Covid has definitely taken a toll on lot of us, especially if you have lost a near or dear one. It also disrupted our social fabric and as working professionals, once you lose touch with people, it’s difficult to get back in.

Would like to share my insight and you may find this helpful. I have taken a break working from law firms (although lesser PQE than you), and I didn’t join anywhere after leaving my law firm.

What I’ve realised is - the 1st Month immediately after leaving was mentally very disturbing. My brain had got used to the work and the pressure and the constant calls that the sudden void was causing withdrawal syndromes. The sudden hollowness craved some direction/ instruction from outside. Btw, no matter how much I write, I can never explain the mental zone that I was in while working (even when there may not have been lot of work). I’m mentioning this because when I spoke to my friends in other industries (not law) they didn’t seem to be facing this. It took me some time to get out of the feeling that I was “wasting time” or I had to “be productive”.

The other thing is - I felt like my work sucked out my personality and I was only a shadow of the past me. Just sitting at home after leaving thinking something nice will happen doesn’t work. I had to actively take interest and go out and try out different activities so I feel like my former self.

I feel - when we are working, our entire time is spent at work / thinking about work, so we also end up hanging with work colleagues, but at the end of the day, you can’t really share everything and treat them as your friends. So the that bottling up some emotions causes undue stress.

Not sure, how much this will help, but I hope it gets better.

Rhodes Scholar List for Law Schools in the last 10 years:

NUJS - 4 (2021, 2018, 2016, 2013)

NLSIU - 3 (2016, 2014, 2013)

NLUD - 2 (2020, 2015)

CLC Delhi - 2 (2020, 2015)

GNLU - 2 (2019, 2017)

Nagpur University - 1 (2017)

NUALS - 1 (2016)

NALSAR - 1 (2014)

Hatim Hussain won back in 2019 from GNLU.

https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2020/05/12/in-conversation-with-hatim-hussain-on-winning-rhodes-scholarship-2019/amp/

Overall GNLU has two Rhodes scholars till date.

Dear Guest,

" LSE, KCL, UCL, Warwick, Manchester etc." and "SOAS, Sussex, Essex " and lower tiered universities in the UK. Look at the world rankings and you will see that they are faaar ahead of NLSIU (which is pretty much the only law school from India that makes some global presence) (not counting Jindal in here for a variety of other reasons). Its important to understand the quality of training (not students, but training) at these institutions are far ahead of the training that you get at NLS. There is much more of reflection, critical thinking and wider world view that comes as a result of studying in these places. This is in addition to the opportunities that you get to intern with these firms (and a host of other international or multinational institutions) when you are physically located in England. The same goes for the top tiered universities in Australia, Singapore, Canada, Honk Kong and New Zealand - they are truly some of the finest learning institutions in the world.

It might be true that statistically its harder to get into NLSIU - thats because we live in a country of one million. But if you think through it a bit carefully, to get into Oxbridge, you are competing with people from different parts of the world (and most often you are competing with some of the best students from different parts of the world).

Yes, we feel that the Indian law schools are something special and we like to call ourselves things like Harvard of the East. As much as NLSIU is a remarkable place (for achieving so much in a short time with so little resources), the simple fact is that we have a much longer way to go to come anywhere close to Harvard or any of the top tired western universities in terms of how we view education and the process involved in it. Let me repeat this, its not that our students are not talented - its simply that our education system comes nowhere up close yet.

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/277609-best-sports-culture-nujs-nliu-or-nalsar

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/159595-which-nlu-produces-the-best-sports-stars

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/189104-football-in-nlu-which-is-the-best-team

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/281277-virudhaka-xiii-dates-announced

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/271559-sports-fest-which-is-the-best-virudhaka

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/235155-how-is-the-sports-scene-at-gnlu

Threads that can be relevant for you!

https://www.ndtv.com/entertainment/harry-potter-actor-michael-gambon-who-played-professor-dumbledore-dies-4432408

Such a huge part of our childhood died today. Feeling so sad. 😢 The greatest principal of all. 🫡 Stood up to interference by the Ministry of Magic. How desperately we need such people heading our educational institutions today!

First of all, kudos to the new moderators for moderating and allowing comments this quickly.

But unfortunately, this has led to a new problem where all relevant conversations are getting pushed down. Also, I understand that different people may find different topics interesting so you can’t arbitrarily censor some posts.

A bookmark feature would really help. Else I suppose I will have to open a Wordpress account so that people can follow my posts in one place.

But yes, great job with the moderation. I know it’s not easy reading through so much content.

You need to educate yourself in economics and psychology, and you'll get the answers you are seeking. Very briefly, from an economic standpoint, the salaries offered at law firms, given the stress involved, simply aren't worth it. You need to be either time rich or money rich, law firms won't make you either (at least at entry levels). Additionally, if one is inheriting wealth, law firms literally become a waste of time, since there's no social prestige associated with these positions. But more importantly, from a psychological standpoint, aware people avoid law firms since they take away control of your time, and therefore your life. Deciding how to spend your time is one of the chief happiness ingredients. Law firms rob you of it.

Also, in case you wish to understand the concept of MAMP vis a vis the "maturity period' :

Maturity Period: The concept of ‘Maturity Period’ for a loan is basically the time period till the day the loan becomes due for repayment.

Scenario 1: Let’s say you take a loan of INR 90,000 from a friend to buy the new iPhone 15, and you agree to repay him INR 90,000 after 5 months, the maturity period of this loan is - 5 months.

Scenario 2: Let’s say you use some fintech app to avail INR 90,000, and after a gap of 2 months, you pay back monthly EMI of INR 30,000, over the next 3 months.

Fun fact: In both the above cases, the ‘door-to-door maturity period’ is 5 months. But the ‘average maturity period’? It is 5 months in the first case but not 5 months in the second case. What? How come?

Technically this bit is ‘out of syllabus’ and not done by lawyers, but here is how MAMP is calculated:

https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/29723/maturity-based-pricing.pdf

I have scored 2 interviews through the cold email method till now, so I think I have some idea of how it works.

1. Mention what you want in the subject [application for …] , add details like PQE as well.

2. Body of the email should be crisp, introducing yourself and highlighting prior experience relevant to the partner’s practice area along with the usual stuff.

3. Send/schedule these emails during hours when the partner is most likely to look and respond to it. For example, don’t send it at 11:30AM on a Wednesday.

4. Reach out to as many partners as you can with this method. Many will not respond, some will tell you their teams are at capacity right now, but a couple will give you an interview.

Here is the YouTube video of the Vice-president's address to the NLUJ students and faculty.

Link: https://youtu.be/6GKbDqanoTo?si=y_AZ9oVgWPfEiQf6

Unfortunately, due to certain unforseen circumstances the Law Minister was unable to visit the university, but nonetheless a lot of work was done like:

- A MOU to be signed within 30 days.

- A dedicated internship program under the Vice president where 5 students form NLUJ will be called to assist the VP in his role as the chairman of the Rajyasabha.

- VP appealed to the NLUJ students to discuss and deliberate on the three criminal law bills and forward their suggestions/recommendations from the side of the university to the VP office and the Parliamentary committee.

Hi A0s stuck in banking.

Are you feeling lost? Do you feel as if your senior just throws work at you and expects you to figure it out?

Dalal Street attorney is back. I try to write about topics and scenarios which you may encounter in the future, so that when the time comes, you don’t feel completely out of depth.

Last time, when I wrote a post on ECBs, I got a question in the comments –

How do we assess that the MAMP (i.e. Minimum Average Maturity Period) for the ECB has been complied for?

[Link to my previous post: https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/278146-banking-finance-oversimplified-part-2-ecbs ]

Now this question is a bit surprising, because it’s pretty straightforward. As an A0, all you need to do is:

1. Understand for what purpose/ end use the ECB loan is being availed by the borrower [Internal Note: Read purpose clause of FA/ term sheet]

2. Check the ECB Master Directions for the corresponding MAMP number in the table and

3. Check the MAMP number provided to you by the borrower.

It’s quite simple. It’s not like you have to calculate the MAMP – that’s done by the accountants or the borrower and they usually provide the calculated MAMP number to lawyers in an excel sheet. MAMP depends on the repayment amount and what the repayment schedule looks like. There is an entire formula for this which we aren’t taught in law school or law firms. (Details later.)

But hold on. This post isn’t about me trying to do an in-depth explainer about ECBs. This post is about highlighting the mismatch in expectation between juniors and seniors - which then leads to frustration.

EXPECTATION v. REALITY

Why is the senior just throwing work at me? Why doesn’t he explain the entire thing properly?

Often times, from a senior’s perspective, it’s maybe like – I have told my junior X Y Z things, so all he has to figure out is point A, which he can do by reading up on this concept. Why does he find it so difficult?

But that’s not how it is playing out in the mind of the junior. If you have suddenly been put on an ECB transaction, it can be overwhelming dealing with a completely new set of documents. Since it’s your first time, you don’t know what is the process is or where to look. You can do a cursory reading of the ECB Master Directions, but it doesn’t talk about the specific process of checking the compliance. You are not even sure if you are looking in the right direction. Although you are trying your best to do good work, you end up making mistakes, and now you have to deal with negative feedback about your work and you have to stay up extra hours in the night to finish the work.

Without any prior knowledge of banking, you find yourself in a vacuum – not being able to do anything without someone’s guidance. You feel like a blind man who constantly needs supervision because you don’t know where you are headed. It’s the same reason why when you are on a DD, you panic when you don’t know how to approach the review process - do you go through all the litigation files uploaded on the data room, or do you skip those documents and ask the company for a summary of pending litigation? Do you review the additional SHAs in the data room that were not mentioned before, or is that beyond the scope of the DD?

And what happens when the guidance is missing? You feel stuck as if on a loop.

I was there too.

And it’s not like I didn’t try seeking help from seniors. In fact, I went to my senior partner so I could get some clarity. I asked him where could I read a bit more about banking so I could do my job well? He is one of the widely respected professionals in the space, so surely he would an answer, right? Unfortunately, he said that no such articles exist. Later, I was forwarded a publication made by the firm, but even those articles were too complicated for me to understand. I just couldn’t connect the dots. That client update was written for sophisticated clients. There was hardly anything written in plain, simple English for us juniors.

That is when I realised most mentors and seniors are so far removed from where you are in the process, it can be hard for them to relate. Their advice, though important, glosses over the details that really matter in the beginning. That’s why I was feeling pretty lost when I was figuring all this out.

So one of my goals is to give a behind the scenes look of the work that happens and more importantly - how to approach things - how do you read a term sheet, how do you approach a document review the first time, and just generally how do you figure things out. No gatekeeping, no fluff. Because at the end of the day, that’s what you need. Someone who’s a little bit ahead of you to chase and draw inspiration from. It’s what I wish I could have had when I was starting out.

Because you are probably already:

- skipping your meals due to that meeting that got extended

- sleep deprived due to that urgent deliverable

- wondering where all your time went on the weekends

- tired after working all the long hours

The last thing you need to be is anxious because you are not getting adequate information to perform your job well.

If you can relate to what I am saying, and you think my posts add even a tiny bit of value to you, comment “Let him cook”, and I will be back with more posts.

Regards,

Dalal Street Attorney

________________________________________________________________

P.S.: "Siri, play Sleepless by AP Dhillon"

Ve Main Raatan Nu Uth Uth

Roi Chan Ve

Meri Neendar Kidhar Aa

Khoi Chan Ve

Ve Main Raatan Nu Uth Uth

Raatan Nu Uth Uth

Raatan Nu Uth Uth

Roi Chan Ve

Let me take a shot at this.

"Conservative" in the Indian context mostly means being an ▮▮▮.

There is a nuanced position that one can take around the principles of conservatism, and then delve into Economic Conservatism and Social Conservatism (to be very simplistic). Let's set aside Economic Conservatism, since I doubt that you are really referring to deregulation and lower taxes and less welfare spending, when you refer to Indian Conservatism.

Let's look at all the "conservative Americans" that you mentioned. The main flashpoints of the American right are gay marriage, abortion, and "traditional family values". The first two are not really meaningful political issues in India, and the third is something that the Right keeps parroting, but only in opposition to what they see as urban decadence.

So, what does Conservative in India mean? Or, what does "left liberal" or "left" or "very left" mean?

The answer will shock you.

Here's a list of things that "left liberals" are fighting for.

1. Due Process.

Treat people fairly. Treat undertrials, and those accused of heinous, anti-national, and other subversive activities, fairly. Let Kasab and Afzal Guru go through a long and detailed trial, with every honest attempt made to prove their innocence. Let the world know that India is a fair country, that weighs and balances the evidence, and assures everyone of a fair trial.

Don't throw 20 year old girls into jail for organizing protests against the government.

Don't impound passports of people because they criticize the government.

2. Opposing Majoritarianism.

Every citizen of India has the right to be treated the same by the State. everyone should have the same standards applied to them to check if they are a citizen. The same hands-off approach by the state for their religion and their language.

Don't push one "national language" on people.

