I know I am not the kind of person whose opinion you really want. I am a T1 A0 from the '23 Batch and much like you, last year, I was pretty excited to join a T1. 2 months into the job, I wish I knew the whole picture. Even while interning at the firm, I had worked 12 hours on most days, but I could manage it. Now, when I haven't had a single free weekend in 2 months, where I easily spend 14 to 15 hours EVERY DAY in office, I wish I knew how worse the situation could get. I am not at all ranting my life at a T1. Mind you, my partner is one of the best person out there, and my team is also pretty good. But the work, the deadlines, the pressure, its unbearable sometimes. A few days I literally had tears in my eyes, because of the pressure and because, even at home, I just could not find time to have a meaningful conversation with my parents or take them out for dinner after my first salary.

I don't want to scare you. Despite the overhwleming pressure, I love what I do. My only advice is, don't have any expectations. Dont expect that you will get 7 hours sleep, dont expect that you will have atleast some weekends free. My point is, expect the worst, and maybe things will be easier. And yes, you have a year in your hand. Relax and enjoy. Because the next few years are going to be very tiring.

Enjoy your free time and all the best :)

You may want yo visit the website of Vaish Associates Advocates. They publish a beautiful book by the name of India Business Guide. There is a chapter on FEMA. Those 90 pages are drafted meticulously and curated by Senior Partners. You can start that as a reference point.

Besides that you should read FDI Policy in DPIIT website, then read the DI Regulations RBI. and then a cursory reading of FEMA ACT.

You are PRO then

- Saraf and Luthra have pretty good banking teams in Delhi

- Trilegal has no Banking partners

- SAM has a bit of work but it's mostly insolvency litigation

- Khaitan has one senior partner so that might be worth looking into

- No clue about AZB

- JSA Gurgaon has a banking team

- Phoenix Legal and SNG do good work

- TTA has recently become a major contender after the Gautam Saha episode

While referring to it as "Media & Entertainment Law" may not be entirely accurate as a designated practice area, in practice, it predominantly encompasses Transactional Law, involving aspects such as Intellectual Property Rights, Contracts, Media Finance, Technology, Taxation, Family Law (Succession & Divorce), among others, as well as Dispute Resolution Law, which entails litigation for matters such as Infringement, Royalties, Sexual Harassment, and Breach of Contract.

However, the essence and allure of the concept of Media & Entertainment Law do not solely stem from the legal frameworks or regulations, as you have suggested. Rather, its appeal and significance derive from the dynamic Media & Entertainment industry itself, which serves as the primary realm of operation for clients in this field. While mastering the specific legal skills and specialized practice areas aforementioned is attainable by many, the distinctive factor lies in the talent, intuition, and networking acumen required to excel within this industry. Unlike many other clients, those engaged in Media & Entertainment Law consistently find themselves in the public eye. The imperative to safeguard their reputation, swiftly address challenges that could impede the release of cinematic, musical, or interactive projects, and effectively manage public-facing concerns sets this field apart. Also, dealing with creatives & producers as clients needs a whole different skill set than dealing with bankers, CEOs, etc.

While the domain might not inherently possess an enthralling legal complexity, the clients it serves undeniably offer a captivating dimension. It may be tangential, but the tangible outcomes of one's work hold significance. Being able to associate one's legal contributions with a film, song, or notable figure, and witnessing one's name acknowledged in the credits as a legal consultant, is undoubtedly gratifying. This sentiment contrasts with engagements in high-profile corporate banking and enterprises, where monetary remuneration is substantial but job satisfaction is lacking, and tangible results are scarce. While intricate transactions, mergers, and similar activities may be esoteric to the general public (and some of these big law firm names just sound like family-owned textile shops to laymen), the names of renowned individuals and media entities resonate on a more accessible level due to their ubiquitous presence in daily consumption.

Also, India’s Media & Entertainment industry is expected to reach $ 35.4 Bn by 2025. The need for good lawyers, in a field that was formerly running in a trust-based word-of-mouth contract manner only till now, and is only exploring the exponential growth to come, is important in my opinion.

PS: Additionally, it's worth considering that pursuing a direct entry into the Media and Entertainment sector, as you mentioned, could pose challenges in terms of establishing connections. However, commencing your journey within the legal realm of this industry might offer a strategic approach. This initial step would enable you to cultivate valuable contacts and potentially position yourself to transition to the creative aspects later on. Producers and decision-makers might be more inclined to give credence to a well-founded request for an opportunity when it comes from a qualified legal professional who has collaborated with them, as opposed to an aspiring creative seeking a significant "break" without a track record. Just a thought :)

What just now happened at luthra ? They have a new managing partner, bro, out of the blue. Firm amalgamated with Harry. Arch rival of mohit saraf. Life comes full circle for Harry.

Old pillars of luthra Vikas Srivastava senior partner tax and samir dudhoria senior partner Mergers and acquisitions, Have quit. Never got reported anywhere.

What happened to litigation between mohit and luthra?

Litigation between Bobby, sudhir, luthra and mohit?

Litigation between vijay sondhis family and luthra/bobby/sudhir ?

Will Harry fit the MP profile? Can he replace luthra ? Will other partner accept him as their leader and boss.

We want to know.

A shot in the arm? Atlas Law merges w Luthra.

Atlas Law Partners, a boutique but full service law firm, based out of Delhi and Gurugram, has merged into Luthra and Luthra. This has led to the infusion of 33 lawyers into the Luthra fold - including 7 partners.

Moreover, Harry Chawla (a pupillage of Rajiv Luthra), the founder of the ALP, has been made a Managing Partner at Luthra.

Will this merger help Luthra and Luthra which has been ailing for the past couple of years with Saraf's exit and Rajiv's demise? Is the appointment of the new MD, a sign of good things to come in the managing committee of the firm?

What are your opinions about this news?

Ref: https://www.barandbench.com/news/harminder-chawla-assumes-the-role-of-managing-partner-at-luthra-and-luthra-law-offices-india

Take a look:

https://www.barandbench.com/news/harminder-chawla-assumes-the-role-of-managing-partner-at-luthra-and-luthra-law-offices-india

For Atlas to get its 27 lawyer firm to join L&L is no small task. The democratization has started again after burning fingers with Mohit Saraf.

First start with a problem. Create one in your own mind or ask people in the banking and financial or asset management sector.

You can start with asking basic questions such as.

Can I have an account in a German bank, while being a resident of India, for transferring my domestic income to the German bank? What are the compliances I need to follow?

How can I purchase a property in Nigeria using funds in my bank account in India?

Now just extrapolate the above questions over to a business context.

What are the compliances local PE must follow for transferring income generated in India to their parent company's bank account in Germany?
What are the compliances to be followed for an Indian company for transferring funds to a Nigerian bank account for spending towards buying land in Nigeria for constructing a factory.

Hi there, everyone who has spent enough time on LI has seen content about how hard life can be for A0s at T1. As I understand it, there is a steep learning curve, long hours, and an absence of good communication between the seniors and juniors. The responses to these complaints vary from "quit and find something else" to "stop being entitled and do the hard work"

This question is addressed to SAs, PAs and Partners; what advice would you give to A0s looking to do their best and stick it out at T1s?

I'm from the 2024 batch and I'm genuinely excited to join a T1, albeit slightly nervous because of all the rants I see on LI. I understand that grit is key to succeeding in law firms, and also that this is not for everyone and I respect that, but I'd like to stay on and not burn out in a year (although some people make this sound like an eventuality).

Are the claims about the work life balance and general toxicity of T1s exaggerated? I know that this depends on the firm and the team, but how is it that people across firms and practice areas make this claim?

I'm willing to work hard and keen to prove myself, but I don't want to do this at the cost of my health or sanity. I'd like to get 7 hours of sleep most nights (the occasional exception is completely understandable) and work with nice people.

I understand and acknowledge that A0s know nothing compared to the SAs and Partners who have decades of experience, and that the hierarchy that people sometimes complain about is completely justified (as long as the partners are still kind and have not completely forgotten what it's like to be a junior).

I have a lot of time on my hands this year. What can I do to make the process a little easier for myself next year? Are there skills that I can work on improving now? A few seniors told me to chill all year because I'll never get this kind of time back, seems valid too. Thoughts on this?

What are some things you wish you could say to A0s or your juniors to help them with their performance but you can't because it would be misconstrued?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Really hoping to hear some responses from senior associates and partners

- An optimistic incoming A0 at a T1

Having seen various advocates make it as a law student, I will tell you that law firm litigation is nothing and adds nothing to court advocacy. You must start as a novice or beginner in the profession under a senior for several years before you get your own clients. Asking for referrals does not help unless you have very strong relationships with such advocates, or they will refer you all the wrong (stingy or no pay, uncooperative, corrupt, abusive, cunning, double gamer) clients.

CAUTION:- Please DO NOT publish at places where it is "easy" to do so by paying a small sum. They are total scams like the one mentioned below.

Publications add value to research and scholarship, and portray your ability to research and your interest apart from your writing skills. These emanate from the editorial selections by the boards, which are medium to tough depending on the blog/ journal. An EASY blog adds NO VALUE to you nor to scholarship.

Rather than just writing blogs for the sake of it, actually work on it with hardwork. Journals by NLUs apart from NLSIU have moderate standards of selection on various subject.

A blog should take you 3-4 weeks of consistent work for it to add any value. 3 days to arrive at a specific topic. 2 days to strategise the structure and introduction. 1 week only for research and the rest for content and checks. Increase this by a week per stage for journals.

Regards,

::_

Law firm Litigation Associate with PQE 5 based in Mumbai. Have been trying to find ways to strike out into independent practice in the last couple of years. However for a first generation Advocate and from a service family (absolutely no business people among relatives and friends) getting direct clients has proven difficult.

I have wondered whether instead approaching other independent Advocates (with a client base) for referred drafting and appearance work is a better option to get started and getting seen in court ? There are many Advocates who have a lot of clients, but their team size is small (or they don't have any juniors at all) and they can't attend to all their commitments simultaneously.

Can I offer to do drafting (and low stakes appearances) for them for a nominal fee ? I have already gotten some work like this. But is this scaleable and should I resign from my job to pursue this full time ?

Please note that all the referred work that I got - I had to actively solicit work from these Advocates - in the sense of forcing an introduction and handing out a card. Is that something very negative about an independent practitioner's career ?

Is it possible to be eventually earn enough to match my current law firm salary (around 6 LPA) through such independent referred work ?

How do I hedge against disruptions like long covid lockdowns etc ?

