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(1) HSB Partners is not functioning now, but when it was, it paid between 35k and 200k. Other firms (local) pay comparable salaries.
(2) "Hostile to outsiders" is a generalization, which is incorrect, as most generalizations are.
(3) "No diversity" : Again incorrect. What diversity are you expecting ? If you are looking for gender and caste based diversity, Chennai is fantastic. If you are looking for linguistic diversity, perhaps not. But the same is true of Delhi.
Look like you had a bad experience.
Bangalore is more of a cosmopolitan city. You don’t need to know Hindi. You don’t need to know Kannada. And you can still get by. Chennai is a very nice city, and honestly, you don’t need to know Tamil to survive in Chennai as much as you need Hindi to survive in Delhi, but corporate law firms are just up and coming. AZB, SAM and KCO have decent practices there. But pay is lower than even Bangalore. So.
1) HSB pays 45K for A0's and not 25k. And for the record, Chennai's cost of living is pretty reasonable thanks to the excellent transport connectivity and the spread out city, compared to the island shaped city of Mumbai.
2) Partnership - boss, national level firms are just blossoming in Chennai. If you have even basic GK, you'll know that Tamil Nadu is second most developed and industrialized state after Maharashtra. And Chennai as a Metropolitan city is the IT as well as automobile hub of India. It has world class port too and all these have majorly attracted industries. If you know, Apple has setup their iPhone manufacturing unit near Chennai, and now Corning and UPS are entering too. All these means more business for corporate lawyers.
2) conservative culture - like seriously? Chennai is one of the most progressive and earliest Cosmopolitan cities. Don't know which cave you live in.
3) hostile to outsiders - lol man, there is a big community of marwadis, Rajasthanis, sindhis, bora muslims, apart from malayalis and Telugu community settled in Chennai for generations. Just because there are less north Indians you find it less conservative? Come on man, the Hindi belt doesn't represent whole of India to constitute diversity. There is a diverse crowd of South Indians from all 5 states as well as north Indian crowd. Just because we don't speak Hindi in our streets doesn't make Chennai lesser in diversity.
4) hostile to outsiders - I'm not sure what you're speaking of. Unless you to insult someone or tall trash about Tamil, no one's really going to trouble you.
5) business happens through local connection - where does it work the other way? You think local connections doesn't rule the roost in other cities? My god even locals rule it in NYC, forget Chennai!
There is a deep rooted sense of entitlement with North Indians that only Mumbai and Delhi are the mega cities in India. Maybe a bit of education and commercial awareness would make you understand that Madras was always a big thing and will continue to be a big thing in India's economical landscape
Firstly salary is shit. Local firms don't even pay you anything. HSB Partners (best local law firm in Chennai) for eg pays less than 25'000 per month.
Secondly, if you get to BigLaw firm you can never become partner or even a Counsel while working in Chennai offices. For that you need to go to Mumbai or Bangalore.
Unless you are Tamilian or is from Chennai AVOID Chennai. It is not a city worth moving to. Other than other problems.
Other problems -
1. No diversity
2. Conservative Culture
3. Hostile to outsiders (you gotta learn Tamil)
4. Business happens through local connections.
If you are an outsider move to bangalore or Mumbai. Not chennai.
Not sure about the team structure now but would defo work there
AZB chennai may has prospects since they just opened up but only time will tell