I find staying in Bhakti Park to not make a lot of sense. That being said, I took the local trains for many years and don't let anyone convince you that trains aren't a perfectly decent way to travel to work. To make local trains a sensible option, try to not stay too far away from your starting local station and ideally stay near a place where you get taxis / autos quickly. LP / Elphinstone Road local stations are a walking distance (

Reply to Guest123 @1.1.2: This is the OP, thank you for your comment! Given your experience in Europe, I'm really interested in having your views on the following matters in the context of moving abroad:

1. Area of practice: What is your area of specialization? I've done PE VC transactions at a boutique firm for a few years. I'd like your view on whether you recommend I now get some experience at a T1 law firm or in-house at a VC firm. Do keep in mind my goal is to move abroad after a year or two at this next job.

2. Foreign LLM: Is it necessary if I want to work at a firm in Europe?

3. Language: Assuming you're in continental Europe, did you have to learn the country's language after you moved there?

Many thanks again for your time!

Don't worry, buddy. Let me start by saying that you are just starting out. At 820, you should still be able to get an okay NLU from where you can do well, so the world is not over. Also, you may consider taking the NRI sponsored route, it'll be a better option than Jindal. Costs about the same, but with your rank, you will probably get into NUJS.

All that aside, if you feel the fees of Jindal/NRI sponsored quota will be an undue burden, really don't worry about it. Taking a drop is okay, as long as you are focused in your prep. But like you said, CLAT/AILET can really be a gamble sometimes and I understand why you'd want a safety net. I would say it's still okay to drop a year and prep really well (a gap year makes NO difference) instead of enrolling in a college and paying the exorbitant fee. Esp if paying for the entire course at Jindal is completely out of the question. Think of it this way: if JGLS for five years isn't a viable option at all, then what use is it as a safety net? So why even pay a year's semester's fee?
Taking this into consideration, a T3 NLU would make more sense. But the problem with that is, CLAT 2023 is in December. You have just six months. A lot of people prepare for CLAT while studying in T2/T3 NLUs and perform very well. A lot of people in NALSAR and NLS are kids who did a year at a lower NLU/private college. But taking admission in a college, moving away from home, getting used to a new environment, new routine, new people, new freedoms can be a very disruptive process that takes some time to get used to, a couple of months, at least. When you have only six months, losing two can be a major dent.
Which is why, based on what you said, I'd say drop a year and prep at home. ABSOLUTE worst case scenario, you join the same T3 NLU a year later, big deal. But the potential upside is huge. It's not wasting a year for no reason, it's taking an intelligent, calculated risk, where the odds are in your favour. There is a chance that it may not pay off, but even then, a year's gap is really something must people don't even bat an eye over. And at least you wouldn't have spent an extra year's fee.
If you would still prefer having the safety net, I'd say go for the NLU.

Side note: JGLS does have means-cum-merit scholarships. Check in with their office, see if you qualify for any aid.

Good luck!

Think carefully.

Let's assume that, you do not get the Tier I job due to lack of opportunity in your college. But I am sure you would get through some tier 2-5 law firm. And frankly, once you have started working, it is only your work experience, which would count.

So, the following two possibilities can arise:

(a) You lose 3 years, joint GNLU and land a Tier I job; or

(b) you finish your current course, join a law firm (does not matter what tier is) and after 3 years, join a tier I.

Even if I assume that in the option (b), you would be inducted as A-0 and your entire PQE would be discarded, note the following:

(a) you would have actual work ex of 3 years. to a Tier I firm, you may be A0, but they cannot take away your actual work experience and you would get a head start amongst the freshly-minted A0s.

(b) you would (hopefully) be able to achieve some level of financial independence due to your initial years of engagement.

The culture is far better. I am attest to this personally. That alone is enough of a reason to want to move in-house.

OP- Most inhouse teams would be open to your profile. I came with M&A transactions experience. If you have PE, VC experience as well, funds will be open to hiring. I’m not sure what your PQE is but if it’s anything more than 4 years you’re in a decent position for most in-house reputed roles.

Very unsure if this is an actual query or a troll, but I'll choose to answer it anyway. Assuming you get into a T1 DU seat for Eco honours also, I'd advise making a decision according to:
1. What interests you as an area of study (most people I know don't have any real passion for anything at 17, it's more about what seems vaguely acceptable. The goal is that you should do well enough in college to have a good job/postgrad opportunities after it)
2. What you can conceivably see yourself doing for the next thirty years (explore different professional opportunities after each course and see what suits your fancy. Money is just one thing. But the work itself, will it be sustainable?)
3. What your general life goals are and how each course helps in achieving them.

The biggest handicap of law compared to the other two courses you have listed is that it has very low international permeability. Engineering and economics/finance are a lot more transferable and are usually on the list of preferred immigrants. Also, law (arguably) offers the worst WLB of the three. On the flip side, it can offer v lucrative financial rewards. There are people who become partners at T1 law firms by 30. Becoming a partner by 35 is common. That means earning somewhere around 1Cr (or 70L at the very least, that too taxed at a lower rate than an engineer's salary). CSE packages are very lucrative, but few engineers have such a steep progression, unless they start their own company or something.

In a nutshell, this is it. Engineers have better starting CTC. They also have better WLB throughout their lives. In law, your starting salary will be lower (presently about 14LPA, taxed at 10%). And the work hours are a lot more demanding. But the progression can be much, much faster. Economics is a very good subject with good opportunities and is internationally transferable. Most people warn against it because DU has (understandably, imo) a bad image as a centre of aimless airheads. But really can't say about what kind of life or money it offers.

I hope I didn't spend ten minutes answering a troll.

Here is the pdf of the story:

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/67043170/will-indias-new-era-sever-its-old-power-structures-law-gov

get hold of a senior from your ug uni who has done a research degree and ask them if they can share their proposal

or

get hold of a research student from the uni where you will be doing your masters and convince them to share their proposal with you

dont do mphil

There's a difference between having an offer in hand and aiming for it. Look at it this way: you'll be starting your third year now, this is when most people start interning at T2/T1 firms, taking up big moots/serious research. If you prep for CLAT, you'll have to compromise on all those. You might also jeopardise your rank/grades. So there is a significant cost. Though since the next CLAT is in December, you will only be sacrificing one more semester, not the whole year.

So what I will say is, at the very least, don't compromise on your rank/grades. If you decide to take CLAT again, study well for both things simultaneously. And make the switch only if you get into NLS/NALSAR/NLU-D/NUJS. Because NUALS isn't a bad college, really. And you do have a lot of time, more than half of your degree ahead of you. So you can still do well from NUALS.

I can tell you that age is not a factor that will handicap you at all. The thing to consider is opportunity cost. What is it you really want to achieve and does switching colleges offer a better chance at achieving it? If so, is the difference significant enough to drop two years? If your goal is to get a T1 Corp job, I do know people from NUALS who get PPOs. And even if you don't, people work for 1-2 years at T2 and T3 firms and then make the switch. So in that case, the chances of getting into a top firm by 2025 are the same, really.

1. Nupur Sharma has a history of instigating people and spewing hatred. Context is important in law. She also did it in national television in this case. I still don't want her to be arrested for this incident though, because I find the entire idea of blasphemy being a criminal offence laughable. In any case, nobody has actually arrested her yet. That's perhaps the biggest point.
2. Zubair reshared an existing tweet that can at best be called a joke. An obscure party filed a complaint. The state machinery sprang to action immediately and have now started cooking up cases like conflating his personal account with that of Alt-News. It is this blatant partisan use of state machinery under a secular democracy that I have a problem with as a lawyer most of all.

Masters and Abroad

- countries
- First of all how helpful is masters in landing a corp job or litigation or academics abroad?

If you are a fresher it is almost impossible to get a corp job outside India immediately after llm from abroad, if you are after a law firm job abroad then do foreign masters at least after 3 years of experience and some good homework on the law firms that you are going to apply to and have a very good roadmap

for academics abroad you would need to complete phd as well preferably in the country that you are targetting

- Second of all which countries are best for doing a masters in after 5 years?

