I have been in the profession for 14 years now. The answer to your question is actually simple - learn to say no. If someone is giving you more work than you can handle, being abusive, intruding in personal life, long hair, etc. - just say no.

BUT, there has to be an order to things. Focus on being good/ indispensable in your work. I dont know what hair band you use or how you other wise dress - long hair cant be an excuse to look shoddy. Someone wearing red pant and green shirt (no matter howsoever formal looking and branded) will be asked to revisit his wardrobe.

Your question was a bit free-flowing (as if no one ever had this idea of keeping long hair during job), hence I believe the initial negative feedback. No one gives a crap how you keep your hair. Just dont end up losing your job because of this. In life, you will face situations where you will have to give up (hard earned) things that will be more valuable than hair. So, I guess, just take a chill pill for now, grow your hair, push your boss back a bit, then tell us in 6 months what happenned. Sounds good?

If you got accepted to top LLM programmes like Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, etc it’s easier to get your foot in renowned international law firms albeit still tremendously difficult. It doesn’t matter what experience you will have, you will still be a regarded associate in designation. It’s futile to have a future as a dispute resolution lawyer abroad however if you were interested in corporate, it would be easier but still difficult nonetheless

Depends heavily upon the year, economy, firm trends & practices, and individual batches — but on the basis of past 4-5 years as I've seen it, the rough percentage for T1 offers would be around 25-35%. Another 10-15% get comparably paying T2/boutique firms, and another 10-15% get decently paying in-house opportunities (ranging anywhere from 12-18LPA). A decent number (maybe 20-30%?) don't sit for placements and opt for litigation chambers, higher studies, competitive exams etc, and the rest settle for whatever opportunity they can get around the end of the programme.

I don't see a question here, and even if there were one, I don't think anyone else should answer and make that choice for you. In general professional contexts, not pursuing your field further after such a long degree would not be great for your CV and make scholarships highly unlikely, but hey, if your desire is strong enough and you can afford things on your parent's money, then who is anyone else to complain? :)

Approach older but well-established law firms which have perhaps not revised their firm structure around PPOs and prefer to hire freshers as trainees. A good example would be P&A Law Offices, which pays around 14LPA and has a great reputation in its niche areas, coupled with an okay-ish overall reputation. Other relatively lower-paying examples could perhaps be Desai & Diwanji, Fox & Mandal etc.

Hi, the best general tips on tangibly improving your academic and holistic performance in a T1 law school can probably be found in a detailed comment here: https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/341626-how-to-succeed-in-nalsar

But more than this, I want to highlight that - as a soon-to-graduate senior from NALSAR, I can confirm that I've seen far too many famed over-achievers come to nalsar from reserved category admissions, across batches. In fact, it's widely acknowledged that CLAT is an imperfect test that primarily evaluates your grasp of English and (supposedly) logical reasoning — but someone with enough money and social capital would come from a far better schooling and get far better coaching than their peers. This would, and indeed does, enable the privileged aspirants to game the system and thereby get a better score — in reality, a majority of the people from unreserved category at NLS/NALSAR/NUJS come from certain privilege. I can attest to this for Nalsar, particularly after the pattern changes etc. So, their CLAT rank is very likely not a reflection of "inherent intelligence", but rather firstly of privilege (of better schooling, coaching, having knowledgeable people guide you, likely money etc), and then merit.

Moral of the story? Don't take CLAT ranks to your heart. Once you're in the college, they're irrelevant.

On the other hand, in my humble opinion, what you've described in your struggles could be because of a plethora of reasons, ranging from (i) possible limited access to the best schools, whereas your general category friends from Delhi-Bombay very probably did, and that changes everything from how confident you feel to how much "new" efforts you need to put for exams due to how used to "faffing" you are, which practically gives most of the marks in law school; (ii) possible limited access to as good an amount of competitions promoting overall development and English proficiency as your peers likely did, and (iii) maybe you aren't as outgoing and befriending as some of your overconfident general category peers, who might be getting the simple advantage of asking the right seniors about notes, advice, and help etc.

I could be wrong about some of those inferences about you, but in general, most of such reasons as applicable to you are - crucially - not about "inherent" intelligence, but rather stemming from the fact that perhaps you weren't on a level-playing field as the people you want to compete with. That's understandable, and alright — but what you must do, is shift the focus from questioning any "inherent intelligence" and get into the groove of putting efforts to level your own playing field. In that light, a lot of the "inherently intelligent" people do not become great lawyers; it's far more about "capability" of putting the hard work in a smart manner that helps those working above you — which can only be developed, in due time. Your internships are intended to test this capability, and yes, smartness can help, but ultimately, almost everyone would be far more likely to give job offers to a very hard-working person with baseline smartness, rather than a smart but lazy intern.

So, buckle up. Everything's fine. The roadmap can be found in the comment I've attached. This comment should be enough motivation and clarification for the other concerns. The rest is in your hands :)

What even is the point? LI, for reasons best known to itself, sensors most comments for the Firm. Whether that’s their policy or at behest of someone at the Firm is best left to your judgment. I have personally seen some comments being published and then removed/ censored after a few hours. It becomes meaningless.

