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Not a place to work and thrive.
For now, because honesty about comp is important, some responses:
- Fixed Pay: We have done a benchmarking for Tier 1 scales based on information from a third-party executive search firm. This firm was chosen by the consensus of our fee earners (excluding me). It has shared ballparks for every year of PQE. We calculate our fixed as the average of this ballpark as reduced by 20%.
- Variable Pay: The variable is intended to bring the team up to Tier 1 scales. Therefore, variable benchmarks are equal to Tier 1 benchmarks + the 20% discount to fixed, subject to individual and team performance. This is a WIP and we are still young, but last year, the best performers made more than their Tier 1 colleagues.
- A0s: We do not benchmark for A0s, for two reasons: a) We are a specialist boutique and looking for people who are a good fit for the work we do. A0s usually need some time before they are able to add value; b) There is a signaling value to A0 compensation which we don't want to participate in. If compensation is the primary driving factor (to an extent that we are discussing Which Tier 1 to peg pay to, amongst a group of highly paying Tier 1s), then it's a culture mismatch i.e. we are not the right firm for you. For the same reasons, we will not put up numbers on a public platform, but we are happy to publicly share the method of calculation. This is our commitment to transparency, but is also intended to give you a sense of whether you're likely to be financially comfortable with us, because money is important. If you need more details, please reach out to us and we'd love to have a longer chat once we are able to assess each other.
Thanks for all the interest!
P.S- I am asking this here instead of a mail for both transparency and the benefit of anyone who might be interested in working with you
Please speak to our ex-interns as well as folks who work with us currently. Most of them are on Linkedin. If you're not able to get through directly, feel free to write to me (shreya at sra dot law) and I'll have someone check and send you the contact details of folks who are willing to chat. We are pretty confident about what you'll hear, and believe that honest conversations are fundamental to a healthy work environment, which means: no unwelcome questions. It's also always good to do some homework on who you will be working with.
Some clarifications on the comments above:
- Work Environment: Our work environment is absolutely tough. We're an embarrassingly nerdy bunch and take standards very seriously. The projects are frequently complex and everyone including A0s regularly deal with multiple areas of law within tax & PCP. Not for folks who like routine; we think we'd be a good fit for people who enjoy the law and who are generalists at heart while still loving tax. What we can promise, is that ours is not a hostile environment. Everyone, at every level of seniority is held up to the same standards of mutual concern and respect, and supportive culture is an org level commitment and expectation.
- Attrition: We've only had two people leave till date. One left to do a masters in tax at Georgetown after spending a year with us (which is again something that we encourage - no subterfuge required if you're planning to do LLM applications). The other left during his probation since he wanted to spend more time on litigation in Delhi. We are still 1.5 years young, so we may yet see exits on bad terms, but to say "People leave in three four months" is misinformation steeped in ignorance or bad faith.
- Job Openings: We are still considering applications for 2026 intake. But, we are a small org, and selective, and only hire freshers through internships (no campus recruitment). If you would like more details about the internship process pls visit our Linkedin page or write to us (internships at sra dot law with a cc to shreya at sra dot law). Hope this helps!