Very rightly put. He/she is sailing in a dangerous turf. Don't try to over optimize your time. You'll end up ruining both. Please assess your priorities and then decide. Any competitive exam that you might want to sit in requires time and effort at the minimum, whether it's UPSC or Judiciary (since both follow the prelims+mains+interview criteria to select candidates).

A T1 job, by its very nature, is already an unforgiving and attempting to pair it with a competitive exam self-sabotage.

Since you're an A0, you're relatively young and can use that in your favour. Speak to your partner sincerely and drop out. Prepare seriously and give it your best. If it works great, otherwise you can always come back.

NKC also retired. Not forced out. Lizzy also completed her term at Trichy bfr returning to NLS. The swiftness in getting that chair and the complete absence of offers or opportunities to chair another NLU is striking.

Let's see how things roll for NKC. Must be getting a cushy sinecure from the state govt or its allies in the pvt sector. SNU, Techno? Have a feeling it will be some Forensic thing under state

Hi guys, recently I have joined a firm but the management here is too bad. They have not issued any offer letter to me despite following up with HR things didn't turned up. I believe; since they have not issued any offer letter maybe they'll not give any relieving or experience letters if I leave.

Do I have any option and is any other firm going to hire me with offer and experience letters? What do you guys suggest?

There are quite a few good OS counsels who are non-parsis and are upcoming. Now the AS-OS distinction is reducing quite a bit given that great counsels like Mayur Khanderparkar operate on both. Inclusion of firms into the picture has also eaten away the work of many traditional solicitor firms as many of these partners/senior partners don't have the same affinity towards OS counsels like old-school firms had.

This is a highly ridiculous thread. Folks please don’t get influenced by this stupidity of some people in show of wealth. I feel our country is becoming rotten day by day by this show of wealth and the erosion of values it creates down the chain. Instead of focusing on self improvement learning and knowledge, we start chasing these stupid flashy things that deep down most of us don’t even care about. Women and bags and men and watches and the list goes on and on… we really need to start focusing on high quality Indian goods and help life masses in India from poverty. The options to buy quality Indian goods are galore and we have to get over this flash and shine

### Most of us here hear endless chatter about corporate law interviews, but when it comes to litigation chambers, especially those of AORs or senior advocates, the information dries up fast. Let’s fix that.

1. If you’re working in a litigation chamber (Delhi, Mumbai, or elsewhere), what actually happens in the interview? What are they looking for?

- 2. For freshers, what kind of questions usually come up? Are they testing knowledge, temperament, or just whether you’ll survive in court corridors?
- 3. For freshers, which laws or fundamentals should one brush up on before walking in?
- - 4. For those with some PQE, how do the questions shift: more on law, case strategy, or ethics?
-

5. Be it fresher or otherwise, what does it take to secure a position and make a mark once you’re inside?

This thread is for everyone trying to decode the litigation side of interviews, what chambers expect, how to prepare, and how to actually navigate a career in court practice.

There’s already too much noise about corporate placements. Let’s build a real pool of insight for litigation aspirants.

Hi, I’m a law student in the latter stage of a tier 1 law college, I’m currently confused between what practice area to take up for my future internships, research publications and eventually job.

While I have interest in IBC, Taxation and Tech law/TMT, I have heard from many people, including threads on this platform say that IBC as a field is oversaturated and no firm is hiring for IBC teams, similarly taxation is considered not a very lucrative career option, I never understood why, and not many opportunities are available in TMT considering I want to work in Delhi. In the end everyone ends up recommending to do M&A, gen corp etc. which I have no interest in.

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to laterally shift to Pune firm, Legalogic is on my priority list since it is the biggest in the market.

I have heard lot of good things about it's culture.

Can someone from inside (possibly HR🙏) PLEASE tell

1. What is the hiring cycle?

2. What is the pay structure?

3. What is the increment percentage?

4. What is the appropriate time to apply for lateral shift?

I'm looking for a change in practice area with productive environment. I have an experience of 6 months in tier 1 banking practice.

Hi LI community,

I did a Tier-I internship with the litigation team and my team was actually pretty decent. The associates who alloted me work were kind enough to help me understand things again and again when I didn't understand it. I would honestly rate myself as an intern pretty average or maybe, even below average (maybe I am being too hard on myself so idk). And because of how sometimes during the internship, I would fail to grasp things quickly or some small mistakes I made that could have been completely ignored, it made me want to quit law. However, i have decided that I am not run away just because I failed once and I really want to get better. So guys, how do I get better? Please help :))

Thank you!