UK and US are perennial favourites

you can also check out australia and canada

- I have heard of people saying mostly US ans UK. Which ones are better. I understand that it depends on the
scholarship but I’m asking in general.

in the us try for ivy leagues and in the uk try for russell group

however if a uni is giving 75% scholarship or more and it is within top 250 unis and you have a clear idea as to what you are going to do after llm and how you are going to achieve it, then you can go to these unis as well

bottomline if you are spending your own money for llm then do it only from ivy or top 5 unis in the uk (oxbridge, LSE, UCL and KCL)

- What’s the avg scholarship one gets? What will be the expenses you will need to take?

most good us unis will have some financial assistance, they vary widely for 20% to full

in the uk, most unis will have few partial scholarships and one or two full scholarships, oxbridge have more

you will have to make up the tuition shortfall and cost of living

- What’s the way one goes after the masters to essentially cash in on this invest cus at the end ill have to take
a loan for it.

dont do llm unless you know clearly as to why you want to do llm and what you are going to do after it

a clear roadmap and plan is ESSENTIAL

do not do llm on a loan, its not worth it (unless you have a TC and you have been asked to defer for a year for some reason)

- Scholarship
- What things do you need to get a shoclarship as in the academics

top 10% in academics in the class, some extra-co curricular and a few publications

- What cgp?
- I heard your need to do social work? How should you do and how much?

check out https://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/media/45958/unofficial-guide-rhodes-india-2022-23.pdf

- Do you need to have publications related to your masters field or can it be anything else? How many good
ones do you need?

helpful if it is allied, a couple should do

- Masters
- Is it worth it to do a masters? Will be essential to get some kind of employment abroad? Or can you get one
with our one

it is helpful to have a degree in the jurisdiction where you are applying, however you would need to do extensive homework on this when you are nearer to application

- Bar and litigation
- I have heard some people planning to do masters in us and uk and giving bar there to practise litigation there
in a firm or associates.

in the uk you would have to pass the SQE, if you want to become a solicitor, or the bar course if you want to become a barrister, although it is easy to do these courses or exam through a private provider (like university of law, think of it like an exam prep company), it might be difficult to get the pupliage/contract afterwards, you would either need to join a regional law firm or tier 2/3 barristers (there are many, but again you would need to do homework before you commit to any oath)

- How would you go about this without connections as of right now

check out the requirements on the https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/

one way I know (my info is at least 3 years old) is doing a GDL which is like a degree conversion and then do the bar course (by either at a private provider or preferably at any of the inns)

- How much would it totally cost to do something like this??

£20k

- Is any of this worth it?

yes, if you have a gameplan and can get pupilage after the course, you can break even in one year

I was skeptical too, being from a "lower" NLU. I can assure you that you can completely relax. All T1 associates, be it from NLS or from a state govt. college, all are just rats in this big rat race and each of you will be trained in a similar manner. as it is, the tasks are mostly clerical at A0 level. How much extra you learn will solely be based on whether the practice interests you even a tad bit.

To be honest, a lot of people (not all) from top NLUs carry this confidence that brand name brings, but just remember, both of you landed the same job, and moreso I assume it was not a campus placement for you, and you proved your worth for it, so relax.

Just be sincere to your work, and take one day at a time, when you look back, you will realise how much you have learnt and level with the same NLU Grads.

On a separate note, find a hobby which will keep you sane working those hours.

Though it is very valid, I can't speak to your mental fatigue and the consequent unwillingness to transition, so I'll address more material concerns.
I went to a T2 NLU ranking slightly below GNLU.
1. Don't worry too much about your age, sure, it's something people might notice, but it's nothing more than a slight raise of the eyebrow. A lot of my batchmates were two years behind the curve, one was three years behind. They all managed to get good placements. Age is not really a factor.
2. The difference between colleges can be VERY real. The opportunities it provides, the doors it opens. Yes, individual effort always accounts for more in the long run, but immediate opportunities available vary significantly. The faculty at GNLU is a mixed bag, some are v good, some are just bad, most are just average. But the alumni network is v strong, including Rhodes scholars, training contract holders (people who got placed at a UK law firm), an ICJ fellow, several partners at Indian law firms. These people help you discover opportunities and give you a lot of v important guidance.
3. The brand value can matter a lot. Especially with Indian law firms. IMO, they are likely to see a top-ranked student from a lower NLU as equal to an above-average student from GNLU.
4. Culture and exposure: at GNLU, you will get a more stimulating environment. They have a very good mooting culture. They also host several moots and conferences, giving you great exposure. At another college, even though you may want to do something, you may be pulled back by a lack of teammates or lack of exposure. And a lot of us don't have enough self-motivation to put in the effort required to overcome these challenges, we are a product of our environment.

It may seem like it, but I am not advocating for changing schools. I'm just saying that if, like you said, you're from an NLU ranking in the bottom three, there may be some very material benefits that shifting to GNLU would offer. And the prime concern you may have, about 'age' isn't that big a deal. After graduation, many people spend two-three years working at Tier-2 or Tier 3 firms to get into Tier-1 firms. So if you get a better launching pad, you may just avoid that.

Why is it that sexual harassers are always from NLSIU Bangalore? The Group General Counsel who used to harass me used to play with his zip and many more things just to harass me.
If I ever told anyone he played with his zip while talking to me, I would have been blamed for looking down at his zip so I never wrote it down in my complaint.
This is the first time I am writing this because the matter is very old now and the company has shut down.
Anyways Karma caught him.

Knowing your CV inside out is the trick, it is repeated everywhere but what does it mean to know your CV? If you have been called for an interview, that means that 30-40% of your work is done already, now your CV is your bible.

There is no "best" way to go about "knowing" your CV, the study of CV would have to be done on a case-by-case basis, let me give you an example, if you have specified in your CV that you did some ICDR research on a particular proviso, then you just CANNOT stop at just knowing the particular research is not ENOUGH. You will need to know what is ICDR, why was it implemented, how is it practically used, what is an IPO, and so on and so forth. You need to know your topic of research very well and you must have a broad understanding of everything about the particular research that you have talked about. If you are still a beginner, then reading SEBI regulations straight up might be a little hard for you so I would advise reading articles on places like Mondaq or even LinkedIn.

Another example: Let us say you are a lateral hire and you specify that you have drafted an Employment Agreement for a company, then your knowledge of Employment Agreement would need to be thorough, be prepared for questions like
- Who is an employee?
- What kind of leaves is an employee entitled to?
- Dispute Resolution?
- The applicability of various labor laws like Factories Act, Industrial Disputes Act, Shops and Establishment Act etc would also come in handy.

Thank about it practically, what would YOU ask a candidate if they claimed to have worked on a task "x"; this advice is left vague because there is no "right" answer. It will exclusively depend upon what you have written.

I am a first-year student from a 2nd-tier NLU. I have a lot of questions, a lot. I have separated them by subjects please answer any questions you can help me with. I and other people stumbling on this thread will appreciate it a lot.

Life in India after law
- Corporate
- How do I know if ill made for that or ill like doing it
- Are the work hours that bad?
- How long do you gotta work to have a life
- Is it worth it?
- Do people do it for a couple of years just to save money for something else like a masters? Is that a good
idea?
- Is there a good option for a good pay, condition, working hours in something like a boutique firm?
- Litigation
- Don’t really like it? Not really keen or interested in working in Indian courts tbvh
- As a first gen is it worth it? The life-work balance? Opportunities and pay?
- Something else? arbitration? Mediation
- Is arbitration something I should explore? Is there a space for it in India or abroad? If abroad how to seek it?
- Mediation? Same question as that of arbitration
- Academics
- How to check if you would like academics
- I know academics have a good work-life balance but are there prospects for it India for lets just say social
mobility, will it help someone to move up the economic scales or would it be a more, you stay where you are
kind of a job?
- Again what are the prospects in abroad for this? How to approach it?

Internships
- Connections
- I have seen how literally almost everything in law sector is based on connections and knowing the right
people. As a person with no connections how do you practically make connections with people in position to
give you favours and chances?
- How do you develop a person you know who can help you into a meaningful connection? I have known and
texted a couple of people in legal industries through competitions but it never goes beyond a couple of text
or max a call. How do you actually make sure make them into a “connection” not just for the profit of it but
connecting on a human level.
- How many?
- How many internships should one do?
- Should you do them at a law firm from sem 1 (I have seen people do it) does that help? Some even spend all
5 years in a law firm and learn everything as someone who doesn’t have that way what would be
recommended? Law firms? Boutique law firms?
- Should you do a running internship all along and balance your academics with it or are academics and
publications more important?

Masters and Abroad

- countries
- First of all how helpful is masters in landing a corp job or litigation or academics abroad?
- Second of all which countries are best for doing a masters in after 5 years?
- I have heard of people saying mostly US ans UK. Which ones are better. I understand that it depends on the
scholarship but I’m asking in general.
- What’s the avg scholarship one gets? What will be the expenses you will need to take?
- What’s the way one goes after the masters to essentially cash in on this invest cus at the end ill have to take
a loan for it.
- Scholarship
- What things do you need to get a shoclarship as in the academics
- What cgp?
- I heard your need to do social work? How should you do and how much?
- Do you need to have publications related to your masters field or can it be anything else? How many good
ones do you need?
- Masters
- Is it worth it to do a masters? Will be essential to get some kind of employment abroad? Or can you get one
with our one
- Bar and litigation
- I have heard some people planning to do masters in us and uk and giving bar there to practise litigation there
in a firm or associates.
- How would you go about this without connections as of right now
- How much would it totally cost to do something like this??
- Is any of this worth it?

