Which one is the “better” NLU?

and pls i dont wanna hear that “mumbai has a locational advantage” thing. i know that, ive seen that plenty. im looking for other important factors!

Which one would you advice students go for?

considering the quality of teaching, security, non-law as well as law related extra curricular activities and overall a good law school experience that’ll also help you get good opportunities.

It could very well be.

1. They have not defined the roles of a fellow.

2. They haven't advertised the post of Academic Fellow. There's a chance that Doctoral Fellowship people might have to do some work required from Academic Fellows. I can say a lot about academic fellowship, but let's just say, I don't want to dox myself.

A variety of reasons:

1. Scholarships2. Family wealth - the judge's father would have been a prominent senior advocate, businessman; the spouse might run a successful business; etc.

3. Wealth from days when they practiced as senior advocates

My advice - if you can't afford the LLM, don't do it, it's not really worth it anyway

What issues are "progressive" and what in turn are "regressive" is very subjective. Supporting a terrorist organization who are carrying out a gender apartheid against women may be progressive to you, others may not share your beliefs. I am sure if she were actually living in Palestine (or any Islamic country for that matter), her views on Hamas would be very different. And Columbia University or the US don't owe her anything, she is acting beyond entitled here

Will we never learn?

https://www.business-standard.com/sports/commonwealth-games/india-submits-interest-to-host-2030-commonwealth-games-in-ahmedabad-125032100267_1.html

1. Hire less, promote more. Indian law firms have a weird 1:10 partner to non-partner ratio. Significant number of foreign law firms have a 1:3 ratio, meaning that you have a much higher chance to partnership, once you are inducted in the firm. Indian firms over hire and are badly managed in terms of hiring and workload allocation. It is not uncommon for a deal and DD team in a foreign law firm to consist of just 3 people, including an executing partner. If you need specialised practice area teams, that's a different matter. Indian deal teams are so bloated, it is ridiculous. Ofcourse, this will lead to a much higher than current workload on existing non-partners, but as one myself, I wouldn't mind doing this if there is a clearer path to partnership.

2. Big Law firms need to cartelise and not underbill each other like sweat shops. We will bill a lot higher, and everyone will earn a lot more (looking at you, oldest Kolkata law firm). This will also help standing up against foreign law firms, who presently push out Indian law firms on bigger transactions, with Indian law firms doing only the grunt work. If no one agrees to doing only the grunt work, we will all end up getting the meatier stuff which is presently hogged by foreign law firms on cross border deals.

3. More transparent partner designation systems. Enough said.

4. Promoter driven law firms need to die a quick death. We need more meritocratic firms, and not some legacy laddu sitting on top. Hopefully I will see this happen in my lifetime. Promoter driven business works well for other businesses, but my sense is that it is horrible for law firm service delivery because it promotes sycophancy and drives away/ demotivates talented individuals - lawyering is an inherently academic pursuit, and legacy laddus are doing nothing to help it.

Look at y'all crying blue murder about being a part of a group of 10,000 people in a country of billions (millions of which are dying of hunger and poverty), getting paid solid bucks and paying paltry tax on it. You all really need a reality check. If the biggest problem in your life is "limited access to privileged spaces for socialising", well my friend, I have news for you. Life is only going to get "drearier". Go find something else to do, if all you have is problems. And the usual trope about not having a skillset to do anything else, there a million examples of people doing stuff outside of their college degree skillset. Go figure. The only people who make something for themselves and for others, aren't sitting around moping about these cute problems in their lives.

I was researching and found that almost all judges' children have studied abroad.

I understand when politicians' children do so, as they have businesses or black money and can afford it.

But how do judges manage it? Do they fund it with their own salaries, or do they use scholarships that they access through their position and influence?

No offense, I'm just curious because I want to pursue an LLM in the UK, but I can't due to a lack of funds, and I don’t want to risk taking a loan.

It is called punching up. Anant Ambani, just by being fat, cannot escape the scrutiny over how he gobbled all of our attention over his wedding. He is rich enough to take better care of himself. If a person like that, with all the required resources, cannot help but be lazy while bragging their wealth and power (which they have not even earned on their own) in pur faces then, at the very least, we have a right to roll our eyes over their farce.

According to her << https://indianexpress.com/article/india/columbia-phd-scholar-ranjani-srinivasan-interview-9910883/ >> she did not physically participate in the protests and the one time she was arrested by the police was based on a misunderstanding when she was trying to go to her university room.

"On April 30, there was a department picnic at Riverside Park, which runs alongside Columbia University. I went to the picnic with some cake and cookies and was returning from there when I, along with my colleagues, realised that the whole perimeter was barricaded. There were many – around 200 – New York Police Department (NYPD) officials who were roaming around there. We circled the place for over an hour, and I finally tried to get to my residential place which abuts the university. But then the police picked me up in the melee, even though I was not actively trying to be part of the protest."

