1) Look at everything from the firm's perspective wrt client management and deliverable execution
2) Although T1 law firms are lala setups where your attire/smell/bags/watches will be things which your peers, partners and clients will judge you for; be modest with your expenditure in your first 3 years but remember to look sharp and not shabby or loud.
3) Function like a team, help your peers out with bulky assignments, seek feedbacks and most importantly make sure the client and reporting partners notice your contribution during meetings - all of this will be factored during promotions.
4) Remember that not all your team members can be trusted as colleagues, simply stay away from office politics, bitching about people and opening up about personal details since you never know what goes against you in any given moment. In this regard, avoid too many smoke breaks and don't find an excuse to abuse alocohol in your system during team/deal closing dinners.
5) Lastly, do not ever get too close to an intern; if you know what I mean.
Totally possible! But for law and medicine you have different transfer windows and the GPA accepted is significantly higher for both of these courses. So make sure you fulfil the eligibility and criteria. As of now NLS does have a basic MOU with NUS. So if you are from there, I guess it MAY work. All the best!
I am from MNLU Mumbai. No clue why we get so much hate but ok. In 2023 25 people got a job at T1 and T2 out of a batch of 58. 2024 batch has 120 students and 10 have already secured PPOs, some are doing their call back internships. The current PPOs range from 10 LPA to 22 LPA. do let me know if you need more information.
For instance my parents kicked me out on my birthday. I have no incentive to lie here. It was a rough time and I was barely 19 at that time. I did odd jobs (like waiting tables, helping in plantation drives, sweeping sometimes and funded my law school like that). I won’t mention the batch and which nlu to keep my anonymity intact. I did academically well and till only two frnds know about this. I also got decent scholarships from college to flourish. Currently working at a tier-1 in Mumbai. I still did bartending as I didn’t want to forget my roots of struggle and tbh I will restart it again.
What I am saying is that no one will give a damn. So instead of coming on legally india and asking about a recourse- find out where you are good at (assuming you are a law student, pardon for undermining the sample viewership of LI), do odd jobs(trust me it helps the economy and respects those who are in the profession), and maybe for your own mental health- don’t contact your parents. But if you have already reconciled (which should be the primary step anyway) then it’s good.
I was about to upvote this comment but sorry this got downvoted instead. Absolutely true. Been in the same boat and conquered the battle like a hero. I hope OP can do it as well. All the best!!
Just to intervene politely. Clat has become annoyingly unpredictable so good mock scores are not a way to judge your good outcome. So instead of worrying about your age (which isn’t that big of a deal trust me) prepare well. The people in your boat may have given clat again and failed to crack it. That’s why the silence :). Just an educated observation and I love your determination.
All the best brother! Any help you need, you can text here.
Sometime age gap happens due to even one month! Does anyone question that? NO! No one cares brother. Even if you announce it on mic, then also everyone won’t judge you. Because it normal. Also lemme tell you an interesting incident.
One of frnds had to undergo a 2.5 year drop (clat happened 6 months early last year and this year as well for 2024) due to his silly OMR mistakes. He was a tad bit concerned about him being around 19-20. But some students informed him that it was very common and in fact entering law school around 19.5-20 has become streamlined to a substantial extent now. He cracked clat with a flying score, bagged tier-1 and no one even questioned about his age. But he did get a lot of hype (more than me) because of his result. He even cracked lnat and bagged a decent scholarship to go to a decent UK Uni. He became more famous. Use this situation to your advantage not as an unnecessary burden.
Thanks everyone who responded. I have read the threads that people have referenced here. You all have helped me gain a little perspective and have eased my worries to an extent. While I still have a few things to be concerned about, I will no longer dwell on my age (as a commenter said I'm not "prehistoric" afterall haha).
I also feel well enough to fill the registration form.
And if I clear clat, just know that your encouraging words helped me gather enough strength to do it.
Honestly the comments are so wholesome. This is a stupid thing to even think about. You will find a lot of students who will be in the same boat as yours. Also remember the day you crack clat with a fascinating rank. No one will even bother to ask your age
Age is never an issue bro. In fact in one of our junior batches a lot of 19-20 aka droppers are there. They haven’t turned 21 yet but they will be like after 7-8 months. An 18 year old will also turn 19 after the aforementioned duration. Why/How does it matter? It’s a five year course. There are a lot of precedents. You may not find someone in the same boat but in nujs and in fact nls as well (my bff is from there) you have a lot of overachievers who are from your age bracket. No 19-20 year old is even a ‘old’ student. They are quite young. 21 can be a bit old but again nowadays even that has become common. And trust me this age is nothing.
In fact one of the graduates whose age range was 24-25 got a good LLM scholarship plus now working at a magic circle.
Plus you can offset some credits after an exchange, get extra credit to reduce a semester (you may participate in an international moot and can have it evaluated - it happened with one of our junior batches) and even perform brilliantly well to spend the final year at a foreign Uni to negate the factor of ‘being old’. This can be a good ripple effect. But honestly you are relatively young. My advice would have worked for a 23-24 old incoming student (although I will never judge them) but you still have time. I don’t know why y’all are getting worked up for this.
At your age people care too much about age. I have worked in a US law firm. At 35 years of age someone is still a senior associate, while someone else just made partner. Even back when I was in class xii, I vividly remember the age gap being three years between the youngest and the eldest in the same class. It;s fine bro, don't try to confirm to societal standards of being in a particular age group to achieve a particular milestone. Also apart from what has been pointed above, there is one more beautiful answer by another Nalsar alum on graduating at 25 from Nalsar. I am sure if you put in the right key words you will find it. Now when I am 35 I really see 25 as very young. Nothing wrong in graduating at 25 from a T1 school. Nothing wrong in graduating even at 30 from anywhere for that matter.
15+ PQE here. No one cares. By the time you reach 35, there will be folks at 32 and folks at 38 who are in the same place you are. The age gap in a typical class is easily 24-30 months at times. Go out there and crack it, and all the best :)
There is a very beautiful response (and ofc others as well) by a graduate (current student my bad) from NALSAR. As you already know that till 20/20+ the first year is pretty much secure and normal as well. But don’t worry. There will be a couple of people who will be/who already were 21 when they entered law school. I can understand the anxiety. When I joined law school around a year back, I was 20. I had a ‘phew’ reaction because I wasn’t 21 yet- so I wouldn’t feel old. But honestly that’s quite immature. I saw a bunch of 21 year olds doing well in law school from the first year. In fact one of them is a topper already. And it won’t matter because anyway 50% of the graduates will be around the age limit of 23-25. You will be just a year older.
If you are doing well on your mocks - just focus on that and secure your career. No one will remember. Rather what will be remembered is if you get a single digit rank in clat. Right? Think like that. There are a lot of options (some uncertainties as well) in a tier-1 nlu. Don’t worry. And don’t feel old. You will be a year or a two older than the bunch. It’s not like you are pre-historic or something!
1) Primarily, you will be staffed on very mind numbing due diligences - the kind which you cannot even prepare for since it will revolve around clearing the comments of the bankers/underwriters on the draft offer document. Start studying drafts from now itself, if you have the time.
2) Creating dockets and backup security options for the BRLMs to the issue; it involves bearing the grunt of understanding the issue process and underlying risks which may arise accring to default; owing to which you create security and backup options - involves a lot of back and forth (on calls) with IBs, most of which is too gibberish to understand as an AO. Thus, reading intricacies of ECM is very very very important.
3) Understanding CIBIL searches, Watchout Investor Searches and Requistion CList Formulations since the due diligence report will have an aspect of the same (discretionary as per the firm's call).
4) Creating key difference tables when master circulars pop in: this shall include the "old circular number, new circular number, previous position of precedent and new material changes, if any" in that order - this is kind of tricky since you have to know how to read one circular as against the other and figure out what has been changed in a MC which has a lotttt of circulars mentioned. You get one thing wrong and you fuck up the transaction and the nature of disclosures involved.
5) Comprehensive PPTs on investor decks, KPIs, risk analysis and business overview - mostly done by foreign counsels but being well versed with the same helps a lot during negotiations.
6) Understanding the nuances of each chapter on the ECM offer document; therefore, a firm grasp of the latest amendments to the ICDR and LODR will be your bread and butter.
7) Knowing shortcuts on Word and Excel is a must because you will be working with IBs and allied finance tycoons which operate solely on Excel and not knowing anything here or there will leave a bad impression on behalf of you & the firm. Do not act as if you know it all or else you'll get fucked.
8) Lastly, please let it sink that after choosing this menace of practice - long hours are common, bonuses are slightly stagnated as against your M&A/B&F peers & chances of switching to GC/M&A is very sleek. Best part is that the work is cyclical and you will have days when you can go and tailor your suit, get that bag/watch for your next listing ceremony that will make headlines.
9) Word of caution - know what you are getting into since that life is not easy. You might glorify folks like Manan Lahoty, Yash Ashar, Sandip Bhagat etc; but trust me it will take years to reach that kind of level. So take one step at a time, seek redress if needed and learn to find joy in discomfort.
10) Breakup of Indian ECM firms in my honest opinion:
T1 Firms - CAM, IndusLaw, S&R, SAM, KCO
T2 Firms - JSA, AZB, Trilegal, Saraf, L&L
T3 Firms - CrawfordB, Bharucha, Rajani, SNG, Juris Corp
My sincere apologies for this long message but I hope this helps.
Trilegal has recently sent out a form for internship applications without asking for CVs. I wanted to know how many people are shortlisted for the CV verification round usually just on the basis of CGPAs.
Hello, please update the placement stats in each NLU - be specific and include in-house jobs. (don't spam the comment section or start a fight on which NLU is better. I am just trying to get a perspective on which NLU to choose based on the latest placement stats.)
Clifford Chance and Freshfields hired from NUJS 2023 batch. For most firms, you can apply in your final year (as you're considered a non-law student because the Indian degree is not a UK qualifying law degree). A few firms allow penultimate year non-law students to apply too, research on those specifically. Also learn how to spell the names of the firms (ideally before you apply to them) - it's Baker McKenzie.
Please tell application timelines for vacation scheme applications for firms like Linklaters, Allen & Overy, HSF, Clifford Chance, etc. Also, how open are firms like Latham & Watkins, Baker Mckinsey, and Hogan Lovells to applications from Indian students?
Are there any vacation schemes I can apply after my 7/8th semester?
My dear friend, your concern for others is appreciated, but it doesn't identify the entirety of problems.
The fight is for changing the system. Problems with Tiers are just one of the results of the flawed system. What Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3. NLUs are failing. And not just Tier 2, Tier 3. But ALL OF THEM including Tier 1. People from Tier 1 come and bicker here to prove why one University is above the other. All NLUs and not just Tier 2 & 3 promote exclusionary education system. You would rarely see people from humble background taking admissions in these universities. If 5 people out of 120 belong to such background, then it's an exception not a norm.
Fees: Every NLU and not just Tier 2 & 3 charge exorbitant fees. Rs. 2.5 lacs per year could be now easily called as average fees for NLUs. Majority of people in this country don't have an annual income to that amount. And one wonders why does a degree in law require such heavy fee burden.
Every NLU and not just Tier 2 & 3 have admin issues. While I may agree that the authorities at 2 & 3 (generally) are more tyrannical (due to lack of proper representative authority of students, no pushback from Alumni base), Tier 1s have not completely shrug of such issues.
All NLUs promote corporatisation of legal system. While money remains one of the foundational ideal goals of an individual, NLU system has struck a deep blow to the traditional practice of law.
Not to mention, how NLUs have converted themselves into a place where students with deep pockets, who are brats of wealthy advocates and judges, take over the system and virtually diminish the balance which might be caused by an organised system.
And there are concerns. You yourself can better recall and summarise them.
Retake clat again if you feel unsettled in your tier-3 nlu.
IF you feel nervous to retake clat, actively work hard here. Reach out to professors and practitioners on LinkedIn, most importantly your alumni who made it into tier-1/2 law firms (I am sure there must be some) on how to improve your CV and portfolio.
Reach out to folks pursuing LLM at a decent foreign university. Make new connections with T-1 NLU ppl.
Improve your writing skills and article constructing style. Work really hard. Maybe you start your journey at a boutique firm but from there you can even go toe in toe with other law schools’s alumni if you are really that good.
Chill out bro! The ones sleeping were prolly studying till 5am on the previous night! In every institution in the world, u will find at least some students sleeping. It doesn't speak anything about standard of the place!
Yes I imagine that harish salve would be applauded a lot for even deciding to take on this case. It's the brazen misogyny that has and does prevent women from entering the Supreme Court litigation. And then men ask why the best lawyers are men? Because you discredit any amount of achievement a women works for in the court ( which is really hard considering the misogyny from judges, casual sexual harassment). So your definition of "best" is incredibly myopic and patriarchal.
I still remember the hate these women got for some prizes they won, like why? They won legendary cases. Its the same hate i see with Greta Thunberg, Malala and all other such women that they didn't do much and use the women card. Its weird because women like mother Teresa and Aung Syu ki who took more traditional and "silent" roles were applauded more, while revolutionary women are seen as disrupting the world or talking nonsense. As for men, they can do anything and still take the whole credit.
I sincerely ask you to put the misogynistic lens aside? Why do you hate these women so much? All Senior advocates their level "hog" screen time before the court, because it is a live telecast, it wasn't so before. It's not a made up comedy show, its admissible arguments, nobody other than people interested is watching.
Also they have definitely argued the best arguments, not just for today but previous judgments as well and have been more successful than the likes of male lawyers, who dont get this hate.
Can you look at the facts with more maturity and comment?
What's with the hate these women get? Don't see salve or abs getting the same for arguing for 5 mins? They get to keep all the credit, like all lead seniors, because they are eventually handling the case and get paid?
Ignore all the trolls below, or the naive frontbenchers telling you to "be yourself, and it doesn't matter". It absolutely matters, or you won't get re-invited to the right parties. If you don't know your way around alcohol, you will stick out in some circles.
First of all, you're framing your question wrong. It's not just about what to order. The more important thing is what NOT to do. You need to just get the basics right, and not be laughed at.
Here's everything you need to know.
1. First, as someone said, only wine, whiskey and gin carry cachet.
2. Do not order beer. This is the easiest way to appear nouveau riche/ clueless. Only college kids order it. There are plausible exceptions for craft beer and other hipster things, but its easiest to just ignore beer.
3. Do not order rum. This is the second easiest way to appear clueless. Only college kids order it. Work meetings are the wrong time to revert to Old Monk Nostalgia from college. Again, there are exceptions like Kraken and some Spanish rum, but that is for advanced drinkers, so avoid for now.
3. Do not order vodka. This is the third easiest way to appear clueless. It is uncool and has no cachet.
4. Whiskey. First of all, do not order soda. See above comments about college kids.
5. Only have whiskey with ice ("on the rocks"). It's also OK to have whiskey with some water, but just a "splash". 1 parts whiskey to 3 parts water is generally a good ratio. Any more water and you'll open yourself up to ridicule.
6. DO NOT DRINK WHISKEY LIKE WATER. Sip it slowly. The snobbish whiskey journals advise you to take nothing more than a sip of around a few drops, and let it coat your tongue, before swallowing it. A 30 ml pour should last you around 15-20 sips.
7. It's OK not to know the intricacies of whiskey brands, but here's the basics. Whiskey is divided into "single malt" (it is only made from one distillery) and "blended whiskey" (whiskey from many distilleries is blended into a consistent taste). Single malt is way up there on snob value, because of the "purity" and "unique character".
8. If you're a beginner, it's OK to stick to blends, but order the right brands. Price is generally a good indicator. Just download a few bar menus from Zomato and learn about different brands, then order things that are close in price to the brands I've listed below. But that comes with caveats. Firstly, DO NOT go for Chivas Regal or Johnny Walker Red Label. These are for nouveau riche types who dont understand whiskey, and it is mostly uncles who drink these along with chicken tikka. Order Johnny Walker Double Black ("it is slightly smoky, but not too smoky") or Monkey Shoulder. DO NOT order Johnny Walker Blue Label, unless someone offers it to you first.
9. If you're a beginner, there are some good single malts that are not too intimidating. Avoid Glenfiddich (pronounced Glen-fiddick, DO NOT say "fiditch"), since too many people know it. Glenlivet, Jura or Talisker are all good brands. It is also OK to order Amrut Fusion (Indian brand, but well regarded) or anything Japanese.
10. If the above brands are not available and you're stuck, don't worry. Audibly ask for JW Double Black or Talisker, and if they say that's not available then just pick something at random that isn't Chivas Regal or Glenfiddich.
11. Openly say you've mostly only had (insert brand from above) because you love the taste, but have not had too many other whiskies. Don't try to fake it beyond that. If you've done everything above, you've done enough to blend in (sorry not sorry) and not become a laughing stock.
12. Gin. First of all, the most important thing with gin is not the gin . It's the tonic water. Start by asking what tonic water they have. Fevertree is the gold standard, but Franklin is also good. Otherwise get Sepoy or Jimmys. If you don't want it too sweet, get Svami. As a last resort, take Schweppes. DO NOT ORDER SPRITE OR 7 UP OR COKE WITH GIN.
13.You can drink whiskey without ice, but you need ice for gin. At least 3 cubes, though even 8-10 cubes is OK. Use that to decide when to order what (time of day, weather). Generally, cold weather= whiskey with single or no ice cube, warm weather = gin. Daytime= gin, night= whiskey, but gin is also OK at night.
14. With gin, there are lots of brands, but there are a few that are "safe". Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray, Hendricks are all good in foreign gins. For Indian gins, Hapusa and Stranger and Sons are good. Avoid Beefeater, Gordons and Greater Than.
15. Most gins are citrusy, so you can have them with a slice of lemon. The exception is Hendricks. You need to have Hendricks with cucumber, and preferably with cucumber tonic water. DO NOT HAVE HENDRICKS WITH LEMON.
16. Avoid cocktails, unless the people you want to impress are also having them. DO NOT ever order Long Island Ice Tea. They use cheap alcohol and you will get a headache. Avoid Margaritas and Mojitos. Avoid anything with Blue Curacao. If you don't have an option with cocktails, just order a martini. Read the room and see if you can order a pinacolada. It's also very safe to ask the server if they can make a hot cocktail for you, and then go with whatever they recommend.
17. Slowly start reading about whiskies and gins, and trying them out with friends or even on your own. Use the above tips, until you get there.
Hope this helps. Will do a Part 2 on wine if I have time.
LSE does not have a system of streamlined scholarship offers unlike some other uk unis (like University of Nottingham,UCL or KCL). You can strive to get into these unis and then apply for a moderate loan once you get in. All the best!
It is violative of both customary international law (incendiary munitions in populated areas) as well as protocol III to the CCW. Anyone with even a remote interest in international law would know how this is violative and not be asking ignorant questions. Please learn the law.
We expect extra cautious moderation on sensitive threads like this one. Which means no rape innuendoes, jokes, porn references, body shaming directed to the victim, nor anything identifying to the victim (literally illegal). Longer moderation periods is not an issue here.
Please ensure this and just not allow trollish comments.
Other conversations on this are honestly so insulated and boring. Can anyone give proper information here about the numbers? How many students from each college have been shortlisted and if you can tell, what are their names?
So, I have interned in small firms, working in the disputes department, for the last 4 years of college. Looking for places to apply for jobs now or at least assessment internships at firms that offer decent packages. any help, please?
In the early phase of my dragged-out career, I had my own fair share of exposure to the so-called "partner firm." It resembled a spider's web with a cunning matriarch at the center and a dozen seasoned lawyers, like unsuspecting flies, hoping against hope that someday the pie would be cut fairly.
This benevolent matriarch, let’s call her 'the Puppet Mistress,' was an expert at dangling dreams in front of these pros. She led this ragtag team of would-be partners in a dance of hope, always hinting at the tantalizing vision of the promised land: partnership at the firm they started their careers with. A designation to brag about and signal their arrival on the scene. These desperate dreamers were none other than the generously titled Associate Partners and Managing Associates of that hope-dystopia we loved coming to every day.
As the greenest sprout in this forest of disillusionment, I struck up unlikely friendships with a few of these wily old foxes. Our bi-weekly therapy sessions were held at the pride of Lower Parel, 'Ambiance Restaurant Ani Bar'. A place where Blender’s Pride with chakli (murukku) and schezwan chutney flowed freely, where frustrations were voiced loudly, and where promises of greener pastures seemed just a drink away. I sat there, nodding like a bobblehead, absorbing tales of woe and promises never kept.
Shortly after completing my two years at the firm, I started eyeing the exit. Then came the fateful Goa off-site. Between sips of heavily watered-down whiskey and the sound of crashing waves, the Puppet Mistress happily announced a merger with another firm. To say it was a bigger, badder shark in the legal ocean of mid-tier firms would be an understatement. Any illusion of our firm's autonomy was about to be swallowed whole. The only person who seemed to have secured a golden parachute out of this crash landing was our beloved Puppet Mistress.
Three months after this revelation, I had moved out of this firm, but not without pocketing a few friendships. Over time, these connections faded, with only a line on my CV reminiscent of that darkly comic chapter. Word on the street is that the Puppet Mistress took an extended sabbatical and handed her clients (and perhaps her puppet strings) to the new alpha shark. As for my old comrades, they drifted to other firms, which, for all I know, had their own puppet shows and pie-dangling matriarchs/patriarchs. The circle of life, I suppose.
The title. GNLU has put up a strong performance as 2/6 students who had applied for the scholarship have qualified for the all-important next round. Thoughts?
I've been here's so I'll tell you the truth. This is solely basis job opportunities and if your priorities are diff then diff answers may work. For ex- best infra and party life is RGNUL.
For jobs- NALSAR NLS AND NUJS are almost par (barring the LI big dick battles which happen everyday)
Then there is a string of other T1 colleges which will give you the same opportunities given you put in work, with their own downsides ofc, like GNLU has a huge batch size. But these 2 are generally same tier- GNLU and NUJS
NLIU again at intersection of Tier 1 and Tier 2, you can go here without worrying too much. But not quiet the same level as the former 6.
After this SLS Pune and Jindal in herirachy (confirmed from treatment at internships, still you can choose these two as well)
For placements NLUO followed by HNLU and NUALS to an extent (trilegal goes to campus at NUALS)
Below this RGNUL RML MNLU are sold by coachings but vv bleak job prospects. Uske niche mat hi jaoo, infact in colleges mei bhi mat hi jaoo.
The top 5-6 followed by HNLU/NLUO should be your last resort. Goodluck
Thank you for the feedback. Happy to know it’s having some impact.
I believe my Post 1, Post 3, and Post 3.5 will be helpful for interns. My other posts are mainly aimed at A0s. As an intern you can read the other posts, but since you haven’t faced those specific issues yet, it may not make much sense to you. I may have some biases due to my own experience so please don’t let my posts stop you from taking a proper shot at B&F. Your learning depends a lot on how your team and your immediate seniors are.
Assuming you live a moderate Lifestyle, List down your Goals and classify them into Short term Mid Term and Long Term.
Short term (1 Year) can include taking your family for a Vacation to Dubai/Singapore, Buying the latest Iphone
Mid Term ( 2 - 5 Years) can include Buying a Car, setting up your independent office, renovating your house etc
Long Term (10 years or more) - Buying Your Own House, creating a corpus for kids ( assuming you would like to start a family), retirement plans.
Basis the aforesaid, you can divide your income and start investing in instruments which give you return atleast 10% or above. You can start an SIP in equity Funds, (you can browse Kotak Mutual Fund's Website, SBI, HDFC, Motilal Oswal, White Oak) to get an idea about the estimated returns in 3 - 5 - 10 year period. Invest a minimum of 10K per month into Mutual funds to get substantial returns. I would however advise you to keep your personal expenses to minimum - <5k a month.
You may also consider investing in stocks of Blue Chip Companies - Axis Bank, IRCTC, BSE, CDSL, Reliance, HDFC, Kotak - (May by 5-7k a month)
Once in 3 months, you may buy a biscuit, keeping in mind the prices of gold
First thing I've noticed is - clients are super poor. Remand production takes place after lunch mostly, accused people are super poor. To get money out of them when they're about to be produced is a tough job and even if you manage to, it's going to make you think about life.
Rich people do commit crimes but they usually go to big lawyers. You may intern or join them but you can't be them on day 1.
Paperwork is tough to keep track of. Handwritten applications with stamp court fees is a major skill that's required. Court staff are usually helpful.
Examinations are fun to watch once you understand who's good and who's just noisy.
Quality of lawyers is good but as they don't make as much as appellate court lawyers do, they may not appear as sharp. But once they open their mouth, you know they have substance.
Everyone knows trials go on for years but actually sitting through those dates can seem pointless at times.
Your perception about procedural aspects change. When you read criminal law articles on livelaw, you start asking yourself simple questions like how much do you really know about FIR?
Judges are mostly very patient and sharp. This can't be generalized but without giving away location details I want to say that often judges are present but witnesses are not available - which means trial can't go on.
Yes, he has. He had a permanent job at SAU with retirement benefits etc. He had never resigned from it, but had taken lien to go to JGLS, wherein nobody has got a permanent job as such, only contractual at the discretion of the authorities. After his lien ended, SAU didn't choose to extend it any further. So he had to choose between going back or giving up the permanent post and associated perks altogether. He chose the former.
Fairly long at the Bar. First generation lawyer and not from Delhi but practising in Delhi like many others. Yes, it is difficult to sustain, but trust me, every month, either at the start, or in the middle or towards the end, you will get that one case or fee that will sustain you. That's how we survive. That's how many before us have survived and went onto survive for the rest of their respective lives without realising that that one case eventually became two, three, four and many for few and few more for most. But our struggles are the same. Some will openly acknowledge it and some will not, but everyone knows that that's how it is.
My advice, as our friend above has said - stay grounded, work hard, fee or no fee - do your best in all your cases - as that you owe to your client and live each day as it happens. Make a monthly budget and stick to it. Always try to save first for the current month/ week and if there is still something extra - save it for the next. Splurge only and only if you have saved for the monthly allocation for the next 2-3 months. The theory of comparative advantage is valid for us lawyers as well. No two persons, even if coming from similar backgrounds, will have the same journey. There are many factors that come into play. So never compare yourself with someone else. You are the only standard for you to compare. If you are better than what you were earlier - you are growing.
Lastly, relax. we all survive and there is nothing better than litigation - that moment when you stand at the dias and argue - it compensates for every hardship one may have faced to reach there. We are performers thats why we are litigators.
Graduation in 2021, masters in 2022. None of them from a tier 1 college. After a year of district court and 3 Months of HC litigation, i’ve decided to finally put all my chips in one place and join the rat race to become a Babu (foreign service vala) since it has always been in the back of my mind. Parents are supporting so thats a good thing. While i’m hoping my law knowledge will provide me an edge in the optional paper, i want to know if anyone here is preparing for the same and if they have any advice regarding law, GS or the whole preparation process in general. I’m ready to face one more failure but i do not want to look back in a decade and think “what if”. Or as Dostoevsky said, “Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing”. Thank you!
If you don't have a PhD yet, and your undergrad and Masters degree are both from India, then the first step would be to apply for a fully funded PhD fellowship in the country where you wish to teach eventually. While working on your PhD, your Fellowship will allow you to take the occasional class, help senior faculty do research and also focus on publications. Focus on quality rather than quantity. At your level, even 3 quality international publications would be good. Try to focus on learning dissemination of research, creating impact of your study and how to draft effective project funding proposals. These are skills valued in academics abroad, but barely taught in India otherwise. On finishing your PhD, you would get access to lecturer positions (UK, Germany, Canada, Scandinavian countries), especially if you manage to obtain decent recos from your supervisor. In the USA, it's difficult, people struggle a lot to get entry level teaching positions on a contract, let alone become tenure track. Contacts would play a large role.
If you have already got your PhD from here, then you should start by applying for the various post-doc fellowships abroad. If you have got regulatory experiences (SEBI, CCI, TRAI etc.), scholarships and fellowships are easier to get. Also start participating in international conferences for both exposure and networking purposes. Several foreign law journals issue open calls for guest editors, visiting editors etc. Try applying for those too. It's an incremental process.
Have you ever interned at a firm for 4 weeks, but wondered what is it that you actually did?
Like you know you researched on several legal issues, but apparently that’s not what most transactional lawyers do.
Well, it’s not completely your fault. This is partly done on purpose by law firms because they are dealing with confidential information and they don’t want to involve interns too much. So, if as an intern you felt confused and you want to know where your work fits in, this post is for you.
For A0s, this is going to be a very basic post. The reason I’m writing this post is because our first brush with the banking team often happens as an intern. Internships are supposed to give you a flavour of what work you will be doing in the future. But unfortunately, most interns never get a proper understanding of how transactions happen as they are usually assigned some research work with no visibility about the transaction. Even if interns have been involved in due diligence, the scope may be restricted to only doing clerical work like summarising a contract or preparing list of documents. This can lead to a very skewed idea for someone trying to make a decision about their career basis just their banking law internship.