1. Not entirely true - depends on the team. Quite a few T1 and high paying boutique teams do work in lower courts and partners/PAs often argue those matters. The experience in courts is real either way. On the do they allow associates to take up bit - not sure what this means. If you’re talking about bringing small matters to the firm - again that would depend on the team - some boutiques would be okay, some T1s definitely not.
2. Can’t say about Bangalore
3. Yes it is. However, some Tier 1 firms will cut experience for someone coming from non t1/t2 firms. This would depend on the hiring partner and team, but generally they would cut a few years of experience especially if someone is coming from chamber practice.
4. Money in disputes teams is now the same as Corp teams, so if you’re looking for financial stability then join a T1. You can forget about work life balance. But if you’re okay settling for lesser money then go for a mid size firm. That depends on the trade off you want to make.

All the following data are from personal experiences or heard from close friends and family -
AZB Offline Mumbai is 3,000₹.
Trilegal Online is 16,000₹
L&L/Saraf Online is 10,000₹
SAM Online 0₹
KCo Mumbai online 9,000₹ (+- 3000 variable)
Anagram Partners online 10,000₹
CAM Online 10,000₹
LinkLegal online 0₹
Gravitas Legal Online 0₹
ICICI Bank online 10,000₹
DSK Legal online 0₹
Dhir and Dhir online 0₹
Regstreet online 5,000₹ (variable)
Remfry Sagar online 0₹
Rajaram Legal online 0₹
SRGR Law associates online 0₹

I joined a PSU way back in 2016. I belonged to a decent NLU and yet I joined this h*llhole. I had received an offer from a decent T2 Firm. At first, I thought the perks were attractive (financial and otherwise). Boy, I was so mistaken! The money is not even comparable 3 years down the line. Most of the additional perks are not even remotely enough to cover your expenses (rent etc. is pathetically insufficient!). Also, You'd know that the officers in PSUs lose out on the Taxation aspect big time as they are not on retainers. Once someone joins a PSU, the market value forever decreases. You cannot even think of joining the litigation offices as the advocates will despise you and you will be under the command of people of your age. Moreover, when you join some place as an associate afterwards, you'll be reminded of the lost years.

The worst part is the working environment. Incompetency and sycophancy go hand in hand. Moreover, people having powerful connections will get good postings and others will rot in unproductive and repetitive paper work. Every year, you'll ask yourself if you have learned anything at all. The answer would be that you have forgotten all the skills you had back in the day and have learned nothing new. Moreover, getting shouted at by incompetent bosses for no fault of yours, s*cks! Personally, I had reached a place where my younger brother made thrice my yearly income and used to be 10X satisfied with his work. PSUs are not the way forward. Merit is never almost never rewarded. Anyone who knows a minister/bureaucrat gets ahead in the line. Way Ahead.

My advice- Be very careful while making this decision. If you wish to stay at a PSU all your life (& suffer the consequences), then feel free to join. A change in career midway is almost impossible. The pay is attractive now but it will be insufficient to meet your expectations and relatively much less when compared to your peers who would have climbed up the ladder in Firms/Litigation. If you have an option of joining a firm, please join it asap. The PSU I had joined had made me sign a bond for 3 years. I thought I'd leave after that. But by then no one needs you! You'll be trapped. Sad but true! Hope, you guys save yourselves from this tragedy! Best.

I don't know if anyone is going to find this useful. But if you're going to do RTI Activism. Please take some basic safety measures:

1. Always do your activism outside your home state. If you want to do it in your state, find an activist friend from another state to file the requisite applications. This will prevent you from being identified directly.

2. This is important. Go to your post office and open a PO Box. It is usually a nominal rental of like 250 a month or something. You can use this address as an address for correspondence for your RTI Applications. You may consider opening more than one and switching addresses while filing applications.

3. Lastly, if you're doing activism, never agree to come and collect the reply in person. You can always demand they send it by post. It will take a few days but you will get it by post.

4. Use a new email address for correspondence and e-RTI applications. Open this up preferably in a foreign based location using a VPN.

Some safety tips.

A guy saw you, probably thought you were interesting and asked you out. Don't overanalyze it. Gaydar is overrated. It is hard for us queer people to identify someone's sexual orientation because no one walks with a signboard on their heads or rainbow flags draped around them 24×7. Whether you are gay/bi or not is something only you can answer. There is no such thing as coming off as gay to a third person (unless you have shown any interest in men from your side) and if people think that, it is probably from a lack of education about these things. Being homosexual is a sexual orientation, it doesn't suddenly change a conventionally manly man into a less "bro" man or a less conventionally manly man into something else. I have many gay male friends who are more "bro" than all the straight men in my life and many straight male friends who are not into your typical dude-bro lifestyles. There is no one type of gay man, so such assumptions are ridiculous.
Also, just because you're not interested in women does not mean you're gay. You could be aromantic/asexual or both. Or you could be straight but demisexual. You are gay only if you are sexually interested in men and not in women at all. An absence of interest in women does not equate to being gay. If people are assuming your sexual orientation, it's just based on backward thinking based on stereotypes. You should tell them you are uncomfortable with it.
That said, on your end, I think you need to be a little more secure in your masculinity. Your comment reeks of self doubt and of insecurity in how you are coming off to others. Don't let this get to you.

I got to hear from my peers that SAM does not pay any stipend to its interns and AZB only pays 3000 bucks in 2022(!!!) to its intern (online/offline). I am not sure whether this information is correct. Can community please verify? (If its true) Then no stipend or Rs 3000 (which like 100 Rs per day sufficient enough for good old 80s) is too less and at worse disrespectful to the intern. This fact is surprising for and utterly shameless for firms like AZB and SAM who have very high billable/s and who talk about a fictitious diversity at their home/career pages. Not to mention interns from middle class background cannot afford (8k (travel) + 20k (Stay and food) 5-10K (miscellaneous/formals) 30-40K for cities Like Delhi, Mumbai (70k) and Bangalore which creates an unlevelled playing field which Is easy to walk by rich trust fund progeny. Please use this space to call out these firms and any other firm that abuses Interns as a form of white collar corporate underpaid mostly unpaid labor.

For anyone else considering this, take it - at least, here are some points you can consider. I’m from the graduating batch of 2022 and joined SAM recently. Batchmates have made it to Linklaters (1), KCO (10+), AZB (8+), Trilegal (3-5), CAM (3), SAM (not sure of exact numbers across offices), JSA (3+), Indus, Argus(2), LKS (5+), and various other firms/companies.

Seniors are incredibly helpful, and many of us, myself included, got internships/assessments through their reference. Join any club at college that fits your interest, build good relationships, and they’ll come back to help you out later.

I’m not going into any ranking discussion here, those become enormously subjective below the top 5 NLUs and are meaningless in terms of actual benefits that you get at placements. Placements are better than almost all law universities below the top 5 (pro), but conducted on a rolling basis (con). You have a great shot at magic circle firms now as well (in the 2018-23 batch, 3 people were shortlisted for Links’ final interview. In the Silver Circle, I know of at least 1 person who made it to HSF’s final interview). Tier 1 placements are notable - AZB, Khaitan, JSA and CAM come to campus/offer assessments. The rest you can reach out to seniors who are working there, and they’ll help you out with internships. Tons of my current juniors are doing the same. Many of my batchmates currently at Trilegal/Khaitan got similar help. I did for my initial internship too.

LLMs are quite standard and at par with other top law schools - this year, per usual, people got Oxbridge, LSE, UCL, etc.

Alumni base is one of the strongest in India - but the university has burnt bridges with some Partners. They are very receptive to you asking for help on LinkedIn though, I can attest to this from personal experience. Many seniors from Uni are SAs at A&O, Freshfields, etc. A quick LinkedIn search can get you further info.

We have a stellar record at competitions. We’ve won FDI, are the highest Indian team to have qualified at WUDC, were semi-finalists at Man Lachs, have made it to the rounds (post further international breaks) at Jessup, Vis etc. Students repreatedly get published by OUP, international blogs, OxHRH, etc. These are great from a college perspective only however, so don’t just base your decision on this.

Overall it’s a great school, and has a lovely culture. It is a little expensive however, a point well made above. That said, you also have scholarships available - although scholarships by themselves are uncertain (BA/BBA LLB have around 140 students each - so it’s competitive) and therefore shouldn’t be given a big weight in financial decisions.