This is very sad but it misses the point. The reason that there's such an uptick in bribery is that health care and retirement for these people are now practically nonexistent. Talk to even senior former army people about their retirement health care and you will hear terrible stories of being refused treatment. No one thinks of the ambulance technician and his family. If we were more empathetic and proactively tipped them, then they wouldn't need to be unpleasant about bribes. They also have families to care for, parents' illnesses and children to educate. Middle-class entitlement is so gross. Happy to shell out three times what is needed for coffee that makes us look cool but not to tip the waiter who really needs the money.

Hi, I am considering to accept a Contract Analyst role at a British tech company (remotely), which is offering a much higher compensation than the current law firm job (A0).

If you had been into a similar role, I would love to hear how your experience was.

Also, what kind of opportunities would be available after such an experience (in Indian law firms or non-tech companies)?

Sorry to say it, but people like this man are the reason that bribery continues. There is no justification for paying a bribe if you have the privilege and social capital (ex-CFO etc) to resist. If enough people resist or ask for accountability, the demands will stop.

Even in the present case, action was taken after his social media post. What prevented him from posting it before paying the bribe? It takes only 5 mins to make a post.

This is the story everywhere in India. I’m sorry, but this shit is what Indira Jaising, Prashant Bhushan & Co need to be filing petitions about. Not Adani building airports, the right to use they/them pronouns, sex at 16 years etc. I’ve always failed to understand why human rights lawyers don’t fight against bureaucratic harassment of the middle class. Is it because it contradicts their ideology of statism over privatisation, or because they don’t see the middle class as worth fighting for?

You also rarely see the likes of Gavai and Chandrachud discussing this. Always coming to NLUs and giving gyan about how NLUs are elitist and law firm oriented. What about these issues, bro??

https://www.ndtv.com/bangalore-news/bengaluru-ex-cfos-34-year-old-daughter-died-then-everyone-asked-for-bribes-9542935

Thank you everyone (including those who have liked the posts by other members as well)!!

Will definitely try to follow what everyone has written here. Requesting for feedback from others as well especially people who have recently set up their practice. Let's share as many thoughts, ideas, pros and cons. Even if we don't implement all the points but still end up implementing a few, it will be win!!

Cheers

Yes, buddy, obviously it’s the freaking UPSC. But the issue is "not getting Sundays off", or otherwise having offs which are way too random.

P.S. I don’t wanna quit my job to take the exam. I think I’m preparing well after office hours, which are reasonable, but it’s still necessary to be present most of the week.

As a NLUJAA alum who barely scraped through a PPO in the final semester, let me tell you, the first thing should be to not expect anything from the college. Someone rightly said, intern, publish, moot and network. Reach out to people on LinkedIn, join college committees, and invite them on campus for lectures and talks. Try not to get sucked into college bs, internal politics, etc. And most importantly, don't forget to have fun in college. You will meet some of the nicest people on campus, cherish them.

Let’s say a tier 3 firm? Or the junior of an advocate? Also from a work-life balance perspective? Who is better off?

https://www.ndtvprofit.com/amp/economy-finance/8th-pay-commission-fitment-factor-how-salaries-of-peon-attendants-level-1-staff-can-rise

Yes, I am one of those people, started with boutique, then moved to Tier 1. Hence am able to advise to give IP a miss. The work is fun on most days, not denying, but getting paid less than the salary of your peers for same amount of work gets on your nerves. Also that 6-7 years down the line, there are very limited options to continue.

Okay, so it wasn’t nothing at all, but more like a series of quizzes sent via email, and honestly, they were even less fun than “nothing”! They’re saying the firm retreat is off the charts because “associates can’t behave,” but let’s be real, it’s probably because they don’t have the budget to treat us to anything.

In a nutshell, no retreat, no Diwali gifts, but just a whole lot of management-centric annoyance.

Tier 1 and that too Disputes practice. You didn’t think this through I’m guessing? Disputes practitioners don’t get weekends. Weekends are infact the most crucial time to prepare for the coming week and rightly so as you’re stuck in court the week till 4pm. You need to re calibrate your priorities and take a break from work if upsc is your sole aim in life.

