When are people from outside of Mumbai thinking of starting the househunting? I would not mind connecting with fellow law friends sailing in the same boat and marching towards the rental scene of Mumbai. Do reach out at ambitioussoya@gmail.com for further discussions on this. Or drop any other platform if you'd want to take it up there anonymously.

And what is so special about NLUD ? Do you get time for internships apart from the summer or winter ? Do you get time to study for judiciary or UPSC ? Do you get time to make contacts in the litigation circle. Stop pushing people to expensive bad ROI NLUs. An NLU is a state university. DU is a central university. If you're interested in litigation and judiciary, DU is the place to be. Go around Delhi circuit and tell me how many NLUD alumni do you see being talked about ? Stop telling people to pay lakhs for a degree that isn't going to get them a good ROI and instead will force them to pursue an MBA later on, and drown them in debt.

Bringing in foreign faculty and getting funds for research. Get your head outta your elitist NLU mindset and research a bit more. IoE are receiving grants more than central universities combined. JNU, DU, BHU are struggling with funds whereas these IoEs are providing lakhs for scholarships with ease.

Please guide me.

Currently, I’m interning under a Solicitor and Insolvency Professional in Mumbai since June 2024, where I’ve been involved in research, drafting of ancillary documents and also reviewed resolution plans for our ongoing case before NCLT Mumbai bench, also attended several meetings with fc's and also attended consultations regarding individual insolvency and guided them with the best possible way out for them.

As my third year is set to conclude this upcoming April, so will my internship period. I am considering applying to either the Disputes team or the Restructuring and Insolvency team of law firms.

I am seriously confused both of these and i dont have contacts to get into law firms and when should i apply, if i wish to?

The mere fact that you show contempt for somebody else's views and don't wish to engage in good faith with a piece of long text which seems to have entirely been written in good faith shows, to me, that you are a very bad lawyer-in-training.

Let us be clear: you guys are behaving like thugs, not like students who go to a world-class law school. Oscar Wilde once said that the thing you should gain most of all out of a good university education like Oxford is 'the ability to gracefully play with ideas'. I think Wilde's words equally apply to that institution. I know this from personal experience, having met enough NLSIU alumni who are fantastic at that. You do not represent anything good about your institution, but they do. Perhaps you and your specific group of friends are just bad students.

Stephen Fry, a Cambridge graduate, once said when speaking to students at the Cambridge Union, that the greatest privilege in life is 'the visa to the land of Bohemia', i.e., admission to a good university. 'Extend it for as long as you can, make the most of it when you have it', Fry advised his audience. If the great actor were to visit NLS, there is no reason why he wouldn't say the same thing, in my view. I sincerely beg that you consider these views and mend your ways. There are thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of people who would cut off their arms and legs to be where you are now, to have access to those opportunities you have access to, even to face the problems you are facing. You clearly have forgotten that, which is very entitled and disappointing.

Have had fair share of working with women led team. There is a difference between giving equal opportunities to genders and treating them equally. Some toxic shit ladies always treat you unfairly by harping on girl power and all such random terms. While there are some women who know how to mentor treat people with empathy not shout or endorse shouting and be the best one to work with. Not surprisingly, attrition in other toxic lady’s team is quite high as compared to the better one.

Accepting the status quo without question isn't admirable—it's complacent. Just because you've chosen to endure an unbalanced life for nine years doesn't mean it's the only path available or the one others should follow. Dismissing work-life balance as a "fashionable term" undermines the genuine concerns of professionals seeking a sustainable career and personal life. Progress in any field comes from challenging outdated norms, not resigning ourselves to them. If adapting means compromising our well-being indefinitely, perhaps it's the profession that needs to evolve, not our expectations.

Honestly, Mumbai is very expensive, and after spending on rent/cabs/food and investing a portion of my pay check not much is left to spend. In fact, I have been advised by some seniors to not worry about saving in the initial years and enjoy the money that I make. But I think that's just not my vibe. I would rather have some savings to fall back in case I end up quitting or for any other emergency in general. I see that many of colleagues spend lavishly and have no savings. I don't want to plan my life like that. And most importantly material things don’t really bring me happiness. I value other things more—like time spent with friends and family, having control over my life, some undisturbed free time, or a good trip or weekend getaway.

Your comment suffers from the fallacy of relative privation. Just because others experience similar stress with less compensation doesn’t make the burnout of a T1 associate any less real or significant. Most of the people who have managed to get a job in a T1 have worked their butts off.
I had no placement support and secured a T1 position on my own post-graduation. So, please avoid comparisons that suggest someone at T1 ‘deserves’ such stress simply because of a higher paycheck. Feel free to not comment when you don't have any value to add.