Independent litigators on this site (preferably Mumbai based), just want to pick your brains on this ?

It's not disputes if it's not you going to court. No firm allows it completely.

Reason?

Clients prefer experienced counsels to appear for them not someone who got placed due to their rank and sits behind a laptop. These people can do the drafting and "strategy".

If your want the real litigation experience, just forget everything and sit in a district court for months and observe how CPC/ CRPC are only written on paper. Neither the counsel, nor the judges care.

Dear Law Student,

I hope you are doing well. I, too, am a law student who has strategised internships in a specific niche practice area. In this short analysis, I will not be referring to that practice (CM) but firms in general.

The Big 7 criteria is a slightly inaccurate list of largest firms in India. This is because, firms are divided into practice areas, which are practiced by Partners (Rainmakers), or those who bring in maximal and ever growing revenue to the firm for it to subsist. A Rainmaker is the star in the specific practice area and will remain so even if they shift to another firm, because clients are driven by the legal advisor Partner rather that the name of the firm. For example, ML moving from L&L to Indus.

The "Big 7" or "indian Biglaw" takes into account- maximum practice areas that consist of rainmakers and well recognised by clients which results in- highest salaried pay (not PEP (Profits per Equity Partner) necessarily), larger teams by numbers. Therefore, just being in a tier 1 firm does not mean all its practice areas are.

Boutique firms on the other hand have 1 focused practice area among others which may far be recognised that even tier 1 firms. This does not translate to higher salaried pay, but equal or more PEP, because of the higher revenue generation but lesser salary due to the firm themselves being small.(Exception- ICUL, Andheri Office- Funds, S&R, TT&A {undoubtedly, the exceptions are the highest paying firms in India due to the smaller teams but competitive revenue generation if not more})

In this regard, maybe this is true to an extent (horizontally, in no particular order)-

___________________________________________

Tier 1 (Growing till recession)- AZB, SAM, CAM (no-one knows why), Khaitan, Trilegal, IndusLaw, JSA

Tier 1 Boutiques- S&R (CM), ICUL (Funds, Andheri Office, Mumbai), TT&A (Banking, DCM)

_____________________________________________

Tier 2 (Growing)- Bharucha, DSK Legal, ELP, Argus.

Tier 2 (Declining to Tier 3)- L&L, Saraf.

Tier 2 Boutiques- Anand & Anand (IP), LKS (Tax- Direct, Indirect, Customs), Offices of Senior Advocates (Disputes {Highest PEP in the world})

Regards,

::_

Yes, the state government matters. Jadavpur U was slated to be converted into an IIT, but the WB govt did "let go" of the University, hence the idea had to be shelved. If the state does not agree, it does not happen.

Here's the 2005 news report.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/iit-status-in-sight-for-two-bengal-varsities/articleshow/1088445.cms

Hi buddy. I did the same thing. I graduated in 2019 from Delhi University then sat for 2-3 mains of judicial service and after failing in all of them eventually joined in house. I worked in house in reliance for a year then switched to boutique law firm. You can also make a switch but let me tell you law firm lawyers have a prejudice towards in house since they are accustomed to work 9-5(in house). So if you don't get direct entry in tier-1, then join tier-2 and gradually scale up the ladder. Work is good but timings are demanding. You will learn in both positions. In law firm you will learn faster as you will put more hours. Jo jitna time dega vo utna seekhega. Good luck.

I am currently with the Disputes Team in a T-1. While the work and all is okay only, I have serious issues with the time at which my team starts and ends work. Our partner typically starts his day and comes to office at 1-2 and sits till 11-12 in the night. By default we are also expected to sit till 9 atleast.

Whereas, I like my day to start early so that post lunch or around 4-5 on wards I can start getting the extra reading in (like files, judgements, news etc). Essentially that atleast the clerical work and drafting and reviewing internally can be done by 3-4 so that post that one leaves for home and concentrates on the reading bit. I am usually in office by 9 to get a head start but no one in the team shows up before 12.

This has an impact on health because you are getting no movement and exercise or even decent meal timings in. No one in this team is decently fit let alone fit. Sleep schedule is effed as well.

If you all know, can you reccomend teams that usually start early and atleast get the office work done by 4-5( even 6) and post that urgent matters, last minute emails etc etc show up. Will be a huge help! Thanks in advance!

How to change a colonial legislation to Indian?

A: Change the name of the Act to Hindi.

Amit Shah should be the brand ambassador of Quillbot. He has just changed the section number and names of offences and the acts!

On a side note: I hope they really change the names to English. This is hindi imposition at its peak. Someone, who isn't fluent in hindi won't be able to understand which one is IPC, CrPc or evidence!

Totally relatable. I too didn't do decent Internships during my first four years. I was even regretting it for a moment. But now that I read your post and I realise why I didn't. The fomo of the placement season made me forget my reasons lol .

Also stop over apologizing. That too on an anonymous platform. All for nothing. I wouldn't be wrong in assuming you are a girl, because they generally tend to do it more. That is sooo not going to help you in this profession or in life. People will undermine your whole thinking and push their thoughts on you.

Okay let me let this secret out. Some of the most chilled out people are those that do LLM, cake walk through UGC NET and chill out as professors in Tier 2, Tier 3 NLUs. Absolute freshers. Zero industry experience. You can be one of them. And they get paid HANDSOME for nothing. Like zero efforts in taking classes, zero knowledge of subjects.

CS, a supposedly inferior profession, in the legal world, can be an option. Pursue it. Get employed somewhere. Or best would be independent practice. Only certain times of the year will be hectic. But pursuing it is in itself a slavery for the law brains. Not easy.

In house is relatively chill. But to get there you'll have to do this slaving given the competition. At least 10 years workex some places ask.

Judiciary works too. Becoming a law officer in any of those PSUs is good too. But again both are gambles big time. But four years of prep should make making it far more highly probable.

Apart from.tne professor option, all other options require you to inevitably work hard for at least a couple of years to make it the rest of your life easier.

Talking from perspective of 7PQE in a Tier 1/2/3 Law firms.

1. General Corporate - Shift anytime to anywhere. That too with high salaries. The whole world is open.
2. Tax - No need to say. FMCG, Manufacturing companies would take you. Reasonable pay.
3. Labour and Employment - you could lateral, but with a large pay cut. Some very large companies would need you. But the pay wouldn't match firms.

4. Litigation - but you won't do any real work in house. You would be just passive strategist and case manager.

Not so much opportunities, but could still make it -

5. Financial Regulatory (not cap marks) - Brokers, Fund Houses would like to keep you.

6. Banking & Finance, Projects- could lateral.

Future?

6. IP/TMT - people in these practice areas would find more in house opportunities once Data Protection Law is passed.

Worst for any in House lateraling (almost impossible to go in house)

7. Competition/Anti Trust - difficult to be hired in house. Unless in some exceptions like one lawyer for a super large conglomerate. Nobody really wants you.

8. Funds - difficult to make a move.

When you join law firms, you’re just a small cog in a big wheel. So your work will mostly be dry and boring.

What may make it interesting are the people you work with, or some actual legal discussion about some grey area with your team members - which may not even go into the legal document or opinion you are preparing.

Also, here’s a better strategy - instead of trying to find ‘interesting’ practice areas, go to office, finish your work, come home and pursue a hobby which you genuinely like. Nothing beats the creativity and passion you have for something you are already interested in.

All the best!

I believe that after Rajiv’s passing, the firm is being managed by an EC (which was constituted by Rajiv) - https://luthra.com/executive-committee/

Dealt with quite a few of the EC Member at L&L and outside – Karan, Piyush, Avirup, Nishant and they are solid partners. Not sure if the EC members are equity partners.

Advait has to hold the Rajiv’s equity, as he is the only lawyer in the family – I don’t think he is running the firm.

From what I hear, there is a process on for coming up with a revamped governance and equity structure.

I think it is good for the firm – they are moving from one rainmaker, to multiple revenue generating partners.

Here are some (hopefully) helpful suggestions. Thee have worked for me up to a point. To be entirely honest, the most weight I've lost was in the first year of Covid when I wasn't eating outside and was doing a lot of the housework because no maids etc. :-D

1. If you can, speak to a nutritionist to see how you can alter your diet to lose some weight. A keto diet, if done properly and under supervision, actually does help with weight loss, but don't think you'll suddenly drop 5 kg in a couple of weeks. It takes some months and has the potential to cause health issues in some people (my wife and I tried Keto for 6 months some years ago. We lost weight but also ended up with severe dehydration);

2. Try and stop eating junk food altogether save, perhaps, on weekends as cheat days. When I started my first law firm job ~ 20 years ago, the only choice for a meal when you working late nights (and there were MANY of those) was junk food and I'm still trying to get rid of all that fat. Thanks to Zomato/Swiggy there's hundreds of healthier choices these days.

3. Reduce carbs and increase proteins (for e.g., cut back on sugar, potatoes and maida and increase meat intake or greens (if you're a vegan/vegetarian). However, if you are reducing carbs, make sure you're hydrating sufficiently (water, not coke/juice/tea/coffee);

4. Eat a big breakfast, a medium size lunch and a small dinner. If possible, eat dinner before 7 pm and then eat nothing till breakfast the next day.

5. Avoid random snacking. If you can't avoid snacking (no shame in that - I'm one of those people), then reduce your main meal intakes and switch to nuts, black gram, sprouts, makhanas for snacks.

6. Keep up the swimming / other regular exercise. Even if it doesn't help you lose weight, it will keep you fit and limber.

Dear Kian,

Please don't crash this website 🙏

I am an old timer, I come here just to know what my juniors talk. I still remember Legally India in 2011, before making Partner at a law firm commenting and laughing out loud.

We could launch a project to preserve this website.

@Moderator - Please show threads like this to Kian.

The title "Harvard of the East" has always been used within NLS in complete irony. I know nearly one thousand alumni, and not one of them takes that term seriously, or treats it as anything other than a giant joke.

As anyone with a passing interest in Greek drama would tell you, the Greeks used the concepts of the "Alazon" (the vain braggart) and the "Eiron" (the underwhelming counter to the Alazon) to simulate a direct dialogue between the characters and the audience.

Dialogue that is "of Eiron", or "ironic", is meant to talk to two audiences at once, but both within the same person. The first hears the dialogue, but does not understand what it means. The second, on hearing it, is aware of the first audience's lack of awareness, and is also aware of the underlying layers to that dialogue. Irony is a little like quantum superimposition- if an object can be in two places at once in quantum physics, then irony assumes that two memetic units are conveyed, even though only a single meme is immediately apparent.