Also Viman Nagar is a beautiful place to spend 5 years at. Take your call, and if you do come here, you surely won’t regret it. :)

This is a list basis work, reputation and clientele, not culture. TMT is a vast area, so in my opinion good to bear in mind the kind of TMT work you would like to do -
Media - Gowree Gokhale at NDA, Ranjana Adhikari at Indus, Ameet Naik at Naik & Naik, Chandrima at DSK Legal, Saikrishna Rajgopal
Telecom - Stephen Mathais at Kocchar; Nikhil Narendran at Trilegal, Abhishek Malhotra @ TMT Law
Data - Nehaa Chaudhari at Ikigai, Rahul Mathan at Trilegal, Mathew Chacko at SRL, Arun Prabhu at CAM
Fintech - Anu Tiwari at CAM, Aparajita Srivastava at Ikigai Law; Mathew Chacko at Spice Route, Nikhil Narendran
Gaming - Ranjana Adhikari at Indus, Gowree Gokhale at NDA
Satcom and Space - Abhishek Malhotra @ TMT Law, Anirudh Rastogi at Ikigai, Ashok GV at Factum Law
Policy - Rahul Mathan at Trilegal, Nehaa Chaudhari at Ikigai
New tech - Anirudh Rastogi at Ikigai Law, Huzefa Tavawala at NDA
Blockchain - Anirudh Rastogi at Ikigai Law, Jaideep Reddy at NDA
VC - Archana Rajaram at Rajaram Legal, Roma Priya at Burgeon, Srinivas Katta at Indus Law, Manvindar Singh at JSA

Even thou this is a troll question, let me answer this as my father was a Jawan and now working as a Gun man in a private bank, I also studied LLB and is an advocate at district court. I am from a poor middle class family.

The regular Army Jawan is academically as competent as a typical below average law student (not including about NLU or some rich mans private universities)

Officers are a class apart, and are not a part of Agneepath scheme. An average Army officer is more talented than an NLU graduate. He is also rich from wealthy families.

The initial 4 years of being an Agneever is awesome. Training is difficult, but Work and life balance and pay is better.

But after that?

You are in trouble.

At the age of 28 you don't have any skills for regular. Your army work ethic doesn't work in the private sector.

Of course - you would have a financial cushion of 10 L + some savings. But transition into private sector will be difficult.

From a salary of Rs. 40'000, you will have to do security guard or manual job which pays less than 15'000.

Generally Army Jawans retire after 14 to 20 years - they have multiple benefits including a small pension. An average jawan who retired at 40 has a better life than the agniveer who retired at 27.

Below average law student in a seniors chamber?

Initial salary will be 2000 to 3000 Rs per month.

But over 4 years - this can increase upto 30'000 Rs. Over the years - salary stays same or even goes upto 50'000 Rs per month (if they are talented) even ugly idiot lawyers after 5 years make 20000.

An Agniveers life is easy in the initial 4 years. But a below average lawyers life is better in the long run.

I studied in a Government Law College in south. Comparisons are supposed to be illustrative rather than to make a debate over that.

All of them know I'm Queer. Do all of them acknowledge it? No. You're treated about the same. Except the older bosses will stop asking you about marriage plans after a whole (this is a relief). Coming out to my colleagues was straightforward for me. They sent a list of all staff with mobile numbers and gender pronouns affixed. I wrote back "gently requesting" that my pronoun be changed to Mx. The admin did the googling and soon everyone was aware of the situation.

Work is largely Don't ask Don't tell as far as private matters are concerned. I always have felt sexuality is on a need to know basis and no one at work really needs to know. But yes with pronouns, I'm quite open and don't like it when I'm called Mr/Ms.

I'm actually lucky to work here I guess.

Hi. Having been thorugh a very difficult crisis myself, this advice might be a little strange.
But consider this - It is fine to not have a job when you graduate. It is also fine to not have a job months after you graduate. Life is tragically short. We live our lives thinking we are invincible, and our loved ones are immortal. Then suddenly, reality strikes. The only thing that stood out for me in your post was that you have to take care of your parents. Do that. Everything else is white noise. We're chasing the shiny stuff for them right? Might as well chase more time with them.

As far as jobs are concerned, find a remote gig. There are plenty out there, and while they might not pay as much, you will still manage to keep the momentum going.

LI is full of sharks, which is good in a way, since we get to learn from their experience, but they might also lack empathy. It might be best if you filter the advice received here accordingly.

Hey, the 2 weeks stint is standard, go for it! :)

I recently joined the firm myself. Initially had a 2 week stint, and was lucky to get an extension worth a week.

It was a particularly busy period, and during my extension I was the only intern. A couple of mandates were nearing filing, so I managed to get a lot of work from the SA who I was working with - I believe this was a big help.

I agree with the points some have made above, about visibility being an issue should your internship be virtual, but I wish you the best - if it’s a busy month, your work and follow-ups (even if on WhatsApp) will give you plenty of opportunities to interact.

I’ve seen some comments suggest that a PPO without a call-back isn’t readily given at Sam. I don’t particularly know if this is true - I was able to get a PPO after a 3 week stint, and I would primarily attribute it to the workload on the team (which allowed me to get a lot of delegated work).

Broad points, basis my experience, would be - (a) ask your SA for work everyday (some days might have downtime, and it’s perfectly alright for you to not be given much work then. Don’t stress out - work will come to you over the period of your stay at the firm); (b) follow-up with them should they have constructive points of feedback - always suggest that you’re ready to make changes/edits if any; (c) try to take all bits of work that come your way, but if you’re working on a deliverable make that clear to the Associate or SA who contacts you (they will generally not overload you with work - quality matters more); (d) extending on the last point - don’t worry if any Co-intern is turning in work faster, again, quality should be your priority too - and this way of looking at deliverables that I submitted, worked for me as well (of course, do finish your work within reasonable timeframes, just don’t try to over-hasten the process); (e) ask your SA for an extension about 2 days before the end of your two week stint; and (f) again, 2 days before the end of your extension ask them if they are looking for an associate at the moment, and if you could be recommended for the role, if they are.

I work in SAM Delhi, and the people I’ve interacted with so far have been really helpful and nice.

I wish you all the very best, and hope that you convert the internship to a job. Good luck! :)

Same scenario here

Early morning convos help. Try different e-date ideas: stuff that you can do over the weekends say cooking, or cleaning up.
fix up a specific time every day outside of work hours to talk and catch up.

if you see a future with her in the long run, it is defo worth putting in the efforts :)

Basically the subject.

@Kian@R Please approve this thread. It may be useful/fun. Also, I'm open to all questioning. Even an offensive line. So if it's approved, gentle request for moderating questions with a light touch.

Worked there in their Banking team a while back. Found it to be a very good place to work. Heard they recently have increased the retainer fee as well but not sure of the actual figures.

The seniors are really good to work with, ive never faced any issue during my time. Their work is real estate centric but they've been doing Banking and IBC for sometime as well. Would recommend 100%.

The only thing you need rn is your own confidence in your decision and way forward.

The people at your organisation seem supportive, which is great. Don't worry about everyone accepting and supporting you. That's something very rare irrespective of your transition.

There will always be haters. At the end its your capability which will show who and what you are, so just work hard and focus on that.

Good luck!

It isn't pretentious to take care of oneself and dress nicely. When you dress nicely, you demonstrate to the rest of the world that you care about yourself and that your life is in order. As a client, I would want my lawyer to dress nicely; if he dresses with attention, it suggests he takes himself seriously, which means he will treat my work seriously as well.
Moreover, a well made suit is similar to modern day armour in that it makes you feel better about yourself. Furthermore, it requires discipline to get up on time, shave, and then dress nice, which, as I already stated, shows that your life is in order. We often dress nicely for a date or a party in order to look our best. Why not do it on a daily basis? Why not strive to be our best every day?
My grandfather used to dress immaculately every day when I was a kid, as if to show us that he was ready for anything. He was extremely proud of his work and the way he handled himself. It had a lasting impression on me, and I now link "dressing nicely" with discipline. It's not a matter of pretense; rather, it's a matter of taste, confidence, and habit.

