Not OP or 1.1.1, but two things here:

1. You say there is a 'mindless glorification' of going abroad and yet you practice the same for life here. If you think your last line '[W]hy abroad? Life is great here.' is neither glorification nor mindless, congratulations you have successfully scammed yourself into chains that you will never notice because you never move (so you do not feel the chains and they do not make a sound).

2. If your answer to brain drain is forced patriotism instead of striving for better conditions overall to make India attractive for top talent, congratulations you have scammed yourself of intellect for a second time. If you attempt to fix the symptom (brain drain) instead of the disease (that the Indian system simply is not good enough socially/economically), you will keep on trying for the next one hundred years while all talent moves out of India to rightfully produce incredible value in countries where their talent is actually valued.

Just so that I am honest to myself here, I work abroad and am dying to come to India because of aging parents, but every time I look at the prospects there, I am depressed. Even a simple thing as a bank certificate or passport either requires me to go from pillar to post or to bribe everyone involved. Not to mention that I would have no universal healthcare (I have quite the list of medical conditions requiring constant care) or functional public transport/high speed rail or good air quality or actual work-life balance. My twenty year old self would laugh at me saying this, but public services are cheaper (and phenomenal) abroad.

Life is great here and pretty damn comfortable for most people on this platform I’m sure. The sense of familiarity you feel in your own country remains unmatched and I say this having experienced living abroad. That said, everyone’s priorities are different. While convenience and proximity to family might matter more to some, clean air, the ability to be in a place where you can travel and see the world (read UK) and safety might matter more to others. Specifically in corporate law, I’d say the life at Tier 1s in India as it stands today is just not worth it. The hours are equally bad abroad but if it’s the US atleast you’d get handsomely compensated for that level of hard work. I’d leave in a heartbeat for that reason alone, atleast for a few years.

I used to work for a tier 1 law firm and moved to Europe for a LLM and am now working in Europe. I can confirm that the work-life balance across the board (law firm, in-house, consulting, academia, policy) is excellent. No one is expected to work beyond 6:30 pm, weekends are sacred. In fact, the HR has actually called me up to remind me to take leave as they were about to expire. On top of that, bosses are much nicer, hierarchies are flat, and they appreciate when you go the extra mile to do something. With respect to pay, honestly, the difference is not that much (savings will roughly be the same/a little more than what a mid level associate in a tier 1 will save in India) as the taxes are really high and rent is super expensive easily hitting around 1.5 to 2.5 lakhs (depending on city and location) a month for a good 2 bedroom apartment.

Bump - what practice area

Since you are from Dubai based firm, I am also obsessed with Dubai culture, can you please light on how you got 4 month internship there. I am from JMI Delhi, does it is a bumper in my career!

I'm a disputes lawyer working in international arbitration in the middle east. Fair number of people move after a few years in tier 1 disputes teams. International arbitration translates pretty well between jurisdictions. Find these firms and apply.