CMS Indus law changed a lot of policies related to interns since Oct'2025.
and now Interns don't get stipend.
that's not it they even went beyond to stop the pantry service for interns, a fellow interned was told that the pantry services are only for associates and interns don't get to order maggie, the evening snack service also discontinued for BLR office.

i think Indus law is focusing on retaining employees instead of getting quality Interns and fresh Hires. still weird to see this kind of behavior from a tier 1 firm.

I will be joining Link legal as an A0 from January 2026 and had a few silly questions- people who work there/ have worked there in the past please help me out........please no trolling. this is my first time working in a law firm

1. will they provide a laptop?

2. any dress code that the firm follows

3. till what time do the people work there?

4. are 2nd and 4th saturday off?

The noise you make has much to do with “not having a seat at the dinner table.” “You must learn to treat duffers and dalcops with contempt and condescension.” These are some of the barbs you’ll encounter when you call out the shit show that is the Supreme Court Bar—or the Delhi Bar more generally.

Here’s a post from a few weeks ago that illustrates this rather well:

The Supreme Court Bar Deserves Better Than This Manufactured, Closed-Door Ecosystem

https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/462791-the-supreme-court-bar-deserves-better-than-this-manufactured-closed-door-ecosystem#comment-462791

Here are my two cents: if you must live in this country and work in an environment with even a semblance of meritocracy and professionalism, practise corporate law—at a JSA- or Trilegal-like firm, at the very least. Your options in India will no doubt be limited and far from perfect. Make no mistake: even in firms like these, there are highly questionable individuals occupying partnership positions, drawing work through connections that exist largely because they are the sons and daughters of judges, senior lawyers, senior bureaucrats, corporates, and politicians—especially on the disputes side. A cursory Google search will reveal this pattern in most cases. The exceptions merely prove the rule. One such individual was reportedly exposed on Legally India for investing, through himself and his immediate family, in election bonds—the sums involved far outstripping the pay of a so-called “salaried partner.” There is a great deal of muck under the hood even in corporate law.

If you don’t come from privilege, yet believe you deserve clean air and a fair shot at success through honest hard work—quit India.

You only need to read the judgments emanating from India over the last 20 years on something as basic as arbitration law to see the pervasive ineptitude at the highest levels. There is no method to our madness. The only semblance of substance you’ll occasionally encounter is the selective borrowing of UK or US law—sometimes applied correctly and in the right spirit—by a “celebrity judge,” who, more often than not, is a second- or third-generation insider, occasionally armed with an Ivy League or Oxbridge degree. Counsel on the other end will, in most cases, be a second-, third-, or fourth-generation senior advocate who has risen to the top more on the strength of politics than oratory.

Now that Gen Z is ending and the first batch of Gen Alpha is on the cusp on entering NLUs, it’s a good time to reflect on which of the three generations (X,Y,Z) has the best time at NLUs. To begin with, here are some characteristics of each generation :

X - Almost exclusively NLSIU alumni, maybe the first couple of batches from NALSAR. No CLAT. No coaching centre culture. Small batch sizes. Tough hostel life. No Internet for early Gen X batches. Jobs for all.

Y - Newer NLUs mushroom. No CLAT for early Gen Y batches, then CLAT comes in along with coaching centre culture. Initially small batch sizes, then expansion. Jobs for most. Greater digitalisation. Some NLU VCs involved in serious corruption — VCs of NALSAR, NUJS, NLIU, HNLU etc kicked out after protests.

Z - More NLUs and more seats, but lots of reservation — thus increasing competition. Excellent learning facilities compared to previous batches: lots of online resources. NLU crowd becomes less elite, more people from modest backgrounds. Start of culture wars, wokeness. Many NLUs rocked by #MeToo student scandals. Covid big disruptor. Tough job scene.

Full of lawyers who were in charge of small vc deals and startup fund clients in their previous firms and were not a part of the big ticket work which separate teams used to perform. So basically entry pays are very low 40-50k month types with no bonus, quality of work will be only micro small deals with focus on bulk work.

generally, T-1 NLU grads don't struggle if they have avg grades because of their law schools. In t-2s, hiring are lesser, so the burden to be at the top is more. However, if you luck out with good internships and are good at your work, shouldn't matter much, I have seen people with terrible grades at Christ work at t-1s.

▮▮▮.

MC's post is absurd. He wants someone with at least 2 PQE at a TMT team of a T-1 based on the Legal500 rankings. There a 7 such other firms. He puts an criteria that your experience of 2 years should be of working at only one of these firms, perhaps a step to limit attrition.

Now, why would with 2 PQE at a T-1, all of which have pay north of 22-25, most of which are teams based out of Delhi and Mumbai- ▮▮▮ .

