Is it true that the chance of converting a callback internship into a PPO, is based on hiring cycles in Tier-1 law firms? Does the Indian legal market have a similar hiring cycle or does it differs from firm to firm? Which months in a year is ideal for doing a callback, keeping in mind a PPO?

Kind people (especially associates) at LI, please help with this query

This is a friendly summons to all you litigating legends, arbitration aficionados, and dispute divas: If you come across Tier 1 Disputes job openings, kindly post them in this thread.

After all, we’re not just here to roast the system—we're here to help each other brief better, bill smarter, and maybe… land that next dream gig (without selling our souls to the devil in pinstripes. This community isn’t just a space to spill hot chai on law firm partners (though we do love a little masala). It can also be your soft corner for sharing the real juice—casual openings, whisper vacancies, and those oh-so-rare spots at top disputes teams that don’t hit LinkedIn till it’s too late.

So here’s a proposal, without prejudice but full of potential:

The next time you see a job post or hear a whisper from a recruiter, don’t just forward it to your BFF who already works at CAM. Slide it into this chat. Let someone else shoot their shot. Let’s be each other’s best closing argument.

Because legal karma is real, sweetheart. Today you share, tomorrow you rise.

lmao are u high? currently in JSA, base fixed for a SA is 2L which translates to 24 + bonus (assuming you have had a decent year) would be 6-8L + bill share would be another 4-5L (on a good year). This is the standard base for JSA (roughly 33-35L) NKU pays at trilegal base + bonus and bill share, so it would roughly be around 40-42L.

Hi, my intention wasn’t to troll or compare any NLU. I was, again, just curious to know how colleges “shift” the so-called tiers. Apologies, but it was a genuine question I thought a forum like LegallyIndia would be helpful in. I am aware there’s so many trollish questions/comments, and I believe this isn’t one of them. As for focusing on college, I have no other work to do right now since nothing has started. Thank you for your concern.

Bruh, cry a little less please. You wanted to exclude SARAF from the count because its not T1 for you and more so because it comes to NLUO for day Z and not hnlu. But want to include JSA, NDA placement when it comes to HNLU- seriously ?

Let's get on facts- link https://nluo.ac.in/storage/2025/06/Placement-Review-2025.pdf (placement report NLUO for 2025 batch)

SAM-3, CAM-2, Saraf 5; Tri, KCO, JSA- 3 (1 each); ELP, Argus, Indus, LKS- 8 (all combined). Total- 21
Show me only this 21 count form hnlu bro (the major firms) - you can't because all you had you've already put it (ofcourse by adsjusting your own t1 calculations very conveniently)

Further, to butter it - Poovaya, S&A, Wadia, etc all hired from NLUO.

Next time, talk in numbers - dont get in your self adjusted categorisation of T1s (because when it comes to HNLU - you like to conveniently adjust to bloat the numbers).

Bold of you to assume that the benefit of seat increase has gone to merit rankers. If you actually cared to take a look at the actual allotment lists, you would find the major chunk of the seat increase benefit has gone to domiciled and other reserved students - i.e. the ones who are mere fraction of that 60-250 rank range that you put up. In fact, NUJS has lost its share of rankers to NLUJ and GNLU this year. NUJS's unreserved category rank cutoff has gone up 40 places (from AIR 289 in 2024 to AIR 327 in 2025), despite no changes in seat matrix. While NLUJ's unreserved cutoff has gone down by 12 places, despite an increase of 12 seats for unreserved category (AIR 379 to AIR 367). And GNLU's cutoff has gone down too, despite no seat increase. People are leaving NUJS to go elsewhere. In fact, people who would have otherwise gone to shit tier NLUs like RGNUL, NLUO, etc., they're being accepted at NLS on account of quota. Please do not comment if you don't care enough to research and back your shit up. It's pathetic to look at.