DISCLAIMER: This post doesn’t cover the work done in litigation related or capital markets team. Also, since this post is just about the process, this will be slightly boring, so I recommend you play the song “Perfect Day” by the Constellations while you read this.
Alright, so first - an overview. Broadly, the work we do in law firms can be classified as:
1. Advisory work (around 10%) 2. Due diligence (around 50%) 3. Transactions (around 40%) - with due diligence often being part of this
ADVISORY WORK:
This is the most interesting kind of work because it’s heavily researched based. It can be as simple as getting a mandate from a foreign client who wants to incorporate a company in India but isn’t aware of the laws. The client has approached your firm and sent 10 questions - what laws and processes are involved to incorporate a company in India.
Basis the questions, you research each question and prepare a memo and send it to the client.
Most lawyers find this interesting because it is:
1) Research based
2) Scope of work is limited
3) Timelines to submit this aren’t crazy as it’s just one document/ memo
Intern Overview: It’s like getting a question paper from your college teacher and filling out the paper, but it’s an open book exam.
So, here is where the work of an intern fits in:
An associate might call up an intern and give them 2-3 questions to research out of 12 questions in the memo and then incorporate the intern’s research in the memo. However advisory work is rare to come by in banking teams and slightly more common in general corporate teams.
DUE DILIGENCE:
This is the work mostly assigned to interns and younger associates. Sometimes it can be very mind numbing because all you are doing is preparing a List of Documents (explained below). Working on a DD gets overwhelming because you have to go through and review hundreds of documents. Since you’ve just switched from college, this can be jarring as you were never used to consuming so much information at one go.
To think about it another way, remember that iconic scene in Suits when Mike Ross meets Harvey for the first time? That scene where Mike is escaping the cops in a hotel and stumbles into the Harvard law interview?
Harvey is so impressed with Mike he says he’d hire Mike if he were from Harvard, but he can’t as Mike hasn’t even passed the bar. That’s when Mike tells him -
“What if I told you I consume knowledge like no one you’ve ever met and I’ve actually passed the bar.”
Well, you have to become Mike Ross. You have to be able to go through 50 different contracts of 200 pages each and be able to note down what red flags need to be highlighted to the client. If your partner randomly calls you into her office and asks you what issues you have noted in the contracts, you have to be able to say that from memory and also tell her which page the problematic clause is located (well not exactly, but you get the drift).
While reviewing the documents, you will have to simultaneously prepare a report called the Due Diligence Report or DDR - the final report is sent to the client.
Basically what happens is - one company uploads various internal documents in a one drive folder, and we lawyers are given access to review the documents. These documents can range from MoA, AoA, statutory forms required to be filed under Companies Act, SEBI, etc. to various registers required to be maintained under Companies Act, to various loan agreements, security agreements, shareholders agreements, any other ‘material agreement’ like insurance contract, lease agreement etc. to even things like pending litigation against the company. If there are items like 200 page annual report, financial statements in the DDR, then it gets tricky to figure out what to review, but ideally your senior should tell you what to review and what to skip.
As a lawyer you have to check that:
1. Whether all documents are in order, 2. If any form has to be filed, has it been filed within the required deadline, 3. What other forms/ licenses had to be filed. 4. If there is any pending litigation against the company, does it involve a huge sum of money, or is it under (let’s say 5 lakhs) a limit and can be ignored 5. Any onerous clauses mentioned in the contracts 6. Any other deal specific legal issues
List of documents: While all this happening, you also have to maintain a list of documents you have received from the company and reviewed, and also a list of pending documents that you have requested the target company but not received. (BORING WORK ALERT!)
Intern overview: Unless you are very deeply involved in the DD, you will either be involved in:
1. Research - Let’s say the associate needs to know the check if some contract is adequately stamped so they ask you to research stamp duty of Deed of Hypothecation in Karnataka 2. Review and Record - Maybe you’ve been given 4-5 contracts and asked to check dispute resolution clause and just fill the ‘seat of arbitration’ in some Word document in a table format. Now, this standalone document you are working on is going to form a part of the 200-500 page Due Diligence Report which is compiled by the team later. 3. Mind numbing work - As an intern, you’ve been asked to just download 40 documents from one drive folder or only prepare a list of documents to the documents in the one drive folder.
Hope this has been helpful for some of you interning/ working at law firms. I know even though it’s a great opportunity to work in big law firms, initially it can be very intimidating to work in such settings and we often don’t ask questions because we think it’s too basic. But it’s important to understand where the work fits in because your work matters.
Since this post has already become too long, I’ll explain the deal flow and the documents involved in a banking transaction in the next post.
One more thing - just to get an idea of my audience, would really appreciate if you could list down in the comments - what year of college/ law firm you’re in, and what kind of firm you worked/ are working in. This will help me frame my future posts better.
I sense some confrontation here, I'll try to not take it personally. As for your question, my hours are extremely varied now that I am almost entirely independent. Yes, the family network has helped me. I do not deny it. But the key to litigation (as a first-gen lawyer) is to aim to go independent as soon as you can. I see so many people who continue to be juniors to Senior Advocates, for years. This does not help your career. Rather, you should get your own cases (however small they may be, to start out). Once you're confident of your clientele, shift out. Once you're independent, your hours are yours to decide.
Been doing it for 12 years and don't regret it, even a bit. Litigation is perhaps the most unstable practice in law but also the most challenging and importantly, most satisfying. I am a 1st gen lawyer and can relate to you. Earning a livelihood as an individual litigator can break even the toughest nut.
Here are few things to do
1. Don't compare your success/ failures with others. Especially with those who have previleged background. Remember their starting points are different then yours. You have your own journey to complete
2. Instead of comparing the failures/ successes, strive to achieve excellence. Work hard.
3. Read. And not just law. Gather knowledge and information. You don't know whom you meet next and what conversation could lead you to a jack pot
4. Choose your role models wisely. There are several to choose from in the legal fraternity. While they are all successful, not many may be able to contribute to your overall growth. I don't mean growth as a lawyer. I am told Palkhivala was far greater individual than he was a lawyer. Similarly, Tulzapurkars in Mumbai are known to lead a uniquely simple lives but are legends in law.
5. Travel. You don't need to spend on abroad trips. Do a simple trek once in a while.
6. Lastly, if nothing of these help, read/ listen to struggle stories of other legends in law. Eg. Roses in December book of J. Chagla. You will find several you tube videos of others as well. Even if they are peppered for viewers, it leaves a hope.
I know these sounds like unwarranted, overused and abused advices. But it might help.
A friend of mine who has a son in the final year of college sent me a link to this thread saying that this reflects the doubts that many young people have about starting in the profession, and that maybe I should pen my thoughts down. While I have a more modest claim than others to weigh in, my little bit may help some lost soul. I didn't find a platform more apposite than this one, so here goes.
FIRST, the SENIOR DESIRE:
Many of the queries here are of those who want to join a senior and at some point become a designated senior advocate. Maybe its relevant to consider that there are several thousand senior advocates across the country and the large majority of them are not really considered brilliant - they just got to a stage when they were given the designation for one reason or another, but they are not in a position to command a great quantity of high level work or have an output that would justify a higher fee or even have the respect of the Court or their peers. As a consequence, nearly 90% of the designated crew do outstation and tribunal work far removed from the courts that designated them. Many are unscrupulous and do distasteful things, including directly approaching clients, soliciting work and paying commissions, not to mention choosing political affiliations to get some prominence. And yes, many of the so-called "successful" ones do all this as well, but each to her/his own.
Note that all of this is just those who DID make it to seniors.
Now look at someone who enrolled in the 80s or 90s with the light in their eyes of being a Fali or Soli or KKV. That young man or woman makes it 25 years into the profession while watching a few of his peers (less than 0.15%) becoming seniors while his/her own recognition has not come. But this individual is far from discontent. You know why?
It is because he/she didn't make the destination of a flapped gown the priority. They choose to have a balanced life with books and friends and fruitful relationships and kindness. Of course they worked - honestly and industriously and sometimes with great imagination. If the recognition is to come with all of that, it will. If it does not, at least you did not waste the most important years of your life yearning for a goal in which a large part is played by lady luck.
This illustration is not just fictional - three of my peers - Haripriya Padmanabhan (1998 NLS), Gaurav Agrawal (1999 NLS) and Aman Ahluwalia (2002 NLS) are the finest advocates I know. Whenever I have doubts in commercial law, in practise and procedure or in private law, I turn to each of these respectively. They all have everything that I believe a senior needs - integrity, intelligence, imagination, rigour, tenacity, wisdom, honesty and goodwill. I rate them higher in their disciplines than ANYONE in the country. Note the words I used - ANY ONE. I am in the blessed position where I can pick up the phone to literally any lawyer in this country to get advice or counsel, but I am not picking up the phone to ANY ONE else. The reason is that in my assessment, the senior gown is not a guarantee of the best advice - most times it is only a measure of indemnity for a solicitor besieged by an anxious client. And for some things like decency and culture, there is no senior gown. These three wonderful lawyers best demonstrate the fundamental flaws underlying many of the posts here which require correction: (1) Do not keep the senior gown as your goal, but allow it to be a happy marker on the road well travelled. (2) Do not believe that only working with a senior will be some sort of magical passport in your career - just look for an office which is not toxic and where there is a learning curve.
SECOND, the IDEAL PATH.
Friends, if I knew the answer to this one, I would have cashed in on it. There are broadly two routes that young lawyers take - they either start at the trial courts and then over the years move on to the High Court or Supreme Court OR they start directly at the court they want to make their final destination. As a Bangalore boy who started directly at the Supreme Court, I chose the latter. Over the last 20 years, I am happy to say I have found many young people (including all 6 of my current chamber juniors) starting directly at the Supreme Court and acquitting themselves well. Of course, we may not know the high skills of cross examination or the intricacies of a home food memo, but the system at the Supreme Court makes huge allowances for territorial peculiarities and permits some good reading to bridge the gap. However, as a High Court or Trial Lawyer, you get to spend so much more time on building a case from scratch, in making sure all the necessary grounds are taken at the outset and in poking holes in the opponent's case. Coupled with Tribunal work, these breeding grounds are second to none for a seasoned litigator. I dont knock either avenue, but I shed light on them only to the exclusion of a third.
My views on mentorship you can glean from this interview a few years ago:
If there are no financial burdens on hand, I would suggest starting off in litigation right away. But be careful in looking for an office.
The ideal mentor's office should have the following:
a. A busy boss - who has reason to go into court at least 4 days a week;
b. A colleague or two - for the company;
c. A decent pay - which does not require you to borrow
d. Freedom to do your own work - without any compulsion of routing it through the office or the boss
e. Reasonable free time when there are no pressing matters on hand
f. A boss who will try to clear doubts and not be dismissive of contra view points
g. Reasonable vacation spells
h. Sprinkings of Pro-Bono work, to show that the boss has a heart
The ideal mentor's office should NOT have:
a. A toxic atmosphere where one lawyer is played off against another to foster insecurities
b. Abuse of any sort - that is a complete non-starter
c. Associates being policed - being told not to go into courtrooms or canteens or meet friends, etc
d. Chauvinism, casteism or prejudice of any sort
e. Too many associates - this would appear to be only decorative and not really as a means to guide or educate
THE BONUSES (not necessary dealbreakers if absent)
a. If the office goes to multiple courts or tribunals
b. If the office covers a large swathe of areas - civil, criminal, corporate, etc
c. If the office has a coffee machine, cafeteria, gym, etc
Most important, below is what DOES NOT matter to most litigation offices that you apply to:
YOUR GRADES. Sorry, but thats a fact. Your excellence in cracking an exam does not necessarily mean you can process and research propositions or be innovative when a jurisprudential problem presents itself. Hardened litigators know the "Topper's Fallacy" well, and would be impressed only with good internships or written work that shows your ability to analyze and grasp complex issues. There is a reasonably well-rooted belief that a law graduate knows nothing useful until he starts the practise, and so the expectation of him or her is not a prior knowledge of the law, but an aptitude for court work. The evaluation parameters of the latter are entirely different.
Remember, this is not a competition - dont bother what anyone else is doing. When you are 40 or 50, you will regret having thought of it as a race when you were in your 20s. Each person has a distinct personal and professional journey ahead - tread sensibly and it should all work out decently.
I hope that in some small way these thoughts help all of you on your journeys.
All the very best.
Gopal
P.S. My reference to 3 NLS peers is not to judge or exclude any college - it is only to identify my own milieu. Each of you will have stories of a similar nature wherever you come from.
The shoebite thing is so real - I just gave up and started wearing bandaids on the back of my feet where shoebites happened. Everyday before putting on my shoes. And it resolved most of the issue
I am interested in Litigation - chamber or firm. However, I am considering preparing for DJS, primarily because I think I will have a good command over theoretical knowledge of the law if I go through the rigorous preparation of it. And, I can always move to litigation after graduation. Is this the correct approach?
Alternatively, I have the option to join a good chamber as a long-term intern and slog there.
What should I do?
[Side question: Would having long-term internship experience at chambers help me get a job under the disputes team of a law firm?]
Follow this for more updates. The application date already closed around 1st August 2023. So the results will be declared around late September or November maybe.
This has been the tradition for 2020 , 2021 and 2022.
This seems like the fastest growing thread in LI lol. Came here morning , checked 60 replies and now there are more than 85 Dyam. Rhodes Thread has always been popular at LI
Covid has definitely taken a toll on lot of us, especially if you have lost a near or dear one. It also disrupted our social fabric and as working professionals, once you lose touch with people, it’s difficult to get back in.
Would like to share my insight and you may find this helpful. I have taken a break working from law firms (although lesser PQE than you), and I didn’t join anywhere after leaving my law firm.
What I’ve realised is - the 1st Month immediately after leaving was mentally very disturbing. My brain had got used to the work and the pressure and the constant calls that the sudden void was causing withdrawal syndromes. The sudden hollowness craved some direction/ instruction from outside. Btw, no matter how much I write, I can never explain the mental zone that I was in while working (even when there may not have been lot of work). I’m mentioning this because when I spoke to my friends in other industries (not law) they didn’t seem to be facing this. It took me some time to get out of the feeling that I was “wasting time” or I had to “be productive”.
The other thing is - I felt like my work sucked out my personality and I was only a shadow of the past me. Just sitting at home after leaving thinking something nice will happen doesn’t work. I had to actively take interest and go out and try out different activities so I feel like my former self.
I feel - when we are working, our entire time is spent at work / thinking about work, so we also end up hanging with work colleagues, but at the end of the day, you can’t really share everything and treat them as your friends. So the that bottling up some emotions causes undue stress.
Not sure, how much this will help, but I hope it gets better.
If you have also applied for the Rhodes Scholarship, please provide any updates that you may have regarding the tentative dates and expected interview call timeline.
" LSE, KCL, UCL, Warwick, Manchester etc." and "SOAS, Sussex, Essex " and lower tiered universities in the UK. Look at the world rankings and you will see that they are faaar ahead of NLSIU (which is pretty much the only law school from India that makes some global presence) (not counting Jindal in here for a variety of other reasons). Its important to understand the quality of training (not students, but training) at these institutions are far ahead of the training that you get at NLS. There is much more of reflection, critical thinking and wider world view that comes as a result of studying in these places. This is in addition to the opportunities that you get to intern with these firms (and a host of other international or multinational institutions) when you are physically located in England. The same goes for the top tiered universities in Australia, Singapore, Canada, Honk Kong and New Zealand - they are truly some of the finest learning institutions in the world.
It might be true that statistically its harder to get into NLSIU - thats because we live in a country of one million. But if you think through it a bit carefully, to get into Oxbridge, you are competing with people from different parts of the world (and most often you are competing with some of the best students from different parts of the world).
Yes, we feel that the Indian law schools are something special and we like to call ourselves things like Harvard of the East. As much as NLSIU is a remarkable place (for achieving so much in a short time with so little resources), the simple fact is that we have a much longer way to go to come anywhere close to Harvard or any of the top tired western universities in terms of how we view education and the process involved in it. Let me repeat this, its not that our students are not talented - its simply that our education system comes nowhere up close yet.
Such a huge part of our childhood died today. Feeling so sad. 😢 The greatest principal of all. 🫡 Stood up to interference by the Ministry of Magic. How desperately we need such people heading our educational institutions today!
First of all, kudos to the new moderators for moderating and allowing comments this quickly.
But unfortunately, this has led to a new problem where all relevant conversations are getting pushed down. Also, I understand that different people may find different topics interesting so you can’t arbitrarily censor some posts.
A bookmark feature would really help. Else I suppose I will have to open a Wordpress account so that people can follow my posts in one place.
But yes, great job with the moderation. I know it’s not easy reading through so much content.
You need to educate yourself in economics and psychology, and you'll get the answers you are seeking. Very briefly, from an economic standpoint, the salaries offered at law firms, given the stress involved, simply aren't worth it. You need to be either time rich or money rich, law firms won't make you either (at least at entry levels). Additionally, if one is inheriting wealth, law firms literally become a waste of time, since there's no social prestige associated with these positions. But more importantly, from a psychological standpoint, aware people avoid law firms since they take away control of your time, and therefore your life. Deciding how to spend your time is one of the chief happiness ingredients. Law firms rob you of it.
Also, in case you wish to understand the concept of MAMP vis a vis the "maturity period' :
Maturity Period: The concept of ‘Maturity Period’ for a loan is basically the time period till the day the loan becomes due for repayment.
Scenario 1: Let’s say you take a loan of INR 90,000 from a friend to buy the new iPhone 15, and you agree to repay him INR 90,000 after 5 months, the maturity period of this loan is - 5 months.
Scenario 2: Let’s say you use some fintech app to avail INR 90,000, and after a gap of 2 months, you pay back monthly EMI of INR 30,000, over the next 3 months.
Fun fact: In both the above cases, the ‘door-to-door maturity period’ is 5 months. But the ‘average maturity period’? It is 5 months in the first case but not 5 months in the second case. What? How come?
Technically this bit is ‘out of syllabus’ and not done by lawyers, but here is how MAMP is calculated:
I have scored 2 interviews through the cold email method till now, so I think I have some idea of how it works.
1. Mention what you want in the subject [application for …] , add details like PQE as well.
2. Body of the email should be crisp, introducing yourself and highlighting prior experience relevant to the partner’s practice area along with the usual stuff.
3. Send/schedule these emails during hours when the partner is most likely to look and respond to it. For example, don’t send it at 11:30AM on a Wednesday.
4. Reach out to as many partners as you can with this method. Many will not respond, some will tell you their teams are at capacity right now, but a couple will give you an interview.
Unfortunately, due to certain unforseen circumstances the Law Minister was unable to visit the university, but nonetheless a lot of work was done like:
- A MOU to be signed within 30 days.
- A dedicated internship program under the Vice president where 5 students form NLUJ will be called to assist the VP in his role as the chairman of the Rajyasabha.
- VP appealed to the NLUJ students to discuss and deliberate on the three criminal law bills and forward their suggestions/recommendations from the side of the university to the VP office and the Parliamentary committee.
Are you feeling lost? Do you feel as if your senior just throws work at you and expects you to figure it out?
Dalal Street attorney is back. I try to write about topics and scenarios which you may encounter in the future, so that when the time comes, you don’t feel completely out of depth.
Last time, when I wrote a post on ECBs, I got a question in the comments –
How do we assess that the MAMP (i.e. Minimum Average Maturity Period) for the ECB has been complied for?
Now this question is a bit surprising, because it’s pretty straightforward. As an A0, all you need to do is:
1. Understand for what purpose/ end use the ECB loan is being availed by the borrower [Internal Note: Read purpose clause of FA/ term sheet]
2. Check the ECB Master Directions for the corresponding MAMP number in the table and
3. Check the MAMP number provided to you by the borrower.
It’s quite simple. It’s not like you have to calculate the MAMP – that’s done by the accountants or the borrower and they usually provide the calculated MAMP number to lawyers in an excel sheet. MAMP depends on the repayment amount and what the repayment schedule looks like. There is an entire formula for this which we aren’t taught in law school or law firms. (Details later.)
But hold on. This post isn’t about me trying to do an in-depth explainer about ECBs. This post is about highlighting the mismatch in expectation between juniors and seniors - which then leads to frustration.
EXPECTATION v. REALITY
Why is the senior just throwing work at me? Why doesn’t he explain the entire thing properly?
Often times, from a senior’s perspective, it’s maybe like – I have told my junior X Y Z things, so all he has to figure out is point A, which he can do by reading up on this concept. Why does he find it so difficult?
But that’s not how it is playing out in the mind of the junior. If you have suddenly been put on an ECB transaction, it can be overwhelming dealing with a completely new set of documents. Since it’s your first time, you don’t know what is the process is or where to look. You can do a cursory reading of the ECB Master Directions, but it doesn’t talk about the specific process of checking the compliance. You are not even sure if you are looking in the right direction. Although you are trying your best to do good work, you end up making mistakes, and now you have to deal with negative feedback about your work and you have to stay up extra hours in the night to finish the work.
Without any prior knowledge of banking, you find yourself in a vacuum – not being able to do anything without someone’s guidance. You feel like a blind man who constantly needs supervision because you don’t know where you are headed. It’s the same reason why when you are on a DD, you panic when you don’t know how to approach the review process - do you go through all the litigation files uploaded on the data room, or do you skip those documents and ask the company for a summary of pending litigation? Do you review the additional SHAs in the data room that were not mentioned before, or is that beyond the scope of the DD?
And what happens when the guidance is missing? You feel stuck as if on a loop.
I was there too.
And it’s not like I didn’t try seeking help from seniors. In fact, I went to my senior partner so I could get some clarity. I asked him where could I read a bit more about banking so I could do my job well? He is one of the widely respected professionals in the space, so surely he would an answer, right? Unfortunately, he said that no such articles exist. Later, I was forwarded a publication made by the firm, but even those articles were too complicated for me to understand. I just couldn’t connect the dots. That client update was written for sophisticated clients. There was hardly anything written in plain, simple English for us juniors.
That is when I realised most mentors and seniors are so far removed from where you are in the process, it can be hard for them to relate. Their advice, though important, glosses over the details that really matter in the beginning. That’s why I was feeling pretty lost when I was figuring all this out.
So one of my goals is to give a behind the scenes look of the work that happens and more importantly - how to approach things - how do you read a term sheet, how do you approach a document review the first time, and just generally how do you figure things out. No gatekeeping, no fluff. Because at the end of the day, that’s what you need. Someone who’s a little bit ahead of you to chase and draw inspiration from. It’s what I wish I could have had when I was starting out.
Because you are probably already:
- skipping your meals due to that meeting that got extended
- sleep deprived due to that urgent deliverable
- wondering where all your time went on the weekends
- tired after working all the long hours
The last thing you need to be is anxious because you are not getting adequate information to perform your job well.
If you can relate to what I am saying, and you think my posts add even a tiny bit of value to you, comment “Let him cook”, and I will be back with more posts.
"Conservative" in the Indian context mostly means being an ▮▮▮.
There is a nuanced position that one can take around the principles of conservatism, and then delve into Economic Conservatism and Social Conservatism (to be very simplistic). Let's set aside Economic Conservatism, since I doubt that you are really referring to deregulation and lower taxes and less welfare spending, when you refer to Indian Conservatism.
Let's look at all the "conservative Americans" that you mentioned. The main flashpoints of the American right are gay marriage, abortion, and "traditional family values". The first two are not really meaningful political issues in India, and the third is something that the Right keeps parroting, but only in opposition to what they see as urban decadence.
So, what does Conservative in India mean? Or, what does "left liberal" or "left" or "very left" mean?
The answer will shock you.
Here's a list of things that "left liberals" are fighting for.
1. Due Process.
Treat people fairly. Treat undertrials, and those accused of heinous, anti-national, and other subversive activities, fairly. Let Kasab and Afzal Guru go through a long and detailed trial, with every honest attempt made to prove their innocence. Let the world know that India is a fair country, that weighs and balances the evidence, and assures everyone of a fair trial.
Don't throw 20 year old girls into jail for organizing protests against the government.
Don't impound passports of people because they criticize the government.
2. Opposing Majoritarianism.
Every citizen of India has the right to be treated the same by the State. everyone should have the same standards applied to them to check if they are a citizen. The same hands-off approach by the state for their religion and their language.
Don't push one "national language" on people.
Don't jail people for their food habits.
Don't withhold judgeships because "people are gay and have a foreign partner" (like our foreign minister's spouse) and hence "pose a security risk" or "will be biased for gay issues".
3. The right to dissent, be different, and not be forced into majoritarian groupthink.
Privacy, freedom of expression, and all those other nice things you studied in Constitutional Law.
Sadly, the Indian Conservative Movement has done itself no favours. They mostly harp about "ancient glories" and about some artificial idea of patriotism that they think is the right way. They are not prepared to genuinely debate or understand left liberal priorities, or convincingly articulate a reasoned and logical case for their philosophies and objectives.
I'm proud of my fellow Alum for standing up for the oppressed and the downtrodden, and for fighting for due process and the things promised in our Constitution. If "Conservatives" oppose this, we'd like to hear why.
So, coming back to the basic question. What does Indian Conservatism really mean, and why should anyone with a grain of empathy subscribe to it?
Student here. We have got plenty of libertarians and economic right-wingers (capitalists) but "right-wing culture warriors" are almost non-existent. In my view, the left-right dichotomy itself is quite flawed.
I feel that professors should be teaching the writings of Friedman, Nozick, Rand and originalists, and encourage respectful debates, as long it doesn't get outright phony by bringing in modern-day grifters like Shapiro, Peterson etc.
Most Indian politicians are socialistic when it comes to the economy, including BJP and its parent organization RSS. Similarly, none of them are really progressive on social issues. Apart from a select few disputes like cow slaughter, UCC, CAA etc, they are virtually the clones of one another.
Anyone’s valuable feedback will be of immense help! I want to transition from this slow (this is entirely my personal opinion) nlu culture to somewhat of a good university abroad. National University of Singapore seems cheap and can be availed after an educational loan. But does anyone have any idea how? As in how to apply and is NUS good?
Sir/mam - the total course fee for LSE (including residency bursary) is standing at 46.76 lakhs around 3 years which would be the cost at Jindal anyway. I will be availing educational loans and will try for lnat scholarships/university based scholarships as well. Will this be okay?
Hey, I have doubt, I'm a 2023 law graduate, and I'm presently working as a legal Consultant in a Corporate company, can I register myself in a state bar council of India
I'm a newbie researcher in a policy making body. I research & write about everything under the international area studies and international law domain.
However, I've been advised to narrow down on specialisation in regard to improving my 'policy research and framing' career. Out of the following interests, which one do you see being extremely relevant in the next decade ?
Have just recieved this news a few hours ago that the Law Minister and the Vice President of India are visiting NLUJ on 27th September, a day before Yuvardha (Sports fest)
Things are already looking good and bright for NLUJ ever since the appointment of the new VC.
Thank you sir/mam for your kind reply. I just want to know whether or not we can avail educational loans for these colleges as studying there will be equivalent to having an opportunity cost which will be repaid in no time.
And I have heard scholarships based on lnat as well.
Hi folks after clat 2023 I have ended up in a tier-3 NLU. Needless to say I am frustrated and have been preparing for clat since 2 months.
Now I recently came to know about lnat and I am quite interested in the UK higher education as well. I have checked all the lnat and uk uni related threads at LI. But there seemed to have a mixed opinion about this.
After this gap year (since I have already decided my mind on leaving this college) - I want to join somewhere stable.
So till what UK uni should I join? And after that when do I consider a tier-1 nlu in case I crack them.
1) Harvard, Yale. Columbia, Stanford, Oxbridge: Law School can't reach this level, even with Sudhir in charge. Too much of an ask.
2) Duke, Cornell, Penn, Chicago, LSE, KCL, UCL: Law School can reach this level in 10-15 years, with Sudhir in charge.
3) SOAS, QMUL, Warwick, Virginia, Michigan: Law School can reach this level in 5-10 years, with Sudhir in charge.
For now, let's focus on goal 3. Take it step by step. What we need are 3 things:
- Around Rs 50 to 100 crores funding to improve infrastructure. Possible with alumni outreach and if Law School is declared an Institution of National Importance by the centre. It's critical to lobby for INI status. The SC case will be crucial. Hopefully the SC will uphold what the Karnataka HC said.
- More good faculty hires and eventually kicking out all the useless TLC profs. A few of them still remain and they are a hindrance top excellence.
- More internationalisation, via tie-ups with law schools abroad.
None of them can do anything to you if you don't let them. They don't have any power to influence your placement or internships or anything else, they just want you to think that they do. If you are too afraid to report this to the university authorities or anti-ragging squad, just drop a mail to the UGC at helpline@antiragging.in or call them at 1800-180-5522. These scums won't know what hit them. More power to you, they don't own this institution.
First of all it’s commendable that inspite of such odds, you haven’t given up and you are still trying.
