You have two routes, friend. You can ramp up the hostility yourself and create a hostile environment for him as well. This is exhausting, will burn you out and will make every day at work unpleasant, but will strike the fear of god in the partner the minute you undermine him in front of others. I don't recommend this, even though it is very effective.

Your other option is to acknowledge that the workplace is toxic and you cannot grow in toxicity. Time to switch jobs and get a hike while you're at it.

So, NLSIU has officially called for people to apply if they want to teach a module for 1-2 weeks at Law School. Some are calling it bold, some are calling it corporatisation of academia.

This may be required, but I highly doubt if they're gonna get practitioners to teach here.

Here’s the thing. I don’t know what a rigorous practical application course looks like ? There are aspects to corp work or litigation work that you can only do when you’re there. Law school cannot replace that. I don’t think anyone is arguing that the core law courses aren’t covering the necessary topics to be a good litigator or an associate. So what am I missing ? I’ve taken courses by litigators and corporate lawyers and even judges and found them- boring and unchallenging. The courses just weren’t rigorous enough at all. It kinda felt like I was cheating.

Maybe - one way to do rigorous practical application courses is to improve the clinics. But even then - you’re not a lawyer till you’re a lawyer so you cannot actually practice. Best you can do is draft things for an advocate who might look them over and offer corrections. And building a good clinical programme takes so much time and effort not just from the university - but from the teacher who will have to be a practitioner who is taking on a new career in teaching which will be a full time job on top of his litigation work.

My solve for when I was in law school was to take theory courses about private law , competition law etc. those can be rigorous while still being useful to students not going in to academia or research or public policy.

But I really don’t know what people mean when they bemoan that they’re not getting practical application courses. It’s not like you’re engineers who can just write a program or build a machine in their lab- to be a lawyer you need to have graduated law school.

I’m not unsympathetic. I get bored of the obscure abstract theory/ sociology courses too. But I wonder if people here have an example of what kind of course they would want ?

Thank you for understanding what I was trying to say. I'm all for well rounded education but that's not the case at NLS. The privileging of theory is very obvious. Practical law and advocacy has been pushed to the margins sorely because there is a preference for academic law. People in authority have gone to the extent of saying that negotiation competitions and journals are useless and people only focus on these things to build their CVs.

It depends on the Team. I know a team that has finished the interviews and is set to give a PPO for someone (90 percent done). Some teams are particular about it, some are not. If you want to know more, you should contact people who have interned in the same team. But all in all, it depends on whether they are hiring. I have heard that they are not hiring a lot of from the 2025 Batch. But nevertheless, just give it your best shot and hope for the best!

https://indianexpress.com/article/education/university-of-southampton-ranked-81st-in-world-to-be-third-foreign-varsity-to-have-campus-in-india-9540653/lite/

If you all remember, Manan Mishra was fiercely opposed to the entry of foreign law schools in India, but he now seems to have stopped his opposition. In terms of regulatory requirements, it’s a bit of a grey area, because University of Southampton proper is recognised by the BCI. Does that mean the India campus will be recognised too?

In terms of impact, it could be a game changer because:

1. It could pose competition to expensive law schools like Jindal, BITS, Shiv Nadar, IIM Rohtak and Bennett. The campus is in Gurgaon, which is a better location than at least Sonipat and Rohtak. On top of that, if they offer LLB degrees with the possibility of spending a year in the UK, then many rich kids might prefer Southampton. Remember that the cumbersome equivalence exam rule won’t apply. Admission will probably be through LNAT UK as well, so Jindal aspirants will start off having another rival option.

2. The price point will be interesting. If the degree costs about the same as the above universities, INCLUDING a year in the UK, then the above universities will be under big pressure.

3. A faculty exodus from the above universities, or even NLSIU, could be a risk as well. It depends on who the Dean will be (likely a British professor from the parent university, or someone poached from the above places), the salary offered and opportunities for growth.

4. Finally, and most importantly, it could tempt higher ranked and more prestigious universities, maybe within the top 50 of QS Law to set up campuses here: Warwick, Edinburgh, Manchester… then LSE/UCK/KCL… eventually Oxbridge.

I also wished to do a foreign LLM, from a prestigious Uni. But I had very sub-par grades for that and feel bad for myself that this will never happen for me.

Many people successful in litigation also seem to be people from prestigious universities.

This is probably not the best way to think I guess

I am hearing that the culture of the NDA has changed substantially even more so at the partner level (senior people even though they aren't called partners) wherein 1 particular person (who is on way out) was extremely rude to juniors, admin folks and everyone around him. Even at a relative junior level, people are bringing their personal life in office and fighting in office.

