One of the common themes I see on LI is JSA has seemingly better work culture and pay compared to lala firms like the SCAMs. This is apparently due to decentralised decision making and the 8% revenue share.
People who actually work there, how's your experience? Are you happy with the work environment? What would you change if you had the power?
Please try to include office location, practice area, PQE, pay, etc if you can.
All Attorneys completing 1 year at JSA become eligible. Eligible attorneys are paid 8% of the revenue generated, i.e., total amount billed and realised by them until the 20th of each month.
Thanks. So everyone gets a share of 8% of assignment fees or everyone gets 8% of assignment fees individually or there is some sharing mechanism? How eligibility would be determined - like someone may have just done some support work and spent some time vs someone who really drove the assignment?
Same principle. Partner bills x hours for a total of 100 bucks billed to the client, get's 10 bucks when it's paid out. Associate bills x+y hours for a total of 100 bucks billed, gets 8 bucks when it's paid out.
Not a significant jump at a senior level, considering firms have started to charge clients at blended hourly rates at all attorney levels, and partner’s hours would be much lesser than that of an associate/SA/PA.
People at any law firm will have issues with the firm because of the nature of the industry. Bill till you die. Same with JSA, but the experience is definitely better than at a lala driven firm, because of Jyoti's legacy and industry-leading initiative of revenue sharing with Associates. Nowhere else in the country can associates make the amount of money that they do at JSA. As an A1 I was making 21 lpa (bonus included) because of the bill sharing. Salaried partners make get 10% bill share, which is even more lucrative and in many months can be double their retainer amount. Work environment is the same as any other law firm, miserable, but at least I'm making money.
JSA is generally a good place to work although that depends on your partner like every other firm. Biggest problem I see is that every EP's team is a firm in itself & they will compete with another EP's team often for the same deal. At my level I don't need to bother about all this but it does seem quite weird.
no i never received my 8pc and it is painful making timesheets for it and then it is hacksd by the partners. it is not the jsa it was 20 years ago it is a shadow of that. social stuff matters more than hard skills. yes the debt team is great. for the rest give me a proper AZSCAM firm anyday. atleast one learns while one earns from smart people.
When I interned in JSA Gurgaon in 2018, almost every associate left the office by 8 pm. The Associates I closely worked with were quite smart and were treated very nicely by the partners. Most of them really liked their work and teams. The associates I worked with then are still in the firm, making SAs and PAs. Their recruitment process seemed very opaque though. But these were just my observations as an intern.
I'm sure that's what you may have perceived as an intern, but most teams actually work the same terrible hours as any other law firm, and work conditions are just as awful as any other firm. Associate-Partner behaviour is, like you said, very pleasant and pay is significantly better.
Slightly off track - which teams at JSA have the most hiring for Freshers? And at which locations? I understand that they mostly hire through PPOs so getting an insight into this would be great.
The decentralised decision making has its drawbacks too. Sometimes it may seem like the firm is just a coworking space with each senior partner running their own show. There may be a lot of duplication of reference documents, project management is virtually non-existence with almost every team starting each assignment from the scratch rather than having a word with other partners' teams who may have done similar work in the recent past.
Also, with the democratic election of managing partners, the elected partners may not be inclined to undertake any major reforms that may make them unpopular with the partners (ie votebank) for the time being, but which may be immensely beneficial in the long run. I'm not sure if JSA has a cap on the number of years that the managing partners can be re-elected for.
You really won't be working on good deals, at least in your initial years. You will lack experience, and you will start you career on a back foot. Less talent, less competition. You will regret joining JSA, especially if you can join any other T-1.
You decide whether you want to work for a JSA firm that is so confident that it allows talent to co-profit on deals and treats you like real lawyers OR you want to work at a lala sweat shop where family owners and "partners",who are chamchas of owners, keep you in toxic work environments then treat you like slaves and where you have to haggle for increments and bonuses
People who actually work there, how's your experience? Are you happy with the work environment? What would you change if you had the power?
Please try to include office location, practice area, PQE, pay, etc if you can.
it is not the jsa it was 20 years ago it is a shadow of that.
social stuff matters more than hard skills. yes the debt team is great.
for the rest give me a proper AZSCAM firm anyday. atleast one learns while one earns from smart people.
Thanks!
Also, with the democratic election of managing partners, the elected partners may not be inclined to undertake any major reforms that may make them unpopular with the partners (ie votebank) for the time being, but which may be immensely beneficial in the long run. I'm not sure if JSA has a cap on the number of years that the managing partners can be re-elected for.
Straight out of heart, and of course, experience.
Regards,
JSA Alumnus - now in some other T-1.
You decide whether you want to work for a JSA firm that is so confident that it allows talent to co-profit on deals and treats you like real lawyers OR you want to work at a lala sweat shop where family owners and "partners",who are chamchas of owners, keep you in toxic work environments then treat you like slaves and where you have to haggle for increments and bonuses