What could be a potential avenue and information forum for folks to evaluate the Firm, before they join, is being frittered away by LI.

Shame!

recently opposition politicians are saying that SC judges feel pressurised while giving judgements and I have seen a narrative being built that SC is not independent from government and government decides what judgment will come.
This has increased after the Arrest of Kejriwal and his cabinet ministers.

The batch in which this issue arose already knows the identity of the perpetrator as well as the victim. There had been witnesses to the incident as well.

Don't make the queerphobia incident anymore than it needs to be since it has already been cleared up. The principal issue in this case has been that of sexual assault/ rape. The reason why the fact finding committee was "bust" is because the victim, if there ever was, chose not to come out or even reveal the name of the offender to the concerned authorities. There has been widespread concerns of malicious intent behind sharing such post and that such a thing has not occurred. 210 students per batch and she still couldn't have come forward despite over arching support rendered by the student body, faculty, alumni and judiciary. This is the propaganda, quit bringing politics into it. All that was achieved had been to make the student community and parents feel unsafe. If this report had been a joke, fess up and cease this nonsense

At NUJS, the SH matter involving an ex-▮▮▮ and ▮▮▮ has been going in the local court since 2014. Not concluding any time soon. The ex-▮▮▮ ▮▮▮ (suspended since 2014) appealed before the Cal HC when his services were terminated in 2019. That is going on as well.

Now we have an Associate Prof who alleges SH ▮▮▮. She has now gone to Cal HC following police and university inaction.

https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/gujarat-high-court/gujarat-high-court-directs-gnlu-registrar-to-apologize-for-mishandling-rape-allegation-case-256488

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/on-allegations-of-sexual-harassment-queerphobia-hold-confidence-building-exercises-teach-inclusiveness-to-students-hc-tells-gnlu-9297804/

Gujarat HC probably doesn't know how hollow the SJA has become now.

True that the Committee did not find any direct evidence. No one came forward. But that was expected when there is a institutional culture of complicity and hushing up. If the AG is honestly circulating an anonymous Google link then maybe the direct evidence will be excavated.

However the Committee did report that there is evidence that there are institutional constraints, culture of fear et al that simultaneously create conducive conditions for such things to happen and also suppress complaints/due investigation.

Also please don't forget that Registrar did get scalped. Ofc it is a different matter that his replacement may not be any better.

Bhai cool dude banna tha, toh Entrepreneur bante. Computer Sc. leke kuch build karte. Suit pehn ke angrezi me gyan bhi dena hai, aur hero bhi banna hai.

Lawyer ho. Lawyer ki tarah serious dikho. Cool banoge toh client tumhe sasta rockstar nahi, Sasta ChatGPT samjhega aur kahega yeh toh main GPT se bhi karva lunga.

"When and where did things change so much that 'Go back to Poland' can be a slogan today? The current milieu has been building for some time, and via the same elite universities that now feel powerless to contain their wards and enforce house rules. Somewhere along the line, efforts to diversify faculty and infuse multiculturalism into syllabi - both admirable goals - became a single-minded pursuit of antiracism, anticolonialism, and gender and sexual orientation studies.

They were the guiding principles. This narrowing of the canon meant that only a certain kind of contemporary left learning was acceptable. Academic writing became obsessed with 'intersectionality' and 'de-centering Whiteness', robbing the room for complexity.

Professors of West Asia studies have been at the forefront of decolonising higher education, a worthy objective if done mindfully but not as indoctrination by other means. The Hamas attack showed how far things have lurched. Joseph Massad, professor of modern Arab politics at Columbia University, seemed to relish the attack. Writing on Oct 8 in The Electronic Intifada, he used words such as 'astonishing,' 'stunning,' 'astounding,' and 'awesome' to describe the 'takeover of settler-colonies' by Hamas. Cornell professor Russell Rickford called the Hamas attack 'exhilarating' and 'energising,' but later apologised."

https://twitter.com/seemasirohi/status/1784949803958366420/photo/1

Wow such bootlicker!! Praising the most corrupt family of the past two centuries. Bofor scams? 2G Scam? Commonwealth scam? Harshad Mehta scam?

Suggest you google "UPA 9 years, 9 scam" to understand the sheer magnitude of scams perpetrated by Gandhis and their stooges. You will be foolish to think they were not the beneficiaries.

"Let's not forget LIBRARY"

"The man was a pioneer of dedicating his wealth for public use instead of passing it on to his children"

I mean its perfectly fine to not like BJP. But just for THAT...don't pass statements that make it seem your brain has left your top floor and gone for a walk.

- Stalled economic reforms and zero legal/judicial reforms in the past year under Modi

- Overpopulation: too many people for too few jobs

- No end to Gaza and Ukraine conflicts

- Possibility of high tax/low-growth Congress government in India with Rahul as PM, as BJP's middle class vote bank is not turning up to vote

Are we headed for doomsday, in terms of placements?

