My college senior from Jindal told me Kartik Nayar's chamber paid her 50k in her first year in disputes.

2018 Batch.
Practicing under SC lawyer - 20k salary.
working hours - 11 hours a day.

Exploitation at its best !!!

How senior is your senior? 8-10cr a year is on lower side. I know a dozen senior advocates at Bombay High Court that make much more.

I'm curious what do top tier senior advocates charge per appearance in Bangalore? It's about 2-3 lakh per appearance in Bombay, briefing/settling/calls/OPE extra.

Should have been more clear.

He's not a designated senior, he's a regular advocate. The year I joined his chamber was a really bumper year for him financially, he made double what I mentioned.

Pradeep Sancheti and Mr. Dhond charge about 1.5 Lakh, as does Biren Saraf. Dhakephalkar, Dr. Sathe charge upwards of Rs. 3 Lakhs.

15K - 2 years pqe in Mumbai

Yeah, Mr Rajshekhar Rao, Senior Advocate was paying zero-exp. freshers Rupees 30,000 in 2018 itself.

If it’s not too much to ask

Is this generally the norm in Delhi?

If not, what other seniors would normally pay this much/more?


And how this figure would go up over the years in Mr. Raos chambers?

Thank you!!

Hi,

Unfortunately, no. A batchmate who joined another senior (designated alongwith Mr Rao recently) was only paid Rupees 15,000 at starting. He's still there but I don't know how much he makes now.

Mr Rao is also generous with bonuses etc. and the more he makes, the more you get.

The increase isn't fixed with Mr Rao. But put in effort, and your pay will increase. 25-30% minimum yearly, but this guy who worked there told me his pay increased in 8 months itself. I think you should try seeking out one of his current or recently-left juniors, most of them are a helpful bunch, no doubt in part due to Mr Rao's humble nature itself.

Can you throw some light on how much a young recently independent advocate in Delhi can generally charge his clients?

Depends purely on the bargaining skills/position of you and the client. My friends who come from political families (etc.) and therefore have people who look up to them have a greater bargaining power with respect to those people.

But a lot of times you will have to do pro bono work to just get some recognition. But all that 'strategy' and all aside; you can take upto 1L for a writ petition. From some clients, it may be lower, say 50k-ish. Similarly for bails, think around 25-30k at district level; 50ish at HC. But again, all of this depends on how much faith your client has in you (which translates to how much they are willing to spend), and what background they come from.

My colleagues who have been taking independent cases for quite some time now charge around 2k per appearance - which in my opinion is too low. Personally I aim around 5k per appearance (+ drafting charges, etc.). At the same time, a friend has charged 25k to a client for drafting and arguing Or.1r.10 & Or.7r.11 applications (in other words, 25k for 2-3 hearings), and will take more if the trial proceeds. Again, it's about bargaining power.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for this detailed reply. I've heard that it's very difficult though, for those who're not established (say a decade in practice atleast) to get paid by clients who do brief you.

Alot of bad debts and in general it's a miracle to get your fees paid almost entirely. How true would you say is this?

Apologies for the late response.

What you're saying is mostly true. It is difficult to get clients who would pay. And not just for the first 10 years; I know people with far more experience whose clients try to get away without paying.

I'd say for the first couple of years, don't expect any earnings at all. Do pro bono work, get noticed, get exposure. Plus, if you do well and make that client happy, he may refer more clients to you (whom you can charge). It's about building a network, really.

And yes, in 90% of cases, the only fees you'll actually get is what you grab before the case. So, if it's a bail application, don't expect anything after the hearing (if bail is granted, he has no incentive to pay you; if bail is denied, he would not want to pay you).

You will have to write a lot of them off, yes. As a tip (backed by my personal experience, more senior lawyers can probably correct me) - make sure those "bad debts" are also worth it. Either the case is good, gets you some limelight (and thus, potential future clients) or you're able to build a long-term relationship with that client in lieu of waiving the fee off.

Please start you stand up. Lol! Why you ended up being litigator.

Thanks for your response

I just had some other questions - unrelated to the larger thread - would be great id you could answer them:

1. Can you touch upon the reasons that made you leave the firm so soon?

2. Does your senior support juniors in other ways (eg when they go independent - with referrals)? / Is this the norm?

3. What’s the difference in work life / style between the chamber and your firm?

Can you clarify what city you’re from

While these aren’t related to the larger thread - I’m sure most readers will greatly appreciate such insights!

1. Was in a super-specialised practice in the firm (took out of peer pressure to get high pay ppo). The more time you spend in a specialised practice, it becomes difficult to move out, hence left as soon as my mind was made up. Also lit. rewards you for being good at your work (better clients, larger mandates, independent matters), whereas in a firm your progress is based on your graduation batch with little scope to leap ahead.

2. My senior supports going independent after 5-6 years, and does refer. This is the norm for seniors who are themselves aiming for a Senior Advocate designation - cultivating relationship with juniors helps them get clients to represent as an arguing counsel.

3. Firm is regimented in terms of the type of work you do (based on practice area), and your contribution to a matter is defined majorly by your work ex. (don't expect a lot of client-facing or heavy-lifting work till A3 level). In chamber, you get to lead on matters irrespective of your experience; the quality of your output defines the work your senior is comfortable trusting you with. In terms of direct legal exposure, chamber wins hands down. You would be drafting SLPs from day 1, being in front of judges (even if just to ask for a passover) whereas in firms (non-lit practice), this will come only at a junior partner level. However, chamber work is erratic, sometimes there's little work, sometimes a lot - although this is not a major concern given there are no billing targets. Aspects such as designated leaves, handover to teammates are also largely non-existent, and you work in silos so not a lot of scope for teamwork.

City - Delhi

First of all, let me thank you for writing such detailed answers!! Such insights are of great help to a lot of people and are honestly rare to come by!

If possible, could you also touch upon the following:

1. Clarification: Do you mean 5-6 years PGE or these many years with the said senior?

2. Would you recommend joining a senior like yours (going to be designated in some time / just designated) over a slightly older/more established senior or even a legit A-list senior?

3. One of the career paths that is often suggested to young aspiring litigants (esp first gen) is:
Litigation team at good firm (2-3 years) -> LLM (if they want) -> junior filing chamber -> senior chamber (say 3 years) -> independent

What are your thoughts on this?

Would be great if you could touch up on some of this

Thanks!

Sorry to bother you

But I had another thing to add to OP

How much capital/savings do you think is needed to go independent in Delhi?

And how long is the general incubation period?

Thaaanks so much

Kaun hai ye mahaprush?

Abhi ke naye ASG to 25k bhi ro roke dete hai

What if during this faith having stage some emergency comes up (health, family, accident, etc.)? Would knowledge, craft and confidence pay the bills?

Graduated from a NLU and started working with dispute resolution team in a Tier I law firm in 2017. Left in 2018 and joined an independent advocate who practiced civil commercial law. Got paid 20K initially. After about 6 months, salary was increased to 25K. It stayed the same for next 1 year. Left the office to join another advocate after 1.5 years of joining. The advocate I left was very nice and paid about 50K bonus before I left to join a new office.

In the new office, started at about 35K which increased to 45K after about 6 months of working. Worked there for about 1.5 years before joining a senior who pays about 75K. Have never gotten a Diwali bonus. Allowed to take independent work as long as it does not affect the office’s work.