Hi, I did not know where else to go, so here I am. I'm in my 4th year of a T-1 law school. I am utterly uninspired by the idea of working for a law firm, and it's not about "gen corp hi bakwaas hai baaki areas ache hain" it's more about "firm mein jaake kya kar lunga mai". I see it as a pointless endeavour, sitting for long hours, taking constant humiliation, facing unnecessary politics and criticism, messing with your mental health. I am not against working hard, but I am against doing meaningless tasks, again it's not about "paisa hi paisa hoga" it's about "I am not interested yaar, mereko sunna hi nahi hai".
It's not like I did not try, but nothing much happened in terms of law firm experience; I tried and got too many rejections (Connections ka chakkar) for something, which was uninspiring for me, so I stopped trying. I have pretty good grades and decent dispute experience, both civil and commercial but they are from chambers and startup boutique firms, so, it's not like I won't get a job; hence, the idea of joining a law firm became more uninspiring.
I come from a privileged background (parents are not "loaded" but like they have pretty good savings, investments and pension, so no financial responsibilities post my graduation), and even they do not like the idea of me being a corporate slave. I still remember it was the last exam of my 12th board, uss time paise ka chaska bohat tha; papa was driving as he said: "beta zaroorat see zyada kama ke kya kroge, aadmi ko araam se jeene ke liye paisa, shaanti, ghar aur rutba chahiye, sirf pasia nahi." At that time being a smirky teen, I did not pay heed to these words. However, the sheer amount of disappointment and negativity I have seen towards law firms has made me reconsider the "paisa hi paisa hoga" approach. I won't go into a detailed discussion about the disappointment and negativity as I am sure you are quite familiar with it yourself. The blogs, reviews, forums, discussions just made me realize that law firms are not for me. It's not that I don't consider myself as firm material; I am up for late nights and early mornings, working hard; however, I do believe that Law firms are not "me" material.
I do consider civil and commercial litigation as an option, but first gen hun toh "mereko toh ese dhak dhak ho rela hai" vaala scene hai. But, alumni network hai toh itna bhi darr nahi hai, koi na koi utha lega.
Now comes the confusing part, parents want me to go for judiciary or civil services, and I am okay with both. I like Litigation, and I am thinking about an LLM too; however, I am not sure about academia, so I am waiting for a TA opportunity. What's even more troublesome is that FOMO on law firms keeps on badgering me, I know I don't want it, but baakiyon ko dekh ke lagta hai mai hi gadha hu kya?
These are my questions: 1) Those who directly went for Litigation instead of joining a law firm, how did you cope with the FOMO and the fact that your peers are getting big checks while yours are a few years away? 2) Those who went for the Lower judiciary, how did you cope with the fact that your peers are earning a lot and you're making about half of what they are? 3) What should I do about my FOMO?
You aren't interested in long hours. You aren't interested in paisa. Now im wondering (venting as I type) wth did you type this pointless post! If you have everything figured out, go do what you want to do. Others opinions should not matter. You clearly care what others think, else you would not have been asking pointless advice on LI from strangers. Thanks for not joining firms. We will not miss you.
Judiciary aspirant here: Honestly the pay is not that bad as people make it out to be, 75k per month if you have no student loans sounds more than enough for me.
Also after the implementation of the second Judicial pay commission the salary of a fresher judge will increase to around 90k per month.
If you want to live in a metro city, try appearing for Delhi Judicial Services.
Litigation means no work life balance for min. 2 Years with shitty to no pay.
It's not like I did not try, but nothing much happened in terms of law firm experience; I tried and got too many rejections (Connections ka chakkar) for something, which was uninspiring for me, so I stopped trying. I have pretty good grades and decent dispute experience, both civil and commercial but they are from chambers and startup boutique firms, so, it's not like I won't get a job; hence, the idea of joining a law firm became more uninspiring.
I come from a privileged background (parents are not "loaded" but like they have pretty good savings, investments and pension, so no financial responsibilities post my graduation), and even they do not like the idea of me being a corporate slave. I still remember it was the last exam of my 12th board, uss time paise ka chaska bohat tha; papa was driving as he said: "beta zaroorat see zyada kama ke kya kroge, aadmi ko araam se jeene ke liye paisa, shaanti, ghar aur rutba chahiye, sirf pasia nahi." At that time being a smirky teen, I did not pay heed to these words. However, the sheer amount of disappointment and negativity I have seen towards law firms has made me reconsider the "paisa hi paisa hoga" approach. I won't go into a detailed discussion about the disappointment and negativity as I am sure you are quite familiar with it yourself. The blogs, reviews, forums, discussions just made me realize that law firms are not for me. It's not that I don't consider myself as firm material; I am up for late nights and early mornings, working hard; however, I do believe that Law firms are not "me" material.
I do consider civil and commercial litigation as an option, but first gen hun toh "mereko toh ese dhak dhak ho rela hai" vaala scene hai. But, alumni network hai toh itna bhi darr nahi hai, koi na koi utha lega.
Now comes the confusing part, parents want me to go for judiciary or civil services, and I am okay with both. I like Litigation, and I am thinking about an LLM too; however, I am not sure about academia, so I am waiting for a TA opportunity. What's even more troublesome is that FOMO on law firms keeps on badgering me, I know I don't want it, but baakiyon ko dekh ke lagta hai mai hi gadha hu kya?
These are my questions:
1) Those who directly went for Litigation instead of joining a law firm, how did you cope with the FOMO and the fact that your peers are getting big checks while yours are a few years away?
2) Those who went for the Lower judiciary, how did you cope with the fact that your peers are earning a lot and you're making about half of what they are?
3) What should I do about my FOMO?
Honestly the pay is not that bad as people make it out to be, 75k per month if you have no student loans sounds more than enough for me.
Also after the implementation of the second Judicial pay commission the salary of a fresher judge will increase to around 90k per month.
If you want to live in a metro city, try appearing for Delhi Judicial Services.
Litigation means no work life balance for min. 2 Years with shitty to no pay.