Let me tell you the biggest hurdle you will face to get a job/ even once you get a job - culture fit. This is a vague word used in the industry to gatekeep certain opportunities from people without contacts. Because even once you get into a firm, it’s not just about doing the job diligently - a lot of it is about how you get along with people in the firm, and this isn’t just about being humble or curious to learn, this also means being able to talk about your favourite soccer club, your favourite restaurant, your favourite trip - things which will easier for your peers because they have had a relatively elite upbringing and shared experience in law schools.
Even for you to do the job well - you will have to learn from someone. Since law firms have huge amount of work, and people are pressed for time, you will need a mentor who will lookout for you. Again, for the person to be your mentor and like, a lot will depend on how you get along with them, and this will depend on the above mentioned things.
Sure, not all law firm teams are like this. There are teams which have people from humble upbringing so they understand the struggle. But whether you land up in such a team will depend on your luck.
It's fantastic that you're bold enough to think about setting up your own firm. The journey ahead will be incredibly enriching, filled with challenges, learning, and growth.
However, remember that success in this field requires consistency, dedication, and years of hard work. In the beginning, don't stress about landing big corporate clients. Start with whatever cases come your way, no matter how small, and focus on delivering exceptional results for your clients.
Want to know a secret? Word of mouth is the best marketing in our profession. Today's small client could be tomorrow's corporate vice president, bringing significant business your way. That's the beauty of our profession: you build one connection at a time and grow alongside them.
Here are some fun anecdotes to inspire you:
- - A top corporate lawyer in India once assisted a dentist with his legal work. - - A rising corporate litigator started by handling Section 138 notices for dishonored cheques. - - A renowned senior counsel in the Supreme Court for tech matters once sought work from chefs at hotels, hoping to tap into their network.
Building a law firm is a fascinating journey with relatively low risk compared to other ventures. And as we step into an era where technology will revolutionize our profession, embracing and integrating tech into your practice from the outset will set you apart. Focus on future-proofing your practice, and don't get too caught up in what others are doing.
Lastly, a word of caution: joining a larger practice initially can offer rapid learning and invaluable mentorship. The early years are formative, and having guidance can shape your foundation as a lawyer. While big law firms might feel like a factory process, joining a smaller firm or working under a seasoned senior can provide a more personalized learning experience. Your first boss will significantly influence your approach, so choose wisely! 5 years with a senior lawyer who facilitates your growth and nurtures your ambition will go by in a blink of an eye!
Best of luck on your journey, and remember to always stay true to your vision and values. Remember, money is fleeting. Never compromise your integrity for more money. Shine bright my friend!
Firstly, I want to acknowledge your courage in sharing your feelings and experiences. Remember, you're at the start of an exciting journey, and it's natural to feel a mix of emotions, including anxiety. You're not alone in this; many of us have faced similar challenges, especially at the beginning of our careers.
Here's a little secret that you'll come to realize as you progress in life: deep down, everyone feels insecure and anxious to some extent. The degree varies, but these feelings are a part of the human experience. It's how we address and manage them that makes the difference.
The legal profession, especially in a law firm setting, can indeed be demanding and might amplify feelings of anxiety. It's essential to recognize this and consider what's best for you at this stage. Your well-being, both mental and emotional, is paramount.
I strongly recommend looking into cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It's a practical approach that can help you address and manage anxious thoughts right from the outset. It's never too early or too late to seek support, and taking this step can be transformative. I would recommend that you find time for this given its importance as you start a new journey.
Remember, every challenge you face is an opportunity for growth. Believe in yourself, and know that you have the strength and resilience to navigate this journey. Remember the people who care for you will always be rooting for you so hold them close at all times!!
Firstly, I commend you for your honesty and introspection. It's essential to recognize when something isn't fulfilling or aligning with your aspirations. Here's my take on your concerns:
1. Leaving a Law Firm Early: While it's common for professionals to stay in a position for at least a year, your well-being and job satisfaction are paramount. If you genuinely feel that the role isn't a good fit, it's better to make a move sooner rather than later. However, when discussing your decision with future employers or colleagues, it's essential to frame it positively. Emphasize what you learned during your time there and how it influenced your subsequent decisions. 2. 3. Returning to Law: If your entrepreneurial venture doesn't pan out as expected and you decide to return to law, your experience as an entrepreneur can be a valuable asset. Running a business requires a myriad of skills, many of which are transferable and can be beneficial in a legal setting. It's all about how you present and leverage that experience. Remember, many successful individuals have faced setbacks or taken unconventional paths. What's crucial is resilience and the ability to adapt and grow from experiences. 4. 5. Transferable Skills and Job Search: Your legal background has equipped you with numerous transferable skills like analytical thinking, attention to detail, and effective communication. When looking for jobs outside the legal realm, focus on these skills and how they can be applied in different industries. Platforms like LinkedIn allow you to search for roles based on skills, which can open doors to positions you might not have considered. 6. 7. The Value of Entrepreneurship: Embarking on an entrepreneurial journey is a commendable decision. It not only allows you to be your own boss but also provides a platform to innovate, create, and make a direct impact. The skills you'll gain—like business strategy, networking, and risk assessment—are invaluable and can enhance your professional profile, whether you return to law or explore other sectors. It is ultimately something in which you will always fail upwards. 8. 9. Things to Consider Before Making the Move:
- - Financial Stability: Ensure you have a financial safety net before venturing into entrepreneurship. It might take time before your setup becomes profitable. - - Skill Set: While passion is vital, having the necessary skills or being willing to learn them is equally important. Consider taking courses or seeking mentorship in areas you're less familiar with. - - Market Research: Before starting, research the market to understand the demand for your product/service and identify your target audience. - - Networking: Connect with other entrepreneurs or join entrepreneurial communities. They can provide invaluable insights, support, and potential collaboration opportunities. 10.
Lastly, remember that every career move, whether lateral, forward, or even seemingly backward, adds to your life's tapestry. It's the skills you acquire, the people you meet, and the lessons you learn that shape your professional journey. Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck and success in your endeavours!
The 3 year llb grads must be biting their fingers now. Not only UGC fully backed DU’s decision but at the same time the HC approved the DU five year llb course to be undertaken under clat.
I am a trans person from a tier-1 NLU (one among NLS, NALSAR and NUJS). Which law firms in India are most accepting of the queer community? By accepting, I don't mean just changing their logos to rainbow colors during Pride Month, but having a relatively non-judgmental atmosphere for queer / gender-nonconforming people. In JSA's internship guidelines, there is a rule against men having long hair (not sure if it as actually enforced), do other firms have such rules as well? Serious answers only, as LI is already rife with trolls.
As someone still struggling with this, I think I can empathise. Interviews especially, I used to panic and go silent. It was weird even for those taking the interviews. Fortunately, managed to get into a good firm and all of my weaknesses became strengths in that firm. Ours is not a sales job ( at least in the initial 7-8 years); as an associate, you will do well if you are willing to work hard, are diligent and treat your profession as a ‘calling’. Even when I struggled to verbally communicate with my senior partner, my emails were clear and carefully crafted, and I did my best in paying attention to the smallest details in the transaction documents. It has worked wonders for me in my career so far. You have already managed to get into a firm. So hold your chin high and do not worry about your perceived weaknesses. Along the way, you will find allies; you will find love.
Recently, two separate shrinks diagnosed me with Asperger’s syndrome or being in the spectrum (ASD). A labeling helps, I guess, in making sense of some life events and silencing that nagging question deep inside- what’s wrong with me. Other than that, nothing in life has changed. Even when struggling, one adapts to become functional in the circumstances one is in. My next phase of struggle has started with the expectations of socialising for business development. I think I will manage- you play the cards you are dealt with. And of course, in the interviews I take now, I ensure that anxiety during interviews is not counted against the candidates.
In law firms, associates are usually tasked with undertaking due diligences. From a firm perspective, it makes sense to deploy their (relatively) cheapest resource to spend hours on documents, while for associates - it is a good opportunity to familiarse themselves with different kinds of documents/ concepts/ industries without having to worry about technical drafting.
Often I have seen partners take due diligence training and focus on what sort of documents need to be reviewed, or what laws need to be researched for some specific industry, or how to write the DD report, but I feel like the main essence of doing a diligence – the approach while handling a DD gets lost in the translation.
Okay. So, let’s address the elephant in the room. Due diligence is one of the most hated aspects of legal work in law firms, with most seniors trying to pawn it off to juniors, and juniors trying to pawn it off to interns. The hate towards this aspect of legal work is partially because this doesn’t involve drafting, so it doesn’t feel like legal work – and also, DDs usually involve huge volumes of data, so after a while going through so many documents feels mind numbing. However, every year, many associates join the legal workforce, and while they have big aspirations of working on cutting edge transactions and drafting agreements, this is the job they are mostly involved in.
Is there a way to salvage this? Is there a way to make DDs interesting? Here’s an idealistic view:
IDEALISTIC VIEW OF A DD:
Due diligence at its core – is investigative journalism. While reporters have to run around to get their hands on confidential internal company data, as lawyers we get all the data handed over to us in the virtual data rooms. DDs offer us an opportunity to take a deep dive into an industry, and see the functioning of the company in and out. Maybe the below example will help you visualise this better:
Imagine you’re an analyst sitting in the office of Lindenburg. One fine morning, your boss bursts into the office, and tells you he has received a big scoop - a tip off about some huge financial scam going on in a large conglomerate. All analysts need to drop everything and immediately get on this task to see if the allegations are true. Because if the allegations are true, this will not only cause a huge upheaval in the public and send shock waves in the stock market, this may also have the potential of destabilising an entire nation as there are also allegations the ruling party of the country may be linked to the conglomerate.
As an analyst, when you are researching the leads, you may have to go through various complicated agreements, pull out obscure licenses, and keep a track of all the potential red flags you have come across. But even under such tight deadlines, you know that when you are preparing the Lindenburg report, you cannot afford to make a mistake. Every sentence you write in the report has to accurate, every footnote in the report has to be properly formatted and rock solid. Because when the Lindenburg Report is published in the news and it causes the stock price of the conglomerate to nosedive, this conglomerate is going to come at you with full force. It will unleash thousands of lawyers and accountants on you, make them go through every line of the report, trace back every footnote in the report – just to find that one mistake you have made – and use that to discredit your entire report. The stakes are that high.
You are probably spending long hours in the office trying to finish the report, trying to find the needle in the haystack, all the while racing against time. You’re probably even pulling regular all-nighters to complete the report faster. Imagine – during this time, you go up to your senior – and ask for “work life balance”. Your senior is going to be explode.
Alright, let’s come back to reality. Thankfully, your legal DD report in a law firm is not going to destabilise an entire nation, and the stakes aren’t that high. But it kind of explains why several seniors hate the idea of “Work life” balance. Some seniors are so involved in their work and take so much ownership in their work, they feel work life balance is not important as work is part of life. But I mean, to each their own.
REALISTIC VIEW OF DD:
Working on that Lindenburg report, deep diving into a company’s financials and finding the hidden skeletons – that sounded exciting, right? So why doesn’t my day to day job of doing a DD feel that exciting? A couple of reasons I can offer:
1. First impression: Your first brush with DD probably happened when you were an intern. Some associate may have asked you to prepare the list of documents, or review some obscure form without giving you any context, and you felt like a headless chicken, confused out of your wits, just doing some mind numbing work of data entry – day in and day out. From the associate’s perspective it makes sense, as preparing list of documents is the least risky element of the DD report, and even if the intern misses something here or there, it won’t have a huge impact. But unknowingly, the associate has killed your interest in law.
2. Negative reinforcement: You speak to some seniors in the team about their view of DD, and either they have probably gone through the above experience as an intern, or they are too senior to deal with DD, so they tell you that DDs aren’t that interesting, and you just have to power through the mind numbing work. The subtext being – you are getting paid a lot of money to do the grunt work – so shut up and do it. Here, even before your first brush with a DD, you have a negative idea about it in your head.
3. Volume of data: Objectively, the amount of data that companies upload on virtual data rooms is no joke, especially if it is a listed company. Dealing with the huge amounts of data can be extremely overwhelming, especially if you lack prior experience or your team is understaffed. Here’s another perspective – when you seniors were doing DDs, because the tech wasn’t that developed, they had to often travel to the company headquarters or get to stay in fancy 5 star hotel, order pizzas and work on the due diligence. They also had to work hard, but it was also an all expenses paid trip with their colleagues. But now that we have Onedrive and great internet, the documents are simply uploaded in 40-50 folders by the target company, documents often not arranged properly and now you have to sit in your office cubicle and get the work done.
4. Turnaround time: Sometimes you may end up in a team, or with some clients who are extremely demanding, and you have to turn around and prepare the DD in 2 weeks or so. Depending on the scope of the DD, this can be extremely stressful, ruin your sleep cycle and create havoc in your daily life. No one likes staying up till 4am-5am in the night to work on documents under such tight deadlines.
5. Uncertainty: This is probably the worst contributor and a silent killer. Uncertainty about when the documents will be uploaded to the data room after you have sent your Nth requisition list (7pm on a Friday night?), or not knowing at the beginning of the transaction how many more documents you will need to ask and review when you are under a tight deadline. I mean – it’s almost counterintuitive. To do a proper DD, you need to scrutinise documents, and ask for requisitions (i.e. more documents) if you find things missing or something fishy, and this can make you go down a rabbit hole, but then the client wants the report prepared by a certain date. This means you have to take enough care to ensure you have looked at the critical aspects, but not so much care that you can’t prepare the report on time. Also, at a junior level, if there is communication breakdown within the team, not having visibility by when you need to review and complete documents, or what you should be looking for in a new document you have never come across – that can cause unnecessary friction because you will end up taking more time than what your senior has anticipated/ estimated.
Without proper mentorship and without enough time to absorb the work you are doing, doing DDs become a nightmare. But at the core, doing a DD is still a lot like investigative journalism and it can be exhilarating and exciting if the DD workload is managed well. Which is why, even if you may not have enjoyed working during the entire span of doing a DD, I’m sure if you have been involved in a DD for some time, and the workload management hasn’t been terrible, you may found yourself in a state of flow, where you suddenly start taking interest in the documents you are reading and actively start following an industry which was extremely alien to you 2 weeks back.
I think i might be a phone addict. My daily screentime is
Instagram-2-2.5 hours
Reddit-2 hours
How do you manage it!? I dont want to cut it all off because i would like to be in touch with some people via instagram and occasionally see some good memes on reddit. How does one control it !? Is there a way to cut them down around 20-40 mins a day or even less.
There's one thing i noticed when i open an instagram or reddit, i think of using it just for 5 mins but i get so glued that i dont know how 1 hr has passed. I also indulge in rage searching or looking through post when i am emotionally triggered or sometimes i am triggered via something on internet . I loose myself and awareness using these apps.
Should i start from cutting all social media off and then introducing them after 3-4 months in moderation ??
Has anyone able to get through with this problem!? I will really appreciate some inputs.
Honestly, i am not a very disciplined person, how does one cultivate discipline? The time i give to social media could be better utilised in my career or hobies.
My senior is a Partner at a Midsize Law Firm. He is in his early fiftees. he lives in a 2,800 Sq ft Apartment in of the most elite Socities of South Mumbai, drives a White Merc which costed him about 55,00,000/-, goes on international holidays twice a year and takes other domestic holidays too. Guess the Phone he uses
Samsung w a broken screen which would not have costed him more than 20K.
All of us's defination of luxury is different. If buying a 15 makes you happy, by all means go for it. But if youre going to buy it to please others, trust me you will always end up displeasing yourself.
The remarks against Arghya/Vidhi are baseless and comical. When J Sai Deepak makes the same argument you people praise him. Then why target Arghya? No doubt borne out of resentment for NLSIU. Some points to rebut all of you:
ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS:Arghya is from NLSIU with a DPhil from Oxford (in Constitutional Law). Arghya is also a Rhodes scholar and NLSIU gold medalist. The person criticising him is from NUJS with an LLM from King's College London (in Tax Law). Even if I assume parity between NLSIU (NIRF rank 1) and NUJS (NIRF rank 4), or Oxford (QS rank 2) and KCL (QS rank 15), a person with a DPhil/PhD in Constitutional Law is unquestionably superior to an LLM in Tax Law when it comes to matters of constitutional law.
ENDORSEMENTS:
Fali Nariman has praised Arghya's book. You will see his quote on the cover. Need I say more?
IDEOLOGY:
Everyone is free to have an ideology. We are not a communist country like China and North Korea. Also, is Fali Nariman pro-BJP as per your logic? Finally, show me ONE place where Arghya/Vidhi has endorsed the BJP. Yes, Vidhi drafted a version of the UCC and has supported it in newspapers. So what? Since when is UCC = BJP? The Constitution mandates it (in the DPSP) and the Supreme Court has also said we should have it. A Muslim judge like AS Ahmadi has supported UCC.
MERITS OF THE ARGUMENT
Finally, and most importantly, the Constitution indeed needs a review. The Vajpayee government set up an excellent committee to review the working of the Constitution. It pointed to legitimate problems like a backlog of judges, lack of police and administrative reforms, etc. The Committee was headed by a very respected judge (Venkatachaliah) had distinguished people from all backgrounds, like BP Jeevan Reddy, RS Sarkaria Soli Sorabjee, PA Sangma, CR Irani, Abid Hussain etc. I quote from the report:
" During the last two decades and more, there was a persistent demand in the civil society – from some NGOs, academics, constitutional scholars and others – that the working of the Constitution be subjected to a comprehensive review. Several books and a large number of articles and research papers devoted to the theme of constitutional review and reforms were published (some of these have been listed in the bibliographies annexed to Consultation Papers and were taken fully into account and used by the Commission in its study and deliberations) and many seminars and conferences organised in different parts of the country."
Drop years almost never matter. Now why I used the word ‘almost’? It’s because if you make it at the end of the day then everything is worth it. But if you don’t - you lose a lot of your energy. That’s why it’s always good to have a backup and focus on that.
Now coming to the technicalities of your question. Retaking MHCET is absolutely fine if you don’t want to sit for clat. The thing that’s worrying me is that GLC has very less seats. Only 35 unreserved for general. So regardless how easy the mhcet paper is or how many people are competing - your chances will still be as low as other excellent aspirants. You will have more psychological anxiety trust me as the exam approaches.
So what are the solutions? Definitely not staying at a tier-3. I mean yes if you don’t crack any of your desired competitive exams - by all means stay in your requisite T-3 and try to do marvellously well there.
But the solutions for you are - try retaking clat before mhcet or any other competitive exam for that matter. Okay? Just for you to get into the one of it. If you are gonna do it- just do it right. Give ailet - don’t have any expectation , just sit for it. Who knows? Maybe that environment helped you crack mhcet later on.
I cracked it this way. I also changed from a tier-3 nlu (not exactly as bad as a tier-3 but well) to ils Pune. I know the odds and favours of it.
AND YES - a glc or ils tag right now nationally or internationally is much more valuable than a tier-3 nlu tag (claiming this after studying at high places)
All the best and good luck for your exam! Maintain your backup well. Don’t be afraid
Crazy times. I paid much less that that in total for five years in a non-residential campus. Add another 50k commute was also covered. Got a job and recouped all my expenses in first 5-6 months.
To be fair NLU, and amongst them as well, the NLS tag would be worth much more in future. However, the concerns are very valid for the poor meritorious chaps who wish to get out of the socio-economic traps.
I remember receiving forwarded messages every now and then as to how some talented individual was unable to make the ends meet and wished to have a crowdsourced fund for paying up the fee to college.
As much as I understand this move is inclusive in nature and opens the doors to many, i think it is very shortsighted. Firstly, the RC section and its standards could be differential across languages making it unfair ground of comparison. Secondly, What next? the medium of teaching in Ntl Law Schools is English, with the crowd being diverse. The books, commentaries are primarily in English and not the local language. While considering placements too, I believe the reality is such that Law firms would expect the candidate to be fluent in English first and the Local language is a plus point in Litigation. So these candidates have to now struggle in law school with academics, peers, placements and internships. Also, The HC requires you to have a good command over English. So i genuinely think it is a short sighted decision. Depositions, case laws, search engines, everything has to be available. HALF BAKED help, complicates things for all.
If you plan to make CLAT inclusive, you also have to make sure the System is ready and capable of working as efficiently (Not saying the system is efficient, but at par) with what is there right now.
This is crazy. Now I desperately want Nalsar to be established as the best nlu and to at least take over nlsiu. I am in a tier-3 nlu (pathetic nusrl) retaking clat. Will fill nalsar as the first preference and then Nujs. Wont even look at NLS.
(I may end up receiving a tier-3 nlu as clat is unpredictable and my above comment may reek of arrogance is top tier nlu is not easy to get but this is a blatant fee surcharge from NLS)
Hi, Honestly it burns down to what you are looking for. Career guidance as to different fields and options you can pursue? They can help streamline your options, choices, give you their inputs based on their exposure and experience. Can help you with Resume, Cover letter building, acting interviews etc. But I honestly don't think they can help you ACE placements nor can they provide you with suitable leads or opportunities.
I would rather talk to someone who has gone through the same grind, from a similar background and who has made it, to understand the process. Of course, it is not a straijacket formula.
I don't know what this line means: "So I am considering to take sanyas after my mother's demise."
If it means what I think, 29 is still soooo young! You talk as if you are 50!!! Just go to ISB, find your life partner, found a startup, become a millionaire.
The Printer has received a tip from a highly credible source in the Rashtrapati Bhavan that the tragic deaths of two successive Presidents involve foul play.
This is a live story. Stay tuned for more updates.
LATEST UPDATES:
Chief Justice Thakur accuses Acting-President Ramalingam of planning a supersession in the Supreme Court!
Rashtrapati Bhavan categorically denies all allegations in a statement just released, which claims that "It is highly inappropriate for a sitting Chief Justice to engage in such malicious falsehood against the first citizen."
Prime Minister Banerjee to address the nation in Dil ki Baat this evening at 8 p.m.
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I mean I get it , post 2010s the field is getting attention it deserves more and more.
More because of Clat now which is a big deal.
But still the profession itself hasn’t been able to penetrate the masses and in US law is a big deal. The very important presidents are lawyers. What happened?
Great way to settle scores let law students just post anonymous allegations? At least do some identity verification that this not some random guy on a vendetta? Or dont host such content
Ganesh Shastri was woken up in the middle of the night. Disoriented, he tried to make sense of who was calling out to him. He put on his glasses, turned on the table light next to his bed, and looked at Mirza, his secretary, who seemed to have awoken him. "Sir, the President is dead!"
-----
"They say it's a stroke, Ram", said Shastri, "he looked perfectly fine yesterday. I'm just... shocked...."
"It's a shock to everyone, Ganesh" replied Ram, and then quickly glanced at Sashikala. The Prime Minister and the Chief Justice were informed of the tragedy and immediately requested to come to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
As Shastri saw a faint ray of sunlight in the sky from his office window, still deeply shook, there was a knock on his office door. "Come in!"
"Sir, we have arranged the press release", informed Kiran, the secretary to the President.
"Very well, thanks Kiran."
"One other thing, Sir. You will have to move to the President's office, and also appoint an acting Vice President" said Kiran.
"Very well, I'll get to it."
As Kiran left the office, it seemed to Shastri, for a second, that she gave a remonstrating look at Ram and Sashi. He wondered if it implied something. Perhaps it's nothing, and he just needs sleep. Or, maybe, it has to do with what Naik had shared with him a few days ago. That a major amendment was in the pipeline. Was Naik's death really of natural causes? The Director of AIIMS strongly reassured Shastri personally that there was no foul play involved. Good timing for Naik. He did not have to sign that godforsaken amendment. But now it's stuck with him.
---
It has been three days since Naik's death, and the piercing sense that there is something undiscovered about his untimely demise continued to haunt Shastri. Not least considering that he was informed by the Russian President, when the latter had called to convey his condolences, that there were a few urgent matters that he had to inform Naik of right away. When he pressed his counterpart on what they pertained, he was only informed that it is of grave concern directly concerning Shastri, and that it would be best if he came to Moscow personally.
"I can't possibly do a state visit at this time, Nikita. It is inappropriate, and also I'm not sure of the necessity" Shastri had bemoaned.
"I understand that Ganesh. But what I have to share with you is not only urgent but gravely important", protested Nikita Vladislav, a man who had had a great rapport and friendship with Naik, and also Shastri, on previous occasions. "How about this? There is a development conference happing at Tashkent next Wednesday. Many heads of states are flying in for that. I'll get an official invite sent over to you. We can talk there."
Shastri had acquiesced, if only to not seem obstinate at the face of "grave concerns." Everything is a "grave concern" in this new digital age. But Shastri did not want to take a chance, just in case it was, even remotely, a "grave concern".
---
Next Monday
"I am sorry, Madam Prime Minister. But I just cannot assent to that. I have no other choice than to resign if you do pass this in the parliament. I just cannot be a party to these amendments" rebuked Shastri. The Prime Minister had requested an appointment with him very early in the day to discuss government business. As he feared, it was about the proposed amendments, which she promptly brought soon after the usual pleasantries.
"But Sir... This is the best cour..." she was about the say, before Shastri cut her mid-sentence, "I'm sorry, I just cannot. Now if you will please excuse me, I have another meeting already scheduled."
Sashikala looked pale, and then crimson-faced. She walked out of the room in quite an angry stride.
---
Tuesday:
As Shastri was perusing a paper in from him, listing the official recipients of this year's Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards, he could not get rid of the ominous feeling that has been haunting him ever since he was awoken by Mirza that fateful night. It always found a way to return.
A knock on the door...
"Yes, come in" beckoned Shastri.
"Sir, some bad news" informed Kiran. "The scheduled Air India One seems to have encountered an engine issue. And stupidly enough, they did not think of pre-arranging an alternative. They have arranged for the MI-17 chopper to take you to Tashkent tomorrow."
"Ah, I see. No worries, that's fine Kiran. Let them go ahead."
Prof. (Dr.) Usha Tandon (Dean, Faculty of Law) is being appointed as the first Vice Chancellor of Dr. Rajendra Prasad National Law University, Prayagraj.
It is so good to see that a lot of capable women are being appointed as the VCs in various NLUs
I believe getting involved with someone from the same workplace is never a good idea, especially in a FWB situation as in your case. And now, you have an intern in sight, which is even worse. I think you should stay away from the very thought and spare problems for both you & her. When I was an intern, I had similar issues with my A2 approaching me and showing interest and when it was not reciprocated, things went a little downhill. Please do not make things awkward. It would be very difficult if it gets exposed for both of you :)
So yes, it is wrong to sleep with her, especially if she is an intern at your org.
"issue" is defined under 2(13)(ea) is defined to include
(i) Public issue of debentures
(ii) PP which seeks to list later- DRHP
Therefore, the Regulations include even unlisted debentures which are privately placed (requiring debenture trustees under the ILNC Regs) but seeking to list on a recognised stock exchange.
(im T1 NLU student with good internships looking for t1 internships btw)
Broadly, here are the things that you can do to enhance your CV. These are in addition to good academics. Depending on which college you're from, good academics are non-negotiable. For me, they were and I know that people wouldn't have even looked at my CV if not for my CGPA.
1. Internships: This was quite possibly the strongest section in my CV. My parents aren't lawyers and my Placement Cell wasn't spectacular, this happened because of good old networking. My first 4 internships were in chambers/litigation in my city - easy to get because they weren't coveted internships that everyone was trying to get. I kept in touch with all the people i met here, texted them for New Years, Diwali, did my best to be on good terms with everyone. A year later, when I asked these people to help me get other internships, they really did. This led to my tier 2 internships.
My tier 1 internships did not come from connections, I found that the strategy I outlined above seemed to work from tier 3 to tier 2 but not tier 2 to tier 1. I got my JSA internship by directly applying, they had a long procedure but I did get it without recommendations. The other t1 internships I got were through the Placement Cell - by this time I was in 4th year and had a good CGPA so I got the internships I wanted through college itself. By recruitment time, I had 10 internships on my CV - 3 T1s, 3 T2s, and 4 random ones that people outside my city wouldn't have heard of. Got placed through campus placement in a T1 that I hadn't interned at.
2. Moots: I did 3 external moots and would say that this was a fairly strong part of CV. The first moot I did was a random one, we reached the semi-finals but didn't win anything. The second moot I did was a really good one, a competitive national level corporate law moot of repute. We won an award but not the entire event. The last moot I did was a reputed constitutional law moot in which we reached the finals and won an award. An international moot would have been a great addition to my CV but was not affordable. I didn't really have the time to undertake something like this, either.
3. ADR Competitions/Essay Writing Competitions/Quiz Competitions/Debates/MUNs/Miscellaneous competitions: Some of these are easier to get awards in than others. Target those, and you'll build up your CV without spending an unreasonable amount of time/effort. I had a fair few of these and while they look impressive put together, the truth is that they're not that difficult to crack. You need to participate persistently, and you'll win a few awards in a few places.
4. Publications/Paper Presentations/Conferences: A lot of people focus on these extensively, and they're usually rewarded for their efforts. I wasn't one of these people, and had 0 publications when I got placed. My first publication was accepted after my placement. If you're interested in publishing, target good journals and blogs, a "publication" in ipleaders doesn't add value to your CV.