Don't jail people for their food habits.

Don't withhold judgeships because "people are gay and have a foreign partner" (like our foreign minister's spouse) and hence "pose a security risk" or "will be biased for gay issues".

3. The right to dissent, be different, and not be forced into majoritarian groupthink.

Privacy, freedom of expression, and all those other nice things you studied in Constitutional Law.

Sadly, the Indian Conservative Movement has done itself no favours. They mostly harp about "ancient glories" and about some artificial idea of patriotism that they think is the right way. They are not prepared to genuinely debate or understand left liberal priorities, or convincingly articulate a reasoned and logical case for their philosophies and objectives.

I'm proud of my fellow Alum for standing up for the oppressed and the downtrodden, and for fighting for due process and the things promised in our Constitution. If "Conservatives" oppose this, we'd like to hear why.

So, coming back to the basic question. What does Indian Conservatism really mean, and why should anyone with a grain of empathy subscribe to it?

Student here. We have got plenty of libertarians and economic right-wingers (capitalists) but "right-wing culture warriors" are almost non-existent. In my view, the left-right dichotomy itself is quite flawed.

I feel that professors should be teaching the writings of Friedman, Nozick, Rand and originalists, and encourage respectful debates, as long it doesn't get outright phony by bringing in modern-day grifters like Shapiro, Peterson etc.

Most Indian politicians are socialistic when it comes to the economy, including BJP and its parent organization RSS. Similarly, none of them are really progressive on social issues. Apart from a select few disputes like cow slaughter, UCC, CAA etc, they are virtually the clones of one another.

Anyone’s valuable feedback will be of immense help! I want to transition from this slow (this is entirely my personal opinion) nlu culture to somewhat of a good university abroad. National University of Singapore seems cheap and can be availed after an educational loan. But does anyone have any idea how? As in how to apply and is NUS good?

Sir/mam - the total course fee for LSE (including residency bursary) is standing at 46.76 lakhs around 3 years which would be the cost at Jindal anyway. I will be availing educational loans and will try for lnat scholarships/university based scholarships as well. Will this be okay?

I'm a newbie researcher in a policy making body. I research & write about everything under the international area studies and international law domain.

However, I've been advised to narrow down on specialisation in regard to improving my 'policy research and framing' career. Out of the following interests, which one do you see being extremely relevant in the next decade ?

1. International Space Law

2. International Environmental Law

3. International Digital Law

4. International Armed Conflicts

5. International Organisations Reform

6. TWAIL like theories

Thank you sir/mam for your kind reply. I just want to know whether or not we can avail educational loans for these colleges as studying there will be equivalent to having an opportunity cost which will be repaid in no time.

And I have heard scholarships based on lnat as well.

Hi folks after clat 2023 I have ended up in a tier-3 NLU. Needless to say I am frustrated and have been preparing for clat since 2 months.

Now I recently came to know about lnat and I am quite interested in the UK higher education as well. I have checked all the lnat and uk uni related threads at LI. But there seemed to have a mixed opinion about this.

After this gap year (since I have already decided my mind on leaving this college) - I want to join somewhere stable.

So till what UK uni should I join? And after that when do I consider a tier-1 nlu in case I crack them.

Your help will mean a lot.

Here's my assessment:

1) Harvard, Yale. Columbia, Stanford, Oxbridge: Law School can't reach this level, even with Sudhir in charge. Too much of an ask.

2) Duke, Cornell, Penn, Chicago, LSE, KCL, UCL: Law School can reach this level in 10-15 years, with Sudhir in charge.

3) SOAS, QMUL, Warwick, Virginia, Michigan: Law School can reach this level in 5-10 years, with Sudhir in charge.

For now, let's focus on goal 3. Take it step by step. What we need are 3 things:

- Around Rs 50 to 100 crores funding to improve infrastructure. Possible with alumni outreach and if Law School is declared an Institution of National Importance by the centre. It's critical to lobby for INI status. The SC case will be crucial. Hopefully the SC will uphold what the Karnataka HC said.

- More good faculty hires and eventually kicking out all the useless TLC profs. A few of them still remain and they are a hindrance top excellence.

- More internationalisation, via tie-ups with law schools abroad.

Fee Structure:

Category

Initiation Fees

Annual Fees

CORPORATE:

Corporate (Transferable)

20 Lakhs Plus 18% GST (Non Refundable)

3 Lakhs Plus 18% GST

INDIVIDUAL:

New Members (Transferable)

20 Lakhs Plus 18% GST

(Non-Refundable)

3 Lakhs Plus 18% GST

None of them can do anything to you if you don't let them. They don't have any power to influence your placement or internships or anything else, they just want you to think that they do. If you are too afraid to report this to the university authorities or anti-ragging squad, just drop a mail to the UGC at helpline@antiragging.in or call them at 1800-180-5522. These scums won't know what hit them. More power to you, they don't own this institution.

Hi User 1,

First of all it’s commendable that inspite of such odds, you haven’t given up and you are still trying.

Let me tell you the biggest hurdle you will face to get a job/ even once you get a job - culture fit. This is a vague word used in the industry to gatekeep certain opportunities from people without contacts. Because even once you get into a firm, it’s not just about doing the job diligently - a lot of it is about how you get along with people in the firm, and this isn’t just about being humble or curious to learn, this also means being able to talk about your favourite soccer club, your favourite restaurant, your favourite trip - things which will easier for your peers because they have had a relatively elite upbringing and shared experience in law schools.

Even for you to do the job well - you will have to learn from someone. Since law firms have huge amount of work, and people are pressed for time, you will need a mentor who will lookout for you. Again, for the person to be your mentor and like, a lot will depend on how you get along with them, and this will depend on the above mentioned things.

Sure, not all law firm teams are like this. There are teams which have people from humble upbringing so they understand the struggle. But whether you land up in such a team will depend on your luck.

All the best!

Chalo seems like the ball is in our court only. Foreign law firms are coming pretty soon and honestly this is good news!

https://www.barandbench.com/news/english-lawyers-no-intention-court-work-away-from-indian-lawyers-uk-law-society-president

It's fantastic that you're bold enough to think about setting up your own firm. The journey ahead will be incredibly enriching, filled with challenges, learning, and growth.

However, remember that success in this field requires consistency, dedication, and years of hard work. In the beginning, don't stress about landing big corporate clients. Start with whatever cases come your way, no matter how small, and focus on delivering exceptional results for your clients.

Want to know a secret? Word of mouth is the best marketing in our profession. Today's small client could be tomorrow's corporate vice president, bringing significant business your way. That's the beauty of our profession: you build one connection at a time and grow alongside them.

Here are some fun anecdotes to inspire you:

- - A top corporate lawyer in India once assisted a dentist with his legal work.
- - A rising corporate litigator started by handling Section 138 notices for dishonored cheques.
- - A renowned senior counsel in the Supreme Court for tech matters once sought work from chefs at hotels, hoping to tap into their network.

Building a law firm is a fascinating journey with relatively low risk compared to other ventures. And as we step into an era where technology will revolutionize our profession, embracing and integrating tech into your practice from the outset will set you apart. Focus on future-proofing your practice, and don't get too caught up in what others are doing.

Lastly, a word of caution: joining a larger practice initially can offer rapid learning and invaluable mentorship. The early years are formative, and having guidance can shape your foundation as a lawyer. While big law firms might feel like a factory process, joining a smaller firm or working under a seasoned senior can provide a more personalized learning experience. Your first boss will significantly influence your approach, so choose wisely! 5 years with a senior lawyer who facilitates your growth and nurtures your ambition will go by in a blink of an eye!

Best of luck on your journey, and remember to always stay true to your vision and values. Remember, money is fleeting. Never compromise your integrity for more money. Shine bright my friend!

Firstly, I want to acknowledge your courage in sharing your feelings and experiences. Remember, you're at the start of an exciting journey, and it's natural to feel a mix of emotions, including anxiety. You're not alone in this; many of us have faced similar challenges, especially at the beginning of our careers.

Here's a little secret that you'll come to realize as you progress in life: deep down, everyone feels insecure and anxious to some extent. The degree varies, but these feelings are a part of the human experience. It's how we address and manage them that makes the difference.

The legal profession, especially in a law firm setting, can indeed be demanding and might amplify feelings of anxiety. It's essential to recognize this and consider what's best for you at this stage. Your well-being, both mental and emotional, is paramount.

I strongly recommend looking into cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It's a practical approach that can help you address and manage anxious thoughts right from the outset. It's never too early or too late to seek support, and taking this step can be transformative. I would recommend that you find time for this given its importance as you start a new journey.

Remember, every challenge you face is an opportunity for growth. Believe in yourself, and know that you have the strength and resilience to navigate this journey. Remember the people who care for you will always be rooting for you so hold them close at all times!!

Firstly, I commend you for your honesty and introspection. It's essential to recognize when something isn't fulfilling or aligning with your aspirations. Here's my take on your concerns:

1. Leaving a Law Firm Early: While it's common for professionals to stay in a position for at least a year, your well-being and job satisfaction are paramount. If you genuinely feel that the role isn't a good fit, it's better to make a move sooner rather than later. However, when discussing your decision with future employers or colleagues, it's essential to frame it positively. Emphasize what you learned during your time there and how it influenced your subsequent decisions.
2.
3. Returning to Law: If your entrepreneurial venture doesn't pan out as expected and you decide to return to law, your experience as an entrepreneur can be a valuable asset. Running a business requires a myriad of skills, many of which are transferable and can be beneficial in a legal setting. It's all about how you present and leverage that experience. Remember, many successful individuals have faced setbacks or taken unconventional paths. What's crucial is resilience and the ability to adapt and grow from experiences.
4.
5. Transferable Skills and Job Search: Your legal background has equipped you with numerous transferable skills like analytical thinking, attention to detail, and effective communication. When looking for jobs outside the legal realm, focus on these skills and how they can be applied in different industries. Platforms like LinkedIn allow you to search for roles based on skills, which can open doors to positions you might not have considered.
6.
7. The Value of Entrepreneurship: Embarking on an entrepreneurial journey is a commendable decision. It not only allows you to be your own boss but also provides a platform to innovate, create, and make a direct impact. The skills you'll gain—like business strategy, networking, and risk assessment—are invaluable and can enhance your professional profile, whether you return to law or explore other sectors. It is ultimately something in which you will always fail upwards.
8.
9. Things to Consider Before Making the Move:

-
- Financial Stability: Ensure you have a financial safety net before venturing into entrepreneurship. It might take time before your setup becomes profitable.
-
- Skill Set: While passion is vital, having the necessary skills or being willing to learn them is equally important. Consider taking courses or seeking mentorship in areas you're less familiar with.
-
- Market Research: Before starting, research the market to understand the demand for your product/service and identify your target audience.
-
- Networking: Connect with other entrepreneurs or join entrepreneurial communities. They can provide invaluable insights, support, and potential collaboration opportunities.
10.

Lastly, remember that every career move, whether lateral, forward, or even seemingly backward, adds to your life's tapestry. It's the skills you acquire, the people you meet, and the lessons you learn that shape your professional journey. Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck and success in your endeavours!

The 3 year llb grads must be biting their fingers now. Not only UGC fully backed DU’s decision but at the same time the HC approved the DU five year llb course to be undertaken under clat.

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/du-5-year-law-course-clat-current-academic-year-hc-8945733/lite/

https://www.livelaw.in/amp/high-court/delhi-high-court/delhi-high-court-ugc-clat-score-llb-admissions-du-delhi-university-cuet-237632

I am a trans person from a tier-1 NLU (one among NLS, NALSAR and NUJS). Which law firms in India are most accepting of the queer community? By accepting, I don't mean just changing their logos to rainbow colors during Pride Month, but having a relatively non-judgmental atmosphere for queer / gender-nonconforming people. In JSA's internship guidelines, there is a rule against men having long hair (not sure if it as actually enforced), do other firms have such rules as well? Serious answers only, as LI is already rife with trolls.

As someone still struggling with this, I think I can empathise. Interviews especially, I used to panic and go silent. It was weird even for those taking the interviews. Fortunately, managed to get into a good firm and all of my weaknesses became strengths in that firm. Ours is not a sales job ( at least in the initial 7-8 years); as an associate, you will do well if you are willing to work hard, are diligent and treat your profession as a ‘calling’. Even when I struggled to verbally communicate with my senior partner, my emails were clear and carefully crafted, and I did my best in paying attention to the smallest details in the transaction documents. It has worked wonders for me in my career so far. You have already managed to get into a firm. So hold your chin high and do not worry about your perceived weaknesses. Along the way, you will find allies; you will find love.

Recently, two separate shrinks diagnosed me with Asperger’s syndrome or being in the spectrum (ASD). A labeling helps, I guess, in making sense of some life events and silencing that nagging question deep inside- what’s wrong with me. Other than that, nothing in life has changed. Even when struggling, one adapts to become functional in the circumstances one is in. My next phase of struggle has started with the expectations of socialising for business development. I think I will manage- you play the cards you are dealt with. And of course, in the interviews I take now, I ensure that anxiety during interviews is not counted against the candidates.

p.s.- tell us in two years how you are faring.

