I am currently pursuing my PhD. I am absolutely sure to get into academia despite knowing the lows and limitations. However, I don't want to join it just cause there's nothing else. I genuinely want to give my best to research and teaching, especially teaching. I don't want to be a passtime teacher. I want to help inspire and motivate and be the small change in a student's life. So, with your experience as a student, since we all have been one or are one. And your experience as a teacher, or administrator or parent or anything that's related directly or indirectly to academia, what advice would you like to give me ? What should be the dos and don'ts to help me justify my role as a teacher, professor and academic ?

Please give geniune replies, will help me with honest feedback.

I’ve heard from a few recruiters that Mukul Agarwal and his team at Kco are actively hiring, especially at the A2 and SA levels. Does anyone have experience working with his corporate team or know what the work culture and growth opportunities are like there? Would appreciate any honest feedback or insights. TIA!

I don't work in Mumbai so can't help you. Would just like to add that it's advantageous to do litigation in a city wherever you are from since you would know the local language. I'm not saying that it is hard to get by without knowing Marathi. But even today various departments of the state government, police etc prepare documents in the local language. Also in almost all Civil/District/Family Courts (lower courts if I may), predominantly the local language is used. you can deal with local police too much more easily. But all this may not apply if your job only requires you to be in an office set up the entire day which is how most Mumbai litigation teams work I suppose. Also does not apply if you're doing mainly civil/commercial work.

Disputes is a kind of practise in firms where there aren't many opening around the year. you must have noticed this on linkdln job posts calling for Associates. But since all major law firms are there in Delhi I think the shift may be a little easier. Knowing your local courts also helps so don't move so often and stick to a place closer to home & where you can keep your expenses on rent and utilities to a minimum.

Plus, what nobody is willing to say, is how politically inconvenient it has become for them to hire immigrants for anything (not including government constraints, such as charges levied on those who sponsor work visas being raised). There was an article in the London Times just the other day, where the President of the Council of Europe said that the European Convention on Human Rights needed to be reformed to deal with a situation in which immigration (in all forms) was being questioned. If you knew anything about European human rights law and the debate surrounding it, you would know that saying such a thing ten years ago would have crossed all possible red lines.

Even in the UK, the situation is so ferile now that if someone prominent (even in the current Labour admin) found it politically to their advantage to start being nasty about how many lawyers with non-UK qualifications the international law firms hire, the current government might just try to make it harder for foreign firms to do that in some way or the other (slipping in a few nasty remarks coded with assumptions about 'non-standard qualifications', without necessarily mentioning Indian law degrees by name). And this would be done to convince the hard right people who think that they (the current government) are pro-left, open borders types that they are not, so that those people vote for Labour rather than for Reform UK (an extremist anti-immigration party). It doesn't matter that they would alienate their traditional support base by doing this, because they are convinced beyond a point when reasoned argument can help, that that support base is comprised of a small portion of irrelevant London-based elites with one or more university degrees, and that the only way to gain back the so-called 'red wall' (working class constituencies that traditionally supported Labour, comprising of miners, farmworkers etc, who've not been to university) is to just stop short of outshining Reform (their main political challenger) on being rightist on immigration. You want evidence of this? Just read the speech by Starmer, the PM, on the launch of the recent immigration white paper, where he explained the reasons for toughening English language requirements across all visa categories. He said that if this were not done, Britain would become 'an Island of strangers'. You know who was the one who is famous (or infamous) for using words like that? The Tory politician Enoch Powell, who, in a 1967 speech decrying even lower levels of immigration than today as horrible, and calling for race relations laws that removed the flexibility of landlords and pubs to refuse service based on skin colour, said that immigration to the UK meant that there would be 'rivers of blood' on UK streets and people from the white majority would find themselves 'strangers' in their own homeland.

You want more evidence? Did any of you wonder why the UK government didn't fight harder on legal services access to the Indian market, why the Law Society blasted them on this? Didn't you think they were a little less enthusiastic on this than conventional wisdom stated that they should have been? Especially when the UK government is led by big shot lawyers - Shabana Mahmood (Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice), Lord Hermer (the prominent human rights lawyer turned Attorney General) and Sir Keir Starmer himself (also a prominent human rights lawyer and director of the Crown Prosecution Service)? Only one reason: they were scared of the impact it could have on immigration numbers. Concrete illustration: in a speech to a think-tank, Hurmer called the Conservatives and others advocating for leaving the ECHR 'Nazis'. If you see his profile and the type of work he has done, you will understand exactly why/how that might be in line with his political instincts, and you may even mentally encourage him to bring it on, in order to speak out against democratic backsliding. What you may find difficult to reconcile as being in character is his almost immediate apologies in 14 different positions, his bootlicking of these very people he called Nazis, his emphasis on the 'reasonableness' of such people. So consider the British side's fear of their own people and immigration numbers while doing your estimations of the power of SILF, the Lalajis and so on, and of whether SILF commands disproportionate political influence.

