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Hello,

What are the games that partners play to push a person out?

Why are few people targeted?

If you find yourself at the receiving end of such incident, how should one get even with the partner? (I hate my partners so much i could literally kill him and everyone associated with him but can't cause he doesn't mean enough for me to go to jail).

Let this be the guide for any junior lawyer who might be in a similar situation/will find themselves in a similar situation. Thanks in advance.

I'll start with a few:

1) stop giving you any work

2) cutting bonuses

3) stopping promotions

4) giving unnecessarily poor performance rating

5) either being completely harsh and shouting in front of everyone with the intention of humiliating or avoiding any contact at all, stonewalling, ghosting

6) threats of PIP

7) getting HR involved in any random complaint

8) torturing you and telling people in the team to not talk to you (in order to control how others perceive you and so that the victim can't talk about their ordeal and control the perspective)
The sad part is, an honest and innocent person who finds themselves at the receiving end it this, can be truly traumatized and demoralised. Whereas the partner doing this behaviour wouldn't even give a tiny fuck. Uncivil and horrid experience like this can deter a person's interest from the profession itself. Everyone knows at this point that HR in Indian law firms only exist to cater to the partners needs and are used as a pawn to fire people. TL gives the MOST PIP threats. THE MOST.
performance improvement thread - yeh karo varna jao, I too am a fresher - google se dekha
TL HR esp you know who is absolutely heartless, hope they get fired one day
Unrelated to the discussion, but for some reason when I read the title op meant 'video games' that law firm partners play T-T
Please add more that you've come across. Spread awareness and talk more about your experiences. Bring such experiences to light and name and shame the partners. They're just humans who are very much liable to the law and can't get away with doing anything to anybody.
This stuff only happens in LALA firms. Please move to better places like 3L or TTA
Look. Let me give you some perspective.

I am someone who has been through all of this (literally everything) at a senior level. It is a zero sum game, and you can never win, or never beat the system. You have to just swallow your pride and move on. It takes a special kind of nerve to be mean and caustic-and that's what partners are. Barring maybe 1 out of 10 partners, the rest of them are a bully in some form or the other-and the bully always wins-he/she never loses. It is the law of the jungle but with sophisticated weaponry in terms of intellect, clothing etc. If you are someone that the partner wants or likes then even if you commit a crime-it will be overlooked-that is the system. If you are a rainmaker partner then even sexual harassment is overlooked to make sure that you are protected.

Unless you belong to any power circle which can dislodge the partner, without inflicting self harm upon yourself, I would suggest that you just move on from where you are. I'm giving you a practical take on the system, and how it works. Whether you accept it or not is your look out.
If the partner doesn't like us, does that mean there is something wrong? What if one is never the favoured person in the team? Does that mean future is bleak? Asking as a traumatized person