Hi everyone, it is high time that we A2/A3s have a ready reckoner to help us find out if we are being fleeced. A0/A1 salaries are widely discussed and in the public. The real difference starts coming A2 and onwards due to a variety of factors (rating, politics, team culture practice area)

Please drop your current figures below (in the same format please) so we can all help out each other! i’ll go first

KCO - Mumbai - Corp

25.8 L (fixed) + bonus (not sure)

Hi, I’m 27F, I have a 1 year PQE and my practice area is M&A, Venture Capital, Corporate Advisory and Employment laws, I’ve dabbled a little bit in Private Equity. I work in a boutique firm which by default means that I work across various verticals due to which I feel like I am not gaining any substantial knowledge since it’s a jack of all cards situation where you can’t master a skill because you’re made to do it all, I am desperately looking for a switch, does anyone have any leads for t2/ boutique/ t1 firms that are hiring A1’s in Mumbai? Would be a huge help

Either no one told him about NUALS, or he doesn't think much of it. Or perhaps he wants to set up something in Trivandrum or his constituency.

https://education.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/government-policies/kerala-to-modernise-legal-education-considering-law-university-cm-satheesan/132724677

The thread is accurate in some parts but a bit off in others. Only talking about T1s, yes BO2026 didn't have the best placement season, but BO2027 has actually been doing better than most we expected given how things looked earlier. Around 15 people from my juniors' batch have landed T1 offers so far, and a few more good firms like Tri and Argus incoming. That said, these numbers still aren't amazing once you consider the size of the batch.

I'll say if you're in roughly the top 25%, you have a pretty fair chance. The bottom which has rich kids who dont care about law, also dont care about placements but we have a lot of hardworking and very smart people too. So the crowd is very diverse.

The college can definitely help with internships if you make the effort. I know a dude with around 7.6/10 who managed to get really solid internships through campus. Obviously, most people will still have to rely on connections and personal applications at some point.

Also one last thing, the college has recently expanded batch size. A foul move that may result in dilution in the coming years. Things look better and growing for now but can get worse later.

There are some law schools with such rules, including a few NLUs. There was also an infamous incident at NLSIU some years ago, reported in the media, where Prof V Nagaraj slut-shamed a girl for wearing shorts and the whole student body protested.

https://theprint.in/feature/st-stephens-shorts-ban-dress-code/3000899/

An average 25-year old now probably needs Rs 50-60 crore by age 50 (in 2050) for FAT Fire. Looking impossible, unless family wealth can give you that. Or if you join a government job and take bribes. In contrast with Gen Y, jobs are fewer and harder, competition is more, AI will displace a lot of jobs. Plus the economy is in a terrible state.

Forget Fat FIRE, even Lean FIRE looks dicey (Rs 20 cr or so).

Things are looking grim.

Undeniably people are misinformed about how a law firm works. I understand from the folks working there that there has been a conscious call to focus more on hiring through PPOs and internship. They hired 20 this year and have already rolled out multiple PPOs for next year. In the age of AI, that’s not slowdown

lowering down fresher intake is not surprising, but why lead students on that they would be coming over for hirings in the first place then. I dont know if you are from an nlu, but at around this time, people have multiple interviews lined up and they do not blindly apply at all places. A lot of students had interned with Saraf and prioritised its application over other firms. There are also law schools that limit the number of a firms you can apply at at one point, so any one who applied to Saraf missed a shot at both it and another firm where they could have otherwise applied. Its fucked in multiple ways for all, easy to comment when you are not in the candidate's place

They will hire la as it’s all about optics, showing growth to the market. The loss of partners, teams & revenue is a structural problem.

Most fresh hires would eventually have to fend for themselves. Ask last years recruits, been running pillar to post to find a partner & team.

Most quit out of frustration. HR is as good as non existent too !

2026 graduate from a Tier 2 NLU. I had good internships, but unfortunately placements didn’t work out. I’m open to starting with any opportunity to gain experience, but my goal is to move into a Tier 1 firm.

For those aware of hiring trends:

- 1. When do T1 firms usually hire 2026 grads outside campus placements?
- 2. Is August a good time to start cold emailing associates/partners/HR, or is there a better window?
- 3. Any specific months when firms are more open to fresh graduates?

What a lovely place to be when you think nothing wrong can happen in a tier 1 law firm and everything is wrong here. Zero inclusiveness, lawyers themselves are treated differently, business services team is treated as second class citizens and zero accountability (like the current government).

Promotions are politically aligned (internal politics), no value of their own words or promises.

▮▮▮!

What you are doing is the precise definition of ad hominem. If you've got any issue with what the spokesperson has been saying and God knows there are plenty of such issues, then by all means criticise those. Her background is of no relevance in that context. Humans are not dogs that 'pedigree' will be prioritised over all.

Lets face the facts, to whoever is reading this. AI has disrupted all other fields, and law firms are nearing the finish line. I expect recruitments to come to almost zero by 2030 in the coming years except for single digit hirings from top NLUs like NLS, NALSAR and GNLU. Rest all law colleges are cooked. Hold me to my words, by 2030 its happening

Hi everyone, this is my First time posting here, I've been applying to law firms for a few weeks now, I though it might be a good idea to visit the firms and drop my CV physically. Does anyone have any opinions if this is a good or a bad idea. Also, I'm specifically talking about law firms based in delhi, please let me know if this would work or not.

But SQE is actually rigid and has a lower pass percentage so it makes sense for them to make it steep afterwards. I mean we also have/had firms who paid for clearing that bare minimum level AIBE. However, that is not to say that I disagree with your point in here and to make it worse since the market is closed off for India everywhere it's highly difficult to crossover to there unless one has contacts (yes I did not include foreign LLM deliberately because there's no guarantee through that).

