I know a lot of corp partners who hate Indian RW, can't stand the BJP and would rather vote CPIM. But they are not the trade unionist types. Their grouse is against the social aspects of RW and therefore they identify as left wing - sometimes incorrectly.
So I suspect a bunch of "leftists" or those alleged to be leftists are actually liberals.
They don't have a problem with free market. They have a problem with crony capitalism. This limits the analysis to VERY VERY few people in law firms.

In law firms, one tends to not have a problem facilitating deals since you are not actively perpetrating fraud. If your client is bribing the govt or getting favours from the govt, you are not a part of that shady part. at best, you can only suspect. Thankfully the big law firms are far away from being those kind of "fixers". Their role is limited to professionally assisting the deal within the limits of law for best outcome for the client. In that sense this debate is similar to lawyers who defend criminals - if on account of their legal skills, they are able to keep their client out of Jail (and not part of the crime), would you still condemn them?

You seem to confuse "leftists" with social activists. The two are worlds apart, even though there are some common threads. It's like saying "I know lots of BJP voters in Bengal and Karnataka, but they do not support compulsory Sanskrit/ Hindi, and do not want to go to Ayodhya to build a temple. Isn't this hypocrisy?"

Those who have a better idea of the real world than you will understand that there are no dichotomies in joining the formal economy ("capitalism"), while continuing to hold left-liberal political views.

We can recognize that our Apple iPhone and our fancy apartments are built on a form of exploitation and power imbalance. Because we are "leftists", some of us will consume the kind of media that highlights these stories, forcing Apple or the developer to change their practices.

We can also be leftists because we prioritize individual freedoms, like the right of two men to marry each other. This is in contrast to conservatives, who seek to "conserve" the status quo, and who prioritize the rights of the community ("gay marriage will tear apart the fabric of society") over the rights of the individual.

We can be leftists because we support free speech, and believe that the right to offend someone is greater than the right not to be offended ("jokes against religion will tear apart the fabric of society").

We can quote Marx (his most famous quote is "I'll be right here waiting for you", but he also said some good things about class struggles) and we can quote Chomsky (because his writings on propaganda are more relevant than ever, and give us the tools to understand how power tries to subvert truths).

We can be sympathetic to the social inequalities that far left political parties claim to stand for, while abjuring the methods that they use.

We can oppose some aspects of privatization, and support some aspects of the farm bills, because we take the effort to understand the problems they are trying to solve, the methods they are using to solve those problems, the trade-offs these methods involve, and the "winners" and "losers" of each approach. We don't go around on the Internet writing "leftists are frauds because they oppose the farm bills", and showing the world our ignorance.

We can also be leftists because we want to see a kinder, more empathetic, and more egalitarian society, instead of the shallow jingoism that we are being told to subscribe to.

We can be all of the above, while driving nice cars, wearing designer clothes, and being able to give directions from Galeries Lafayette to the Eiffel Tower.

What was your point, again?

The level of contortion needed to tell oneself this, I can't imagine. Its not just that you make 15LPA, while others make less. Its the things you enable as a corporate lawyer. You are actually what promotes big business in doing what they do - often productive, but sometimes downright evil. Every Project Finance, Real Estate, M&A lawyer knows exactly what they are enabling.

This reminds me of two A0s from NLS Bangalore - hard core leftists - they joined the competition team at a Tier 1. A senior nicknamed one of them as President Mao because of his /her communist rants. President Mao, true to his / her ideology left corporate job and started working for civil rights. The other comrade shifted to another law firm.

Clarification: I understand those that spend a couple of years at a law firm, I was referring to those who spend 5-6+ years in them.

"At the end of the day, those who have well-informed and well-meaning opinions about the farm bills / Adani /Ambani (whether those persons work at law firms or otherwise) are still more useful to society than those who have / voice no opinions whatsoever - or worse, who openly condone all of the above." The tolerant left, at it again.

Fair enough, for people who need to make money because of family constraints, because they need to pay back education loans, etc.... it is more than fair to be a leftist and make money for such reasons.

But for kids who can afford to party in college and take up biglaw jobs because it is prestigious or because of the money, then it is contradictory to their position for sure.

Not necessarily hypocritical, cos people can change their opinions over 5 years. You might have been a hard lefty for 3-4 years and then become capitalist or go the other way around. Pointless to expect humans (especially young students) to hold rigid views and never change their stance.

