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I’m a final year law student in Delhi,India with good grades & a great attitude towards learning. My internships have been focused on Commercial Litigation, Insolvency & Arbitration.
Being a neuro divergent queer individual in this field is extremely taxing & anxiety inducing. I had been planning to pursue an LLM abroad to never have to work in spaces like this but life ( incl. financial constraints ) had other plans. I am now planning to build up my career in Delhi itself.
So far my experience with redacted Tier 2 Law Firms ( Internships) has been borderline homophobic. I honestly cannot tell if the work environment is bad towards freshers / interns in general or just specifically towards queer folks.
If anyone in the field of arbitration / other queer lawyers can help me around how to approach these work spaces or enlist queer friendly work spaces, that would be great.
Ofc there are exceptions which you’ll find everywhere and who will make you feel welcomed by going the extra mile. You’ll just have to find the bare minimum decent and respectful people. I am sorry I just feel that’s the drill.
I would like to address the part about neuro-divergence as an arbitration practitioner.
I understand neuo-divergence is an umbrella term that encompasses a variety of mental conditions such as ADHD. From what I have read, it appears that lawyers may create safe spaces for neurodivergent individuals by eliminating barriers to learning and participation, such as by "exhibiting patience and allowing ample time to think and process."
From what I have seen, the nature of an arbitration proceeding in itself is fast-paced. The teams are always overworked. In my experience, I have never seen an atmosphere where there is scope for people to exhibit patience and allow ample time for a junior to think and process. This is more to do with the nature of the work and the manner in which law firms function.
I would encourage you to go beyond this "fad" of arbitration and focus on learning substantive laws. You may want to do this through working as a general disputes practitioner. Arbitration is just a means of resolving disputes, nothing more.
I encourage you to prioritize your mental well-being alongside your career, and pick a lane that allows you to do this. Don't tie yourself up with ideas about what is "sexy" at the moment.
Lastly, I hope you find everything you are looking for, right from kind, queer-friendly lawyers to hospitable, learning oriented workspaces.
Best of luck