Understand this: Quality of you guys as lawyers doesn't matter anymore (not for the politicians or the drafters of immigration rules). The quality of your law schools is not relevant to this debate. The current political landscape doesn't care that many of you who want a training contract (and have what it takes to gain one) have attended a law school led by a Rhodes Scholar + Oxford DPhil graduate, a law school that is better (in some ways) than a few of their own (including some of the 'Russell Group' ones). They don't care that some of you may only want to stay as long as it takes for you to complete your TC. You are coming for 12 months, the worst is assumed: that you will do anything legal or illegal to stay as long as needed to gain a British passport. You are foreign, your qualifications are foreign. Foreign, in the political landscape of today, = bad. In other words, for a law firm, foreign qualification = unnecessarily risky. Therefore, we may have even to thank our stars that they are taking in as many NLU grads as they are.

Does this mean you should quietly turn over and give up on your dreams? If (working as a solicitor in the London office of a prominent international law firm) is what you really want, and you are willing to put in disproportionate sacrifice, then not. Fighting this is as important as anything else. But fight it pragmatically, choose your battles wisely. Calling for increased hiring right now is deeply unhelpful, unwise and irresponsible, considering the political landscape. If you are really willing to take on this fight, just do whatever you can to ensure that you are part of the steady trickle of foreign lawyers that are still allowed to get in.

Sorry for the long write-up, but I feel many of you are speaking with a very poor understanding of the situation in many countries, particularly UK. I hope this helps to refine your perspective.

Regards,

Someone with experience of the UK job landscape

Shift to NLUD regardless of what your aims are; much better to study in Delhi (albeit in Dwarka, which is 40 mins away from the city centre and Gurgaon) than some motley village 50km from Hyderabad which is already about as developed/fun as Dwarka itself. Nothing needs to say about the opportunities in Delhi vis a vis Hyderabad or literally any other city in India maybe barring Bombay

Many people often say that one should go for those branches of corporate law which are more "viable" in the long term, and hence I've heard that branches such as say capital markets is not very sustainable? I'd love if anyone can clarify the same from their knowledge/experience.

It’s extremely easy to move abroad and settle outside if you are working in cap marks because the work done here is exactly the same as what is done outside the country. The only reason it doesn’t have a good reputation within India is because the work may get repetitive and boring after a while. It’s definitely a sustainable practice abroad

OK. I will bite.

Do list out some of the instances of "toxic identity politics" that are being done by the Congress in Karnataka, as you claim.

Once you do that, please also confirm that no BJP state government has ever done any of those identity politics things.

If you can show that you're not a gullible BJP supporter, but have actual data, I'm happy to engage on this in depth.

The real winner in all of this is SAM.

They gotten ride of IK, Ambarish is rejoining them - which clearly shows that there was something wrong at team IK and Amabrish believes SAM is better than both JSA and CAM.

Everyone knows Amabarish did all the work, the God did the talking!

Everyone at JSA knows the team hardly had work. The average working time of everyone was not more than 2-3 hours per day (the entire 9 months they were here)

Right from the partners to the A0s everyone was free and left at 5pm. The truth is simple, clients did not follow IK and he was made to leave even after all the rules were broken for him.

Even his right hand Ambarish gave up on his shenanigans and moved to SAM. If this doesn't tell how bad the team was doing and how bad their billing was....all of this with huge team costs of 20-25 people

So I see there are so many bongs spread across the industry especially in bombay, is their any form of community solidarity within them ? or like do they connect to each other more due to their mother tongue ? asking because i have noticed this among other communities like tams and gujjus, asking for you guy's experience in law firms about the same, thanksss

Largely True, I am Hydrabadi who pursued Law from Bangalore. Certainly agree that the number of transactional law firms in Bangalore are atleast 5 times that of Hyderabad. However, to my own surprise i got into a firm in Hyderabad which does Real Estate and Banking & Finance transactions, and they are growing quite fast. Still doesnt change the fact that we are way behind, heck even Chennai has more T1 presence than Hyderabad.

This is genuinely helpful. I will ensure to implement this in my upcoming internships. :)

Thank you so much!

As for the practice areas, I have mostly done DR internships, because I find them more stimulating intellectually, but I would be open to your suggestions, if any.

Hi, idk if your profile is still active @olivia Pope, but if yes can we please connect. I am an A1 looking to move to this vertical. I love the work and am passionate about it, just need guidance since there's not much hiring info available about this position.

This is categorically untrue, IK in a slow quarter generated more revenue than some of the legacy JSA partners. There is a reason JSA's EPship voted him in with massive equity and bent all their rules on hiring. In fact, they had to up pay packages across the firm to accommodate the salaries his team was drawing. His book size is insane.