This is just to caution people ▮▮▮ Maybe don't even trust me- just go and stalk people's linkedins and you'd know what the attrition is like there. Then try asking one of those people how it was working there. You'll have your answer.

Read the latest hiring post of MC. He has been ragebaiting for a while with random hiring post asking sun and moon from a junior associate.

This creates an environment of panic for college kids thinking this is the normal course for every associate after graduation to be working for big clients at a big law firm with a big partner.

▮▮▮

You keep whining about the same thing in the comments section. One assumes that you're somehow associated with NUJS. What exactly have you done over the years to stop the government from nominating people to the EC, who in your opinion are not good enough? What can the SJA do exactly? How is it even possible for the students to decide who gets to be in the EC?

Maybe you have tried this already? But write an email to their student help desk, you can even request for a video call with one of the student volunteers working in the admissions office, or anyone at the admissions office- they are generally helpful and do respond within 2-3 working days. Hope this helps, if not there’s a helpline number (fixed line) where you can call and hopefully get some clarity.

##### OMG- so the Dean was totally fed up with how they were slacking on the non-academic stuff for months. The campus operation is pretty hot mess since we all moved here. It's totally neglected and needs way more investment. He's had it, for real (coming from super reliable sources super very close to him).

Exactly - I go to the District Courts there. You don't know what you are talking about if you are here just to shit on judges. This lady could very well have recused, and she has not done so in this case is a testament to her sense of duty. She lost promotions to the HC as the Supreme Court ended up asking her to hear and finish this matter.

Proving conspiracy and common object in criminal cases is hard. It doesn't matter if Pulsar Suni says he did it - he can get discredited as an unreliable witness by Dileep's defence. The shortfalls in this case began and ended with the shoddy police investigation, which remains the bane and weak link in all criminal trials all over India.

The victim's legal team rushed to the High Court 4 years ago, claiming Honey was biased. The victim has been ill-advised, and frankly, the media gaze ended up jeopardising her case. An early lesson given to me by a clerk in litigation is this - the judge is your friend, the opposite party is not. Always argue from this basis. If you feel the judge is biased - prove it in an appeal, not declare during court.

This is the reason why American courts sometimes bar and regulate media reporting of court proceedings, and we have a sub-judice rule that is applicable from when a chargesheet is filed, which is constantly flouted. In the US, there is a genuine need as the criminal justice system is required to sequester the jury - here it's one person who is under enormous scrutiny and media gaze.

The reality is that Honey would have been heralded as someone sort of feminist icon if she had sent Dileep to jail and given some exemplary punishment. Mind you, it was the government that ensured that a female judge heard the matter, which itself is bordering on interfering with the course of justice. Honey stuck to the evidence put in front of her, and the HC can remand if it feels otherwise.

Just to be clear - Do I think Dileep is guilty? Yes. Has criminal conspiracy been proven beyond a reasonable doubt? Prosecution struggled, and many resigned, blaming the police, the judge, powerful people and the media. Why don't you look at the prosecutors? Court reporting in India is banal. Often paid, hysterical, reactionary and one-sided. Usually read the TNM, but they have messed up a lot lately.

Choose an area of your interest (This domain can also be your major in PhD later). Research and write research papers. If you can get it published in a scopus journal, that's even better. Do internships in NGOs, community foundations, govenment organizations, etc.
Do your LLM and then your PhD after graduating

No. This is at least not a requirement across the board. I am sure that a few people expect juniors to have worked in a firm for a few years but not all do. My advice to you would be to intern under the person whose chamber you want to join. Impress them during your internship and you will at least have a decent shot at getting a referral for a junior position from them, if not at joining their chamber itself.

No words…

⚖️💰🇮🇳🫡

https://m.economictimes.com/news/india/sandesara-brothers-deposit-rs-5100-cr-total-recovery-nearly-double-of-rs-5383-cr-fraud/amp_articleshow/125914809.cms

Good article summarising Tharoor's dilemma - https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/refusing-savarkar-award-exposes-shashi-tharoors-dilemma-3828706

I am a mid academic student at a tier 2 law school. But I can work better than most of my batchmates. Work harder and far more productively. But if CGPA is a factor to just decide who's better then i will always stay at a disdvangtage.

Furthermore, please if seniors on LI would be able to share names of firms which look for work>grades it will be really good.

I’m considering applying to her team, but I have heard some serious complaints from a few people within. Apparently, she has genuine anger issues and takes unnecessary personal jabs. Could you please let me know about the salary, the team culture, and whether she and Ashutosh work together or separately?