All this may seem intimidating, but remember that you can't do everything in the limited time you have. Try to build a diverse CV, and enjoy yourself with these activities! Good luck!
Aaye don’t thank anyone. See that’s what LI is known for. Couple of minutes back you were suspicious of doing a quality MBA. Now you seem much more confident am I right? Try to take baby steps and work on them. You will do remarkably well trust me you will. I don’t wanna act like some self-appointed psychologist , but you will do better if you have faith more :)
I will be joining as an A0 at a firm next year. I've had a negligible social life and have avoided social interaction during my college life. I am a husk of my former, joyful self. College life broke me somehow. I know that having social anxiety while being a lawyer is ironic. But somehow I'm still working in this field, but struggling. I lack basic conversational skills and I struggle to make friends. Is there anyone who can relate to my situation or even guide me? I've considered counselling but never had the time for it.
Hi I don’t think 29 is that late of an age for a decent MBA in ISB or an excellent MBA abroad. Infact this has been the norm internationally. For IIMs the average age ranges from 24-26 while for ISB it has been 27 plus for the last 4 years. You can also check several LinkedIn posts in support of this! So age should not be an issue at all!
However I can’t counter your argument of disturbed mind as that’s fairly a personal issue. But you still have a lot of time. Don’t get occupied by negativity. You can also opt for accelerated MBA programmes if you well academically! All the best brother/sister ❤️
President Gopala Naik was one of the finest and astute Presidents the country had witnessed in the recent past. His commitment to duty and his prescience of danger was unparalleled to even the most seasoned politicians around. Honour and respect found him easily, and he had a commanding voice over the executive. Naik was not a politician by trade. He was too sincere to be one. He was an astronomer and physicist who played a major role in Chandrayaan missions, as well as the Gaganyaan missions.
But, as he was strolling this morning in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, in one of his usual leisurely walks, Naik, a stubby man in composition, had a troubled look on his face, an unusual demeanour for the otherwise jovial fellow. The cause of much anxiety emerged from recent events. A bench ruled by the Supreme Court had, six days ago, overturned the basic structure doctrine of the Indian Constitution. What was even more concerning to Naik was that his Prime Minister, Sashikala Banerjee relayed that the cabinet, and her party, had unanimously decided on a course correction for the nation, which was, according to her, long needed. She proposed a far-reaching overhaul of the constitution and that the government intends on introducing a constitution amending bill in the parliament which, among other things, removed 'India' from Article 1, made Hindi a national language, and greatly restructured Part III of the Constitution. This had shaken Naik's conscience. He strongly protested with Banerjee that he could not possibly assent to such a bill. But she had insisted that he was bound to assent to bills emanating from the parliament.
As he strolled around the luxuriant gardens, in this sunny but pleasant morning, Naik, besmirched in guilt, embarrassment, and a profound sense of helpless, weighed his options. He was stuck in a Gordian knot, but could manage to conjure a few options. One, to refer the matter to the Supreme Court as a special reference. That was, however, pointless as K. T. Ramalingam, the current Chief Justice, would side with the government given the recent ruling that the parliament had an unrestrained power to amend the constitution. The second option was to call for a special sitting of the parliament and for him to chair the sitting and openly speak his mind about the dangerous course of these proposed amendments. That was an option to consider, although it was tricky constitutionally whether he can exercise such a discretion. To be presidential, for all pageantries and platitudes that accompany the role, is nothing but playing a character in a script over which the actor has no creative liberty whatsoever. The position is just placed to fill the transcendent nominal space in constitutional law, much like the Rex or Regina in England. A famous adage that he read in Oxford came to his mind. One married a Duke more for the status than the pleasure. Seemed like it is apt in the context of becoming a President in India too, more for the status than the pleasure. Naik decided on a third option. Given the severity of the proposed amendments, and the radical nature of the changes, Naik will send the bill for reconsideration to Parliament. The President has to assent if the bill comes to him a second time, there's no way out. But.... he will resign when it comes to him the second time, and write a letter that he cannot, in good, conscience sign the bill. That will, even if not stop the bill from becoming a law, will atleast greatly cast aspersions on its legitimacy and validity by all moral and ethical standards, if not legal standards. Yes, that is what Naik will do! Great plan!!
As he turned to enter the central dome back to his residence, with a smile having returned to his earlier morose face, the poor Naik did not know that he will die of a stroke within 15 hours. Nay, he will be killed within 15 hours, and the world will be made to believe that it was a stroke.
In this particular case, the comment in question was removed due to strong grounds to believe it may have been trollish and not based on factual information. We aim to maintain a respectful and constructive environment for all members, and such comments can potentially derail discussions and undermine the credibility of the platform :)
It's good if BCI conducts the exam and mandates all colleges to admit students based on the CLAT scores. However, I just have one concern with holding the exam in regional language which is that the ones who get good scores in the regional languages may struggle to understand the legal or BA concepts which would be taught in tough English. This may lead to greater number of people dropping out after taking admission or people suffering after taking admission.
I was in the same dilemma when I started. Thought of going to a law firm to make a cushion. But got too comfortable. Also, as age progresses, risk taking appetite reduces. Your priorities also change when you are 27/28
Good points. However, at times, someone may not be necessarily better. PPOs are often a product of how actively the team assesses you. They might be busy and already have other interns, may not have properly reviewed you, the practice area you are interning at may not have enough vacancies, etc. Someone else may be at the right time at the right place.
Hi, firstly, congratulations on interning at three Tier 1 firms! It's not easy to get T1 internships, yet you have received them, which tells you you are an academically oriented person and quite sincere in your work. It is indeed a sad feeling, trust me, when one's peers get those PPOs when one is working sincerely and isn't receiving them. But it would be best to learn that no matter how much you think you are good, there is always someone better than you; this statement helps one move on in life and work hard even more. Not receiving those PPOs is not the end of the world; Day Zero and Day One are still there where top T1/T2 come and select the suitable candidates. The only mantra for qualifying for a day zero interview is good grades + T1 internships. After you prepare for the technical rounds, your knowledge of Company Law, the Law of Contracts, and the Partnership Act will be tested in general, and you will get the job; from this statement, I mean, you still have a perfect shot in getting a job offer from T1 firm, don't stress about a PPO. I would end this by stating that life is too short to worry about what others achieve in their respective lives, appreciate their efforts, and then move on. There are many opportunities for getting an excellent job; learn where to look for them. Like the Great Baba Ranchoddas said, " Don't run after success; always go for excellence."
We Indians do possess a penchant for hyperbolic comparisons—a curious blend of pride and whimsy that adds a certain flair to our mundane existences. To see the world through such a lens isn't so much a distortion as it is a reflection of our cultural exuberance. Sachin Tendulkar becomes our very own "Bradman," and suddenly, Ranchi dons the costume of Mussoorie. These monikers may border on the flippant, but as they say, different strokes for different folks.
Now, brace yourself for an unsolicited tale that serves no other purpose than to dredge up poignant memories and to provide the occasional chuckle. A tale that ends, as all good things do, in the pitch-dark humor of life's absurdities.
Once upon a time in the bustling bylanes of North Delhi (Mukherjee Nagar), I found myself beguiled by a captivating woman completing her Master's in Economics at Delhi School of Economics (DSE). It was a time of passion and academia, a time when I, too, was in Delhi under the guise of an internship. The internship was merely an excuse and thanks to my unparalleled talent for crafting excuses at work, life was beautiful with impromptu dates with this magnetic lady. Our limited resources ensured that the DSE canteen (sometimes Kamla Nagar market) became our social hub—a quirky combination of Café Coffee Day, Nirula's, and Connaught Place, all combined into one quaint establishment. Our gastronomic pinnacle? The budget-friendly 'Mutton-Dosas,' which fueled both our love and malnutrition.
During one of our many nostalgic walks, she pointed out an enigmatic gate adorned with Gothic motifs—forever locked and corroded by time. A shortcut to DSE, its perpetual closure made no sense to me. My inquiry triggered another life lesson from the one who would eventually slip through my fingers. According to the legends passed down by her professors, this "Gate to Nobel" would only swing open to welcome back a DSE alumnus graced with a Nobel Prize in Economics. Ah, a closed gate with grand aspirations—much like the two of us.
Time, that cunning sculptor, eventually carved canyons between our paths. We became two strangers bound only by the fragile threads of memories. A few years later, fate led me back to Delhi for work—a voyage that stretched into a reminiscing weekend. And there it was—the still-locked gate, now sporting a fresh coat of silver paint. Perhaps applied with a touch of desperate optimism, it waited for the day it could welcome home a laureate adorned with Swedish gold.
So you see, DSE remains a sanctuary for the study of economics in India. As for the other departments, I wouldn't venture a guess. But what I can vouch for is that the gate, like many of us, stands waiting—frozen in anticipatory glory, serving as a darkly humorous monument to life's grand plans and harsh realities.
The best advice I got is below. It is taken from a blog by Dilbert:
The Day You Became A Better Writer
I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in “business writing.” I couldn’t believe how simple it was. I’ll tell you the main tricks here so you don’t have to waste a day in class.
Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive. A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don’t fight it.
Simple means getting rid of extra words. Don’t write, “He was very happy” when you can write “He was happy.” You think the word “very” adds something. It doesn’t. Prune your sentences.
Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words. For humor, don’t say “drink” when you can say “swill.”
Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. Go back and read my first sentence to this post. I rewrote it a dozen times. It makes you curious. That’s the key.
Write short sentences. Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren’t as smart as you’d think.
Learn how brains organize ideas. Readers comprehend “the boy hit the ball” quicker than “the ball was hit by the boy.” Both sentences mean the same, but it’s easier to imagine the object (the boy) before the action (the hitting). All brains work that way. (Notice I didn’t say, “That is the way all brains work”?)
That’s it. You just learned 80% of the rules of good writing. You’re welcome.
In my not-so-humble opinion, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the bright-eyed newbies of the legal world. On the flip side, it's the creaky old-timers, who seem to think that a good old battering from their seniors was the golden ticket to legal brilliance. How cute!
Their go-to metaphor? "You need the blazing heat of a furnace to purify gold" or perhaps a "stretch to judge how flexible the rubberband is" I'd say it's more of a half-baked excuse than a nugget of wisdom, an attempt to paint their old-school hazing as a badge of honour. I bet the fresh lot can value genuine mentorship and a dash of tough love. However, there’s a difference between that and a senior mistaking their gray hair for a license to play the nightmare-inducing boogeyman.
Cutting to the chase: every profession has its pompous balloons waiting to be popped. I've had the, let's say, "pleasure" of dealing with these so-called legal titans—the ones paraded as the cream of the crop. And boy, have I been left scratching my head! Not to toot my own horn, but we're talking basics here, folks. So, whenever someone starts waxing poetic about the 'golden days of lawyering,' I can't help but visualize a steaming, freshly served plate of... let's just say, a cow's generous donation to our environment.
Lastly, and just for the record, there's not even a shred of empirical evidence that supports the notion that a tormented soul drafts better documents or magically enhances one’s ability to dot the i's and cross the t's.
Write more, read more. Keep in mind that folks have individual styles and so, what one partner believes is great writing may not be to the preference of another. Don't be disheartened. That being said, some general pointers that I find tend to improve drafts:
- Plain English over legal eccentricities (no "hereinafter", "wherefore" etc.). This doesn't include terms of art which need to be used as they are.
- Avoid using multiple words where you can use one ("if" instead of "in the event of")
- Simple past and active voice where possible ("we discussed" instead of "it was discussed by us that")
- Spend some time organising the flow of your argument before you begin drafting. I often work with my team to set out a structure before they begin the draft, so it holds together better. You should ideally ask for guidance on this if you can.
- Use sub-headings where you can to delineate different sections of your argument. Clarity is as important an ideal to chase, as accuracy.
1. expecting better systems/devices? A one time investment of 50-75K extra is a big ask in a sector which sees 80-90% yearly ROI?
2. Doing two jobs (given that most people well work beyond the 8 hours) and getting paid for it, handsomely? You don't even offer any retirals (PF, gratuity etc). Now take the case of IIT-IIM grads and I take them cos our nat law/tier 1 schools who make the majority of law firm resources, make the same or in some cases more money on graduation. They do one job (most of them have 10-6/7 job, unless they with one of the investment banks or EYs/PWCs).
3. Asking for the best deals and best work? Surely, nobody is interested in doing some meaningless work. Hell, the more complex and Sevier the transaction- the more you learn. Sure, you need to have the skills to be able to deliver- but as long as that's there, why shouldn't kids be demanding for this?
I am an old school pre-smart phone Era lawyer. Things that old school has to realise:
1. Life is all about evolution. Do you guys follow what your parents tell you? For all the PAs and partners in their 30s-40s, chances are you were quite the rebel in your younger days and continue to be so, wrt your parents and their advise. So please don't do this- "oh we had it so difficult, this how we grew, this how you must also grow" shit. Life and work is ever evolving and we must always adapt. Not be boomer-dinos.
2. Granted that useful skills such as proper proofing, research, formatting, etc is important. But guys come on, living in the times that we are in, all of this can be outsourced and to a large extent is now being done by the computers and AI. Given that most associates atleast in their first two years only do this, no point harassing them about this beyond a certain point.
3. When we started working, there was no concept of work life balance. Working from home. Not Even bloody HSE (health safety environment) clauses in contracts. These days firms send weekly updates on these topics. Who's to blame? The very fact that firms are writing this is because of the lessons learnt from.the horror stories that our generation went through. To then say that oh you must also go through this cos we went through this is pure crap. It must be quite the contrary- because I went through this and it affected me, I won't let you go through this- should be the Mantra that all PAs and partners adopt.
4. The very topic assumes that we as old school lawyers had to go through shit and the genz doesn't and that is somehow wrong. Perhaps a little self reflection on why you went through shit is necessary. Cos if you were super good, you wouldn't have gone through shit in the first place. You weren't good either in your younger years- so accept that lawyers will evolve with age and can't expect them to be superstars right out of college.
5. An average law school kid probably spent 10-12 hours a day sleeping. To then shock his body suddenly with a 4-6 hour sleep schedule (and in some cases, worse than that) is Gunatanamo bay level torture. This needs to be worked up gradually. This is also a factor of an associate being involved in his job and liking it- things which are very difficult in the abstract without context and not having any foresight of why they are doing what they are doing. How many of you boomers take a first year associate to a negotiation? Hence,please understand that it is not fair to expect 23 year old kids to fall in love with their jobs and blindly do everything without question.
6. Drafting is a skill that evolves with age and life experiences. Hell,even commitment to a job is directly proportional to the personal commitments that you have. How can you expect a 23-25 ywar old without any familiar commitments to have a high sense of responsibility and commitment to the job?
To all the genz lawyers- hang in there, these horrible bosses and boomers notwithstanding. Lawyers evolve with age. You'll only be good at what you do if you like doing it. That usually comes with more responsibility and visibility on the impact that your work has. And also being given importance. All of this will come. You need to ask as many questions as you can- be as involved as you can, so that you get to the place where you start liking the Job. In fact in my view, the sole purpose of getting to an SA must be to get to a place where you have little more responsibility and ability to fall in love with the job. All the very best- 2012 lawyer. Have been both in house and in a law firm (currently in a law firm- before the boomer defending folks start jumping at the in house reference).
As the title suggests, I'd be consolidating what i think an intern should know or learn while applying for a litigation internship to get that headstart
Keep in mind these are my viewpoints and I haven't had that much of experience on field but had I've learnt these things earlier I'd have gotten a headstart. Please feel free to subject this list to scrutiny and add more to it.
1. First things first is to know how to check the cause list of your matter at a particular court. Get very well versed with these things download the ecourt service app and by typing down your case number and year and the jurisdiction of your court. So if you've been assigned for a court visit w your senior just quickly check the cause list and tell him the item no (although he'd have known these things but little things like these creates a good impression leading to more work from the same senior)
2. Also you should know how to check whether the judge who is assigned to your matter is on leave or not. And do mention that in the message you'd be sending along side with the cause list message (same info can be accessed online on web just by typing judges on leave and the court you're going to)
3. Learn legalese basically legal English, i swear to god when I got introduced to drafting. This shit went over my head. Although I'm a believer of using plain English in drafts. Usually at my firm we're still using the archaic words of English. If you wanna know where to actually learn legalese just read a lotta drafts and read supreme court's judgements try to highlight words which seems foreign to you.
4. Learn how to draft a legal notice, probably if you're at a good place you'd be assigned the tasks of drafting legal notices, reply notices. The format is damn easy and you can just use sample problems and create them by yourselves if you're not doing an internship.
5. Learn how to draft a complaint most important this is one of those common works you might be assigned to. The format is damn easy but what I've noticed with drafting is essentially you're telling a story so don't get this anxiety that you can't do shit or you can't use legalese. Make sure to be very specific with your details like very specific for example if A stole an iPhone you should write it like this "That one person named "A" S/0_____ R/0____ commited pilferage of one iPhone 14 pro max 256 gb ......"
.
6. Once you know how to draft a complaint learn how to draft a representation to a ACP/DCP and subsequently 156(3) too.
7. And for the love of God when you've finished your research and you're sending it to your senior always make a casenote and send it with a highlighted portions of the judgement
8. Learn to do filing especially of high courts. Tutorials could be found on YouTube to learn the same.
Man I've written a blog at this point lmfao but this is almost what I think an intern should learn there's more to this i could have written more but I be feeling too lazy to type now.
Hey, kindly let me know the most prestigious site on which I can publish my article. SCC Blog (a lot of corp law firm partners publish their pieces here) V. IndiaCorpLaw (heard that it's the most prestigious) V. NLS Business Law Review V. Indian Review of Corporate and Commercial Laws (IRCCL) V. NLIU Corp Law Blog V. Jindal Corp Law Blog V. NLUD Corp Law Blog
Greetings, esteemed colleagues and eager beavers of law!
Did a little snooping around here (as any good lawyer does) and found this... quirk. Want to peek into a juicy comment? Too bad, rookie! Looks like we're running on a seniority system. Who designed this, King Arthur's Round Table?
Hold up before you rain down with "Quality over Quantity!" or "Wise old owls only!" - this reminds me of a story. Ever heard of the Magna Carta? Big parchment, lots of freedom talk, but mainly for the rich folks. Imagine a fresh-out-of-law-school chap back then with some brilliant ideas, but... "Shush, kiddo! The grown-ups are talking."
Isn’t it a bit like saying only Dadaji gets the remote, and we all have to watch reruns of 'C.I.D' or 'Suryavansham'... again?
And just for giggles, imagine Socrates here, labeled a 'noob'. "To question or not to question, that is... Oops! Access denied!"
Should we give this policy a second thought? Or just stock up on popcorn and wait for the juniors to start a digital uprising?
Here’s to old-timers, the young blood, and a spoonful of cheekiness!
Growing up in the '90s suburbs of the city of dreams, the term "toxic" was more like a sultry serenade, thanks to that catchy number where our cherished Khiladi Kumar crooned in wonder about the nature of a 'peck.' His immortal line, “Is it toxic or a lovely bliss, your kiss… the enigmatic inebriation... your kiss,” gave the word a charm. Ah, the irony! Fast forward to today, and the easy breeziness of those times has been usurped by the relentless rhythm of the hustle. Our vocabularies have morphed just as our ringtone melodies have.
Now, 'toxic' isn’t just a cheeky refrain but a haunting reality. 'Toxic behavior' or the 'toxicity of a workplace' isn't just out of a song; it's the symphony of a myriad of ill-fated life choices. For some, it’s the ripple effect of dubious parenting, turning darling kiddos into dreaded office trolls hungry for misguided validation. Others might cloak their insecurities in a facade of aggression, dubbing themselves Type A, Alpha, Sigma, or whatever the buzzword bingo winner is nowadays. After all, when the going gets tough, the tough get... toxic!
Start working under a lawyer who do commercial matters or IP litigation at HC. Delhi HC has ordinary original jurisdiction. Companies pay good chunk of money to initiate cases in DHC. Consequently, such lawyers have good paying capacity. Many join district courts and SC and later neither their pay increase nor they get clients (obviously a generic statement - exception is everywhere - but are you exceptional :-P). Going independent is a thought that exist sub consciously but never happen for a 'very long period of time' and that too without surety. So try HC (commercial dispute - IP litigation).
As you serve as a junior to a senior working for corporate matter or IP litigation in HC and you are in direct touch with client (which you would) then after a long period (while you are compensated nicely) you have a chance that client recognizes you for your efforts that you are putting up for them.
Then later, there is a chance that out of many clients you are in direct touch with decided to move on with you only. That's how 'boutique firms' open. Even if otherwise, your pay is somewhere around 80k-1L after 5 years. While its not as fair as other practice area, but at least its not a desk job. You argue and get the satisfaction of being a lawyer for which you actually did the law school.
Sometimes you get a very good senior. Fortunately I am working under such senior who prioritise work-life balance and also a great mentor.
The idea is that you are secured that you are getting paid decent. When I say getting paid decent, I mean 30k-40k as fresher. If you wish to find such clientele based senior, then its better to track them through HC cause list. (I gave 0 efforts in typing this reply, so please pardon my English and writing style).
Watched all the relevant videos from Khaitan & Co. on youtube. (They have all my respect for taking this initiative and putting in so much effort).
Their videos discuss the topics on the surface level but it does put me in the right direction to research further. if you keep doing this on a regular basis you will easily develop a virtual map in your mind and will always know where to find things when presented with a problem.
I've been familiar with the legal industry for quite some time, and I must say that tier I law firms are known for their intense environment. It's a place where the competition is fierce, and the pressure can be overwhelming. It's not for everyone, and not everyone thrives in such an environment.
I've also heard positive stories about the team at this tier I law firm. They've provided opportunities to many individuals who have not only grown professionally but also as individuals. The collaborative environment and mentorship have been instrumental in shaping successful careers, both within and outside the firm. It's worth mentioning that every workplace has its challenges, and it's crucial to maintain a balanced perspective. While we discuss the concerns raised by this person, let's also acknowledge the many achievements and supportive aspects of the team that have contributed to the success of so many.
Regarding the allegations made by this A0, it's essential to approach such claims with a balanced view. Allegations in a high-pressure work environment can sometimes be highly exaggerated or not entirely reflective of the team's conduct. It's essential to encourage transparency and dialogue to address these concerns properly. While some issues may exist, we should be cautious about jumping to conclusions without a complete understanding of the situation.
I genuinely hope that A0 learns from this experience, whether it was a genuine cry for help or a reaction to anticipated challenges. Ultimately, the legal profession is demanding, and it's crucial for individuals to find the right fit for their skills and temperament. Let's support one another in navigating these challenges and wish him the best in his future endeavors.
This revelation isn't surprising, but I do empathize with the young man for his courage and slight naivety in sending that email. While I don't feel sympathy for those he called out, I'm concerned about the potential backlash he may encounter. I hope he possesses the strength to navigate the challenges in a world filled with ego-driven individuals who mask their insecurities with grand titles like 'Senior Partner.' It seems naive of him to expect justice from the very power structures that may have wronged him. I hope he takes some time to reflect and strategize his next steps carefully. The corporate law realm often thrives on the insecurities of these "senior partners" and their acolytes. Over time, one either adapts to this environment or becomes part of the problem.
2. Raising capital - issuance of debt + equity securities (rights issue, private placement, preferential allotment, initial public offer/further public offer, split, bonus issue, ESOP - procedure + compliance (including issuance to a foreign shareholder - what are FEMA compliances and pricing guidelines under NDI rules?)
3. Capital reduction - extinguishment/reduction/pay off
4. Buyback - procedure + compliances + criteria
5. Transfer of shares - procedure
6. Composition of board + committees (public unlisted, private and listed companies) - also what is the difference between a public company and listed company
6. Powers of board and committees
7. Types of directors - duties/responsibilities and differences - procedure of appointment - nominee + independent + executive director
8. AGM/EGM - how to call an EGM + what items require ordinary resolution + special resolution + procedure
9. KMPs - everything
10. Related party transaction - everything
11. Mergers/reorganisation - procedure under 232-234 - what happens to shareholders of merged entity - do they get consideration or shares of resulting entity? What is resulting entity, transferee company and transferor company
There is one organization called APCR, committed for defending civil liberties. You may reach out to them.
Alternatively, you may reach out to me at queryhasnain@gmail.com, in case you are have any difficulty in reaching out to them. Would be pleased to help !
The OP demanded opinions from the alumni of other NLUs as well.
I will still highly recommend the NUSRL students to not further this discussion just for the sake of criticising your batchmates where the same can be done in your college WhatsApp groups/personal groups.Keep it civil. Don’t share personal information as well or we will be forced to close this thread :)
We are taking each and every step to make sure that LI remains a relevant and healthy platform where people can discuss several updates and point out grievances. Any thread spreading misinformation or hatred will be strictly prohibited.
Kian is working extremely hard to maintain decorum in this website. Kindly acknowledge our request ❤️
Hey. I can tell you about arbitration. Start reading up every judgement on arbitration from today. While reading, when you see any cited judgement, read that one too until you fully understand what it deals with. Repeat everyday and you won't even realise how quickly you'll start developing an in depth understanding of the subject.
You can take assistance of articles but they can't substitute for judgements.
Noida might as well be rechristened Neo-Tokyo, mirroring not just the neon but the nihilism of its fictional counterpart in Katsuhiro Otomo's magnum opus, 'Akira.' The city's restless youth wander like rudderless rebels, channeling their inner Tetsuos and Kanedas but with a penchant for fisticuffs and profanity instead of psychic powers. Authority figures gaze upon this sprawling dystopia as if waiting for an Akira-level event to sweep it all away, their eyes filled with a blend of confusion and a yearning for lost order.
While the air quality doesn't exactly offer the olfactory delights of a nuclear winter, it does give the uninitiated a teasing whiff of post-apocalyptic perfume. Sure, the city streets may lack those iconic Akira-esque motorcycles, but that absence is more than compensated for by the parade of Cretas and Scorpios, each emblazoned with bumper stickers that scream individuality as loudly as a psychic blast from Tetsuo himself.
So, if you're scouting for a mini-dystopia that comes closest to Neo-Tokyo, look no further than this Trans-Yamuna civilization endearingly and sardonically dubbed "Neeoda." Trust me, it's as if Otomo sketched this urban labyrinth himself, but perhaps decided it was too realistic to include in his manga.
You made a good decision by choosing to work as an in-house counsel over being at the mercy of law firms where the work-life balance is in shambles. Since I don't know your exact work experience in "number of years," let me take a guess (approx 12-15 years), Maybe you can try to do an MBA from an IIM or a decent institute, and that degree coupled with your extensive experience in various companies as an in-house counsel will get you the perfect job. Many companies do hire Chief Legal Officers/GCs (that MBA degree might help). So that's my take. I hope this helps...
In the past, I witnessed a similar scenario play out. My sister, who conveniently had the hots for another girl—who also happened to be someone’s sister—was in quite the conundrum. After much internal debate and self-doubt, she turned to her ever-wise, perpetually-available, and supremely caring brother (yours truly) for advice on such heart matters. Embracing my role as the doting sibling, I reassured her that these things often have a way of sorting themselves out. Plus, since I knew the brother of the object of my sister's affection, I eagerly offered to facilitate a chat with her. A family and friends gathering provided the perfect backdrop for this talk. But, plot twist! As I approached her, it seemed she was also keen on striking up a conversation with me. We quickly found common ground: both of us were skeptical about Jim from 'The Office' (US version) being the knight-in-shining-armor he's made out to be. We agreed that 'Fight Club' might just be the best film adaptation (even trumping The Godfather) and debated the cryptic ending of '2001: A Space Odyssey.' But what took center stage was our mutual appreciation of my sister's sweetness, agreeing she deserved only the best. Thus began what can only be described as the most whirlwind and chaotic romance of the 21st century. It went strong... for a week. Then, both my sister and the brother of my week-long love interest (who, incidentally, was an old pal) discovered our liaison, leading to a family saga worthy of a prime-time soap opera. Suddenly, I was the villain! Can you imagine? My sister no longer speaks to her "loving" brother, my old friend acts like I'm invisible (claiming I exploited our friendship to woo his sister), and my fleeting flame? She's blocked me everywhere and conveniently relocated for her master's. Probably thinks I'm worse than Jim now.
So here I am, trying to make a living and watching life drift by, wondering... is "Fight Club" really that great?
Update with interviews for Assessment Centre? Also, The application page says the firm does not looking at applications on rolling basis, do we have to wait till the deadline passes for winter vacation scheme to hear back from the firm?
Absolutely! You can give clat next year. To make matter a bit more east , just try out this year’s clat as well. It will provide you insight and you are anyway eligible. Try to join the tier-1 nlus and so prepare well. Make newspaper reading a daily habit of yours and starting giving mocks. Watch some videos to get things started. All the best!
Today we will talk about ECBs – External Commercial Borrowings.
