This comment shows a very, very poor grasp indeed of the reality of how the UK legal market works. It is true that there may not be a "requirement" for an undergrad and yes, it is true that at many of the big firms, about 50% of their recruitment is done from applicants with non-law degrees.

However, remember those are people with UK non-law degrees. A partner at one of the MC firms, for example, has a degree in ancient history from UCL. Others are clacisists from Oxford. You haven't taken into account the British sense of insularity: with a foreign law degree, especially a non-top-five NLU one (read: a degree from a not-good university), it is hard to place you - gage where you are, etc. And anything that falls into that bracket is, in the majority of cases, easier to reject (from the point of view of a law firm graduate recruitment officer or partner unless there is substantial good stuff in other aspects of the profile), especially when that means "non-NLU". This blind recruitment stuff is increasingly happening, but not as common as pro-social mobility advocates would like. Remember all their talk about "social mobility" and broadening the base of universities they recruit from and so on is (1) the world's best packaged bullshit (the statistics speak for themselves - see who are the majority of folks getting into UK law firm jobs and promoted, people with UK Russell Group LLB or non-law degrees followed by SQE/PGDL etc); and (2) to the extent it is said in good faith and something they intend to do, that applies far more to their own context (Russell Group vs. non-RG and so on) rather than to our contexts. Indeed, they have reasons not to want to broaden their social mobility talk to our jurisdiction: already UK employers are getting blasted by politicians/the government about relying on foreign recruitment. Knowing how desperate Starmer is to show like he's clamping down on immigration, were I him and were I to hear that law firms are talking about social mobility in recruitment from non-UK jurisdictions, I would: (1) go to Nigel Farage's constituency office in Clacton-on-Sea; (2) hand him the keys to Downing Street; and (3) flee the country (or if I had a more traditional soldier-like sense of honour, ask the tough guys at the SAS base in Herefordshire for some of their pretty toys and use one of them to blow my brains out). That's how out of touch the writer of this comment is with the UK environment.

As for the non-law degree students themselves, I have myself observed the dynamics around those, having done a UK LLB and having run a student society at my uni dedicated to helping non-law students get into city law firm careers. The knowledge and skills gaps in most cases are quite significant and unless a particular non-law applicant were to be absolutely amazing in various ways, it would be very hard for them to get a TC. Were this applicant (I will use the word "applicant" instead of the social media slang "OP" for the sake of sophistication) to have the kind of background they do topped up by a UK LLB, they wouldn't be as hard to place. They would have some fancy stuff on their profiles which typical UK law students don't have, which would make it easier for them to get experiences that even UK law students with good profiles are fighting like cats and dogs for.

Finally, these master's programmes you mention? They are, at the end of the day, master's programmes. They are called master's programmes - and not regulated by the SRA's barrister counterpart, the BSB - for a reason. Because they are academic programmes. They don't help you get into a UK law firm job. Either better to do an NLU law degree like NLSIU BALLB and get in the way those kids do (and those guys are quite smart, so therefore can directly apply to vac schemes) without the bother of an LLM, or better to do something like what this applicant is contemplating.

There might be many reasons that this applicant might find what they are contemplating an unattractive course of action: immigration uncertainties, the rise of Farage, the UK economy being in a sorry state... but this logic needs much more problematising and scrutiny than what it is receiving.

PS: Sorry for the strong language in para 2 above. One of the things that irritates me about India is that many people seem to have a very flawed understanding of how the UK works and yet they are taken as experts. This included yours truly BTW, before I went there. Might still do so, to a certain extent, I suppose.

you're right in your conclusion, but grossly wrong in your reasoning. Markets have been showing a downward trend post 2023, which was the peak. It just gets worse every year. And no, it is not only about demand and supply. Law firms have billed more in 2025 than in 2022, yet the hirings post these years have been very different. Why? Because of the evolving nature of operationality of law firms. No one wants to be bottom heavy anymore. And with the AI scare and fears of poor economic growth this year, it has only worsened. Supply and demand might have played a role, but quite a small one. Rest is just terrible luck for all of us.

2026 had a much worse placement scene, especially compared to 2025. 2025 was worse than 2024, which was worse than 2023, which was a great year but worse than 2022, which had the most firmwide placements because of the covid economic boom. Its a downward curve from here because in each successive year, retained (experienced) associates aren't moving as much, diminishing the need for new hires, because of a stagnant market.

We Indians hate to speak frankly about important things and trends because we prefer silence and connivance, but it is a known fact that the Indian corporate legal market is over saturated at the mid and high levels and renenue has stagnated too. More partners mean higher cost cutting with clients, and Claude AI is helping new gen partners match in quality without requiring juniors who would've handled the grunt work.

