I am an arts stream in 12th. So, engineering and medicine is not an option for me either. And I like social sciences and humanities. So law is a good career option from that POV as I am not particularly interested in pursuing a career in the government services where most arts graduates go ahead.

How are the prospects of shifting from Projects (M&A/Finance/Development) to in-house roles ? I believe because it should not be very difficult given the vastness of the practice area makes you sort of a generalist, with makes you a better fit for in-house roles compared to other candidates who have exclusively worked in M&A, B&F, or Gen Corp. What's your take people !

It will create a controversial sh*t storm and probably won't be implemented. How does one decide which languages CLAT should be held in? If it is conducted in Assamese then why not Bodo or Meitei or Mizo? If Hindi then why not Urdu or Bhojpuri or Maithili? What makes Kannada more important than Tulu or Marathi more important than Konkani? The North-Eastern states are largely multilingual, with each tribe using different languages to communicate, how do you decide which ones to prioritize? If you do something in favour of one group, others will say they are being put at a disadvantage.

The medium of instruction at NLUs is still English, important legal texts are mostly in English, the courts use English, recruiters look for candidates with good English proficiency.

Even if the govt considers holding CLAT in regional languages, what about the aforementioned issues? I'm not saying it's a bad idea but there is a long way to go before it can be implemented, we are not ready for it now.

Okay. Thank you.

But, don't you think that Law is a social instrument that we can use to change societal norms and behaviors? So as students of law, are we not supposed to try our best to make the worth of our legal education and bring change in society, especially in workplaces?

I have read and heard that many self-made senior advocates treat their juniors well and also pay decently and help them grow in their life. Can't we be like them?

If placements are all you care about then there's no reason to leave NUJS. Their placements are great, sometimes even better than NLS and NALSAR. However the campus infra at NUJS is horrible, there is a shortage of hostel rooms and whatever is available is also in bad shape. If you're a Kolkata local then it probably won't matter much as you can stay at home but if not, this is something to keep in mind.

NLUD grad here. Echo what the rest say. NLUD has better professors, focuses more on research and academia etc. but NALSAR has the undisputed advantage when it comes to law firm jobs.

Having said that, first batch of NLUD students and second batch (essentially 2013 and 2014 passouts) have started making partners in corp law firms last year and this year. And in 5 year times that’s five batches more of partners from NLUD which will result in enough partners in T1 law firms by the time you graduate for this advantage of corp placement to slowly even out. But then again, I still believe NALSAR will be ahead. But maybe in time when a few of these freshly made salaried partners have made equity partners, and NLUD has enough alumni who are partners in corp law firms you would see it even out significantly. But that’s still 8-10 years away, and corp firms advantage of NALSAR is lesser consideration for someone writing Ailet and clat 3 years later :)

Also general is not “merit”. People are liberal and progressive. No one cares (or should care) how you got in. It’s what you do in your 5 years and after that matters. :)

Disclaimer: MY ADVICE IS TOTALLY AN ADVICE, TAKE IT JUST AS A FACTOR.

See, through NRI, you will be paying thrice more than the normal course. If your parents can afford it without a educational loan or without any external support, you can go for it, and if not ten please do not.

The reason is, Becoming student of Tier 1 NLUs doesn't guarantee you anything.

Law degree is not transferable. Forget countries, even across states, people are being involved in local nepotism whether through institution or place or language.

Degrees like b.tech or MBA or MBBS will help you get a foot through anywhere in the world. Any job. Any place. Even if you're average. Hell, even merchant navy or hospitality management or air stewardship is more in demand than law. Only way out is if you're the 0.1% in law, been abroad or have enough to finance being abroad.

31, just made PA at a T1 this year. Working since 2016. Started as T2 lawyer and moved to T1 after 2 years (no savings of note - at best 1-2 L collectively during this time).

Moved to a T1 for 2 years then moved in house for 1 year in the middle and have continued back to T1 the last 2.5 years. Based out of Bangalore. Saved about 60L (mutual funds, FDs, NPS and some smallcase equity). Savings have exponentially increased the last 2.5 years.

Mods, is there any way to ascertain the truth behind this claim? If this is actually real, it is very very problematic and underscores the dark reality of law firms. People deserve to know. If it's not, should be marked as contested as such fake stories can potentially discourage people from joining firms.

I just gave my insights. This profession is ruled by middle-aged uncles and aunts who think that youngsters are their slaves and go to any lengths to establish their own kids in this profession. NLUs have brought about the corporate law firm culture a bit but it's all very artificial and wouldn't last long. I am assuming u are a first generation lawyer , it is no use bereting your respect to such a low level honestly. Law is no longer a noble profession as it was years ago.

Btw, don't we daily see the threads here about lawyers wanting a job for 25k? At least CA easily gets 50-60k on average. Just because some 200-300 people get high paying jobs at the cost of complete life, doesn't make law degree superior, especially there are so many people just desperate to get some job. Doesn't happen with CAs and no need to glorify the profession by just pointing to a small section. Both professions are strong in their respective areas so let's live together.