In law firms, associates are usually tasked with undertaking due diligences. From a firm perspective, it makes sense to deploy their (relatively) cheapest resource to spend hours on documents, while for associates - it is a good opportunity to familiarse themselves with different kinds of documents/ concepts/ industries without having to worry about technical drafting.

Often I have seen partners take due diligence training and focus on what sort of documents need to be reviewed, or what laws need to be researched for some specific industry, or how to write the DD report, but I feel like the main essence of doing a diligence – the approach while handling a DD gets lost in the translation.

Okay. So, let’s address the elephant in the room. Due diligence is one of the most hated aspects of legal work in law firms, with most seniors trying to pawn it off to juniors, and juniors trying to pawn it off to interns. The hate towards this aspect of legal work is partially because this doesn’t involve drafting, so it doesn’t feel like legal work – and also, DDs usually involve huge volumes of data, so after a while going through so many documents feels mind numbing. However, every year, many associates join the legal workforce, and while they have big aspirations of working on cutting edge transactions and drafting agreements, this is the job they are mostly involved in.

Is there a way to salvage this? Is there a way to make DDs interesting? Here’s an idealistic view:

IDEALISTIC VIEW OF A DD:

Due diligence at its core – is investigative journalism. While reporters have to run around to get their hands on confidential internal company data, as lawyers we get all the data handed over to us in the virtual data rooms. DDs offer us an opportunity to take a deep dive into an industry, and see the functioning of the company in and out. Maybe the below example will help you visualise this better:

Imagine you’re an analyst sitting in the office of Lindenburg. One fine morning, your boss bursts into the office, and tells you he has received a big scoop - a tip off about some huge financial scam going on in a large conglomerate. All analysts need to drop everything and immediately get on this task to see if the allegations are true. Because if the allegations are true, this will not only cause a huge upheaval in the public and send shock waves in the stock market, this may also have the potential of destabilising an entire nation as there are also allegations the ruling party of the country may be linked to the conglomerate.

As an analyst, when you are researching the leads, you may have to go through various complicated agreements, pull out obscure licenses, and keep a track of all the potential red flags you have come across. But even under such tight deadlines, you know that when you are preparing the Lindenburg report, you cannot afford to make a mistake. Every sentence you write in the report has to accurate, every footnote in the report has to be properly formatted and rock solid. Because when the Lindenburg Report is published in the news and it causes the stock price of the conglomerate to nosedive, this conglomerate is going to come at you with full force. It will unleash thousands of lawyers and accountants on you, make them go through every line of the report, trace back every footnote in the report – just to find that one mistake you have made – and use that to discredit your entire report. The stakes are that high.

You are probably spending long hours in the office trying to finish the report, trying to find the needle in the haystack, all the while racing against time. You’re probably even pulling regular all-nighters to complete the report faster. Imagine – during this time, you go up to your senior – and ask for “work life balance”. Your senior is going to be explode.

Alright, let’s come back to reality. Thankfully, your legal DD report in a law firm is not going to destabilise an entire nation, and the stakes aren’t that high. But it kind of explains why several seniors hate the idea of “Work life” balance. Some seniors are so involved in their work and take so much ownership in their work, they feel work life balance is not important as work is part of life. But I mean, to each their own.

REALISTIC VIEW OF DD:

Working on that Lindenburg report, deep diving into a company’s financials and finding the hidden skeletons – that sounded exciting, right? So why doesn’t my day to day job of doing a DD feel that exciting? A couple of reasons I can offer:

1. First impression: Your first brush with DD probably happened when you were an intern. Some associate may have asked you to prepare the list of documents, or review some obscure form without giving you any context, and you felt like a headless chicken, confused out of your wits, just doing some mind numbing work of data entry – day in and day out. From the associate’s perspective it makes sense, as preparing list of documents is the least risky element of the DD report, and even if the intern misses something here or there, it won’t have a huge impact. But unknowingly, the associate has killed your interest in law.

2. Negative reinforcement: You speak to some seniors in the team about their view of DD, and either they have probably gone through the above experience as an intern, or they are too senior to deal with DD, so they tell you that DDs aren’t that interesting, and you just have to power through the mind numbing work. The subtext being – you are getting paid a lot of money to do the grunt work – so shut up and do it. Here, even before your first brush with a DD, you have a negative idea about it in your head.

3. Volume of data: Objectively, the amount of data that companies upload on virtual data rooms is no joke, especially if it is a listed company. Dealing with the huge amounts of data can be extremely overwhelming, especially if you lack prior experience or your team is understaffed. Here’s another perspective – when you seniors were doing DDs, because the tech wasn’t that developed, they had to often travel to the company headquarters or get to stay in fancy 5 star hotel, order pizzas and work on the due diligence. They also had to work hard, but it was also an all expenses paid trip with their colleagues. But now that we have Onedrive and great internet, the documents are simply uploaded in 40-50 folders by the target company, documents often not arranged properly and now you have to sit in your office cubicle and get the work done.

4. Turnaround time: Sometimes you may end up in a team, or with some clients who are extremely demanding, and you have to turn around and prepare the DD in 2 weeks or so. Depending on the scope of the DD, this can be extremely stressful, ruin your sleep cycle and create havoc in your daily life. No one likes staying up till 4am-5am in the night to work on documents under such tight deadlines.

5. Uncertainty: This is probably the worst contributor and a silent killer. Uncertainty about when the documents will be uploaded to the data room after you have sent your Nth requisition list (7pm on a Friday night?), or not knowing at the beginning of the transaction how many more documents you will need to ask and review when you are under a tight deadline. I mean – it’s almost counterintuitive. To do a proper DD, you need to scrutinise documents, and ask for requisitions (i.e. more documents) if you find things missing or something fishy, and this can make you go down a rabbit hole, but then the client wants the report prepared by a certain date. This means you have to take enough care to ensure you have looked at the critical aspects, but not so much care that you can’t prepare the report on time. Also, at a junior level, if there is communication breakdown within the team, not having visibility by when you need to review and complete documents, or what you should be looking for in a new document you have never come across – that can cause unnecessary friction because you will end up taking more time than what your senior has anticipated/ estimated.

Without proper mentorship and without enough time to absorb the work you are doing, doing DDs become a nightmare. But at the core, doing a DD is still a lot like investigative journalism and it can be exhilarating and exciting if the DD workload is managed well. Which is why, even if you may not have enjoyed working during the entire span of doing a DD, I’m sure if you have been involved in a DD for some time, and the workload management hasn’t been terrible, you may found yourself in a state of flow, where you suddenly start taking interest in the documents you are reading and actively start following an industry which was extremely alien to you 2 weeks back.

Love to hear other views on this.

How do you keep in control of your phone usage!?

How do you manage social media!?

I think i might be a phone addict. My daily screentime is

Instagram-2-2.5 hours

Reddit-2 hours

How do you manage it!? I dont want to cut it all off because i would like to be in touch with some people via instagram and occasionally see some good memes on reddit. How does one control it !? Is there a way to cut them down around 20-40 mins a day or even less.

There's one thing i noticed when i open an instagram or reddit, i think of using it just for 5 mins but i get so glued that i dont know how 1 hr has passed. I also indulge in rage searching or looking through post when i am emotionally triggered or sometimes i am triggered via something on internet . I loose myself and awareness using these apps.

Should i start from cutting all social media off and then introducing them after 3-4 months in moderation ??

Has anyone able to get through with this problem!? I will really appreciate some inputs.

Honestly, i am not a very disciplined person, how does one cultivate discipline? The time i give to social media could be better utilised in my career or hobies.

My senior is a Partner at a Midsize Law Firm. He is in his early fiftees. he lives in a 2,800 Sq ft Apartment in of the most elite Socities of South Mumbai, drives a White Merc which costed him about 55,00,000/-, goes on international holidays twice a year and takes other domestic holidays too. Guess the Phone he uses

Samsung w a broken screen which would not have costed him more than 20K.

All of us's defination of luxury is different. If buying a 15 makes you happy, by all means go for it. But if youre going to buy it to please others, trust me you will always end up displeasing yourself.

The remarks against Arghya/Vidhi are baseless and comical. When J Sai Deepak makes the same argument you people praise him. Then why target Arghya? No doubt borne out of resentment for NLSIU. Some points to rebut all of you:

ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS:Arghya is from NLSIU with a DPhil from Oxford (in Constitutional Law). Arghya is also a Rhodes scholar and NLSIU gold medalist. The person criticising him is from NUJS with an LLM from King's College London (in Tax Law). Even if I assume parity between NLSIU (NIRF rank 1) and NUJS (NIRF rank 4), or Oxford (QS rank 2) and KCL (QS rank 15), a person with a DPhil/PhD in Constitutional Law is unquestionably superior to an LLM in Tax Law when it comes to matters of constitutional law.

ENDORSEMENTS:

Fali Nariman has praised Arghya's book. You will see his quote on the cover. Need I say more?

IDEOLOGY:

Everyone is free to have an ideology. We are not a communist country like China and North Korea. Also, is Fali Nariman pro-BJP as per your logic? Finally, show me ONE place where Arghya/Vidhi has endorsed the BJP. Yes, Vidhi drafted a version of the UCC and has supported it in newspapers. So what? Since when is UCC = BJP? The Constitution mandates it (in the DPSP) and the Supreme Court has also said we should have it. A Muslim judge like AS Ahmadi has supported UCC.

MERITS OF THE ARGUMENT

Finally, and most importantly, the Constitution indeed needs a review. The Vajpayee government set up an excellent committee to review the working of the Constitution. It pointed to legitimate problems like a backlog of judges, lack of police and administrative reforms, etc. The Committee was headed by a very respected judge (Venkatachaliah) had distinguished people from all backgrounds, like BP Jeevan Reddy, RS Sarkaria Soli Sorabjee, PA Sangma, CR Irani, Abid Hussain etc. I quote from the report:

" During the last two decades and more, there was a persistent demand in the civil society – from some NGOs, academics, constitutional scholars and others – that the working of the Constitution be subjected to a comprehensive review. Several books and a large number of articles and research papers devoted to the theme of constitutional review and reforms were published (some of these have been listed in the bibliographies annexed to Consultation Papers and were taken fully into account and used by the Commission in its study and deliberations) and many seminars and conferences organised in different parts of the country."

So why single out Arghya?

Drop years almost never matter. Now why I used the word ‘almost’? It’s because if you make it at the end of the day then everything is worth it. But if you don’t - you lose a lot of your energy. That’s why it’s always good to have a backup and focus on that.

Now coming to the technicalities of your question. Retaking MHCET is absolutely fine if you don’t want to sit for clat. The thing that’s worrying me is that GLC has very less seats. Only 35 unreserved for general. So regardless how easy the mhcet paper is or how many people are competing - your chances will still be as low as other excellent aspirants. You will have more psychological anxiety trust me as the exam approaches.

So what are the solutions? Definitely not staying at a tier-3. I mean yes if you don’t crack any of your desired competitive exams - by all means stay in your requisite T-3 and try to do marvellously well there.

But the solutions for you are - try retaking clat before mhcet or any other competitive exam for that matter. Okay? Just for you to get into the one of it. If you are gonna do it- just do it right. Give ailet - don’t have any expectation , just sit for it. Who knows? Maybe that environment helped you crack mhcet later on.

I cracked it this way. I also changed from a tier-3 nlu (not exactly as bad as a tier-3 but well) to ils Pune. I know the odds and favours of it.

AND YES - a glc or ils tag right now nationally or internationally is much more valuable than a tier-3 nlu tag (claiming this after studying at high places)

All the best and good luck for your exam! Maintain your backup well. Don’t be afraid

Crazy times. I paid much less that that in total for five years in a non-residential campus. Add another 50k commute was also covered. Got a job and recouped all my expenses in first 5-6 months.

To be fair NLU, and amongst them as well, the NLS tag would be worth much more in future. However, the concerns are very valid for the poor meritorious chaps who wish to get out of the socio-economic traps.

I remember receiving forwarded messages every now and then as to how some talented individual was unable to make the ends meet and wished to have a crowdsourced fund for paying up the fee to college.

As much as I understand this move is inclusive in nature and opens the doors to many, i think it is very shortsighted. Firstly, the RC section and its standards could be differential across languages making it unfair ground of comparison. Secondly, What next? the medium of teaching in Ntl Law Schools is English, with the crowd being diverse. The books, commentaries are primarily in English and not the local language. While considering placements too, I believe the reality is such that Law firms would expect the candidate to be fluent in English first and the Local language is a plus point in Litigation. So these candidates have to now struggle in law school with academics, peers, placements and internships. Also, The HC requires you to have a good command over English. So i genuinely think it is a short sighted decision. Depositions, case laws, search engines, everything has to be available. HALF BAKED help, complicates things for all.

If you plan to make CLAT inclusive, you also have to make sure the System is ready and capable of working as efficiently (Not saying the system is efficient, but at par) with what is there right now.