No no I think you're inaccurate it's not just unconstitutional. It violates the basic structure doctrine as well. The CJI must ensure a constitutional ammendment is made, passed by the parliament and ratified by 50% of the states for such a decision.

Please study for your courses or CLE as applicable

/s

Pay a little less but ensure your associates get some time off. Not saying they should never work 15-16 hours a day but this should be an exception. 8-10 hours usual days, with some days with 11-12 hours and rare 15-16 hours days is good.

Please don't make your associates work on Diwali or other major festivals, or on their birthdays, sick days or when they take pre-planned leaves. I agree with a small team managing absence on an associate is tough but please strive.

Pay them what you promise them. Never deduct unnecessarily.

Ensure you give them some WFH.

And most importantly, when you ensure all the above, also ensure you don't have NPAs in your team. Kick out the leaches immediately. These non-performing associates take an unnecessary toll on the whole team.

Cheers and Congratulations, Mx. Managing Partner!!

Market is too saturated. More likely than not you'll end up at a boutique form doing prosecution work, which is a black hole to be stuck in unless you can escape in a couple of years. Starting salaries are low, even in Toer 1s they are lower than other teams. Even at T-1 partner level there is limited growth. If you do like IP and want succeed, start with litigation and take IP work as it comes along.

Nick Robinson was a law clerk to Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal. However one wrong which no one challenged cannot justify continuing the wrong practice. There is a Constitutional Bar. Law Clerks to Supreme Court Judges cannot be foreigners. This has to be the logical conclusion from the requirement of Article 124 that a Supreme Court Judge must be an Indian Citizen. Anyone involved in the judicial process of a Supreme Court Judge must also be an Indian Citizen.

Under Article 124 of the Constitution of India, a Supreme Court Judge must be a Citizen of India. Therefore, any other person involved in the process of "Judging" by a Supreme Court Judge must also be a Citizen of India. Law Clerks or Law Researchers are part of the judicial process adopted by a Judge. Such persons cannot be foreigners. They must also be Citizens of India. The same principle applies for High Court Judges and District Court Judges.

Nepal and Bhutan citizens may be considered for Government of India jobs. But Nepal and Bhutan Citizens cannot become Judges in India. Therefore they also cannot assist Judges in the judicial process by acting as Law Clerks. There is a Constitutional Bar. Justice Gavai's decision is wrong.

OS is dominated by Parsis and AS by the Marathis. To break into OS, you need to be in the good books of solicitor firms and get cases, very few from outside, like Dr. Birendra Saraf have broken into it. For AS, you need contacts in the district courts to really break into, or just have good clients, or a good Marathi connection with any lawyer. Of course, these are things which are not essential but a plus. What is essential to break into is hardwork. To simply asnwer your question, AS is much more easier to break into. traditionally, the OS of the Chartered HCs have always been a parochial bar and very difficult to break into, and that is still the case in Bombay, and Madras and Calcutta HCs especially. As regards Delhi HC, they have an OS/AS but since they are a newbie HC without any tradition, it does not matter much

I am studying in one of the top NLUs of India (not naming the nlu because I don't want to become the college gossip anymore). I have BPD and struggle a lot in college and with things that are happening at home. I also struggle a lot because I am a Dalit queer student coming from a very small town in UP. Two weeks before, the college administration informed my so-called family about my condition (glad they didn't tell them abt my sexuality), that day I was going through a major BPD trigger. I completely understand that being in college sucks. I hate how these top institutions work; the way things happened was so triggering that I don't know if I can ever step into that place again. The way friendship works in this college, no one realised how invasive living with BPD can be, and I developed this because of my trauma; it was never my fault. Home is also not a safe space. I have been taken to babas to cure my depression. I am not allowed to take medicines, and I struggle a lot at home, as much as college, and I have no one to talk to here. I feel like running away, but where? College and home are equally horrible places; I have no one to talk to, no one who can understand, no college friends except one or two. I am in urgent need of help. And yes, I have tried talking to parents abt mental health. The more I talk, the harder it will be for me here, the more mandirs and baba I will be taken to and telling abt my sexuality would not be mentally and even physically safe for me. Help.

https://thewire.in/news/in-letter-ex-scba-chief-documents-strained-relations-with-ex-cji-chandrachud

even after this, you call it stellar

As a gen z just entering into the profession, I think that there need to be a balance, firm has certain needs, the client also has needs and so do the associates.