Sadly, it seems that only one audience exists within you.

Don’t drop out. Take my word for it. You wanna give clat? Give it by all means. Trust me clat has gotten more competitive in recent years and undoubtedly you will face trouble if you don’t have any options at hand. I was at the same situation and thought of dropping out fully for clat. But I stayed there and got a decent rank from a tier-2 nlu itself. I am at Nalsar now. Never regretted my decision for a second. Because in exam at the back of my mind , I had this feeling that even if I don’t crack it I still have a bird at hand. Now how to handle?

1. Donate 4 hours to acad

2. Donate 3.5 hours to clat

A frnd of mine this year cracked ailet from a tier-3 nlu , he mentioned that by morning he got over with the acad stuff and by evening he pretty much focused on clat. All the best!

Since I'm a lawyer, i use a lawyer specific skin care routine.

For the AM - I use a face wash made of Municipal laws. Then i apply the constitution serum on my face so that it retains a facade of integrity. I top it off with a Companies Act sunscreen.

For the PM - i use a deep cleaning facewash made of arbitrary laws. Then I apply the UAPA serum and moisturize with Ordinances and delegated legistlation.

Every Sunday i do a deep chemical peel with amendments.

Ciao. <3

Moisturize. Marula oil is odour free, light and hydrating. You can use coconut oil at night.

Use an exfoliating face wash or scrub regularly. Sunscreen to protect from aging. It'll bite you later if you skip it. Shampoo and conditioner should depend on hair type. Avoid sulphates and other chemicals that will do long term damage. Hair also needs hydration so make sure that's happening. Bas. Rest is about exercise and diet. You don't have to discuss it with the world. Lots of guys will laugh at you. Let them damage their faces.

I understand that these are not the glory days of Legally India purely based on the comments that I see from time to time. Myself, I came across this platform around a year back and I am so grateful to have come across such a wonderful community of lawyers where people help each other out and even give reality checks from time to time.

Thought getting placed was hard, but here I am, with a job offer (wfh) for an M&A PE VC role- A0, with a decent work life balance!

Cheers to everyone out here! And for all those who are losing faith, things do get better!

Thanks LI!

Aah, I wish I could say what I am about to write -- to my own younger self, and thank you for giving me that vicarious opportunity.

You see, after having lost my love -- to which I was strongly attached, I grew disillusioned. I also saw other friends who lost their love getting disillusioned themselves. One of them became self-destructive and indulged in self-harming behaviour. Another one I know just lost it and again indulged in self-harming behaviour. I myself became lethargic and lazy and lack all motivation. I tried to psychologically harm those around me, primarily my parents and my sister. They bore with me patiently. I deliberately delayed my marriage to keep them stressed -- since I blame them partly for me losing my love.

I kept delaying my marriage until one day when I realized that love is just about getting used to someone. Before joining an office, I researched on the female staff there. I found one in particular to be quite unattractive to my liking. However, 6 months down the line, I got attracted to her -- and why so? Because she was my desk neighbour. Just seeing her face everyday made her grow on me.

I realized something then. Love is just familiarity. What you are suffering is not the loss of love, but the loss of time you spent on building that familiarity. So my suggestion to you is this - you have a lot of time in your hand to spend again on building familiarity with someone. If you fail to give yourself a chance to build familiarity again with another person - you will just spend some mad amount of time indulging in self-destructive or self-harming behaviour, which will degrade your quality of life and not do anything better for those around you.

You should tell yourself that you have a lot of time in your hands to again build familiarity with a new person. The moment you reach that level of familiarity with someone else -- you will have found love again. Time is in your favour. Time is your only friend. Handle it carefully.

Not sure which is the better private law school that you are attending in Kolkata. I do hope its better because lawfirms do look at the name of your college. Its just how it is. Since you come from a private law college and assuming it has some sort of a placement cell, this would be a good time to network with people who have secured a job with the law firms or went in-house.

1. Cognizant- Nothing there is that you can do about it. The pay is 40k/month and the role is a contracts associate (CLM). They have walk-in interview drives around August. This year it happened on the 1st of August.

2. Tata hires laterally, as much as I am aware of. Even if they do hire freshers, I guess they would vie for the graduates at NUJS. Same for Emami.

3. Accenture does hire Mumbai and Delhi. The Kolkata hiring is slower in that regard. Hopefully your year might have one.

4. Fox Corp will be looking for doling out PPOs around April 2024 (general estimate). Try securing a long term internship during that period. Preferably around February and for three months. Should greatly help your chances.

5. The pay scale in general ranges between 10k-40k. Here is how you have that figure in general. Barring KCO SAM and Argus, you have in-house paying you 40k-issh while firms like Sinha and Co. pay you 10k as a fresher. By Kolkata estimates, 25-30 would be a decent start (this figure varies wildly based on your chosen area of practice).

From what I read a while back, Hammurabi and Solomon was keen on opening offices in Kolkata. Hopefully that works out for you mate!

Also, please look out for firms that are offering remote positions.

Faculty of Law, Delhi University Launches 5-year Integrated Law Programmes [BA-LLB (Hons) & BBA-LLB (Hons)] for admissions in this academic year through CLAT 2023 scores.

https://lawfaculty.du.ac.in/userfiles/downloads/Fiveyearlaw/5yearlawdu.pdf

A central university, the benefit of studying law in Delhi in a well-established department, with a small batch size and an almost embarrassingly low fee. A solid combination. Isn't it?

D&D does not have any formal recruitment policy. There is no system to consider past interns for any suitable vaccancies. So, having done one or multiple internships does not give you any advantage. You might get lucky if a suitable vaccancy arises at the same time when you send your application, otherwise just forget it.

Payscale would not be the correct term to discuss wages at D&D. Because there are no rules/formula in place to properly determine a compensation structure. In any case the wages are way below the normal industry standards (considering there are no rules, you might get a respectable deal if you have some personal connections or other similar leverage). There's also an annual bonus component but that's always delayed by several months (don't be surprised if you get it in the subsequent cycle). Most possibly, you will leave the firm before getting the bonus.

Also, D&D does not offer any clear career progression roadmap. You will certainly be disappointed if you are expecting promotions as per the industry standards.

Talking about the work culture. D&D follows a work pooling approach. So, you will be reporting to 3-4 partners simultaneously. If that's a turn off for you then don't consider the job.

Coming to the team distinctions, there is a separate disputes team. Corporate team is more like a miscellaneous/sundry jobs team in practice. As a member of corporate team your job shall be to deal with everything under the sun which is not purely disputes (most of the times it will be labour laws, environment laws, regulatory laws, and property laws, along with some transactions and DDs from time to time).

(Survival tip for freshers: You can think of your D&D job as an extended paid internship, which is anyday better than your previous unpaid ones.)

I believe in taking care of myself, and a balanced diet and a rigorous exercise routine. In the morning, if my face is a little puffy, I'll put on an ice pack while doing my stomach crunches. I can do a thousand now. After I remove the ice pack, I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower, I use a water activated gel cleanser. Then a honey almond body scrub. And on the face, an exfoliating gel scrub. Then apply an herb mint facial mask, which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an aftershave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.

1. ICUL Mumbai has a low attrition rate in the law firm fraternity, which is what they are known for. Reasons - their pay gets superb with time (as once someone is with the firm for more than 2.5 years they also start getting small share in equity profits of the firm doubling there usual good bonus. Nobody is going to get such a perk in a tier 1 firm). So initially you get tier 1 payouts but exceeds that once you remain with the firm for a reasonable time. That’s on the top of good work culture and nil politics. That should explain their relatively quick rise.

2. You will get an easy entry in any good tier 1 firm if you have their tag. A red carpet entry in any tier 1 firm specially if you happen to have their funds team tag. Check out in the market.

3. Guys particularly in the funds and sebi regulatory field are topping all the ranking charts. Firm hosted a grand law firm tournament in MCA BKC last year which was a superhit and the one which every cricket enthusiast in other law firms is waiting to happen again this year. not to forget their foreign offsites which i loved the most more than anything. So pretty decent overall branding for a new team.

I work with a London law firm now with a handsome GBP pay 😁 but can vouch for everything stated above having experienced some of it first hand myself and also knowing the recent developments from the friends and fraternity in mumbai. Advice you to double check all the above with janta working out there to get better comfort. All the best

Brother I happened to have a bad breakup right before Covid in my first year, luckily we had the lockdown and I could recoup and reassess my standing. To be brutally honest it’s super tough and any advice I give might sound cliche but for a week atleast take a break from work/study and do things you love, be it playing a sport, travelling even watching reels if that’s what you like and be positive.

Also ignore the outside noises. Man up & all the best to you 🙌🏻

When I applied for internships - a good decade-and-a-half ago - a rule that I followed was to apply at least 6 months in advance. One of the firms I worked with subsequently usually had their internship slots booked around 3/4 months in advance. So, you should have already applied for internships in December by now.

I had a terrible CGPA, no mooting record, nor any published papers. I was from a good university though, which I suppose led the firms to open and scroll thorugh my resume.

By following my rule, I managed at least 6 to 7 internships on my own, including in top firms, and I think I got 2 internships from college. I managed to get a call back from the internships that I got from college.

In the hindsight, I should have worked on making my resume look a little more professional (just fancy-fying it), I think that would have helped me a little more.

While I graduated with terrible grades and nothing else to justify my time in college, but I managed to secure a job in a decent law firm by just sending 30/40 emails in one vacation to secure an intership for the next vacation. Remember: internships beget internships.

Critically, when you are interning, be super enthu and be open to learning. But also have fun - you can never have too much fun in your youth.

Congratulations to all the new Partners! I thought it would be interesting to find a breakdown of the law schools where these Partners come from. As SAM is the leading law firm in the country, their trends should give us a rough idea about the law firm representation of various colleges.

NUJS- 2

GLC- 2

HNLU- 2

GNLU -2

NLSIU- 1

IIT Kharagpur- 2

NLIU- 1
Mumbai University- 1

UPES- 1

NALSAR- 1

Amity- 1

SLSP- 1

Note- I couldn't find the alma mater of Dnyanraj Desai - Projects & Project Finance (Mumbai)

Inferences-

1. It is a pleasant surprise to see both the IPR Partners are from IIT Kharagpur. Goes on to show the value of niche selection by colleges.

2. HNLU arguably has the best alumni base among all Tier 2 NLUs by far.

3. No surprises at all with GNLU and NUJS who have been dominating corporate placements by absolute numbers for some time now.

