Honest advice - just don't! AZB Mumbai and Trilegal Gurgaon - two of the worst places to be in terms of toxic work culture. Aur dusra kuch offer mil raha hai toh le lo.

Otherwise, it doesn't matter which partner you choose. You'll get frustrated and quit/switch after a year anyway.

Joined Tri GGN in July this year. HP's team is pure hell. HP is an extremely difficult man to work with who sets toxic workplace habits. He's a workaholic who just can't seem to get away from his family nearly enough, it seems he comes into work on Sundays also just because he can't stand being at home. The people at junior levels are nicer but unfortunately the awful work culture, the meanness and the toxicity do trickle down.

Join him, or his 'bloc' of new partners that have come up under him (eg. AD, UR) only if you are okay with sacrificing all your weekends, your personal time and your life outside of work completely. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating - I have had SAs call me at 8 pm on Saturday without any warning or prior notice for a 3 hour call that absolutely did not need to take place at that time - the work wasn't reviewed by our counsel until 5 days later. Videocalls are unnecessarily long (6-7 hours to discuss and edit documents live) and nobody even takes breaks to have lunch/dinner - you just have to sneakily eat while on mute and hope no one addresses you directly. The SAs and counsels do this to make up for their total lack of friends or any social life, it seems. Oh yeah, we also function purely on fake deadlines in this team. Sacrificing your personal life is seen as a badge of honour and will probably win you some accolades. The culture is just toxic and abusive, with a lot of seniors shouting at juniors and making personal jibes at them - comparable to AZB Bombay as Chai Garam has pointed out. The attrition numbers are also similar - All the A0s from last year have left already, leaving the team with only A2s and the new A0s now. From how it's going, we new A0s are also probably going to start looking for other opportunities after completing 6 months in this hellhole.

I have heard CK's team is much better - however she heads the Japan desk of the firm and Japanese clients are notoriously workaholics as well, so the clients might actually make your life difficult there. YS is a sweetheart- even if there is a lot of work in the team, he actually emphasizes work life balance and encourages his associates to pursue a hobby outside work etc. Excellent mentor too, from what I have heard. But again, sheer volume of work can be quite high and he is a stickler for quality no matter how overloaded you are.

CK’s team is a real joke. You need to suck up to survive. No lawyering skills and no real work to speak of. Mostly DDs and discussions on which branded handbags to buy next. CK Team has almost no good work to speak. The Japanese work is all advisory.

Culture is not toxic but she can be vindictive. Unless gossip is your top skill team CK is not for you.

Sweet and very helpful partner. Good place to learn, and he understands work-life concerns as well. Team is (mostly) sweet too, can't say about new joinees. However, work can get hectic as it does for any M&A team during a deal. But definitely better than the rest (across firms).

Please don’t forget CA. Treats other teams shabbily-will require people to work on festivals, holidays at the last minute, and will not even let people know if the work has been sent out. Quite often it turns out that the deliverable wasn’t required at all. Routinely completely modifies / recalls work product sent in by other teams without consulting them (and without any understanding of the subject matter), so that he can retain control of the matter and usurp billing. Absolutely appalling, to say the least.

Top tier corporate law firms generally have terrible work life balance. Get used to it or find some other gig.

HP's team does decent work-perhaps the best in Trilegal Delhi/Gurgaon or at least used to be some time back. I'd say his team is a good place to pick up some handy deal experience and move on (if you so wish).

Toxic work culture- do not get used to that - it's probably top down, and you will not be able to change it no matter what you do. I'd say bide your time and join another team/firm.