In Chennai,law firms are no good if looking for high pay.Better to try with Counsels and independent Advocates.If your still do prefer a law form,avoid aTier 1 because they pay less and try for Tier 2 firms.
There are a LOT of South Indian btw in Mumbai and Delhi. And they are quite happily living there. While the North Indians living in Chennai or Bangalore have to face lot of racism and language based discrimination and violence in South Indian citites.
Diversity according to you mean North Indian Hindi belt Domination - Read Bangalore, Mumbai (where kanndigi or marati locals are hardly there) ? Just because Chennai has south indians (mostly Tamilians) doesn't mean it's any diverse than Bangalore or Mumbai. Tell me how many South Indians work in Delhi?
Chennai is a very underrated commercial market. It houses most of India's physical foriegn investment in the form of Automotive manufacturing plants and other top industrial parks. It more of a industry Oriented economy. Chennai is also second to Bangalore for its IT industry. Tamil Nadu as such is the most industrialized state, and second to Gujarat in terms of economic growth. With many other tier 2 cities in the form of Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy and industrial towns like Salem, Erode, Tuticorin, Hosur etc the legal market in Chennai isn't restricted to Chennai alone. It encompasses a wider legal practice encompassing these places too, whether in the form of M&A, disputes etc.
Chennai legal practice Coming to corporate work, the Chennai Bar has traditionally been a top disputes oriented practice for centuries. This is understandable considering that Madras HC is among the 3 oldest Chartered High Courts in India. High stake corporate work for TN/Chennai has been mostly done by Bombay Solicitors for close to a century since Bombay was always the commercial capital of India and that is where the practice of a transactional attorney took shape in india historically. That translates to why the Chennai bar did not have a fledgling corporate practice for a larger part of the 20th century, while it was doing wonders in the disputes practice
However, the scene has been changing in the last 15 years with many corporate lawyers being ex lawyers at several big indian corporate law firms returning to Chennai to either start their boutique practice or starting a local branch for Mumbai/Delhi firms. At present, SAM, CAM, Indus Law, Dua, AZB, Khaitan, ICUL, JSA, Tatva Legal, Kochhar, Fox Mandal have a thriving corporate practice largely due to the positive economic atmosphere in the state that has been regularly attracting a big chunk of foriegn and domestic investment in the state.
Pay
Yes, pay will not match Mumbai because Chennai is obviously a cheaper city to survive. You don't have to pay 40-50k for a 1rk near your office like you have to do in Mumbai. You will be getting a great 1bhk/2bhk for 18-24k near your Chennai law firm offices. Starting salaries in the national law firms will be around 40-50k and other top local law firms like HSB is 35-45k and that grows with pqe. So you will be able to have a decent life with savings as well if you budget properly.
Diversity
Chennai is a metropolitan city with a cosmopolitan culture unlike the general false perception that the City is anti North Indian. There is large population of marwadis, gujjus, Jain's and bora muslims that have settled in Chennai for centuries. The locals aren't hostile unless you criticise/mock the culture and language or CSK (lol). Yes, it is true that the diversity is lesser than Delhi/Mumbai/Bangalore which is largely due to geography and weather and not due to a dearth of employment opportunities. A UP person would prefer Mumbai rather than Chennai similar to his a malayali/tamizhan preferring Chennai over Mumbai.
Tamil Nadu is a wealthy state, it has a lot of businesses. Chennai offices mostly focuses on local work. While firms in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi focuses on pan India work.
Khaitan Chennai is basically a local law firm in association/some kind of relationship with Khaitan. It's name was Assetio Legal - they used to pay Rs. 25K. Now because of association with Khaitan, they pay Rs.60K -70K.
Chennai has local law firms. Even the big Names are basically local practices. National Competition virtually doesn't exist. Students from all NLU's/Top Private Universities across the country, irrespective of language or state of orgin work in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi.
This is rarely seen in Chennai. Even JSA, Khaitan, SAM offices in Chennai are mostly from South/Tamil Nadu. They are mostly from Sasta, Chennai law college and TNNLU - all TN colleges, There is very less diversity there.
Mostly lawyers from Tamil Nadu or South Indians work in Chennai law firms, while this is not the case in Bangalore.
