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My internships are decent only, with 1 at LKS and Dhir&Dhir each, and a few under Supreme Court Judges and Advocates. I also participated in an international moot but wasn't able to qualify for the advanced rounds.
I have zero connections in this field, but still I'm trying to look for internships at tier-1 law firms. I really want to make a career abroad but I won't be able to devote huge money for LLM abroad, so I was still figuring out if there's any other route to join a global corporate firm.
Would be helpful if you could put forward your suggestions as to what I can possibly work upon in the next few months which I've left before applying for global forms? Or any other route you would suggest for building a legal career abroad.
1. Do good internships in India until fourth year.
2. In fifth year, apply for vac schemes in London/Singapore offices of global law firms - especially MC. For this:
(a) Use LinkedIn like crazy to find all kinds of people who are working at such firms in their offices in London/Singapore: Indian-educated law graduates who did vac schemes and TCs there (your uni seniors, people from other unis (particularly NLS/NALSAR/NUJS), etc), UK-educated Indians who have achieved MC jobs, other UK-educated people who have done that, Singaporeans who may be doing a London + Singapore TC (one year in London, one in SG) at the offices of let us say, Linklaters. Ask as many people as you can from all these categories for feedback on your written applications, tips for tackling SJTs like the Watson Glazer, how to tackle interviews/assessment centres and how to perform well enough in a vac scheme to convert it into a TC offer. With the written applications, draft, redraft again, redraft again, then redraft again, till everything is perfect. Make sure that each written application questionnaire answer or cover letter is honed towards that firm. Nothing significant from one answer to the next or one cover letter to the next should be replaceable between firms, e.g., "top firms" are applicable for Links, CC and A&O Shearman. But what is special about A&O Shearman that makes it unique, the lovliest firm in the world, a heaven on earth for you? That's what you'll need to be saying. With the SJTs, just get hold online of whatever free resources you can, take up any resources that your friends/connections have and practice till your brain feels like it will explode out of your head. A lot of things re the SJT are questions about the kinds of situations you encounter in law firm teamwork life - managing deadlines, difficult clients, etc. You'll need to have great detailed knowledge of your chosen firm's ethos to answer these well.
(b) Build commercial awareness: Simple - read, read and read more. Among the newspapers, read financial/economics specialist newspapers, particularly the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. Make note of developments in your practice areas of interest and practice talking about them and writing about them, so you can use this knowledge, both in the interviews, and in the written applications. Read a book called Everything You Need to know about the City, by C. Stokes. Basically, read, write and speak about markets, economics, economic developments and the law firm's place in the market and in the world, as a business, until your eyes pop.
(c) Literally swallow the firm's website. Drink in the contents as though they are the contents of a glass of the best red port you'll ever find in the world. Talk to trainees, future trainees/vac scheme students etc about their experiences at the firm. That'll help you with the SJT questions on how to apply the firm's values/ethos to everyday situations.
(d) Brace yourself: This stuff's brutal. Rejection is part of the process. Stock your uni halls room, your childhood bedroom, your mum's basement - wherever you work and feel comfortable - with plenty of boxes of tissues, because there'll be a lot of crying and distress considering the rejections. For every ten firms you apply to, be ready for eight rejections, two interviews and one more rejection (and that's if you are very good). You'll see some people with two, three vac schemes on their LinkedIns. Those people were put through the grinder for that, just remember. Nobody - not even students at the Russell Group universities doing their LLB degrees there - has got magic keys for this stuff.
(e) Reflect on your internships and make sure this is what you want: The life in a large commercial law firm is brutal. Long hours, very heavy workload, little sleep.
3. When you've got that vac scheme (or multiple schemes, if you are talented and lucky enough), smash it just as you would an assessment internship in India. Make sure they're impressed enough to convert it into a TC.
4. A condition of your TC offer will be to pass the SQE. Do your best to ensure that you fulfil this the first time round, and don't need a resit of the SQE, because firms have been known to withdraw TC offers in the past from those who failed on the first attempt.
5. Do your TC, and basically remember that that is a two-year-long, more high stakes version of a vac scheme. Smash it and impress not only the M&A team when you are allocated that "seat", but the other teams, too, that you work with. Then "qualify into" M&A (talking purely based on London patterns here) as an NQ and continue.
B. Lateral route:
1. Go through the typical process for Indian law firms.
2. Get a couple of years of experience in India.
3. Develop good contacts with people in foreign law firms then.
4. Apply for lateral positions. This can also be done without an LLM - people have done it before.