4. Lack of NLS and NALSAR shows that their alumni no longer prefer domestic law firms, instead going abroad or in academia/policy/research.

5. The downward spiral of NLIU continues as it remains a shadow of its former glory. The overall Partner base is still the strongest.

6. NLUD has the worst alumni base amongst all Tier 1 NLUs. They still have a long way to go before calling themselves top three.

7. Good to see colleges like UPES, Amity, Mumbai University which proves that colleges don't matter in the long run! JGLS missing like always even though it is Partnership time for their initial batches. Makes you think.

Undergrads in any law school in India barely know how to do any disciplinary/ empirical research. That’s what law school is for. You learn econ well enough maybe you get to assist a prof with competition law or law and poverty type paper. Maybe you make co author . Then maybe after graduating you publish a sole authored paper.

The value of studying economics properly is not in just one CV point.

Fwiw, some of the stuff written by undergrads at nls is actually quite good. Most of it so far has been Doctrinal research but it’s nothing to sneer at.

Bhai/Behan, kya bakchodi kar rahe ho? Bandi/Banda gaye? Jaane do. Ki pharak painda ae? 23-24 saal ke bache ho beh, zindagi padi hai. You'll find love again, and it'll be for the better. The world hasn't ended, there are other people who care for you and a lot of other things that'll make you happy.

I understand it feels empty and impossible, been there done that, was with her for four and a half years, took shit from her, from my family, her family, fucked me up tbh - and she left me for another guy. Not that I blame her, bache thei dono, woh bhi boht toxic aur mai bhi, still it took me three years to move on from her, but when I did move on, I realised how much I missed out on and how I mistreated those who cared for me. Trust me on this, no one is worth a second though after they have left you, you'll only be wasting your time and emotions. Aage badh, chalta hai, hota rahega, rukneka nahi.

Baat rahi batchmates ki, agle saal se majority ki shakal bhi nahi dekhni, temporary insaanon ke liye permanent damage kahe karna baua, khudpe focus karo, aur koi Jawaab nahi hai. Motivation is a scam anyways, just ask yourself do you want to fuck your shit up and slow your life down for a couple of years or process the grief and hurt, move past it, and get on with your life. The answer is pretty simple in my book, is it in yours?

Send internship applications to firms. Once you are there, you perform, and there is a vacancy, you will be considered. Apply to as many places as possible. Reach out to seniors and get a hang of the recruitments everywhere. Be smart about it. Places like SAM, CAM, Khaitan, Trilegal are almost always hiring.

Good luck. :-)

Hey! Since you are a little far off from the actual date of the exam, you would really benefit from working on things that you can't develop/prepare just a few months before the exam (as another comment here has noted). This would primarily include comprehension and text-based reasoning. All of it boils down to really understanding written text. So towards that, you should begin reading newspapers, preferably good quality newspapers, like Hindu (please avoid Times of India as it is overly simplistic). Focus especially on the editorials. These would help your GK and English preparation too. And because you are in 11th grade, I assume you could let our at least an hour daily for newspaper reading, along with others things you might be working on. These newer CLATs focus on comprehension rather your static or factual logic. This should set you up to a good path. Continue experimenting for what helps, what does not. Good luck!

A2 This side. All lawyers’ bands have been revised. The hike for A0s has already been covered in the thread (though I doubt the 3 lakh bonus is guaranteed - it will be prorated for 9 months and in my opinion should also depend on partner rating).

In a novel step, each lawyer has been told in their retainer letter as to how much they stand to make at different performance levels (below expectation (“BE”), meets expectation (“ME”) and exceeds expectation (“EE”)), in addition to the fixed retainer (“FR”). I am mentioning numbers for A1, A2, and A3 levels below but please note that these numbers are lawyer specific and depend on their previous year’s rating as well. All figures in lakhs and pre-TDS.

A1 - 18 FR + [2.85 (BE) / 3.35 (ME) / 4 (EE)].

A2 - 21 FR + [3.57 (BE) / 4.2 (ME) / 5 (EE)].

A3 - 25.5 FR + [4.97 (BE) / 5.85 (ME) / 7 (EE)].

These increased bands are applicable with retrospective effect from 1 April 2023 so everyone who received arrears yesterday got a nice surprise.

PS - I am not aware of SA level pay and not in a position to source these either.

Trilegal just revised their A0 salary by giving a huge hike. Their starting salary package is now around 19.5L, with about 16.5L fixed (from a previous 14.4+2.2 structure). This probably puts trilegal at the top of the paymasters among tier 1s.

Is there any chance that CAM, SAM, KCO, and the like follow suit? Else it is a huge disappointment for all the A0s that opted for other firms during day 0.

Trilegal has made an announcement to increase its retainer pay and performance based pay in light of the firm’s exceptional performance past year. Although the exact figure has not been disclosed yet but the decision has been taken by the management committee.

Thoughts?

A foreign citizen with OCI status can practice law in India. The MEA has brought out notifications in this regard.

https://www.mea.gov.in/images/pdf/2oci-notifi2009.pdf

https://www.mea.gov.in/images/pdf/gazettenotificationonrightsofocicardholdersmarch042021.pdf

Two reasons:

There is no continuing obligation of Indian citizenship for the Sanad or entitlement to practice in Indian courts. Neither in the act nor in the rules.

Further, if you are OCI (as well as PIO) then by virtue of a gazette notification (issued more than a decade back) you are equal to Indian citizen for the purposes of Advocates Act.

In your case the latter is likely to apply, assuming that you would be registered as an OCI.

So chill and apply for your US citizenship. The Indian lawyers using 'Qualified in India' are doing so legally.

Don't think this is correct. Team has one PA and 3-4 associates with varying degrees of experience and no freshers. Its a good place to learn - they do a lot of structured finance with international funds, public listed debt, projects work in the EV space and some FinTech and regulatory work. Volume of work is high but have heard that folks are also commensurately rewarded. Not a place where you can coast but should definitely consider this if you want to make a career in B&F.

Sudhir does make some valid points, though he could have delivered them more cogently and without his trademark sting! He also did not completely state the argument, and left it to be inferred.

If you remove "Sudhir" from the points made by him, it is apparent that the approach he stated: Inculcating first principles, clinical teaching method, etc., is exactly the USP of NLS from its inception. Someone in this thread rightly pointed that this was not his creation or idea, and that it belonged to Prof Menon. But Prof Menon always stated that it was prevalent abroad and in different disciplines in India (not in law faculties at that time) and that he only borrowed it.

What Sudhir did not call out was that: once the first principles were transmitted in the 1-3 years, the students were allowed to specialize in the 4-5 years. This was the USP of NLS, as this allowed students via the Seminars and Clinical Courses (juxta posed with the internship/placements undertaken in the 3 to 5 years) to actually learn the physical/ground level workings of law. So, the point a lot of folks are making in this thread is addressed.

Guess this is the model across NLU's in India today. While I don't know the exact workings of the course now a days, every college allows students to specialise and intern during their course. So unless the freshly minted International Review Committee, comes up with some novel and path breaking methods, this is the template for the next few years.

P.S. Some things don't change- Sudhir's abhorrence for law firms or corporate jobs is just a legacy issue. It is a fact on record that, Prof Menon was dead against Law Firms or Corporate placements for the students... he sabotaged the 1994 & 1995 batches placements sessions... so much so that he did not permit the 1996 batch to even conduct any placement sessions and they had to rent space at I.I.Sc for conducting their campus placements (hired from 1996 students contributions).

On your question: OCIs can be lawyers in India. There is a GOI notification re the same. Get an OCI card after your citizenship change and you should be fine.

But there are a few larger issues:

(i) Indian lawyers can’t be “employed” - Indian law firms structure their contracts in a retainer-ship form to avoid this. Foreign firms don’t (speaking from my personal experience). Most Indians working abroad with firms are also on employment visas. Therefore, such lawyers must per BCI Rules suspend their Indian license.

(ii) Irrespective of the qualification of their lawyers, foreign law firms cannot practice Indian law. Although there isn’t an explicit prohibition (to the best of my knowledge) in the BCI Rules, but foreign law firms risk it not - both from a bar council and a tax perspective. So that US/UK and India dual qualified tag has no practical utility (except for business development).

In theory, I can’t think of any problems in being a US Citizen+OCI advising on Indian law as a solo practitioner in NY. Hope it helps!

Hey,

I am 46 (female) in the process of becoming a US Citizen. I am already a green card holder. I did my LLB from India (Uttar Pradesh) and is a member of Bar Council of Gujarat. I was actually a practicing lawyer in Mumbai for a few years before I left India.

I migrated to the US after marriage, did an LLM and became licensed (Bar License) in New York.

On my profile I always write 'India, New York Qualified Immigration Lawyer'.

Can I legally keep it after I become a US citizen? Is it actually legal to keep it?

Why I am asking - even a person of Indian origin cannot be an advocate in India. Only Indian citizens can be an advocate in India. Once you loose your Indian Citizenship ▮▮▮ are technically ineligible to be an advocate or continue as an advocate.

But - A lot of big city new york law firms (global AM100 law firms) actually have lawyers who did LLB from National Law Universities in India, LLM in the US and still keeping "Qualified in India and New York/California'' despite the fact that many of them became citizens years back.

How could these Indian Lawyers keep -" Qualified in India and US". Despite the fact that they are no longer qualified in India?

I am a small time immigration lawyer, so for me these many technicalities doesn't matter. But for firms like Baker and Mckenzie, Latam and Watkins it really does. How could these firms allow thier indian lawyers to still keep this on thier website?

And yet. The nlu model which focuses on teaching first principles and yknow - the law- including yes sociology and history and economics. Has worked. NLS grads have all done well for themselves and found good employment ? Surely if it was such a terrible useless education they would be failing in the workplace ?

He says he doesn’t care about specific industry trends - and that’s honestly a good thing. Chasing excellence is better than chasing trends.

He’s tried very hard to improve clinical education at nls - it’s been better than ever before and certainly better than any other NLU. He’s not opposed to including that stuff - but clearly he thinks teaching craft without teaching the law is gonna make only for very good clerks.