Mods see an obfuscated version of the IP addresses. See here for more details: https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/295300-is-legally-india-truly-anonymous#comment-295578

But surely proficiency in English is not required to be an excellent engineer or designer in the same way that it is required in the legal profession? English proficiency is a soft skill for an engineer but a minimum requirement for a person to be a competent lawyer. Of course, I am not trying to claim that students who crack the vernacular version of CLAT will not be able to become competent lawyers. It is just that they will need to become proficient at English if they aren't already.

This absolutely off the point. CA here, dealing in tax laws and have worked in big 4, law firms and extensively with lawyers for more than 20 years so equally qualified to comment on this. The only reason why a CA does LLB is if you're doing tax litigations, and want to go to High Court, which is a very small minority. Else, for a CA, multiple roles are open, including business side of the things, unlike lawyers, where only litigation or advisory works largely, though definitely there are exceptions. For a CA, accounting or compliance roles are always going to be there but now the ambit is way more. Technology is another area where a lot of CAs have started to focus. Obviously there are financial sector roles, where CAs again excel because of inherent training in finance and understanding of overall business. So let's not belittle any profession or qualifications. If Big 4 pay less, the amount of people recruited in Big4 is also way more. All the big law firms taken together can't match headcount of one big 4. Also, since you compared about pay in a big 4 vs tier 1, in a year, say only 300-400 freshers will be taken in overall tier 1 firms, which is less than what a single big 4 will recruit so the depth of firms is also way more. Work life balance is also way better than tier 1. I can continue here for way longer, but I think I've made my point.

I got your concern. But, isn't all the industry pretty much the same for mediocre and below average people?

Nowadays, even in govt jobs you have to work a lot hard for some 40-50k or so.

Yes, I got your concern that Litigation pays peanuts. But, what if I get into a Top 5 NLUs then work really damn hard and land a good in house role then I think I will earn decent and have a decent life and may be try for judiciary exams.

Well the increase in revenues is not on account of increase in fee rates but on account of head count growth. Infact profitability margins have been coming down. Therefore, while the Lala and top equity partners still get to take home more as compared to a few years back because of the growth in gross revenue due to growth in headcount and therefore growth in net profit, the levels haven’t really moved up for associates, retained partners and fresh equity partners. Where Trilegal is different is that because of there being no Lala and the top equity partners having caps on their profit entitlement, the increase in net profit above the equity partner caps devolves upon people down the food chain. In KCO similarly it is rumoured that the managing partner has capped his take home earnings. In all other firms it’s the Lala who has been growing his profit on headcount growth, while everyone remains stagnant due to stagnant billing rates. Any place where the promoter/ promoter family controls more than 10-12 percent, can never offer equitable compensation to its talent. Nowhere in the developed world, does one person/ one family get to take the lion’s share of profit in a professional services firm. Unless the promoters shed their equity in favour of their partners and leave part equity on the table to remunerate their talent down the food chain better, the best partners and the best associates will keep gravitating to Trilegal and others who are able to pay better. Unfortunately, the promoters are used to earning a certain sum every year and growing their earnings at a certain rate every year. Until they realise that their ways of earning disproportionate money is leading to a decline of their firms nothing will change. As of now, they’re all hoping that Trilegal is a bubble which will burst in due course. The market needs Trilegal to succeed (and foreign law firms to be permitted to come in).

Please stop this language chauvinism. NEET is conducted in 13 languages, and JEE in 11 languages. Before Microsoft and Apple draft contracts, they have to conceive the idea of building something, design it, develop it, and then roll it out (all while they might have engineers to took the JEE in Urdu or Telugu). They do so quite easily. Excuses do not help.

Hi,

I’m willing to give Clat PG 2025 and would like to know about the salary that these PSUs, who recruit through Clat scores, give in-hand after you’re recruited. Unfortunately, I couldn’t understand the pay scale that is mentioned on their websites so I’d like to have a realistic and honest salary figure that I can actually use for my expenses.

I already know about how the work-life balance would be far better than any law firm and hence I wanted to have this option as a backup alongside my 1st preference of an in-house counsel at an MNC.

Thanks

Tier 1's are exactly the kind of places where Freshers should intern.

In most teams, at all T1 firms, work done by A0s, A1s and Interns is more or less the same?

[Disputes, IPR and GenCorp might expect these blokes to do some research too - which is the only thing these young Interns will be not good at.]

Proofread!

In case young lawyers go to Trial Courts, they are bound to create a royal mess which will actually affect the lives of people.

I'm part of an up-and-coming IP law firm that's making waves on social media and beyond. My supervising partner, however, has drafted me into a matter where she knowingly filed fabricated documents (in an IP infringement lawsuit). Joined the profession long after the incident. Now, I'm on the vakalat and worried about the fallout from her professional lapses in handling this case. The opposing counsel has us on knife point with material that proves beyond doubt that the documents we filed are falsified, and with the hearing date fast approaching, I'm feeling increasingly uncomfortable.

