I am a salaried partner in a T1 Firm.

I get a request for an internship every single day and a request for a recruitment once a week on my email. Even if I wanted to consider canditates through cold emails, its impossible to consider them because of the sheer volume of request that come.

I dont think cold emails to persons whose emails you got from the firm website serves any purpose.

Thanks

I feel you have let others affect your self-esteem more than your own perceptions and fundamental skills. You are where you are because you deserve it. Don't let others Psyop you. You might have different interests or not be interested in the co-curricular activities others are doing, but this makes you unique, not inferior. If you find your strengths, find your niche, and capitalize on it, landing a job would be the least of your concerns.

I think there's good and bad to it. Bad in the sense that yes it's rigorous, good in the sense that you do take away a lot from it.

I think what tips the balance is institutional support in other avenues–NLS has notoriously bad funding, support in terms of condonation and project-exemption, faculty guidance, infrastructure and online database access, etc. for preparation for events outside. Minimal support for hosting external events and consequently minimal campus activity. Given that, this may just add to the problems students face. At the same time, I don't think the tutorial system is in and of itself bad. It's an innovative pedagogy that will strongly reward the interested.

It’s only a data privacy team. Partner is brilliant, team members are knowledgeable, compassionate and easy to work with. Work is pretty good too involving a mix of top clients and growth startups. However, do have clarity on career growth (given the team structure) and compensation. KCO neither has pay parity across offices, nor across practices.

Thanks for referencing Mitchell Obama. On days where I am baffled by the unfairness of this institution specifically and the profession broadly, I revisit her book because it resonates so deeply with me; perhaps because we are from the similar economic backgrounds. I have considered law school as a training ground and I don't expect professors and instructors to be paragons of virtue, without any bias because after all they are humans too. Prejudice is a part of human nature and I recognise that. I don't hold it against them. There seems to be a pervasive tendency amongst not just people on this website but in the real world too, to paint the entire student community as lazy, incapable and incompetent when this is far from reality. Things have changed and most young adults atleast in the 20-25 age bracket understand how important it is to invest in education given how competitive everything is. Every concern need not be attributed with bad faith, especially when it comes from students. It's not quite right to be dismissive of people's lived experiences. While I will always be thankful to NLS for providing good legal education ( and trust me I enjoy the rigour that so many people dread), my experiences with some bad actors will always be etched in my memory and that bitterness will never leave. Take this as an emotional, reactive response of a disillusioned hard working, honest student if you will, but I am not sorry for expressing it here. Allyship requires alignment of values. In my stay at NLS, I haven't found many who aren't morally corrupt to the core.

It really isn't- you realise this once you spend any amount of time teaching anything to a group of people. Most teachers don't know anything about their students' lives or identities and dont care to. They would turn their ears off to any gossip about students. and once a batch of students graduate- about 90% of that batch becomes a hazy memory where names and faces will start to go away from their mind. They are doing a job. That's all they're doing. The scale of it is so different that it's hard for students to imagine.

Students don't understand this because they have one tort law teacher and one legal methods teacher etc- so obviously they spend a lot of time thinking about that person and how they perceive each other. Teachers usually have tens if not hundreds of students per term. You just don't think about students until they're right in front of you. The only other time you think about them is if they're actively making your job difficult by being unprofessional in the classroom demeanour or making unprofessional/ unfair requests. The only students you will remember when you teach regularly will be students you enjoyed - and you only know enough about them to know- they seemed to enjoy your class, they were engaged and hard-working, they made your life easier and they made teaching easier and you'll remember particularly good arguments they made in class or in their written work. That's it.

I have had hundreds of students- from when I taught clat prep to when I was a TA in grad school to after when I taught in law school. I honestly can maybe name ten of them off the top of my head. How can I be biased against someone that didn't even register? I don't know the caste, sexuality, ethnicity, or background of any of my students- why would I? How can I be biased on those grounds when I don't even know the biasing information? The only thing I know is if they were consistent and hard working and if they made me excited to go to class and think deeply about my own work.

I understand that students are sensitive about how teachers might perceive or judge them- and they might feel hurt when they don't understand why they're not chosen and mentored and it can all seem so arbitrary. After all, the student knows how brilliant and funny and creative they are, and the student knows they read occasionally and pay attention in class, and the student knows/ feels that they are a better person than that brown-nosing topper. I know how this feels because I was a bad student before I was a good student. But honestly- once you have been on the other side of the podium- the teacher doesn't know about any of this. The teacher knows only that which is demonstrated to him in or outside class. If students are vocal and engaged in class the teacher knows that. If students have read or are bullshitting the teacher knows that. If students are excited about his class and turn up prepared meet deadlines and dont dowork last minute- the teacher knows that. The teacher doesn't know your brilliant smarts and wit that you haven't demonstrated. And really- its hard and pointless to differentiate between one seemingly disengaged student and another. And teachers usually know nothing about the characters of the students in their class. It takes years of sustained contact to know someone's character. Maybe your grad school advisor knows your character- maybe that one prof from undergraduate school who took you under his wing. But saving that- it is all about the work.