And we should take what he has to say about the best universities seriously considering he’s taught at them/ studied at them, instead of the rantings of undergrads on an anon message board.

have a look at http://www.barcouncilofindia.org/notification-relating-to-recognition-by-bar-council-of-india-of-foreign-universities-imparting-legal-education-and-issuing-law-degrees-and-equivalence-of-law-degrees-by-bar-council-of-india-of-law-deg/#:~:text=On%20the%20other%20hand%2C%20if,Holding%20Foreign%20Law%20Degrees%20after

or you can become a barrister in the UK and then join any of the presidency high courts which still allow barristers to enrol (need to check the latest rules)

Now let me share an experience which a student had when they wanted to come to India after doing LLB from a top UK uni, they had to come to Delhi, they did not do any bridge course etc. but went directly to the delhi bar and enrolled, then started to work under a senior, no one stopped them after a couple of years they sat for the bar exam and then qualified and is now practicing. They did not appear for the Qualifying Examination For Indian Nationals Holding Foreign Law Degrees, dunno how they managed

The grapevine sources clearly need to do some basic fact checking. As far as I know they are going ahead with some big lateral recruitments soon. JSA onboarded over 10 partners alone in 2023. They also had a very successful client centric event earlier this week. Big hit with big clients.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6TBpgZ0Jws&amp;ab_channel=IndiaToday

Has anyone watched this?

For nearly 18 minutes everyone else goes on about skill building and online education and industry focussed and let's do away with books and ancient India and yoga and god knows what. Sudhir comes in to say " This conversation is confused" " We don't need a shallow version of craft" "Best universities in the world teach foundational first principles".

the man doesnt shy away from just disagreeing with everyone eh?

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/265371-looking-for-guidance-law-firms-in-kolkata-specializing-in-general-corporate-or-pevc-matters-and-preferred-qualifications

This thread should help. Also, you seem like the same person who posted this, or maybe I am wrong.

Kolkata is a smaller city so hirings happen on a 'as per need basis'. The requirements are the same as other law firms. You need better skills to match up since the no. of posts v no. of candidates ratio might give you stiff competition.

ICICI came to our campus for 24 batch last semester. They basically have three-rounds selection process. In the first round, they selected 13 students on the basis of their CV from among 50+ applicants. They select CVs randomly by using a software. There is no specific criteria. They give a lot of weightage to your CGPA though.

In the second round, they give you a legal proposition with two questions for discussion. It was an unmoderated 15 minutes GD and our topic was "AI and Law". Speaking a lot of time did not help the candidates, but cooperating among themselves, not interrupting other speakers and moderating the session own their own helped students to qualify the GD. They selected 7 students from the GD round for their final interview round.

Interview round had both technical and HR questions. Technical questions were based on CV. They were focusing a lot on IBC, fintech laws and banking regulations. Follow up questions and hypothetical questions were also there. There were three HR questions: 1. Introduce yourself; 2. Why are you a right fit for us even when you don't have a lot of banking related work in your CV; and 3. Are you comfortable in relocating to a remote location if we offer you a job?They gave out placement offers to 2 students.

They generally don't look for someone who knows all the laws, but they look for people who can fit into their organisation.

I am aghast by the responses above. You should not be making life-changing decisions based on the insight offered on a private anonymous forum. You should absolutely not be taking any advice from other students only!

Here are the items you should consider:

- A five year education in a law degree is a one time investment. Akin to a one time investment in a business / think of it as a one time investment in yourself, to get a professional certification, compound and pay out over your lifetime.

- SLS Pune is one of the oldest institution offering the degree with thousands of peers and reputation in the market. Jindal, Nirma, Christ, NMIMS, all these private institutions are well regarded nationally. If SLS Pune is your best choice, you have to set yourself up for success and take that chance, to have in place a personal brand, a decently good network and recognition! Remember - you are not just paying for education, but also for (i) good peer network; (ii) good alumni network; (iii) market reputation; (iv) building a personality shaped by experiences and exposures from people in all walks of life. Yes, it could be cheaper than 35L-50L at a government law school, but that does not take away that it is valuable.

- Education is a life long investment - 10 years down the line, when you will be making 50L-1cr if all goes well, your biggest regret will be being petty and stingy about the only investment that you needed to make to achieve the

- I was 17 when I joined the five year law program. The fee at the time seemed massive to me. I graduated to a salary of 6LPA. I switched a couple of years later to a pay check of 20-24 LPA. I currently expect to make 35-40 LPA at 27. Looking back, it has only been 4+ years since my graduation. I have been at the right place at the right time, however, in hindsight, I think not participating in the moot, not experiencing going to that conference, etc. were all myopic decisions. In a career spanning 30+ years, you will make a lot of money, short term loans and setbacks are irrelevant.

- Loans help you stabilise and stay grounded. Value the time you are there and work hard to ensure that you are building skills, network and discipline.

Don't be scared of loans, worst case scenario, you declare bankruptcy. Post that you still retain your degree and can probably get work anywhere because the institution is well recognised. Bad scenario - you figure out law is not what you want to practice - you still have a strong peer / alumni network to succeed in ancillary fields, especially because of the depth of your alum network (anyone graduated from Symbi is your network - it doesn't matter if it is al unorganised, people will be happy to sit and interact with you).

In my humble opinion, I think education loan - if you are considering it at all - is never risky, because you are already sold on the institution, your worry is the fees. Unless something incredibly goes wrong, I don't see anyone regretting that loan 10years down the line. It will look like a minor sum (just don't think about it if you intend to not make use of the degree or stay in a metro city).

Much love and best wishes for your success

In a past radio show, Dame Carol Black, who was the principal at Newnham College Cambridge, was asked about the advice she shares with her students when considering their future. Without missing a beat, she replied, "I tell them to 'have a go'. If you don't go for something you can never have it, you can only have regrets".

The pain of regret is worse than any fear that is holding you back.

Haha. Sudhir has written me several recommendations and I don't meet a single one of the points above. Not a topper, did not drop, did not apply to oxford or yale. never wanted to be a rhodes scholar. Constantly fought with him about issues and disagreed with him.Did not top any exams (double digits in CLAT- but he didnt know me then). Not a snob. pretty silent usually.

I know tons of folks sudhir has mentored who didnt even go to NLUs and were certainly not toppers.

folks are so consistently wrong about him its wild.

All I did was - I worked my butt off for him, proved to him that my grades did not determine my potential, and showed him how honest I was about the work. Build an authentic connection and he might appreciate you. If you try to suck up to him and try and game some system- he might still write you a letter- but he wont actually admire you. Man is all about the work.

If you are sure about getting into corporate practice then don't waste time. Do a 5 year course and start working. Recruiter are little biased towards 5 years students especially from T1 and T2 NLUs. So its better to do 5 years from a good college (T1 and T2 NLUs, Symbiosis, Jindal) and also at the end of the day comes down to hard word, and discipline with a little bit of luck.

All the best!

Excellent research with hugely relevant findings. Other NLUs need to do so as well.

👍👍👍👍

https://theprint.in/judiciary/chief-justices-use-their-master-of-roster-powers-to-influence-outcomes-of-key-cases-says-new-book/1682236/

Converted a PPO in the said practice.

Proficiency in research, reviewing contracts and basic drafting is a big plus.

Basic and workable understanding of Companies Act is presumed.

Always find those small corners where you can add value and be of use to your seniors.

Pour in more efforts than reasonable/ required efforts for the task.

And last but not the least...

Be respectful and approachable.

Violence started when SC passed the order? Do you not read newspapers, or are you forgetful? Violence was already taking place when the HC had passed its order - which, by the way, violates every known principle of separation of powers, constitutionalism, and goes against a huge line of SC judgements.

I mean. This is what’s weird about this website. You get these loyal cheerleaders from all these colleges who will shout and scream about how they’re number 1. In real life when you go to these universities and spend some time with the students - they’ll admit that their university is quite sub par, that they feel cheated, that it isn’t quite what they imagined. That they thought the faculty would be better, that their peer group would be more driven, that the opportunities they got would be more exciting and that their education would be more rigorous.

But no one online talks about what they should do to make their college better. They just assert that it is and insult people who disagree.

I don’t want nlud or nalsar to just be better than the other. I don’t want them to be satisfied with nirf rankings. I want them to compare themselves to HYP/ Oxbridge and see where they fall short and go and fix their problems. But alas. We’re so happy with our mediocrity.

In my floating academic career I have come across half a dozen VC and have tracked the progress of a few more. In my personal opinion Bhatt has the dubious distinction of being the worst VC in terms of an administrator and person. He suffered from a curious form of policy paralysis whereby he would take a decision reverse it at the slightest protest and then try to sneakily bring that back paddle back and then fret over it. Apart from personal frailties like casteism, chauvinism etc. he also has little vision of building an institution and was more interested in personal gratification like extending his tenure. He let go of the best faculty members that NLUs have ever seen (last couple of years of MP singh). He entered into a faustian bargain with the WB law minister and introduced domicile quota, he also green lighted the second campus, but thankfully a powerful EC member stopped it. He got some land but not the money to build. Like many on the list by OP Bhatt also centralised power to an extent that he would personally intervene on the choice of mopheads to be bought for cleaning floors. I wonder if he had spent more time on academics and retain the talent like Sudhir, Shamnad, Jasmine, Prabhash et al. There is a report which states that over two dozen faculty members quit in the first term of Bhatt. All of them had joined when either Chimni or MP singh were VCs.

https://www.nls.ac.in/news-events/nlsiu-announces-school-review-commission-2023-24/

“ The National Law School of India University is glad to announce the appointment of the School Review Commission 2023-24 (SRC), comprising Prof. Timothy Endicott as the Chair, and Prof. Catherine O’Regan and Prof David B. Wilkins as Members. The SRC has been appointed by the Chancellor of the University, the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India Dr. D. Y. Chandrachud, in consultation with the Government of Karnataka. The SRC shall undertake a comprehensive review of all aspects of the University and submit its recommendations to the Chancellor in mid-2024.”

Prof Endicott (Oxford), Prof Wilkins (Harvard Law), and Prof O’Reagan (retd South African Constituonal Court judge).

Hey,

Depends on your area of preference. Say you like insolvency law, you’ll be expected to know the basics and recent updates/amendments ( very imp ones). For instance, are home buyers financial creditors, are share warrants financial debts, if no why? etc. And expect questions based on entries in your CV ( in case you’ve mentioned the work you had done during your internships). Download the AIBE books (available online) for the basics of laws such as contract law, CPC etc ( only prepare for topics that you expect to be questioned on during the interview. Eg if you’re into disputes , you will have to study CPC, contracts law, Arbitration law etc)

And you can also find primers available online ( for insolvency , arbitration etc). Just google “……. Primer online pdf”.

All the best. And one more important thing, maintain your calm and be confident during the interview. You’re not expected to know everything. But the way you articulate the things you know is important.