Ah, of course! Because if others are burned out for less money, that means anyone with a higher paycheck has no right to feel overwhelmed. The classic 'your struggle isn’t valid if someone has it worse' argument. Turns out, burnout doesn’t check your salary before it hits. But thanks for the reminder that suffering becomes totally irrelevant when you add a few more zeroes!

Hey guys,

To this weekend of despair.

To introduce myself, I am a student at a T1 NLU in the fourth year, and have faced several setbacks in the past few months, which is nothing less of a horror movie. I had heavy ptsd from grieving a very close family member, which kinda explains it, but I think it has ruined my life forever.

Due to some debilitating news at home, I couldn't attend classes and was constantly at hospice etc. missing the 25% mark in attendance and being failed in all subjects. I will probably have to appear another term. I got on pills to attend the classes I could (70 percent in all of them).

Interned at 3 T1 firms due to top level grades previously, and didnt convert any of them even though I'd received great feedback at my work. I have no friends and an abusive household.

What does one do at such a moment in their life? Like I have no will to do anything honestly. And have the growing risk of failing loan payments due to unemployment. The economy is depressing as well.

NLU elitism is shit! There are many aspects to joining a college- money, parental pressures, especially. for girls, where parents do not allow them to join an organization away from their hometown- which you only realize as a foolish restrain when you gradually enter into the profession!

IndusLaw - 15.5L (fixed) + 2.5L (variable)

Argus - 15L (fixed) + 2L (variable)

JSA - 10L (fixed) + 2L (variable) + 3L (bill share)

Luthra - 14.5L (fixed) + 2L (variable)

Saraf - (random, differs from law school to law school)

Veritas - 12L (fixed) + 2L (variable)

DSK Legal - 9L (fixed) + 3.5L (variable)

SAMVAD - 9.5L (fixed) + 2L (variable)

Bharucha - 9L (fixed) + 2L (variable)

Juris Corp - 8.5L (fixed) + 2L (variable)

Wadia Ghandy - 8.5L (fixed) + 1L (variable)

Desai & Diwanji - 8L (fixed) + 80K (variable)

Dentons Link Legal - 6.5L (fixed) + 2L (variable)

Kochhar & Co - 7.20L (fixed) + 1.3L (variable)

SNG & Partners - 6.5L (fixed) + 50K (variable)

Dhaval Vussonji - 6.L (fixed) + 1L (variable)

Thank me later!

The place is an apathetic one, with snide comments on everything ranging from 30-min lunch breaks with colleagues, to the lack of mannerism for interacting with fellow lawyers. Meaningless work is often the norm and employees' concerns are given the least priority. Very unprofessional.

PS.: it appears, due to the common language of all the positive reviews on AmbitionBox that they are fudged and being uploaded en-masse, for reasons best known to the partners.

Please do not believe them to be true. E.g. one of the reviews talks about salaries during COVID - as far as I am aware, there is no employee presently working there who was also there during the COVID period.

Honest opinion, best team for transactional work in NCR. Volume is high, downtime is low, people are sensible, seniors are reasonable mostly but can be difficult sometimes, learning is steep, expectations are very high. Team rewards sincerity, hardwork and ownership. Not for anyone looking to just add transactional work in the CV without being ready to put in the effort. Anyone having a free ride is identified, given fair warning, allowed time to fix, and if no improvement, phased out.

T1 NLU grad = Patrician

Everyone else = Plebeian

Plebeians were not members of the Roman Senate, as they were originally excluded from public office and the Senate. Plebeians were the majority of the Roman population and were generally poor. They were allowed to serve in the army, including as military tribunes, but were not allowed to marry patricians or hold any other public office.

The Roman Senate was made up of members from the leading patrician families during the republic. However, From the mid-4th century to the early 3rd century BC, several plebeian–patrician "tickets" for the consulship repeated joint terms, suggesting a deliberate political strategy of cooperation, in general a plebeian who had attained the consulship was regarded as having brought nobility to his family. Such a man was a novus homo, a "new man" or self-made noble and his sons and descendants were nobiles.

Marius and Cicero are notable examples of novi homines in the late Republic, when many of Rome's richest and most powerful men—such as Lucullus, Crassus, and Pompeius—were plebeian nobles. So to summarise, that is basically the difference between T1 NLU grads and everyone else, but many people can rise up in ranks with determination and servitude, and you can too, join the NLUs, rub shoulders with them- just stop being a pleb.