Everything has a context. So far as I am concerned MBL is a good course that provides me a functional understanding of Business Law to a moderate level of depth. Given that I have IIT Tag for pursuing Full Time MTech from IIT Madras and IIM Tag for pursuing Hybrid mode Senior Management Programme from IIM Calcutta - The brand value of NLSIU holds good with my credentials. I do understand that it is not equivalent to LLB or LLM but then, I never wanted to be a lawyer. All I wanted was to understand the nitty-gritty of Business from a Lawyers point of view that was not possible to have being an Engineer or MBA. After pursuing MBL, my interaction with our Legal Team, Contracts Team or Company Secretary has become more meaningful. It is a good to have degree for CXOs - More like, Law for non-legal professionals in a nut and shell.

This is not a query post.

Every day, I see posts on LI and LinkedIn wherein the batch of 2025 is facing serious issues with respect to hiring. There are some factors that have led to such a condition. It can be said that the current batch of 2025 is largely a result of a combination of factors.

1. First, after the COVID-19 pandemic, firms began a hiring spree. The quality of entry-level associates fell like Greece's economy (at one point in time during the Greek Crisis). Students were getting PPOs even from their online internships. The graduating batch of 2022 and 2023 saw a massive hiring.
End result - firms saw that these are not the ones they assumed to be. Many left their jobs within months after joining. Some switched back to boutique law firms. The job market saw a saturation in the number of freshers being intake. This was felt for the batch of 2024, which saw a massive decline in hiring.

2. Consequently, due to such hiring in the years 2022 and 2023, firms become reluctant to offer PPOs straightaway from a single internship. Mailing to partners for jobs started to get slightly ineffective. Now, a proper procedure was decided to be followed - Internship -> Assessment Internship -> PPO/Associate.

End Result - Getting a job got a little difficult.

3. 2024-25 saw massive movement of teams between firms. This meant the PPO-holders also moved to the new firms with the team they were hired with. Although on paper this is not an issue, in reality, firms started to feel the heat. They expected these PPO-holders to stay back.

End Result - Firms are now more or less reluctant to provide PPO. Thus, the concept of PARALEGAL came to the forefront. Now its no more a Two-Tier test. But a 3-tier one.

4. Due to the abovementioned factors, now firms are playing the safe game. PQE is now sought even for entry-level positions.

To all those seeking a job desperately, do not get disheartened by this. Things will change, but this new norm is going to set the future course of the legal job market. At the end, everyone will get a chance to prove their worth. Just hang in there.

Note - whatever I said should not be considered as the gospel truth. Treat it as an insight, only not more than that, and not less than that.

It’s not that you don’t have elite university graduates in politics. There are ministers in Modi’s Cabinet who are IIT and IIM graduates. JNU grads dominate the Left and Congress. But the NLU presence is almost invisible. Most lawyers in politics are from traditional law colleges. Ironically, NLU students are strongly political during their college years. In some cases, elections to very mundane committees, are fought along political and ideological lines. I mean literally saying that a vote for X as mess committee convenor is a vote for the RSS and Hindutva, or a vote for Y as sports committee convenor is a vote for Palestine liberation! You actually have such election campaigns being carried out!

So how come these students don’t join politics, despite having such strong ideological views? That aside, law is a perfect degree for politics, because it gives you a grounding in constitutional law, criminal law etc.

My thought process when I started:

a) If I have enough savings in liquid assets to manage personal expenses for 12-18 months (yes, it takes time to secure work, execute it, and then get paid) and if my immediate family is okay with a short-term cash crunch during this period.

b) If I have/can get an anchor client - work that can cover the office expenses and the associate's salary.

c) Do you intend to offer specialised services or compete in general practice?

What I learnt after I started:

a) The importance of Budgeting

b) The importance of Cash Flow (and the difference between P&L and Cash Flow, and yes, it has a material impact).

c) The importance of saying NO to non-profitable work.

What you should be prepared for

a) For the same work, since you no longer work for a "brand", the fee would be discounted.

b) Perceptions about the client are often faulty. Clients who you think will give you work - may not; clients who you did not imagine would assign you work - often do.

c) The importance of friends/partners who trust each other on financial matters. We can disagree on many other things.

Hello everyone,

Can anyone shed some light on the kind of work and pay scale across various levels at Axiom5? Have been hearing good things about them and considering it has two reputed partners at the helm (reputed in an actual good way, unlike many other competition partners), I'm assuming that the good things are true.