I too feel have the same issue. Been only 3 months into practice and I am not getting good at drafting, almost all the time by boss tells me that the draft were not good, while I convey everything there is.

Moderator can you pin this? Maybe some reply will really help a few of us out here.

From what I understand, they are still allowed to give "legal advice" wrt. an issue. The legal advice would include DD and drafting, but now, as the amended 9A says and how I interpret it, the vetting of these documents needs to be done by the MB/IB, and that vetting cannot be outsourced. So now every MB engaging a counsel needs to have an ECM execution team to give a green light to the same, which was originally practised by top Indian banks like Kotak/JM/Axis, etc.

(This is my interpretation; I do not know for a fact.)

Obviously Mamata will appoint a servile ex-judge who will whitewash her government’s role. Speaks volumes that he is also on the NUJS EC and exemplified the decay of the institutions. When Menon, MP Singh and BS Chimni were heading NUJS, the ex-judges on the EC were legends: Ruma Pal, Chittatosh Mookherjee etc.

The SJA has continued to look the other way and engage in pointless culture wars.

Justice Ashim Ray will head up the committee constituted by the CM to inquire into the mess up and fix responsibility. Justice Ray has been a veteran EC member and was part of several inquiries initiated by the EC against PIB and his acolytes. He also headed up various inquiries etc during NKC tenure too. Wonder what happened to those inquiries.

SJA if you are done playing and wagging like a L...G could you please make these inquiry reports available to GB?

The pay is ▮▮▮ (example 14 LPA (fixed) for someone with 5 years experience) and the work is basic commerical contracts. You'll end up reviewing POs and NDAs for most part of the day. There's hardly any employment work even though the firm claims to have 'expertise' in the subject area. ▮▮▮ The bonus is a joke and the firm will come with very novel reasons to withhold the same - such as "we like your work but there are some challenges (with no explanation of what exactly are those)". Do not fall for any variable amount that is mentioned in the contract because pretty much the whole of it will not be paid. ▮▮▮ There's no HR nor an HR policy. Leaves are completely dependent on the whims of the newly minted partner and some people who have been in the firm for a long time. Same goes for the so called work from home policy which was only applicable for the Partners and the seniors associates. ▮▮▮

Talk to your best credentialed and most productive professors. Also to guest faculty who are fully time academics whom you admire. LL.M., Ph.D., fellowships and teaching experience but not necessarily in that order. You need good mentors first because recommendations and good advice are everything at your stage.

BTW, there's no substitute to asking King's directly. I know messaging the unis through their portals can be convoluted, pretty jank and irritating, however they are the ones who wrote the offer letter, and they are the ones who can give you the best answer. Explain precisely what you have here to them and ask them directly. Regardless of what you think of what I've said in my previous comment about your grade averages, and regardless of what anyone else says, ask King's directly,. Just to be safe and to make sure.

How is this "consolidated percentage" calculated? Is it a weighted average of your grades over the years? If so, that is likely to be what they are looking for. As you are doing a five-year degree, I think your best bet (from my own experience with various UK universities) would be to assume that in their calculation, each year counts for 20% of your grade (even if that's not the case according to your uni in India). So you would want to be obtaining a 67% or above as your average every year, and that needs to include your final year (when those grades come).

1. The part about the top NLU graduates being the main part of the Indian student demographic in the good (and even mediocre) LLM programmes in Britain and the U.S. is true, though there are people from places like University of Delhi and ILS Law College as well. Indeed, the first blind person from India to get the Rhodes Scholarship (world's oldest international postgraduate scholarship to study graduate degrees at Oxford for two years) was a law graduate from Nagpur University.

2. However, (1) a UK LLM is very unlikely (chances almost zero) to get you into a U.S. law firm's U.S. practice, even if you had amazing contacts (one of the things that U.S. law firms look for from foreign lawyers), unless your amazing contacts were like really top-notch ones, preferably from both India and the UK (which would mean you'd need high levels of experience in both jurisdictions) and/or India and a third jurisdiction, and/or India, the UK and a third jurisdiction that wasn't India, the UK or the U.S. (like Singapore); and (2) a U.S. LLM, even if you were to get into one, with or without funding, is very unlikely to be the trigger that leads to a U.S. job. That market does not favour LLM graduates (not like the UK does, either). And they know enough about India by now to have formed opinions on our law schools. So if you were to go to a non-T1 NLU in India (read: not having attended NLSIU, NALSAR, NLUD or NUJS), that would be very unlikely to help your prospects either.

1. My personal suggestion: Don't move at this point. Just grit your teeth and stick it out for another up to four to five years. I know it's hard, but the chance that you'll get good fruit out of this is much higher.