I remember the first time I was put on an ECB transaction, I was just told – go read up the ‘RBI Master Direction on External Commercial Borrowings, Trade Credits and Structured Obligations’. Like a diligent associate I went to the RBI website and downloaded the latest version of this RBI issued law. I mean how difficult could it be? I had to just read the Master Direction, see what law applies to our transaction and then discuss with my senior, right?
WRONG.
Loan Registration Number
Designated Authorised Dealer Category I Bank
FCY denominated ECB
MAMP
Hedging provision
All-in-cost ceiling – “… the swap cost plus spread should not be more than the floating rate plus the applicable spread …”
Wait, what were these technical terms I was reading? I had never come across these before. I was supposed to quickly read through the Master Direction and apply it in the transaction, but I couldn’t make any sense of the document. I couldn’t even understand what the Master Direction was about, let alone ask specific questions. This was a clear case of crash and burn where I had fallen face forward, and I felt completely helpless.
It took me some time to realise that this wasn’t a ‘me’ problem. Without having any background of economics or finance or prior experience, these documents wouldn’t make sense to anyone. At your law firm - as a quick fix - they might probably explain to you a specific item that needs to be inserted in the transaction document, but without understanding the context, that sense of cluelessness will linger on.
Ok Rohit, calm down. Don’t overthink this so much. Deep breaths in. You’ve got this.
So if we can’t figure out ECBs just by reading the Master Direction or a Mondaq article, what’s the solution? Alright, so I have an exercise for you which is going to give you some instant clarity. But you will have to follow the instructions carefully. Ready?
1. Go to your room and close all the doors and windows.
2. Plug in your Amazon electronics
3. Now shout out the following words: “Alexa – play the song ‘Paisa’ from De Dana Dan”
Done? Alright, let’s go:
Here’s the scenario: You have just got your first salary credited after slogging for 14 hours for a month. You have worked harder than ever before and now you deserve a treat. So you go partying at Bastian with your friends and treat yourself to some sushi at Izumi. You somehow manage to save INR 10, 000 from your salary. Now your parents want you to invest this INR 10,000 in a bank. You see that while SBI bank is offering a 4% return, Kotak is offering a 7% interest on fixed deposits. So you go with Kotak.
Now let’s take this one step forward. Banks don’t just make money out of thin air. If they are paying you interest at 7%, that’s because they take your money and lend it someone else at a higher interest rate to make profits. Let’s say the colleague sitting beside you in office had to avail an education loan to complete his college education. When he went to the bank for a INR 10 lakh loan, he noticed SBI offering education loan at 10%, while Kotak offering it at 15%. Obviously, he would choose the SBI loan as at a 10% interest rate on INR 10 lakhs, he would only have to repay just INR 1 lakh as interest, whereas a 15% rate would make the interest INR 1.5 lakh.
ECB works on a similar concept, but with one major difference - instead of shopping which bank to choose while borrowing, you select which country to take a loan from. See, ECB basically means –
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Money is flowing in FROM abroad INTO India.
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Different countries have different borrowing rates. Developed countries like US usually have 1-2% rate, while emerging markets like India have a borrowing rate of 7%. So, let’s say you’re the CEO of Adani Airport Holdings Limited, managing 7 airports across India. You want to now scale up the airport business for which you need almost $200 million. Instead of going to Indian banks, you go to Standard Chartered and Barclays bank in London to avail that loan as interest rates are lower and this will help save $5 million in interest. Since you will be upgrading the 7 airports in phases, you agree to DRAWDOWN/ use only $50 million this year, and avail the rest of the amount later (in TRANCHES). In your negotiations with the bank, you also tell the banks you should have an option to PREPAY the loan, in case something like Covid happens again and all business halts and there are no fliers coming to airports – meaning no revenue to repay the interest/ loan.
Let’s take another example you might come across deals – ON LENDING. You’re the head of an NBFC in India servicing low income families by extending credit to such people. Usually, such families don’t have any credit score, so the big banks don’t extend loans to them, and they end up taking loans at interest rate of 40% or more from loan sharks (Remember the ban on Chinese fintech apps?). Since the NBFC is anyway working with such low income families, you can’t charge a high rate of interest, but you still need to make a profit. In such a case, you can avail a loan of $200 million from a foreign government owned financial institution which is also involved in increasing credit access amongst masses and which charges interest at 4% per annum. Once you have this $200 million loan, you can use this amount to give multiple INR 50,000 loans to low income families trying to start their business at an interest rate of 5%.
You with me till here? Good.
Now here is where things get interesting. Whenever there is flow of money across Indian borders – be it in the form of FDI or even loans, there’s one entity which keeps a hawk-eye on such transactions – that’s the RBI. RBI and its bunch of minions (aka AD Banks) have created a complicated bunch of laws so they control every aspect of money inflow/outflow. Think of them as the local aunty who’s constantly spying on you:
1. Oh you want to avail a loan? – Go first get a Loan Registration Number (LRN) from us
2. Oh you want to avail a loan from Barclays UK? – we want to know each and every detail – Submit a Form ECB and tell us - who’s the lender, what’s the interest rate, what’s the end use, what’s the repayment period, what charges + processing fees are you paying, what ECB have you availed in the past?
3. Oh you changed your mind and now you want to repay it earlier? – submit another Form ECB (revised)
4. What’s the all-in-cost ceiling? (That’s basically the interest rate, processing and all hidden charges)
5. Which country is the lender/ borrower based in? Does it comply with international financial compliances we have agreed upon (ex – FATF/ IOSCO compliant country)
6. Oh you have been dating this foreigner guy and now you want to get married? You better have dated him for atleast 3 years. Oh wait, did you say he is doctor and has an income of $ 50 million? 1 year of dating is also fine.
Well, the last one isn’t exactly what RBI asks, but that’s MAMP in a nutshell (MAMP: minimum average maturity period) – the minimum amount of time the ECB loan has to be within India. MAMP is usually 3 years for ECBs, but there are carveouts to this general rule – it can be different basis who is the lender/ borrower/ what purpose etc. (Time to pick up that RBI Master Direction and give it a read)
Also, what are the “End use restrictions”? – that’s RBI telling you – you better not take loans to gamble away on betting on the housing market, stock market or some random stock your friend has been telling you about (remember how enthusiastic your friend was about Bitcoin changing the world?)
ROLE AS A LAWYER
As a lawyer, you’re involved in the documentation – let’s say between the Barclays Bank and Adani Airport Holdings. As a lawyer for the Indian borrower, we have to usually review the loan/ facility agreement to ensure all these stringent requirements set down by RBI are met, all necessary forms such as Form ECB are filed, draft security documents if some security is being given in India and obviously ensure that all CP and CS certificates are in place so that our Indian client can avail the loan quickly. ECB transactions also offer you the opportunity to interact with foreign counsels working for the lenders, and speak with the bank officials of the AD Bank. Depending on what the security structure is, and how many lenders are involved, the transaction structure will change, but this is the basics.
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Note: I have used loans to explain ECBs, but it can also involve bonds and other financial instruments.
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That’s ECBs – oversimplified for you. I obviously haven’t (and couldn’t) cover the entire framework. Also, you might have noticed we only covered ECBs, not the ‘Trade Credits and Structured Obligations’ bit of the RBI Master Direction. But I hope this post has given you some amount of clarity about what you’re working on and where your role as a lawyer fits in.
If you want more posts like this, comment “Paisa Paisa” in the comment box, and I will be back with more interesting posts.
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Your Dalal Street attorney,
XOXO
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Kya baat hai kya chiz hai paisa
Kya baat hai kya chiz hai paisa Ek baat mujhe batala de tu
The new Mods are doing a great job so far, but there are still concerns with upvoting and downvoting comments on this new website interface. Might want to try to fix that, if you can.
Have a hobby outside work which you are good at. This will ensure your confidence isn’t built on the work/ profession you do. Your self worth will be derived from more than just your day job. Humans crave feedback and appreciation so it doesn’t have to come only from you day job.
Also, speak to close friends about this. They may be going through the same issue and will be better abe to sympathise with you. Lawyers need a strong support system which can help them bounce back.
If it’s getting too bad, tolerate it till you have decent level of experience that you can switch to another place.
I'm currently only an A0 at a boutique IP firm, but was curious to know as to how does one become an Of-Counsel, how much do they get paid, what's the work like and how many years of experience do you need to become one?
HSF India group partners have been going around some of the top NLUs and JGLS advocating their new India internship programme which is apparently open to “all law students in India”. Is this programme any different from the traditional vacation scheme that they offer? Will they now truly be taking people from non NLUs? Will the procedure be any different from that of vacation schemes? Kindly elaborate
2) Although T1 law firms are lala setups where your attire/smell/bags/watches will be things which your peers, partners and clients will judge you for; be modest with your expenditure in your first 3 years but remember to look sharp and not shabby or loud.
3) Function like a team, help your peers out with bulky assignments, seek feedbacks and most importantly make sure the client and reporting partners notice your contribution during meetings - all of this will be factored during promotions.
4) Remember that not all your team members can be trusted as colleagues, simply stay away from office politics, bitching about people and opening up about personal details since you never know what goes against you in any given moment. In this regard, avoid too many smoke breaks and don't find an excuse to abuse alocohol in your system during team/deal closing dinners.
5) Lastly, do not ever get too close to an intern; if you know what I mean.
https://www.nus.edu.sg/oam/apply-to-nus/transfer-applicants
Here you go :)
For instance my parents kicked me out on my birthday. I have no incentive to lie here. It was a rough time and I was barely 19 at that time. I did odd jobs (like waiting tables, helping in plantation drives, sweeping sometimes and funded my law school like that). I won’t mention the batch and which nlu to keep my anonymity intact. I did academically well and till only two frnds know about this. I also got decent scholarships from college to flourish. Currently working at a tier-1 in Mumbai. I still did bartending as I didn’t want to forget my roots of struggle and tbh I will restart it again.
What I am saying is that no one will give a damn. So instead of coming on legally india and asking about a recourse- find out where you are good at (assuming you are a law student, pardon for undermining the sample viewership of LI), do odd jobs(trust me it helps the economy and respects those who are in the profession), and maybe for your own mental health- don’t contact your parents. But if you have already reconciled (which should be the primary step anyway) then it’s good.
All the best brother! Any help you need, you can text here.
One of frnds had to undergo a 2.5 year drop (clat happened 6 months early last year and this year as well for 2024) due to his silly OMR mistakes. He was a tad bit concerned about him being around 19-20. But some students informed him that it was very common and in fact entering law school around 19.5-20 has become streamlined to a substantial extent now. He cracked clat with a flying score, bagged tier-1 and no one even questioned about his age. But he did get a lot of hype (more than me) because of his result. He even cracked lnat and bagged a decent scholarship to go to a decent UK Uni. He became more famous. Use this situation to your advantage not as an unnecessary burden.
Thanks everyone who responded. I have read the threads that people have referenced here. You all have helped me gain a little perspective and have eased my worries to an extent. While I still have a few things to be concerned about, I will no longer dwell on my age (as a commenter said I'm not "prehistoric" afterall haha).
I also feel well enough to fill the registration form.
And if I clear clat, just know that your encouraging words helped me gather enough strength to do it.
Thankyou folks.
In fact one of the graduates whose age range was 24-25 got a good LLM scholarship plus now working at a magic circle.
Plus you can offset some credits after an exchange, get extra credit to reduce a semester (you may participate in an international moot and can have it evaluated - it happened with one of our junior batches) and even perform brilliantly well to spend the final year at a foreign Uni to negate the factor of ‘being old’. This can be a good ripple effect. But honestly you are relatively young. My advice would have worked for a 23-24 old incoming student (although I will never judge them) but you still have time. I don’t know why y’all are getting worked up for this.
Here you go 👍
There is a very beautiful response (and ofc others as well) by a graduate (current student my bad) from NALSAR. As you already know that till 20/20+ the first year is pretty much secure and normal as well. But don’t worry. There will be a couple of people who will be/who already were 21 when they entered law school. I can understand the anxiety. When I joined law school around a year back, I was 20. I had a ‘phew’ reaction because I wasn’t 21 yet- so I wouldn’t feel old. But honestly that’s quite immature. I saw a bunch of 21 year olds doing well in law school from the first year. In fact one of them is a topper already. And it won’t matter because anyway 50% of the graduates will be around the age limit of 23-25. You will be just a year older.
If you are doing well on your mocks - just focus on that and secure your career. No one will remember. Rather what will be remembered is if you get a single digit rank in clat. Right? Think like that. There are a lot of options (some uncertainties as well) in a tier-1 nlu. Don’t worry. And don’t feel old. You will be a year or a two older than the bunch. It’s not like you are pre-historic or something!
2) Creating dockets and backup security options for the BRLMs to the issue; it involves bearing the grunt of understanding the issue process and underlying risks which may arise accring to default; owing to which you create security and backup options - involves a lot of back and forth (on calls) with IBs, most of which is too gibberish to understand as an AO. Thus, reading intricacies of ECM is very very very important.
3) Understanding CIBIL searches, Watchout Investor Searches and Requistion CList Formulations since the due diligence report will have an aspect of the same (discretionary as per the firm's call).
4) Creating key difference tables when master circulars pop in: this shall include the "old circular number, new circular number, previous position of precedent and new material changes, if any" in that order - this is kind of tricky since you have to know how to read one circular as against the other and figure out what has been changed in a MC which has a lotttt of circulars mentioned. You get one thing wrong and you fuck up the transaction and the nature of disclosures involved.
5) Comprehensive PPTs on investor decks, KPIs, risk analysis and business overview - mostly done by foreign counsels but being well versed with the same helps a lot during negotiations.
6) Understanding the nuances of each chapter on the ECM offer document; therefore, a firm grasp of the latest amendments to the ICDR and LODR will be your bread and butter.
7) Knowing shortcuts on Word and Excel is a must because you will be working with IBs and allied finance tycoons which operate solely on Excel and not knowing anything here or there will leave a bad impression on behalf of you & the firm. Do not act as if you know it all or else you'll get fucked.
8) Lastly, please let it sink that after choosing this menace of practice - long hours are common, bonuses are slightly stagnated as against your M&A/B&F peers & chances of switching to GC/M&A is very sleek. Best part is that the work is cyclical and you will have days when you can go and tailor your suit, get that bag/watch for your next listing ceremony that will make headlines.
9) Word of caution - know what you are getting into since that life is not easy. You might glorify folks like Manan Lahoty, Yash Ashar, Sandip Bhagat etc; but trust me it will take years to reach that kind of level. So take one step at a time, seek redress if needed and learn to find joy in discomfort.
10) Breakup of Indian ECM firms in my honest opinion:
T1 Firms - CAM, IndusLaw, S&R, SAM, KCO
T2 Firms - JSA, AZB, Trilegal, Saraf, L&L
T3 Firms - CrawfordB, Bharucha, Rajani, SNG, Juris Corp
My sincere apologies for this long message but I hope this helps.
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/288175-nalsar-grad-kirkland-partner
its the LI of the UK
Are there any vacation schemes I can apply after my 7/8th semester?
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/183992-suggestions-for-good-tmt-teams-to-work-with
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/274628-what-are-some-actual-technology-law-firms-with-good-client-work-and-how-much-do-they-pay
Threads that can help you frame a decision! All the best :)
My dear friend, your concern for others is appreciated, but it doesn't identify the entirety of problems.
The fight is for changing the system. Problems with Tiers are just one of the results of the flawed system. What Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3. NLUs are failing. And not just Tier 2, Tier 3. But ALL OF THEM including Tier 1. People from Tier 1 come and bicker here to prove why one University is above the other. All NLUs and not just Tier 2 & 3 promote exclusionary education system. You would rarely see people from humble background taking admissions in these universities. If 5 people out of 120 belong to such background, then it's an exception not a norm.
Fees: Every NLU and not just Tier 2 & 3 charge exorbitant fees. Rs. 2.5 lacs per year could be now easily called as average fees for NLUs. Majority of people in this country don't have an annual income to that amount. And one wonders why does a degree in law require such heavy fee burden.
Every NLU and not just Tier 2 & 3 have admin issues. While I may agree that the authorities at 2 & 3 (generally) are more tyrannical (due to lack of proper representative authority of students, no pushback from Alumni base), Tier 1s have not completely shrug of such issues.
All NLUs promote corporatisation of legal system. While money remains one of the foundational ideal goals of an individual, NLU system has struck a deep blow to the traditional practice of law.
Not to mention, how NLUs have converted themselves into a place where students with deep pockets, who are brats of wealthy advocates and judges, take over the system and virtually diminish the balance which might be caused by an organised system.
And there are concerns. You yourself can better recall and summarise them.
IF you feel nervous to retake clat, actively work hard here. Reach out to professors and practitioners on LinkedIn, most importantly your alumni who made it into tier-1/2 law firms (I am sure there must be some) on how to improve your CV and portfolio.
Reach out to folks pursuing LLM at a decent foreign university. Make new connections with T-1 NLU ppl.
Improve your writing skills and article constructing style. Work really hard. Maybe you start your journey at a boutique firm but from there you can even go toe in toe with other law schools’s alumni if you are really that good.
Best of luck bro/sis.
2) KCO CM Mumbai - mass recruiter, always hires freshers due to heavy attrition
3) KCO CM Bangalore - very small team, not hiring
4) KCO CM Noida - very small team, not hiring
5) SAM CM Delhi - despite the attrition they are not hiring
6) SAM CM Mumbai/Delhi NCR - offered a lot of callbacks, might be looking to hire
7) JSA CM Mumbai - laterals preferred, freshers not entertained, not hiring
8) JSA CM Delhi NCR - very small team, not hiring
9) Bharucha CM Mumbai - very small team, not hiring
10) S&R CM Mumbai - very selective for internships, no clue
11) CAM CM Mumbai - very selective for internships, no clue
12) TT&A CM Mumbai - very selective for internships, no clue
13) L&L CM Delhi - not hiring because of huge intake last year
14) Trilegal CM Mumbai - simply avoid, too many people, very little work, no clue about hiring
15) Saraf CM Mumbai - not hiring
I still remember the hate these women got for some prizes they won, like why? They won legendary cases. Its the same hate i see with Greta Thunberg, Malala and all other such women that they didn't do much and use the women card. Its weird because women like mother Teresa and Aung Syu ki who took more traditional and "silent" roles were applauded more, while revolutionary women are seen as disrupting the world or talking nonsense. As for men, they can do anything and still take the whole credit.
Also they have definitely argued the best arguments, not just for today but previous judgments as well and have been more successful than the likes of male lawyers, who dont get this hate.
Can you look at the facts with more maturity and comment?
https://www.barandbench.com/news/breaking-supreme-court-to-pronounce-judgment-in-same-sex-marriage-case-tomorrow
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/supreme-court-to-deliver-verdict-on-legality-of-same-sex-marriage-tomorrow-101697459951685.html
First of all, you're framing your question wrong. It's not just about what to order. The more important thing is what NOT to do. You need to just get the basics right, and not be laughed at.
Here's everything you need to know.
1. First, as someone said, only wine, whiskey and gin carry cachet.
2. Do not order beer. This is the easiest way to appear nouveau riche/ clueless. Only college kids order it. There are plausible exceptions for craft beer and other hipster things, but its easiest to just ignore beer.
3. Do not order rum. This is the second easiest way to appear clueless. Only college kids order it. Work meetings are the wrong time to revert to Old Monk Nostalgia from college. Again, there are exceptions like Kraken and some Spanish rum, but that is for advanced drinkers, so avoid for now.
3. Do not order vodka. This is the third easiest way to appear clueless. It is uncool and has no cachet.
4. Whiskey. First of all, do not order soda. See above comments about college kids.
5. Only have whiskey with ice ("on the rocks"). It's also OK to have whiskey with some water, but just a "splash". 1 parts whiskey to 3 parts water is generally a good ratio. Any more water and you'll open yourself up to ridicule.
6. DO NOT DRINK WHISKEY LIKE WATER. Sip it slowly. The snobbish whiskey journals advise you to take nothing more than a sip of around a few drops, and let it coat your tongue, before swallowing it. A 30 ml pour should last you around 15-20 sips.
7. It's OK not to know the intricacies of whiskey brands, but here's the basics. Whiskey is divided into "single malt" (it is only made from one distillery) and "blended whiskey" (whiskey from many distilleries is blended into a consistent taste). Single malt is way up there on snob value, because of the "purity" and "unique character".
8. If you're a beginner, it's OK to stick to blends, but order the right brands. Price is generally a good indicator. Just download a few bar menus from Zomato and learn about different brands, then order things that are close in price to the brands I've listed below. But that comes with caveats. Firstly, DO NOT go for Chivas Regal or Johnny Walker Red Label. These are for nouveau riche types who dont understand whiskey, and it is mostly uncles who drink these along with chicken tikka. Order Johnny Walker Double Black ("it is slightly smoky, but not too smoky") or Monkey Shoulder. DO NOT order Johnny Walker Blue Label, unless someone offers it to you first.
9. If you're a beginner, there are some good single malts that are not too intimidating. Avoid Glenfiddich (pronounced Glen-fiddick, DO NOT say "fiditch"), since too many people know it. Glenlivet, Jura or Talisker are all good brands. It is also OK to order Amrut Fusion (Indian brand, but well regarded) or anything Japanese.
10. If the above brands are not available and you're stuck, don't worry. Audibly ask for JW Double Black or Talisker, and if they say that's not available then just pick something at random that isn't Chivas Regal or Glenfiddich.
11. Openly say you've mostly only had (insert brand from above) because you love the taste, but have not had too many other whiskies. Don't try to fake it beyond that. If you've done everything above, you've done enough to blend in (sorry not sorry) and not become a laughing stock.
12. Gin. First of all, the most important thing with gin is not the gin . It's the tonic water. Start by asking what tonic water they have. Fevertree is the gold standard, but Franklin is also good. Otherwise get Sepoy or Jimmys. If you don't want it too sweet, get Svami. As a last resort, take Schweppes. DO NOT ORDER SPRITE OR 7 UP OR COKE WITH GIN.
13.You can drink whiskey without ice, but you need ice for gin. At least 3 cubes, though even 8-10 cubes is OK. Use that to decide when to order what (time of day, weather). Generally, cold weather= whiskey with single or no ice cube, warm weather = gin. Daytime= gin, night= whiskey, but gin is also OK at night.
14. With gin, there are lots of brands, but there are a few that are "safe". Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray, Hendricks are all good in foreign gins. For Indian gins, Hapusa and Stranger and Sons are good. Avoid Beefeater, Gordons and Greater Than.
15. Most gins are citrusy, so you can have them with a slice of lemon. The exception is Hendricks. You need to have Hendricks with cucumber, and preferably with cucumber tonic water. DO NOT HAVE HENDRICKS WITH LEMON.
16. Avoid cocktails, unless the people you want to impress are also having them. DO NOT ever order Long Island Ice Tea. They use cheap alcohol and you will get a headache. Avoid Margaritas and Mojitos. Avoid anything with Blue Curacao. If you don't have an option with cocktails, just order a martini. Read the room and see if you can order a pinacolada. It's also very safe to ask the server if they can make a hot cocktail for you, and then go with whatever they recommend.
17. Slowly start reading about whiskies and gins, and trying them out with friends or even on your own. Use the above tips, until you get there.
Hope this helps. Will do a Part 2 on wine if I have time.
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/274019-Chambers-or-law-firms-Please-solve-this-dilemma-
I am assuming you are talking about financial aid which can be handed (although in few numbers) by the college itself. Yet the total fee after financial aid will somewhere halt around 70-75 lakhs. (https://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/Undergraduate/fees-and-funding/undergraduate-support-scheme)
LSE does not have a system of streamlined scholarship offers unlike some other uk unis (like University of Nottingham,UCL or KCL). You can strive to get into these unis and then apply for a moderate loan once you get in. All the best!
We expect extra cautious moderation on sensitive threads like this one. Which means no rape innuendoes, jokes, porn references, body shaming directed to the victim, nor anything identifying to the victim (literally illegal). Longer moderation periods is not an issue here.
Please ensure this and just not allow trollish comments.
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/180714-my-advice-as-a-headhunter-to-foreign-llm-aspirants
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/209634-llm-in-the-us-and-opportunities-to-settle
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/213499-foreign-llm-and-bar-exams-grades-required
https://dalalstreetattorney.wordpress.com/
You’ll find all the posts at one place here.
Law School’s achievement of churning out 25 scholars has been sensational no doubt 🫶.
BUT
Speaking of world record - Harvard dominates every other university by a huge margin. So I really hope you are not trolling 🤌
https://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/media/44935/2020-rs_number-of-winners-by-institution.pdf
Nope. He wasn’t the sole editor of that journal.
https://superlawyer.in/vikram-raghavan-lead-counsel-world-bank-work-experience-authoring-legal-books-articles/
This benevolent matriarch, let’s call her 'the Puppet Mistress,' was an expert at dangling dreams in front of these pros. She led this ragtag team of would-be partners in a dance of hope, always hinting at the tantalizing vision of the promised land: partnership at the firm they started their careers with. A designation to brag about and signal their arrival on the scene. These desperate dreamers were none other than the generously titled Associate Partners and Managing Associates of that hope-dystopia we loved coming to every day.
As the greenest sprout in this forest of disillusionment, I struck up unlikely friendships with a few of these wily old foxes. Our bi-weekly therapy sessions were held at the pride of Lower Parel, 'Ambiance Restaurant Ani Bar'. A place where Blender’s Pride with chakli (murukku) and schezwan chutney flowed freely, where frustrations were voiced loudly, and where promises of greener pastures seemed just a drink away. I sat there, nodding like a bobblehead, absorbing tales of woe and promises never kept.
Shortly after completing my two years at the firm, I started eyeing the exit. Then came the fateful Goa off-site. Between sips of heavily watered-down whiskey and the sound of crashing waves, the Puppet Mistress happily announced a merger with another firm. To say it was a bigger, badder shark in the legal ocean of mid-tier firms would be an understatement. Any illusion of our firm's autonomy was about to be swallowed whole. The only person who seemed to have secured a golden parachute out of this crash landing was our beloved Puppet Mistress.
Three months after this revelation, I had moved out of this firm, but not without pocketing a few friendships. Over time, these connections faded, with only a line on my CV reminiscent of that darkly comic chapter. Word on the street is that the Puppet Mistress took an extended sabbatical and handed her clients (and perhaps her puppet strings) to the new alpha shark. As for my old comrades, they drifted to other firms, which, for all I know, had their own puppet shows and pie-dangling matriarchs/patriarchs. The circle of life, I suppose.
For jobs- NALSAR NLS AND NUJS are almost par (barring the LI big dick battles which happen everyday)
Then there is a string of other T1 colleges which will give you the same opportunities given you put in work, with their own downsides ofc, like GNLU has a huge batch size. But these 2 are generally same tier- GNLU and NUJS
NLIU again at intersection of Tier 1 and Tier 2, you can go here without worrying too much. But not quiet the same level as the former 6.
After this SLS Pune and Jindal in herirachy (confirmed from treatment at internships, still you can choose these two as well)
For placements NLUO followed by HNLU and NUALS to an extent (trilegal goes to campus at NUALS)
Below this RGNUL RML MNLU are sold by coachings but vv bleak job prospects. Uske niche mat hi jaoo, infact in colleges mei bhi mat hi jaoo.
The top 5-6 followed by HNLU/NLUO should be your last resort. Goodluck
I believe my Post 1, Post 3, and Post 3.5 will be helpful for interns. My other posts are mainly aimed at A0s. As an intern you can read the other posts, but since you haven’t faced those specific issues yet, it may not make much sense to you. I may have some biases due to my own experience so please don’t let my posts stop you from taking a proper shot at B&F. Your learning depends a lot on how your team and your immediate seniors are.
All the best!
2. Would love to hear the opinions of practitioners, too.
Short term (1 Year) can include taking your family for a Vacation to Dubai/Singapore, Buying the latest Iphone
Mid Term ( 2 - 5 Years) can include Buying a Car, setting up your independent office, renovating your house etc
Long Term (10 years or more) - Buying Your Own House, creating a corpus for kids ( assuming you would like to start a family), retirement plans.
Basis the aforesaid, you can divide your income and start investing in instruments which give you return atleast 10% or above. You can start an SIP in equity Funds, (you can browse Kotak Mutual Fund's Website, SBI, HDFC, Motilal Oswal, White Oak) to get an idea about the estimated returns in 3 - 5 - 10 year period. Invest a minimum of 10K per month into Mutual funds to get substantial returns. I would however advise you to keep your personal expenses to minimum - <5k a month.
You may also consider investing in stocks of Blue Chip Companies - Axis Bank, IRCTC, BSE, CDSL, Reliance, HDFC, Kotak - (May by 5-7k a month)
Once in 3 months, you may buy a biscuit, keeping in mind the prices of gold
Rich people do commit crimes but they usually go to big lawyers. You may intern or join them but you can't be them on day 1.
Paperwork is tough to keep track of. Handwritten applications with stamp court fees is a major skill that's required. Court staff are usually helpful.
Examinations are fun to watch once you understand who's good and who's just noisy.
Quality of lawyers is good but as they don't make as much as appellate court lawyers do, they may not appear as sharp. But once they open their mouth, you know they have substance.
