Can peers please update if any firms are hiring or positions will open up in near future?? 5 years PQE with Tier 2 experience but not getting any interviews. Please help.
The reason why finding jobs in litigation/disputes resolution positions in Bombay is difficult is because the courts in Bombay are super slow and don't work. The NCLT and such other tribunals there are absolutely hopeless, because of adjournments. Litigants have finally realized this and no longer use courts of law for resolving disputes. Arbitration is also a waste of time because everything in arbitration lines up in Court. Just imagine it took a consti bench + review petition to resolve a matter as trivial as stamping of arbitration agreement – banana republic we are. Litigation jobs are therefore a waste of money politic, waste of time waste of mental peace of the lawyers concerned; do yourself a favor and go and become a corporate lawyer. Its productive work and pays as well.
Bombay Lit lawyer here. I mostly agree but there's context to this - much of Bombay commercial lit is of 2 kinds - money recovery and bank work. The former is mostly the lala companies and MSMEs (which are very dense in Bombay) who sell goods on credit or against PDCs and don't get paid. You litigate for this through the standard package of Summary Suits/Recovery Suits, S. 138 and Arbitration. The latter is your standard package of SARFAESI/RDBI & IBC work. In case of the former, pre-Covid, matters used to get settled once the first summons/warrant/court notice was issued or even after issuing a legal notice. This used to help younger law firms/lawyers in retaining clients. Post Covid, which uniquely fucked up Bombay MSMEs because of the lockdown, even habitual defaulters don't have enough cash flow to settle early. They want to drag things out in trial to conserve cash flow as lawyers' fees would still be less than the hit of an early payout. And given how pro-Defendant the system is, his tends to frustrate MSMEs looking to recover money quickly.
I completely agree with this comment. The Bombay bar could benefit from understanding how courts are supposed to operate, taking cues from Delhi. The litigation scene in Mumbai is truly lamentable. I have a case there scheduled for a final hearing, but I've been informed it might not even REACH in my lifetime. How absurd is that?
Bombay law unhi logo ka hai.