So the best of luck to you.

https://www.news18.com/education-career/13-gold-medals-at-nlsiu-to-upsc-air-60-on-1st-attempt-meet-ias-shraddha-gome-8382439.html

Shraddha Gome Air 60. Plus she was also a recipient of the prestigious Unilevers future leadership programme

Examine O.XII of CPC and you'll find your answer. Your post is vague as to how exactly the Claimant has 'relied' upon the document. The exact mode of reliance is the heart of the matter.

Examine applicability of CPC to arbitration proceedings and pull out judgments on this point. Pull out judgments on the point of procedure is handmaid of justice and not its mistress.

As a last resort if nothing works you can file a notice to admit documents and in case the tribunal is inclined to reject it (which it appears likely in your facts and circumstances), you can request the tribunal to rule on this application as part of the final award. Since only your final award is appealable under the Act and not these interlocutory orders and directions.

Research it online, look for reviews. Remember things people say around the office. Start with places that are hipster classy a little further off so you don't run into people you know. Use this to get over your insecurities and become confident. The most classy people are warm and friendly with waitstaff and they tip well. Once you get used to the water, the ordering, thanking and so on, you can move closer. To be truly impressive, it's not about dining in the place. It's about having the warmth and manner that will mean that the staff recognise you, greet you and are extra helpful. That's what a date or a client worth their salt will notice.

Its official now Faizan Mustafa is CNLU VC ✨✨

https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/admissions/prof-faizan-mustafa-appointed-vice-chancellor-of-chanakya-national-law-university-in-patna-congratulated-by-cnlu-vc-101689683503800.html

Ashish is one of the best legal minds in corporate law. He can see through issues which most other experienced minds cannot.

However, there is little mentoring, he can be moody, and the folks directly working with him end up working with other partners on their deals, so you get the shit-end of the stick on those matters due to the economic model followed in WG.

The upside is that Ashish is typically partial to his direct juniors and hence the pay and promotions are better than the other associates in WG and you will end up working on a wider variety of matters than most of your peers, inside or outside WG - some enjoy that and others don't and sometimes there is more advisory work than is good for you as a junior lawyer.

That being said, not too many of Ashish's juniors are partners in WG today - and those who are in WG today are fairly mediocre (I say this with humility). You need a certain kind of a senior who nurtures and then retains people as they go along thier journey and Ashish isn't one of those seniors. If you are a rank beginner, then this piece is not relevant for you.

If you have a better paying offer, then go for that. Otherwise, you will be able to leverage your time working in WG if you can say you are AAA's junior.

Everybody obsessing over the tiers of NLU debate need to take a chill pill. "NUALS vs NLU Odisha", "Only got into NLUJ should i take a drop year?", "NALSAR vs NLUD", "Will i get laid in NALSAR" Chill the fuck out.

Focus on building your brand. Have great academic records, intern at great places and have quality publications in prestigious journals (quality over quantity, people). Identify niche areas and try to get published in internationally acclaimed journals. (This is not impossible, do your diligence on the journals). Maintain contact with the people you work with, especially your managers and try to intern at the same place multiple times and work your ass off at said internship. Structure your CV towards a specific practice area, lose the designs & colour and be very specific about the work you did. Merely saying you worked on FEMA isn't going to get you anywhere. What firms want to see is what exactly you worked on in FEMA. Do this effectively and you might as well PPO your way into Tier 1 or Tier 2. Even if you don't make it a Tier 1 join a smaller firm or a boutique and lateral after a year or two. What difference is it going to make? Lack of a life here, lack of a life there. No sexlife anywhere. Also a lot of tier 2 firms pay similar to tier 1s on mid senior levels. Day zero is ass, you won't die without it.

Om Shanti

Practical advise, stick around for at least a year in your chamber. Firms, especially are always looking to hire at around 1-2 PQE, because its around that phase that a lot of campus hires decide that the law firm life is not what they are looking for, and teams have spaces to fill.

You are falling into the trap of lifestyle creep. Be careful.

Going to a fancy restaurant doesn't make you classy.

Focus on self improvement. Work on improving your grooming, come to work with well tailored and clean clothes. Be well read and talk in a pleasing manner. There are some things which you need to do to project confidence and charm.

Just spending money at a restaurant doesn't make you classy. These are one shot expenditures. Go there if you are interested in having an interesting culinary experience. But don't go there just to impress other people.

At the end of the day, people are impressed by people who project confidence.

Think about what your real goals are, and don't lose your way by trying to just impress randos at work.

With your researching skills, you shouldn't be even eligible to practice at Tis Hazari, but unfortunately you are.

https://www.uscourts.gov/careers/search-judiciary-jobs/citizenship-requirements-employment-judiciary

Mod, this is nothing but an attempt to discredit the course during the admission process so that lower ranked people can get in. I urge you to mark this contested and trollish. Some BA LLB students have been doing this in frustration and from insecurity. To point out some of the lies here, the only forensic science courses that will be taught in the programme will be those in place of the social science papers like Sociology, Political Science, Economics etc. The law papers are going to remain the same. As for campus, the classrooms for this course are actually much better and newer in quality compared to the main campus, since they have been designed and built in the last two months. I have seen those. Same goes for the hostel, which is actually more spacious than the current hostels. Sure the buildings belong to BSNL, but so what? NUJS first batch studied for three years in the state forest department building, didn't harm them any. Plus this batch is going to have access to main campus and its resources, including library and databases, in addition to a mess of their own, hostel buildings of their own. Further, the classes will be shifted to the main campus after two years once the vertical extension of the main academic building is finished.

One of our faculty members made these videos for us during the pandemic. These are reasonably good resources for you to get started. You should also get hold of Bryan Garner's book on 'Legal Writing in Plain English'. It has many practice exercises to improve comprehension skills and to effectively summarise cases.

Introduction to Academic Legal Writing

Session 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIUmcAGc72s

Session 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0gOdWNdyMQ

Session 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgpLOkcIACA

Introduction to Reasoning and Argumentation

Session 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgb8zeWdEGk

Session 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88-QFJSxg9E

Session 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5FFLfQbEXk

Session 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u11UsCrvz1k

this was bound to happen some time or other

NUJS has been the undisputed no. 3 for last 15 years, however, in the last 5 years or so after the first few batches of NLUD has found their feet, the NLUD students feel that their time has come to take on the mantle in the top 3

NLS seems to be on a pedestal which no one wants to touch, however, if you check under the hood there are plenty of problem, but it being 'the law school' people would laugh off if NLUD wants to directly dethrone NLS

NALSAR is a weird case, it is in the middle of nowhere, has decent placements, has mediocre teachers, after FM left it has little addition to scholarship, yet somehow the legacy seems to insulate it from any challengers

NUJS on the other hand, after 8 disastrous years under Ishwara Bhatt, has seen a slide in faculty quality, research output and research income. The only saving grace has been its excellent placement (which is still objectively the best in the NLU circuit). So, obviously the best target to dethrone for a rising claimant will be the weakest amongst the three, which is NUJS. However, NLUD in its haste to dethrone NUJS has made the cardinal sin of using fake data to show better recruitment, but the problem was it was so good that it even went ahead of NLS in that parameter. Then of course people came out and showed that it was mathematically impossible for NLUD to have the placement that they claimed and the things became as the OP puts 'controversial'.

So we have a rising NLUD and a legacy incumbent in the form of NUJS, using the rising power theory (which says that a conflict between a rising and incumbent geopolitical power is inevitable - eg. Japan and US pre WWII) we can predict that these troll fights between these two NLUs will continue until there is a clear domination by one. That will not happen objectively until NLUD joins clat, which they will not in the near future, so the conflict with continue. NLUD will continue to submit fake data to NIRF and other nlus will keep calling them out, NLUD trolls will deny and deflect, they will say that many people came from NUJS/NALSAR which shows superiority of NLUD, other nlus will demand proof, but this can neither be proven nor disproven withour clear comparison of the list, which is not available, someone will argue that AILET is a money grabbing exam with no clear purpose, NLUD will defend it and say it gives chance to students who has a bad CLAT day. The argument will not end until NLUD joins CLAT and we have a clear student choice being made (for example in the last 15 years IITB has dethroned IIT-Kanpur as the top IIT by student choice, but NIRF prefers IITM, you can have your pick).

This is a very unique problem to have. The only one way you can approach the authorities is by calling them. Mailing will not work because the NLUs will be very formal in general communication and majority of times they will try to satisfy your doubt with an autogenerated response. One of my frnds tried for HNLU like this (he couldn’t apply even in vacancies) - but when he called them , he was told to come Raipur next week for spot admission. Trying won’t hurt and it has worked as well a couple of times. You have a good chance if you call the right NLUs and ask for spot admission with your rank. NLU Odisha for instance won’t be accepting your request for NRIs via mails , but call them and they can actually help u out.

You can start by reading more books relating to the legal sector. This is the trick that has been helping me for a while in embellishing my writing skills and transferring those skills to my academic papers/publications. In the limited amount of time you get , try to formulate a critical analysis of the book you read (I will suggest you to read books related to law ofc) and maybe get it checked by your professors or seniors for feedback. For oratory skills , I was always into MUNs/parliamentary debates during my school days and they both aided me to brush up my speaking skills. If you didn’t have this platform , then start participating into more and more college-level debates. Don’t start with mooting right away. Take baby steps. If you don’t take time to build a solid foundation of writing/speaking right now , then you can’t improvise later on. For instance , I always believe in the feedback system and there are always some professors (I am glad some of them are in my college) who will be ready to help you out if they see someone trying. Use the resources you have and carve out a niche for yourself.

For exams - you can structure your answers and make them more methodical. The best course of action will be to keep on getting your drafts checked by the assistant professors and you will be seeing a dramatic improvement. All the best!

I’m from NLUD and this is just the most ridiculous thread that’s almost an invitation to troll. The rivalry debate has been going on for far longer way before NIRF. And back then, comments were published in less than a day. And it’s not a big deal in real life for anyone except some one-upmanship trolls.

I’m pretty sure students at both places know that the two have their individual merits and demerits. And I think there’s mutual appreciation between both places for their institutional achievements. I don’t see this need to keep comparing and claiming we’re better than NUJS/NALSAR. I know multiple people who choose NLUD over NUJS/NALSAR and many others who opt for NUJS, etc over NLUD. All said and done, they’re both two of the few very good places for law in India and anyone who’s been to either can testify. Moderator should ideally do a better job is preventing more of such ridiculous threads/comments. The toxicity of this site can be reduced if the Mod is serious about creating a more congenial environment for actually useful discussions.

