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2. Professionals are supposed to be tuff, off any criticism- take the constructive part and let go off unwanted comments.
3. Professionals focus on increasing their learning curve, not on other gossips.
Ones primary aim is learning, working and growing. Rest are secondary.
Please avoid coloring peoples mind.
You
An off-site is not to show the world that the firm exists, but to show the associates that it exists for them and because of them.
Sour grapes, huh? Looks like you weren't invited....
At this stage your focus should be learning, be tuff and learn.
They have literally made some big partners and principal associates in tier 1.
These are genuine experiences of people, you can't invalidate them at the behest of the firm.
Hard working people are insulted day in day out.
Work is sub standard and pay is below industry standards.
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The other person is not here to defend himself and tell his side of the story.
The best part of VA Mumbai is that they do provide room for growth and a good work life balance.
Additionally, in reference to a particular incident, I was working on one of the assignments in which the partner clarified every silly doubt of mine at literally any point of time and not screamed on me like the negative comments here are stating.
If you are capable, you would be entrusted with other assignments like an opportunity to get yourself engaged in the newsletters and knowledge management sessions.
Therefore, be more open to pushing your limits, constructive feedbacks and learning in the initial years of your career.
If you have issue, you can talk to the people, and solve it and get it resolved.
Here, it is merely bad mouthing which is not ethical.
Beside these there is few in efficiency which I believe that exist, which is curable, and the management has to understand. One of them being salary which is 60% less than industry stand at A0 -A2 level; timings should not be monitored et centra.
I worked at VA, Mumbai for 1.5 years. Almost all the allegations are true and not even exaggerated. The pay is below the industry standards and the work environment is worse, ▮▮▮. There are seniors with 10+ years of experience at the firm and then there are mostly freshers, so there's a huge gap which never gets filled up.
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The firm has seen so many people leave due to their own doing, and now they are paranoid because of the high attrition rate, which has led them to become even more weird and toxic in their antics.
At the Mumbai office, the corporate team is a one man army. ▮▮▮ apart from Mr. Bomi daruwala.
▮▮▮ It’s a place to work. Join and work, for the minimum expected period and then take a call.
You cannot expect any legal form to be suana spa, where you come at any time, leave at any time, and go out for picnics lunch evey while. Be professional, be loyal, be honest, be hardworking, you will do well.
It’s true that, average life span of new hires in the firm is constantly reducing.
They don't give any junior a chance to explain their version of events (except one sensible AP who has empathy / reasonableness, but then can only do so much by himself, you know who you are - thanks for existing). ▮▮▮
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A more dignified option would have been to let this thread slide and die down, but by responding in such a petty manner, they've worsened their image more than what any negative review can do.
If the stories of associates sound exaggerated to you, then so are the praises.
Please don't do this. For god's sake the kid's career/life is at stake.
In such places, partners are your direct reports and they have been so desensitised to the attrition ▮▮▮
Usually that's how it is unless you are a Class-A suckup or extraordinarily bright (which you'd be self aware to know you're not considering you're asking for joining advice on an anonymous, public forum whose users thrive on controversy)
I'd suggest you play your cards well and think about a backup plan for your future.
No relationships are truly equal but the good ones are at least reciprocal. So try to gauge that during your interview and good luck!
Most of the kids who are cribbing here have either left in a year or month’s time or are preparing to leave.
These kids don’t even know the basic of law and treat the place as if they are in a 9-5 job. Passion, seriousness and responsibility is lacking in majority of the Associates but few.
Even if they use the brand of VA and enter into Biggies, they will soon be exposed. Those who lack basic ABCD of law and can’t work on one transaction properly, and can’t handle things such as scolding/venting out by seniors professionally- they are expecting to make switch to places where they’ll be expected to work on complex cross border high stake transactions- all the best!
While every one has right to make their own decision of switching or not, without prejudice to it- it is highly unethical to come to an anonymous platform and vent out your frustration. If you have any problem talk to the management, if they don’t listen you are free to switch. Why all these unnecessary defaming and gossips like kids.
Like every law firm, VA also has some flaws. Not everyone is a Demi-god, there are some flaws with everyone. But why do you take things personally, at the end it’s a work place and people there are not your family- just go there, work and come back. Keep it professional. Deal with these issues at your level for it is omnipresent and inevitable, instead of coming here and venting like kids. If any one scolds you for no good reason, god has given you a tongue too.
Be practical.
Secondly, with regards to work flow, it’s a general recession trend going on- sometimes work is insane, sometimes it’s good enough. If one has decided to malign someone, they will speak 2 bad against 8 good points.
