I empathise with you. 24 PQE in a niche area here. Had same phase in my career few times. What really helped me get back was spending some time figuring out exactly what made me dim my lights, people and boss, money, stress, work quality, personal life, anything else? Then tried to see how best to address it. It helped that some love for my work and subject remained alive despite being switched off and sleep walking through work and kinda hating my situation, so even in these days which weren't best, I still managed to get excited or at least interested in something, keeping me going. And then I figured out what. Had discussions about what can be done. And went ahead. Also left jobs when I thought it's the best option. Can't say the same would work for you but this is what I did and it worked. If you keep on thinking deep down about leaving, honestly you would push yourself to that only, even if it may not be the best thing for you. I know the toll this phase takes and I just hope you figure out things.

Imagine not bagging a job and giving a shoutout to Partners who don't even know you exist - just because you had an email forwarded to HR doesn't mean that you have a relationship with the concerned seniors. Some of the people named here are very senior lawyers who would not like to be associated to an anonymous thread like this and worse off, by a random graduate who couldn't bag a job in a market which is up for grabs. By doing so, you have not only embarassed yourself but also the college's reputation. Sigh.

Bump..I also want to know. OP, if your peers are part of the RCC/Placecomm then definitely they can influence the interview committee (especially HRs, who are absolute dums dums.) A peer of mine who got placed through a PPO, arrived on Day Z and did that. Keep your moves a secret. If asked, just vaguely say I am interning at a respectable firm in their XYZ practice or better don't tell only. People do sabatoge, especially if you are not a part of popular cliques. Keep to yourself. Your growth or failure is none of anyone's business.

This should be mandatory watching for men in the former TL team. To save themselves and place themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkTglJuqq8U

Hi everyone, wanted to have a fair idea on the final hearing appearance fees charged by senior counsels and fees for hourly meetings for a commercial matter? I am looking for fees charges by Dr Singhvi, Mr Rohatgi, Amit Sibal, Akhil Sibal, Gopal Sankarnarayan, Dhruv Mehta, Shyam Divan. I am not willing to call their chambers hence, putting it up here.

Source of this information is a senior lawyer. This firm is fishing for work that was previously given to two law firms close to the TMC. Just to clarify, talks are supposedly at an early stage and we don't know if it will happen. Also, of the two law firms close to the TMC, both have dumped their former patrons . So maybe their work will remain unchanged as well, given that the BJP is embracing turncoats. In that case, this firm won't open an office. Let's also remember that NG Khaitan has been appointed as AOR for the Bengal govt. KCO has an established presence in Kolkata.

But just flagging it for now IF it happens.

In other words, NLSIU in the year 2011 vs NALSAR in the year 2023 vs NUJS in the year 2025.

Whose performance was better? Who had the better "strike rate"? By 2011, NLSIU's achievements were:

- Partners in Magic Circle and White Shoe firms

- Establishment of a T1 national firm (Trilegal)

- Faculty at top universities abroad (then at Associate/Assistant Professor level)

- Rhodes scholars

- No Senior Advocates or judges as yet, but several who were doing well at the Bar and being talked about

- Excellent brand value, PR and media relations

How do NALSAR and NUJS compare? In what areas are they comparable and where are they behind?

Incidentally, one area where NALSAR and NUJS can be considered slightly ahead on strike rate is Senior Advocate designations. Avinash Desai (NUJS) and B Mayur Reddy (NALSAR) were designated in 2023, whereas the first NLSIU senior (Akshay Bhan) was designated in 2014, just after 25 years of NLSIU. Also, Deep Kabir (son of former CJI Althmas Kabir) is an NUJS grad who was designated in 2025.

https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/meet-the-first-ever-nujs-and-nalsar-graduates-to-be-designated-as-senior-advocates

https://www.barandbench.com/news/first-nls-alum-akshay-bhan-designated-senior-advocate

After 6 months of InfyProtege at Trivandrum. Can we shift to other cities - Bangalore or Hyderabad? How long do we have to stay in Trivandrum if we get selected?

For engineers they have to stay in Infosys Mysore for 6 months. Then they can get preferred city. How does it work for lawyers?

Unfortunately this is true. As a lawyer working in a startup I have done A to Z of all legal issues in the startup. While someone at my age in an MNC wouldn't have done a fraction of the diverse work I did.

But when it comes to future opportunities. I have seen recruiters prefer them over me. Apparently they bring so called 'credibility' which I did not bring.

Hey! I'm also considering joining one of the PACE courses this time. After gaining a year of experience at IP law firms, I'm looking for in-house job opportunities. However, I'm finding it really difficult to secure one. I've been actively applying and filling out application forms, but I haven't received any responses. I'm hoping to focus my professional journey in Bengaluru this time. I have experience in Trademark and Copyright prosecution, and I'm hoping to transition to a role where I can deal with commercial agreements related to IP. Unfortunately, it's proving to be a challenge. I'm considering the NLS PACE course as a potential boost for my career. I’m even open to starting with a traineeship to break into a new role, but it seems quite difficult at the moment. If I don’t act soon, months may pass without any progress. The last firm where I worked isn’t very well-known in its field, so I believe pursuing the PACE option could offer me some hope. I’d really appreciate your thoughts on this?? Would it be at all helpful??

