There is blue chip work both in the Mumbai and Delhi office with terrible culture prevalent in both. If you want to stick around for the initial years then its a no brainer for you to join. But towards the top, there will come a point where your "Counsel" tag will remain the same and you will rethink your tenure at the firm. Although KCO takes care of its people who have stuck through the years, but the I&R space is a top-heavy room with some of the biggest sharks in the game - KSS, Bishnoi etc who will sometimes be difficult to work with, given the pressure from clients for urgent turnaround requirements and contiuing attrition in such teams. Barring KCO, folks at JSA and AZB put in great work (avoid SAM, CAM and Trilegal - their I&R is non existent basis only the advisory mandates).

Couple of months back when I was about to rejoin kco, the practice Partner ensured benchmarking (15-20% hike) my retainer in Mar/Apr'24. He mentioned that the firm is in the process of benchmarking their pay and a substantial fraction of the workforce is likely to benefit. Yeah, so I'm hopeful and so should be you.

Hello, have been seeing people on LinkedIn work as a research assistant to law professors in Indian and foreign universities. Are such internships of value? Also can someone elaborate on how to apply for the same. For e.g. : most professors in Jindal prefer giving it to Jindal students only, so is there such a bar or can others also apply?

I recently had a conversation with my friend who is a judiciary aspirant. And he just named a few states where there are speculations that the judicial services examination are held for the name sake and they are completely rigged. Seats are sold for crores :/

As someone who is confused after doing law, and don't want to do corporate, I am immensely confused. I just wanna leave this country lol.

Hi, can you explain how the AI/ML will impact only indirect tax litigation and not direct tax litigation?

And I differ from you re prospects of indirect tax. Indirect tax folks are dealing with completely new law and the judicial precedents are still to evolve. So there's going to be plenty of work to go around for next decade easily.

bro the arguing counsel is a senior advocate (designation conferred by court, most likely 20+ years of experience, familiarity with most if not all of the judges that will sit on the bench), and the partner many times has like 10-12 years of experience and a fraction of the credibility in the eyes of the judge.

My elective options: public health law, patent law, competition law, world trade law, forensic science, law and public servants, women's rights, agriculture law, investment law and nanotech law. Can choose two but making a list of top four. Can someone help me out. I'm interested in corp so picking corp aligned subjects

As far as T1s are concerned, not sure how good a presence has KCO built in there ? Also how is the work culture in the insolvency/ restructuring team(s) there ? Any insights would be helpful.

SAM, CAM and AZB seem to dominate this area. Even trilegal seems to be lagging behind here.

Strictly English is classroom. Most students are comfortable in English. Most colloquially spoken language on campus is Tamil, Hindi comes third. Bengali, Odia Kannada and Telugu students are there but they mostly speak in Hindi. People from Kerala speak in Malayalam among themselves.

Its terrible at the big firms for the following reasons:

1) You have to work on Excel and will be sometimes required to make PPTs, unlike other practices.

2) Work at the junior levels is only diligence and no exposure/very less exposure to drafting stuff.

3) Tighter deal deadlines with very less bonuses as compared to other teams like B&F and M&A.

Actually very few people are average mathematically speaking. They are either above average or below average. That’s how you usually get the “average”. It would be a remarkable statistical coincidence if a majority of a sample set of any population resided squarely at the “average” level - very u likely imho.

I m that hierarchy wala note guy.

Also, one more thing. IB is more terrible than Corp Law. Here analysts and associates on average work from 80-120 hours per week. Almost, every year the banks witness some suicides in this levels. From VPs and above the hours are about 70-90 hours per week.

So here is the front end Investment Banking Hierarchy -

Analyst (2-4 Years) = 100-125K US$ Base Pay

Associate (3-7 Years) = 175-225K US$ Base Pay

VP (7-11 Years) = 250-300K US$ Base Pay

ED/SVP (9-15 Years) = 300-350K US$ Base Pay

MD (12-15+ Years) = 500-600K US$ Base Pay

Bonus Money - This ranges from 50% - 200% of their Base Pay. Entirely depends on the performance of the bank and the market scenario.

