Other Tier 1s or Tier 2s, some leave for LLMs, others write UPSC or judiciary exams, some take up litigation jobs, or even policy/academia/teaching positions
And they do something on the side to make a living. That's how life was always meant to be. Until your boss told you that "success" is about working every waking hour of your life for a fixed fee, and you believed him.
They were obviously not at those firms just for the money only. Their reason to quit may be to follow another passion or to pursue law as an in-house lawyer.
After quitting tier 1 firms, they join tier 2-3 firms at higher positions, leverage their experience in tier 1 firms and negotiate better salaries. Spend some time in tier 2/3 firms developing their book and come back to join the big firms as partners (where their colleagues continued to work their asses off and never got time to build contacts). After spending a few years as partners they go back to tier 2/3 firms as working in tier 1 firms was never their preferred lifestyle.
Can someone plan to make 1 crore in 7-8 years, and then start a business with the capital? Say, manufacturing and export business. Something like textile etc? Even pisciculture has grown profitable.
Jindal is currently the best paymaster in legal academia in India, and that's an undeniable fact. It pays even better than the IIMs (law faculty) at entry level (chiefly because IIMs would not usually accept non-PhD holders in law for assistant professor positions).
To find some shreds of happiness which doesn't come with even a ton of money and Tier1s ensure that you don't get a taste of it while you working for them least you give up law to become a yogi.
And they do something on the side to make a living. That's how life was always meant to be. Until your boss told you that "success" is about working every waking hour of your life for a fixed fee, and you believed him.