Totally serves the purpose of this platform. Well done.
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The Good:
1. The firm appreciates work life balance, it is and unsaid rule, but the associate partners and partners are not as bad as their counterparts in tier 1 firms. All of them spend good family time, are down to earth and generally happy. This is very very rare in a law firm. I genuinely cherished that and understood it better once I experienced other firms.
2. They pay you well if you are loyal and on cream matters. They have give 7+ Lakh bonus to people with 3-4 years of work ex. I have seen it and this is not heresay.
3. They give your bonus in 1 tranche, and do not defer parts of it, which happens in a lot of law firms.
4. Because of the above and work-life balance, some of the people are genuinely good himan beings.
The Bad:
1. The firm is a one man show by Mr. Bomi Daruwala, and where there is concentration of power, things aren't always great.
2. People are paid very less as compared to other tier 2 law firms. The concentration of power leads to profits being distributed in a waterfall mechanism. Associates bear a major brunt.
3. You will not be exposed to cream work, Vaish ▮▮▮. The ones they do are staffed with limited resources and are overworked, but often given handsome bonuses.
4. ▮▮▮ It is a predominantly tax firm.
5. The ▮▮▮.
6. The ringmaster is ▮▮▮.
The ugly:
1. The ringmaster conducts ▮▮▮ as the owner of the firm, ▮▮▮
2. ▮▮▮ keeps track of your evening breaks, lunch breaks and even pee breaks.
You're allowing VA people to call ex-associates "servants" but deleting even honest, non-trollish comments that call out the bad stuff. You come once on the thread, you see the comment. One hour later, GONE!
Wow, just wow.
This is the very purpose of platforms like LI which democratize the structure and make sure that checks and balances exist on firms. Vaish should apologize to its lawyers instead of attacking them in a petty manner.
See, every place has some inefficiency. The last two years have been rough for the firm, because there was a spilt wherein they corporate segment spilt off to another firm called AL.
I having worked here for around a short stint can certainly say that work is there, but not very high like T1s. But, that’s a phase. Sometimes work is there, sometimes not.
Coming to the aspect of culture, the culture is decent enough. Strict of course and old school set up, where there are knowledge sessions, strict timings, etc.
But I personally am of the opinion that many comments here are harsh and uncalled for by those who had left the place.
Let us appreciate for what the firm has provided. If you don’t like the workplace for any reason, you can and have all right to switch any day switch. But commenting here is unfair.
1. Search the website of the firm and it’s LinkedIn page, to see the recent deals it has done, the people you would be working etc.
2. Reach out to employees of the firm- preferably past employees, and ask for specific questions.
3. Take the positives from this thread, if any.
Assess any firm on the following parameters: (A) deals done by the firm in last 2-3 years; (B) rankings as per various prestigious accolades - to give a fair idea about the current market standing; (C) compensation it offers - this is relevant because compensation offered is in sync with (A); (D) the attrition rate of the team, and (E) real work exposure in area you want to grow.
Make your decision through a detailed examination. Talks to peers who had worked there, reach out to them. Navigate through the website and LinkedIn page of firms, as they give you a fair idea of (A). And then make the decision.
All the best.
- excellent work life balance; weekends are respected; post 8 PM you are completely free
- coffee machine, green tea, milk tea
- ample time to learn things on own and do other things like read upon different laws etc from your desk in office
- [MOD NOTE: Bonus payment information contested as inaccurate] bonus 2 months- 4 months salary in a single tranch; have witnessed people getting even 6 months
- good offsite; attended one in Rishikesh this year
Not so good
[MOD NOTE: Payscale contested as inaccurate] - pay scale; pay here is monthly 50K-60K (Fresher); 60K-75K (1 Year Work Exp); 80K-90K (2 Year Work Exp) and so on; appears sub-standards from the industry standards where other T1 pay Freshers 125K-150K per month
- work flow is not that great; but honestly this is subjective, ▮▮▮
[MOD NOTE: Contested, the Mumbai office does have an HR] - mumbai office does not have a HR. Leave, complaints, etc. are managed by a single point of contact who happens to be a senior partner.
overall if i have to sum up
good lifestyle and peace of mind
not so good pay and learning
This is false. Senior Associate of 2017 batch gets 80k.
There are several associates in the market who boast of being gold medallists in their college which too is many years ago but still can't draft basic documents in the profession. They won't learn but expect to be spoon fed and will cry toxic at the drop of a hat.
A basic Google search reveals that the firm been around longer than most of you have been on this planet. So take a chill pill and focus on finding yourself a job.j