In the middle of the pandemic, I quit JSA. I joined a team thinking that I was going to be trained, supported, and encouraged to work in a manner that is “people oriented” like I was assured by the people who hired me. A few months into my job, the people I worked with changed, and I was asked to work on matters without much guidance or time on hand. I raised the issue with my mentoring partner and was told to use my self-learning skills.

The team’s senior associates were so busy and caught up that I would feel bad to ask them for help or assistance.
JSA is not what I was promised it would be. 8% bill share included; I did not make how much I was promised I would be able to make. My peers in another team made much more than I did because they had retainer clients.

I was humiliated and asked to apologize to my partner over an email when I made mistakes. I was shouted at for asking a leave. I was admonished by work drying up. I asked for a break, and because I did, my team stopped giving me work. I wrote emails to many people asking them for work, asking them for guidance, asking them for training. I received none of it and was asked to “read the knowledge management portal” and “the newspaper”.
I quit the job because there was no growth. I was working on things I did not understand the value of, and the senior associates had all the freedom to decide how much work I should get and how much I should not. My partner played favorites.

When I left, I did not get any bill share. I was paid my retainer after months. I was told, when I was leaving, that I will be “laughed at” in the market because I did not have “teamwork” and my “lack of loyalty” to my partner means I will be finished. I was told I will have no career.

JSA – you are not a law firm. You are a system of oppression, and your lack of decency will come exposed. Underpaid, overworked. Anyone leaving your organization is doing themselves a favor.

Which office is this? Sounds close to home.

Please write an email to Jyoti, let him know his legacy is not being carried.

I get where OP is coming from. I've been waiting to resign for some time until I get a better opportunity. It's not worth it in JSA anymore and the culture has become toxic.

I feel you brother. My only reason to work in my team is because it is better than the other teams and has a lot of retainer clients. But there is no transparency in JSA anymore. Partners are kings, and the RPs are also associates only with more money. You've done the right thing by moving on. All the best.

"I was admonished by work drying up."

This is sad to read. I don't know why this is the culture in law firms these days. If you do not want someone, tell them so and help them find another place. JSA is suffering because it has no systems. No one signs a contract when they join, but are expected to live by the whims and fancies of their teams. So many people I know have serious health issues because of law firms. Even around the time I was leaving, I saw people who had to resign because their teams just stopped giving them work (even when there was so much work) and instead told them to write articles.

Sad, but this has been my (painful) experience with JSA and other law firms.

It is expensive to disagree with your EP in JSA. They do not hesitate to punish you or make you feel like dirt.

Ditto.

The politics is toxic. I was also treated the same, before I left on a pretext of taking a small career break. The politics is toxic. A senior and an older EP in Gurgaon - who considers himself more Japanese than an Indian - tried calling me back. I thanked him for his offer, and politely told him that I don't want to pursue corporate law. Looking back..JSA, maybe, you are the reason that I may have lost interest in the corporate law. Zilch learning. Nobody really bothers.

Wish I had joined a better team and a better firm, to start with. Also, some younger EPs have totally lost it. A few bucks have made them even shallower.

I am talking here about Gurgaon office.

(...) and his posse. Very painful to even breath the same air as him.

A certain corporate partner in Mumbai is like this. He's rotten to his last nerve.

JSA doesn't sign contracts with their lawyers?!

Mumbai and Gurgaon teams are absolutely toxic. Gurgaon has the added layer of discarding and excluding people who don't "look the part". I personally know of an EP who asked the female associates to not wear Indian wear and stick to western clothes.

Jyoti would be gutted to see this post.

Totally agree with this. There is no mentoring or training of any sort at JSA. The deal values and the nature of the deals (barring 1-2) are nothing compared to what Tier-Is do. You are expected to know everything and run transactions (irrespective of the complexities) all by yourself. It's all about cost saving here. No monetary reward, lack of appreciation of any sort and this bill sharing is a total sham.
At every level people are expected to suck up to the equity partners. EP impression >> client satisfaction.

Bill share is the greatest scam of all. People misuse it to the core. In the same team, one person will make a lot more money than the other on the basis of bill share. It's a game and once you know how to play it it's so easy to be lazy and make lot of money.

Jyoti Sagar has a heart of gold. He's brilliant and full of lessons and vision. Its so deeply unfortunate that his legacy has been disrespected by people.

Inspired by a similar post on the front page.

Summary: Guys wake up and take the train to Trilegal Gurgaon. They're hiring at a much better pay and it's no more toxic than JSA is anyway.

I recently left JSA Gurgaon but even my colleagues wouldn't know because EPs control whether exit emails are circulated are not. A trend started by [...]. Just one of the many many awful toxic traits of JSA. Only on Legally India are there people claiming JSA is a good place to work at.

No mentorship, terrible pay and bill share is a scam. JSA has the same pay bands as it did in 2017. Let alone inflation, they haven't even kept up with tier 2 firms!! Bill share is only beneficial to partners who will slash your hours on whim and fancy. Forget mentorship. No matter which team you join, you will have a 1:5 ratio of associates to SA-PA-RP. The office is a dingy old building in Gurgaon, smells awful. While other firms are doing the biggest deals in the history of Indian M&A, JSA is now a diligence factory. No PPOs means no talented recruitments, only leftover students who couldn't get placed anywhere. The list of issues is so long.

Current JSA Gurgaon attorneys, if you have a different view please share. I would love to hear the other side.

P.S. [...] if you are reading this through a screenshot someone sent you, please fix the issues at JSA and your team first instead of going after twenty something year olds ranting on Legally India :)