Regards.

This is crazy. Now I desperately want Nalsar to be established as the best nlu and to at least take over nlsiu. I am in a tier-3 nlu (pathetic nusrl) retaking clat. Will fill nalsar as the first preference and then Nujs. Wont even look at NLS.

(I may end up receiving a tier-3 nlu as clat is unpredictable and my above comment may reek of arrogance is top tier nlu is not easy to get but this is a blatant fee surcharge from NLS)

The notification:-

https://consortiumofnlus.ac.in/clat-2024/nlus/brochure/NLSIU.pdf

Hi,
Honestly it burns down to what you are looking for.
Career guidance as to different fields and options you can pursue?
They can help streamline your options, choices, give you their inputs based on their exposure and experience. Can help you with Resume, Cover letter building, acting interviews etc. But I honestly don't think they can help you ACE placements nor can they provide you with suitable leads or opportunities.

I would rather talk to someone who has gone through the same grind, from a similar background and who has made it, to understand the process. Of course, it is not a straijacket formula.

Regards.

I'm reading at least one fiction book and one non-fiction book at any given point.

Fiction is a personal thing- you can read for escapism, or if you're interested in the lives of others.

Non-fic- there are some amazing Indian books out there now. Snigdha Poonam, Rukmini S, and Ram Guha are perennial favourites.

The best way to find new books? Go to a bookstore and browse. Or just join an old fashioned library.

The Printer

BREAKING NEWS
(Just in)

The Printer has received a tip from a highly credible source in the Rashtrapati Bhavan that the tragic deaths of two successive Presidents involve foul play.

This is a live story. Stay tuned for more updates.

LATEST UPDATES:

Chief Justice Thakur accuses Acting-President Ramalingam of planning a supersession in the Supreme Court!

Rashtrapati Bhavan categorically denies all allegations in a statement just released, which claims that "It is highly inappropriate for a sitting Chief Justice to engage in such malicious falsehood against the first citizen."

Prime Minister Banerjee to address the nation in Dil ki Baat this evening at 8 p.m.

----------

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I mean I get it , post 2010s the field is getting attention it deserves more and more.

More because of Clat now which is a big deal.

But still the profession itself hasn’t been able to penetrate the masses and in US law is a big deal. The very important presidents are lawyers. What happened?

Ganesh Shastri was woken up in the middle of the night. Disoriented, he tried to make sense of who was calling out to him. He put on his glasses, turned on the table light next to his bed, and looked at Mirza, his secretary, who seemed to have awoken him. "Sir, the President is dead!"

-----

"They say it's a stroke, Ram", said Shastri, "he looked perfectly fine yesterday. I'm just... shocked...."

"It's a shock to everyone, Ganesh" replied Ram, and then quickly glanced at Sashikala. The Prime Minister and the Chief Justice were informed of the tragedy and immediately requested to come to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

As Shastri saw a faint ray of sunlight in the sky from his office window, still deeply shook, there was a knock on his office door. "Come in!"

"Sir, we have arranged the press release", informed Kiran, the secretary to the President.

"Very well, thanks Kiran."

"One other thing, Sir. You will have to move to the President's office, and also appoint an acting Vice President" said Kiran.

"Very well, I'll get to it."

As Kiran left the office, it seemed to Shastri, for a second, that she gave a remonstrating look at Ram and Sashi. He wondered if it implied something. Perhaps it's nothing, and he just needs sleep. Or, maybe, it has to do with what Naik had shared with him a few days ago. That a major amendment was in the pipeline. Was Naik's death really of natural causes? The Director of AIIMS strongly reassured Shastri personally that there was no foul play involved. Good timing for Naik. He did not have to sign that godforsaken amendment. But now it's stuck with him.

---

It has been three days since Naik's death, and the piercing sense that there is something undiscovered about his untimely demise continued to haunt Shastri. Not least considering that he was informed by the Russian President, when the latter had called to convey his condolences, that there were a few urgent matters that he had to inform Naik of right away. When he pressed his counterpart on what they pertained, he was only informed that it is of grave concern directly concerning Shastri, and that it would be best if he came to Moscow personally.

"I can't possibly do a state visit at this time, Nikita. It is inappropriate, and also I'm not sure of the necessity" Shastri had bemoaned.

"I understand that Ganesh. But what I have to share with you is not only urgent but gravely important", protested Nikita Vladislav, a man who had had a great rapport and friendship with Naik, and also Shastri, on previous occasions. "How about this? There is a development conference happing at Tashkent next Wednesday. Many heads of states are flying in for that. I'll get an official invite sent over to you. We can talk there."

Shastri had acquiesced, if only to not seem obstinate at the face of "grave concerns." Everything is a "grave concern" in this new digital age. But Shastri did not want to take a chance, just in case it was, even remotely, a "grave concern".

---

Next Monday

"I am sorry, Madam Prime Minister. But I just cannot assent to that. I have no other choice than to resign if you do pass this in the parliament. I just cannot be a party to these amendments" rebuked Shastri. The Prime Minister had requested an appointment with him very early in the day to discuss government business. As he feared, it was about the proposed amendments, which she promptly brought soon after the usual pleasantries.

"But Sir... This is the best cour..." she was about the say, before Shastri cut her mid-sentence, "I'm sorry, I just cannot. Now if you will please excuse me, I have another meeting already scheduled."

Sashikala looked pale, and then crimson-faced. She walked out of the room in quite an angry stride.

---

Tuesday:

As Shastri was perusing a paper in from him, listing the official recipients of this year's Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards, he could not get rid of the ominous feeling that has been haunting him ever since he was awoken by Mirza that fateful night. It always found a way to return.

A knock on the door...

"Yes, come in" beckoned Shastri.

"Sir, some bad news" informed Kiran. "The scheduled Air India One seems to have encountered an engine issue. And stupidly enough, they did not think of pre-arranging an alternative. They have arranged for the MI-17 chopper to take you to Tashkent tomorrow."

"Ah, I see. No worries, that's fine Kiran. Let them go ahead."

Prof. (Dr.) Usha Tandon (Dean, Faculty of Law) is being appointed as the first Vice Chancellor of Dr. Rajendra Prasad National Law University, Prayagraj.

It is so good to see that a lot of capable women are being appointed as the VCs in various NLUs

Her Profile: http://13.235.220.186/community/faculty/prof-dr-usha-tandon/

Source: https://twitter.com/manwendratiwari/status/1704153120547471795?t

The bill is tabled!

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/parliament-special-session-live-updates-september-19-2023-new-parliament-building-narendra-modi-congress-party-101695081274035-amp.html

Harpreet Kaur is aiming to improve NLUJ's ranking and academic culture.

Source: https://www.bhaskar.com/local/rajasthan/jodhpur/news/priority-to-improve-the-stable-ranking-of-nlu-prof-mouthful-131861502.html

I believe getting involved with someone from the same workplace is never a good idea, especially in a FWB situation as in your case. And now, you have an intern in sight, which is even worse. I think you should stay away from the very thought and spare problems for both you & her.
When I was an intern, I had similar issues with my A2 approaching me and showing interest and when it was not reciprocated, things went a little downhill. Please do not make things awkward. It would be very difficult if it gets exposed for both of you :)

So yes, it is wrong to sleep with her, especially if she is an intern at your org.

I think the relevant part is-

"issue" is defined under 2(13)(ea) is defined to include

(i) Public issue of debentures

(ii) PP which seeks to list later- DRHP

Therefore, the Regulations include even unlisted debentures which are privately placed (requiring debenture trustees under the ILNC Regs) but seeking to list on a recognised stock exchange.

(im T1 NLU student with good internships looking for t1 internships btw)

Hey, a simple reading of the definition would give you an answer

As per Reg. 2(3)(ab) of the DT Regulations (https://www.sebi.gov.in/legal/regulations/jan-2023/securities-and-exchange-board-of-india-debenture-trustees-regulations-1993-last-amended-on-january-17-2023-_68136.html), a "body corporate" is defined to include

(1) Companies with public issues- listed

(2) Companies proposed to list- temporarily unlisted, filed DRHP.

SEBI FAQ Question 14 (https://www.sebi.gov.in/sebi_data/faqfiles/dec-2016/1482144051182.pdf) clarifies this.

Broadly, here are the things that you can do to enhance your CV. These are in addition to good academics. Depending on which college you're from, good academics are non-negotiable. For me, they were and I know that people wouldn't have even looked at my CV if not for my CGPA.

1. Internships: This was quite possibly the strongest section in my CV. My parents aren't lawyers and my Placement Cell wasn't spectacular, this happened because of good old networking. My first 4 internships were in chambers/litigation in my city - easy to get because they weren't coveted internships that everyone was trying to get. I kept in touch with all the people i met here, texted them for New Years, Diwali, did my best to be on good terms with everyone. A year later, when I asked these people to help me get other internships, they really did. This led to my tier 2 internships.

My tier 1 internships did not come from connections, I found that the strategy I outlined above seemed to work from tier 3 to tier 2 but not tier 2 to tier 1. I got my JSA internship by directly applying, they had a long procedure but I did get it without recommendations. The other t1 internships I got were through the Placement Cell - by this time I was in 4th year and had a good CGPA so I got the internships I wanted through college itself. By recruitment time, I had 10 internships on my CV - 3 T1s, 3 T2s, and 4 random ones that people outside my city wouldn't have heard of. Got placed through campus placement in a T1 that I hadn't interned at.

2. Moots: I did 3 external moots and would say that this was a fairly strong part of CV. The first moot I did was a random one, we reached the semi-finals but didn't win anything. The second moot I did was a really good one, a competitive national level corporate law moot of repute. We won an award but not the entire event. The last moot I did was a reputed constitutional law moot in which we reached the finals and won an award. An international moot would have been a great addition to my CV but was not affordable. I didn't really have the time to undertake something like this, either.

3. ADR Competitions/Essay Writing Competitions/Quiz Competitions/Debates/MUNs/Miscellaneous competitions: Some of these are easier to get awards in than others. Target those, and you'll build up your CV without spending an unreasonable amount of time/effort. I had a fair few of these and while they look impressive put together, the truth is that they're not that difficult to crack. You need to participate persistently, and you'll win a few awards in a few places.

4. Publications/Paper Presentations/Conferences: A lot of people focus on these extensively, and they're usually rewarded for their efforts. I wasn't one of these people, and had 0 publications when I got placed. My first publication was accepted after my placement. If you're interested in publishing, target good journals and blogs, a "publication" in ipleaders doesn't add value to your CV.

All this may seem intimidating, but remember that you can't do everything in the limited time you have. Try to build a diverse CV, and enjoy yourself with these activities! Good luck!

Aaye don’t thank anyone. See that’s what LI is known for. Couple of minutes back you were suspicious of doing a quality MBA. Now you seem much more confident am I right? Try to take baby steps and work on them. You will do remarkably well trust me you will. I don’t wanna act like some self-appointed psychologist , but you will do better if you have faith more :)

I will be joining as an A0 at a firm next year. I've had a negligible social life and have avoided social interaction during my college life. I am a husk of my former, joyful self. College life broke me somehow. I know that having social anxiety while being a lawyer is ironic. But somehow I'm still working in this field, but struggling. I lack basic conversational skills and I struggle to make friends. Is there anyone who can relate to my situation or even guide me? I've considered counselling but never had the time for it.

Hi I don’t think 29 is that late of an age for a decent MBA in ISB or an excellent MBA abroad. Infact this has been the norm internationally. For IIMs the average age ranges from 24-26 while for ISB it has been 27 plus for the last 4 years. You can also check several LinkedIn posts in support of this! So age should not be an issue at all!

However I can’t counter your argument of disturbed mind as that’s fairly a personal issue. But you still have a lot of time. Don’t get occupied by negativity. You can also opt for accelerated MBA programmes if you well academically! All the best brother/sister ❤️

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/175426-in-house-hiring-please-help

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/189562-working-as-an-in-house-counsel

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/213875-in-house-work-life-balance

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/176282-what-is-your-experience-in-working-as-an-in-house-counsel

Few threads that can help you figure stuff out :)

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/161966-mba-after-law

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/168588-mba-after-law-suggestions-for-a-finance-fanatic

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/231883-mba-karu-law-k-baad

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/164110-foreign-mba-after-law

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/241845-Lawyers-who-did-MBA-Did-it-help-your-career-nbsp-

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/262736-how-does-mba-help-a-corporate-lawyer-insights-needed-for-a-prospective-and-typical-mba-after-law-person

They aforementioned threads can you help make an accurate decision! All the best :)))

A few weeks ago:

President Gopala Naik was one of the finest and astute Presidents the country had witnessed in the recent past. His commitment to duty and his prescience of danger was unparalleled to even the most seasoned politicians around. Honour and respect found him easily, and he had a commanding voice over the executive. Naik was not a politician by trade. He was too sincere to be one. He was an astronomer and physicist who played a major role in Chandrayaan missions, as well as the Gaganyaan missions.