I am absolutely shocked. What kind of malicious misguiding is this? Deliberately asking someone to go to a uni (DU) which, for anyone who knows about these things, is clearly a bad uni in comparison to NLUD? This is like proposing someone go to Manchester Metropolitan Uni instead of UCL!

One thing about Gsanks which I have personally experienced is how he encourages people from outside his chambers. During two sepaarate Constitution Benches (370 and 31-C), I saw him specifically mentioning two non-seniors by name and saying their assistance will help the bench - Warisha Farasat and Nipun Saxena. A wonderful gesture for youngsters who are unsure.

Idk whether you will like this advice or not, but just try to be spiritual... not that "spirituality" which these so called new people teach. Joining some cult or something. NO.

Just read your religious texts, may be you will get your answers. To be honest, here blinds are advising blinds. We all are blind.

I read all the comments, and you are very brave and strong that you didn't indulge yourself into smoking and stuff.

But just try to just read those texts and understand it, in starting you may not get it, but slowly you'll see a change.

And bro, talk to your parents or family may be on call, if you can.

Don't worry, one day everything will pay you off. And sab theek hojaega.

CAM (Mumbai and Noida) have a great bunch of good partners with very good deals.

AZB, Noida and SAM, Mumbai put in great work (no clue about the culture or vacancies though).

SAM, Delhi and Khaitan, Mumbai are the absolute worst in terms of culture - avoid at all costs.

JSA and Trilegal (both their Bangalore teams) are involved solely in risk assessment diligence for their infrastructure deals within the garb of a projects practice - so avoid if starting out.

JSA and Trilegal (both the Gurugram teams) always have vacancies. Also, both the Gurugram offices have teams which mix regulatory practice with corporate work - so be prepared for what you are getting into (this holds true even for SAM, Mumbai - Deepto's team).

Saraf, Noida (Avirup's team) is decent, he is a great guy who knows the practice inside out but can't say the same about the kind of folks which work under him.

AZB, Mumbai (QJ's team) and Trilegal, Mumbai (NM's team) never have vacancies for god knows what reason.

Luthra, Delhi (Girish and Karan) is again more financing, contracts and pre-bid advisory - so avoid.

DSK, Mumbai (Anjan's team) is more involved on the financing side and less of project development; so avoid, also he runs a very lean team which never has vacancies.

Hope this helps, cheers!

IDGAF because this firm was never high on my list and I have a much better internship offer now. I only sent my CV to this guy because his firm worked on an interesting case and I read about in Bar & Bench. What angers me and I find obnoxious is his sneering attitude. First of all, it is standard practice abroad to write your pronouns on your profile and many NLU alumni partners do so even in India. Secondly, we are expected to work in a human right NGO in the first year. We also study BA subjects in first year and any blogpost or article we write will obviously reflect that.

You have to be a really nasty, ignorant and pathetic person to sneer at such thing. Age gap aside, this person is a GLC alum and presumably has no clue of the progressive character of NLUs. The loss is theirs and such people are anyway getting crushed by younger NLU alumni.

But I was also curious to know if anyone else here has similar experiences? It’s nothing but a form of bullying and these toxic clowns have turned the word “woke” from a progressive label people should proudly wear to some sort of slur.

Be ready for 1-2 partners who take pride in not knowing what’s happening in the matters they are leading. Zero training or quality control and clients complain of lack of senior involvement. If you like such work environment and don’t mind faffing around, then this can be your paradise. If not, then first find out which are these partners (legally India won’t publish the names even if they are commented here). Thereafter, join the other partners who train and mentor even the interns and such partners also do exist in this team.

Students from law school teaching partners in law firms how to conduct themselves re. cold emails - indeed very desperate times. The possibility of a student getting an internship based on cold emails to partners is as low as you taking a loan or an insurance from random calls which you receive on phone selling insurance or loans. I have received so many emails where the students write "Deam Ma'am/ Sir" and all about the 'esteemed firm'. The other lot is who sends linkedin invite and once you accept, a second later you receive a cv or a request for internship..

1. Not me

2. No idea

I've heard from Lawsikho ads that some people manage to get remote freelance work from upwork and earn in dollars. Not sure how feasible it is, but a cursory glance on upwork shows they have a ton of lawyers from India, Bangladesh, Pak etc trying to absorb e-commerce compliance work or contract drafting work.

It seems everyone on LI is working at a T1. Anyway, I guess you must be under a lot of stress. Why don't you try blowing all that money you make, buy things, lots of things. I have heard that schizoid consumerism and burying yourself under the weight of shiny new toys money can buy will generally keep you happy.

