The HR industry as a whole has received (largely) poor talent which has in turn resulted in more poor professionals and has led to a vicious circle. But equal blame must fall upon senior managements of law firms / corporates who have accepted such mediocrity from HR.
Also, not all of the things you mentioned are "poor performance". It is part of their JD to limit their availability to you (their real stakeholders are the promoters/ partners), they came from ICFAI because promoters / partners don't want to pay HRs well so IIM/ISB talent wasn't interested, salary maneuvers (partly part of their JD, partly because ICFAI talent), meaningless performance appraisal (ICFAI talent), gossips with boss (partly part of their JD to keep their stakeholders happy, partly ICFAI talent).
From my understanding, the stature/prestige of an HR professional is largely linked to the headcount of the organisation they are a part of. Therefore, the top HR talent in the country would all prefer to work at MNCs/organisations with massive headcounts.
Law firms (even the biggest) not having more than 1200 people across the country in one organisation therefore are not the best career opportunities for the HR professionals. THat's why while the lawyers in the firm may be the best, because being a certain law firm you attract the best talent, a law firm will never attract the best HR. That's why there is a quality mismatch between the lawyers and the HRs at any firm from my understanding.
Graduated from ICFAI but treats non-NLU/non-JGLS law grads as sub-human.
Tells you your salary is 1 lakh a month when you get just Rs 20,000 a month
Sends meaningless performance appraisal forms which a 4-year old can design
Gossips with the boss.
Why are HR people like this?
Also, not all of the things you mentioned are "poor performance". It is part of their JD to limit their availability to you (their real stakeholders are the promoters/ partners), they came from ICFAI because promoters / partners don't want to pay HRs well so IIM/ISB talent wasn't interested, salary maneuvers (partly part of their JD, partly because ICFAI talent), meaningless performance appraisal (ICFAI talent), gossips with boss (partly part of their JD to keep their stakeholders happy, partly ICFAI talent).
Law firms (even the biggest) not having more than 1200 people across the country in one organisation therefore are not the best career opportunities for the HR professionals. THat's why while the lawyers in the firm may be the best, because being a certain law firm you attract the best talent, a law firm will never attract the best HR. That's why there is a quality mismatch between the lawyers and the HRs at any firm from my understanding.