But, as he was strolling this morning in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, in one of his usual leisurely walks, Naik, a stubby man in composition, had a troubled look on his face, an unusual demeanour for the otherwise jovial fellow. The cause of much anxiety emerged from recent events. A bench ruled by the Supreme Court had, six days ago, overturned the basic structure doctrine of the Indian Constitution. What was even more concerning to Naik was that his Prime Minister, Sashikala Banerjee relayed that the cabinet, and her party, had unanimously decided on a course correction for the nation, which was, according to her, long needed. She proposed a far-reaching overhaul of the constitution and that the government intends on introducing a constitution amending bill in the parliament which, among other things, removed 'India' from Article 1, made Hindi a national language, and greatly restructured Part III of the Constitution. This had shaken Naik's conscience. He strongly protested with Banerjee that he could not possibly assent to such a bill. But she had insisted that he was bound to assent to bills emanating from the parliament.

As he strolled around the luxuriant gardens, in this sunny but pleasant morning, Naik, besmirched in guilt, embarrassment, and a profound sense of helpless, weighed his options. He was stuck in a Gordian knot, but could manage to conjure a few options. One, to refer the matter to the Supreme Court as a special reference. That was, however, pointless as K. T. Ramalingam, the current Chief Justice, would side with the government given the recent ruling that the parliament had an unrestrained power to amend the constitution. The second option was to call for a special sitting of the parliament and for him to chair the sitting and openly speak his mind about the dangerous course of these proposed amendments. That was an option to consider, although it was tricky constitutionally whether he can exercise such a discretion. To be presidential, for all pageantries and platitudes that accompany the role, is nothing but playing a character in a script over which the actor has no creative liberty whatsoever. The position is just placed to fill the transcendent nominal space in constitutional law, much like the Rex or Regina in England. A famous adage that he read in Oxford came to his mind. One married a Duke more for the status than the pleasure. Seemed like it is apt in the context of becoming a President in India too, more for the status than the pleasure. Naik decided on a third option. Given the severity of the proposed amendments, and the radical nature of the changes, Naik will send the bill for reconsideration to Parliament. The President has to assent if the bill comes to him a second time, there's no way out. But.... he will resign when it comes to him the second time, and write a letter that he cannot, in good, conscience sign the bill. That will, even if not stop the bill from becoming a law, will atleast greatly cast aspersions on its legitimacy and validity by all moral and ethical standards, if not legal standards. Yes, that is what Naik will do! Great plan!!

As he turned to enter the central dome back to his residence, with a smile having returned to his earlier morose face, the poor Naik did not know that he will die of a stroke within 15 hours. Nay, he will be killed within 15 hours, and the world will be made to believe that it was a stroke.

In this particular case, the comment in question was removed due to strong grounds to believe it may have been trollish and not based on factual information. We aim to maintain a respectful and constructive environment for all members, and such comments can potentially derail discussions and undermine the credibility of the platform :)

It's good if BCI conducts the exam and mandates all colleges to admit students based on the CLAT scores. However, I just have one concern with holding the exam in regional language which is that the ones who get good scores in the regional languages may struggle to understand the legal or BA concepts which would be taught in tough English. This may lead to greater number of people dropping out after taking admission or people suffering after taking admission.

BCI offers to hold CLAT in English and regional languages. The consortium of NLUs (that conducts the CLAT currently) is not a statutory body.

https://www.barandbench.com/news/bci-offers-to-hold-clat-no-student-deprived-lack-of-english-proficiency

Expect changes in the CLAT 2024 itself, since GoI has already agreed for CLAT to be held in multiple languages.

Apply phase wise. First T1, then T2 and then T3.

Be proactive and contact headhunters.

Look for platforms like YLCC which provide updates on legal jobs.

Follow pages of law firm on LinkedIn, they show you vacancy.

Last tip- join premium of LinkedIn, it’s free trail is on now, for a month. Put your desired job details and get updates.

Wishing you all the best.

Good points. However, at times, someone may not be necessarily better. PPOs are often a product of how actively the team assesses you. They might be busy and already have other interns, may not have properly reviewed you, the practice area you are interning at may not have enough vacancies, etc. Someone else may be at the right time at the right place.

Hi, firstly, congratulations on interning at three Tier 1 firms! It's not easy to get T1 internships, yet you have received them, which tells you you are an academically oriented person and quite sincere in your work. It is indeed a sad feeling, trust me, when one's peers get those PPOs when one is working sincerely and isn't receiving them. But it would be best to learn that no matter how much you think you are good, there is always someone better than you; this statement helps one move on in life and work hard even more. Not receiving those PPOs is not the end of the world; Day Zero and Day One are still there where top T1/T2 come and select the suitable candidates. The only mantra for qualifying for a day zero interview is good grades + T1 internships. After you prepare for the technical rounds, your knowledge of Company Law, the Law of Contracts, and the Partnership Act will be tested in general, and you will get the job; from this statement, I mean, you still have a perfect shot in getting a job offer from T1 firm, don't stress about a PPO. I would end this by stating that life is too short to worry about what others achieve in their respective lives, appreciate their efforts, and then move on. There are many opportunities for getting an excellent job; learn where to look for them. Like the Great Baba Ranchoddas said, " Don't run after success; always go for excellence."

We Indians do possess a penchant for hyperbolic comparisons—a curious blend of pride and whimsy that adds a certain flair to our mundane existences. To see the world through such a lens isn't so much a distortion as it is a reflection of our cultural exuberance. Sachin Tendulkar becomes our very own "Bradman," and suddenly, Ranchi dons the costume of Mussoorie. These monikers may border on the flippant, but as they say, different strokes for different folks.

Now, brace yourself for an unsolicited tale that serves no other purpose than to dredge up poignant memories and to provide the occasional chuckle. A tale that ends, as all good things do, in the pitch-dark humor of life's absurdities.

Once upon a time in the bustling bylanes of North Delhi (Mukherjee Nagar), I found myself beguiled by a captivating woman completing her Master's in Economics at Delhi School of Economics (DSE). It was a time of passion and academia, a time when I, too, was in Delhi under the guise of an internship. The internship was merely an excuse and thanks to my unparalleled talent for crafting excuses at work, life was beautiful with impromptu dates with this magnetic lady. Our limited resources ensured that the DSE canteen (sometimes Kamla Nagar market) became our social hub—a quirky combination of Café Coffee Day, Nirula's, and Connaught Place, all combined into one quaint establishment. Our gastronomic pinnacle? The budget-friendly 'Mutton-Dosas,' which fueled both our love and malnutrition.

During one of our many nostalgic walks, she pointed out an enigmatic gate adorned with Gothic motifs—forever locked and corroded by time. A shortcut to DSE, its perpetual closure made no sense to me. My inquiry triggered another life lesson from the one who would eventually slip through my fingers. According to the legends passed down by her professors, this "Gate to Nobel" would only swing open to welcome back a DSE alumnus graced with a Nobel Prize in Economics. Ah, a closed gate with grand aspirations—much like the two of us.

Time, that cunning sculptor, eventually carved canyons between our paths. We became two strangers bound only by the fragile threads of memories. A few years later, fate led me back to Delhi for work—a voyage that stretched into a reminiscing weekend. And there it was—the still-locked gate, now sporting a fresh coat of silver paint. Perhaps applied with a touch of desperate optimism, it waited for the day it could welcome home a laureate adorned with Swedish gold.

So you see, DSE remains a sanctuary for the study of economics in India. As for the other departments, I wouldn't venture a guess. But what I can vouch for is that the gate, like many of us, stands waiting—frozen in anticipatory glory, serving as a darkly humorous monument to life's grand plans and harsh realities.

The best advice I got is below. It is taken from a blog by Dilbert:

The Day You Became A Better Writer

I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in “business writing.” I couldn’t believe how simple it was. I’ll tell you the main tricks here so you don’t have to waste a day in class.

Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive. A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don’t fight it.

Simple means getting rid of extra words. Don’t write, “He was very happy” when you can write “He was happy.” You think the word “very” adds something. It doesn’t. Prune your sentences.

Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words. For humor, don’t say “drink” when you can say “swill.”

Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. Go back and read my first sentence to this post. I rewrote it a dozen times. It makes you curious. That’s the key.

Write short sentences. Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren’t as smart as you’d think.

Learn how brains organize ideas. Readers comprehend “the boy hit the ball” quicker than “the ball was hit by the boy.” Both sentences mean the same, but it’s easier to imagine the object (the boy) before the action (the hitting). All brains work that way. (Notice I didn’t say, “That is the way all brains work”?)

That’s it. You just learned 80% of the rules of good writing. You’re welcome.

In my not-so-humble opinion, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the bright-eyed newbies of the legal world. On the flip side, it's the creaky old-timers, who seem to think that a good old battering from their seniors was the golden ticket to legal brilliance. How cute!

Their go-to metaphor? "You need the blazing heat of a furnace to purify gold" or perhaps a "stretch to judge how flexible the rubberband is" I'd say it's more of a half-baked excuse than a nugget of wisdom, an attempt to paint their old-school hazing as a badge of honour. I bet the fresh lot can value genuine mentorship and a dash of tough love. However, there’s a difference between that and a senior mistaking their gray hair for a license to play the nightmare-inducing boogeyman.

Cutting to the chase: every profession has its pompous balloons waiting to be popped. I've had the, let's say, "pleasure" of dealing with these so-called legal titans—the ones paraded as the cream of the crop. And boy, have I been left scratching my head! Not to toot my own horn, but we're talking basics here, folks. So, whenever someone starts waxing poetic about the 'golden days of lawyering,' I can't help but visualize a steaming, freshly served plate of... let's just say, a cow's generous donation to our environment.

Lastly, and just for the record, there's not even a shred of empirical evidence that supports the notion that a tormented soul drafts better documents or magically enhances one’s ability to dot the i's and cross the t's.

Write more, read more. Keep in mind that folks have individual styles and so, what one partner believes is great writing may not be to the preference of another. Don't be disheartened. That being said, some general pointers that I find tend to improve drafts:

- Plain English over legal eccentricities (no "hereinafter", "wherefore" etc.). This doesn't include terms of art which need to be used as they are.

- Avoid using multiple words where you can use one ("if" instead of "in the event of")

- Simple past and active voice where possible ("we discussed" instead of "it was discussed by us that")

- Spend some time organising the flow of your argument before you begin drafting. I often work with my team to set out a structure before they begin the draft, so it holds together better. You should ideally ask for guidance on this if you can.

- Use sub-headings where you can to delineate different sections of your argument. Clarity is as important an ideal to chase, as accuracy.

What's wrong with:

1. expecting better systems/devices? A one time investment of 50-75K extra is a big ask in a sector which sees 80-90% yearly ROI?

2. Doing two jobs (given that most people well work beyond the 8 hours) and getting paid for it, handsomely? You don't even offer any retirals (PF, gratuity etc). Now take the case of IIT-IIM grads and I take them cos our nat law/tier 1 schools who make the majority of law firm resources, make the same or in some cases more money on graduation. They do one job (most of them have 10-6/7 job, unless they with one of the investment banks or EYs/PWCs).

3. Asking for the best deals and best work? Surely, nobody is interested in doing some meaningless work. Hell, the more complex and Sevier the transaction- the more you learn. Sure, you need to have the skills to be able to deliver- but as long as that's there, why shouldn't kids be demanding for this?

I am an old school pre-smart phone Era lawyer. Things that old school has to realise:

1. Life is all about evolution. Do you guys follow what your parents tell you? For all the PAs and partners in their 30s-40s, chances are you were quite the rebel in your younger days and continue to be so, wrt your parents and their advise. So please don't do this- "oh we had it so difficult, this how we grew, this how you must also grow" shit. Life and work is ever evolving and we must always adapt. Not be boomer-dinos.

2. Granted that useful skills such as proper proofing, research, formatting, etc is important. But guys come on, living in the times that we are in, all of this can be outsourced and to a large extent is now being done by the computers and AI. Given that most associates atleast in their first two years only do this, no point harassing them about this beyond a certain point.

3. When we started working, there was no concept of work life balance. Working from home. Not Even bloody HSE (health safety environment) clauses in contracts. These days firms send weekly updates on these topics. Who's to blame? The very fact that firms are writing this is because of the lessons learnt from.the horror stories that our generation went through. To then say that oh you must also go through this cos we went through this is pure crap. It must be quite the contrary- because I went through this and it affected me, I won't let you go through this- should be the Mantra that all PAs and partners adopt.

4. The very topic assumes that we as old school lawyers had to go through shit and the genz doesn't and that is somehow wrong. Perhaps a little self reflection on why you went through shit is necessary. Cos if you were super good, you wouldn't have gone through shit in the first place. You weren't good either in your younger years- so accept that lawyers will evolve with age and can't expect them to be superstars right out of college.