I like the firm overall but don't want my name tied to this mess. Unlike her and the other founders, I don’t come from privilege. Any suggestions on what I should do?

Always wanted to pursue law and social sciences but I come from a place where not even a single person has heard about CLAT/NLUs. I was good in academics and scored over 95% in ICSE. Took science in class 11th. Did not study at all as I was not interested and it's almost impossible to understand scientific concepts online (I am from one of the COVID batches). Started struggling a lot in class 12th as had not studied anything in class 11th and kinda got frustrated with my life.

I started looking at other career options as I had realized that science was not my thing and I am not gonna get a good college through my class 12th marks. Got to know about CLAT and somehow convinced my parents to let me prepare for CLAT (My parents had already spent more than 4-5lakhs on my JEE prep by then). My parents agreed to let me prepare for CLAT and ignore my JEE tuition. I never went to any CLAT tuition and prepared from YouTube and free mocks from Telegram.

Cracked CLAT and made it into a T1 NLU. Although I scored a bit over 80% which was a huge drop from my class 10th performance, I saw my parents the happiest! My journey taught me that it's never too late to try your passion and don't be afraid to try something new. I am also very lucky to get such supportive parents who had allowed me to venture into something that even they did not have complete knowledge about after spending 4-5lakhs on a career option. They had the faith in me!

As a recent NALSAR graduate (BA,LLB 2017-2022), I would strongly recommend that you should opt for NLSIU if you get it in the later allotments. Most people on the outside judge these law schools based on the employment outcomes at the time of graduating. However, the most important thing during student life is the quality of teaching that you receive inside the classroom and the attitudes of your immediate peers. NALSAR was doing decently in terms of classroom teaching in the years leading up to the pandemic. There were a few bad apples, but most of the teachers we had were fully engaged with their subjects and gave meaningful time and attention to the students. However, many of our better young professors left for JGLS, NLSIU and other places, especially during 2022-2023 as there was a prolonged power-struggle over who should be made Vice-Chancellor. From what I am hearing from my immediate juniors, the new Vice-Chancellor, Srikrishna Deva Rao, has gone in for fresh faculty recruitments this year but the overall teaching standards have visibly declined in the last two years. On the other hand, NLSIU has gone from strength to strength since Sudhir Krishnaswamy became the VC there in the latter half of 2019. NLSIU has held faculty selections in every academic year since then and there is no doubt that the best of the younger teachers are gathering here. On present form, NLSIU will definitely offer a much better-grounded academic experience. NALSAR may manage to keep up with the ranking, but the quality is likely to decline further in the next few years.

I can only tell you about NLS so that you can make your own decision.

NLS has a trimester system with almost the same class hours per trimester as other NLUs have in a semester. Plus the evaluation pattern with multiple response papers, projects, etc in addition to exams makes it very hectic. But it does push you to work harder. Other than this, most professors are very very good. Some are not as good as others and some sections end up getting good profs and others don't.

Secondly, the batch size problem is real and may become a challenge for placements. I doubt if the legal market can absorb 300 students just from NLS. It is not a problem with classroom interaction as class size will remain at 60.

But the best things are the NLS tag and the alumni network. NLS alumni are in every big place and they are more than willing to help you out if you ask for it. I have interned with tier 1 firms where alumni partners have invited me to their offices just for an informal chat. Whichever career path you want to explore, you will find an alum there whom you can email and who will be happy to help. Lack of opportunity will never be a problem. You will of course have to work hard after that, but you won't find it difficult to get those opportunities.

So in conclusion, NLS is hectic but the rewards are great if you can survive it. You can do great in any college but the NLS background helps.

https://www.legalbusinessonline.com/india-saraf-exits-ll-following-spat-announces-21-partner-firm

Read all the names

Practically two different firm. Work culture in Mumbai is far better than the toxic culture in the Delhi team.

Excessively understaffed, and moody seniors is what the people working there told me. NO OPEN DOOR POLICY. Even as an intern I could see the associates hesitating in asking timelines/other questions from their seniors. I have heard the partners, in the banking team, are really uncoordinated and throw the juniors under the bus. Mumbai associates seem happier and more satisfied and hardly have anything negative to say about their senior, while the Delhi bunch cannot stop complaining about the partners and the ones about to become partners.

A very pertinent question, and many others that come to mind:

Does look awkward for the consortium to hold the test in regional languages (e.g. Bangla and Manipuri) and expect those states to agree?

With non-English languages, the overall number of test takers in increase leading to greater revenue for the consortium. The biggest revenue contribution will be from those who take the test in Hindi. Given the stance of the Karnataka state government towards Hindi, will the consortium be allowed to profit from Hindi test takers? Is this hypocritical? After all you oppose a language but are OK to financially benefit from it.

With all this bickering between the states (and their respective NLUs) will some states break-away? For e.g. nothing stops Maharashtra to bring the three MNLUs under the ambit of MHCET. Will the NTA be brought in, as a consortium based in Karnataka as a state entity does not have the remit to conduct a "national" test?