I was at GLC and one of the "pros" was that everyone interns all year long and there are barely any lectures. I think its really dumb now. Those internships mean nothing, most interns even in t1 firms like azb just pretend to be busy all day or skim a few lines online under the garb of "research". I think the time is better spent studying, or co-authoring papers/commentaries with a fellow student. At least you can decorate your CV with it, choose your interest, which really shows potential interest that you took initiative. But I don't think you'll get an internship with a non NLU, afaik, T1s only took the top ranking students from GLC each year. It is what it is.

No. Those kinds of specific, strong affirmative action measures are usually not allowed in English equality law (this includes having a specific scheme to accept people based on lower marks because of their protected characteristics). The only extent to which they do have any kind of affirmative action (and this is also very weak affirmative action measure) is the kinds of school that they choose to do outreach to and admit from nowadays. Earlier, most of their students came from elite private schools (confusingly called "public schools" because they didn't just accept students from the local area in which they were based) like Eton, Harrow and Westminster. In recent years, Oxford has had a major focus on admitting (British) candidates from "state school" backgrounds (i.e., from the types of schools we more commonly think of as and call public schools).

Sigh. It's you who seems to be thick. You are assuming that the Tutorials are integral to the university experience. They may not even be necessary for someone to become a good lawyer and professional if the classes are taking place well, the teachers have the necessary time to spend on the students and the syllabus is updated and relevant.

Well, it's not my fault that this profession is underpaid! Infact, it is the very reason why I took this job up in the first place. I would not get a decent pay in any other job with this degree. People do need to get the best deal and value for themselves and their time.

The idea behind this thread was to seek guidance from senior members in the profession who might have gone through this situation. I do not think your response is adding any value to a person who might be going through a tough time in life. Thanks but no thanks for your futile response.

Yes, I do. Sometimes the entire weekend is free. But I guess, the problem is not really with getting time off, its my inability to make the most of it. I am too mentally exhausted or stressed most of the times to really enjoy the time off. A lot of my colleagues indulge in smoking and drinking to blow off the steam even bond over it, however, I don't indulge in either. So I deal with my stress by stressing myself out more. :P

I am aware that my own mindset may very well be a catalyst to this energy drain that I am facing. However, from what I have heard lately it seems to be the case with many others. This job does not bring out the best in me and lately my life has just been about this job.

Thanks for addressing my concerns and sharing your own experience. I felt very discouraged with the comments section as I was just suggested to deal with it. Happy to know that you were able find your balance upon taking the leap. Your words - 'Limitation of imagination' - have definitely given me something to think about. Thanks again! :)

Ah yes, because a fat paycheck totally makes up for constant stress, zero free time, and feeling like you’re about to burn out any second. It’s all worth it, right? The money definitely erases the toll on your mental and physical health. And comparing this to 2024 grads? Brilliant—because comparing misery always helps. Keep pretending the pay is a magic cure for the exhaustion and pressure, though. Spoiler alert: it’s not.

even if NUJS does get the land, it doesn't have the money to build on it. It has literally been running out of a rented government building which they call the "second campus". And even the ones that join there are people who couldn't make it to any tier 1 or decent tier 2, so maybe choosing it over a tier 3 NLU. Who would choose NLU Siliguri then lol

It is very entitled to expect to go straight to the partner. They have other things to do and there are people in the firm whose job it is to filter applications. Partners and other senior people don't owe you their time. If you go to a conference where they speak and ask an impressive question, or if you manage to get the internship through merit and do great work then they will make time for you. Please work your way up like everyone else.

I actually found all my male-partnered firms super hormonal. One dude was yelling all the time, half the partners were in some kind d*** measuring competition with the others. You do one guys work, the other complains that he wants your time and attention. One takes you for a thank you lunch and the others act like giggling schoolboys about it. It was all ridiculous. The only female partner was also the only grown up and one guy was kind of nice but still given to weird emotional blackmail to get you to prioritize him. There were many interns btw. They did not all need my attention. I did not apply there after law school.

Hey, don't feel so disheartened

I feel that you may be in a toxic and demanding team

You can definitely consider moving to a different firm or team

It is better in some places for sure

Leverage your 2+ PQE. Try to spend some time every day, even 10 minutes, working towards shifting jobs.

You can always look for another job. I know people who work in PSUs for example are chilling all day. It's not like this everywhere! Take heart

In the meantime set some boundaries. Nothing is ever so urgent you know. If you have made up your mind to quit you can try setting some boundaries. Worst case you leave the job. Right?

Keep your head up :)