If you like being in-house, see how you can create a role for yourself (even perhaps within the same organisation - may take a year and some deft relationship building) that is more exciting. Both in-house jobs I've had I've been able to fashion something for myself that is more than/ different from the original JD advertised - because once I was in the door I could prove my chops and display ambition. I wouldn't go back to law firm life if you paid me 10x to. My time, health, relationships, fitness, hobbies, occasional navelgazing -- all matter too much to me ;-)

I mean, dude I wrote comment 18, I think it’s click bait for y’all to allow this bullshit in here in the first place. Best case scenario you thought you could win this argument and legitimately believed this issue was worth the bother. In which case you’re wrong- you don’t play chess with a pigeon, it’ll shit all over the board and then strut around smugly as if it won. Worst case scenario - you decided website needed clicks so why not do a troll war. You play stupid games though and you’ll win stupid prizes. Y’all want to think long term about what this website and forum can be for the legal profession? Or you want to be my mad uncles Facebook wall?
Moderation exists for a damn reason- filter out this garbage. The more you let people like this set the rules for the game- the more you will fail. Refuse to play. Refuse to discuss nonsense issues like this. If you want to do political discussion- at least ensure it’s worthwhile no? We’re lawyers, we can all reasonably come together to discuss policy, but this isn’t what it looks like.

Isn’t it fascinating how Ayn Rand’s caricature of the evils of socialism is someone who hates the individual liberty of some random architect, and thus uses his cultural capital, material capital, and general tools of power under capitalism to ruin him? Ayn Rand’s paradigm is possible only under capitalism because under socialism, the means of production would be collectively owned and nobody would have Toohey’s power. That power, btw, the power to force servility and subservience, and to breed yes-men and ruin everyone you don’t like? A feature of capitalism. Impossible outside capitalism.

Add to the conceptual absurdity of Ayn Rand’s work this little nugget: she died collecting social security checks, from the big exchequer of the big state (welfare is a form of central planning btw).

Free speech is a red herring here. It's all nonsense, isn't it? we're really discussing whether it's our right to point out the awful stuff in other people's religion when unemployment is the highest it's been, when fuel prices are sky rocketing, and in the aftermath of a pandemic that left almost every household in the country with dead friends and relatives? This is what you want to focus on? Why is this more important to you than food in the bellies of infants?

This is what the government undoubtedly wants you to focus on, they'd rather you spend your time hating minorities than asking questions about governance and transparency. Why is this more important to you?

I'm an atheist, I can tell you there are as many offensive/ ridiculous things in Hindu scripture. there's also ridiculous offensive stuff in Christian scripture. Nupur Sharma did not go out there and call every religion and tell us how they were all built on these awful stories, she's no free speech hero. She's not David standing up to Goliath, she's not pointing out that the emperor has no clothes, she's the carnival barker eager to distract you so that you don't ask the actually important questions. The commitment to free speech is not just about " I should be able to put others down", its a responsibility to ensure that our speech is meaningful and leads to a better world.

Kian and R, I blame you for allowing this thread to begin with, knowing well about the trash that it would produce. Many of these comments actually count as hate speech, no matter how disguised they are. It adds exactly zero contribution to free speech and enlightened debate and all that jazz. I've got half a mind to screenshot and report these. If you can't run a forum meant for actual lawyers and the law, then close it. Don't add on to the already existing garbage in the Internet.

Don't listen to average Joes instead invest heavily in your attire and always dress fancy because first impression is the last. If you're pleasent looking your life will become much much easier.

• Get 2 pair of suits made, a charcoal one and navy blue one as they are most versatile. Remember to spend good amount of money in suits and make sure the fitting is perfect. I personally would suggest you to go to Raymond and tailor make your suits, after you make the big bucks you can switch to luxury brands. For now Raymond will do. Remember fitting is the key, be very minute with the details. Style your lapels according to your width and height. Brands are secondary but fitting is primarily and will decide how you look.
• Buy a decently priced analog watch, digital watches make you look juvenile. I personally would suggest you to get a metal strap because they are more versatile but if you have the money go for leather watches because they look good. You can start with Seiko, Fossil or Hilfiger and you can upgrade it over the years.
• Invest in a good quality cologne. My personal favourite is Dior Sauvage and Davidoff Cool water for the summers but if you don't have that kind of money you can go for Titan Skinn, Rasasi, Zara or even Club de Nuit. Don't go for a cheap cologne because they smell too artificial.
• Buy 3,4 pairs of shirts. I personally like to wear only white shirts but you can buy beige, powder blue and even light pink shirts. Also, if possible tailor your shirts too and get French Cuffs. They look good and a good pair of cufflinks will elevate your style like no other. Only wear tailored pants. Black, navy blue and steel grey are the only colours of pants you should wear.
• Buy exquisite ties, remember ties will always elevate your style and so invest in good quality silk ties and make sure to wear them daily. Don't buy too flashy ties at the end of the day you're a lawyer so dress accordingly.
• Lastly, match your belts and shoes. Always buy leather because they look good. Invest heavily on shoes and belts because they will last a lifetime. Buy Oxfords, brown and black are the only colours to follow. Don't buy tan and don't wear Brogues or Monk Staps. You're in a formal setting so dress accordingly.

I think these are the absolute basics to keep in mind. There are many more things you can do to elevate your style but that's for another day and because you're an associate I am not explaining to you what to wear in parties.

PS: Dress impeccably but don't garner attention and always remember less is more.

Firstly, NUJS has been established by an Act of the state legislature. Remember how the domicile quota was introduced? Didn't even bother having a discussion etc in the EC/GC. At any rate those worthies then and now could care less.

Secondly, unlike certain univs that started as "state univs" but were "taken over" by the centre and bestowed INI status, such as IIEST in WB or RRU in Gujarat (there are other examples as well), the GoI has repeatedly underlined that NLUs (including NUJS) are not "central univs"; will not receive regular/earmarked "central funds"; and that the GoI has no intention of taking them over.

Thirdly, NUJS is a bit of oddity like some other NLUs, which are state univs with CJI (or CJ of HC) as Chancellor. But having CJI or CJ as Chancellor does not change the fact that NLUs are state university. "National" means zilch. NLUs were fluffed up as IITs/IIMs for law but the founding father(s) were always aware of the realities. NLUs are designed to be VC fiefdoms.

Fourthly, I really don't think NUJS is included in the new Bill. The CM is going after state univs that historically had the Governor as Chancellor and also erasing his/her presence from current and upcoming private univs. NUJS does not feature in that "list". NUJS matters to certain party apparatchiks, including regime friendly judges (former and current).

Fifthly, despite the presence of CJI as Chancellor and other non-party folks especially the "venerable" judges and academics, NUJS has been in terminal decline for almost a decade now. The rot began to stink with PIB and has now reached epic proportions under NKC. We must not forget the contributions of Lord Taluk and his friends such as a former AG, an evergreen Lokayukt and the newly crowned SHRC chief. There were others as well.

Sixth, when the domicile quota issue hit us, there was a mob frenzy that this was that "one big thing" which will bring NUJS down. The same sentiment is being worked up again. The univ will largely be what "we" make it to be. If "we" are a self-serving lot, then the powers that be will continue to do what they have always done. But are "we" going to shun the easy ways and desist from striking private deals?

Someone mentioned technical multiple choice questions were asked in 2021 so I don't think the info I can provide would be of any help. But in 2020, there were 6 to 7 personality based questions. These questions were mostly direct questions about your schooling, family, etc. Afaik. The only technical question was related to a article 25 of the Constitution afaik. The word limit was probably 300 words.

Nope. Having to work for a living is not slavery. It sucks that your work conditions are not what you want. but its not slavery. Slavery is its own beast. It's not this indirect pressure of " do this job to maintain your lifestyle". slavery- is work for ZERO money, backed by the ever-present threat of violence. " Do what I say or we will kill/ mutilate/ torture/rape you". Slavery is not " I will hire you, give you terms, and hold you to them", slavery is " You are not a person, you are a thing that I own and I can do with as I wish to". Actual enslaved people were raped so they could breed more enslaved people, actual enslaved people were tortured and lynched. Your body is still your own. and yes it might be a bad/ selfish/ undesirable choice for you to quit your law firm job, but it is still a viable freaking choice. Don't act like you have to do a law firm job to survive, plenty of people in the world survive and don't do law firm jobs.

Not everything is about you. You don't have the worst lot in life. I get it- law firm work sucks. But slavery is not an abstract concept. It is a real thing. It happened to many many people not very long ago, and it happens to people today as well. This is why no one empathizes with law firm folks- they have no self awareness/ awareness of society. You can whine about your work without calling it slavery. You behave selfishly in not even bothering to understand what someone else has gone through and not even bothering to be respectful in your language and then whine about how no one has sympathy for you? its ridiculous.

Hi, I am a fresh graduate, let me explain the whole thing.

Since 2nd year, I have tried to get as much Internet exposure, as I could. Later, I got featured in The Telegraph for the website, which I made back then. The reason it got featured, was because, I learned SEO and through consistent efforts, it has been getting millions of impressions a month. [Reference: https://www.telegraphindia.com/edugraph/campus/two-students-of-symbiosis-law-school-hyderabad-launch-virtual-platform-for-legal-help/cid/1844895].