So I have a ppo from a tier 1 firm, capital markets practice after my callback internship. I will graduate in 2026. Now I'm really distressed reading about the lack of sustainability in cap marks practice.

Can anyone suggest me what do I do? I have no issues in working hard but the way people describe it here about cap marks, I'm a really scared. And please don't tell me to see it for myself and then form an opinion, coz what if I'm not able to come out of it then. Please tell me what should I do ( my goal is to settle abroad, is it is easier to move jurisdictions in capital markets and is it a sustainable practice outside?)

I have been with KCO for a pretty decent no of years. The team is led by Adheesh Nargolkar, a very chilled out Partner to work with. Although, he specializes in Patents (for his engg. degree), he has a pretty good knowledge on other non-tech IP as well. Other Partners/Counsels (in Delhi and Mumbai) are also pretty helpful and knowledgeable in their domains. Undoubtedly, Adheesh has managed to hire a majority of good people in the team. In terms of work, we are majorly handling IP prosecution with a good chunk of transaction and due diligence. There is also a good amount of IP litigation cases (mostly being active in Delhi - thanks to the IPD!) and advisory. I can personally vouch for the team if you are a fresher or up to 3-4 years of experience in IP. Subject to your deliverables and relationship with other members in the team, you can expect growth up to PA level. However, Counsel and Partnership is pretty tough. Unlike boutique firms, which have mostly fixed working hours and therefore a fixed bonus, KCO does not offer any of these. The work demands availability and the Partner ensures you are compensated (ofcourse not equivalent to that of a corp team, but certainly 3-4 times that of a boutique firm). Majority of the hiring is through campus recruitments, but a good chunk is also absorbed off campus / laterally. Do consider working with the team, if any opportunity drops in.

First Bengaluru, now Mumbai. Lots of people on LI were defending what's happening in Bengaluru and saying that North Indians need to learn Kannada. What about Kannadigas in Mumbai then? Should they be expelled if they don't know Marathi?

https://x.com/UFBUPUNE/status/1932783047709204702

Bottomline: English and Hindi. Any one of these languages should be acceptable.

Heard that one of their disputes partner was also show the door 4-5 months back due to not being able to recover the money. Clearly shows that JSA didnt think through while shopping for these Partners. If this is any representation of how their management functions, my advise for the Juniors would be to avoid JSA due to the instability.

I completely agree with your point. It also highlights a deeper issue within the Indian legal profession—burnout, stress, and toxic work environments have unfortunately become the norm, and if you're in it long enough, it's hard not to absorb some of that toxicity yourself. Maybe that's why so many discussions on Legally India devolve into trollish or hostile comments instead of meaningful exchanges.

Would love to know if there are any forums or spaces where more meaningful and constructive legal discussions are happening. At this point, even Reddit seems like a better alternative haha.

Hi! OP here.

I completely agree with your perspective! The scope of legal tech is massive in my opinion. I can think of AI contract drafting and contract lifecycle management which many startups are already eying on. Apart from them lawfirm management tools are another opportunity. The present ones in the market are quite average for the price they charge. There are some American AI integrated law firm management softwares that actually bill firms around 1cr per year. I'm sure Indians can replicate the same thing at a much lower cost.

Apart from this, the biggest opportunity for legal tech is judiciary. The court systems and litigation as a whole in India is still a generation behind other industries when it comes to tech adoption. The use case scenarios are endless. But it will also be the toughest nut to crack as the entry barrier is too high. You need prominent lawyers and judges to back you if you want something implemented there or else getting an entry itself is so difficult.

My exposure to legal tech is still limited. I'm just a young 2PQE lawyer with a strong interest in tech and I'm very curious to explore more in legal tech specifically. I'm looking forward to a new path developing for lawyers away from the toxicity of law firms and litigation.

The reason why I mentioned it is that law is a very closed off profession to begin with and people from non law backgrounds genuinely have no idea about the legal field. I realised this when I was assisting 2 IIIT students who are building an AI Contract Drafting App. To develop a legal tech solution, you need a lawyer because lawyers would understand the needs of the legal system better. Lawyers are the product experts when it comes to legal tech. We might not possess the technical skills to develop an App but we can figure out how exactly how the user experience should be like which is critical. That is the advantage that lawyers have which I feel we should capitalise on.

It is a state university - hence, everything happening is on expected lines. Things are not much better in NLS as well:
- 10 additional domicile seats for a mere 7 acres of leased land
- humongous batch size, with teaching variances across sections

- introduction of 3-year LLB programme

- introduction of a 3-year BA programme, making it an ordinary arts college (can you imagine being with arts students on campus)
- exorbitant fees, akin to daylight robbery
- a 25K CLAT ranker also studies in NLS

The list goes on........so chill.