These figures are only for the Global Bulge Bracket IBs such as Goldman Sachs, JPM, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Bank of America, City Bank, etc. Also, these figures are only for front-end Investment Banking roles such as M&As, IPOs, LBOs, etc. This figure is especially for cities like NYC, London, Singapore, etc.

In India, the scene is very different.

These same banks pay are -

Analyst - 40-60LPA

Associate - 75 - 100 LPA

VP - 125-150 LPA

ED/SVP - 200-250 LPA

MD - 300-350 LPA

Bonus = 50-150%

Again for the Global Bulge Bracket Banks only.

In India, these banks only hire a handful of 5-10 people from the top 5 IIMs and IITs only in their front-office IB analyst roles.

Boutique firms pay way less as compared to the Global Bulge Bracket banks.

But it's also expensive to rent there, remember that. Don't think that 1 million USD is Rs 8 crore. 1 million USD is 1 million USD. You may NY prices for everything, not Mumbai prices. This is why IIMs and IITs are dishonest when they say that their grads are getting 1 cr average salary. They convert USD to rupees.

But just one point in Mahua's defence: her ex husband Lars Bronson is also a banker in London and she stayed with him, so her rent would have been lees. If she is currently receiving alimony then that adds to her savings. She also does not have kids and says rent-free in Delhi. Thus, it is equally possible for her to spend on so many luxury items without relying on Darshan Hiranandani.

The bottom line is this: the password-sharing issues and the cash-for-bribes issue have distinct trails. The first trail is established but not the second one as yet, beyond Darshan's affidavit. Darshan needs to prove he bought all of this for her.

To be very truthful - I have faced many setbacks iny life and I have felt exactly the same way you are feeling now. My only learning is that you don't have to take failures / setbacks to your heart. You have to let it go and start moving ahead - with fresh vigor and renewed spirit. Just get up buddy. As you will rise in your profession, you are bound to experience more setbacks - that's how growth happens - don't be afraid of those.

I understand you feel hurt and which is natural.

But there is nothing to be gained from dwelling on these feelings. This is how the world operates. From another perspective i genuinely feel that you are very lucky that you had sh an experience quite early in your life

This will help you take more mature decisions which will be beneficial for your growth. The important thing is that rather than taking it as a setback consider it as a springboard for future success.

You should feel free to give all your time and energy to making the institution that you think will be so wonderful. Other people are not obligated to carry out your agenda. It's a free country. You do you. And don't feel like you need to go to these horrible socialist law schools. If the model you propose is the best way of doing things, someone in this big country must be running things the way you say. Vote with your feet.

Very obviously, most the guys in here don't know much about RL. True, there's been some exits, attrition etc, but which firm doesn't? To tell Prasad was inexperienced is just bollocks - everyone who has worked in the sector would know how much clients appreciate him and his work.

Also, Archana is based out of Germany, and not the US (it's not that difficult to run a firm from there, with it being just 3.5 hours behind India for 9 months in a year). And if she's doing this only as a side-hustle, isn't she doing a really insanely great job to be running a firm, which is easily the top PE/VC firm, outside of the multi-generational firms; and having it achieved it in under 7 years, being a first-gen (woman) lawyer (in a heavily male-dominated PE/VC world). Moreover, if someone's not available for clients, does a shoddy job, why would the client's continue working with the firm, when there are literally a hundred law firms in this sector, and a lot of them (incl. the Big Law), working for astonishingly low hourly rates or fixed fee mandates.

And lastly, RL pays 13.5L to freshers (10.5L + 3L), and at the senior level, it's quite competitive to tier 1s (else why would anyone from tier 1 jump ship? common sense?).

They are startups, not big enough to engage a whole tier 1 law firm for their work.PSUs don't have much transcational requirements,it's majorly routine secretarial filings and litigation and disputes which can take care of in Delhi .