Everyone knows trials go on for years but actually sitting through those dates can seem pointless at times.
Your perception about procedural aspects change. When you read criminal law articles on livelaw, you start asking yourself simple questions like how much do you really know about FIR?
Judges are mostly very patient and sharp. This can't be generalized but without giving away location details I want to say that often judges are present but witnesses are not available - which means trial can't go on.
is one of the finest human beings. India and the world are a better place with him in it, doing what he does--fighting for justice everywhere.
https://twitter.com/tarunkhaitan/status/1710234622196637829
My advice, as our friend above has said - stay grounded, work hard, fee or no fee - do your best in all your cases - as that you owe to your client and live each day as it happens. Make a monthly budget and stick to it. Always try to save first for the current month/ week and if there is still something extra - save it for the next. Splurge only and only if you have saved for the monthly allocation for the next 2-3 months. The theory of comparative advantage is valid for us lawyers as well. No two persons, even if coming from similar backgrounds, will have the same journey. There are many factors that come into play. So never compare yourself with someone else. You are the only standard for you to compare. If you are better than what you were earlier - you are growing.
Lastly, relax. we all survive and there is nothing better than litigation - that moment when you stand at the dias and argue - it compensates for every hardship one may have faced to reach there. We are performers thats why we are litigators.
If you have already got your PhD from here, then you should start by applying for the various post-doc fellowships abroad. If you have got regulatory experiences (SEBI, CCI, TRAI etc.), scholarships and fellowships are easier to get. Also start participating in international conferences for both exposure and networking purposes. Several foreign law journals issue open calls for guest editors, visiting editors etc. Try applying for those too. It's an incremental process.
Have you ever interned at a firm for 4 weeks, but wondered what is it that you actually did?
Like you know you researched on several legal issues, but apparently that’s not what most transactional lawyers do.
Well, it’s not completely your fault. This is partly done on purpose by law firms because they are dealing with confidential information and they don’t want to involve interns too much. So, if as an intern you felt confused and you want to know where your work fits in, this post is for you.
For A0s, this is going to be a very basic post. The reason I’m writing this post is because our first brush with the banking team often happens as an intern. Internships are supposed to give you a flavour of what work you will be doing in the future. But unfortunately, most interns never get a proper understanding of how transactions happen as they are usually assigned some research work with no visibility about the transaction. Even if interns have been involved in due diligence, the scope may be restricted to only doing clerical work like summarising a contract or preparing list of documents. This can lead to a very skewed idea for someone trying to make a decision about their career basis just their banking law internship.
DISCLAIMER: This post doesn’t cover the work done in litigation related or capital markets team. Also, since this post is just about the process, this will be slightly boring, so I recommend you play the song “Perfect Day” by the Constellations while you read this.
Alright, so first - an overview. Broadly, the work we do in law firms can be classified as:
1. Advisory work (around 10%)
2. Due diligence (around 50%)
3. Transactions (around 40%) - with due diligence often being part of this
ADVISORY WORK:
This is the most interesting kind of work because it’s heavily researched based. It can be as simple as getting a mandate from a foreign client who wants to incorporate a company in India but isn’t aware of the laws. The client has approached your firm and sent 10 questions - what laws and processes are involved to incorporate a company in India.
Basis the questions, you research each question and prepare a memo and send it to the client.
Most lawyers find this interesting because it is:
1) Research based
2) Scope of work is limited
3) Timelines to submit this aren’t crazy as it’s just one document/ memo
Intern Overview: It’s like getting a question paper from your college teacher and filling out the paper, but it’s an open book exam.
So, here is where the work of an intern fits in:
An associate might call up an intern and give them 2-3 questions to research out of 12 questions in the memo and then incorporate the intern’s research in the memo. However advisory work is rare to come by in banking teams and slightly more common in general corporate teams.
DUE DILIGENCE:
This is the work mostly assigned to interns and younger associates. Sometimes it can be very mind numbing because all you are doing is preparing a List of Documents (explained below). Working on a DD gets overwhelming because you have to go through and review hundreds of documents. Since you’ve just switched from college, this can be jarring as you were never used to consuming so much information at one go.
To think about it another way, remember that iconic scene in Suits when Mike Ross meets Harvey for the first time? That scene where Mike is escaping the cops in a hotel and stumbles into the Harvard law interview?
Harvey is so impressed with Mike he says he’d hire Mike if he were from Harvard, but he can’t as Mike hasn’t even passed the bar. That’s when Mike tells him -
“What if I told you I consume knowledge like no one you’ve ever met and I’ve actually passed the bar.”
Well, you have to become Mike Ross. You have to be able to go through 50 different contracts of 200 pages each and be able to note down what red flags need to be highlighted to the client. If your partner randomly calls you into her office and asks you what issues you have noted in the contracts, you have to be able to say that from memory and also tell her which page the problematic clause is located (well not exactly, but you get the drift).
While reviewing the documents, you will have to simultaneously prepare a report called the Due Diligence Report or DDR - the final report is sent to the client.
Basically what happens is - one company uploads various internal documents in a one drive folder, and we lawyers are given access to review the documents. These documents can range from MoA, AoA, statutory forms required to be filed under Companies Act, SEBI, etc. to various registers required to be maintained under Companies Act, to various loan agreements, security agreements, shareholders agreements, any other ‘material agreement’ like insurance contract, lease agreement etc. to even things like pending litigation against the company. If there are items like 200 page annual report, financial statements in the DDR, then it gets tricky to figure out what to review, but ideally your senior should tell you what to review and what to skip.
As a lawyer you have to check that:
1. Whether all documents are in order,
2. If any form has to be filed, has it been filed within the required deadline,
3. What other forms/ licenses had to be filed.
4. If there is any pending litigation against the company, does it involve a huge sum of money, or is it under (let’s say 5 lakhs) a limit and can be ignored
5. Any onerous clauses mentioned in the contracts
6. Any other deal specific legal issues
List of documents: While all this happening, you also have to maintain a list of documents you have received from the company and reviewed, and also a list of pending documents that you have requested the target company but not received. (BORING WORK ALERT!)
Intern overview: Unless you are very deeply involved in the DD, you will either be involved in:
1. Research - Let’s say the associate needs to know the check if some contract is adequately stamped so they ask you to research stamp duty of Deed of Hypothecation in Karnataka
2. Review and Record - Maybe you’ve been given 4-5 contracts and asked to check dispute resolution clause and just fill the ‘seat of arbitration’ in some Word document in a table format. Now, this standalone document you are working on is going to form a part of the 200-500 page Due Diligence Report which is compiled by the team later.
3. Mind numbing work - As an intern, you’ve been asked to just download 40 documents from one drive folder or only prepare a list of documents to the documents in the one drive folder.
Hope this has been helpful for some of you interning/ working at law firms. I know even though it’s a great opportunity to work in big law firms, initially it can be very intimidating to work in such settings and we often don’t ask questions because we think it’s too basic. But it’s important to understand where the work fits in because your work matters.
Since this post has already become too long, I’ll explain the deal flow and the documents involved in a banking transaction in the next post.
One more thing - just to get an idea of my audience, would really appreciate if you could list down in the comments - what year of college/ law firm you’re in, and what kind of firm you worked/ are working in. This will help me frame my future posts better.
Dalal Street Attorney,
XOXO
Here are few things to do
1. Don't compare your success/ failures with others. Especially with those who have previleged background. Remember their starting points are different then yours. You have your own journey to complete
2. Instead of comparing the failures/ successes, strive to achieve excellence. Work hard.
3. Read. And not just law. Gather knowledge and information. You don't know whom you meet next and what conversation could lead you to a jack pot
4. Choose your role models wisely. There are several to choose from in the legal fraternity. While they are all successful, not many may be able to contribute to your overall growth. I don't mean growth as a lawyer. I am told Palkhivala was far greater individual than he was a lawyer. Similarly, Tulzapurkars in Mumbai are known to lead a uniquely simple lives but are legends in law.
5. Travel. You don't need to spend on abroad trips. Do a simple trek once in a while.
6. Lastly, if nothing of these help, read/ listen to struggle stories of other legends in law. Eg. Roses in December book of J. Chagla. You will find several you tube videos of others as well. Even if they are peppered for viewers, it leaves a hope.
I know these sounds like unwarranted, overused and abused advices. But it might help.
2. Calcutta Uni students get an advantage in that they normally join a counsel and start with chamber practice during college days itself
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/287255-rhodes-2023-keep-it-civil-predictions-gossip-possible-dates
https://www.barandbench.com/amp/story/news/corporate/kirkland-ellis-elevates-nalsar-grad-sandipan-de-to-partnership
https://mpowerminds.com/about
https://www.ensowellness.in/
https://www.mansitherapy.com/our-team/
https://in.linkedin.com/in/dreradutta
A friend of mine who has a son in the final year of college sent me a link to this thread saying that this reflects the doubts that many young people have about starting in the profession, and that maybe I should pen my thoughts down. While I have a more modest claim than others to weigh in, my little bit may help some lost soul. I didn't find a platform more apposite than this one, so here goes.
FIRST, the SENIOR DESIRE:
Many of the queries here are of those who want to join a senior and at some point become a designated senior advocate. Maybe its relevant to consider that there are several thousand senior advocates across the country and the large majority of them are not really considered brilliant - they just got to a stage when they were given the designation for one reason or another, but they are not in a position to command a great quantity of high level work or have an output that would justify a higher fee or even have the respect of the Court or their peers. As a consequence, nearly 90% of the designated crew do outstation and tribunal work far removed from the courts that designated them. Many are unscrupulous and do distasteful things, including directly approaching clients, soliciting work and paying commissions, not to mention choosing political affiliations to get some prominence. And yes, many of the so-called "successful" ones do all this as well, but each to her/his own.
Note that all of this is just those who DID make it to seniors.
Now look at someone who enrolled in the 80s or 90s with the light in their eyes of being a Fali or Soli or KKV. That young man or woman makes it 25 years into the profession while watching a few of his peers (less than 0.15%) becoming seniors while his/her own recognition has not come. But this individual is far from discontent. You know why?
It is because he/she didn't make the destination of a flapped gown the priority. They choose to have a balanced life with books and friends and fruitful relationships and kindness. Of course they worked - honestly and industriously and sometimes with great imagination. If the recognition is to come with all of that, it will. If it does not, at least you did not waste the most important years of your life yearning for a goal in which a large part is played by lady luck.
This illustration is not just fictional - three of my peers - Haripriya Padmanabhan (1998 NLS), Gaurav Agrawal (1999 NLS) and Aman Ahluwalia (2002 NLS) are the finest advocates I know. Whenever I have doubts in commercial law, in practise and procedure or in private law, I turn to each of these respectively. They all have everything that I believe a senior needs - integrity, intelligence, imagination, rigour, tenacity, wisdom, honesty and goodwill. I rate them higher in their disciplines than ANYONE in the country. Note the words I used - ANY ONE. I am in the blessed position where I can pick up the phone to literally any lawyer in this country to get advice or counsel, but I am not picking up the phone to ANY ONE else. The reason is that in my assessment, the senior gown is not a guarantee of the best advice - most times it is only a measure of indemnity for a solicitor besieged by an anxious client. And for some things like decency and culture, there is no senior gown. These three wonderful lawyers best demonstrate the fundamental flaws underlying many of the posts here which require correction: (1) Do not keep the senior gown as your goal, but allow it to be a happy marker on the road well travelled. (2) Do not believe that only working with a senior will be some sort of magical passport in your career - just look for an office which is not toxic and where there is a learning curve.
SECOND, the IDEAL PATH.
Friends, if I knew the answer to this one, I would have cashed in on it. There are broadly two routes that young lawyers take - they either start at the trial courts and then over the years move on to the High Court or Supreme Court OR they start directly at the court they want to make their final destination. As a Bangalore boy who started directly at the Supreme Court, I chose the latter. Over the last 20 years, I am happy to say I have found many young people (including all 6 of my current chamber juniors) starting directly at the Supreme Court and acquitting themselves well. Of course, we may not know the high skills of cross examination or the intricacies of a home food memo, but the system at the Supreme Court makes huge allowances for territorial peculiarities and permits some good reading to bridge the gap. However, as a High Court or Trial Lawyer, you get to spend so much more time on building a case from scratch, in making sure all the necessary grounds are taken at the outset and in poking holes in the opponent's case. Coupled with Tribunal work, these breeding grounds are second to none for a seasoned litigator. I dont knock either avenue, but I shed light on them only to the exclusion of a third.
My views on mentorship you can glean from this interview a few years ago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caRV65oSAzE&t=2s
[See from 23:57 till about 31:00]
THIRD, the OFFICE
If there are no financial burdens on hand, I would suggest starting off in litigation right away. But be careful in looking for an office.
The ideal mentor's office should have the following:
a. A busy boss - who has reason to go into court at least 4 days a week;
b. A colleague or two - for the company;
c. A decent pay - which does not require you to borrow
d. Freedom to do your own work - without any compulsion of routing it through the office or the boss
e. Reasonable free time when there are no pressing matters on hand
f. A boss who will try to clear doubts and not be dismissive of contra view points
g. Reasonable vacation spells
h. Sprinkings of Pro-Bono work, to show that the boss has a heart
The ideal mentor's office should NOT have:
a. A toxic atmosphere where one lawyer is played off against another to foster insecurities
b. Abuse of any sort - that is a complete non-starter
c. Associates being policed - being told not to go into courtrooms or canteens or meet friends, etc
d. Chauvinism, casteism or prejudice of any sort
e. Too many associates - this would appear to be only decorative and not really as a means to guide or educate
THE BONUSES (not necessary dealbreakers if absent)
a. If the office goes to multiple courts or tribunals
b. If the office covers a large swathe of areas - civil, criminal, corporate, etc
c. If the office has a coffee machine, cafeteria, gym, etc
Most important, below is what DOES NOT matter to most litigation offices that you apply to:
YOUR GRADES. Sorry, but thats a fact. Your excellence in cracking an exam does not necessarily mean you can process and research propositions or be innovative when a jurisprudential problem presents itself. Hardened litigators know the "Topper's Fallacy" well, and would be impressed only with good internships or written work that shows your ability to analyze and grasp complex issues. There is a reasonably well-rooted belief that a law graduate knows nothing useful until he starts the practise, and so the expectation of him or her is not a prior knowledge of the law, but an aptitude for court work. The evaluation parameters of the latter are entirely different.
Remember, this is not a competition - dont bother what anyone else is doing. When you are 40 or 50, you will regret having thought of it as a race when you were in your 20s. Each person has a distinct personal and professional journey ahead - tread sensibly and it should all work out decently.
I hope that in some small way these thoughts help all of you on your journeys.
All the very best.
Gopal
P.S. My reference to 3 NLS peers is not to judge or exclude any college - it is only to identify my own milieu. Each of you will have stories of a similar nature wherever you come from.
https://academic.oup.com/slr/article-abstract/44/2/hmad004/7202008?redirectedFrom=fulltext
https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rouc20/current
https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/cja/article/view/11115
There are plenty of other students who have published at peer review journals like NLU Delhi Journal of Legal Studies, NUJS Law Review and more...
Batch of 2026 is exceptional for sure
Alternatively, I have the option to join a good chamber as a long-term intern and slog there.
What should I do?
[Side question: Would having long-term internship experience at chambers help me get a job under the disputes team of a law firm?]
Follow this for more updates. The application date already closed around 1st August 2023. So the results will be declared around late September or November maybe.
This has been the tradition for 2020 , 2021 and 2022.
Would like to share my insight and you may find this helpful. I have taken a break working from law firms (although lesser PQE than you), and I didn’t join anywhere after leaving my law firm.
What I’ve realised is - the 1st Month immediately after leaving was mentally very disturbing. My brain had got used to the work and the pressure and the constant calls that the sudden void was causing withdrawal syndromes. The sudden hollowness craved some direction/ instruction from outside. Btw, no matter how much I write, I can never explain the mental zone that I was in while working (even when there may not have been lot of work). I’m mentioning this because when I spoke to my friends in other industries (not law) they didn’t seem to be facing this. It took me some time to get out of the feeling that I was “wasting time” or I had to “be productive”.
The other thing is - I felt like my work sucked out my personality and I was only a shadow of the past me. Just sitting at home after leaving thinking something nice will happen doesn’t work. I had to actively take interest and go out and try out different activities so I feel like my former self.
I feel - when we are working, our entire time is spent at work / thinking about work, so we also end up hanging with work colleagues, but at the end of the day, you can’t really share everything and treat them as your friends. So the that bottling up some emotions causes undue stress.
Not sure, how much this will help, but I hope it gets better.
NUJS - 4 (2021, 2018, 2016, 2013)
NLSIU - 3 (2016, 2014, 2013)
NLUD - 2 (2020, 2015)
CLC Delhi - 2 (2020, 2015)
GNLU - 2 (2019, 2017)
Nagpur University - 1 (2017)
NUALS - 1 (2016)
NALSAR - 1 (2014)
https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2020/05/12/in-conversation-with-hatim-hussain-on-winning-rhodes-scholarship-2019/amp/
Overall GNLU has two Rhodes scholars till date.
Will this be the year of the dominant T-1 or will we see a gradual rise of underrated colleges from the Indian subcontinent?
If you have also applied for the Rhodes Scholarship, please provide any updates that you may have regarding the tentative dates and expected interview call timeline.
Thanks!
" LSE, KCL, UCL, Warwick, Manchester etc." and "SOAS, Sussex, Essex " and lower tiered universities in the UK. Look at the world rankings and you will see that they are faaar ahead of NLSIU (which is pretty much the only law school from India that makes some global presence) (not counting Jindal in here for a variety of other reasons). Its important to understand the quality of training (not students, but training) at these institutions are far ahead of the training that you get at NLS. There is much more of reflection, critical thinking and wider world view that comes as a result of studying in these places. This is in addition to the opportunities that you get to intern with these firms (and a host of other international or multinational institutions) when you are physically located in England. The same goes for the top tiered universities in Australia, Singapore, Canada, Honk Kong and New Zealand - they are truly some of the finest learning institutions in the world.
It might be true that statistically its harder to get into NLSIU - thats because we live in a country of one million. But if you think through it a bit carefully, to get into Oxbridge, you are competing with people from different parts of the world (and most often you are competing with some of the best students from different parts of the world).
Yes, we feel that the Indian law schools are something special and we like to call ourselves things like Harvard of the East. As much as NLSIU is a remarkable place (for achieving so much in a short time with so little resources), the simple fact is that we have a much longer way to go to come anywhere close to Harvard or any of the top tired western universities in terms of how we view education and the process involved in it. Let me repeat this, its not that our students are not talented - its simply that our education system comes nowhere up close yet.
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/159595-which-nlu-produces-the-best-sports-stars
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/189104-football-in-nlu-which-is-the-best-team
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/281277-virudhaka-xiii-dates-announced
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/271559-sports-fest-which-is-the-best-virudhaka
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/235155-how-is-the-sports-scene-at-gnlu
Threads that can be relevant for you!
Such a huge part of our childhood died today. Feeling so sad. 😢 The greatest principal of all. 🫡 Stood up to interference by the Ministry of Magic. How desperately we need such people heading our educational institutions today!
But unfortunately, this has led to a new problem where all relevant conversations are getting pushed down. Also, I understand that different people may find different topics interesting so you can’t arbitrarily censor some posts.
A bookmark feature would really help. Else I suppose I will have to open a Wordpress account so that people can follow my posts in one place.
But yes, great job with the moderation. I know it’s not easy reading through so much content.
Maturity Period: The concept of ‘Maturity Period’ for a loan is basically the time period till the day the loan becomes due for repayment.
Scenario 1: Let’s say you take a loan of INR 90,000 from a friend to buy the new iPhone 15, and you agree to repay him INR 90,000 after 5 months, the maturity period of this loan is - 5 months.
Scenario 2: Let’s say you use some fintech app to avail INR 90,000, and after a gap of 2 months, you pay back monthly EMI of INR 30,000, over the next 3 months.
Fun fact: In both the above cases, the ‘door-to-door maturity period’ is 5 months. But the ‘average maturity period’? It is 5 months in the first case but not 5 months in the second case. What? How come?
Technically this bit is ‘out of syllabus’ and not done by lawyers, but here is how MAMP is calculated:
https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/29723/maturity-based-pricing.pdf
1. Mention what you want in the subject [application for …] , add details like PQE as well.
2. Body of the email should be crisp, introducing yourself and highlighting prior experience relevant to the partner’s practice area along with the usual stuff.
3. Send/schedule these emails during hours when the partner is most likely to look and respond to it. For example, don’t send it at 11:30AM on a Wednesday.
4. Reach out to as many partners as you can with this method. Many will not respond, some will tell you their teams are at capacity right now, but a couple will give you an interview.
Link: https://youtu.be/6GKbDqanoTo?si=y_AZ9oVgWPfEiQf6
Unfortunately, due to certain unforseen circumstances the Law Minister was unable to visit the university, but nonetheless a lot of work was done like:
- A MOU to be signed within 30 days.
- A dedicated internship program under the Vice president where 5 students form NLUJ will be called to assist the VP in his role as the chairman of the Rajyasabha.
- VP appealed to the NLUJ students to discuss and deliberate on the three criminal law bills and forward their suggestions/recommendations from the side of the university to the VP office and the Parliamentary committee.
Are you feeling lost? Do you feel as if your senior just throws work at you and expects you to figure it out?
Dalal Street attorney is back. I try to write about topics and scenarios which you may encounter in the future, so that when the time comes, you don’t feel completely out of depth.
Last time, when I wrote a post on ECBs, I got a question in the comments –
How do we assess that the MAMP (i.e. Minimum Average Maturity Period) for the ECB has been complied for?
[Link to my previous post: https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/278146-banking-finance-oversimplified-part-2-ecbs ]
Now this question is a bit surprising, because it’s pretty straightforward. As an A0, all you need to do is:
1. Understand for what purpose/ end use the ECB loan is being availed by the borrower [Internal Note: Read purpose clause of FA/ term sheet]
2. Check the ECB Master Directions for the corresponding MAMP number in the table and
3. Check the MAMP number provided to you by the borrower.
It’s quite simple. It’s not like you have to calculate the MAMP – that’s done by the accountants or the borrower and they usually provide the calculated MAMP number to lawyers in an excel sheet. MAMP depends on the repayment amount and what the repayment schedule looks like. There is an entire formula for this which we aren’t taught in law school or law firms. (Details later.)
But hold on. This post isn’t about me trying to do an in-depth explainer about ECBs. This post is about highlighting the mismatch in expectation between juniors and seniors - which then leads to frustration.
EXPECTATION v. REALITY
Why is the senior just throwing work at me? Why doesn’t he explain the entire thing properly?
Often times, from a senior’s perspective, it’s maybe like – I have told my junior X Y Z things, so all he has to figure out is point A, which he can do by reading up on this concept. Why does he find it so difficult?
But that’s not how it is playing out in the mind of the junior. If you have suddenly been put on an ECB transaction, it can be overwhelming dealing with a completely new set of documents. Since it’s your first time, you don’t know what is the process is or where to look. You can do a cursory reading of the ECB Master Directions, but it doesn’t talk about the specific process of checking the compliance. You are not even sure if you are looking in the right direction. Although you are trying your best to do good work, you end up making mistakes, and now you have to deal with negative feedback about your work and you have to stay up extra hours in the night to finish the work.
Without any prior knowledge of banking, you find yourself in a vacuum – not being able to do anything without someone’s guidance. You feel like a blind man who constantly needs supervision because you don’t know where you are headed. It’s the same reason why when you are on a DD, you panic when you don’t know how to approach the review process - do you go through all the litigation files uploaded on the data room, or do you skip those documents and ask the company for a summary of pending litigation? Do you review the additional SHAs in the data room that were not mentioned before, or is that beyond the scope of the DD?
And what happens when the guidance is missing? You feel stuck as if on a loop.
I was there too.
And it’s not like I didn’t try seeking help from seniors. In fact, I went to my senior partner so I could get some clarity. I asked him where could I read a bit more about banking so I could do my job well? He is one of the widely respected professionals in the space, so surely he would an answer, right? Unfortunately, he said that no such articles exist. Later, I was forwarded a publication made by the firm, but even those articles were too complicated for me to understand. I just couldn’t connect the dots. That client update was written for sophisticated clients. There was hardly anything written in plain, simple English for us juniors.
That is when I realised most mentors and seniors are so far removed from where you are in the process, it can be hard for them to relate. Their advice, though important, glosses over the details that really matter in the beginning. That’s why I was feeling pretty lost when I was figuring all this out.
So one of my goals is to give a behind the scenes look of the work that happens and more importantly - how to approach things - how do you read a term sheet, how do you approach a document review the first time, and just generally how do you figure things out. No gatekeeping, no fluff. Because at the end of the day, that’s what you need. Someone who’s a little bit ahead of you to chase and draw inspiration from. It’s what I wish I could have had when I was starting out.
Because you are probably already:
- skipping your meals due to that meeting that got extended
- sleep deprived due to that urgent deliverable
- wondering where all your time went on the weekends
- tired after working all the long hours
The last thing you need to be is anxious because you are not getting adequate information to perform your job well.
If you can relate to what I am saying, and you think my posts add even a tiny bit of value to you, comment “Let him cook”, and I will be back with more posts.
Regards,
Dalal Street Attorney
________________________________________________________________
P.S.: "Siri, play Sleepless by AP Dhillon"
Ve Main Raatan Nu Uth Uth
Roi Chan Ve
Meri Neendar Kidhar Aa
Khoi Chan Ve
Ve Main Raatan Nu Uth Uth
Raatan Nu Uth Uth
Raatan Nu Uth Uth
Roi Chan Ve
"Conservative" in the Indian context mostly means being an ▮▮▮.
There is a nuanced position that one can take around the principles of conservatism, and then delve into Economic Conservatism and Social Conservatism (to be very simplistic). Let's set aside Economic Conservatism, since I doubt that you are really referring to deregulation and lower taxes and less welfare spending, when you refer to Indian Conservatism.
Let's look at all the "conservative Americans" that you mentioned. The main flashpoints of the American right are gay marriage, abortion, and "traditional family values". The first two are not really meaningful political issues in India, and the third is something that the Right keeps parroting, but only in opposition to what they see as urban decadence.
So, what does Conservative in India mean? Or, what does "left liberal" or "left" or "very left" mean?
The answer will shock you.
Here's a list of things that "left liberals" are fighting for.
1. Due Process.
Treat people fairly. Treat undertrials, and those accused of heinous, anti-national, and other subversive activities, fairly. Let Kasab and Afzal Guru go through a long and detailed trial, with every honest attempt made to prove their innocence. Let the world know that India is a fair country, that weighs and balances the evidence, and assures everyone of a fair trial.
Don't throw 20 year old girls into jail for organizing protests against the government.
Don't impound passports of people because they criticize the government.
2. Opposing Majoritarianism.
Every citizen of India has the right to be treated the same by the State. everyone should have the same standards applied to them to check if they are a citizen. The same hands-off approach by the state for their religion and their language.
Don't push one "national language" on people.
Don't jail people for their food habits.
Don't withhold judgeships because "people are gay and have a foreign partner" (like our foreign minister's spouse) and hence "pose a security risk" or "will be biased for gay issues".
3. The right to dissent, be different, and not be forced into majoritarian groupthink.
Privacy, freedom of expression, and all those other nice things you studied in Constitutional Law.
Sadly, the Indian Conservative Movement has done itself no favours. They mostly harp about "ancient glories" and about some artificial idea of patriotism that they think is the right way. They are not prepared to genuinely debate or understand left liberal priorities, or convincingly articulate a reasoned and logical case for their philosophies and objectives.
I'm proud of my fellow Alum for standing up for the oppressed and the downtrodden, and for fighting for due process and the things promised in our Constitution. If "Conservatives" oppose this, we'd like to hear why.
So, coming back to the basic question. What does Indian Conservatism really mean, and why should anyone with a grain of empathy subscribe to it?
I feel that professors should be teaching the writings of Friedman, Nozick, Rand and originalists, and encourage respectful debates, as long it doesn't get outright phony by bringing in modern-day grifters like Shapiro, Peterson etc.
Most Indian politicians are socialistic when it comes to the economy, including BJP and its parent organization RSS. Similarly, none of them are really progressive on social issues. Apart from a select few disputes like cow slaughter, UCC, CAA etc, they are virtually the clones of one another.
However, I've been advised to narrow down on specialisation in regard to improving my 'policy research and framing' career. Out of the following interests, which one do you see being extremely relevant in the next decade ?
1. International Space Law
2. International Environmental Law
3. International Digital Law
4. International Armed Conflicts
5. International Organisations Reform
6. TWAIL like theories
Things are already looking good and bright for NLUJ ever since the appointment of the new VC.
And I have heard scholarships based on lnat as well.
Now I recently came to know about lnat and I am quite interested in the UK higher education as well. I have checked all the lnat and uk uni related threads at LI. But there seemed to have a mixed opinion about this.