2027 onwards will be exponentially worse because its a vicious cycle as explained above. Firms like to say "Oh we will be shifting to the PPO model!" so they are able to employ free fresh monthly talent without promising in hired numbers. Its a classic strategy.

You wouldnt believe me when I say that in 2022, people were handed out PPOs based on single online internships, even compromising on quality because the markets were defiantly successful and required more labour, (tech/ infra/ lawyers etc). 5 years since, companies are making up excuses to layoff entire teams.

If you are in the 2027+ batches, you must learn to market yourself, as skills and legal knowledge dont suffice anymore. You must market yourself in providing faster product (using latest AI models), efficiently and most importantly better that the others.

(PS Please excuse the grammar, im high rn)

I'm at a t3 boutique firm doing indirect tax. I'm starting at a new place in nearly 3 weeks. I lack fundamental understanding of the law and would love advice on how to quickly bring myself upto pace of an A0. I know it can seem unrealistic, but something is better than nothing!

What are you talking about. I used to work here and left because the partner [...] was extremely rude to me on a regular basis. [...]
Also the comment about people leaving is five months old, when so many associates left one after the other. No offence, but if you don't know about the work culture (▮▮▮ ) or the fact that so many people left last year, I have to doubt whether your comment is genuine or whether it's posted by one of the partners anonymously. Again, no offence.

As a female partner in a Tier-1, high stakes team with a toddler at home, the pressure is overwhelming. Many days, the working hours are such that I barely get 15 to 20 minutes with my child before he is already asleep by the time I step away from my laptop or return from work. One of the hardest parts is never really being able to switch off, especially when unwell. I actually worry about falling sick because there is no real space to recover. Weekends are far from rest. They are for proving to myself and to my family that I can still be a present parent, keep things running at home, make decisions at home, and catch up on everything that slipped during the week at work. It is so exhausting.

And yet the usual response is that you are paid for this, or that you chose this path. But sometimes I find myself wondering if I really chose all of it in the way it turned out....

Hey. I want to pursue a MSc course from abroad. After completion of the msc, I plan to again join litigation practice in India.

Whether my msc study period will be counted as a gap year in my practice and do I need to get my license suspended?

Note: I will be linking my prospective msc thesis with law.

Good decision by Justice Nagarathna on 24 April 2026 allowing a minor rape victim to abort.see https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/womans-choice-relevant-cant-force-her-to-continue-unwanted-pregnancy-saying-child-can-be-given-for-adoption-supreme-court-531585

Both SG Tushar Mehta and ASG Aishwarya Bhati have been regularly opposing abortions for minor rape victims and for minor unwanted pregnancies. They have been calling it murder. While abortion must be considered carefully, Tushar Mehta and Aishwarya Bhati's approach is incorrect and imposes their ideological views on minor rape victims who are forced to complete pregnancies, deliver babies, and hand them over for adoption. Justice Nagarathna in this case asked the right questions on 24 April 2026.
Update - So Justice Nagarathna allowed the abortion. That is the right decision in case of a minor rape victim.
I recall a case before Delhi High Court Chief Justice Upadhyaya and Justice Anish Dayal in July/ August 2025. A minor rape victim wanted to abort. The Court was initially inclined to allow and doctors initially agreed.
ASG Aishwarya Bhati intervened, and a revised medial report was filed by the doctors stating that abortion would involve two procedures, first to deliver child, and second to kill it. And the Court was encouraged to call this murder. The Chief Justice questioned the Petitioner's Counsel saying she was asking them to direct murder. The result was that the abortion was denied. And the minor was offered free medical support for 5 years including for her psychological welfare. While the case was being heard, the minor was essentially in police custody in hospital, to prevent any unauthorised abortion. The High Court decision in that case failed the minor rape victim. Forcing a rape victim to deliver a child is unconstitutional and violative of her human rights. And compelling an adoption of an unwanted rape conceived child by a minor has its own life long trauma. Aishwarya Bhati also got the doctors to say that the abortion posed medical risks to the minor as it could potentially cause life long damage to reproductive abilities. The doctors were never asked to state that these risks were minor. Am glad that Justice Nagarathna has clarified the law.

To answer the first one. As I have said earlier. I am not from a premier college in India. The grading system our university follows is not a high scoring one. And on top of that my marks are low/below average.

Thank you for your second para. It's not as of BCL or LLM had not crossed my mind. But many are saying LLMs are useless for non academia jobs. And that BCL is primarily depended on your UG grade, which brings me back on square zero

If you don't mind paying 4.5k extra annually, you can use Parallels Desktop and run Windows on your Mac (keyboard shortcuts might take some getting used to). The lack of ports on a Macbook is super annoying, but a lot of higher end Windows slim / lightweight laptops have the same problem. Just buy a USB hub for the thunderbolt port on a Mac.