Mumbai has all big investment banks, hedge funds , ARCs and stuff

Well GLC and NLU's are extremely different. GLC is a namesake college zero attendance requirements and no campus life. Almost 4/5 years you can intern.

NLU's are more like a full on 5 years of campus life like you have in IITs/Western countries. Here you have to study almost 4/5 years.

Question is do you want to have a campus life or just want to start interning from first year.

ECM is low margin, but is capable of bringing in a lot of business for a full service firm, due to retention of the newly listed client and their annual compliances and stuff. Manu of future fundraises are given to the same firm. Which is why this is possible.

2nd, ▮▮▮ barely has a book, so they will have to negotiate ▮▮▮ to a managing post in ECM and Other partners including Richa in the others. But considering the other teams of Trilegal and the GC powerhouse, a strong ECM team is not totally out of the books, because as mentioned earlier, clients already prefer Trilegal over the others.

Just read a basic guide on company and contracts law. They asked stuff like what's a sweat equity share and what's the difference between indemnity and guarantee. And they'll also ask you for yours preferred months to intern. If u answer all the questions, they give you your first choice, if you don't they give you your second choice if you're able to answer some questions. Otherwise they reject you

Exactly my point, it won't work out since ECM is a low margin practice. Hiking retainers net-net would mean paying folks more than how much business they are bringing in. Also Bhakta is head of practice there and given how Manan's books are twice/thrice of his along with the individual books of his junior partners, there are variants with regards to structure/billing/profit sharing; which will be need to be put in place if there is a possible shift. Not sure how it will work out though.

As far I know, it's a senior position but the pay isn't up there. And yes, there are hundreds of VP in JPM. Since they deal with clients, the vice president designation gives them a sense of reliance on the person involved in the dealing.

The ranking is like:

Graduate Analyst - Fresher

Analyst - 6-12 months

Senior Analyst - 1-3years

Associate - 2-5 years

Senior Associate -3-8 years

VP usually: 8-10 years

And the pay does not exceed 60 LPA in most cases and ranges from 20-60 LPA.

Major tax chunk is handled by CAs. It involves consultancy, compliance, representation. Consult practice means planning the transactions, creating &/or vetting the papers from tax angle (domestic as well as international tax).

Compliance is returns & various forms preparation alongside financial statements &/or books of accounts. It includes transfer pricing, advance rulings, APAs, etc.

Same with international taxation. CAs from non-metros too have some or other form of work from international tax as every business has something to do with foreign entities. Of course Big 4 CA firms have lions share.

Representation is appearing for clients at various stages that include assessments at department level. First appeals & similar at department level. Second appeals at tribunal level. Big 4 are less interested here, they hire other CAs for labour arbitrage. They prefer consulting.

Till this level, CAs have major business. Later appeals are at high court & supreme court levels for that advocates are briefed.

If if one is fine to keep pace with thousands of amendments every year in various ways like law amendments & judgments, this is quite lucrative practice.

Not everyone needs to be Salves or Datars.
This is about direct tax practice. Indirect Tax practice is going to be LESS lucrative in my opinion (& I can be wrong) due to advent of AI & ML. Consultancy in IDT is quite limited. Compliance is heavy but it is dominated by non-CAs as anyone can do that. Litigation is going to boom in next 5 years after tribunals come into picture but later on they will go down as there won't be anything to dispute.

The faculty is horrible btw. Just as bad as the crowd. Usually, in govt colleges when your peers come through reservation and are largely incompetent, you hope to find comfort in the fact that the professors would be brilliant but they're just as bad as the students. Permanent professors come through reservation as well. There are a couple of very conscientious visiting faculties though.