I went through 2 years of law school resenting the fact that I wasn't the teacher's pet- and then I decided to become a better student. I read before class, I put my hand up and answered questions and asked them, I went to office hours, I convinced myself to like subjects I wasn't naturally inclined to, I worked hard on my projects and it showed. I tried to keep my interactions with professors positive and professional. That's all it took. My grades jumped and I had several people write me LORs and guide my career since. Nothing else about me or my character personally changed except what I was presenting in class and interactions with professors. Thats all they care about. Make their lives easier.

And you know what it actually is fun- teachers are usually big awkward nerds. There's something fun about seeing how grateful the teacher is because in a room of sleepy students, someone answered his question for once and that person had read the book and he knows he's not teaching to a wall. There's something fun about how reliant teachers get on seeing your head nod in the classroom. There's fun in seeing how excited a teacher type gets when you make connections between what was said in class to something they said in a prior class, or you read their work, or you point out a footnote that no one else has. And in how excited they get to discuss their favourite thing that they spend their lives trying to get other people excited about. There's something fun even about using all that classroom time to learn the law. My life got easier the day I stopped being resentful and started trying. I liked law school more that day.

Most teachers who I thought were biased and mean and judgy immediately became very nice to me once I started making an effort.

I will also say this- any teacher who is not like this, any teacher who is too invested in your life or who cares to ask you about your background or sexuality or caste or your health or your relationships or whatever, any teacher who seems invested in whether you like them or whether they are perceived as cool. Any teacher who does you unearned favour in exchange for your loyalty. Any teacher who does things to be popular- that teacher is weird and creepy and best avoided. I haven't met many like that at all. And even when I had those kinds teach me I usually did just fine in their class without getting into their fan club too much.

Sure. I would. Send me your mail and I will share allegedly wonderful research work which were marked low by teachers but was eventually published in a highly ranked journal, with the teacher in question acknowledging that it was good, albeit a bit begrudgingly. Unfortunately for me the damage was done and nothing they would say now repose my faith in them or the institution. I don't have the bandwidth to engage with trolls on this site and as someone pointed out we anyway don't have time at NLS. Peace out.

I have an upcoming internship at Khaitan & Co, Mumbai office in December. Have heard that they are offering hybrid (3 days WFH and 2 days on-site) internship only. Is it true? If yes, is it for all teams? I just need a fair idea as to how hectic will it be as I am already exhausted with my current ongoing internship at another T1 firm.

Frankly, virtual internships are not worth it. I understand that because of their strict policies restricting sharing of information to personal email ids, you would hardly get an meaty work during VIs. It's completely different experience if you manage to get a physical internship. A few of my batchmates who did get GC internships (physical) managed to get an assessment internship which converted into a placement.

1. Will he get another extension?

2. If not, who will be acting VC and for how long? Will the WB govt transplant someone like Amit Talukdar again and keep him as acting VC for a long time?

3. The students had opposed an extension for NKC and were ignored. Will the students become more confrontational and aggressively push for a transparent procedure to appoint the next VC?

4. What role will TMC bigwigs like Kishore Datta, Sanjay Basu and Kalyan Banerjee have in selecting the next VC?

5. What role will the CJI and Justice Dipankar Data play? Will they wash their hands off and let the state govt decide everything?

6. Given the public mood following the RG Kar case, will the govt face greater opposition, be it from the students or judiciary, than last time?

No one belongs in any NLU. Think of all the poor people in this country who might have been better lawyers if only they had had the privilege of being born in the right family, having an English education, being able to access clat prep materials, getting lucky on that ridiculous examination, and then being able to afford law school fees. You won a lottery at every turn to get something they would cut off a limb for.

So what can you do ? Make the most of it. Squeeze as much value as you can out of this opportunity. Be the best student you can be. Use every resource you can that the university offers you, pull yourself out of your comfort zone and learn everything you can in college. And then really make something out of yourself. Succeed in law firms or litigation or academia or whatever and give back to those less fortunate. Count your blessings and stop pitying yourself because you’re perceiving someone else as having an easier time than yourself.

where do you live? if travelling ain't much of an issue, you can still apply to smaller firms in del/cal/hyd/blr/chennai? Search the internet as bad as you can and get something. Had you applied before, firms like Khaitan and Khaitan would've offered online internship as well. And you can still get ample lit internships, they don't really care about deadlines unless it's a really good chamber(don't think too much, you're out of options). The point being- last moment internship isn't a far shot if you apply to enough number of places.

Secondly, if you do decide on not interning, make the best of your month. It's a sem break so you don't have to study. So, start writing. Madly. Read up the paper each day, pick contemporary issues and write smaller articles, under 1000 words, and send them to decent publishing places. You won't manage to get evrything published, neither will all of your writings be substantial, but you'd still have something to add on your cv at the end of the day.

Ideally try not to stay at home for a month because it's tough to be productive when one gets to stay in the comfort of home. But if that's what you choose to do, do make good of it. Don't overthink, but do act.

You absolutely belong. The fact that you have maintained good marks overall shows that you should be where you are. Focus on getting good internships, doing other good skill-building and other kinds of activities, build a circle of friends and so on, and of course on either maintaining your academic position or making it better.

