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I have a PPO in a T1 already in the competition team.
It is without a doubt that salary bands are extremely exploitative in indian law firms considering the work hours we put in. I am not afraid to work, I want to, but the value placed on it in the US by firms like Kirkland is just sm more. 225k is A LOT. even for NYC. I hope to save money for a few years and come back as an SA/Counsel to India.
Can someone therefore guide on how can we laterally move to the US? Is an LLM completely mandatory? I saw the New York Bar website stating that foreign lawyers with competent common law degrees can write NYBE straightaway for qualification. Is it applicable for us?
2. It is likely you could write the NY bar exam.
3. That would qualify you as a New York lawyer.
4. However, that is no guarantee of a job there. It is a very closed market. Your conviction that an LLM is some sort of golden key is bang out of order. Most LLM graduates there (who are foreign students with foreign law degrees) can't get a U.S. job. For foreign qualified lawyers, what they prefer is somebody who has had several years of experience in a foreign jurisdiction, with plenty of awesome connections there (in that foreign jurisdiction) from whom favours can be pulled, in order to allow Kirkland (to take your example) to gain greater access to foreign markets. Therefore, your best bet would be to work in India for a number of years, do well and then immigrate to the U.S.
5. If you really hate the thought of doing that, either compete for gaining a TC in England, or make a lateral move to a magic circle law firm in England or the London office of an Amlaw 20 firm, and apply for an internal transfer that way (not like either of these options is easy, but the India-UK-U.S. way would be better and make your CV look attractive, as you'd have experience in multiple jurisdictions to tempt U.S. recruiters with).
6. Neither of the alternatives I have suggested is stuff you can do fast, and availing yourself of any of these options is likely to take several years.
7. However, the only (reasonably) fast way of doing this which also increases your chances of getting a job is one that is, apparently, closed off to you. That is doing a JD after your Indian LLB (as you can't ask your parents for graduate study money). You are much more likely to be recruited if you have a JD, as U.S. lawyers and law firms tend to view LLM as an intellectually inferior baby JD for foreign students so the (American) unis can scam them for money.
1. LLMs in the US are expensive with little to no financial aid in the top universities, especially for the commercial / private sector.
2. The barriers to entry for a JD are high (LSAT and interviews require intense preparation).
Even then, the JD is 3 times the cost of an LLM, and after paying close to 50% taxes abroad, it may take you 3-4 years at a very high paying job to pay it off. The JD remains unpopular for these reasons.
3. LLMs are not intended for people to seek employment in the US. Most colleges state that the program expects that people will return to their home country. However, what it does allow you is an opportunity to network, explore opportunities and convert it into a job if you can hustle enough. You wont benefit from college placements, but it’s similar to how folks choose GLC for access to courts + law firms + corporates in Mumbai. The college will provide you with some resources, but no guarantees.
4. Corporate folks have an easier pathway after a few years of experience, because the work is largely similar. You do diligence and circulate call notes in Mumbai, you do diligence and update trackers in NY. But you get hired based on your demonstrable ability (ie work experience).
5. PQE can be a myth, but volatility of the US job market is not. US law firms continuously review their profitability; layoffs and hiring freezing are common when business slows, which it does every 1-2 years. Those high salaries exist for a reason.
6. Immigration laws are not on our side. International students have to get lucky in the H1B lottery. If you don’t clear it, you leave the country in 6 months or less. The application can be filed only by employers, so there is an inherent risk in hiring a person who may have to quit in under 1 year . Unlike techies and doctors (and STEM folks) the US doesn’t have a shortage of lawyers (least of all foreign qualified ones!)
7. US law firms are exploitative in different ways - working hours can be roughly the same, often more than T1 firms (unless the T1 team has a culture of 12 hrs/day through the year). In India you get reprimanded for inefficiency or low hours or you lose bonus, in the US you get laid off. No gain without pain!
That being said, plenty of Indians manage to do it every year, you just have to be very goal oriented about it.
Australia, Canada etc prefer Legal Immigration. In US it's easier to be an illegal Indian immigrant than legal immigrant because of country caps.
Even harvard, Stanford MS students have been kicked out of us because they didn't get H1B.
Worst part is H1B is a lottery based visa. As an Indian it's practically impossible to become an American citizen because of country cap in green card.
The job market has been bad - you'd likely be considered an A0 despite all your years of experience, and no one is hiring LLM A0s easily - there's a 5% likelihood of being employed (optimistically) depending on how well you've networked and convinced someone to hire you. Even then you are competing with LLMs from all over the world.
Networking isn't easy - the Indian LLMs who've made it are hostile / indifferent (completely the opposite of LLMs from other countries) and completely unhelpful and suffer from an inexplicable superiority complex. They even walk with their nose up in the air(!). Those from other countries are usually helping their own country-mates, unless they knew you before and somehow grew fond of you in their limited interactions.
You also have to take mandatory courses during LLM which are NY Bar subjects - consti, evidence, CPC etc.