No doubt, it is the most happening thing. At least two people have got the Rhodes scholarships explicitly saying they are interested in intersectional sociolegal research.

But isn’t it becoming tried to death now? Aren’t law school essays looking like humanities essays? Aren’t law students better of researching on conventional legal topics, like how laws governing contract, company, law, and so on be reformed?

What an abject abandonment of a statutory mandate. A country of cowards regulated by bigger cowards.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/business/2026/Jul/26/avoiding-suo-motu-cases-unless-nobody-is-willing-to-come-forward-cci

We now have to read about competition law sponsored by Amazon from NLU Delhi.

Incredible.

Now that A0s have been inducted by a lot of firms, I implore the LI community to update the compensation megathread with the year of update, that a lot of us still use and which seems to stick around (also convenient to refer to). It'd be super helpful for the future batches!

Pasting here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ltk2xnERP1OWklq60BEsJFhl3eSuQX7nQEdo_v37ggs/edit?gid=1214652949#gid=1214652949

Sidenote, for our 2026 batch of A0s, would be great if we could also discuss breakups for this year here - lot of confusion on KCO for example, which apparently continues to be the highest paymaster (no increase though?) but has restructured the AIBE bonus to be a joining bonus. How true is this? Are there any other firms that have also restructured or increased their pay for any location?

what's the issue if they have backed out 2 days before day zero? All firms are lowering down their fresher intake, Saraf is not an exception. How did pushing students to apply on time mess with other applications?

Firms back out from hiring all the time, this is especially the case in more senior levels.

I came across a similar post and realised I have the exact same question, so thanks to the OP there.

I'm starting at a law firm soon, and I'm weirdly anxious about whether I have the right wardrobe for the job. I interned there during the winter, and everyone looked incredibly put together with tailored coats, blazers, boots, elegant sweaters. I never felt particularly out of place then because winter dressing is a bit more forgiving, and you can layer almost anything under a nice coat or blazer.

But now I'm joining in the middle of summer after most of the freshers have already joined, and I have no idea what people actually wear day to day. Looking at the firm's website and LinkedIn doesn't help because half the photos are from court or formal events, where everyone is in a blazer anyway. Do people actually wear blazers year-round, even in this heat, or is that just for client meetings and photographs?

I'm also wondering about women's workwear in general. Is it common to wear kurtas with straight pants, or do most women stick to Western office wear? I'm worried I'll end up looking underdressed even if I'm dressed appropriately.

Am I overthinking it, or is there an unspoken dress code that everyone just seems to know?

The OP’s question was not if Indian grads have it better at US law firms but in general whether law firms there pay higher on an adjusted basis.

On CAM v Nixon - if we’re not taking relative standing of the firms into consideration why don’t we compare Veritas with Kirkland as well? Neither is a fair comparison and you know it.

And no a TYPICAL first year in the US does not have 4-6 years of non-legal experience. Most of them do not work beyond 1-2 years before joining law school. Many of them have no prior work experience at all (though that would only be around 15-20%)

PR team asli id se aao. Stay number one because of the relation to one number. That's it. Remove that from the equation and then see how the house tumbles. If the gen Z protest has taught us one thing, it's that rotting institutions have had their hey days. The ones that will survive are the ones that take their head out of the sand and face the winds of change. Fiefdoms are over. Merit and entrepreneurship is the new mantra.

Realise this. Accept this.

As someone who’s worked in NY and in India there is no doubt the US firms pay a lot more on an apples to apples comparison. The rents in NY are high yes (approx 30-35% of post tax pay) but isn’t the proportion the same if not higher in Mumbai? You may say everyday things like groceries and all are more expensive (and thats true) but do you not realise those form a relatively smaller part of the average monthly expense for high paid professionals like law firm associates (both in India and in US). Outside of rent the biggest expenses tend to be discretionary purchases where the PPP difference almost entirely fades away.

I get your anxiety its really something else. All the new joinees had an orientation week and you could easily tell who made and effort and who didn't! But I wonder how much it matters? Someone told me that female bosses care less about how their male juniors dress and others say every boss cares because you represent them. On a fresher budget I'm still wearing my intern clothes because I feel bad to not use these boring black and white clothes even though I can see all the men in my team are far more sophisticated with their ties and what nots.

Hi all

I recently completed my masters from a University up North, for a good fortune, and having a good enough capacity to recreate/ reenact a landmark judgment's hearing. That's all the necessary deets for the name. Graduated from MU, want to live here as I belong to the city

What's the IP non-litigation hiring scene for freshers looking like? I have been applying but really not hearing back from anyone. Is Mumbai the right option for non-lit IP, or do I need to broaden my cities? I truly thought it was more of Delhi for lit and Mumbai for non-litigation, but am I missing something out here? This is getting really tiring for me, those having proper advice and any inside info or the trends, please pitch in.

Mods, please bump this

There is plenty of kissing going around here too. Including female seniors who push for particular male interns as an SA and now having made partner, have him bumped to SA over other deserving candidates.

Ultimately long story short in this age, its their business, but what should grind peoples gears is the conflict of interest. If you really like someone, quit and continue. Otherwise its just an professional ick for all those around you.

If the govt really has "dirt" on CJS honchos, why isn't it producing the same before the Parliament? We know quite a bit about Dipke. Yes, he was with AAP previously and follows Ambedkarite politics. So what? The ruling regime has so many turncoats and scamsters (as alleged by Pradhan Sevak himself) but all these folks no longer face legal action.

But we know very little about SD and others other than the flood of fluffy pieces and their polar opposites. Can anyone enlighten?