Quit my tier 1 job with nothing in hand, worked independently for awhile and kept interviewing on the side. Got multiple offers which didn’t feel like a good fit so passed them up. Finally found an in-house role where their vision and culture seemed ideal for me. I was hired at double the salary I was drawing at the Tier 1. (I have a foreign LLM and bar qualification and that was one of their pre requisites so it definitely helped). I am in a much better place in life now and have elitist problems like not feeling challenged enough. A problem I can happily live with after the trauma the tier 1 left me with.

All the best! Be patient guys. It’s all possible.

1. Realizing the value of life after losing loved ones during the pandemic
2. Money has a finite marginal utility.
3. I can't waste the golden years of my youth sitting in front of a computer for a 1L salary. It's just not worth it.
4. If you look at it, you don't need so much money when you are 24 cos most of it would be spent on rent in metros and also on unnecessary lifestyle expenditure cos they have to live upto an "image".
5. Some people would rather earn in the range of 60-70k back in their home towns, enjoy work life balance, save a lot of money on rent and don't have to put up with the pretentiousness of the hustle culture back in the metros.
6. The saved money can then be utilized for travelling during long weekends or holidays (which one doesn't get in law firms cos after getting more than 1 lakh salary, the partners assume they own us for 24hrs). One gets time to be around family and people that really matter. And they can go to the gym at 7pm without worrying about a deliverable or a call with a precious foreign client at 11pm.

7. So yes if you really see the maths, middle class A0s from tier II towns working in law firms are losing a lot more as compared to the salary they get. The opportunity cost is way more. Many are hyperfocussed on the numbers in the paycheck but that's a very myopic approach
As amartya sen said quality of life is determined by freedom. Income definitely helps one to have certain degree of freedom, esp financial freedom. But in law firms, there are millions different ways in which we give up our freedom and we never bothered to actually quantify it.

In short, money cannot buy freedom after a certain point and we need freedom to live our best life and realize our true potential.

Disclaimer: this may not apply to those having their families in metro and those who are truely passionate about corp law and don't mind conflating their identity with being a corporate lawyer.