We want LI to be one of the friendliest places on the internet, where lawyers and law students help each other with their career related queries and occasionally discuss other stuff that might affect their lives too. In other words:
1. Be kind, respectful and helpful to each other.
2. Be bona fide, truthful, genuine and curious.
3. Assume the best intention of others.
Therefore, in using the site, you must agree to do your best to uphold these community guidelines.
Note that what you find here is written and moderated by anonymous people on the internet.
Therefore everything you read here is very likely unverified, rumour, speculation and/or downright false.
In continuing to read anything here, you must therefore agree not to take anything you read here as factual and that you will exercise due caution, diligence and common sense before acting on any information you may come across here.
You also agree to report any inaccurate or malicious comments with the buttons. Moderators take action within 24 hours, as required and appropriate under law.
Our full terms and conditions apply too.
Do you solemnly agree to all of the above?
My question is, that should I switch to a bigger Firm (Tier 1/ Tier 2), as I have received an offer from them, where the pay will be great, but will have to compromise on my work- life balance and deal with everything else that comes with working at such a Firm?
Or
Should I continue working at my current firm, where the learning has been steady, and the place has a good/ decent work - life balance and culture, but the pay is not something to write home about, and thus you barely make enough for yourself?
What would you choose, and could you elaborate your reasons for your answer?
Please publish it as I needed an answer. Why is it still not?
If you work for top tier firm for few years and be disciplined with your savings and investments, you will generate enough funds to retire early. Further, inhouse opportunities will be available to you with red carpet.
Hope this helps.
Same doubt running in my mind as someone has just begun doing the same.
Any thoughts or views would be appreciated.
Why would you want to switch?
Surely you are joking as to the amount you're making currently. I would switch and leave everything for this place, if even half of what you have stated is remotely true.
Could you please share the name of the Firm/ Partner you're working with?
Short Answer - Leverage the T1 offer with your current firm, and understand how your pay will grow. Not worth switching to another firm, what you save > what you earn.
Long Answer - my advice is contrary to what most people will say. But here's my take. The very objective for working in a T1 usually revolves around career growth and money.
Firstly, it is a false opinion that one cannot have a successful career unless it is a T1 firm. Sure, the virtue signalling is obvious; having a T1 on one's CV makes one much more employable in the long run. But even then, my personal observation has been that not all teams are alike, and there's a HUGE difference within firms. And even in good teams, the work is pretty clerical. People were managing WFH well in most non-lit teams, even then firms want people back in office to justify billables. So a top firm does not equal forward thinking, it can be the opposite too.
Second is the money. Ask yourself - How much do you earn, versus how much do you save? Upon deep introspection, when you are working in a T1, especially in a big city, savings are difficult. Rent, food and travel take up a lot of money and time. Moreover, the quality of food can also never as good as home cooked food. Health does take a hit. People in their 30s staring at serious ailments, which means more money drained. Work-Life balance is known to be quite terrible. And if you work out your actual hours worked (which can be close to 100 hours in a week) and your monthly take-home, the math might be almost equal to your current gig.
I asked a friend working in a T1 (makes about 1.3 Lacs per month) what they do with the money. The answer was that they spend it on staycations, trips to Goa, or the latest headphones/gadgets. Personally, I found the answer to be quite unsatisfactory. But in cities like Bombay or Delhi, investing in sports/leisure is way too expensive, almost inaccessible.
Best idea is to invest about 90% of your current salary in the broad market. Save like hell. Today you make lesser, but 10 years down the line, you will be in a better financial position than your T1 peers. Mutual Funds, SIPs, actual stocks, bonds - this is the stuff that you can learn and leverage.
Ask yourself if you would prefer to be with your family, and it is perfectly brilliant if you choose that, ignore the capitalist kids here. Speak to your parents. Ask them is the lower earning+high investment plan sounds good.
Thirdly, assess the present job, and tell your employer that you have a better offer, but you would prefer to grow in your present role (other LI members can comment on whether this strategy is logical or not). Take up a side hustle, remotely, but be cautious. And invest in your health heavily - habits now ensure longetivity tomorrow.
Disclosure - I make as much as OP. Am working in a city I was born and raised in. 5 day week.
And I get to go home for a lunch and a nap. I love it, touchwood.
I understand taking a paycut for peace in life. But is work-life balance and mental peace really worth 10LPA to you? Is it worth the increasing pay gap few years down the line?
I would personally ask the small firm to increase pay to somewhere between 9-12LPA, depending on the work culture, goodness of boss, and perks offered. Take a paycut, but not 10LPA paycut.
What are these firms in T2/T3 cities offering 4LPA? From what I know all firms in these cities pay laughable low to A0, something like token 5-10k / month. Please help me with the exceptions.
Working at a larger firm will fetch you more money and therefore is better for your financial security in the long run. Plus it's always open to you to switch to a smaller firm after a few years with some savings. It could even help you negotiate better money from the smaller firm later.
Plus the exposure you get at a larger firm tends to be better unless you work for specialized and well regarded boutiques.
But if money isn't a concern - both in the short term and the long term, then you can take that out as a factor for your choice.
For exposure as well, not everyone is ambitious and that's fine. Working can be stressful, people are difficult in high stakes environments because they're stressed themselves and you may not really enjoy the work at all.
Working in larger firms is difficult on mental and physical health too - the sheer hours that you spend take away a lot from you. Lack of sleep, lack of exercise is common. And many tend to indulge in junk food, smoking or just consumerism to deal with stress.
Neither is all good and bad - you could take a lower paying job and make fabulous savings and investments. You could take a higher paying job and be successful in putting boundaries and be careful with your health.
So really, it's up to you. You still have a few years to try it out and decide.
As an A0, you have several years ahead of you. You don’t want to simply stick to you current law firm and regret later that you never even tried working in a T1. While working in a T1 will not magically change your circumstances, it will give you the self confidence that “you could make it to the best”. After working for some time, if you feel the brand value is not worth the effort, feel free to get back to your previous firm. Your previous firm will probably value your experience much more then. And on a personal level, it will be a much easier decision to now work in your firm because you’ve yourself crossed over to the other side and realised that the grass isn’t greener in T1s.
Thank you for your responses. I will just update you guys with what has transpired since the time I put this post up.
Firstly, I am from Mumbai. I am currently working at a small Mumbai based law firm. The above- mentioned amount (4 Lakh p.a.) is what I draw working with the firm currently. I am an A0, working in the corporate department/ with the corporate team of said firm.
The T-1 firm that I had an offer from, rescinded it saying they are on a hiring freeze, and hence will not be able to take me on as an Associate at the moment, but would offer me a three- month assessment internship till then, where if I do well at the end of it, I may be taken on as an a full- time employee.
This was not acceptable to me, and hence I have decided to continue at my current Firm. I will see what happens ahead, but will currently be staying put where I am. The work- life balance and team seems to be decent and my Partner and MP seem to be decent as well.
I do not have any other job offers or any other opportunities available currently in my hand. So I guess leaving something as sure as this, would not be a wise decision on my part.
Do you guys still think I am still making the correct decision? If not, then what would you guys do differently/ what would you recommend I do?
In any case, you could keep applying to better paying T2s and T3s and see if you get placed in a place you like. All firms have some practices that are more humanely run than others.
Stick around at your firm for a year or two. Negotiate a good hike in within 1 year of date of joining. Most firms are happy to hire people with some PQE.
LI at times really outdoes itself, when there are genuine questions, and not random questions like the Ranbir Kapoor one and What do girls think about good looks etc. bs.
Has OP made the correct decision?