Soon after the publication, I was approached by many businesses, journalists, channels, etc.

Meanwhile, I have also been active on LinkedIn and have been posting as many informative pieces as I could and connecting with people who could ideally ask me for any legal help. [Example: Startup founder, developers, etc]. There are two kinds of posts on LinkedIn. One, which attracts likes, but no clients (superficial stories stuff), and the other which gets almost no like, but lots of queries (later converting to clients). And yes, interviews also help, it authenticates your credentials.

During Covid, I started making YouTube videos (Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/RohitPradhan/). I was so serious that I invested 70k from my savings for the equipment and also learned video editing. I got the inspiration to start the channel, from one Delhi-based lawyer who makes YouTube videos (Amish Aggarwal). Fast forward 1+ years, I am a kind of a pro in video editing. (high-paying gig in foreign). I use SEO tools like VidIQ to find topics that people are trying to find on YouTube and then make videos on the same (usually on holidays/weekends).

I have been to multiple forums and it has been worth it. By the end of 2020, I had six figures monthly earnings through freelancing, though it's super volatile. For example, One foreign client approached and asked if his brand could get trademarked in the US. All it required was simple due diligence and research and the offer was 45k INR for the same. Back then, it was mind-boggling for me and a "nice deal" for them.

Because I started to earn, I started to pay interns, content-writers, freelancers, etc as a student. It felt good because I was doing my bit against unpaid work prevalent in the legal community.

For anyone who is planning to start their online presence, I would say, expect nothing and give as much as you could to the platforms.

Now coming to the dark side. I never got internships at any Tier-1 firms. It always feels that it had to do with my side-hustle. So, I always wonder about the kind of work culture, they have and what I am missing out on. However, on the brighter side, I learned lots of soft skills and about client-oriented issues.

Having said that, I have seen many hate posts on people who have been active on Social Media and promoting themselves. I never understood the reason for the same, but I feel, it has to do with cringe content out there. So I try my best to not make one. :-P

I hope this comment gives some value to you all there, who are thinking to go online.
Rule of making good content: The Office Season 3, Episode 16 - Time Stamp- 20:13 (countdown)

Chernobyl level toxic. You will turn into Hritik just to be able to type more and faster- and fill your time sheets. Then suzzanne will leave you. Your hairline will become like Rajesh Roshan. Your Pinky will lie unused for ages. Then you will quit reciting Zindagi Na milegi dobara dialogues. You will open a dive school somewhere and won't even get Kat coz now even she's married. You and sallu can have a biriyani together and drink virgin mojitos.

Ok bye moshy moshy.

Hi,

I have been through this process and having considered it strongly, would advise you against it unless you are absolutely not cut out for law and want to do a MBA to switch fields.

Doing MBA from an IIM does not make financial sense if you are at a T1 Law firm. International MBA is a different scene.
Post MBA, your salary is going to be 25-30 LPA approx assuming you get into MBB Consulting. You will be making more money as a SA at a T1 law firm and the work life is just as bad. Also, as a lawyer, assuming you make it to IIM A/B/C your options are severely limited post MBA. We can forget about PE/Investment banking, since we'll have to compete with CA gold medallists and CFA holders who have worked on balance sheets for the last 10 years. Product management and tech consulting you will have to compete with IIT/NIT toppers who have spent 3+ years writing code and developing software. Our only options are strategy/esg/management consulting. And everyone wants the limited MBB jobs that are available. Not to mention that there are a fair chunk of SRCC/Stephen's grads in IIMs who have already spent a few years in consulting and are now eyeing a bigger post MBA position at MBB. Especially a year outside college, there is very little practical knowledge and big picture understanding that we have. My thought process was this - as a lawyer I can be at the top of my game but as a management grad, every day will be a struggle to catch up with my competition, who knows tech inside out, can do complex calculations in their head, and know financials inside out.

Here is my guesswork for future leaders (say in the next 10-15 years) these will be the persons leading the current top 10 (solely in my opinion) law firms, in no particular order or ranking:

AZB: Ashwath in Mumbai and Gautam in Delhi.
CAM: BRO and SIS Shroffs.
SAM: A few more Shroffs (and maybe NSC).
Trilegal: Nishant (he is never going to give up control, unlike most original founders).
KCO: One of the next gen Khaitans (with haigreev still around to advise) and a few others namesake to fill up management.
S&R: Sudip in Mumbai, maybe along with Rachael to form the new S&R.
L&L: Dead and buried.
S&P: Kakkar.
JSA: Whoever is the most political to win the exec committee elections.
Induslaw: Manan or some other new lateral partner.

I interned at their Mumbai office fairly recently. Honestly, had a great experience. Of course, there were some odd people. But that would be true for any place. And as an intern, you should try to focus on exposing yourself which makes AZB Mumbai the ideal choice, you tend to work on matters that the teams are actively looking at. Also, don't feel too disheartened if in the first week you get a lot of list of documents, just show them that you are willing to work and interest will definitely come your way.

Tip- Be a lil smart about who you take work from (after a couple of days you will understand some of your senior's patterns).

A physical interview will proceed in the same manner as an online interview. So have the same level of preparation. However, it is advisable to carry at least 3-4 copies of your resume so that each panelist has one and you have one extra copy to refer to. Additionally, it would be great if you carry certificates that support your achievements, in the event the panelists want proof. Stay calm and you'll do well. All the best!

Comments section of LI with 'Anonymous On' reminds me of that quote- " give a person a mask and they will show you their true face".

While I am from CAM and not a millenial- wonder why this incessant cribbing and threats and wailing and crying- quit macha! Why be miserable if you are. No one's got you by your balls. Show your indominable free spirit! Go save yourself and the world and the turtles.

Go start a cafe in mussoorie. Or are you too used to Avocado on toast, and your Pumpkin Spiced latte?

Math question.

Cam AC works all day regardless of number of people. If 100 people WFH, 100 additional ACs run that day. Offset it with lesser cars/cabs. At what number does this become carbon negative?

Any college kid want to do the math? Send answers to CAM HR for a shot at an internship.

I am a very goal oriented and hardworking person and it'll get weird but this is why I am not able to make any friends here. Everyone in my batch is into drugs or rating girls or chasing girls with no idea of where they'll end up post law school. They look at me with tainted eyes and consider me selfish and outlier while all I do is mind my own business and not get into pity politics or toxic masculine discussions (almost inhumane comments too), I'm not able to get many friends around me who are serious about getting a good job and hence feel lonely many-a-times. I am mostly a very strong person but I feel it sometimes, the lack of good company around and it's as if it's a lone wife I am fighting. And hence I now realise why people encourage you to join tier 1 law schools because the crowd itself makes it worth the time. Here my friends pull me down on every occasion and try to gang up against me with shitty politics and groupism. I don't get into any group because they are ideologically pathetic and all with the end goal to lie and get laid with chicks. This is just not me fundamentally.

3-4 questions to fellow seniors and passouts:
1) Should I change myself? Even if I don't want to study or slog hours, I like sports, watching sports, reading books and talking things about life (talking meaningful things is almost impossible with all these YOLO and Create Memories Now For Later people around me).
2) Is it normal for people in law schools to not have many friends and develop good friend circles later on in life? How did you people deal with lack of a social life in your years at law school.
3) When everyone is so casual around you, how did you keep yourself motivated and focused (not so much applicable to Tier 1 passouts due to the crowd control based on merit and opportunities with it)
4) Should I start approaching fellow law students from my batches of other colleges and talk positive career related and productive stuff with them (on LinkedIn and other platforms? This thought has concurred to me many times before also but am too lazy/shy to go ahead)

5) Last and foremost, I don't see any girl who is of my type with similar interests, and those who are there are out of my league. This is out of context from the entire problem above but is it fine to pass out of law college without any relationship if I can't find a girl with my bandwidth and aukaat? Or should I like other folks start forced conversations and follow girls everywhere in hope of getting settled with anyone pretty? I am not in the zone for a relationship now and don't think I would be able to enter that phase in the next few years too. The school seniors make it seem as if law school is the last phase to get laid and post a law firm job you'll never be able to date anyone ever? How true is it? I would assume women too would mature with age and it would be possible for lawyers to date (or somehow squeeze them in schedule) well into their 20s? I really would appreciate insights as I in my head would date well with more in matured women somewhere in mind 20s (no Old Young Milf jokes please).

I think I have written a lot so I welcome you all to help me with the two broad issues I face. With not many (very few) good productive friends around me and with not wanting to date right now (mind you it's not incel mindset or anything, I have rejected a couple of girls due to not being "my type")
Will I turn all right, will I make it fine without becoming a half nutted brain-dead monster, had anyone else been here and how you're holding up now in your life? Is this complex phase common and will it pass?