A law school is not made to make you a corporate lawyer. Courses having relevance in market is not a good enough argument. The college needs to be neutral to be useful for everyone, academics, litigators, teachers and also corp lawyers. Saying jurisprudence and similar courses are irrelevant is the shittiest take I've ever heard. Corp law is barely law, you can learn it on the job in 3-4 months, what hard is the business and financial aspect of it which comes only with experience and not theory.

Tier ones are huge with multiple partners in one team. It is impossible and irrelevant to trust a blanket statement on any firm saying trilegal is shit or kco is goat, it all depends on individual teams. You can have a great team in tri and a shitty one in kco and vice versa.

Get more nuanced, choose a team, find out the partner, ask about the partner. The firm's name is literally irrelevant

After your internship and presentation a feedback form is generated and sent to your team, they provide feedback basis which your call back / ppo is decided.

Worst part is that the team takes more than a month to fill the feedback or fill it half ass, and most of the interns do not get good enough work to accurately assess them. Hence it really is a hit or miss at kco. Because if unfortunately your team does not give you good work during your 1 month internship and only gives you shitty research or editing then there's nothing to give feedback on and you miss your chance at ppo because of the 1 internship policy of kco. You don't get a call back or a ppo after your internship, that's the end of kco chapter for you.

There's a lot of chatter happening online about Mahua Moitra and her VP-ship at JP Morgan 6-7 years ago, which she resigned from to join politics. Her stans are saying that a VP at JPM is a very senior and well-paid position, so she can easily afford to buy dozens of expensive shoes, bags, diamonds etc with her savings. On the other hand, her haters are saying that banks like JPM have "hundreds" of VP posts and VP is an "entry-level" rank there with average salaries. I personally don't believe the haters and I think it's just BJP IT cell propaganda. IMO a VP at JPM would probably be earning at least 2-3 crores a year, at par with partners at Big 7 law firms. But just wanted to know what others here think?

Also, is it better in terms of money and prestige to be a VP at a bank, even desi ones like Axis or HDFC, in comparison with being a law firm partner? And do they hire lawyers? Or should we do an MBA?

I never said the placement committee is putting. You're disconnected from the top of your batch if you think the placecom is to be relied on by the best students. The smartest kids almost half of them don't apply through placecom because you can't pick your team, alot of kids have been interning on their own since first two years and then tier ones from 3rd.

Placecom is for the rest of the kids who fail in landing a ppo. Kids who get internships through placecom don't have any work ex as the hrs rely only on marks and other bs criteria and 90% of these kids suck at their job don't get call backs and ppo and end up doing free labour for 1-2 months at various tier ones.

The smart ones don't even care about the placecom, they have been interning with tier ones since the 2-3rd year it self and have enough contacts (associates, friends etc) to apply on their own in their preferred team.

I have been interning for 2 years now and I have ppo interview scheduled with a tier one for next month and have never even applied once in rcc

Why is this marked trollish? Many people do it. There is a certain senior alum of a tier 1 NLU who is today a partner at a top firm. The guy is a legend for future generations because of the amount of cheating he did during exams. All seniors tell their juniors about him, like grandparents tell their grand kids about heroes from the Mahabharata, or about Shivaji and Netaji.

Here are some tactics he used:

- Keep textbooks in the toilet and consult them during bathroom breaks

- Take extra sheets home and write notes on them, to bring to the next exam

- Write notes on very tiny sheets of paper

Good luck!

Ganda hai, par dhanda hai yeh. Intake has to increase and the fee has to rise to keep this state NLU financially viable, in the absence of funding from the Karnataka Govt. Domicile reservation has to be sustained to keep the activists and the government happy - quality is not a priority in any state institution. This is only the start of the fall.

GLC is very underrated, because people outside Maharashtra don't pay much heed to it because of the reservation. GLC can prove to be a great choice after the top 7 or 8 NLUs for Maharashtra Students. And regarding renowned law schools, Mumbai has an NLU, and more than 50 government and private law colleges. GLC is "the renowned law school in Mumbai" because its reputation in Mumbai and the quality of lawyers it makes be it in Litigation or Corporate.