As we all cope with the shock defeat of Kamala Harris, one view that is coming across is that Harris supporters are elitist and out of touch with the working class. They are Harvard/Ivy grads who read the NYT, live in fancy homes, work for Goldman Sachs etc.

Just wondering if the same kind of applies to India as well? NLU graduates are either from elite backgrounds, or soon move into the elite strata after graduation, earning lots of money and living a wealthy life. Are we then losing touch with the common people?

While both have their pros and cons, including your personal preference for a certain kind of work, one aspect to consider will be that in transactions, you'll never be able to go independent or do big transaction matters at smaller places. You'll also always be dependent on international markets and investments and the work you get from other people. In litigation, you'll atleast have a choice to do your own thing and also if you create a niche for yourself, sky is the ceiling. You'll also never be out of work given that our judicial system will always be broken.

More money for christian evangelicals will be funnelled through American NGO's. Lesser scrutiny on polluting companies which will lead to more pollution and more climate change. Trump will impose more duty on Indian goods. We won't be able to trade with Iran at all now, so chabar port is doomed too. Most probably our economy will suffer.

Salve

Singhvi

Prashant Bhushan

https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20241111-high-and-mighty-the-ultimate-power-list-2024-india-today-high-and-mighty-rankings-2024-2626560-2024-11-03

https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/high-and-mighty/story/20241111-professionals-better-than-the-best-india-today-high-and-mighty-rankings-2024-2626563-2024-11-02

It is true that effort pays off, but I don't want to deny that bias exists. Bias exists in the world. Consider law school your training ground to overcome it. Hilary Clinton and Michele Obama both talked about how minorities have to work ten times harder to prove their worth. It is not fair, but that is how it is. The question is whether you want to throw up your hands and complain or whether you want to use the time to learn to find your allies and persuade even the people biased against you that your work is too good to ignore.

I'm a Third Year BA LLB student from a non nlu but "at par with NLUs" private law school, if you believe in the NIRF rankings. My 5th semester gets over next month and I've successfully failed at securing an internship for this semester break. I would not say that it was due to delay in applications because I did start applying fairly early and mostly got ghosted even after follow up mails. I do have previous internships- one in litigation, the other a judicial internship and this would've been my first law firm internship but ahoy. The past week I've frantically applied to a lot of places but no responses.

Any advice as to what can I do at this stage and how screwed am I if i don't get to intern at all this sem break? Alternatively what other things can I do during all this time to not lose my mind and upskill myself into a non ghostable, employable candidate for my future endeavours? Be as blunt as you want, I need a reality check to understand that I'm probably not even smart enough for Imposter Syndrome. Help a sister out!!!!

TL DR: 5th sem end break no internship, non nlu, advice as to last minute reparations/ alternatives, or any general tips?

Hi, I am PQE 3 years having experience in mostly corp and a very brief stint in litigation (both at T1s) and at this point pretty confused about what can be a more satisfying career to pursue. While the financial aspect in transactions is extremely lucrative, I do feel after a point of time it's hard to go independent or run your own shop for big ticket transactions while the one can go independent in a smoother way if someone pursues litigation with the right mindset and with good kind-hearted bosses. Any advice would be appreciated as to factors one should consider while making the choice.

1. That's your assumption and far from reality. You're trying to pass off the ideal as the real. Many teachers have got bias and legislative prejudice of their own, be it NLSIU or anywhere else.

2. Not all the marking is anonymized, the internal components certainly aren't.

There are some market leader such as TTA which have air purifiers in offices, however many big Tier-1s such as CAM, SAM etc. dont have air purifiers in offices.

Imagine working in firms with no air purifiers in such harsh polluted conditions. This should be a wakeup call....

Students often have this wrong. The pet students have a closer relationship with profs because they work hard and show up for every class. No teacher in nls going into a new class for the first time has any real bias based on sex, caste, class, sexuality, language, birthplace, whatever.

What makes them like certain students more than others is that those students turn up for every class ready to learn and think and talk through problems. They make use of office hours, they show a genuine interest in the subject the professor has dedicated their life to. Of course professors would favour those students than folks who come in late, unprepared, sit at the back, look at their computers or take a nap or their phones and are generally disengaged. Think of how the classroom looks from the profs POV! How can marking be biased when it’s anonymised ? Just make a bit more effort !

Beta, u tk awy wat is +ve frm dis internship. If u belve u shud automatically gt a job just bcs u r intrning, dat is a socialist mindset of a chamcha who cannot perform. Trust me ven I say sum random low level asso has no clue abt wat r d hiring reqmts of d firm.. dese are decided by d managing partner n other equity partners and nt discussd wit lowly assos. All d best beta.

Absolutely. He is the finest SCBA Chief India has ever had. He has never shied away from advocating for the voice of the SC Bar, even when it meant standing up to the Learned Chief Justice. His approach, marked by tact, honor, and grace, proves that there couldn’t have been a better person for the job. I hope his successors prove themselves to be equally fine statesmen, just like him.