Mooting, in my view, is one of the few activities that help in preparation/building skills for all the three main career options that law students can pursue after graduation: becoming a commercial lawyer, becoming a courtroom advocate or becoming an academic. You will have to participate in it in order to understand why.

Good to see a young lawyer heading such an important post. But he is the son of Arun Jaitley. One hopes non-nepo kids without family connections are also given such opportunities.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/who-is-rohan-jaitley-jay-shahs-likely-replacement-to-become-bcci-secretary-101724671177931-amp.html

It is for practitioners to teach application. In some countries there is a formal period - the pupillage or articles - that marks this training. You would train differently depending on the role you are headed into. If the profession wants to outsource part of its work to law schools, it should fund and support clinics. That's what well resourced schools in the West offer but in the end, if your theory is solid and you have learned to be meticulous in research and application, you have a very good foundation to help you learn the rest in a firm or in chambers.

I got an opportunity to intern with a good T1 firm in October. The only issue is I will be having classes for that duration and my college has a minimum attendance policy. I spoke with HR, but my request to postpone the same cannot be accommodated. I always had good attendance records and have maintained them this semester. Should I take up the opportunity or leave it?

Cigars are a big deal among these people. I have seen rich lawyers smoke cigars worth 10,000 each after a dinner. I went to a dinner where some big lawyers were smoking ONLY cigars. You would probably be embarrassed if you took out a cigarette and it would make you seem low class!

1) don't do it

2) if you decide to do it, don't update it here that you've done so and years later now you're working at a T1.

This one guy was caught after confessing to reddit that his scholarship was obtained through fraud. Please don't get caught via legally India post 😭

There's this chamber in Safdarjung that does White Collar Crimes. They have 4 associates and a chamber head. They're amazingly talented. Best place to intern, the head has good clientele and knowledge. 2 senior associates have good court presence and the two juniors are absolute monsters at research and drafting. If you're good enough you'll be paid stipend and the office is super chill.

Great news and I endorse it on principle. We must push our brightest and best to the bench. However, I wish they brought him into counsel practice with a senior gown (kept him there for 6 months - 1 year) and then inducted him into the DHC as a judge. This new trend of plucking law firm partners and placing them straight on the bench seems wrong, and its repercussions will not be pleasant.

Kapil is getting all the limelight. Clearly, he has the court's ear. I'm quite surprised with Chidambaram’s lackluster performance and demand since 2014. Have the criminal investigations kept him distracted? To answer your question, like Bollywood, I feel even the Supreme Court is no longer producing superstar lawyers like these or HS/GS (both of whom still appear regularly before various HCs and the SC even now btw!: did their office/ juniors give you that bs about them being only London based? You've been played! ).

In short - the profession has been democratized to the extent that you have a better chance than before of making a name for yourself even if you come from some obscure part of India without contacts. Yes, you still need talent and bucketloads of luck.

I didn't comment here earlier, but can't help saying that in India, such lawyers who are highly successful practitioners don't often display such affinity or love for obscure but important scholarly theories. At the same time, the point of the other person's argument seems to be that well-rounded education isn't being provided to them at present. They are being taught theories but not enough practical application including commercial and transactional or litigation application. Which isn't entirely a baseless allegation, from what I'm aware of their curriculum. It really doesn't have to be a zero sum game, no reason why it has to be either/or. There are over fifty subjects to be taught across five years.

How can I switch from a Corporate law team to a TMT team? As an A0 at a Tier 1 firm, how long should I wait before making the switch, and will my current experience be discounted if I apply to firms like Khaitan, Trilegal, or IndusLaw? Any team suggestions that wont discount the experience?

Bump. Same query. I practice in your neighbour city Bhopal. Tribunal based practice. Hate District Court like hell. Continuously think of shifting to Tier I city, because the work is not invigorating, and the pay is pathetic. But opt out of it everytime. The amount of struggle in legal profession is just too much. It's viable majorly for the local populace to get invested physically, mentally and financially to that extent.

PLEASE NO TROLLING

Require honest feedback on Luthra.

I am A3 – corporate (with a mix of real estate and some power/roads experience) - in a tier 2 firm/tier 3 firm and I am considering applying to the Delhi office of Luthra.

Are they hiring post all the exits? Which teams/partners are good in corporate transactions space?

It may be fun (and more most likely more sustainable) work, as most non-transaction practices tend to be, but you have to be cognizant that exit opportunities from a niche practice area such as PCP are very limited to non-existent. Infact, there aren't that many firms which you can move to once you start out in a place and the number of partnership places will also be limited.

Since work will often come due to the firm's brand name through UHNI clients, it will be a practice which benefits from the firm's brand name, and hence setting up your own shop down the line will also not be easy.

Just something to keep in mind.