Heard from a friend – his reasons for leaving the team were terrible work-life balance, partners dumping work on associates without checking capacity – often making weekends practically non-existent, lack of good juniors, and disproportionate team size. While the quality of work is good, the mental cost of doing that work is too high.

the firm lost its relationship with Clyde ages ago. since then the firm has downsized dramatically. Mumbai office has gotten shut recently. there are literally like 10 people left now. is there any merit in joining this firm? i hear most of the lawyers are 80% sitting idle, is there truly paucity of work?

As an A0 some starting months are light but then 10-12 hours is the norm and when a transaction picks pace it goes to 14-16 hours also. I haven't seen anything over this. Weekends are chill with my team unless something very urgent pops up (once a month). Can't speak about A3 upwards but they're similar.

“ There were several names that Justice Banerjee says he advocated against for elevation to the Calcutta High Court, because he “did not think they were fit enough competence and temperament wise”. ”

I hope you don’t get a 2nd 3rd gen doc for your treatment…..who simply got his practise because of nepo

I'm a retained partner with a tier 1. An established recruiter in the hopes of landing a new client on retainer, told me he'd be very happy to give me a "heads up" on "upcoming churn" in my team / firm. I politely declined his business for other reasons, but this just proves that it's fairly common in the industry.

Stop imposing what your personal views are of the profession. There are big corporate entities that need legal advice and counsel on a daily basis and lawyers play an increasingly important role. There is also an ESOP component which gives one ownership of the entity and in case there is an IPO, one can become a millionaire easily overnight.

Only in Linklaters London office. AnO only allows apps from some six NLUs. I don't remember HSF taking anyone from a lower nlu or a non-nlu. Linklaters Singapore is very recent and only for NLS and NLUD. So yes, Linklaters London office picks one person from a tier 2/3 college almost every year.

To apply, you'll have to go to their website. Linklaters will take an online test. HSF and AnO will mostly rely on your essays and CV where you have to show you have all the right skills. Best to talk to someone who has gone through this process.

Thanks!

Quite a few people I spoke to also suggested Adv. Ajinkya Udane. After googling him I found out that he is also from ILS and has a large practice in Pune, Mumbai, and New Delhi. Any idea about the nature of his work and whether he takes up juniors in his Pune office?

As a corporate lawyer who doesn't practice in courts, I’ve never really used my Certificate of Practice (COP) as an advocate. This makes me wonder - if I am also a member of Company Secretary, would it be more beneficial to take up a CS COP instead?

A CS COP seems to open up several other avenues, especially in secretarial and compliance work, which can be taken up independently apart from job.

Am I missing out on something here? Is it fine to surrender advocate COP and take up CS COP instead, especially as corporate lawyer?

SAM- 16.8L (fixed) + 5L (bonus) = 21.8L

Tri- 18L (fixed) + 6L (bonus) = 24L

CAM- 16L (fixed) + 4L (bonus) = 20L

AZB- 17.2L (fixed) + 3.8L (bonus) = 21L

JSA- 14.4L (fixed) + 3-4 L (bill) + 5L (bonus) = 22L

KCO- 17.8L (fixed) + 3.2L (bonus) = 21L

Exactly, that's what I keep seeing, people have forgotten that t1/t2 lawyers are the top 10% pay wise.

Even after IIM A/B/C, an average person ends up with an in-hand salary of 1.5-1.75 lakhs

Here, an average 23 year old is making this much without doing much effort in clat, law school and even work. It's a win-win situation for us, the faster you see this, the more you will be thankful even for lala firms

Can the community please recommend places or websites a first year law student can get updates regarding genuine and reputable upcoming competitions (moots, adrs, article writing, etc.)?

I already know about SCC but would want to get more info and be able to participate in things I find interesting. Thank you!

Hi everyone. I know there’s quite a few threads regarding Magic Circle firms, Vacation Scheme and Training Contracts and apologies if I might ask the wrong questions. I wanted to know the process how these firms hire from T1 schools and if at all it is possible for guys from T2/3 NLUs or Private Unis to get it. Since I have seen people from RMLNLU, RGNUL, SLSP getting it, how can I also try to get one? Do I have the option to apply on their websites? Should I do really well in moots and publications? Get LORs? Would really appreciate everyone’s insight on this, thanks a lot!

Given that 2025 was the first batch and all the issues that arise from that, the placements were good. Not everyone applied for placements, but almost 13 have placements from day zero/PPOs and almost all in Tier 1 law firms, i guess a couple of them are in PSUs. To add to this, few have offer letters from some of the best Universities in the world for higher studies.
The 2026 LLB batch has had far more Tier 1 internships and opportunities than the first batch, and some have exceeded in Moot Court Competitions and ADR competitions as well, when compared to the first batch. This will only grow in the subsequent batches. Of course the numbers will look low compared to BALLB because of the sheer size of the incoming BALLB batches. The higher number of internships will surely translate into better placements for the 2026 batch, even if its far lesser than BALLB.

There is a lot of misinformation on LI regarding this, i'm guessing from BALLB kids who are still not able to come to terms that BALLB is not the only relevant program at NLS now. However, one thing is true, that the LLB program has far more people, compared to BALLB, who don't want a corporate job. And the placement numbers will always show that.

Also, i'd just say that mostly, the interactions between BALLB and LLB batches have been amicable and good. However, there are always some BALLB students who love to hate on the LLB program or spread blatant misinformation on the internet, maybe to get some false sense of superiority or simply out of boredom.

All case law will invariably state that the facts of a case will be the key determinant. But that doesn’t mean that the ratio decidendi of the case ceases to be binding. You seem to still be in college and overly affected by the goings on in the country. Please learn to interpret case law better. There are plenty of case laws on the meanings of the phrase you mentioned. Those case laws determine “how” public interest is to be identified in relation to a legislation. But what exactly means “public interest” will naturally depend on facts of each case. When something gets challenged in court, this is what is determined by the court, in light of the specific facts of the case. And if legal terms didn’t lend themselves to multiple interpretations, law as a field of study would never have existed - call “arbitrariness” if you may, but that would be simply incorrect. Even the term “arbitrariness” has very well been spelled out by the judiciary. Again, learn how to read judgments.

The thing about Tax and Labour Law is right. The information about IPR is wrong. All batches in LLB managed to get an exclusive IPR elective. The thing about Sudhir forcing firms to shortlist students is also false and is probably coming from irrational hatred. Anyway god bless.

Went to 4S recently and honestly felt cheated. I ordered a Smirnoff drink, but caught the bartender pouring from a bottle of Artic instead. When I questioned it, he shrugged it off like it was no big deal. It’s not even about the brand — it’s about being honest with customers. If I’m paying for something, I should get what I ordered.

On top of that, our bill had random additions we never asked for. It really felt like they were hoping we wouldn’t notice. Just a heads-up to anyone going there — double-check your drink and your bill. It’s disappointing when places try to take advantage like this.

My brother is an IIT CS grad and is working as a Senior Software Engineer w a famous Fintech, he gets 2.5 in hand from a package of 40L after 8+PQE.

At same level even T2 lawyers get the same or more, T2 lawyers male almost 1.8x. while his peers may be earning more but even he has been a very bright engineer.

So why do people here keep comparing themselves to best finance jobs and spread sadness, imo it's a pretty decent take home we get (not saying it shouldn't be improved adjusting ppp from UK or US firms but even now it's a fairly decent job)

Bro I love legally india for such insights. I was researching the firm and I think I know who you’re talking about but to clarify a bit more, has this person switched to a bigger firm? Because I think I know them and if he’s the only helpful one I’m a lil discouraged to apply as he’s not here anymore