If you are not able to understand that the Supreme Court of India and its Chief Justice do not know how to deal with credible allegations of corruption against a fellow judge and are making it up as they go along without even filing an FIR, then I have nothing more to say.

Good point but it’s a common practice. I have seen people designated by courts in tier 3 cities who write: “Mr X, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court.”Their rationale is that they have appeared before the Supreme Court in some matter or the other. The lay client doesn’t know, only lawyers know the truth!

Try your best to be in top 15 - 20% in the next few sems before ranks freeze, that may put you in the top 50% of the batch. If you're eyeing a corporate law career, target a PPO, and if not, then you must be in the top half of the batch to have a good chance at tier one firms on Day Zero.

Ideal situation:

- iPad for hearings, MacBook for drafting.

While you can use a MacBook for both (hearings will be a bit more difficult as compared to an iPad), you will have a horrid time using an iPad for drafting.

If you cannot get both, id recommend getting an iPad (preferably a 13 inch air/pro) for arguing and making notes, and say a cheaper windows laptop for pure drafting. (Tip: See the refurbished thinkpads on amazon. i5 processors for 20 - 25k plus 6 months to 1 year amazon warranty. They are surprisingly quite good for the price.) You can always upgrade to a MacBook later.

Chronology samjhiye:

1. False reports spread in the media that no cash was found

2. Harish Salve deceived into making a statement on the basis on that false report

3. Mahua Moitra spreads narrative that this is a set-up to impose NJAC

4. AMS gives a sympathetic statement as well.

5. Pro-Congress social media handles go into overdrive

6. Lawyers from the left/liberal spectrum meet with Varma

Why do kids not understand that it's ok to have a period like this in life? Slog in out for 2-4 years and move out. Things get better A3 onwards esp SA onwards.

One nobody has the time to spend for a very active social life even when they're from Mumbai, two people do make a social life as they live.

Mumbai offers a start to your career as nobody else does and even with rents considered a T1 A0 can save decently provided they are prudent enough. Keep going well buddy - remember you're in for a decade long thing and not a couple of years fling. And few decades in this field does sort you with enough money if not generational money.

I wonder if students of any NLU would have the courage to do this, if a politician with a tainted human rights record addresses them?

https://www.news18.com/india/mamata-banerjee-london-oxford-university-speech-bengal-cm-heckled-by-students-rg-kar-rape-case-bengal-post-poll-violence-9277863.html

I have a genuine question. Katju was designated as senior advocate by delhi HC, then why does she say senior adv Supreme Court on linkedin ? Is it the same ?

Where can we find a full list of All the lawyers who worked on 377 ? AK was only representing 1 or 2 petitioners.

There is more than funding at stake here. What are they supposed to do: "support" the liberal causes and have their registration status as universities or sponsors for international students/faculty taken away? You think that can't happen? Please think more carefully before randomly talking like this.

I am an Indian living abroad. My advice always remains the same: please feel free to put out a couple of harmless tweets/insta stuff or whatever that might act as a pin on some peoples' pride, but don't get into this protest nonsense. Not worth it. You are there to study/work. Do all that stuff, get yourself secured, get your LPR/PR/ILR (or other equivalent) statuses fixed up, probably try to even get a foreign passport under your belt if you can and then get into this funny business if you really think that this will help (which BTW it won't). If you go overseas to do the same sorts of nonsense as in India, it ain't gonna work for you. Columbia did what it was supposed to do (I have never been there, never intend to go so please don't count me as a fan). Just keep your head down and carry on with your life, nobody'll mess with you.

Lost out a good chunk of money for calling out exceedingly egregious behaviour by some.

No one had complained about performance throughout the year - in fact, certain senior members delegated entire matters for execution without oversight so that they can go on vacations, multiple times through the year. Also, met targets in terms of recovery, and far exceeded in terms of billing.

CAM is a disgusting place run by megalomaniacs at the partner level (mostly). Upward progression will be allowed by such partners only if you feed into their megalomania or give up all self-respect.

How is life in a law firm in Mumbai? If you are not from Mumbai and don't have a social life already. firstly, do you even get time to make a new one? secondly, how to make one? Is it even possible to date or have a health friend group or hobbies in the first 1-2 years of joining?

The practice area - at least at a T1 level is relatively new. Informally folks have been undertaking the work, but not as a singular practice area. The scope is really great, but the firms teams and space for associates are relatively limited. All Managing Partners and specifically from the family led firms - CS, SS and HK all obviously have the rich friends to fund the practice, but the actual non-family lawyers are Bijal Aditi and Shabnam at KCO and Shaishavi and Radhika at CAM. The teams here since they’ve got the upper hand simply by working for a while are also very good. Not sure who does this at SAM / Trilegal / AZB. Shreya Rao works independently and is very smart and academic. Does a lot of tax too.