I understand that sometimes there will be a crunch period during a high stakes transaction, and I am very well ready to put my foot down but it should not be a regular affair as it would only result in burnout.

I find firms especially boutique ones also work on Saturdays or that God awful half day culture (Krida I am looking at you) that is not good, you need atleast a couple of days to get ready to tackle work again, even research shows that productivity drops as you work longer hours.

I personally think WFH policies should only be present for extraordinary circumstances, i personally dislike working in offices with a hybrid work culture, as a junior as I don't get that level of mentorship and assistance from my seniors in that sort of an environment.

Apart from that i think what fosters a good culture is when the bosses are approachable, when your immediate seniors don't throw you under the bus just to save face or impress the client/partner.

There needs to be a proper feedback loop, many people especially seniors take it to their ego if a junior speaks up/suggests something new, similarity for the juniors they need to be mentored, their mistakes corrected at first and then reprimanded, insults and abuse will only make them fear you and not respect you.

All the best, i think you know more than me but still it's nice to see seniors into the profession asking is juniors for feedback, I hope we see more seniors like you.

All the best with your new venture.

Independent practitioner here, never worked in firms. Answering on the basis of what I've gathered over the last 6-or-so years.

Whether parters appear & argue in court depends on the specific partner. Naturally, they don't appear in the high-stake matters (of which there are plenty). I've seen firm partners who argue and let their team argue. I've seen partners who don't have the confidence to argue (or competence - and when they do, they mess up). Naturally, their juniors don't get opportunities to argue either.

If you want a practice in which you primarily argue & appear in court - especially throughout the city and not just at HC/SC/NCLAT, go for a chamber.

Interning during both semester breaks. By the end of 5 years have high valued internships, publications and good grades. Grades are not a problem for NLUJAA. Work on your CV. Speak to your seniors, there are a few who have gone abroad for LLM. Also decide whether you want corporate or academia. Both their journey's are different.

Slightly tangential, but I wish I had gone to my lectures / classes more.

Getting an education, even an average quality one, is a privilege, and I squandered it by being lazy, having a conceited view of myself (oh, the folly of youth!) and by exaggerating (in my mind) the tedium caused by the mediocrity of Indian colleges. I wish I had attended all my lectures in all my subjects diligently. I really like the law and I think I have missed the only opportunity to learn the basics of this great field in a structured manner and in a broadly conducive environment.

Another thing is that being a bad student becomes a bad habit which is particularly difficult to shake off. A good lawyer is always learning and if you take an early view that you can only be taught by a certain type of persons (e.g. only by the very smart and very polished) or in a particular manner (e.g. only in interactive, stimulating sessions as opposed to boring, one-way lectures), you take away your ability to be humble and grab every learning from whoever, wherever (e.g. learn something interesting from a dull client who nonetheless came to know something very useful from another of her cases / transactions handled by someone else).

SO, DEAR READER, DO NOT SKIP LECTURES EVEN IF YOU THINK IT IS NOT WORTH IT OR IF YOU THINK YOU ARE "TOO COOL FOR (THE ACTUAL LAW) SCHOOL". NLU or non-NLU. You take 100% of what life has given you for your three or five years of law college.

I’m an A0 in the disputes team at a tier-1 law firm. I’ve been planning to sit for a competitive exam that has three stages: prelims, mains, and interview. The problem is that the prelim and mains fall on Sundays, and in my team, weekends are rarely free, even Sundays can mean calls, filings, or urgent assignments.

I never mentioned my exam plans during the interview, even though I knew I’d eventually write it. Now I’m not sure what to do. If I tell my partner that I need Sundays off for the exam, I risk being replaced immediately, whether or not I clear it. But if I don’t tell anyone and just go write it, I’ll be unreachable for about three hours and that could backfire badly if work crops up.

I hardly get one or two Sundays off a month, so I can’t rely on casual leave or luck. How do I handle this without sabotaging my job or my exam attempt? Should I disclose it upfront, keep it vague, or quietly manage those exam hours? Would really appreciate some practical advice from people who’ve navigated something similar.