2. At the same time: An anecdotal example for you to consider (from the London market). One of my best friends is a lawyer in Britain (having attended university there straight after school) who worked at a prominent Anglo-American law firm's London office for just under six years (the amount of time required under current British immigration law to go from immigrant to citizen), and then moved in-house. This individual worked in the securitisation practice of the law firm and moved to a prominent investment bank, where she has been working for under a year (it is one of the top players). The major difference between her CV and yours (unless you have omitted relevant information) is likely to be that she worked at the Mainland Europe office of a second prominent investment bank on secondment from her law firm for three months, early in her career.

It's confirmed that it was leaked. Take a look at just this video:

https://youtu.be/BuYcTUsz5X8?si=6MYwwZthsObZ4f5_

In fact, some students have already reached out to solicitors to speak to Gopal Sankaranarayanan

Fantastic person, lawyer and boss to work with. Very balanced - highly organised so you now how to pace yourself, clear about deliverables, and very considerate. She will actually look out for you and help while respectfully ensuring you work hard and learn. Trust me that's a rarity in the T1s

I am to graduate in the coming May from a T2 NLU. Since last year, I have been doing judicial internships; before that, I was with corporate teams in different law firms. This month, I am interning at the chamber of a senior advocate. The associates here are really good, although there is not much substantial drafting (most of the time, it is only research and brief making), yet they give me a few applications to draft, so that I can learn something, and after each submission, the unfortunate review has been that I don't write well, there are various grammatical mistakes and that the manner in which I have drafted will take me nowhere. This has now become a huge cause of diffidence for me.

I feel the past few years of making projects using ChatGPT, and before that using Quillbot, have shown their colours. Moreover, since so many internships, I was never directly involved in drafting, and hence, now the realisation is coming to me this late, just before my graduation. I am really worried. I have seen the final drafts, edited by my seniors, and there is a huge difference in articulation and the manner of writing. Their sentence construction is too precise, and the words used are ordinary, yet, either in an extraordinary manner or in a very precise manner, which, after reading, makes me realise that I too could have used this basic word, which I have known of for so many years. I have also tried following the sentence construction and words as used in judgments, to make my drafts a little bit better, but never been successful.

The real issue is that when I draft something, I try to brainstorm a better way of writing the sentence, but at that juncture, I reach a pit stop. It's like I can't think further than that. I really want to excel in litigation, but I need some real tips and help from anyone who can guide me on improving drafting. Never in the last 5 years had I ever thought that just before my graduation, the only thing I would be worried about was my bad drafting.

The problem with NLU Assam is not location. IIT Guwahati is on par with topmost IITs. The reasons are:

1. No visionary VC till date. ▮▮▮

2. ▮▮▮ faculty mostly recruited from north east itself and probably ▮▮▮ or referrals ▮▮▮

3. Student body didn’t work hard in initial year nor revolted enough to throw the ▮▮▮ VCs out

If you live in MP, especially in a city with a bench of the HC, then it is really a no-brainer. You should practice before the MP HC. You will likely save quite a bit of money on rent, especially if you own property but even otherwise due to the lower cost of living. Given the pittance which is given to juniors for the first few years, best to stay in MP.

Read Modern Legal Drafting by Peter Butt and Richard Castle, as well as The Devil's Advocate by Iain Morley KC. Should be good enough in the beginning. Real experience will fill in any gaps in your knowledge. All the best to you! God knows we need competent litigators in this country.

What percentage of successful counsels have political connections? Is it possible to be successful in Delhi without having ANY political connections?

I’m thinking of the following examples:

1. A couple of ASGs, one of whom has been into political activism since college ▮▮▮. Non-political people with the same background have not progressed like them.

2. A couple of ▮▮▮ who got designated as seniors. Totally undeserved.

3. Two youngish lawyers who became standing counsels for a certain state government ▮▮▮.

I’m asking only about Delhi because of the nature of the city. Every conversation in Delhi begins with “I was playing golf with Robert Vadra the other day”, or “ Piyush Goyal is my dad’s college friend.” 🙄

The truth is you don't need any.

If you want to excel in legal drafting, the only thing that matters is your command over language. You get an idea of the typical terms to use, how to structure it, etc., based on the case files you would read during the course of your usual work otherwise. For language, I'd say just start reading books. Fiction or non-fiction, doesn't matter. If you want to go with read law-related books, there have been plenty of threads on LI previously.

On the other hand, if you want to improve your knowledge of the law itself, just pick up the book(s) & bare act(s) and read it. There is no substitute for this. No course can help you the way books can. So, for eg, if you're in civil litigation, just read up a good book on civil procedure cover-to-cover. Suggestions for these have also been previously posted on LI.