I’m definitely very young to say this but if you enjoy what you do, shouldn’t all of this not matter? Yes, less money sucks but are your colleagues in it because they like doing what they do or because the money is too good to quit? I believe you did a very brave thing which not everyone can do and should be proud of yourself. Life in general can be mundane and exhausting but if you enjoy what you do, everything goes away, at least for a while. I hope you find peace and things sort out well for you. If not, never too late to talk to someone or better yet, get professional help. :)

1. The lines are delineated in a long line of caselaws.

2. For defamation, the aggrieved person has to file a suit or approach a JMFC/JMSC, and the court decides whether it's defamatory or not. Violence in response to a perceived transgression of FOE is not acceptable.

3. Content may be abusive or have a political agenda, does not make it beyond FOE. Political agendas are one of the MOST IMPORTANT things that FOE has to protect. Constructive criticism is not mandatory for a person to be allowed to speak.

Litigator here who uses iPad & Macbook both.

You can't properly draft on an iPad. You can do it if you really want to, but it won't be efficient or quick at all.

iPads make it easier when handling multiple documents/complex casefiles (LiquidText helps!). For simpler cases, say a straightforward writ/bail/suit admission hearing, you can use laptop for sure. But LiquidText makes refering to notes & multiple pages at once far more smoother.

Very sad and a warning to all of us. It means these so-called liberal universities will conveniently support right-wing forces to save their funding and ditch students who supports progressive causes. People here criticise JGLS for doing that. Now even Columbia is doing that.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/columbia-university-betrayed-me-indian-phd-student-ranjini-srinivasan-who-self-deported-to-canada-8025361#pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

I worked in a Tier 1 firm GC team for 3 years. Although I was doing a satisfactory job, I felt completely lost in a big team and decided to do litigation, just when I was in an A3 position.

Since no disputes team of Tier 1 was ready to take me, I decided to give core litigation a shot and joined a litigation chamber in Delhi at 1/4th of my pay in Tier 1.

Its been two years now, and yesterday while catching up with one of my ex- colleagues who I worked with in Tier 1, he told me that he received his bonus letter and guess what, he received 3x my annual salary, in one shot. It made me think “Did I just commit a major fuck up of my life”

I enjoy what I do here. My current colleagues are lovely people. However, the mundaneness of life, churning out drafts day in and day out, pacifying unreasonable expectations of clients, running around in courts et al. makes me think about the choices I made in life. I tried my level best to apply in Tier 1 disputes- but for some reason best known to them, my resume always goes in the junk box.

And its not like that I have not done conventional things to make a good resume. I am from a Tier 1 NLU, my grades were good, I have done great moots and worked in Tier 1. I have even done great matters in litigation. But then this constant rejection has made me too much underconfident about myself. I feel like I am headed nowhere in life. My daily routine is moronic cycle of events where I am burning my midnight oil on weekends, but my corp friends are having a gala night on those weekends and are faring much better than me, financially. At the expense of sounding bitchy here, but I feel like I am a much better lawyer than them and I do not feel compensated enough for what I do.

I know litigation is marathon and yada yada. But I dont know what to do. Just feeling stuck.

Dear Litigators on this space, do you find iPad easier to manage your drafting and court hearings or do you still prefer macbooks? I often see many litigators use laptops even for physical hearings.

Would help to hear from someone who has had to make the choice.

I want to shift away from Windows for a change.

I'm currently a 2nd year law student in a tier 2 NLU who wants to go into corp. While I have a t1 internship for June 2026, I'm unsure on how to plan my other internships and explore more areas of corp law. first gen and don't have contacts. pls guide, really need genuine advice.

The value of gold in India's households is around $ 2 trillion at current prices.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/fashion/luxury/cover-story/indian-women-hold-11-of-the-worlds-gold-read-complete-report/articleshow/116435306.cms

We haven't even counted the Gold in India's temples.

If all of this is included, then our total GDP is between $ 7 - 9 trillion already.

Hello! It is the last week of March and I don't have an internship for the Month of May in hand. I am a 4th year from a Tier III NLU looking to build a career in corporate law. Any suggestions on a niche firm where I still have chances of getting an internship? I will call it quits and start preparing for judiciary if I don't get an internship.

Yesterday, I received a rejection email. But I knew I was rejected when I saw a disinterested panel in front of me, who asked questions for name sake and not one was particularly on the specialisation I claimed. They asked what they knew. Anyway, the mail reads as follows.

"Dear Candidate,

We have an update on your interview for the position of Assistant Professor Law against the Notification No. 13/2024 dated 15.11.2024 at NLSIU, Bangalore.