If anyone wants to talk via anonymous emails please write at dangeruousformulaw@gmail.com

R I beg you to let this go please, I need people speaking into my head right now or I'll be worse off.

Since when are rich white billionaires the heroes of the labour movement ? Do y’all even know history? You want favourable work policies your natural allies are trade unionists and farmers and blue collar workers and women. They’re the reason you have the weekend, they’re the reason you have a lunch break and they’re the reason any further developments in labour norms will happen. Not because elon musk is on your side ffs.

She should've won.

The case in general was so poorly conducted. The judge herself put forward this trial to be made public (Johnny agreed and Amber did not) which has resulted in the circus it is today. The court reporter was seen partying with Depp 5 days before the verdict was released. The jury was obviously influenced by the propaganda that they saw on social media and even otherwise were absolutely incompetent (lack of actually paying attention during the trial, didn't fill the form correctly, barely any deliberation). In fact this case shouldn't have been tried in Virginia at all. There is no basis and the judge's reasoning for the same is pathetic. It's like saying that just because there's a McDonald's outlet in Virginia, therefore it can be tried there. The real reason Virginia was chosen by Depp's team was because it's a state in which domestic abusers are let off easy.

Even if we were to ignore the procedural irregularities, there's loads of evidence against Johnny Depp to prove that he is in fact an abuser. This case is a loss for victims (not just women) and is going to set a dangerous precedent for the future. If despite so much evidence, you still cannot prove abuse then what hope do victims have in the future when going against powerful people. It's going to enforce a culture of silence. Nobody cares about victims anyways, but this is going to make it worse. People going around talking about how he's a victim. He's not. He's so far from it. You want to talk about real victims there are hundreds of other cases but this is not that one.

This is gonna open a bag of worms as you can see former abusers (Depp's friends) are planning on or are already bringing cases against the people who accused them (Marilyn Manson etc.). The model of PR and bots has proven to be successful. Watch them exploit it and try to turn their cases around.

It's disgusting to see how she was treated and years down the line, documentaries are going to release about how she deserved justice, but its gonna be useless then.

This case is going to set a dangerous precedent for the future. - lack of video evidence when getting raped, perpetuation of the myth of "perfect victim", perpetuation of the myth of "mutual abuse", dismissing previous court trials for by saying that it was just one judge (or whatever other bullshit reason they gave), saying that such mean and repulsive texts are just venting (how can you think that its just venting. Even I've vented in the past but it doesn't go beyond saying stupid, idiot. Such repulsive texts are not made by normal people) etc.

Stop watching edited meme clips and actually see the evidence. It's so clear, its a shame she lost. I hope she appeals and wins the case, though I wouldn't blame her if she chooses to take a break from this shit show and spends time recovering.

Isiliye you buy a BMW when you have enough money for an Audi.
Sheer driving pleasure. The 330i Sport has a weight distribution of 50:50. Also, as always, it's a RWD car. It's engineered to put a smile on your face.
Love is overrated. Train yourself to be confident in your own skin and to enjoy your own company. Don't get me wrong, I am not against spending time with one’s family - Just that better finances will enable you to give your family confidence. Will give your parents the confidence to grow old - Unless they're sarkari babus with fixed pension or that they’ve saved up enough already.
My mom’s insurance costed me north of a lakh. No way I could have afforded that with a 50k job. Alto or not.

This is true. My Mom was having cancer and lived in a different city. My sister took care of her. I had to work to pay the bills. I couldn't get time to visit as often as I should have. I wasn't there the day she died cause I was working to help some company recover its blasted bills. Now my sister talks about all the time she spent watching TV with my mom before she died (cause cancer is slow, you get a lot of time where you do nothing) and I feel nothing but regret. I now hate my job. The people there. I hate everything. I am angry and I am devastated at the same time.

Choose people. You're career is not as important as time with people. You can't buy back time. You will soon get into the cycle where you work to earn so you can buy things for your family in order to apologise for not sharing the time you spent making that money with them. People want time. We owe it to give our people time.

I related so much to this question as I read it. I've been in your shoes, so here goes.

No one expects technical expertise from an intern. Show up, show a willingness to learn the law as you go along. Ask questions but always do your own research before you approach your seniors. You'll be surprised how many LLB/CA fora, blogs, law firm articles, etc. you'll come across which may answer your queries in fairly simple language - take this understanding BACK to the bare act and interpret it yourself. Read at least the index of the bare acts on the field you're interning in - that way you know what it covers, and where to look.

Again, a willingness to learn is all they expect of you. Don't be concerned about not knowing the specifics of law firm life - you'll learn about DDs and corporate law as you practice it. Although if you're in your 1st/2nd year of law school, serious interning opportunities are limited.

Lastly, general advice is to apply to a small team, perhaps at a Tier 2, make yourself indispensable as a long-term trainee there, and you have chances of getting an offer. Unfortunately, if you're from a no-name college, that is the only way to go about it. This does limit your chances to trying newer fields and teams, but numerous one-month internships only really work for NLU grads. You'll find it easy enough to move from a Tier 2 to a Tier 1.

Be sincere, and i assure you, your seniors will notice and appreciate it. Good luck!

Honest feedback: Currently, the HNLU VC is better. He has been trying to attract good faculty, not sure to what extent he might have succeeded so far. Difficult to get good people to HNLU because of the location.
NLIU has got a much bigger alumni advantage. As in, many more of their alum are currently in the industry, with partner positions in firms etc. Because of them, the placement scene will be better, so will the internship options.
Infra-wise, I visited both campuses and there is not a lot of difference. They are also collaborating on several programmes and events these days.
Crowd-wise: There is not a lot of quality gap between CLAT 500 and 2000 TBH, mostly the former has had a good day during the exam. NLIU students in general are somewhat more deferential to authority from what I have seen, although that might be generalisation.
Finally, if you get into the habit of working hard from now and get the best possible CLAT rank, that will be a good start for you to keep working hard while in either of these law schools and eventually, that will bring you to success.

Today's TOI clarifies that the rule applies to top 50 overall QS universities. The report quotes IIT graduates who are unhappy and complaining of discrimination. It turns out that IITs rank in certain specialised rankings within the top 50, but not overall.

Also, one needs to be in the the top 50 BOTH in QS and Times Higher Education. Thus, only 6 UK universities qualify at present: Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, KCL, UCL and Edinburgh. But as pointed out LSE only barely makes the top 50 in QS and could slip out.

Along with these universities, around 20-30 other universities make it to the top 50 of both lists, given below. The list of foreign universities is given below. Mostly from the US, but a few from Europe, China, Canada, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong.

It is hard for the IITs to compete with Chinese, Japanese, Singapore and Hong Kong universities. There are rich countries with massive education budgets.

California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke University
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL Switzerland)
ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology)
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Karolinska Institute
Kyoto University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
McGill University
Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
National University of Singapore
New York University (NYU)
Northwestern University
Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University
Peking University
Princeton University
Stanford University
Tsinghua University
University of British Columbia
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
University of California, San Diego
University of Chicago US
University of Hong Kong
University of Melbourne
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Munich (LMU Munich)
University of Pennsylvania
University of Texas at Austin
University of Tokyo
University of Toronto
University of Washington
Yale University

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-potential-individual-visa-global-universities-list/high-potential-individual-visa-global-universities-list-2021

1. The sentiments of OP sound like a "pandemic batch" issue. Training was a challenge for all law firms in the pandemic. That does not make JSA an inherently toxic place or a terrible working environment. Having worked with other law firms, I know JSA has many wonderful people who do care about their teams and colleagues.

2. Bill share is a "variable" component that is not guaranteed to anyone. You are told this when you join, so if you do not understand how "variable" works, then it will be a problem for you.

3. JSA does not pay the same as other T1s. Whatever reward you get comes after several years here. But your life will not be completely destroyed by work.

4. JSA doesn't have the same business model as other firms so there is no basis for comparison. It also has a different training model than others. But you need to have some basic skills to do well here and if you do not meet that standard, no amount of training can help you.

5. OP has put all the blame on the system. I assume he or she has taken the time to reflect on why, by their own statement, other associates were in "war rooms" with their SAs and PAs while he or she was not.

There are two sides to this, and because LegallyIndia is crowded with the As, you may not get the whole picture of the SAs, PAs and others who have no time.

I identify as a religious individual and a devout Hindu. I have got absolutely no problem with jokes cracked about any religion including mine. For those who believe in the existence of God, it shouldn't matter because He is unlikely to be affected by any of that, just like we aren't affected from whatever the ants around us discuss about us. For those who are non-believers, God is just an imaginary delusion of some other people, so what's the problem with jokes about such delusion? Only humans get offended from jokes cracked about God, and that's not really their concern one way or another.