Since Trilegal is one of the only tier 1 firms where new partners are also added to the equity pool, how much does an Partner at Trilegal make?

Approximate figures are fine. Additionally answers to the followed would be great:

a)For how long is partnership worth it?

b) Does the pay for partnership increase as per experience?

c) is the pay for an partner team specific/deal specific or neutral in the above aspects?

Having legitimate responses would shed light on one of the core aspirations that law students have )

To put it in summary, it's not amazing.

Here's what I mean, unlike some of the more functional pieces of law (TMT, labour laws etc.), there isn't that much demand for PE lawyers in-house. The reason is because, most of the execution for transaction is done by law firms (hence the many many teams of PE / M&A lawyers in law firms) - and the in-house folks job is to really coordinate / manage the work and interface internally (even if that).

What this leads to is that the in-house teams in funds / investment houses are generally small compared to a corporate house. The biggest in-house PE team in India is unlikely to be more than 10-20% of the size of a decent in-house team in a large corporate.

That leads to a situation where two things happen: (a) lots of supply in the market for PE lawyers looking to quit law firms and move in-house, and (b) very very limited opportunities for in-house lawyers in PE employers.

This problem becomes more exacerbated as you grow more senior btw. So if you want to make the shift do it ASAP - if you can get it. For example, at the GC level, there are maybe a grand total 10-20 roles in the whole industry - and almost nobody who gets the job quits it (because duh).

I am tired of hearing these wannabe partners who are justifying the pay given to associates without even acknowledging or being grateful about how much revenue an associate brings in. Plus a lot of comments posted by them are simply based on assumptions or vague claims regarding fixed/variable costs (I am surprised that they keep on forgetting that they are lawyers and hence maybe they should have put in more factual information to prove their claims). Instead they just use words like 'sweetie', 'top line revenue', 'over head costs' etc, so I thought I will post some insights based on my experience from working in a T1 firm.

In my opinion the average A0/A1/A2 is the most profitable to a law firm. The revenue they bring in will ALWAYS be at least equal to or higher than what they would cost to the firm. I mean you will have to be HIGHLY incompetent before the firm to looses money on you (i.e., you get paid more than the amount the firm charges for the work you have done). Let me show you how:

I was a newly promoted A1 when, after discounting my hours, a client was billed ~16 lakhs just for my time. The entire bill, including the bill raised for my time, was paid in full (and no please don't start making any assumptions that the partner would've reduced their hours or some other reason which would have justified my time spent on the matter). So, close to 85% of my salary for the year was recovered from just one client! The time period during which I worked on this matter was from April to May (I obviously had other matters which I worked on during these months, so you can take a guess as to how much revenue an associate can bring in two months).

At the end of the year, I easily ended up billing > 90 lakhs for the firm (SIDE NOTE: At the end of the relevant FY, there was still 10-12 lakhs that was pending to be billed and the firm WOULD bill that eventually, but these delayed billings and the revenue earned from them are fucking lost in void and are not attributed to me only because it was billed after the end of the relevant FY!). Some pretentious asshole would still comment that 90 lakhs is less, but over and above billing that much amount I also did a lot of non-billable knowledge building work (essentially unpaid work for the firm).

Anyways my point being that, at the associate level, you can easily bring in around 1 CR (1.2 CR in case you are an A2/A3) in revenue for the firm and for which you get paid a maximum of 25-26 lakhs (at least that's what I know about A3 pay scales).

Okay so I think the maximum cost, that an associate would be to a firm, would be around 30 lakhs i.e., 25L salary + 5L (being whatever "overhead costs" the wannabe partners are crying about). Okay you know what since idk much about law firms operations costs, why not make the "overhead cost" to be 10L. So the maximum that an associate would cost to a firm is 35 lakhs compared to 1 CR of revenue that they can bring in easily!

Now tell me why are the wannabe partners crying about making 65 lakhs of profit on an associate? That's an insanely high profit margin (and you know what, why not make that 70 lakhs of profit, because lets add in the 3-4 lakhs of value that you help the firm save by doing all the unbillable work, which if the firm would have outsourced, it would have easily cost them that much).

So to any other associate who reads this, you are justified in whining about being underpaid, because as you can see from the numbers, its a literal sweat shop, and the numbers don't lie!

ok thx!

Which monster downvoted this comment even? This is a pretty valid question and honestly I have seen people moving into these colleges after their valid requests. Ofc you need to have the rank for the spot admission. One can also enquire about the NRI sponsored admissions seats by contacting the respective university when he/she has failed to fill the application form. This is pretty viable depending on the university ofc.

Hi so I will be honest with you here. First of all Nujs BALLB is a fantastic choice. Undoubtedly the college is known for mind-blowing placements and their merit is continuously increasing in terms of foreign placements as well.But BSC’LLB is not something I will recommend. Your logic of placements being better after five years is really uncertain and unsettling. Remember for the next five years you will be competing with the BALLB batch as well. Plus the perception of corporate law firms towards this particular course is not yet gauged. My suggestion will be that you enroll for this particular course and retake clat again since it’s in 4-5 months anyway. I have seen numerous cases of second drops (and even third drops) , the graduates turned out pretty well (infact some of them are excellent). Anyway it’s pretty common. You will see that by yourself when you will join Nujs.

I wont recommend you to OPT for RMNLU NRI sponsored because that’s just a huge waste of money. Be at peace with the course you have currently and go forward with clat this year. Strike a balance and you will be just fine. And who knows? Maybe this course will actually be excellent in the next 5 years because of the brand value as you just now said.

Hi OP, this is very possible. I have worked at a tier 1, and in-house at an MNC, small start-up, and a growth stage company. The hours in-house are definitely better, but what stands out as huge relief is the lack of artificial deadlines 24*7. What you need to be careful of, is to not join an in-house role where you’re reporting to an ex-tier 1 firm partner. In most cases they bring the law firm culture with them (but again, not nearly as bad because the rest of the company is unlikely to propagate that kind of culture). To get interviews, you need to start reaching out to people on LinkedIn in addition to the traditional route through recruiters. They will gauge your commercial accumen - meaning are you the type of lawyer who will just state the risks, or will you work with the business team to evaluate the degree or risk and help them assess which issues are ok to let go of and the ones worth pushing back for. Remember that the role is to facilitate business and that as an in-house lawyer you are a cost center. You bring value by enabling business while balancing legal risks. Read up on commercial terms, licensing, reselling, the difference between a software license and SaaS model (these are inevitable at any company these days), basic labour laws, privacy policy, etc. This is very doable, you just need to be patient in finding the right place and role.

https://t.me/+3a9gaSmnDuVjNWI1

I have made the link, Kindly join. this will be only for job-specific, finding jobs and referring the portal. guidance and cv review.

no spamming, no sharing of media except relevant to the purpose of the group.

Having been both a funds lawyer and then subsequently a PE / VC lawyer, here is what you need to know.

First - Completely agree with Featured Guest below on what Funds practice is and and what PE/VC practice is.

Second - to answer your specific question on what working hours and style is like. Fund formation is a more advisory driven / stable practice. Late nights are less common compared to PE/VC practice - since the work is: (a) more standardised in many ways, (b) not urgency driven most of the time, and (c) not negotiation / counter party driven since fund formation work is rarely (except in case of LP-GP negotiations) something that happens with a third party i.e. you do the work for the client, you get comments from the client, you update the client and the final work product is signed off by the client.

One minor exception to the above is where you have to make regulatory filings / submissions - like filing an application with SEBI. Again, that work is largely standardised and rarely heart racing - and SEBI takes its time with most things (and from what I hear is taking more and more time).

On the other hand, PE/VC is transactional work and work hours are always up in the air. It's a lot of negotiation, due diligence type of work which means you could be working all the time and forever.

Another thing to note is that fund practice is tax adjacent. Meaning, you need to have some understanding of tax laws since funds are setup to mitigate tax risks. Again, the learning on this is standardised for the most part, but there will be structuring work (i.e. how funds are set up, which entity in which jurisdictions etc.) that is also substantially tax driven so you will need to have a working knowledge of a lot of these things. If you don't love tax then this will become a problem quickly.

Last, my personal note as someone who worked in the funds practice and then became a transaction lawyer (M&A / PE-VC) is that funds practice is great for a stable life and if I had been smarter I would have tried to build my career in a Tier 1 practice (like KCO for example - Siddharth Shah is awesome). WIth that said, I was young and wanted to do "exciting" work and transitioned to PE/VC work which I was actually better at (thankfully). This work is more exciting and in my opinion more "satisfying" (to me) - but the life is way worse.

Ultimately you'll figure it out as you go long and but know this. There is way less competition to be an amazing funds lawyer (since it is supposedly less glamarous) then to be a PE/VC lawyer, and depending on what you want in life you'll make the choice that makes sense to you.

The last line is ominous!

"As the dialogue continues on the issue, Dr. Bhasin is optimistic that there will be a proper resolution to the issue without anyone taking records to the courts of law."

Should we then expect for another 20 year delay because "someone" (wink wink) approaches the courts?

https://bwlegalworld.businessworld.in/article/Indian-Legal-Profession-Is-Second-To-None-In-The-World-Dr-Lalit-Bhasin/24-06-2023-481734/

Heyo my cousin is practising law in Australia. I can help you in this. So firstly , since Australia very well follows the Common Law System , you won’t have much trouble settling in. So there are two ways - either you sit for their Graduate Diploma in Legal Training course or you directly apply to their law firms from your college. Remember , even if you want to directly apply for their law firms , it’s good to have a practise in local law for two years as a solicitor. For each state , there is a streamlined registration process. The corporate law firm you intend to join will suggest you even to practise litigation for one year especially if you are from India. Regarding the scope , the opportunities are scattered everywhere. In the beginning it may seem a little intimidating, but slowly and slowly you will just be fine. And the money is great. My cousin is working in Brisbane and he reports that an average base salary can exceed $140k even in minimum standards. You have to get your academic overview checked ffrom the authority responsible for revising your practising standards. For instance , if you had a good GPA and come from a prestigious college , your chances are slightly (not by a large) higher. However , with so many border exchange and especially educational programmes our country have with the Aussies , as per my cousin , it has become quite easy to go , study and practise law there. All the best!