I would be careful if I was CRK. DJ too. If you bring faculty down, they can also bring you down along with them. Today JGLS is pro-BJP. But do you want us to write to RW sites like OpIndia or PGurus and expose who once made Jindal a Congress bastion? Who introduced Judith Butler in the syllabus?

These RW sites are no fans of JGLS and have attacked JGLS even after the university became pro-BJP. Although they will not attack Naveen Jindal or his companies now that he has switched, they don’t care about JGLS or CRK or DJ. Remember that.

Tweet by him:

This is our generation's defining struggle. History is watching, and it will remember who stood up and who looked away. A decent education (Jamia) and a fair examination - the Delhi Judicial Service exam - is how I escaped a life of poverty and found meaning & purpose in my life. I know exactly what a fair, uncorrupted education system means to someone who has little else in life and how it can - often - be the only hope. I will be there at Jantar Mantar today.

https://x.com/advbharatchugh/status/2078721391529275598

This is significant, because it’s the first time we are seeing an elite, young lawyer joining the protests (doesn’t matter if his background was one of poverty, he is elite now). So will other young elites in the legal profession follow? NLU alumni in top tier firms etc? Because we have seen the likes of Menaka Guruswamy in the TMC, Mohammed Khan in the Congress etc. But this is a brand new opposition party without legacy and dynasty.

What is so great about NUJS that students think they are better than JU??? There is one senior NUJS prof who can barely spell. His gems of "scholarship" have been circulated on old LI posts. On the other hand, multiple JU profs have won the Bhatnagar prize. When it comes to the social sciences and economics, JU profs are far superior. The alumni of JU are also more established: STEM alumni are doing very well in the US, while arts alumni are in teaching positions in top universities everywhere. If you look at Rhodes scholarships, JU is way ahead. And the campus is massive and located in South Cal. No wonder JU was declared as one of only 10 public universities that are Institution of Eminence (different matter that Mamata declined the status because of her petty political reasons).

Lastly, the students of JU are genuine progressive activists, not fakers like at NUJS.

So yes, please do merge NUJS into JU and improve the abysmal academic standards of NUJS.

My reading of the rules is that they don't apply only to interns and young law firm associates making reels, as the media is making it out to be. It also applies to senior lawyers who tweet about the judiciary and politics. The rules say:

For example, Sanjoy Ghose makes a lot of flippant tweets about the judiciary, in between his rants against the Modi government.

https://www.barcouncilofindia.org/info/forwarding-d4cwwl

Ok, so I'm one of the partners who takes these interviews. We normally do 5-6 a day and generally there's one rejection every day out of this 5-6. The almost overwhelming reason for rejection is the candidates inability to answer slightly nuanced questions about stuff they've written in their CVs. So my advice to you is, really brush up on your CV. Even if what you did was one bit of a large transaction, if you include it in your CV, it's fair game for an interview question. So brush up on the law on things in your CV. Can't stress this enough.

Generally there 2 every day who have spoken to the partners they interned with and those partners have reached out to one of the partners interviewing. When your internship partner calls up the interviewing partner to put in a good word, it generally works.

Also when we reject someone in a PPO interview we are cognizant that were going against the recommendations of two partners who have seen your work in internships and have gotten much more than the 30 mins we get to evaluate you in the PPO interview. We're aware that the pressure may have gotten to you and you may have frozen. So when we do reject we always give HR instructions to speak to the recommending partners and set up a second PPO interview with a different panel if they feel the candidate deserves it. So don't give up, speak to the team that you interned with. If they push, you'll get another chance at a PPO interview.

Finally, I'd like to point out that almost two decades ago, a young kid at an NLU shat all over his AMSS interview and didn't make it through. I was that kid. And here I am. This one failure doesn't mean much in the larger scheme of things. You'll figure it out and get where you deserve to get. Failures will happen from time to time no matter how much you prepare coz that's just how the world is. Don't beat yourself over it too much, hold your chin up and move on. You'll do well.

All the best to all of you.

A JU alum in the US ranks second after Musk as one of the highest paid CEOs. His annual payout is multiples of what JU will receive from central and state govts over the next 5 yrs. Of course it is a different matter why the wildly successful and rich JU alumni have not donated generously commensurate with their historical pile. But that's the case for most Indian institutions.

But the point is that Noojies need to get off from their high horses and smell...whatever brings them back to reality.

Good suggestion. Why not? Their Salt Campus is a hop away from NUJS. Also it is much larger. And JU has so many depts and much larger than NUJS. So let's not compare apples and oranges. Just because we have some worthies as Chancellor, EC members etc although despite their presence and apparently active participation we still get scams galore and attract only the perpetrating kinds as VC, teach etc.....so really let's float back to earth.