Bangalore, Mumbai etc are more diverse and has national competition in the corporate legal services market, which is absent is Chennai.
Because of this lack of competition, salaries are low.
Pay at Chennai firms are generally shit. This is because Chennai doesn't have any (really) thriving national practices (big law firms) chennai Corp practice is mostly run by senior counsels. Even top notch firms in chennai like HSB hardly pay 25K per month. Even ICUL pays less than 40K. JSA, SAM etc have small local teams they pay 70K I guess.
Chennai legal market is mostly from Tamil Nadu, unlike Bangalore, Delhi or Mumbai.
Chennai is a very underrated commercial market. It houses most of India's physical foriegn investment in the form of Automotive manufacturing plants and other top industrial parks. It more of a industry Oriented economy. Chennai is also second to Bangalore for its IT industry. Tamil Nadu as such is the most industrialized state, and second to Gujarat in terms of economic growth. With many other tier 2 cities in the form of Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy and industrial towns like Salem, Erode, Tuticorin, Hosur etc the legal market in Chennai isn't restricted to Chennai alone. It encompasses a wider legal practice encompassing these places too, whether in the form of M&A, disputes etc.
Chennai legal practice Coming to corporate work, the Chennai Bar has traditionally been a top disputes oriented practice for centuries. This is understandable considering that Madras HC is among the 3 oldest Chartered High Courts in India. High stake corporate work for TN/Chennai has been mostly done by Bombay Solicitors for close to a century since Bombay was always the commercial capital of India and that is where the practice of a transactional attorney took shape in india historically. That translates to why the Chennai bar did not have a fledgling corporate practice for a larger part of the 20th century, while it was doing wonders in the disputes practice
However, the scene has been changing in the last 15 years with many corporate lawyers being ex lawyers at several big indian corporate law firms returning to Chennai to either start their boutique practice or starting a local branch for Mumbai/Delhi firms. At present, SAM, CAM, Indus Law, Dua, AZB, Khaitan, ICUL, JSA, Tatva Legal, Kochhar, Fox Mandal have a thriving corporate practice largely due to the positive economic atmosphere in the state that has been regularly attracting a big chunk of foriegn and domestic investment in the state.
Pay
Yes, pay will not match Mumbai because Chennai is obviously a cheaper city to survive. You don't have to pay 40-50k for a 1rk near your office like you have to do in Mumbai. You will be getting a great 1bhk/2bhk for 18-24k near your Chennai law firm offices. Starting salaries in the national law firms will be around 40-50k and other top local law firms like HSB is 35-45k and that grows with pqe. So you will be able to have a decent life with savings as well if you budget properly.
Diversity
Chennai is a metropolitan city with a cosmopolitan culture unlike the general false perception that the City is anti North Indian. There is large population of marwadis, gujjus, Jain's and bora muslims that have settled in Chennai for centuries. The locals aren't hostile unless you criticise/mock the culture and language or CSK (lol). Yes, it is true that the diversity is lesser than Delhi/Mumbai/Bangalore which is largely due to geography and weather and not due to a dearth of employment opportunities. A UP person would prefer Mumbai rather than Chennai similar to his a malayali/tamizhan preferring Chennai over Mumbai.
Chennai has local law firms. Even the big Names are basically local practices. National Competition virtually doesn't exist. Students from all NLU's/Top Private Universities across the country, irrespective of language or state of orgin work in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi.
This is rarely seen in Chennai. Even JSA, Khaitan, SAM offices in Chennai are mostly from South/Tamil Nadu. They are mostly from Sasta, Chennai law college and TNNLU - all TN colleges, There is very less diversity there.
Mostly lawyers from Tamil Nadu or South Indians work in Chennai law firms, while this is not the case in Bangalore.
Bangalore, Mumbai etc are more diverse and has national competition in the corporate legal services market, which is absent is Chennai.
Because of this lack of competition, salaries are low.
Chennai legal market is mostly from Tamil Nadu, unlike Bangalore, Delhi or Mumbai.
I know the city isn't known for its competitive compensation packages, but I am trying to see which firms fare better than the rest.
Thanks!