Do they do enforcement matters? Or is it mostly merger control and advisory?

I am from K.C.. The faculty is not good, the infrastructure is in shambles, no placements or internship drives. When I was there during Covid there wasn't much fuss over attendance and I barely attended college, but I have heard now they are getting strict about that too but still lectures are mostly over by 11 am or 12 pm. That being said I feel like that is pretty much the state of every 3 year course across Mumbai colleges. The education and prestige is sub-par at best and it's all upto your talent and hustle to study and crack a good firm. So I think you can go to K.C. because at some point barely anyone cares which college you come from. I have no idea about ILS. I know people from my college who are working in Tier 1 and Tier 2 firms but yes it won't be so easy to crack those firms without extensively interning which is what my advice would be to you. I myself work at an okayish boutique firm with decent pay, so at the end of the day no matter what college it is really just what you make of your circumstances.

SERIOUS QUERY

Can anyone please tell me how's the state of NFSU for a Phd in criminal justice? I am assistant professor (4+year)

I came across NFSU and it's an interesting prospectus on criminal law specific area of study.

However, I am getting mixed reviews on it. Can anyone give a genuine response?

there are many things to complain about modi and the mess that he is creating. But this one is entirely because of the current admin and the EC.it does not require very advanced thinking to foresee the infra, academic and other needs when one expands. its quite basic arithmetic.

You may have to drop the 7 step routine once you start working, but I've got you. Find an active that works for you and use it on alternating nights. At 21 you may be too young for retinol, but law firm stress gets to your skin so quick it is alarming. I recommend vitC based night serums to begin with and a weekend lactic acid serum. I find cica based moisturisers help combat work stress related skin fatigue best.

Find a light, gel based sunscreen that works for you, but wash it off when you get to work (or you'll feel grimy). Indewild's lip balm is a good thing to carry around for touchups.

I'm a man in my 30s so my haircare routine might not work for you.

Proves nothing of the sort. Just that NLS knows its worth and that people are clear that if you go anywhere else, you are going somewhere which is below no.1 in women's safety. I would argue that having that fact set in stone and shouted from some rooftops is quite respectful to women and their safety. Therefore, take your fake outrage and shove it somewhere unprintable.

Incorrect, bonuses are neutralised in this team to ensure everyone gets almost the same to hide inefficiency of other members and favouritism by the two EPs. People are not realising that everyone is effectively subsidising practise areas within the same team. If you can take a sabbatical and be made partner then anything is possible!

so,

im a fifth year student of a tier 2 NLU. my grades and rank are average, i have not done any moots but a few negotiation competitions, no publications, ive done like 10 internships (1 or 2 tier 1). but this year i have been able to manage only tier 2/3 internships. Placements are coming up but I have no hope from them. I realise I have some 6 months to drastically improve myself if i want to land a job. I know there are many who are in this same position. I have noticed that a lot of accomplished lawyers and partners did not do all too well in law school and werent necessarily rank holders or t1 nlu grads, so I have not lost hope overall.

what steps should i take now? what firms hire on the basis of internship performance more than rank and are hiring for bo 26 (gencorp or disputes)?

He joined the haloed ranks of AZB equity partners, but Nandish made it to equity partnership late and likely got compensated akin to a young T-legal partner, given their lockstep.

AZB equity works, or worked at least in 2013, as follows: ZJM had ~80%, BNV ~9%, AJ had 3-4% and the residual remainder was split between the then existing equity partners (Darshika, Kalpana etc). The partnership deed was on common drive 'G' as it was called then, for all and sundry to see.

Zia Mody famously said "not knowing is death" And so everyone wanted to know.

On the courses point - while they have introduced a new set of courses with one-word titles, it's not true that these are at the expense of Torts, Legal Methods etc. Legal methods continues to be a course in trimester 1 and torts in trimester 2. You can see this clearly from the course schedule, and to be fair to them they have given some detail on each of the courses and why they are relevant in today's world. The description of the Numbers course for instance is more useful than "Economics 1". The rooms issue does sound to be a mess though- first years won't know any better but it's obviously dismaying for third years to have the rug pulled out from them.