I am a non-nepo kid practising IP law. I am very fortunate to have had a mentor (a professor during my LLM in IP in the UK) who helped me a lot. Thanks to this professor, I am working for a top foreign company in India and doing very well, both financially and in terms of exposure. It’s also a great workplace with a work life balance. In contrast, my life in a law firm, prior to my LLM, was very depressing: low pay, hectic work, not a single word of encouragement from my boss.

Nothing unusual in the timeframe. Even the Harvey Weinstein trial took 8 years or so and he got acquitted in the end. Sexual harassment cases require careful assessment of evidence and the need to give a fair hearing to all sides. In this case, there is a fundamental jurisdictional issue whether you like it or not: how can a university punish staff for acts committed outside campus?

We are portrayed as beasts for calling for the removal of dogs on campus, but the truth is that we love animals. We are deeply concerned about deforestation and feel terrible at the plight of tigers, elephants, rhinos, cute baby monkeys and orangutans etc. We oppose cutting down forests for industry.

However, that doesn’t mean we support the prevalence of vicious dogs on campus who bite teachers and students. These dogs are a threat to society. They need to be removed and in some cases even taken down.

It’s time we have a mature conversation about this instead of smearing the other side.

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

- on behalf of students of a reputed law school

By ”affected by” I mean cancellation of classes and possibly recruitments by law firms. By “involved with” I mean being a part of the protests, whether anti-Israel or pro-Israel. Also, any worries of visa cancellations or blacklisting by law firms?

There must be many Indian LLM students in the US right now, but we haven’t heard on social media from any of them, so very curious to know what’s going on.

Quoting the above comment:

"Just send the message on WhatsApp number. Max to max, you can get scold; [sic] whereas, you will have atleast [sic] some chances of getting an internship if you draft a well crafted message for WhatsApp. One person secured placement on Day Zero just like this in AZB in 24' batch even though she already secured vacation [sic] at HSF."

She was lucky. It could easily have turned out much worse. Very bad advice for the following reasons:

1. Dreadful encroachment on the partner's personal life.

2. Calling out romanticism: Stop acting like a vacation scheme at HSF (or anywhere) is some sort of golden stairway to the stars, please. Future trainees are selected from vacation scheme cohorts, so there is the possibility that she would not get a TC out of it even then, if they believe she isn't worth selecting. This means that her career prospects could have been impacted a few months down the line, if her behaviour had made a bad impression. Plus, there may be other reasons (e.g. visa problems) why the candidate may not be able to participate in the VS, only strengthening the case against such antics.

3. Classic case of short-termism: Do you really think such behaviour will be forgiven/forgotten that easily, if it gave offense in the first place (which it easily could have)? What if our person from 2024 batch (in the hypothetical where her antics gave offense) later gets involved in her UK career in India-related work that involves that partner/that firm? You think they will be pleased to work with her, however prestigious a firm she might be working at? Or even worse, suppose she decides to come back, either immediately after the TC or a few years' worth of PQE in England, in which case this foolhardy behaviour could impact her (hypothetical) post - HSF career prospects in India. Please don't adopt this reckless attitude when stuff you do in high stakes situations can come back to bite you later in life, sometimes years afterwards.

HNLU isn't too expensive anyway (2nd cheapest NLU after RML). It's easily one of the most value-for-money institutions, and your parameters to judge should be value-for-money not absolute fees. HNLU can get you into a well paying corp and DU can't. The RoI is therefore not even comparable, it's a joke.

Doing litigation is definitely greater RoI if you become successful. This is an if. If you like to gamble, go for it. But nothing stops you from doing lit after HNLU either.

Is there a single party in India that is truly secular? I have no religious beliefs or affiliations and it seems to me there is no one to vote for. BJP opts for Hindu appeasement and Congress for Muslim/other minority religions appeasement. Is there no secular, and solely pro-development party?

Given the chaos occurring frequently at GNLU causing it to be considered as a meme NLU due to administration issues, who had been the better administrator, Shantakumar or Bimal Patel, especially with regards to taking necessary actions in improving student life, and holding professors to a certain standard?

Mods, please post this

Find firms with a high attrition rate, if just getting placed in a tier one firm is your only priority. Go for a 3 month internship with firms like Saraf which offer long term internships, work tooth and nail if all goes well you might be able to get a job. Secondly, all of these things are very luck dependent, you might feel like you are all prepared for the big dance but just the night before you might end up with a broken leg, your mentor might leave on the last day of your internship or your partner might leave the firm, so be prepared for such situations. Keep a brave heart, give your best in this 2-3 months, if it works out great, if it doesn’t don’t lose hope start with anything you can find be it an average litigation chamber in Delhi, just don’t sit around wasting time. Remember kid, this is a marathon not a 100m race, no matter where you are if you are serious in 5 years you’ll be churning gold.

for the love of all that is holy, do not do this. It feels immensely violative if a random kid knows your phone number - unless that phone number is on their law firm website. Use the official channels they provide - else it is a blacklist.

Best way is to interact with their content on linkedIn and share your thoughts

If moderators can't spare an hour each for moderation then we need a new set of mods. Some of us students depend on this site for actual life changing updates i hope you guys get the responsibility upon you. Other than the bs which takes place here it is actually used for good shit too this site.