I am about to enter my final year of law school and have done almost everything a law student should do, curricular or extracurricular. I am in the Top five of my batch, have won four national moots, and have several publications in journals and book chapters, besides other wins. I have also been invited to judge competitions by other NLUs and non-law universities, all of which are in my CV.

However, the issue I face currently is that I hold the tag of a particular private university (if you wish to identify the same, the only hints I can provide are that it produces more influencers than lawyers and has branches all over India). This, too, was not out of choice but partly out of pressure and partly out of my stupidity. My parents were initially against law as a subject and did not let me appear for CLAT, and by the time I could convince them that this was the field I wanted to opt for, the registrations were over. I did not have it in me to wait for another year and appear for it (which is where the stupidity part essentially was). As for bad luck, I was offered a 100% scholarship by the university, but that too was later taken back by them, citing reasons of me being a "Covid batch" student (which again makes no sense, but stupid rules, I guess). I did try to challenge the same quite a few times, yet nothing fruitful came out of it. Even after I was eligible for the CGPA-based merit scholarship, the institution did not provide the same to our batch, which is where a great deal of resentment arose on my end for the university.

However, the background was written primarily to explain why I bear this dilemma.

I am currently interning at a Tier-2 firm and have been accepted for an internship at a Tier-1 firm next year. However, that is also when my degree will come to an end, and I feel that despite all the efforts I have put in, they might go to waste because I will not land the firm of my dream, regardless of all the efforts I put into building my CV over these four years. I have interned at other places and have LoRs from most of them, including a High Court Judge, yet I do not see how they would help in this particular scenario.

This has been eating away at my mind. I do not know what I can do to get placed in a decent T-1 firm, especially considering our university's terrible placement cell. I do not think interning once under the said T-1 firm would be enough to bag a PPO or even an assessment internship, and the only reason that I bagged this internship this late was that I do not have any powerful connections in this field. The tag of that particular university did not help either.

I would be more than happy to receive suggestions or assistance from anyone who has faced the same or from a senior who would like to help out in any way possible.

Do internships, stand apart from your peers.

Your last semester be booked for long-term internship at such place where you have already interned and want to continue as an associate.

~trust me this is from someone who lost the opportunity, where you're in right now.

ALL THE BEST!

I have tried to stand apart with my publications and wins, which is why that is not my concern at this moment. However, despite the same, the issue was bagging better internships. I have given judicial clerkships a thought too, considering one of my internships under a judge was pretty satisfying intellectually. However, I am not sure if that is a good idea if I were to land a tier-1/2 firm per se.

As for the long-term internship, that does make sense. However, I do not wish to work as an associate at the places I have previously interned, primarily because they would not help me survive financially, considering the extremely low pay scale of the associates in most of them. I do hope to extend my T-1 internship and hopefully have that converted into an assessment internship/PPO.

I do hope that you are currently where you wished to be then (even if that is not the case and you have changed your path, I wish for the best for you, too).

Thank you so much!

You don't need a nlu tag to get a placement at a t1 firm. Further if you already have your foot in the door through this internship the best you can do is leverage it by holding out a little longer. Try to convert this into a paralegalship once you graduate and in a few months you could be taken on full time. Moreover, there are many instances where firms have recommended folks after 1 internship for a PPO, so don't lose faith you've got this

Here’s some real advice - you have to charm your way into these places if your college isn’t the best. During your internships, be the first preference intern for all associates to give work, subtly get involved in the informal team lunches etc. Ofcourse all of this without good work will not get you anywhere, but given the background you seem to have, I’m assuming that won’t be an issue.

Bonus Tip - Target practice areas and partners that have high attrition (you will sacrifice your sanity but you can switch later anyway

This is genuinely helpful. I will ensure to implement this in my upcoming internships. :)

Thank you so much!

As for the practice areas, I have mostly done DR internships, because I find them more stimulating intellectually, but I would be open to your suggestions, if any.