Wrost Judgement :- As citizens committed to the values of constitutional democracy, we must express deep concern over certain judgments delivered by Justice M.M. Sundresh, which appear to defy constitutional reasoning and show a worrying disregard for factual evidence.

A judge's role is to uphold the Constitution and deliver justice based on sound legal principles. However, when decisions reflect either a lack of constitutional understanding or undue bias, it raises serious questions about accountability in the higher judiciary.

There are increasing murmurs within the legal community and the public at large about decisions that seem disconnected from the law, driven not by justice but by other invisible forces. If even the highest seats of justice begin to falter, where does the common citizen turn for fairness?

It is time we, as a democratic society, demand transparency, accountability, and constitutional literacy from every member of the judiciary — without exception.

Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done — without fear, favor, or compromise.

What do kids these days think disrespect is ? There’s a weird way in which y’all use the word. It’s supposed to mean something that’s insulting. How can you be insulted by a date ? A date for an event can be inconvenient how can it be insulting/ disrespectful? Y’all realise calling everything inconvenient disrespectful makes you sound like you have the worlds most massive ego?

How is it not inclusive ? It’s a date for convo - how is it discriminating ? Which demographic is it excluding?

Honestly y’all have ruined protest. You have no credibility left and you have become a satirical caricature and you don’t even realise it. It’s sad.

caN't say about others but mnlu mumbai is not a t1 because of only ONE reason- their absolute lethargy. The admin doesn't care about raising standards of legal education. However hard the students try, the college admin just doesn't care enough about anything. If they start caring, im sure they'll do a lot better

Lmfao Jindal can overtake top tier nlus in terms of niche fields, especially something like F1. And stop disrespecting JD, its one of the hardest degrees to get into and JGLS mediocrity has only reached Cornell and that too because of their pathway programme (which is now shut down cause Cornell knows its value).

If you want to shift to another practice area, try to do it within the firm. Speak to the partner you want to work with and then speak with your own partner. Make it clear that you are not interested in the type of work, and it has nothing to do with the team or people. This is the easiest way to shift the practice area. They might shave a year of your PQE, though.

Going abroad is a lot easier after 3-4years in India. Get in touch with HR or Partners working in Links Singapore or similar firms, and you should be able to make the switch.

I think mindset wise you need to be prepared to be ready to do everything i.e. billing, admin, collection, bd, training the team, creating brand awareness and not to forget, actual work.

You should check with the clients with whom you can have candid discussion whether they will be comfortable to give you work in your new avatar.

Since there are quite a few new age firms which have been started by people with similar practice area, see whether there is any distinction between their offering and yours. Connect with them to understand how's been their journey. You will be amazed how much knowledge people will be ready to pass on to you.

Kolkata Rape Accused Manojit Mishra's Checkered Past: Tried To Kill Student, Thrashed Cop

https://www.news18.com/india/kolkata-law-college-gangrape-case-accused-manojit-mishra-attempt-to-murder-police-officer-thrash-arrest-9411996.html

Kolkata Gangrape Case: Two more women speak out against Monojit Mishra, recount horrific incidents
==================================================================================================

https://www.livemint.com/news/kolkata-gangrape-case-two-more-women-speak-out-against-monojit-mishra-recount-horrific-incidents/amp-11751336740038.html

True to an extent but having given Clat a few years ago I can confirm that no one who got a rank ahead of 110 is going to nls, and nalsar /nujs crowd is definitely not in the same range as rml. But the cutoffs have been very close since the past few years so you can’t base the intellect of a person on the basis of how they perform in the shitshow that is Clat. Equally capable people who scored a mark less in the exam ended up going 3 rungs down in terms of colleges.

But I don't really get why it's such a radical thing as y'all are making it seem -- if you've gotten a Master's it should only add to your value and CTC APART FROM YOUR PQE; if Trilegal won't "take you back" you should be able to laterally move and still command a higher salary/position than you were in before given your Master's

Sorry, NLUD did not become a tier-1 only because of location. It did a lot of things right from the very beginning and the student accomplishments underpinned its success. You can be in the best city in the world but if graduate outcomes are shit, the college will never be considered good. MNLU Mumbai, on the other hand, hasn’t done anything in comparison and is definitely not a tier-1.