We regret to inform you that we will not be moving forward with your application. While we were impressed with your qualifications, experience, and skills, we have decided to pursue other candidates who are more closely aligned with the needs of the position.

Please note that this decision is not a reflection of your abilities, and we encourage you to apply for positions that may/will come up in the future.

Please keep a lookout on the website - https://www.nls.ac.in/news-and-events/.

Kind regards,

Recruitment Team

NLSIU, Bengaluru"

It is one of THE most welcoming, warmest, and encouraging place that I have worked at. Everyone is very supportive, very encouraging and they go out of their way to help you. As a fresher, they will teach you work and they really do want you to excel and have your personal growth. They will hand you tasks that make you learn corporate as well as transactions. So, work culture is excellent, seniors are very warm, helpful and they do mentor you well.

I get your point bro / sis. I’m just pointing out that the sequence of events here is a bit odd. The sudden appearance of the cash after the inspection leaves room for questions, especially when the place was supposedly examined thoroughly earlier.

I’m not saying the allegations are false, but there’s definitely something unusual about how this unfolded. If he’s guilty, I agree it’s a huge stain on the judiciary, but it’s also worth looking into whether the narrative itself holds water. Let’s not jump to conclusions too quickly, but also not ignore the fishy parts.

Basically - an arrangement where you work at a client site/ partner site while still being on the rolls of your main employer. Some Indian law firms offer secondment for 1-2 years in London/ NY/Singapore; but to get one they generally prescribe qualifying criteria such as high performance ratings, min work ex, etc

Addition of 3 months training for campus/fresher before they are given real work. Training should be rigorous, which teaches them how the work is done.

As people rarely find good seniors who teach with patience and they pressure at early stage turns worse eventually. Mental health, physical health, all issues start as junior is not able to deliver on time...training will also give them idea of which works take how much time, so they can push back fake deadlines.

This can in a way reduce toxicity as wel. if juniors are trained they will give decent work product, which will reduce pressures on seniors as well.

In the legal industry's context, firm's usually "lend" out an associate to a client for a certain duration, this could be a bank an MNC or anyone potentially a firm wishes to develop a longer term relationship with. Those who are sent for secondments are usually well experienced but most importantly possess the skills to act as a bridge between the firm and the client. The secondee is still on the law firm's payroll but will be stationed at the client's office and carry out day to day activities there with their legal team.

https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/justice-yashwant-varma-seeks-legal-advice-who-are-his-lawyers

Interesting choice of lawyers: all women and two with a strong background in human rights and criminal law. AK, of course, is one of India’s most famous rights lawyers and was honoured by Time magazine for arguing the 377 case.

TN is also a human rights lawyer. TOI did a profile of her and stated:

“In her own words, Narula’s entry into law was “eased by nepotism”, but never a first choice. Daughter of lawyer parents, Narula had a passion for drama and graduated in women’s studies and theatre. A decade or so later, she is now a known face in court corridors. She has appeared as a defence lawyer in several Delhi riots cases, including for Tahir Hussain.”

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/women-pioneering-change-in-legal-field/amp_articleshow/108531107.cms

Not too much info available about SG, but she represented Rana Kapoor in the Yes bank scam case.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/amp/story/nation/2022/Feb/16/yes-bank-founder-rana-kapoor-gets-bail-in-rs-300-crore-fraud-case-2420242.html

The essence is simple you should have something that stands out. It can be a combination of a few of these-

1. College Name- If you’re from a t1 nlu, or even an nlu it helps. Esp if you’re mailing partners, if they’re your alum, they’re more likely to revert.

2. Moot - A prestigious moot like Vis can help you land an internship in the Arb sphere, since lot of partners judge these rounds etc/ appreciate the effort that goes into an moot like vis.

3. Publications - Publications at decent journals or even blogs can help. It shows you have the capacity to apply yourself, and that you have a decent interest in/ understanding of law. If you’re applying to partners and they like you work (esp if its in their area of expertise), it significantly increases one’s chances.

4. Work Exp- This is very rare esp for students in their 3rd year, but if one has a few internships in a specific practice area, it helps one stand out and shows that you at least have a basic idea of how to navigate the field

5. Reference- This is not only limited to your parents’ contacts, but also networking. Impressing partners/ PAs etc at competitions, events can go a long way. Sometimes people you work with may also refer you to their colleagues in other law firms etc.

Grades- They matter A LOT, but more for hiring. But for internships through the college cell, only grades matter. Partners may overlook your rank but the HR won’t.

Hope this helps

Currently a 2nd year (4th Sem) student in a T-1 NLU. My grades are terrible, slipped down to a very low score and rank compared to my first sem. Rank is in the bottom half of the batch. Need advice on people who were in similar situations - how do I build back and change things so I’m employable? Is it a lost cause?