Overall, a Macbook will likely last you longer than a Windows machine, so the need to upgrade frequently is substantially reduced.

As a salaried partner my experience is that the stress and pressure on a salaried partner is much less than the stress and pressure on associates, especially SAs and PAs.

Sure there's pressure to make targets and build your own book. In a Tier 1 firm like the one i work with there's generally enough work going around for you to make targets and the actual execution work is mostly done by the associates again.

If you have/build a good team (which is the real clincher honestly) and are generally competent, clients will keep coming back to you and the book gets built.

You have more flexibility with respect to work hours and the ability to take time off to be there for your kids and weekends are more free.

Honestly, law firms are pyramids and it's worst at the bottom. Salaried partner is like the second or third highest rung of the pyramid (depending on whether you're at a promoter run firm or not) and it's amongst the best places to be in a law firm, honestly.

As I told in my post my BA.LLB grades at my current college is shit . With those grades I am never making it to a BCL or even an LLM.

I don't understand why do you feel I am narcissistic. Mentioning that my 12th grades meets the grade equivalencey criteria of UK University is not narcissism. It's merely a fact. I never said that I am automatically qualified to be admitted there, because there are other factors like EC, SOP, LOR, etc

Choose you practice area first; Connect with your seniors; Go to your nearest district court and ask the court clerks the same question-and they will help you more than you can think of; Start with trial court-since the skills you learn there are summarily transferable till the apex benches; Know that it willtruly be hectic-no money, enormous work, no self-respect, sitting at those crumbly benches of trial courtsall day and then follow the senior to his/her chamber till midnight; Follow only if you have passion for the same.

I think there is room to have both differentiated by sex and inclusive spaces. Obviously, there must be boundaries around single sex spaces which must be respected, but that does not mean there cannot be gender inclusive spaces as well (and that does not mean relabelling accessible toilets as accessible + gender inclusive, it means doing something genuinely to have provision that addresses both the needs of those who require accessible toilet provision and for those for whom gender inclusive spaces are needed). This very binary argument does not capture the world's realities anymore.

Your thought process makes no sense to me.

Firstly, you say you'd wish to do the LLB for a job at a Magic Circle or SC firm, as a solicitor, when the UK has no requirement of having an undergraduate degree in law to be eligible for those and just require the SQE. Why do you believe that having an LLB from India and adding another LLB from a UK university would make you more attractive when these firms look for things more than just bare legal knowledge?

Secondly, if you wish to experience excellent pedagogy, an LLM/BCL/Other specialized masters degree like the Oxford Masters in Law & Finance should appeal to you. You'd be building upon the foundations you already have of the law, instead of re-learning it. A masters degree would mean meaningful progression for you, as well as you getting to experience the academic prowess of apparently superior universities in a more meaningful way than you would with a second LLB.

(2) the popular kids, the so called progressive students, the moot and OC gang, everyone just lives in their bubble, using slurs and what not. I hope you realise what you did to me, you guys knew how my family is on the verge of disowning me still you treated me like shit. I hope nalsar gets better, all we need is radical love and empathy genuinely. And karma will get back to you, i curse you ▮▮▮ gang.

I wrote this, i am in nalsar. I am pretty sure people will realise who i am but idc. My family is pulling a lot of shit with me. I can’t survive with my parents and there is a lot of stuff that goes in nalsar which is very much normalised but it makes other people’s lives hell.

GPT gives this answer. Can someone factcheck this

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If you’re a self-employed lawyer (professional income) earning ₹17 lakh/year, your tax depends heavily on how smartly you use deductions and schemes. Let’s walk through a realistic “maximum tax saving” scenario for FY 2025–26 (AY 2026–27).

🧾 Step 1: Use Presumptive Taxation (Best Option for Lawyers)

As a lawyer, you can use Section 44ADA:

Declare 50% of income as profit

Remaining 50% treated as expenses (no proof needed)

👉 So:

Gross income = ₹17,00,000

Taxable profit = ₹8,50,000

💸 Step 2: Apply Maximum Deductions

Now reduce ₹8.5L further:

Common + High-impact deductions:

80C (PPF, ELSS, LIC, etc.) → ₹1,50,000

80D (Health insurance) → ₹25,000

NPS (80CCD(1B)) → ₹50,000

Standard business expenses (already covered in 44ADA) → no need separately

👉 New taxable income: ₹8,50,000 – ₹2,25,000 = ₹6,25,000

🧮 Step 3: Tax Calculation (Old Regime – best for deductions)

Slab:

0–2.5L → 0

2.5–5L → 5% = ₹12,500

5–6.25L → 20% = ₹25,000

👉 Total tax = ₹37,500

🎯 Step 4: Apply Rebate (Section 87A)

Rebate applies if income ≤ ₹5 lakh → ❌ NOT applicable here

➕ Step 5: Add Cess

4% cess = ₹1,500

👉 Final Tax ≈ ₹39,000

🟢 Final Answer (Optimized Scenario)

👉 You pay ~₹39,000 tax on ₹17 lakh income

IPU grad and tier 2/3 NLU PG, unable to land a job. I was preparing for competitive examination and now want to start in Disputes. There is some gap in CV. I have mailed almost everyone partner in NCR, no reply. Also, have contacted the Legal Recruitment Agents but they require exp. anyone please help.