Says BJP trolls who have no idea about actual events in Bengal other than from whatsapp forwards or RW mouthpieces. As someone living in the state, who is no fan of TMC, I can say for sure that the situation is nowhere near anything demanding President's Rule or such drastic actions. A fact that senior BJP leaders in the Union Government are actually aware of.

No, it doesn't. 5-7 years back when I had quit my job as an associate this was one of the major factors that I had considered. My partner rarely left the office before I did and she was always there on time in the morning. I had a much longer commute from Navi Mumbai but that was beside the point. Even those who leave early from office are constantly checking their devices for emails and sending us emails asking for updates, reviewing other people's work and so on. So, no not unless you open your own firm, as long as you are working in a law firm built by someone else, partner is just another highly paid associate.

Be upfront about it.
On words of a senior competition partner, "Form drafting is simple. It only requires dilugence."

You will learn ropes easily once you have worked on a couple of Forms. Good practices would not be a stickler on M&A experience specially at your level.
This however comes with a grain of salt - if you are interviewing for a partner who only looks after M&A and not behavioural matters, the partner may not be able to appreciate your talent. So you need to prepare yourself on the basics of competition M&A work. As a starting point, try answering the below queries:

1. How would you assess whether a transaction is notifiable to the CCI? Here you need to know about the de minimis exemption, parties test, group test, Schedule I exemptions (focus specially on item, 1, 2, 8 &9.

2. When is Form I filed and when Form II?

3. What do you mean by gun-jumping?

4. Your views on Amazon Future invalidation order.

5. Interconnected transactions

Compensation figures for this year at Ikigai:
PA2 - Fixed 3.2L-3.6L, Bonus 20L
PA1 - Fixed 2.9L, Bonus 15.5L
SA2 - Fixed 2.4L, Bonus 13L
SA1 - Fixed 2.05L, Bonus 11L
A4 - Fixed 1.6L, Bonus 5L
A3 - Fixed 1.3L, Bonus 3L
A2 - Fixed 90k, Bonus 2L
A1 - Fixed 70k, Bonus 1.6L

1. Acquittal rates in criminal cases are based on lack of admissible evidence as well as prosecutorial competence, not the actual event or veracity of the complaint. Anyone who actually practises law should be aware of that.
2. Judges' comments can only be about the case that they are dealing with. No judge would comment about misuse in a case where they actually find the person guilty. In addition, since when are those comments anything more than anecdotal? Which judge has backed up his comment with verifiable stats, even if limited to the cases that he himself has dealt with?
3. There is an equally large if not larger number of lawyers arguing exactly the opposite thing. There is a reason statistics and anecdotes merit different treatment.
4. If everyone is filing false cases, how come the accused are not countering with suits for malicious prosecution after getting acquitted?
Remember that for every 498A matter filed, there are hundreds that do not see the light of the day. There is no criminal legal provision that is not susceptible to abuse.

This entire post and all the rumours associated with it have got nothing to do with NUJS or any NLU. It is meant for state universities that were having the Governor as the Chancellor, because of the Centre-State ongoing tensions. There are a couple of Bhakt trolls here who report everything about TMC in every post imaginable without any relevance or context. They are responsible for this post.

There is a beautiful temple where I grew up, it is over 800 years old and from a cursory look of the architecture it was clear that the temple was not like others, later I came to know that it was built by converting/repurposing (depending on your view) a Buddhist stupa. Can the Buddhists reclaim this temple?

On the contrary, it is YOUR research skills that are poor and so is R's moderation (to mark it featured and to mark as contested the comment that she has only 1 SC appearance in 2021).

You searched all of Indian Kanoon, including orders older than 2021 and HC orders. The search string you should have used is:

"Karuna Nundy" doctypes: supremecourt,scorders fromdate: 1-1-2021 todate: 31-12-2021

This still throws up 1 result.

Yours is a philosophy that recognizes force theory of law whereby sovereign is the one that has force and can implement its commands. As per that view you say that one's valid ownership titles can be decimated and extinguished by the sovereign if the sovereign applies that force to implement its commands of destructing temple and then issuing a firman to incongruently install domes on top and to resist any attempts at (regaining back control of)* such forcible conversion of property - no matter what the principles of equity, justice and good conscience may lead one to. As per that view, you also say that Britishers did not recognize valid title - and so there's no valid title merely because British was a sovereign, without considering the principles of equity, justice and good conscience.

Non-recognition by a sovereign is no basis to rejecting ownership titles. An ownership title is vested by the dint of application of one's labour and not because of recognition by a sovereign or not. The labour has to be justly applied and not through application of force or through an act of theft. I am owner of a car I build because of the above principle - not because the sovereign recognized my ownership. Well, my view is again a philosophy that I subscribe to.

I can bet on my life that my philosophy is what will usher in world peace, and your philosophy will only result in creating a system which is wrested between sovereigns with waxing and waning amounts of force.

I'll also tell you what your line of thinking and what your philosophy entails - Nazism. As per Nazis, jews were sub-humans who had no right of existence. As per your philosophy, it was okay for Nazis to kill jews because the prevailing sovereign of that time did not recognize their right of existence. Congratulations - you just legitimized the holocaust and many others preceding it.

I'd shudder to think of the value systems you have been raised on.

Depends on the firm:

Trilegal mein kuchh khaas nahiin poochhenge, since they are desperate to hire (and since people leave in a few months). You will simply be asked about your past competition experience.

SAM and AZB have multiple rounds. The first round will be very technical and grilling. At SAM you will be required to make a presentation at a later point.

Don't know about the rest.

It get the general point you're making but your search skills are rather underwhelming.

Nundy : https://indiankanoon.org/search/?formInput=%22Karuna+Nundy%22+sortby%3Amostrecent - 213 appearances

Vrindra : https://indiankanoon.org/search/?formInput=%22Vrinda+Grover%22+sortby%3Amostrecent - 320 appearances

Indira : https://indiankanoon.org/search/?formInput=%22Indira+Jaisingh%22++sortby%3A+mostrecent - 428 appearances

Mukul Rohatgi for context : https://indiankanoon.org/search/?formInput=%22mukul+rohatgi%22++sortby%3A+mostrecent - 5361 appearances

Of course, IndianKanoon only accounts for indexed orders/judgements and correct spellings of the names.

Well, while I agree with what you said, I think we should all be clear: the top-notch engineering FAANG jobs do not let you work from 9 to 5 either. They are as stressful. Then there are investment banking and consultancy jobs. Those are a different level - you get to thank your stars if you get actual sleep two days a week.

Source: have both in my family

Batch unity as a concept is nonsense. No one owes you anything because they’re in the same class. And people are allowed to have different opinions on things. If you want to do collective action- it rightly should be hard- and you should learn to convince people who disagree with you without resorting to bullying . Yknow, what lawyers do.

There once was a regulator. It was kind of cool. It was becoming the in-thing lately, and a lot of people were taking notice.

Outside the non-existent glitz and the glamour of a few headlines here and there reporting on some antitrust cases here and there, there were a bunch of lawyers that typed away drafts and gloated about being in a practice area that wasn't just mind numbing. They relished it. They craved it. It drove their want to make those tedious documents.

Driving all of this were some basic tools, yet some without which the lawyers would not be able to make their cute little documents. Some might say, the CCI's website was one of these. Easy to use, sensible and not frivolous. Functional. Functional.

However, all good stories involve a villain. This story's villain is a man who wants his face everywhere. Bill boards, TV, newspapers, vaccination certificates. Vaccination certificates. And the villain wasn't content with putting his face on tax payer funded vaccination certificates while in the midst of a pandemic that broke the world as we knew it. No, he wanted the cute little competition lawyers' cute little CCI website. So he went, and took it. Disfigured it. Plastered his face ON BASICALLY THE ENTIRE FRONT PAGE. Changed the entire lay out.

Some might say that it was messaging to certain platforms. Some might say it's the usual narcissism. Whatever it may be, a tragedy has befallen nonetheless.

This is a eulogy to my good friend. It's been a good 4 years. May you rest in peace as i work through the new format of this step child which absolutely could use some of the earlier drop downs.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it (unless you're lame / vain)

While there is knowledge in knowing that a 1000 people want to do what you do, there is wisdom in realising that perhaps one of those 1000 is not you.

Quitting a job like this is not really a question of "How?". It is a question of "Why?".

You need to be 100% confident in "Why?" you're quitting.

One smell test I always use is "Can I be honest with my boss about this reason?".

If the answer to that is no, then I suggest you think this over.

But if the answer is Yes, the day you should have quit was yesterday.

Hope this helps.