After this gap year (since I have already decided my mind on leaving this college) - I want to join somewhere stable.
So till what UK uni should I join? And after that when do I consider a tier-1 nlu in case I crack them.
Your help will mean a lot.
1) Harvard, Yale. Columbia, Stanford, Oxbridge: Law School can't reach this level, even with Sudhir in charge. Too much of an ask.
2) Duke, Cornell, Penn, Chicago, LSE, KCL, UCL: Law School can reach this level in 10-15 years, with Sudhir in charge.
3) SOAS, QMUL, Warwick, Virginia, Michigan: Law School can reach this level in 5-10 years, with Sudhir in charge.
For now, let's focus on goal 3. Take it step by step. What we need are 3 things:
- Around Rs 50 to 100 crores funding to improve infrastructure. Possible with alumni outreach and if Law School is declared an Institution of National Importance by the centre. It's critical to lobby for INI status. The SC case will be crucial. Hopefully the SC will uphold what the Karnataka HC said.
- More good faculty hires and eventually kicking out all the useless TLC profs. A few of them still remain and they are a hindrance top excellence.
- More internationalisation, via tie-ups with law schools abroad.
Category
Initiation Fees
Annual Fees
CORPORATE:
Corporate (Transferable)
20 Lakhs Plus 18% GST (Non Refundable)
3 Lakhs Plus 18% GST
INDIVIDUAL:
New Members (Transferable)
20 Lakhs Plus 18% GST
(Non-Refundable)
3 Lakhs Plus 18% GST
First of all it’s commendable that inspite of such odds, you haven’t given up and you are still trying.
Let me tell you the biggest hurdle you will face to get a job/ even once you get a job - culture fit. This is a vague word used in the industry to gatekeep certain opportunities from people without contacts. Because even once you get into a firm, it’s not just about doing the job diligently - a lot of it is about how you get along with people in the firm, and this isn’t just about being humble or curious to learn, this also means being able to talk about your favourite soccer club, your favourite restaurant, your favourite trip - things which will easier for your peers because they have had a relatively elite upbringing and shared experience in law schools.
Even for you to do the job well - you will have to learn from someone. Since law firms have huge amount of work, and people are pressed for time, you will need a mentor who will lookout for you. Again, for the person to be your mentor and like, a lot will depend on how you get along with them, and this will depend on the above mentioned things.
Sure, not all law firm teams are like this. There are teams which have people from humble upbringing so they understand the struggle. But whether you land up in such a team will depend on your luck.
All the best!
https://www.barandbench.com/news/english-lawyers-no-intention-court-work-away-from-indian-lawyers-uk-law-society-president
Fees - 181000 -191000
However, remember that success in this field requires consistency, dedication, and years of hard work. In the beginning, don't stress about landing big corporate clients. Start with whatever cases come your way, no matter how small, and focus on delivering exceptional results for your clients.
Want to know a secret? Word of mouth is the best marketing in our profession. Today's small client could be tomorrow's corporate vice president, bringing significant business your way. That's the beauty of our profession: you build one connection at a time and grow alongside them.
Here are some fun anecdotes to inspire you:
- - A top corporate lawyer in India once assisted a dentist with his legal work.
- - A rising corporate litigator started by handling Section 138 notices for dishonored cheques.
- - A renowned senior counsel in the Supreme Court for tech matters once sought work from chefs at hotels, hoping to tap into their network.
Building a law firm is a fascinating journey with relatively low risk compared to other ventures. And as we step into an era where technology will revolutionize our profession, embracing and integrating tech into your practice from the outset will set you apart. Focus on future-proofing your practice, and don't get too caught up in what others are doing.
Lastly, a word of caution: joining a larger practice initially can offer rapid learning and invaluable mentorship. The early years are formative, and having guidance can shape your foundation as a lawyer. While big law firms might feel like a factory process, joining a smaller firm or working under a seasoned senior can provide a more personalized learning experience. Your first boss will significantly influence your approach, so choose wisely! 5 years with a senior lawyer who facilitates your growth and nurtures your ambition will go by in a blink of an eye!
Best of luck on your journey, and remember to always stay true to your vision and values. Remember, money is fleeting. Never compromise your integrity for more money. Shine bright my friend!
Here's a little secret that you'll come to realize as you progress in life: deep down, everyone feels insecure and anxious to some extent. The degree varies, but these feelings are a part of the human experience. It's how we address and manage them that makes the difference.
The legal profession, especially in a law firm setting, can indeed be demanding and might amplify feelings of anxiety. It's essential to recognize this and consider what's best for you at this stage. Your well-being, both mental and emotional, is paramount.
I strongly recommend looking into cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It's a practical approach that can help you address and manage anxious thoughts right from the outset. It's never too early or too late to seek support, and taking this step can be transformative. I would recommend that you find time for this given its importance as you start a new journey.
Remember, every challenge you face is an opportunity for growth. Believe in yourself, and know that you have the strength and resilience to navigate this journey. Remember the people who care for you will always be rooting for you so hold them close at all times!!
1. Leaving a Law Firm Early: While it's common for professionals to stay in a position for at least a year, your well-being and job satisfaction are paramount. If you genuinely feel that the role isn't a good fit, it's better to make a move sooner rather than later. However, when discussing your decision with future employers or colleagues, it's essential to frame it positively. Emphasize what you learned during your time there and how it influenced your subsequent decisions.
2.
3. Returning to Law: If your entrepreneurial venture doesn't pan out as expected and you decide to return to law, your experience as an entrepreneur can be a valuable asset. Running a business requires a myriad of skills, many of which are transferable and can be beneficial in a legal setting. It's all about how you present and leverage that experience. Remember, many successful individuals have faced setbacks or taken unconventional paths. What's crucial is resilience and the ability to adapt and grow from experiences.
4.
5. Transferable Skills and Job Search: Your legal background has equipped you with numerous transferable skills like analytical thinking, attention to detail, and effective communication. When looking for jobs outside the legal realm, focus on these skills and how they can be applied in different industries. Platforms like LinkedIn allow you to search for roles based on skills, which can open doors to positions you might not have considered.
6.
7. The Value of Entrepreneurship: Embarking on an entrepreneurial journey is a commendable decision. It not only allows you to be your own boss but also provides a platform to innovate, create, and make a direct impact. The skills you'll gain—like business strategy, networking, and risk assessment—are invaluable and can enhance your professional profile, whether you return to law or explore other sectors. It is ultimately something in which you will always fail upwards.
8.
9. Things to Consider Before Making the Move:
-
- Financial Stability: Ensure you have a financial safety net before venturing into entrepreneurship. It might take time before your setup becomes profitable.
-
- Skill Set: While passion is vital, having the necessary skills or being willing to learn them is equally important. Consider taking courses or seeking mentorship in areas you're less familiar with.
-
- Market Research: Before starting, research the market to understand the demand for your product/service and identify your target audience.
-
- Networking: Connect with other entrepreneurs or join entrepreneurial communities. They can provide invaluable insights, support, and potential collaboration opportunities.
10.
Lastly, remember that every career move, whether lateral, forward, or even seemingly backward, adds to your life's tapestry. It's the skills you acquire, the people you meet, and the lessons you learn that shape your professional journey. Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck and success in your endeavours!
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/du-5-year-law-course-clat-current-academic-year-hc-8945733/lite/
https://www.livelaw.in/amp/high-court/delhi-high-court/delhi-high-court-ugc-clat-score-llb-admissions-du-delhi-university-cuet-237632
Recently, two separate shrinks diagnosed me with Asperger’s syndrome or being in the spectrum (ASD). A labeling helps, I guess, in making sense of some life events and silencing that nagging question deep inside- what’s wrong with me. Other than that, nothing in life has changed. Even when struggling, one adapts to become functional in the circumstances one is in. My next phase of struggle has started with the expectations of socialising for business development. I think I will manage- you play the cards you are dealt with. And of course, in the interviews I take now, I ensure that anxiety during interviews is not counted against the candidates.
p.s.- tell us in two years how you are faring.
Often I have seen partners take due diligence training and focus on what sort of documents need to be reviewed, or what laws need to be researched for some specific industry, or how to write the DD report, but I feel like the main essence of doing a diligence – the approach while handling a DD gets lost in the translation.
Okay. So, let’s address the elephant in the room. Due diligence is one of the most hated aspects of legal work in law firms, with most seniors trying to pawn it off to juniors, and juniors trying to pawn it off to interns. The hate towards this aspect of legal work is partially because this doesn’t involve drafting, so it doesn’t feel like legal work – and also, DDs usually involve huge volumes of data, so after a while going through so many documents feels mind numbing. However, every year, many associates join the legal workforce, and while they have big aspirations of working on cutting edge transactions and drafting agreements, this is the job they are mostly involved in.
Is there a way to salvage this? Is there a way to make DDs interesting? Here’s an idealistic view:
IDEALISTIC VIEW OF A DD:
Due diligence at its core – is investigative journalism. While reporters have to run around to get their hands on confidential internal company data, as lawyers we get all the data handed over to us in the virtual data rooms. DDs offer us an opportunity to take a deep dive into an industry, and see the functioning of the company in and out. Maybe the below example will help you visualise this better:
Imagine you’re an analyst sitting in the office of Lindenburg. One fine morning, your boss bursts into the office, and tells you he has received a big scoop - a tip off about some huge financial scam going on in a large conglomerate. All analysts need to drop everything and immediately get on this task to see if the allegations are true. Because if the allegations are true, this will not only cause a huge upheaval in the public and send shock waves in the stock market, this may also have the potential of destabilising an entire nation as there are also allegations the ruling party of the country may be linked to the conglomerate.
As an analyst, when you are researching the leads, you may have to go through various complicated agreements, pull out obscure licenses, and keep a track of all the potential red flags you have come across. But even under such tight deadlines, you know that when you are preparing the Lindenburg report, you cannot afford to make a mistake. Every sentence you write in the report has to accurate, every footnote in the report has to be properly formatted and rock solid. Because when the Lindenburg Report is published in the news and it causes the stock price of the conglomerate to nosedive, this conglomerate is going to come at you with full force. It will unleash thousands of lawyers and accountants on you, make them go through every line of the report, trace back every footnote in the report – just to find that one mistake you have made – and use that to discredit your entire report. The stakes are that high.
You are probably spending long hours in the office trying to finish the report, trying to find the needle in the haystack, all the while racing against time. You’re probably even pulling regular all-nighters to complete the report faster. Imagine – during this time, you go up to your senior – and ask for “work life balance”. Your senior is going to be explode.
Alright, let’s come back to reality. Thankfully, your legal DD report in a law firm is not going to destabilise an entire nation, and the stakes aren’t that high. But it kind of explains why several seniors hate the idea of “Work life” balance. Some seniors are so involved in their work and take so much ownership in their work, they feel work life balance is not important as work is part of life. But I mean, to each their own.
REALISTIC VIEW OF DD:
Working on that Lindenburg report, deep diving into a company’s financials and finding the hidden skeletons – that sounded exciting, right? So why doesn’t my day to day job of doing a DD feel that exciting? A couple of reasons I can offer:
1. First impression: Your first brush with DD probably happened when you were an intern. Some associate may have asked you to prepare the list of documents, or review some obscure form without giving you any context, and you felt like a headless chicken, confused out of your wits, just doing some mind numbing work of data entry – day in and day out. From the associate’s perspective it makes sense, as preparing list of documents is the least risky element of the DD report, and even if the intern misses something here or there, it won’t have a huge impact. But unknowingly, the associate has killed your interest in law.
2. Negative reinforcement: You speak to some seniors in the team about their view of DD, and either they have probably gone through the above experience as an intern, or they are too senior to deal with DD, so they tell you that DDs aren’t that interesting, and you just have to power through the mind numbing work. The subtext being – you are getting paid a lot of money to do the grunt work – so shut up and do it. Here, even before your first brush with a DD, you have a negative idea about it in your head.
3. Volume of data: Objectively, the amount of data that companies upload on virtual data rooms is no joke, especially if it is a listed company. Dealing with the huge amounts of data can be extremely overwhelming, especially if you lack prior experience or your team is understaffed. Here’s another perspective – when you seniors were doing DDs, because the tech wasn’t that developed, they had to often travel to the company headquarters or get to stay in fancy 5 star hotel, order pizzas and work on the due diligence. They also had to work hard, but it was also an all expenses paid trip with their colleagues. But now that we have Onedrive and great internet, the documents are simply uploaded in 40-50 folders by the target company, documents often not arranged properly and now you have to sit in your office cubicle and get the work done.
4. Turnaround time: Sometimes you may end up in a team, or with some clients who are extremely demanding, and you have to turn around and prepare the DD in 2 weeks or so. Depending on the scope of the DD, this can be extremely stressful, ruin your sleep cycle and create havoc in your daily life. No one likes staying up till 4am-5am in the night to work on documents under such tight deadlines.
5. Uncertainty: This is probably the worst contributor and a silent killer. Uncertainty about when the documents will be uploaded to the data room after you have sent your Nth requisition list (7pm on a Friday night?), or not knowing at the beginning of the transaction how many more documents you will need to ask and review when you are under a tight deadline. I mean – it’s almost counterintuitive. To do a proper DD, you need to scrutinise documents, and ask for requisitions (i.e. more documents) if you find things missing or something fishy, and this can make you go down a rabbit hole, but then the client wants the report prepared by a certain date. This means you have to take enough care to ensure you have looked at the critical aspects, but not so much care that you can’t prepare the report on time. Also, at a junior level, if there is communication breakdown within the team, not having visibility by when you need to review and complete documents, or what you should be looking for in a new document you have never come across – that can cause unnecessary friction because you will end up taking more time than what your senior has anticipated/ estimated.
Without proper mentorship and without enough time to absorb the work you are doing, doing DDs become a nightmare. But at the core, doing a DD is still a lot like investigative journalism and it can be exhilarating and exciting if the DD workload is managed well. Which is why, even if you may not have enjoyed working during the entire span of doing a DD, I’m sure if you have been involved in a DD for some time, and the workload management hasn’t been terrible, you may found yourself in a state of flow, where you suddenly start taking interest in the documents you are reading and actively start following an industry which was extremely alien to you 2 weeks back.
Love to hear other views on this.
How do you manage social media!?
I think i might be a phone addict. My daily screentime is
Instagram-2-2.5 hours
Reddit-2 hours
How do you manage it!? I dont want to cut it all off because i would like to be in touch with some people via instagram and occasionally see some good memes on reddit. How does one control it !? Is there a way to cut them down around 20-40 mins a day or even less.
There's one thing i noticed when i open an instagram or reddit, i think of using it just for 5 mins but i get so glued that i dont know how 1 hr has passed. I also indulge in rage searching or looking through post when i am emotionally triggered or sometimes i am triggered via something on internet . I loose myself and awareness using these apps.
Should i start from cutting all social media off and then introducing them after 3-4 months in moderation ??
Has anyone able to get through with this problem!? I will really appreciate some inputs.
Honestly, i am not a very disciplined person, how does one cultivate discipline? The time i give to social media could be better utilised in my career or hobies.
Samsung w a broken screen which would not have costed him more than 20K.
All of us's defination of luxury is different. If buying a 15 makes you happy, by all means go for it. But if youre going to buy it to please others, trust me you will always end up displeasing yourself.
ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS:Arghya is from NLSIU with a DPhil from Oxford (in Constitutional Law). Arghya is also a Rhodes scholar and NLSIU gold medalist. The person criticising him is from NUJS with an LLM from King's College London (in Tax Law). Even if I assume parity between NLSIU (NIRF rank 1) and NUJS (NIRF rank 4), or Oxford (QS rank 2) and KCL (QS rank 15), a person with a DPhil/PhD in Constitutional Law is unquestionably superior to an LLM in Tax Law when it comes to matters of constitutional law.
ENDORSEMENTS:
Fali Nariman has praised Arghya's book. You will see his quote on the cover. Need I say more?
IDEOLOGY:
Everyone is free to have an ideology. We are not a communist country like China and North Korea. Also, is Fali Nariman pro-BJP as per your logic? Finally, show me ONE place where Arghya/Vidhi has endorsed the BJP. Yes, Vidhi drafted a version of the UCC and has supported it in newspapers. So what? Since when is UCC = BJP? The Constitution mandates it (in the DPSP) and the Supreme Court has also said we should have it. A Muslim judge like AS Ahmadi has supported UCC.
MERITS OF THE ARGUMENT
Finally, and most importantly, the Constitution indeed needs a review. The Vajpayee government set up an excellent committee to review the working of the Constitution. It pointed to legitimate problems like a backlog of judges, lack of police and administrative reforms, etc. The Committee was headed by a very respected judge (Venkatachaliah) had distinguished people from all backgrounds, like BP Jeevan Reddy, RS Sarkaria Soli Sorabjee, PA Sangma, CR Irani, Abid Hussain etc. I quote from the report:
" During the last two decades and more, there was a persistent demand in the civil society – from some NGOs, academics, constitutional scholars and others – that the working of the Constitution be subjected to a comprehensive review. Several books and a large number of articles and research papers devoted to the theme of constitutional review and reforms were published (some of these have been listed in the bibliographies annexed to Consultation Papers and were taken fully into account and used by the Commission in its study and deliberations) and many seminars and conferences organised in different parts of the country."
So why single out Arghya?
Now coming to the technicalities of your question. Retaking MHCET is absolutely fine if you don’t want to sit for clat. The thing that’s worrying me is that GLC has very less seats. Only 35 unreserved for general. So regardless how easy the mhcet paper is or how many people are competing - your chances will still be as low as other excellent aspirants. You will have more psychological anxiety trust me as the exam approaches.
So what are the solutions? Definitely not staying at a tier-3. I mean yes if you don’t crack any of your desired competitive exams - by all means stay in your requisite T-3 and try to do marvellously well there.
But the solutions for you are - try retaking clat before mhcet or any other competitive exam for that matter. Okay? Just for you to get into the one of it. If you are gonna do it- just do it right. Give ailet - don’t have any expectation , just sit for it. Who knows? Maybe that environment helped you crack mhcet later on.
I cracked it this way. I also changed from a tier-3 nlu (not exactly as bad as a tier-3 but well) to ils Pune. I know the odds and favours of it.
AND YES - a glc or ils tag right now nationally or internationally is much more valuable than a tier-3 nlu tag (claiming this after studying at high places)
All the best and good luck for your exam! Maintain your backup well. Don’t be afraid
To be fair NLU, and amongst them as well, the NLS tag would be worth much more in future. However, the concerns are very valid for the poor meritorious chaps who wish to get out of the socio-economic traps.
I remember receiving forwarded messages every now and then as to how some talented individual was unable to make the ends meet and wished to have a crowdsourced fund for paying up the fee to college.
If you plan to make CLAT inclusive, you also have to make sure the System is ready and capable of working as efficiently (Not saying the system is efficient, but at par) with what is there right now.
Regards.
(I may end up receiving a tier-3 nlu as clat is unpredictable and my above comment may reek of arrogance is top tier nlu is not easy to get but this is a blatant fee surcharge from NLS)
The notification:-
https://consortiumofnlus.ac.in/clat-2024/nlus/brochure/NLSIU.pdf
Honestly it burns down to what you are looking for.
Career guidance as to different fields and options you can pursue?
They can help streamline your options, choices, give you their inputs based on their exposure and experience. Can help you with Resume, Cover letter building, acting interviews etc. But I honestly don't think they can help you ACE placements nor can they provide you with suitable leads or opportunities.
I would rather talk to someone who has gone through the same grind, from a similar background and who has made it, to understand the process. Of course, it is not a straijacket formula.
Regards.
If it means what I think, 29 is still soooo young! You talk as if you are 50!!! Just go to ISB, find your life partner, found a startup, become a millionaire.
Fiction is a personal thing- you can read for escapism, or if you're interested in the lives of others.
Non-fic- there are some amazing Indian books out there now. Snigdha Poonam, Rukmini S, and Ram Guha are perennial favourites.
The best way to find new books? Go to a bookstore and browse. Or just join an old fashioned library.
BREAKING NEWS
(Just in)
The Printer has received a tip from a highly credible source in the Rashtrapati Bhavan that the tragic deaths of two successive Presidents involve foul play.
This is a live story. Stay tuned for more updates.
LATEST UPDATES:
Chief Justice Thakur accuses Acting-President Ramalingam of planning a supersession in the Supreme Court!
Rashtrapati Bhavan categorically denies all allegations in a statement just released, which claims that "It is highly inappropriate for a sitting Chief Justice to engage in such malicious falsehood against the first citizen."
Prime Minister Banerjee to address the nation in Dil ki Baat this evening at 8 p.m.
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More because of Clat now which is a big deal.
But still the profession itself hasn’t been able to penetrate the masses and in US law is a big deal. The very important presidents are lawyers. What happened?
-----
"They say it's a stroke, Ram", said Shastri, "he looked perfectly fine yesterday. I'm just... shocked...."
"It's a shock to everyone, Ganesh" replied Ram, and then quickly glanced at Sashikala. The Prime Minister and the Chief Justice were informed of the tragedy and immediately requested to come to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
As Shastri saw a faint ray of sunlight in the sky from his office window, still deeply shook, there was a knock on his office door. "Come in!"
"Sir, we have arranged the press release", informed Kiran, the secretary to the President.
"Very well, thanks Kiran."
"One other thing, Sir. You will have to move to the President's office, and also appoint an acting Vice President" said Kiran.
"Very well, I'll get to it."
As Kiran left the office, it seemed to Shastri, for a second, that she gave a remonstrating look at Ram and Sashi. He wondered if it implied something. Perhaps it's nothing, and he just needs sleep. Or, maybe, it has to do with what Naik had shared with him a few days ago. That a major amendment was in the pipeline. Was Naik's death really of natural causes? The Director of AIIMS strongly reassured Shastri personally that there was no foul play involved. Good timing for Naik. He did not have to sign that godforsaken amendment. But now it's stuck with him.
---
It has been three days since Naik's death, and the piercing sense that there is something undiscovered about his untimely demise continued to haunt Shastri. Not least considering that he was informed by the Russian President, when the latter had called to convey his condolences, that there were a few urgent matters that he had to inform Naik of right away. When he pressed his counterpart on what they pertained, he was only informed that it is of grave concern directly concerning Shastri, and that it would be best if he came to Moscow personally.
"I can't possibly do a state visit at this time, Nikita. It is inappropriate, and also I'm not sure of the necessity" Shastri had bemoaned.
"I understand that Ganesh. But what I have to share with you is not only urgent but gravely important", protested Nikita Vladislav, a man who had had a great rapport and friendship with Naik, and also Shastri, on previous occasions. "How about this? There is a development conference happing at Tashkent next Wednesday. Many heads of states are flying in for that. I'll get an official invite sent over to you. We can talk there."
Shastri had acquiesced, if only to not seem obstinate at the face of "grave concerns." Everything is a "grave concern" in this new digital age. But Shastri did not want to take a chance, just in case it was, even remotely, a "grave concern".
---
Next Monday
"I am sorry, Madam Prime Minister. But I just cannot assent to that. I have no other choice than to resign if you do pass this in the parliament. I just cannot be a party to these amendments" rebuked Shastri. The Prime Minister had requested an appointment with him very early in the day to discuss government business. As he feared, it was about the proposed amendments, which she promptly brought soon after the usual pleasantries.
"But Sir... This is the best cour..." she was about the say, before Shastri cut her mid-sentence, "I'm sorry, I just cannot. Now if you will please excuse me, I have another meeting already scheduled."
Sashikala looked pale, and then crimson-faced. She walked out of the room in quite an angry stride.
---
Tuesday:
As Shastri was perusing a paper in from him, listing the official recipients of this year's Bharat Ratna and Padma Awards, he could not get rid of the ominous feeling that has been haunting him ever since he was awoken by Mirza that fateful night. It always found a way to return.
A knock on the door...
"Yes, come in" beckoned Shastri.
"Sir, some bad news" informed Kiran. "The scheduled Air India One seems to have encountered an engine issue. And stupidly enough, they did not think of pre-arranging an alternative. They have arranged for the MI-17 chopper to take you to Tashkent tomorrow."
"Ah, I see. No worries, that's fine Kiran. Let them go ahead."
It is so good to see that a lot of capable women are being appointed as the VCs in various NLUs
Her Profile: http://13.235.220.186/community/faculty/prof-dr-usha-tandon/
Source: https://twitter.com/manwendratiwari/status/1704153120547471795?t
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/parliament-special-session-live-updates-september-19-2023-new-parliament-building-narendra-modi-congress-party-101695081274035-amp.html
Source: https://www.bhaskar.com/local/rajasthan/jodhpur/news/priority-to-improve-the-stable-ranking-of-nlu-prof-mouthful-131861502.html
When I was an intern, I had similar issues with my A2 approaching me and showing interest and when it was not reciprocated, things went a little downhill. Please do not make things awkward. It would be very difficult if it gets exposed for both of you :)
So yes, it is wrong to sleep with her, especially if she is an intern at your org.
"issue" is defined under 2(13)(ea) is defined to include
(i) Public issue of debentures
(ii) PP which seeks to list later- DRHP
Therefore, the Regulations include even unlisted debentures which are privately placed (requiring debenture trustees under the ILNC Regs) but seeking to list on a recognised stock exchange.
(im T1 NLU student with good internships looking for t1 internships btw)
As per Reg. 2(3)(ab) of the DT Regulations (https://www.sebi.gov.in/legal/regulations/jan-2023/securities-and-exchange-board-of-india-debenture-trustees-regulations-1993-last-amended-on-january-17-2023-_68136.html), a "body corporate" is defined to include
(1) Companies with public issues- listed
(2) Companies proposed to list- temporarily unlisted, filed DRHP.
SEBI FAQ Question 14 (https://www.sebi.gov.in/sebi_data/faqfiles/dec-2016/1482144051182.pdf) clarifies this.
1. Internships: This was quite possibly the strongest section in my CV. My parents aren't lawyers and my Placement Cell wasn't spectacular, this happened because of good old networking. My first 4 internships were in chambers/litigation in my city - easy to get because they weren't coveted internships that everyone was trying to get. I kept in touch with all the people i met here, texted them for New Years, Diwali, did my best to be on good terms with everyone. A year later, when I asked these people to help me get other internships, they really did. This led to my tier 2 internships.
My tier 1 internships did not come from connections, I found that the strategy I outlined above seemed to work from tier 3 to tier 2 but not tier 2 to tier 1. I got my JSA internship by directly applying, they had a long procedure but I did get it without recommendations. The other t1 internships I got were through the Placement Cell - by this time I was in 4th year and had a good CGPA so I got the internships I wanted through college itself. By recruitment time, I had 10 internships on my CV - 3 T1s, 3 T2s, and 4 random ones that people outside my city wouldn't have heard of. Got placed through campus placement in a T1 that I hadn't interned at.
2. Moots: I did 3 external moots and would say that this was a fairly strong part of CV. The first moot I did was a random one, we reached the semi-finals but didn't win anything. The second moot I did was a really good one, a competitive national level corporate law moot of repute. We won an award but not the entire event. The last moot I did was a reputed constitutional law moot in which we reached the finals and won an award. An international moot would have been a great addition to my CV but was not affordable. I didn't really have the time to undertake something like this, either.
3. ADR Competitions/Essay Writing Competitions/Quiz Competitions/Debates/MUNs/Miscellaneous competitions: Some of these are easier to get awards in than others. Target those, and you'll build up your CV without spending an unreasonable amount of time/effort. I had a fair few of these and while they look impressive put together, the truth is that they're not that difficult to crack. You need to participate persistently, and you'll win a few awards in a few places.
4. Publications/Paper Presentations/Conferences: A lot of people focus on these extensively, and they're usually rewarded for their efforts. I wasn't one of these people, and had 0 publications when I got placed. My first publication was accepted after my placement. If you're interested in publishing, target good journals and blogs, a "publication" in ipleaders doesn't add value to your CV.
All this may seem intimidating, but remember that you can't do everything in the limited time you have. Try to build a diverse CV, and enjoy yourself with these activities! Good luck!
However I can’t counter your argument of disturbed mind as that’s fairly a personal issue. But you still have a lot of time. Don’t get occupied by negativity. You can also opt for accelerated MBA programmes if you well academically! All the best brother/sister ❤️
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/189562-working-as-an-in-house-counsel
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/213875-in-house-work-life-balance
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/176282-what-is-your-experience-in-working-as-an-in-house-counsel
Few threads that can help you figure stuff out :)
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/168588-mba-after-law-suggestions-for-a-finance-fanatic
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/231883-mba-karu-law-k-baad
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/164110-foreign-mba-after-law
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/241845-Lawyers-who-did-MBA-Did-it-help-your-career-nbsp-
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/262736-how-does-mba-help-a-corporate-lawyer-insights-needed-for-a-prospective-and-typical-mba-after-law-person
They aforementioned threads can you help make an accurate decision! All the best :)))
President Gopala Naik was one of the finest and astute Presidents the country had witnessed in the recent past. His commitment to duty and his prescience of danger was unparalleled to even the most seasoned politicians around. Honour and respect found him easily, and he had a commanding voice over the executive. Naik was not a politician by trade. He was too sincere to be one. He was an astronomer and physicist who played a major role in Chandrayaan missions, as well as the Gaganyaan missions.