The party host WAS present during the incident. There are multiple individuals testifying to it. The people testifying against it have extreme logical fallacies in their argument. Stop lying. Yes, everyone involved should be punished. However, if one of the accused is celebrated and elevated to power, it’s a much bigger concern and should be acted upon in higher priority.

sam+ cam- if you don’t have contacts, your only choice is your internship cell or cold emailing partners (the latter worked for me). But note that sam and cam are very very academics-centric

tri- i know many people who’ve gotten. through direct application through the HR especially after the new internships test thing has started

saraf- good place to start, your cv may be accepted through he directly

s&r- they don’t care about rank or college, as long as you have a strong cv

kco- hr application possible, but best way is references or cold mailing partners

I wish I had the money for it man, even if i started prep now due to my non math background I can probably get a tier 2 mba or a low end IIM where the loan will basically make my salary non existent and keep me unemployed for 3 years as i'll get admission next year and then 2 years of nothingness.

Just graduated from a T2 NLU. Let me give you some heads up - final semester is going to be f**ing disastrous w.r.to emotionally and psychologically.

Enjoy the time you have at the moment. It won't return. Life's going to be serious from that point onwards. But that's doesn't mean you can't have any fun. You would. But those would be on its own level.

I had a pretty happy ending but with a regret. When my whole batch was going through chaos, heartbreaks and all, I ended my part with a good note with everyone. Be it the people I hated, or I didn't knew, I made sure I spend the last days in the best possible manner to exist. I did. I forgot and forgave everyone. And thus ended it in such a way that my whole perception to my college life suddenly changed. And I longed, for it should not have ended so quickly.

When the Mahabharat ended, all the enimity, hatred, toxicity, badmouthing, anger, sadistic pleasures, competition, politics, and what not they all subdued. Suddenly they didn't matter anymore. Exactly the same feeling at the end of my college life I realised it. All those hate and toxicity they didn't matter anymore. All of my batchmates just felt like good friends at the end. It's just we got lost and busy with the flow of time, not realising what led ahead.

Does that mean I would love to meet my batchmates again? Mostly no.

Does that mean I would still be the good guy in their lives? May be.

Does that mean I would still try to be in contact with them? Definitely. In a way or another, life would come to a full circle. So why not be prepared for it.

Before ending this -

If given another chance to live the college life again, I wouldn't change anything. I would like to live the same life with those same set of batchmates and same set of friends again and again and again!

Note - experience like this won't be the same for everyone. It would change from perspective to perspective.

My friend, this is nothing uncommon. In fact, my view is that it is a sign of a healthy and growing (in the right direction) legal market. Read the Financial Times - concentrate on reading back issues over the last year or so. The number of headlines about how the London offices of U.S. law firms and their magic circle counterparts are engaged in "pay wars" for juniour talent crop up with such depressing regularity that the desire to scream when one sees another such headline is almost overwhelming.

Read Simon Kuper's book, 'Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK'. Read especially chapter 17, where he points out that even if some aspects of the current social construct/order are not maintained, Oxford and Cambridge will have the advantage of age in beeing seen as top-class universities. Kuper's point can equally be applicable to India, with some variations: taking no sides, but a hypothetical example. NUJS, though a T1 according to many standards, could now be said to be declining toward the direction of T2, because of various nonsense happening there/related to it. Despite this, would any reasonable person advise against NUJS if you got in? I think not. Therefore, the point that Kuper illustrates - namely, that age is and will be a huge factor, other than a university's objective performance in various criteria - in peoples' perceptions still stands.

"Issuing sensational or deceptive press releases in the name of protecting law firms, when in reality aimed at safeguarding private commercial interests, constitutes using the profession for personal or sectional gain, which is strictly prohibited. In light of this, the BCI is seriously considering issuing notice to the individuals responsible for these press releases to explain their conduct. If found guilty, appropriate disciplinary action may be taken, including reprimand, suspension, or even removal from the roll of Advocates," the letter states.

https://www.barandbench.com/news/bci-considering-action-against-silf-for-misleading-comments-on-entry-of-foreign-law-firms