Dead against it. Have never used it but seem PA’s and Sa’s using it for drafting basic pleadings, main reason I left a T1 for a senior’s office. My question to them is why spend 20-25 lacs on a degree when you can’t use your brain. Dependency is to such an extent that even emails are drafted using AI.

Hello. I am a second year law student and would like some exposure into litigation. While I have interned under a lawyer of sessions court and the High Court of Bombay, I do believe that exposure isn't over untill I also get the privilege of working under a judge. I heard from a super senior of mine, that those 'young kids' sitting between the lawyers and the judge in a high court are fellow law students interning under the said judge. I just wanted to know what would the general procedure of applying for that internship would be? For starters, I have no contacts in the legal hemisphere, so for me to get that position through connections is not possible. So what channel should I use to apply? Should I email them? Can I apply through the website of BHC itself? Though I cannot find a link to help me with that, if that option is there in the first place.

If anyone who was in my position or knows what would be the right approach, please help me out!
Thank you very much in advance.

In a prominent sarkari University, a new faculty with an NLU Undergrad and NLU PhD (not that it matters much) asked a few sharp questions in a meeting. That person was quietly removed as they were contractual.

There is a time and place for everything, including dissent and questions.

do all nlu grads have to slog 12 hour days at t1 firms? are there lighter options after graduation?if not, is switching to inhouse counsel relatively easy?

in a drop year and weighing my options (everything except medical, pcm in 12th); i like reading, a bit of history, econ, polsci etc (humanities stuff in general) im decent at math

Have been exposed to the recruitment space recently and I can confirm that despite all the delusion online and offline, a T1 job remains the most sought-after goal in the legal profession across all age groups and practice areas. Negativity about T1s is deliberately propagated to discourage non-T1 lawyers from applying and reducing competition. Every applicant that comes to us wants a T1 job. Every recruiter wants to be engaged by a T1 for its mandates. Every law student wants a PPO from a T1 and no, attrition in T1s is not high.

Successful GC candidates (60K) outnumber successful OBC candidates (36K), SC candidates (16K) and ST candidates (3K).

The pass requirement for both GCs and OBCs is 45%. For SCs and STs it is relaxed to 40%.

So GC > OBC + SC+ ST and OBC>SC + ST, despite a higher cut-off.

https://www.allindiabarexamination.com/img/PressReleasedated18.07.2026.pdf

Hi. I failed in 8 subjects in a top 3 NLU. Graduated with 4 job offers, including two T1 law firms. It can still work out.

First off, make sure that you absolutely kill it in every possible subject next year. I got a nearly full GPA in the next semester, and that clearly helped. You have to use that to build a believable narrative so as to say that while you had to take some time off due to a certain emergency, your command on the grades reflects that there could not have been an academic reason for this.

Then, just make sure that whenever you intern and wherever you intern, you make the absolute most of it. You ought to be so good that the question of checking your marks does not arise. If you don't wait for Day Z and get a PPO recommendation from your internship, noone will care about your marks.

All the best. :)

Why are Senior Advocates so resistant to appearing before trial courts, even newly designated ones like Swathi Sukumar and J Sai Deepak (who are protesting)? Is it because it's a hit to their ego and people will gossip that they appear before trial courts? Or because of billing rates?

This is being driven by the IP bar with foreign clients, but it's actually great for clients. The standard practice is that you bill Microsoft 10-20 lakhs for a Delhi HC suit, plus another 15-20 lakhs for 2-3 Senior Advocate appearances. Now, you can bill Microsoft the 5-6 lakhs for a district court suit, plus another 2-3 lakhs for 2-3 appearances by a non-Senior Advocate, or a younger Senior Advocate willing to swallow his/her ego and appear before the district court.

Microsoft will still get favourable orders in straightforward copyright cases (which are the majority of cases). For complex cases (which are not that many) they can still go to the HC with higher fees.

So a HUGE saving for clients. No problem. Bring it on.

Needed help with the corp mna teams in Bangalore at trilegal.

How are the partners? Is kosturi Adhunika etc good to work with? How is their team?

also what all work these teams do? Is it pure transaction work or gen corp heavy?

Thank you in advance for all the inputs.

Working in a Tier-1 law firm or the legal team of an MNC in India means that even if you are not as capable as your peers, you will still be valuable in the future hiring market. That is the reality. A Tier-1 law firm or MNC tag will help you for at least 3 years after you exit these places, and it brings you credibility for a lifetime.

​Consider it like this: a bottom-of-the-barrel LLB student in NLSIU/NALSAR versus the top student in an unknown college in West Bengal. Who will have more hiring opportunities?

The bottom-of-the-barrel student from NALSAR, not the best student from West Bengal. The NALSAR LLB tag will help you for the first 3 to 5 years after you graduate, and it gives you lifetime credibility throughout your life. It is unfortunate, but it happens.

You talk to an external recruiter, you will understand this better.

How can law students afford pubs, bars and cafés? Unless they are from JGLS, Symbi or some expensive college..

Most lawyers I know started going to these places to 'chill' after getting a law firm/in house job or 7PQE in litigation. As a student how are you getting such money?