Thank you for this. I am a straight, heterosexual, cisgender male, blind person, so not impacted personally by the issues raised. Reading these comments and finding out what kinds of people comment on this site had made me feel like never visiting it again. Your comment has made me reconsider.

Better would be to see a psychiatrist!!!

When you already are going to pass BALLB, why on earth would you want to pursue another undergrad degree?

If you really were confident enough to get to UK univ., then you shoul have already tried for BCL, or other LLMs...what narcissistic rubbish was your post, buddy?

p.s. sorry for the lang., though!

Moderator, how exactly does this conform with your moderation guidelines? How is this acceptable material to publish? Isn't the acceptable standard that an exercise of rights that harms someone else an unacceptable striking of the balance? Of course with free speech, it is high, for we must accept shocking, disturbing, even offensive comments. But exposing people impacted by these issues to comments like this could potentially have a chilling effect on them - have you considered that?

To the one who wrote this disgusting crap: do we have an act like the (now-repealed) UK Local Government Act 1988 which made illegal the "promotion" of homosexuality in certain circumstances? What exactly is your problem in life? If nothing wrong has been done, why do you have a problem? If you can't be civil, why can't you just keep quiet? You are just taking advantage of the anonymity this website affords you to kick down? Do you know that had this been a non-anonymous comment, you could have been accused of engaging in conduct that lowers the confidence of the public in the legal profession? Or are you so drunk on power that you don't care? Haven't you realised that homosexuality has been decriminalised in India?

Write to the VCs directly.Also, did you really browse through your options at different NLUs enough, before you got into PU for PhD?There are better private universities as well where you could jave recieved a stipend as well as TAs!You should have worked a lot more towards your research proposal.

You don't have to look at the unpublished comments. Now look even at the published ones. Totally disgusted. If someone impacted by these issues were to join a profession that would drive them to experiencing suicidal thoughts, the legal profession in India is the one. That is what the law schools should put on their advertisement brochures. At least they'd be honest.

https://forms.gle/QCTMCvThyHdb48T78

This google form contains questions related to view of Lawyers on Domestic Violence and other issues dealt by women in their daily life. No personal info will be collected. If you have a few minutes to spare, please consider filling it out .

Thank you.

As lawyers we work on multiple documents at a time. Work flow wise, windows is better, you can shuffle between all the stuff open, super conveniently. On MacOS, the work flow is not that great for multitasking, don't get me wrong, apple's hardware is anyday better than your hp dell etc, no lags etc in mac, but the UI makes multitasking super painfull.

Outlook is also better on windows than MacOS, more features, especially certain super important features like justified alignment - are not available on MacOS, imagine this, as a lawyer sending emails which are not even aligned properly. Even A0's don't make that mistake. This one point alone is reason enough for rejecting Mac tbh.

That being said, yes the fantastic build quality, long battery life, superb display, near zero lags or glitches - I do see the allure, I myself love mac, just that for my lawyer work stuff it's not a good fit. Windows is better suited to what we do.

Hi, I will starting my journey as a disputes lawyer soon. I have an offer from a decent chambers in Delhi and a decent firm in Mumbai. I am planning to opt for the Delhi Chambers because my training period will be ending soon and I will have a job in hand by June-July (As opposed to the Mumbai firm whos training period starts from june if i take it up). The thing is, as a woman, I have always felt very comfortable in Mumbai and I love the people. And i just want to know if I ever wish to comeback to bombay and start practicing in a firm, will my work exp in delhi be an obstacle (since litigation differs in both the cities)

An alumni here, the best I can tell you is, hang in there, throw yourself in academics, moots and internships. Focus on building your CV, you can talk to some friendly professors if it gets too much.

But at the end of the day, no one is your friend there. And that is fine. That is all you have to understand and digest. Remind yourself of the reasons you are there in the first place and that is the reality not just of law schools, but if nay institution where everyone gets in after hyper competition. This notion that people are better in such institutions is a myth. Most of these places are pressure chambers, focus on getting the best out of it and building mental resilience. Being alone is not a bad thing, it can help you to get your priorities sorted.