5. An average law school kid probably spent 10-12 hours a day sleeping. To then shock his body suddenly with a 4-6 hour sleep schedule (and in some cases, worse than that) is Gunatanamo bay level torture. This needs to be worked up gradually. This is also a factor of an associate being involved in his job and liking it- things which are very difficult in the abstract without context and not having any foresight of why they are doing what they are doing. How many of you boomers take a first year associate to a negotiation? Hence,please understand that it is not fair to expect 23 year old kids to fall in love with their jobs and blindly do everything without question.

6. Drafting is a skill that evolves with age and life experiences. Hell,even commitment to a job is directly proportional to the personal commitments that you have. How can you expect a 23-25 ywar old without any familiar commitments to have a high sense of responsibility and commitment to the job?

To all the genz lawyers- hang in there, these horrible bosses and boomers notwithstanding. Lawyers evolve with age. You'll only be good at what you do if you like doing it. That usually comes with more responsibility and visibility on the impact that your work has. And also being given importance. All of this will come. You need to ask as many questions as you can- be as involved as you can, so that you get to the place where you start liking the Job. In fact in my view, the sole purpose of getting to an SA must be to get to a place where you have little more responsibility and ability to fall in love with the job. All the very best- 2012 lawyer. Have been both in house and in a law firm (currently in a law firm- before the boomer defending folks start jumping at the in house reference).

As the title suggests, I'd be consolidating what i think an intern should know or learn while applying for a litigation internship to get that headstart

Keep in mind these are my viewpoints and I haven't had that much of experience on field but had I've learnt these things earlier I'd have gotten a headstart. Please feel free to subject this list to scrutiny and add more to it.

1. First things first is to know how to check the cause list of your matter at a particular court. Get very well versed with these things download the ecourt service app and by typing down your case number and year and the jurisdiction of your court. So if you've been assigned for a court visit w your senior just quickly check the cause list and tell him the item no (although he'd have known these things but little things like these creates a good impression leading to more work from the same senior)

2. Also you should know how to check whether the judge who is assigned to your matter is on leave or not. And do mention that in the message you'd be sending along side with the cause list message (same info can be accessed online on web just by typing judges on leave and the court you're going to)

3. Learn legalese basically legal English, i swear to god when I got introduced to drafting. This shit went over my head. Although I'm a believer of using plain English in drafts. Usually at my firm we're still using the archaic words of English. If you wanna know where to actually learn legalese just read a lotta drafts and read supreme court's judgements try to highlight words which seems foreign to you.

4. Learn how to draft a legal notice, probably if you're at a good place you'd be assigned the tasks of drafting legal notices, reply notices. The format is damn easy and you can just use sample problems and create them by yourselves if you're not doing an internship.

5. Learn how to draft a complaint most important this is one of those common works you might be assigned to. The format is damn easy but what I've noticed with drafting is essentially you're telling a story so don't get this anxiety that you can't do shit or you can't use legalese. Make sure to be very specific with your details like very specific for example if A stole an iPhone you should write it like this "That one person named "A" S/0_____ R/0____ commited pilferage of one iPhone 14 pro max 256 gb ......"

.

6. Once you know how to draft a complaint learn how to draft a representation to a ACP/DCP and subsequently 156(3) too.

7. And for the love of God when you've finished your research and you're sending it to your senior always make a casenote and send it with a highlighted portions of the judgement

8. Learn to do filing especially of high courts. Tutorials could be found on YouTube to learn the same.

Man I've written a blog at this point lmfao but this is almost what I think an intern should learn there's more to this i could have written more but I be feeling too lazy to type now.

Hope this thread would help you and shit

Part 2 of this series is up. In the next bit, we deal with ECBs - a loan which has been availed from across the border:

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/278146-Banking-Finance-Oversimplified-Part-2-ECBs-#comments

Finance is one of the most interesting subjects in the world. Happy reading!

Hey, kindly let me know the most prestigious site on which I can publish my article. SCC Blog (a lot of corp law firm partners publish their pieces here) V. IndiaCorpLaw (heard that it's the most prestigious) V. NLS Business Law Review V. Indian Review of Corporate and Commercial Laws (IRCCL) V. NLIU Corp Law Blog V. Jindal Corp Law Blog V. NLUD Corp Law Blog

Honest suggestions would be appreciated :)

Greetings, esteemed colleagues and eager beavers of law!

Did a little snooping around here (as any good lawyer does) and found this... quirk. Want to peek into a juicy comment? Too bad, rookie! Looks like we're running on a seniority system. Who designed this, King Arthur's Round Table?

Hold up before you rain down with "Quality over Quantity!" or "Wise old owls only!" - this reminds me of a story. Ever heard of the Magna Carta? Big parchment, lots of freedom talk, but mainly for the rich folks. Imagine a fresh-out-of-law-school chap back then with some brilliant ideas, but... "Shush, kiddo! The grown-ups are talking."

Isn’t it a bit like saying only Dadaji gets the remote, and we all have to watch reruns of 'C.I.D' or 'Suryavansham'... again?

And just for giggles, imagine Socrates here, labeled a 'noob'. "To question or not to question, that is... Oops! Access denied!"

Should we give this policy a second thought? Or just stock up on popcorn and wait for the juniors to start a digital uprising?

Here’s to old-timers, the young blood, and a spoonful of cheekiness!

Cheers!

Growing up in the '90s suburbs of the city of dreams, the term "toxic" was more like a sultry serenade, thanks to that catchy number where our cherished Khiladi Kumar crooned in wonder about the nature of a 'peck.' His immortal line, “Is it toxic or a lovely bliss, your kiss… the enigmatic inebriation... your kiss,” gave the word a charm. Ah, the irony! Fast forward to today, and the easy breeziness of those times has been usurped by the relentless rhythm of the hustle. Our vocabularies have morphed just as our ringtone melodies have.

Now, 'toxic' isn’t just a cheeky refrain but a haunting reality. 'Toxic behavior' or the 'toxicity of a workplace' isn't just out of a song; it's the symphony of a myriad of ill-fated life choices. For some, it’s the ripple effect of dubious parenting, turning darling kiddos into dreaded office trolls hungry for misguided validation. Others might cloak their insecurities in a facade of aggression, dubbing themselves Type A, Alpha, Sigma, or whatever the buzzword bingo winner is nowadays. After all, when the going gets tough, the tough get... toxic!

Start working under a lawyer who do commercial matters or IP litigation at HC. Delhi HC has ordinary original jurisdiction. Companies pay good chunk of money to initiate cases in DHC. Consequently, such lawyers have good paying capacity. Many join district courts and SC and later neither their pay increase nor they get clients (obviously a generic statement - exception is everywhere - but are you exceptional :-P). Going independent is a thought that exist sub consciously but never happen for a 'very long period of time' and that too without surety. So try HC (commercial dispute - IP litigation).

As you serve as a junior to a senior working for corporate matter or IP litigation in HC and you are in direct touch with client (which you would) then after a long period (while you are compensated nicely) you have a chance that client recognizes you for your efforts that you are putting up for them.

Then later, there is a chance that out of many clients you are in direct touch with decided to move on with you only. That's how 'boutique firms' open. Even if otherwise, your pay is somewhere around 80k-1L after 5 years. While its not as fair as other practice area, but at least its not a desk job. You argue and get the satisfaction of being a lawyer for which you actually did the law school.

Sometimes you get a very good senior. Fortunately I am working under such senior who prioritise work-life balance and also a great mentor.

The idea is that you are secured that you are getting paid decent. When I say getting paid decent, I mean 30k-40k as fresher. If you wish to find such clientele based senior, then its better to track them through HC cause list. (I gave 0 efforts in typing this reply, so please pardon my English and writing style).

Hope it helps :-)

Roadmap I followed:

Watched all the relevant videos from Khaitan & Co. on youtube. (They have all my respect for taking this initiative and putting in so much effort).

Their videos discuss the topics on the surface level but it does put me in the right direction to research further. if you keep doing this on a regular basis you will easily develop a virtual map in your mind and will always know where to find things when presented with a problem.

I've been familiar with the legal industry for quite some time, and I must say that tier I law firms are known for their intense environment. It's a place where the competition is fierce, and the pressure can be overwhelming. It's not for everyone, and not everyone thrives in such an environment.

I've also heard positive stories about the team at this tier I law firm. They've provided opportunities to many individuals who have not only grown professionally but also as individuals. The collaborative environment and mentorship have been instrumental in shaping successful careers, both within and outside the firm. It's worth mentioning that every workplace has its challenges, and it's crucial to maintain a balanced perspective. While we discuss the concerns raised by this person, let's also acknowledge the many achievements and supportive aspects of the team that have contributed to the success of so many.

Regarding the allegations made by this A0, it's essential to approach such claims with a balanced view. Allegations in a high-pressure work environment can sometimes be highly exaggerated or not entirely reflective of the team's conduct. It's essential to encourage transparency and dialogue to address these concerns properly. While some issues may exist, we should be cautious about jumping to conclusions without a complete understanding of the situation.

I genuinely hope that A0 learns from this experience, whether it was a genuine cry for help or a reaction to anticipated challenges. Ultimately, the legal profession is demanding, and it's crucial for individuals to find the right fit for their skills and temperament. Let's support one another in navigating these challenges and wish him the best in his future endeavors.

1) Concession Agreement

2) Structure of project finance ( Sponsor+SPV+senior lender)

3) Basic Contract, LD clauses Damanges, types of concession BOT TOT HAM etc

Company act section 176-180-186 and related under which financing is allowed to company and board resolution.

This revelation isn't surprising, but I do empathize with the young man for his courage and slight naivety in sending that email. While I don't feel sympathy for those he called out, I'm concerned about the potential backlash he may encounter. I hope he possesses the strength to navigate the challenges in a world filled with ego-driven individuals who mask their insecurities with grand titles like 'Senior Partner.' It seems naive of him to expect justice from the very power structures that may have wronged him. I hope he takes some time to reflect and strategize his next steps carefully. The corporate law realm often thrives on the insecurities of these "senior partners" and their acolytes. Over time, one either adapts to this environment or becomes part of the problem.

Companies act

1. Types of securities - equity/debt/debentures/preference shares - key differences + redemption + conversion + triggers + term + accounting treatment

2. Raising capital - issuance of debt + equity securities (rights issue, private placement, preferential allotment, initial public offer/further public offer, split, bonus issue, ESOP - procedure + compliance (including issuance to a foreign shareholder - what are FEMA compliances and pricing guidelines under NDI rules?)

3. Capital reduction - extinguishment/reduction/pay off

4. Buyback - procedure + compliances + criteria

5. Transfer of shares - procedure

6. Composition of board + committees (public unlisted, private and listed companies) - also what is the difference between a public company and listed company

6. Powers of board and committees

7. Types of directors - duties/responsibilities and differences - procedure of appointment - nominee + independent + executive director

8. AGM/EGM - how to call an EGM + what items require ordinary resolution + special resolution + procedure

9. KMPs - everything

10. Related party transaction - everything

11. Mergers/reorganisation - procedure under 232-234 - what happens to shareholders of merged entity - do they get consideration or shares of resulting entity? What is resulting entity, transferee company and transferor company

12. Officer in default

Agreed,

There is one organization called APCR, committed for defending civil liberties. You may reach out to them.

Alternatively, you may reach out to me at queryhasnain@gmail.com, in case you are have any difficulty in reaching out to them. Would be pleased to help !

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/224531-publications-how-to-start-writing-for-reputed-blogs-and-journals

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/268702-how-to-start-publishing

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/167493-how-important-are-blog-publications-today

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/176157-journal-rankings-looking-for-most-relevant-credible-journals-for-indian-students

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/253196-publications-how-much-do-they-help

Some valuable resources that can help you chalk out your publication journey to a good extent. All the best!

The OP demanded opinions from the alumni of other NLUs as well.

I will still highly recommend the NUSRL students to not further this discussion just for the sake of criticising your batchmates where the same can be done in your college WhatsApp groups/personal groups.Keep it civil. Don’t share personal information as well or we will be forced to close this thread :)

We are taking each and every step to make sure that LI remains a relevant and healthy platform where people can discuss several updates and point out grievances. Any thread spreading misinformation or hatred will be strictly prohibited.

Kian is working extremely hard to maintain decorum in this website. Kindly acknowledge our request ❤️

Same as title. Do check the following link https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jakepronger_law-application-help-activity-7104798498562154498-piLO?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android

Best wishes to any candidate aiming for it!

Hey. I can tell you about arbitration. Start reading up every judgement on arbitration from today. While reading, when you see any cited judgement, read that one too until you fully understand what it deals with. Repeat everyday and you won't even realise how quickly you'll start developing an in depth understanding of the subject.

You can take assistance of articles but they can't substitute for judgements.

Noida might as well be rechristened Neo-Tokyo, mirroring not just the neon but the nihilism of its fictional counterpart in Katsuhiro Otomo's magnum opus, 'Akira.' The city's restless youth wander like rudderless rebels, channeling their inner Tetsuos and Kanedas but with a penchant for fisticuffs and profanity instead of psychic powers. Authority figures gaze upon this sprawling dystopia as if waiting for an Akira-level event to sweep it all away, their eyes filled with a blend of confusion and a yearning for lost order.