To each their own. We have become really immature as a community generalising choices and justifying them with our flawed viewpoints. This year a girl from NLS’28 got Duke University (fantabulous SAT score) and conveniently joined the college abroad. I came to know this from a trusted source. On the other hand , hardly a year and a half back a person got UCL to pursue law. The person also made into NLS. Even after getting adequate financial aid and coming from a well-off family , the person joined NLSIU. Let’s take another example from the batch of 2026 where a person made into several decent (plus excellent) colleges abroad , got a rank from 1-10 in clat , chose to stay at NLS. I , for instance , got colleges like KCL and Edinburgh, chose to stay at NALSAR (for a variety of reasons). I have also mentioned this in a thread regarding Lnat in this forum only. I have seen multiple people spending a year at a tier-1 nlu (nlu Jodhpur/nujs) and got LSE/KCL next year. They went without any hesitation. Now my question is , where does the metric for comparison lie?

Ask the associate who has assigned you the work! :) Everyone has a different style of working... If you can't ask the question for any reason, the make the changes in track if you're correcting typos, cross-referencing, brackets etc. and add bubble comments if you have more substantial comments (eg. if you feel a sentence needs to be re-drafted or if page numbering is wrong) and re-send the doc to the junior associate

What are ways through which I can get better at reading judgments and also legal writing?

I've been doing the usual of trying to read one case a day cover to cover BUT BOY DO I STRUGGLE.

Law school was 2 years in covid and I feel like I've been thrown into the deep end.

I start 4th year next year and it hit me last year that the world is not ending so I might as well start doing something.

Do it in track, if it's just a formatting error. However, if you believe there are drafting mistakes, feel free to add comments to highlight the specific issues. I have worked with certain associates who prefer listing the required changes in a notebook and discussing them individually. Regardless, it would be best to ask about the associate's preferred method.

You are right. It doesn’t make a huge difference around the age you graduate. I am so glad that you are able to make a matured decision. Good luck for clat 2024.

I know one of my batchmates from Calcutta who was so homesick at Nalsar that he decided to sit for Nujs again. Now why am I telling you this? So that you don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get nalsar. Because already you are in the big league and Nujs is so effing good. It may have a small campus but the placements are bloody amazing! Sometimes even the best lol. So follow your passion , stick to nujs , retake clat and come to my college :). But don’t beat yourself up for it. Remember you have the world’s best backup and you have already won the battle. We have a great alumni base and we will do everything to help you out.

However , a word of caution - tread carefully. Remember with the pattern change , the paper will be more arbitrary (in terms of quality) and will challenge you every sec. But since you have already made into Nujs , savour the success and use your experience to crack it this year. All the best! Looking forward to meet you at nalsar next summer ❤️

I know you are a great soul working tirelessly to the infinite bounds of our world’s vast ocean to moderate our comments. I am really not trolling here. But maybe start hiring two or three more moderators? It won’t hurt much to see our comments getting moderated in 4-5 hours instead of waiting a whole long day. I hope you are open to genuine criticism and not mark this trollish as you are doing in majority of threads nowadays.

Funds practice primarily deals with fund formation (negotiating key commercial terms and documentation). Documentation would include prepration of Trust deed, private placement memorandum, contribution agreement, investment management agreement. Funds practice also includes LP-GP negotiations on side letter arrangements.

To answer your next question, funds practice is very different from PE/VC. PE / VC practice deals with transaction when a fund enters (or exits) into an investment in an investee company whereas the funds team deal with formation of PE/VC funds.

Good firms that have Funds practice:

KCO (Siddharth Shah), Trilegal (Ganesh Rao), ICUL (Tejesh), CAM, SAM, NDA, Resolut.

Partner here. Not sure about normal but I do get extremely anxious many times, though not a full blown panic attack. I have not been for therapy. I do low key wonder if I need to move on but I keep telling myself let's just see for one more year.

Did you know Messi would throw up on the pitch? This is a good article about how he coped https://ideas.ted.com/how-to-handle-anxiety-lionel-messi/

Our profession tends to be full of pressure and at partner level it is really difficult to switch off completely even for a couple of days but you definitely need to prioritize self care and work out ways in which you can manage to clam yourself down. A good therapist would be a step towards that goal. I hope you find more helpful advice here. Good luck.

Intern a lot and keep in touch with your managers at the place you interned. Keeping in touch doesnt mean you have to keep making small talk. Send them a greeting on festivals. If you see some update on any law that you worked on maybe drop in a text. Try to do more than one internship at the same place (a prospective place where you would prefer to work).

Khaitan Chennai is basically a local law firm in association/some kind of relationship with Khaitan. It's name was Assetio Legal - they used to pay Rs. 25K. Now because of association with Khaitan, they pay Rs.60K -70K.

Chennai has local law firms. Even the big Names are basically local practices. National Competition virtually doesn't exist. Students from all NLU's/Top Private Universities across the country, irrespective of language or state of orgin work in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi.

This is rarely seen in Chennai. Even JSA, Khaitan, SAM offices in Chennai are mostly from South/Tamil Nadu. They are mostly from Sasta, Chennai law college and TNNLU - all TN colleges, There is very less diversity there.

Mostly lawyers from Tamil Nadu or South Indians work in Chennai law firms, while this is not the case in Bangalore.

Bangalore, Mumbai etc are more diverse and has national competition in the corporate legal services market, which is absent is Chennai.

Because of this lack of competition, salaries are low.

To everyone commenting here both in favour of and against Sudhir, maybe you should consider the fact that all of your experiences could have been valid to some extent. He should not be portrayed as a person who can do no wrong, nor someone with malicious intent. The incidents at NUJS took place almost 14-15 years back. Sudhir was a much younger person back then with less experience. He is a human being who makes mistakes and learns from those. That's how good professionals evolve into better ones, by taking lessons from their own experience. Maybe that's exactly what he has done too and is a better teacher and administrator now because of that. At the same time, the students who pulled off such a stunt are all professionals now themselves. If you ask them about it today, chances are that they would all feel regret about what was clearly a juvenile and immature prank that has been embellished and exaggerated since. Please give the bickering a rest, since the people who were actually involved have long since done the same.

There are many privileges we all have, where you were born, your family background, your schooling, your gender and opportunities available because of all these things. Privilege is sometimes just the mere absence of discrimination. You cannot disclaim all privileges you have. Like with everyone, you have to make the best of what life deals you.

Even if you initially got a foot in the door, it may not translate into much. A lot of law firms take in interns through connections, but whether they train you, they take you on as an associate and how you rise at the firm depends a lot on you - unless of course you are the family of the promoters. Also, just because you are well connected, doesn't mean you don't have the right attitude or don't put in the work etc.

It is unfair, but it is also how the world functions. As you go up the ladder, honestly connections matter more than your aptitude. I am not well connected but I've had other privileges that have helped in my career. Now as someone in the senior pool, I am anxious about not having connections as it makes it harder for me to get new clients. But I work at it. Connections are not static as well. The person through whom you found work, may leave his job or your connection's position may no longer be important. Using connections are trading favours, so many of these favours are called in - the partner may expect more work if your connection is a client for instance. The world is transactional.

I get your feeling of guilt. But if it isn't you, it is someone else. About aptitude, unless you are much worse than your peers, it shouldn't matter - an internship is for learning. It honestly is like getting a spot in a good school - there is management quota.

Just don't be a dick. Acknowledge that your no-connection peers may outpace you in your career. Work hard because some of the people who have to work with you may have some prejudice because of how you came in - but that's surmountable if you put in the effort and don't name drop or act like a snob. Be kind and co-operative when you work with others.

Hi, answering to the questions here one by one.

1. The Placement scene is up and coming, but that is not to say that if you work hard enough, you have a good chance of securing a PPO in your fourth or fifth year. Even if you don't secure a PPO, the placement cell organizes the Day Zero, for which a few Tier 1 firms, Inhouse roles and Litigation roles are hired. Recruiters include ICICI Bank, Vedanta, JSA, Trilegal, Wadia Ghandy to name a few. Though not many, there are quite a few number of alumni who are working at Tier 1 firms as Partners, PAs, SAs etc. The main factor for this can be attributed to this is that the batch strength of NUALS is approximately 60-70 students. From this, a majority of students opt to pursue litigation.

So to answer your question, if you find your niche in college, do decent internships in that niche, put in the work, and yes, you'll get a job at the end of your course.

2. NUALS stands in somewhere in the Tier 2 NLU status, that is what I believe. If the parameters for determining the Tier where an NLU stands is placements, then yes it stands in Tier 2. You can refer Point 1 to why I said Tier 2. If it is academic wise, yes NUALS does have it's fair share of good faculty and some not great faculties. But at the end of the day, the share of good faculty does overpower the latter. In terms of securing Rhodes or other scholarships, NUALS does boast it does have a good capacity in grooming students to prepare for applying for higher studies. Check LinkedIn about the alumni, who have secured scholarships for higher studies. NUALS would actually be considered a good University if the PR is as hardworking as other NLUs.

3. No, as far as my knowledge, no one have received a TC from NUALS. But that is not to say that there are not talented and hardworking individuals from this University. The upcoming batches have a plethora of students who are more than capable of securing a TC. Who is to say, even you'll secure one :)

4. Really really good foreign LLM culture. Multiple students have secured LLM in OxBridge, Russell Group, Ivy League schools. Further, others have gone and done MBAs in really great schools across the world.

5. Being situated in Kerala, the moment you step out of the campus, its a conservative society, but the campus as a whole is very liberal, the hostels are great, the food could be better, but it wouldn't be hostel food if its bad on somedays. The campus is liberal, I would say.

Hey

This post is for Partners only. How many of you still have panic attacks? Is it normal or is it a sign that one needs to move on from law? How many of you go for therapy and does it really help?

Obviously answers would be anonymous, but I would appreciate the insights.

I am an A0 at a T-2 Firm in Bombay, make around 70K (in hand)

- rent 15,000 [2BHK shared by 4]

- electricity 4,000

- maid 3,000 [breakfast and dinner]

- grocery and wi-fi 3,000

- personal phone bill and stationary 1,000

- emi 10,000

- lunch dabba - 4,000

- personal enjoyment, club, drinks 5,000

25,000 (savings)

Chennai has been one elusive market for Bombay and delhi law firms to set a regional presence. The Chennai legal market is heavily dominated by local players that have a deep rooted presence with the top corporates and MNC's that have been in Chennai for decades. However, it is pertinent to note that these Lala firms have been doing Chennai work on a fly in fly out basis and also servicing clients from Mumbai and Bangalore.

In the last 10 years, Chennai circles have opened up with Khaitan, Amarchands and Induslaw in recent years. Kochar has been around for a decade too. Interesting times ahead. With the recent establishment of NCLAT and a regional office of CCI, excellent times ahead for lawyers in Chennai. Tnnlu would largely benefit from these in the long run.