But, as he was strolling this morning in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, in one of his usual leisurely walks, Naik, a stubby man in composition, had a troubled look on his face, an unusual demeanour for the otherwise jovial fellow. The cause of much anxiety emerged from recent events. A bench ruled by the Supreme Court had, six days ago, overturned the basic structure doctrine of the Indian Constitution. What was even more concerning to Naik was that his Prime Minister, Sashikala Banerjee relayed that the cabinet, and her party, had unanimously decided on a course correction for the nation, which was, according to her, long needed. She proposed a far-reaching overhaul of the constitution and that the government intends on introducing a constitution amending bill in the parliament which, among other things, removed 'India' from Article 1, made Hindi a national language, and greatly restructured Part III of the Constitution. This had shaken Naik's conscience. He strongly protested with Banerjee that he could not possibly assent to such a bill. But she had insisted that he was bound to assent to bills emanating from the parliament.
As he strolled around the luxuriant gardens, in this sunny but pleasant morning, Naik, besmirched in guilt, embarrassment, and a profound sense of helpless, weighed his options. He was stuck in a Gordian knot, but could manage to conjure a few options. One, to refer the matter to the Supreme Court as a special reference. That was, however, pointless as K. T. Ramalingam, the current Chief Justice, would side with the government given the recent ruling that the parliament had an unrestrained power to amend the constitution. The second option was to call for a special sitting of the parliament and for him to chair the sitting and openly speak his mind about the dangerous course of these proposed amendments. That was an option to consider, although it was tricky constitutionally whether he can exercise such a discretion. To be presidential, for all pageantries and platitudes that accompany the role, is nothing but playing a character in a script over which the actor has no creative liberty whatsoever. The position is just placed to fill the transcendent nominal space in constitutional law, much like the Rex or Regina in England. A famous adage that he read in Oxford came to his mind. One married a Duke more for the status than the pleasure. Seemed like it is apt in the context of becoming a President in India too, more for the status than the pleasure. Naik decided on a third option. Given the severity of the proposed amendments, and the radical nature of the changes, Naik will send the bill for reconsideration to Parliament. The President has to assent if the bill comes to him a second time, there's no way out. But.... he will resign when it comes to him the second time, and write a letter that he cannot, in good, conscience sign the bill. That will, even if not stop the bill from becoming a law, will atleast greatly cast aspersions on its legitimacy and validity by all moral and ethical standards, if not legal standards. Yes, that is what Naik will do! Great plan!!
As he turned to enter the central dome back to his residence, with a smile having returned to his earlier morose face, the poor Naik did not know that he will die of a stroke within 15 hours. Nay, he will be killed within 15 hours, and the world will be made to believe that it was a stroke.
https://www.barandbench.com/news/bci-offers-to-hold-clat-no-student-deprived-lack-of-english-proficiency
Expect changes in the CLAT 2024 itself, since GoI has already agreed for CLAT to be held in multiple languages.
I was in the same dilemma when I started. Thought of going to a law firm to make a cushion. But got too comfortable. Also, as age progresses, risk taking appetite reduces. Your priorities also change when you are 27/28
Be proactive and contact headhunters.
Look for platforms like YLCC which provide updates on legal jobs.
Follow pages of law firm on LinkedIn, they show you vacancy.
Last tip- join premium of LinkedIn, it’s free trail is on now, for a month. Put your desired job details and get updates.
Wishing you all the best.
Now, brace yourself for an unsolicited tale that serves no other purpose than to dredge up poignant memories and to provide the occasional chuckle. A tale that ends, as all good things do, in the pitch-dark humor of life's absurdities.
Once upon a time in the bustling bylanes of North Delhi (Mukherjee Nagar), I found myself beguiled by a captivating woman completing her Master's in Economics at Delhi School of Economics (DSE). It was a time of passion and academia, a time when I, too, was in Delhi under the guise of an internship. The internship was merely an excuse and thanks to my unparalleled talent for crafting excuses at work, life was beautiful with impromptu dates with this magnetic lady. Our limited resources ensured that the DSE canteen (sometimes Kamla Nagar market) became our social hub—a quirky combination of Café Coffee Day, Nirula's, and Connaught Place, all combined into one quaint establishment. Our gastronomic pinnacle? The budget-friendly 'Mutton-Dosas,' which fueled both our love and malnutrition.
During one of our many nostalgic walks, she pointed out an enigmatic gate adorned with Gothic motifs—forever locked and corroded by time. A shortcut to DSE, its perpetual closure made no sense to me. My inquiry triggered another life lesson from the one who would eventually slip through my fingers. According to the legends passed down by her professors, this "Gate to Nobel" would only swing open to welcome back a DSE alumnus graced with a Nobel Prize in Economics. Ah, a closed gate with grand aspirations—much like the two of us.
Time, that cunning sculptor, eventually carved canyons between our paths. We became two strangers bound only by the fragile threads of memories. A few years later, fate led me back to Delhi for work—a voyage that stretched into a reminiscing weekend. And there it was—the still-locked gate, now sporting a fresh coat of silver paint. Perhaps applied with a touch of desperate optimism, it waited for the day it could welcome home a laureate adorned with Swedish gold.
So you see, DSE remains a sanctuary for the study of economics in India. As for the other departments, I wouldn't venture a guess. But what I can vouch for is that the gate, like many of us, stands waiting—frozen in anticipatory glory, serving as a darkly humorous monument to life's grand plans and harsh realities.
The Day You Became A Better Writer
I went from being a bad writer to a good writer after taking a one-day course in “business writing.” I couldn’t believe how simple it was. I’ll tell you the main tricks here so you don’t have to waste a day in class.
Business writing is about clarity and persuasion. The main technique is keeping things simple. Simple writing is persuasive. A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in a hundred sentences. Don’t fight it.
Simple means getting rid of extra words. Don’t write, “He was very happy” when you can write “He was happy.” You think the word “very” adds something. It doesn’t. Prune your sentences.
Humor writing is a lot like business writing. It needs to be simple. The main difference is in the choice of words. For humor, don’t say “drink” when you can say “swill.”
Your first sentence needs to grab the reader. Go back and read my first sentence to this post. I rewrote it a dozen times. It makes you curious. That’s the key.
Write short sentences. Avoid putting multiple thoughts in one sentence. Readers aren’t as smart as you’d think.
Learn how brains organize ideas. Readers comprehend “the boy hit the ball” quicker than “the ball was hit by the boy.” Both sentences mean the same, but it’s easier to imagine the object (the boy) before the action (the hitting). All brains work that way. (Notice I didn’t say, “That is the way all brains work”?)
That’s it. You just learned 80% of the rules of good writing. You’re welcome.
Their go-to metaphor? "You need the blazing heat of a furnace to purify gold" or perhaps a "stretch to judge how flexible the rubberband is" I'd say it's more of a half-baked excuse than a nugget of wisdom, an attempt to paint their old-school hazing as a badge of honour. I bet the fresh lot can value genuine mentorship and a dash of tough love. However, there’s a difference between that and a senior mistaking their gray hair for a license to play the nightmare-inducing boogeyman.
Cutting to the chase: every profession has its pompous balloons waiting to be popped. I've had the, let's say, "pleasure" of dealing with these so-called legal titans—the ones paraded as the cream of the crop. And boy, have I been left scratching my head! Not to toot my own horn, but we're talking basics here, folks. So, whenever someone starts waxing poetic about the 'golden days of lawyering,' I can't help but visualize a steaming, freshly served plate of... let's just say, a cow's generous donation to our environment.
Lastly, and just for the record, there's not even a shred of empirical evidence that supports the notion that a tormented soul drafts better documents or magically enhances one’s ability to dot the i's and cross the t's.
- Plain English over legal eccentricities (no "hereinafter", "wherefore" etc.). This doesn't include terms of art which need to be used as they are.
- Avoid using multiple words where you can use one ("if" instead of "in the event of")
- Simple past and active voice where possible ("we discussed" instead of "it was discussed by us that")
- Spend some time organising the flow of your argument before you begin drafting. I often work with my team to set out a structure before they begin the draft, so it holds together better. You should ideally ask for guidance on this if you can.
- Use sub-headings where you can to delineate different sections of your argument. Clarity is as important an ideal to chase, as accuracy.
1. expecting better systems/devices? A one time investment of 50-75K extra is a big ask in a sector which sees 80-90% yearly ROI?
2. Doing two jobs (given that most people well work beyond the 8 hours) and getting paid for it, handsomely? You don't even offer any retirals (PF, gratuity etc). Now take the case of IIT-IIM grads and I take them cos our nat law/tier 1 schools who make the majority of law firm resources, make the same or in some cases more money on graduation. They do one job (most of them have 10-6/7 job, unless they with one of the investment banks or EYs/PWCs).
3. Asking for the best deals and best work? Surely, nobody is interested in doing some meaningless work. Hell, the more complex and Sevier the transaction- the more you learn. Sure, you need to have the skills to be able to deliver- but as long as that's there, why shouldn't kids be demanding for this?
1. Life is all about evolution. Do you guys follow what your parents tell you? For all the PAs and partners in their 30s-40s, chances are you were quite the rebel in your younger days and continue to be so, wrt your parents and their advise. So please don't do this- "oh we had it so difficult, this how we grew, this how you must also grow" shit. Life and work is ever evolving and we must always adapt. Not be boomer-dinos.
2. Granted that useful skills such as proper proofing, research, formatting, etc is important. But guys come on, living in the times that we are in, all of this can be outsourced and to a large extent is now being done by the computers and AI. Given that most associates atleast in their first two years only do this, no point harassing them about this beyond a certain point.
3. When we started working, there was no concept of work life balance. Working from home. Not Even bloody HSE (health safety environment) clauses in contracts. These days firms send weekly updates on these topics. Who's to blame? The very fact that firms are writing this is because of the lessons learnt from.the horror stories that our generation went through. To then say that oh you must also go through this cos we went through this is pure crap. It must be quite the contrary- because I went through this and it affected me, I won't let you go through this- should be the Mantra that all PAs and partners adopt.
4. The very topic assumes that we as old school lawyers had to go through shit and the genz doesn't and that is somehow wrong. Perhaps a little self reflection on why you went through shit is necessary. Cos if you were super good, you wouldn't have gone through shit in the first place. You weren't good either in your younger years- so accept that lawyers will evolve with age and can't expect them to be superstars right out of college.
5. An average law school kid probably spent 10-12 hours a day sleeping. To then shock his body suddenly with a 4-6 hour sleep schedule (and in some cases, worse than that) is Gunatanamo bay level torture. This needs to be worked up gradually. This is also a factor of an associate being involved in his job and liking it- things which are very difficult in the abstract without context and not having any foresight of why they are doing what they are doing. How many of you boomers take a first year associate to a negotiation? Hence,please understand that it is not fair to expect 23 year old kids to fall in love with their jobs and blindly do everything without question.
6. Drafting is a skill that evolves with age and life experiences. Hell,even commitment to a job is directly proportional to the personal commitments that you have. How can you expect a 23-25 ywar old without any familiar commitments to have a high sense of responsibility and commitment to the job?
To all the genz lawyers- hang in there, these horrible bosses and boomers notwithstanding. Lawyers evolve with age. You'll only be good at what you do if you like doing it. That usually comes with more responsibility and visibility on the impact that your work has. And also being given importance. All of this will come. You need to ask as many questions as you can- be as involved as you can, so that you get to the place where you start liking the Job. In fact in my view, the sole purpose of getting to an SA must be to get to a place where you have little more responsibility and ability to fall in love with the job. All the very best- 2012 lawyer. Have been both in house and in a law firm (currently in a law firm- before the boomer defending folks start jumping at the in house reference).
Keep in mind these are my viewpoints and I haven't had that much of experience on field but had I've learnt these things earlier I'd have gotten a headstart. Please feel free to subject this list to scrutiny and add more to it.
1. First things first is to know how to check the cause list of your matter at a particular court. Get very well versed with these things download the ecourt service app and by typing down your case number and year and the jurisdiction of your court. So if you've been assigned for a court visit w your senior just quickly check the cause list and tell him the item no (although he'd have known these things but little things like these creates a good impression leading to more work from the same senior)
2. Also you should know how to check whether the judge who is assigned to your matter is on leave or not. And do mention that in the message you'd be sending along side with the cause list message (same info can be accessed online on web just by typing judges on leave and the court you're going to)
3. Learn legalese basically legal English, i swear to god when I got introduced to drafting. This shit went over my head. Although I'm a believer of using plain English in drafts. Usually at my firm we're still using the archaic words of English. If you wanna know where to actually learn legalese just read a lotta drafts and read supreme court's judgements try to highlight words which seems foreign to you.
4. Learn how to draft a legal notice, probably if you're at a good place you'd be assigned the tasks of drafting legal notices, reply notices. The format is damn easy and you can just use sample problems and create them by yourselves if you're not doing an internship.
5. Learn how to draft a complaint most important this is one of those common works you might be assigned to. The format is damn easy but what I've noticed with drafting is essentially you're telling a story so don't get this anxiety that you can't do shit or you can't use legalese. Make sure to be very specific with your details like very specific for example if A stole an iPhone you should write it like this "That one person named "A" S/0_____ R/0____ commited pilferage of one iPhone 14 pro max 256 gb ......"
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6. Once you know how to draft a complaint learn how to draft a representation to a ACP/DCP and subsequently 156(3) too.
7. And for the love of God when you've finished your research and you're sending it to your senior always make a casenote and send it with a highlighted portions of the judgement
8. Learn to do filing especially of high courts. Tutorials could be found on YouTube to learn the same.
Man I've written a blog at this point lmfao but this is almost what I think an intern should learn there's more to this i could have written more but I be feeling too lazy to type now.
Hope this thread would help you and shit
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/278146-Banking-Finance-Oversimplified-Part-2-ECBs-#comments
Finance is one of the most interesting subjects in the world. Happy reading!
Honest suggestions would be appreciated :)
Did a little snooping around here (as any good lawyer does) and found this... quirk. Want to peek into a juicy comment? Too bad, rookie! Looks like we're running on a seniority system. Who designed this, King Arthur's Round Table?
Hold up before you rain down with "Quality over Quantity!" or "Wise old owls only!" - this reminds me of a story. Ever heard of the Magna Carta? Big parchment, lots of freedom talk, but mainly for the rich folks. Imagine a fresh-out-of-law-school chap back then with some brilliant ideas, but... "Shush, kiddo! The grown-ups are talking."
Isn’t it a bit like saying only Dadaji gets the remote, and we all have to watch reruns of 'C.I.D' or 'Suryavansham'... again?
And just for giggles, imagine Socrates here, labeled a 'noob'. "To question or not to question, that is... Oops! Access denied!"
Should we give this policy a second thought? Or just stock up on popcorn and wait for the juniors to start a digital uprising?
Here’s to old-timers, the young blood, and a spoonful of cheekiness!
Cheers!
Now, 'toxic' isn’t just a cheeky refrain but a haunting reality. 'Toxic behavior' or the 'toxicity of a workplace' isn't just out of a song; it's the symphony of a myriad of ill-fated life choices. For some, it’s the ripple effect of dubious parenting, turning darling kiddos into dreaded office trolls hungry for misguided validation. Others might cloak their insecurities in a facade of aggression, dubbing themselves Type A, Alpha, Sigma, or whatever the buzzword bingo winner is nowadays. After all, when the going gets tough, the tough get... toxic!
As you serve as a junior to a senior working for corporate matter or IP litigation in HC and you are in direct touch with client (which you would) then after a long period (while you are compensated nicely) you have a chance that client recognizes you for your efforts that you are putting up for them.
Then later, there is a chance that out of many clients you are in direct touch with decided to move on with you only. That's how 'boutique firms' open. Even if otherwise, your pay is somewhere around 80k-1L after 5 years. While its not as fair as other practice area, but at least its not a desk job. You argue and get the satisfaction of being a lawyer for which you actually did the law school.
Sometimes you get a very good senior. Fortunately I am working under such senior who prioritise work-life balance and also a great mentor.
The idea is that you are secured that you are getting paid decent. When I say getting paid decent, I mean 30k-40k as fresher. If you wish to find such clientele based senior, then its better to track them through HC cause list. (I gave 0 efforts in typing this reply, so please pardon my English and writing style).
Hope it helps :-)
Watched all the relevant videos from Khaitan & Co. on youtube. (They have all my respect for taking this initiative and putting in so much effort).
Their videos discuss the topics on the surface level but it does put me in the right direction to research further. if you keep doing this on a regular basis you will easily develop a virtual map in your mind and will always know where to find things when presented with a problem.
I've also heard positive stories about the team at this tier I law firm. They've provided opportunities to many individuals who have not only grown professionally but also as individuals. The collaborative environment and mentorship have been instrumental in shaping successful careers, both within and outside the firm. It's worth mentioning that every workplace has its challenges, and it's crucial to maintain a balanced perspective. While we discuss the concerns raised by this person, let's also acknowledge the many achievements and supportive aspects of the team that have contributed to the success of so many.
Regarding the allegations made by this A0, it's essential to approach such claims with a balanced view. Allegations in a high-pressure work environment can sometimes be highly exaggerated or not entirely reflective of the team's conduct. It's essential to encourage transparency and dialogue to address these concerns properly. While some issues may exist, we should be cautious about jumping to conclusions without a complete understanding of the situation.
I genuinely hope that A0 learns from this experience, whether it was a genuine cry for help or a reaction to anticipated challenges. Ultimately, the legal profession is demanding, and it's crucial for individuals to find the right fit for their skills and temperament. Let's support one another in navigating these challenges and wish him the best in his future endeavors.
2) Structure of project finance ( Sponsor+SPV+senior lender)
3) Basic Contract, LD clauses Damanges, types of concession BOT TOT HAM etc
Company act section 176-180-186 and related under which financing is allowed to company and board resolution.
1. Types of securities - equity/debt/debentures/preference shares - key differences + redemption + conversion + triggers + term + accounting treatment
2. Raising capital - issuance of debt + equity securities (rights issue, private placement, preferential allotment, initial public offer/further public offer, split, bonus issue, ESOP - procedure + compliance (including issuance to a foreign shareholder - what are FEMA compliances and pricing guidelines under NDI rules?)
3. Capital reduction - extinguishment/reduction/pay off
4. Buyback - procedure + compliances + criteria
5. Transfer of shares - procedure
6. Composition of board + committees (public unlisted, private and listed companies) - also what is the difference between a public company and listed company
6. Powers of board and committees
7. Types of directors - duties/responsibilities and differences - procedure of appointment - nominee + independent + executive director
8. AGM/EGM - how to call an EGM + what items require ordinary resolution + special resolution + procedure
9. KMPs - everything
10. Related party transaction - everything
11. Mergers/reorganisation - procedure under 232-234 - what happens to shareholders of merged entity - do they get consideration or shares of resulting entity? What is resulting entity, transferee company and transferor company
12. Officer in default
There is one organization called APCR, committed for defending civil liberties. You may reach out to them.
Alternatively, you may reach out to me at queryhasnain@gmail.com, in case you are have any difficulty in reaching out to them. Would be pleased to help !
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/268702-how-to-start-publishing
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/167493-how-important-are-blog-publications-today
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/176157-journal-rankings-looking-for-most-relevant-credible-journals-for-indian-students
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/253196-publications-how-much-do-they-help
Some valuable resources that can help you chalk out your publication journey to a good extent. All the best!
I will still highly recommend the NUSRL students to not further this discussion just for the sake of criticising your batchmates where the same can be done in your college WhatsApp groups/personal groups.Keep it civil. Don’t share personal information as well or we will be forced to close this thread :)
We are taking each and every step to make sure that LI remains a relevant and healthy platform where people can discuss several updates and point out grievances. Any thread spreading misinformation or hatred will be strictly prohibited.
Kian is working extremely hard to maintain decorum in this website. Kindly acknowledge our request ❤️
Best wishes to any candidate aiming for it!
You can take assistance of articles but they can't substitute for judgements.
While the air quality doesn't exactly offer the olfactory delights of a nuclear winter, it does give the uninitiated a teasing whiff of post-apocalyptic perfume. Sure, the city streets may lack those iconic Akira-esque motorcycles, but that absence is more than compensated for by the parade of Cretas and Scorpios, each emblazoned with bumper stickers that scream individuality as loudly as a psychic blast from Tetsuo himself.
So, if you're scouting for a mini-dystopia that comes closest to Neo-Tokyo, look no further than this Trans-Yamuna civilization endearingly and sardonically dubbed "Neeoda." Trust me, it's as if Otomo sketched this urban labyrinth himself, but perhaps decided it was too realistic to include in his manga.
So here I am, trying to make a living and watching life drift by, wondering... is "Fight Club" really that great?
Thanks for the positive feedback on my last post. Today we are going international. In case you missed my previous post, here’s a link to the same:
https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/277270-Banking-Finance-Oversimplified-Part-1#comments
Today we will talk about ECBs – External Commercial Borrowings.
I remember the first time I was put on an ECB transaction, I was just told – go read up the ‘RBI Master Direction on External Commercial Borrowings, Trade Credits and Structured Obligations’. Like a diligent associate I went to the RBI website and downloaded the latest version of this RBI issued law. I mean how difficult could it be? I had to just read the Master Direction, see what law applies to our transaction and then discuss with my senior, right?
WRONG.
Loan Registration Number
Designated Authorised Dealer Category I Bank
FCY denominated ECB
MAMP
Hedging provision
All-in-cost ceiling – “… the swap cost plus spread should not be more than the floating rate plus the applicable spread …”
Wait, what were these technical terms I was reading? I had never come across these before. I was supposed to quickly read through the Master Direction and apply it in the transaction, but I couldn’t make any sense of the document. I couldn’t even understand what the Master Direction was about, let alone ask specific questions. This was a clear case of crash and burn where I had fallen face forward, and I felt completely helpless.
It took me some time to realise that this wasn’t a ‘me’ problem. Without having any background of economics or finance or prior experience, these documents wouldn’t make sense to anyone. At your law firm - as a quick fix - they might probably explain to you a specific item that needs to be inserted in the transaction document, but without understanding the context, that sense of cluelessness will linger on.
Ok Rohit, calm down. Don’t overthink this so much. Deep breaths in. You’ve got this.
So if we can’t figure out ECBs just by reading the Master Direction or a Mondaq article, what’s the solution? Alright, so I have an exercise for you which is going to give you some instant clarity. But you will have to follow the instructions carefully. Ready?
1. Go to your room and close all the doors and windows.
2. Plug in your Amazon electronics
3. Now shout out the following words: “Alexa – play the song ‘Paisa’ from De Dana Dan”
Done? Alright, let’s go:
Here’s the scenario: You have just got your first salary credited after slogging for 14 hours for a month. You have worked harder than ever before and now you deserve a treat. So you go partying at Bastian with your friends and treat yourself to some sushi at Izumi. You somehow manage to save INR 10, 000 from your salary. Now your parents want you to invest this INR 10,000 in a bank. You see that while SBI bank is offering a 4% return, Kotak is offering a 7% interest on fixed deposits. So you go with Kotak.
Now let’s take this one step forward. Banks don’t just make money out of thin air. If they are paying you interest at 7%, that’s because they take your money and lend it someone else at a higher interest rate to make profits. Let’s say the colleague sitting beside you in office had to avail an education loan to complete his college education. When he went to the bank for a INR 10 lakh loan, he noticed SBI offering education loan at 10%, while Kotak offering it at 15%. Obviously, he would choose the SBI loan as at a 10% interest rate on INR 10 lakhs, he would only have to repay just INR 1 lakh as interest, whereas a 15% rate would make the interest INR 1.5 lakh.
ECB works on a similar concept, but with one major difference - instead of shopping which bank to choose while borrowing, you select which country to take a loan from. See, ECB basically means –
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Money is flowing in FROM abroad INTO India.
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Different countries have different borrowing rates. Developed countries like US usually have 1-2% rate, while emerging markets like India have a borrowing rate of 7%. So, let’s say you’re the CEO of Adani Airport Holdings Limited, managing 7 airports across India. You want to now scale up the airport business for which you need almost $200 million. Instead of going to Indian banks, you go to Standard Chartered and Barclays bank in London to avail that loan as interest rates are lower and this will help save $5 million in interest. Since you will be upgrading the 7 airports in phases, you agree to DRAWDOWN/ use only $50 million this year, and avail the rest of the amount later (in TRANCHES). In your negotiations with the bank, you also tell the banks you should have an option to PREPAY the loan, in case something like Covid happens again and all business halts and there are no fliers coming to airports – meaning no revenue to repay the interest/ loan.
Let’s take another example you might come across deals – ON LENDING. You’re the head of an NBFC in India servicing low income families by extending credit to such people. Usually, such families don’t have any credit score, so the big banks don’t extend loans to them, and they end up taking loans at interest rate of 40% or more from loan sharks (Remember the ban on Chinese fintech apps?). Since the NBFC is anyway working with such low income families, you can’t charge a high rate of interest, but you still need to make a profit. In such a case, you can avail a loan of $200 million from a foreign government owned financial institution which is also involved in increasing credit access amongst masses and which charges interest at 4% per annum. Once you have this $200 million loan, you can use this amount to give multiple INR 50,000 loans to low income families trying to start their business at an interest rate of 5%.
You with me till here? Good.
Now here is where things get interesting. Whenever there is flow of money across Indian borders – be it in the form of FDI or even loans, there’s one entity which keeps a hawk-eye on such transactions – that’s the RBI. RBI and its bunch of minions (aka AD Banks) have created a complicated bunch of laws so they control every aspect of money inflow/outflow. Think of them as the local aunty who’s constantly spying on you:
1. Oh you want to avail a loan? – Go first get a Loan Registration Number (LRN) from us
2. Oh you want to avail a loan from Barclays UK? – we want to know each and every detail – Submit a Form ECB and tell us - who’s the lender, what’s the interest rate, what’s the end use, what’s the repayment period, what charges + processing fees are you paying, what ECB have you availed in the past?
3. Oh you changed your mind and now you want to repay it earlier? – submit another Form ECB (revised)
4. What’s the all-in-cost ceiling? (That’s basically the interest rate, processing and all hidden charges)
5. Which country is the lender/ borrower based in? Does it comply with international financial compliances we have agreed upon (ex – FATF/ IOSCO compliant country)
6. Oh you have been dating this foreigner guy and now you want to get married? You better have dated him for atleast 3 years. Oh wait, did you say he is doctor and has an income of $ 50 million? 1 year of dating is also fine.
Well, the last one isn’t exactly what RBI asks, but that’s MAMP in a nutshell (MAMP: minimum average maturity period) – the minimum amount of time the ECB loan has to be within India. MAMP is usually 3 years for ECBs, but there are carveouts to this general rule – it can be different basis who is the lender/ borrower/ what purpose etc. (Time to pick up that RBI Master Direction and give it a read)
Also, what are the “End use restrictions”? – that’s RBI telling you – you better not take loans to gamble away on betting on the housing market, stock market or some random stock your friend has been telling you about (remember how enthusiastic your friend was about Bitcoin changing the world?)
ROLE AS A LAWYER
As a lawyer, you’re involved in the documentation – let’s say between the Barclays Bank and Adani Airport Holdings. As a lawyer for the Indian borrower, we have to usually review the loan/ facility agreement to ensure all these stringent requirements set down by RBI are met, all necessary forms such as Form ECB are filed, draft security documents if some security is being given in India and obviously ensure that all CP and CS certificates are in place so that our Indian client can avail the loan quickly. ECB transactions also offer you the opportunity to interact with foreign counsels working for the lenders, and speak with the bank officials of the AD Bank. Depending on what the security structure is, and how many lenders are involved, the transaction structure will change, but this is the basics.
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Note: I have used loans to explain ECBs, but it can also involve bonds and other financial instruments.
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That’s ECBs – oversimplified for you. I obviously haven’t (and couldn’t) cover the entire framework. Also, you might have noticed we only covered ECBs, not the ‘Trade Credits and Structured Obligations’ bit of the RBI Master Direction. But I hope this post has given you some amount of clarity about what you’re working on and where your role as a lawyer fits in.
If you want more posts like this, comment “Paisa Paisa” in the comment box, and I will be back with more interesting posts.
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Your Dalal Street attorney,
XOXO
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Kya baat hai kya chiz hai paisa
Kya baat hai kya chiz hai paisa
Ek baat mujhe batala de tu
Uss rab se kyun nahi darti hai
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Also, speak to close friends about this. They may be going through the same issue and will be better abe to sympathise with you. Lawyers need a strong support system which can help them bounce back.
If it’s getting too bad, tolerate it till you have decent level of experience that you can switch to another place.
Cheers
Check it out - https://www.barandbench.com/columns/preventing-brain-drain-in-the-litigation-sphere-how-do-we-make-things-easier-for-young-lawyers