It’s not as black and white as you might think, maybe the law firm job is a stop on the way to a career in policy, academia, or the judiciary. Not everyone can afford to litigate/work in social justice/join think tanks in big cities right off the bat unless they have parents to support them financially. Maybe they want to save some money before dedicating their efforts to a profession or cause they deem more worthy. Several policy experts and change makers have worked jobs in law firms for a few years before going into policy or law enforcement or other avenues to channel their ideologies into their work.

Ultimately, it is still in the best interests of the world that someone who thinks and cares about achieving a more just and equal society continue to think as such, irrespective of their circumstances, rather than abandon those views and attempt instead to wholeheartedly embrace the fact that they are basically don’t give a fuck about anyone or anything in society apart from their own little bubbles, lest they be branded “hypocritical”.

At the end of the day, those who have well-informed and well-meaning opinions about the farm bills / Adani /Ambani (whether those persons work at law firms or otherwise) are still more useful to society than those who have / voice no opinions whatsoever - or worse, who openly condone all of the above.

Wait being a marxist or a communist is not mere criticism, if you call yourself one of those, you mean that you want a revolution which will be on the deaths of millions but will bring about a perennial change in the economic system. Criticism is different, read up on communism a little bit.

Paying bills is not similar to taking up a job of 15 lpa+ working in a posh office in south delhi and in the same office is a peon who you see daily struggling with his wife’s medical and children’s educational bills yet choose to ignore

Giving up money is also not needed but the “criticism” you’re talking about ends the moment they get that tier 1 job. Suddenly they don’t want a communist revolution for some reason. I wonder what the reason is

Read somewhere that in your early 20s you grow up as leftist, but slowly overtime you become right wing as you grow older.

Makes a lot of sense when you realise most 20 something youth are still in college with nil or min. income. At such an age it’s easier to demand higher taxation, free healthcare & economic stimulus schemes from the govt cos it’s not coming out of your pocket. But by the time you reach 40s, you’re earning a sizeable portion, and that higher taxes you demanded when you were young... has to be paid out by you now.

Participating is one thing. When you claim to hate capitalism and refer to it as the root of almost all problems in society and then join the one path in law that enables it and is at its core, that is quite hypocritical.

You could've gone for academia, judiciary or even policy. But no, you choose the path that makes you the maximum MONEY, work for firms which oil the cog these people refer to as capitalism and call evil. Absolute BS.

Law school leftists - the ones whom you see on campus (national law schools) doing all this shit is no way left.

They are privileged upper caste kids who are trying to make a statement thinking it's cool - being a bit lefty on campus is considered cool. They are also deeply casteist and have communal mentality. Have seen many casteist UC kids who claim themselves as leftist and refuse to sit with peers from Dalit communities.

So your question itself doesn't stand as the ones who claim they are leftists are not leftists in any way

It's impossible to work on a Projects Team and support land rights activists and tribal Communities.

There is a bollock example - (Participating in a society and criticizing it)

This is pure trash because when you work in a law firm, you are not merely trying to survive. You are helping the oppressors to help the oppress the oppressed.

The one's working at firms and claiming to be leftist are the former casteist law school kids - who continue to be same.

Don't call them leftists.

Let me give a weird example, IAS/IPS Officers write a paper of about 2000 words about Dowry Menace in India during their Civil Services Exams. Once he gets into LBSNAA he asks/ tacitly allows his parents to start negotiating with the wealthiest girls' parents for leveraging the highest dowry. The officer may even believe that dowry is a menace.

Is it hypocritical? NO. In real life, you have to be practical. The dowry which can be received is because of the position he has attained with his hard work. He can give anti- dowry talks at a college and still take the same. Yes, dowry is illegal. In many cases, it's a voluntary transaction - we get what we deserve by negotiating on our worth and won't get caught- fuck all 'ethics' or whatever.

Leftist students are not in a fool's paradise like right-wingers are. We are the most practical people you will meet in law school. We can even work for Ambani's and Bezos's and still belive that Billionerares must not exist. We will post against inequality in one post and will pay our house helps the lowest rate in the market.

We are just practical. Think whatever you want!

Seeing a few students who quote Marx and Chomsky, support far-left politicians, oppose privatisation and farm bills, badmouth Adani and Ambani etc applying for jobs in CAM, AZB and other Big 7 firms. Isn't this hypocrisy? Or is it ideologically consistent to be a leftist but work for a capitalist organisation?