While the air quality doesn't exactly offer the olfactory delights of a nuclear winter, it does give the uninitiated a teasing whiff of post-apocalyptic perfume. Sure, the city streets may lack those iconic Akira-esque motorcycles, but that absence is more than compensated for by the parade of Cretas and Scorpios, each emblazoned with bumper stickers that scream individuality as loudly as a psychic blast from Tetsuo himself.

So, if you're scouting for a mini-dystopia that comes closest to Neo-Tokyo, look no further than this Trans-Yamuna civilization endearingly and sardonically dubbed "Neeoda." Trust me, it's as if Otomo sketched this urban labyrinth himself, but perhaps decided it was too realistic to include in his manga.

You made a good decision by choosing to work as an in-house counsel over being at the mercy of law firms where the work-life balance is in shambles. Since I don't know your exact work experience in "number of years," let me take a guess (approx 12-15 years), Maybe you can try to do an MBA from an IIM or a decent institute, and that degree coupled with your extensive experience in various companies as an in-house counsel will get you the perfect job. Many companies do hire Chief Legal Officers/GCs (that MBA degree might help). So that's my take. I hope this helps...

In the past, I witnessed a similar scenario play out. My sister, who conveniently had the hots for another girl—who also happened to be someone’s sister—was in quite the conundrum. After much internal debate and self-doubt, she turned to her ever-wise, perpetually-available, and supremely caring brother (yours truly) for advice on such heart matters. Embracing my role as the doting sibling, I reassured her that these things often have a way of sorting themselves out. Plus, since I knew the brother of the object of my sister's affection, I eagerly offered to facilitate a chat with her. A family and friends gathering provided the perfect backdrop for this talk. But, plot twist! As I approached her, it seemed she was also keen on striking up a conversation with me. We quickly found common ground: both of us were skeptical about Jim from 'The Office' (US version) being the knight-in-shining-armor he's made out to be. We agreed that 'Fight Club' might just be the best film adaptation (even trumping The Godfather) and debated the cryptic ending of '2001: A Space Odyssey.' But what took center stage was our mutual appreciation of my sister's sweetness, agreeing she deserved only the best. Thus began what can only be described as the most whirlwind and chaotic romance of the 21st century. It went strong... for a week. Then, both my sister and the brother of my week-long love interest (who, incidentally, was an old pal) discovered our liaison, leading to a family saga worthy of a prime-time soap opera. Suddenly, I was the villain! Can you imagine? My sister no longer speaks to her "loving" brother, my old friend acts like I'm invisible (claiming I exploited our friendship to woo his sister), and my fleeting flame? She's blocked me everywhere and conveniently relocated for her master's. Probably thinks I'm worse than Jim now.

So here I am, trying to make a living and watching life drift by, wondering... is "Fight Club" really that great?

Absolutely! You can give clat next year. To make matter a bit more east , just try out this year’s clat as well. It will provide you insight and you are anyway eligible. Try to join the tier-1 nlus and so prepare well. Make newspaper reading a daily habit of yours and starting giving mocks. Watch some videos to get things started. All the best!

Hi A0s stuck in banking! Your Dalal Street attorney is back.

Thanks for the positive feedback on my last post. Today we are going international. In case you missed my previous post, here’s a link to the same:

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/277270-Banking-Finance-Oversimplified-Part-1#comments

Today we will talk about ECBs – External Commercial Borrowings.

I remember the first time I was put on an ECB transaction, I was just told – go read up the ‘RBI Master Direction on External Commercial Borrowings, Trade Credits and Structured Obligations’. Like a diligent associate I went to the RBI website and downloaded the latest version of this RBI issued law. I mean how difficult could it be? I had to just read the Master Direction, see what law applies to our transaction and then discuss with my senior, right?

WRONG.

Loan Registration Number

Designated Authorised Dealer Category I Bank

FCY denominated ECB

MAMP

Hedging provision

All-in-cost ceiling – “… the swap cost plus spread should not be more than the floating rate plus the applicable spread …”

Wait, what were these technical terms I was reading? I had never come across these before. I was supposed to quickly read through the Master Direction and apply it in the transaction, but I couldn’t make any sense of the document. I couldn’t even understand what the Master Direction was about, let alone ask specific questions. This was a clear case of crash and burn where I had fallen face forward, and I felt completely helpless.

It took me some time to realise that this wasn’t a ‘me’ problem. Without having any background of economics or finance or prior experience, these documents wouldn’t make sense to anyone. At your law firm - as a quick fix - they might probably explain to you a specific item that needs to be inserted in the transaction document, but without understanding the context, that sense of cluelessness will linger on.

Ok Rohit, calm down. Don’t overthink this so much. Deep breaths in. You’ve got this.

So if we can’t figure out ECBs just by reading the Master Direction or a Mondaq article, what’s the solution? Alright, so I have an exercise for you which is going to give you some instant clarity. But you will have to follow the instructions carefully. Ready?

1. Go to your room and close all the doors and windows.

2. Plug in your Amazon electronics

3. Now shout out the following words: “Alexa – play the song ‘Paisa’ from De Dana Dan”

Done? Alright, let’s go:

Here’s the scenario: You have just got your first salary credited after slogging for 14 hours for a month. You have worked harder than ever before and now you deserve a treat. So you go partying at Bastian with your friends and treat yourself to some sushi at Izumi. You somehow manage to save INR 10, 000 from your salary. Now your parents want you to invest this INR 10,000 in a bank. You see that while SBI bank is offering a 4% return, Kotak is offering a 7% interest on fixed deposits. So you go with Kotak.

Now let’s take this one step forward. Banks don’t just make money out of thin air. If they are paying you interest at 7%, that’s because they take your money and lend it someone else at a higher interest rate to make profits. Let’s say the colleague sitting beside you in office had to avail an education loan to complete his college education. When he went to the bank for a INR 10 lakh loan, he noticed SBI offering education loan at 10%, while Kotak offering it at 15%. Obviously, he would choose the SBI loan as at a 10% interest rate on INR 10 lakhs, he would only have to repay just INR 1 lakh as interest, whereas a 15% rate would make the interest INR 1.5 lakh.

ECB works on a similar concept, but with one major difference - instead of shopping which bank to choose while borrowing, you select which country to take a loan from. See, ECB basically means –

..

Money is flowing in FROM abroad INTO India.

..

Different countries have different borrowing rates. Developed countries like US usually have 1-2% rate, while emerging markets like India have a borrowing rate of 7%. So, let’s say you’re the CEO of Adani Airport Holdings Limited, managing 7 airports across India. You want to now scale up the airport business for which you need almost $200 million. Instead of going to Indian banks, you go to Standard Chartered and Barclays bank in London to avail that loan as interest rates are lower and this will help save $5 million in interest. Since you will be upgrading the 7 airports in phases, you agree to DRAWDOWN/ use only $50 million this year, and avail the rest of the amount later (in TRANCHES). In your negotiations with the bank, you also tell the banks you should have an option to PREPAY the loan, in case something like Covid happens again and all business halts and there are no fliers coming to airports – meaning no revenue to repay the interest/ loan.

Let’s take another example you might come across deals – ON LENDING. You’re the head of an NBFC in India servicing low income families by extending credit to such people. Usually, such families don’t have any credit score, so the big banks don’t extend loans to them, and they end up taking loans at interest rate of 40% or more from loan sharks (Remember the ban on Chinese fintech apps?). Since the NBFC is anyway working with such low income families, you can’t charge a high rate of interest, but you still need to make a profit. In such a case, you can avail a loan of $200 million from a foreign government owned financial institution which is also involved in increasing credit access amongst masses and which charges interest at 4% per annum. Once you have this $200 million loan, you can use this amount to give multiple INR 50,000 loans to low income families trying to start their business at an interest rate of 5%.

You with me till here? Good.

Now here is where things get interesting. Whenever there is flow of money across Indian borders – be it in the form of FDI or even loans, there’s one entity which keeps a hawk-eye on such transactions – that’s the RBI. RBI and its bunch of minions (aka AD Banks) have created a complicated bunch of laws so they control every aspect of money inflow/outflow. Think of them as the local aunty who’s constantly spying on you:

1. Oh you want to avail a loan? – Go first get a Loan Registration Number (LRN) from us

2. Oh you want to avail a loan from Barclays UK? – we want to know each and every detail – Submit a Form ECB and tell us - who’s the lender, what’s the interest rate, what’s the end use, what’s the repayment period, what charges + processing fees are you paying, what ECB have you availed in the past?

3. Oh you changed your mind and now you want to repay it earlier? – submit another Form ECB (revised)

4. What’s the all-in-cost ceiling? (That’s basically the interest rate, processing and all hidden charges)

5. Which country is the lender/ borrower based in? Does it comply with international financial compliances we have agreed upon (ex – FATF/ IOSCO compliant country)

6. Oh you have been dating this foreigner guy and now you want to get married? You better have dated him for atleast 3 years. Oh wait, did you say he is doctor and has an income of $ 50 million? 1 year of dating is also fine.

Well, the last one isn’t exactly what RBI asks, but that’s MAMP in a nutshell (MAMP: minimum average maturity period) – the minimum amount of time the ECB loan has to be within India. MAMP is usually 3 years for ECBs, but there are carveouts to this general rule – it can be different basis who is the lender/ borrower/ what purpose etc. (Time to pick up that RBI Master Direction and give it a read)

Also, what are the “End use restrictions”? – that’s RBI telling you – you better not take loans to gamble away on betting on the housing market, stock market or some random stock your friend has been telling you about (remember how enthusiastic your friend was about Bitcoin changing the world?)

ROLE AS A LAWYER

As a lawyer, you’re involved in the documentation – let’s say between the Barclays Bank and Adani Airport Holdings. As a lawyer for the Indian borrower, we have to usually review the loan/ facility agreement to ensure all these stringent requirements set down by RBI are met, all necessary forms such as Form ECB are filed, draft security documents if some security is being given in India and obviously ensure that all CP and CS certificates are in place so that our Indian client can avail the loan quickly. ECB transactions also offer you the opportunity to interact with foreign counsels working for the lenders, and speak with the bank officials of the AD Bank. Depending on what the security structure is, and how many lenders are involved, the transaction structure will change, but this is the basics.

.

Note: I have used loans to explain ECBs, but it can also involve bonds and other financial instruments.

.

That’s ECBs – oversimplified for you. I obviously haven’t (and couldn’t) cover the entire framework. Also, you might have noticed we only covered ECBs, not the ‘Trade Credits and Structured Obligations’ bit of the RBI Master Direction. But I hope this post has given you some amount of clarity about what you’re working on and where your role as a lawyer fits in.

If you want more posts like this, comment “Paisa Paisa” in the comment box, and I will be back with more interesting posts.

.

.

Your Dalal Street attorney,

XOXO

_________________________________________________

.

Kya baat hai kya chiz hai paisa

Kya baat hai kya chiz hai paisa
Ek baat mujhe batala de tu

Uss rab se kyun nahi darti hai

.

Have a hobby outside work which you are good at. This will ensure your confidence isn’t built on the work/ profession you do. Your self worth will be derived from more than just your day job. Humans crave feedback and appreciation so it doesn’t have to come only from you day job.

Also, speak to close friends about this. They may be going through the same issue and will be better abe to sympathise with you. Lawyers need a strong support system which can help them bounce back.

If it’s getting too bad, tolerate it till you have decent level of experience that you can switch to another place.

Cheers

Just came across this recent piece by Adv. Adit Pujari on the same subject. Its a nice read and I hope his recommendations are given effect to!

Check it out - https://www.barandbench.com/columns/preventing-brain-drain-in-the-litigation-sphere-how-do-we-make-things-easier-for-young-lawyers

HSF India group partners have been going around some of the top NLUs and JGLS advocating their new India internship programme which is apparently open to “all law students in India”. Is this programme any different from the traditional vacation scheme that they offer? Will they now truly be taking people from non NLUs? Will the procedure be any different from that of vacation schemes? Kindly elaborate

Thanks to @KianGanz sir. This was much needed.

Thanks also to new mods for devoting time and making an effort to sustain this website for free exchange of information and inside secrets of the industry.

@AshReh@TheLord@Waqeel@Tier-1NLU@TroubledLawyer

Let me share my personal experience:

I started off my career with 11k at a cosmopolitan city and the money I was paid meant I did not have the financial capacity to take a bike on an EMI.

Fortunately, my brother agreed to give his Honda Activa to me and with that, I managed my daily commute.

I spent three months at my first office with a senior who expected me stay in the office from 9.30am to 8.30pm on the weekdays and upto anywhere between 3-4pm on weekends.

I quit in my fourth month and joined a law firm as I came from a law school. I was initially paid a paltry sum but within 2 years, I managed to find a job with a very good salary.

Litigation offices can have bossy people all around who give a damn to your personal and emotional well being.

The senior I worked with was a gentleman who worked more than I did and really took care of me like his younger brother. However, it was not me in time to spend the whole day in the office and yet think thrice to go attend a family's event at 8.30 pm, for that required me to walk upto the senior and ask for a permission to leave the office before he did. Leaving office before your senior does is frowned upon, but that is an established practice and here to stay.

If you intend to continue litigating, you need to forego quite a bit on the personal front in the first six to eight years of your practice.

All the best !

If you can elaborate a bit about what you do like or don't like (such as writing, debating, speaking in public etc.), as well as any other strengths and weaknesses that you have, then it may be easier for people who are willing to help to do so. If it is a 3-Year LLB that you wish to do from Bengal, then try to do from Burdwan University or North Bengal University, instead of any local law college. While these are not great places, they have been offering the programme for long and do have some good alumni and faculty whom you can seek career advice from. If you can spare the fund to go outside Bengal, then DU is obviously the best possible choice. While studying, you can generally focus on examination-based career options, like judiciary examination or even the state/central civil services. Use your vacations to intern at smaller firms, who may be more amenable to accepting 3-Year law students as interns. You can also try to write the CLAT PG examination at the end of 3-Years, since some of the PSUs still shortlist for interviews based on that. Given that you have an UG degree in English, you can try your hands with content-writing during these 3-years to make some extra money. Hope this helps. I know a few people who have been in positions similar to you and the hardworking ones who could maintain focus have turned out to be quite successful by now. So, best of luck and chin up!

Requesting all my learned friends to come forward and share instances of insecure behaviour they have faced from partners. The idea is not to name and shame, but to serve as a ready guide for us gullible associates who operare with little to no information until it is too late. The other reason i want to start this converstion is to get sense of how common such behaviour is.

Please only share incident - not names as it will get moderated and defeat the purpose of this thread.

I was motivated to write this post, as I saw my immediate senior get passed over this year for promotion despite him being really good at what he does. My partner was really nice to him until he was a Counsel (he started his career with her) and then she started doing shady things like: (a) she wouldnt let him post legal updates etc on Linkedin or write articles/blogs without her being a co-author; (b) actively stopped him from getting staffed on matters with other partners or close supervision of managing partner; (c) she publicly berated him for not doing BD, but on the other hand would not give him any internal BD opportunities, claim prior relationship with anyone he proposed meeting, refused matters he sourced citing low fees and yet accepted similar matters at lower rates.

We are in a niche practice so its not like leaving for elsewhere is an immediate choice. Now I fear that same will happen to me - is my fear valid? Was this just an equation thing between her and my senior. Surely i wont be treated the way?

Hi! I am a fellow grad from a far flung university who made it into a corporate law firm. Switching careers is hard in the corporate world. If you are litigating, a close enough transition would probably be into law firms with a lit team (within the specific niche you are practicing in).

That being said, law in general pays poor. There are very few firms that pay decently and even then, the work life is massively screwed for anyone to establish even some semblance of a balance.

worked in GC for a year. As a new associate, lot of the work is conducting DD, verification of claims made by entities by scouring through VDRs and summarizing your findings. Work was repetitive for me in the first 2 months, since all your work has to be checked by your senior to ensure that they correct the mistakes you will inevitably make, so they tend to give you work that is easier to correct for someone with experience. The documentation is often voluminous, and confusing because there will be a lot of forms, reports, resolutions etc. that look similar but will have a minute difference which is what you're looking to point out, so reading that will take time and effort, at least initially.

Is it interesting? For me, yes and no. Yes because everything I did was new and something to learn, but the work itself isn't inherently interesting. When it starts to get diversified such as assisting on drafting SHA / SSA, research for issuance of legal opinion etc, it gets better.

I left the law firm to join a family member's practice but I wouldn't mind continuing in the firm tbh.

Buddy I am so sorry. I didn’t notice that you only wanted to go to law after ‘Woking for 2-3 years in the banking sector’. In that case , opt for exams like NLSAT. You can keep options of DU 3 year LLB as well/MHCET 3 year LLB.

Speaking about the prospects - I will say it’s not bad. You will be eligible for the SEBI Grade A legal manager exam. It will quench your thirst of banking sector a lot. You apply to several independent banking law firms as well. Start out with boutique firms. The legal insight will surely be an advantage in your CV and ofc for your competitive career as well. It will help you in your workplace as well! All the best!

They are not mad, you are just uninformed. A basic research will tell you, if dogs are removed from an area, the area will be repopulated with other dogs.

The solution to relocate them is embarrassingly ineffective and unoriginal and moreover, illegal. The dogs are aggressive because they are either in heat or hungry and regularly feeding them, neutering them and vaccinating them is the only viable long term solution and this responsibility falls upon the administration of a college not on animal rights activists.

The people wanting to get them relocated are just trying to illegally remove dogs and resort to a rather ineffective strategy. All the best to that.

Hi,

In this thread I will pour out my thoughts (opinions) and experience (facts) of legal profession in General.

I am a 2020 grad from Tier -4/5 law school from a far flung no name Law school in a state. After my graduation, I immediately joined litigation. Needless to say, since our college was not so big, our only focus was Bank PO, SSC and other govt competitive exams. Me and my batch mates had no other plans. I tried a few exams then rested my pen. I joined litigation in 2021 under a senior lawyer in District court.

To my shock, juniors were not paid anything ANYWHERE in India regardless the forum, the senior advocates income and size of chamber. I continued to litigate as I had no other option. Meanwhile I came across few people from better Universities and they told me about Corporate Law Firms and how since I dont have any internships and because I am not from an NLU so I dont stand a chance at getting into them. Made me sad. I still message and reply to people working in law firm in hope of getting some guidance and break. But, I have dropped the hope.

Another issue with legal profession as also highlighted by CJI Sir recently is crazy work hours, be it inhouse, law firm or in litigation , litigation is the most toxic profession with crazy work hours. It really messes up family life. It sucks the soul out of your body and you really start to question your value as an individual and your reason to live. In other words, you hit existential crisis which often leads to undiagnosed high functioning depression.

Due to crazy work hours,

https://www.barandbench.com/news/central-government-supports-pil-delhi-high-court-hold-clat-regional-languages

So the cast is set now.

You have an amusing argument. You think good faculty arrive on Earth from another planet - that's how all great institutions developed. On one hand, we live in a society (of UG students) that ridicules PG (LLM) and Ph.D. students, but on the other hand, everyone wants good faculty. Be the change you want you want to see, then talk.

It costs you nothing to give a hungry dog a Parle G biscuit and a drink of water. Yet you people would prefer that they starve. Then you complain when they get agitated.

Gandhi had said that you can judge the greatness of a civilisation by the way it treats its animals. Sorry to say, but by this metric NLUJ students (and other NLU dog-hating students) are brutes.

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/233274-confused-lost-hopeless-14-months-after-graduation-from-mid-tier-nlu-still-no-job

This thread can assist you and solve some of your queries.

Your answer still doesn’t provide any substantial evidence to support your conclusion of CAM’s retainer fee being the ‘lowest in the industry’.

We are happy to remove the ‘contested’ tag once we receive concrete information (this may be in any form possible be it authentic links or reports) from your side which can corroborate the conclusion.

Oi, be nice to the mods! Also, urdumb :) @(Tier-1 NLU) is literally correct: the original claim is hyperbolic, unless the industry only consists of 6 or 7 firms, there are approximately 572 Indian law firms that pay less than CAM (and probably one or two in the Big 7 also still pay less than CAM, depending on how you slice bonuses, fixed, etc?).

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/191877-trilegal-gurgaon

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/229164-trilegal-gurgaon-ma

Some threads where you can reach out to more associates!

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/264734-from-2-years-capital-markets-to-disputes-switching-possible

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/243303-working-in-capital-markets-why-are-people-so-afraid-of-it

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/188294-capmark-vs-ibc-vs-ma-the-better-practice-area

The aforementioned threads can help you a bit!

Hi A0s who’ve been pushed into the B&F teams and are feeling lost. Welcome to this new phase in life.

Sometime back I was also an A0 working in the B&F practice and I was clueless.

I think there was huge gap in my learning because we were not taught this subject in college + B&F as a practice area is very technical + we didn’t having knowledge of financial valuations/ finance side of it + big law firms don’t give you time to absorb and learn - high volume of documents and too many deals happening)

Anyway, here’s me trying to give back to the community by making the transition easier for fresh graduates to your law firm job. We will start with an overview.

OVERVIEW:

So first question - What the hell is banking finance?

Banking & Finance - especially on the Corp side - mostly deals with debentures and loan agreements + security docs. There’s also bit of insolvency, and then some other complicated securitisation and financings. We’ll come to that later.

For now just remember these 3 terms - the bread and butter of most law firms:

NCDs, ECB, ODI financing

Alright, now let’s break it down further. Let’s focus on the basics - 1. Loans & 2. Debentures

Loans

You must have heard of a car loan.

A person goes to the bank. Takes a loan to buy a car. He gives some collateral/ security to the bank in case he defaults in paying back the loan - the collateral can be the car, or some gold deposits in his bank etc.

In law firms, we don’t deal with this. We deal with bigger matters but it’s the same concept. So let’s say a big company like Tata Motors goes to a bank/ NBFC to take a 100 cr loan because it wants to buy the company Jaguar.

Okay, so where do law firms come in? In our earlier example, for the car loan - usually these loan documents are standard documents and the person taking the loan has to just sign the bank document. But let’s say Tata Motors is taking a 100 cr loan. It won’t just sign a standard contract. It will want a tailor-made document for itself so it can save on interest payment/ tax/ have longer repayment period etc. This is where Law firms come in. We draft the loan agreement and the security document basis the commercials agreed between Tata Motors and the bank. We also try to negotiate with the bank so we can get favourable terms for our client.

Wait, what’s a security document? Do you mean like a gold deposit? Well no. This is where your college education might help a bit. Remember learning about the difference between pledge, hypothecation, mortgage in college? Now you get to see these documents in their full fledged glory.

Security documents generally include:

1. Pledge agreements - shares of the borrower/ subsidiary may be pledged as collateral. Let’s say Tata Motors bought some shares in the company Tata Neu. They might pledge those shares of Tata Neu to get a loan from SBI.
2. Hypothecation - Tata Motors has some inventory of cars in its factory/outlet and some regular cash flow from selling these cars. Charge is created on these cars or cash flow in favour of the bank.
3. Mortgage documents - Let’s say Tata Motors just bought a 100 acre land to maybe construct a factory. They hand over the title docs of this property to the bank as collateral (hmm.. which out of the 5 types of mortgage is this?)

There are also other documents often used - non disposal undertakings (aka - don’t you dare sell those shares); trustee agreements (aka - let the trustee handle it, we lenders don’t have so much time); inter creditor agreements (aka - fight club of lenders); escrow agreement (aka - I don’t trust you with the money, so I’m gonna put it with a third party bank account) etc. Anyway, let’s not lose our head over these, backs to basics -

Now depending on the reason the loan is being availed (end use of the loan), your transaction maybe classified as - project finance, acquisition finance, real estate financing. Wait what’s that?

Acquisition finance -

End use: want to acquire another entity

Ex: Flipkart wants to buy Myntra but doesn’t have the money. So it goes to SBI to get 200 cr loan to buy Myntra. Flipkart knows it can repay the loan over 20 years using profits generated from Myntra.

Real estate finance:

End use: build real estate projects / housing

Sobha group wants to build 10 high end condominiums in Whitefield with each unit having a private garden and pool. Say the cost of this is 5cr each unit * 10 units = Project cost 50 cr

So they borrow 60 cr from the ICICI bank, to fund this project. They know that all the millionaires in Whitefield will easily pay 9cr for their properties located in such a prestigious location.

But wait, why borrow 60cr and not 50 cr? Cos it will take them 5-6 years to build the project and during that time, they will also have to pay interest on the loan taken (no income for 5 years as the house isn’t built yet). So although they need 50 cr, they will also need buffer for interest payments.

After 5 years, let’s say all 10 units are sold out for 9cr after launch. So they will have a neat revenue of 9cr * 10 units = 90 cr.

They pay back the bank probably 60 cr and 6 cr interest over a 5 year period, and pocket the rest 90-66 cr = 34 cr as profit.

Project finance:

End use: build projects for which cash flows will only come after extended periods of time.

Example: Constructing the Bandra Worli Sealink. It takes more time than to build residential houses, also you can’t upfront sell the bridge like a house and recover the cost in this case.

Project financing is actually quite interesting and easier to understand when you understand the finance side also.

Disclaimer for A0s - I have over simplified this a bit for your understanding. While all this sounds interesting, you’re job initially will be grunt work - proof reading documents, fixing the cross references, maintaining CP checklists, losing your head in tracking emails, taking notes on calls etc. Life will get chaotic at times.

Don’t lose hope. Try to learn quickly so seniors can trust you with meatier work. Things should get better.

If you want a part 2, where I discuss ECBs (oversimplified), do comment a “Part 2” in the comments so that more people can see this post, and I’ll be back with more interesting posts.

Your Dalal Street attorney

XOXO