T-1 NLU, top rank, decent profile. Day Z didn't work for me, now looking for opportunities. Does cold emailing partners even work or is this a futile exercise? Whenever I ask people around, they suggest that I 'directly' reach out to partners. I have been mailing HRs and have received rejections. Mind you I have mailed boutiques and not T-1s, which makes me wonder if should start mailing partners on their emails, applying to their teams directly? Would appreciate any help.

Honestly, no. I don’t know of partners at T1 firms who responded to student requests. You need to find a connection to get your resume in front of a partner. NOT HR, as they will only parrot that freshers are hired through campus placement. Find connections through college seniors who became A3 or SA at least. Ask them to connect you to their PA or help you connect with any other friend.

Target a few practice areas, learn basics and impress people in your chats. Don’t just say you’re looking for any job any where.

In your emails as well, ask for a chat and not for a job. Use it as an opportunity to make a connection.

True story. After graduating from a reputed NLU, I completed my LLM from a UK university. I cold-called dozens of law firm owners and in-house counsels. Zero response. Sent CVs through many contacts, no response. It was very humiliating and depressing. Then one day, out of desperation I cold-emailed the owner of a large company, who is on the list of India’s 100 richest people. I actually emailed him on his gmail account. 🤣🤣🤣Believe it or not, he instantly forwarded that email to his PA and asked him to forward it to the legal department. In a matter of minutes, the General Counsel called me on my mobile and the next day I got an offer letter. 😊 Since then, I have done very well in the company and they sent me for training abroad. They are very supportive. I have also met the company owner and he’s an amazing, amazing person!

Wishing you also get lucky!

for Luthra it worked for me. Moreover, I have a mail tracker and partners from T1 firms do check our mails more than once sometimes. If you have any specialized practice area where you are interested and have decent experience( + strong points) , I would suggest you to beautifully and briefly mail partners of that practice area in T1 firms. Most of the times they would ask you to apply through your RCC or internship portal. Then mail the HR and tell them that you recently reached out to the partner, after mailing the HR, politely ask the partner if they think your experience match with their work then they may forward your name to the HR.

Got my job as the long term result of cold-emailing a partner (dropped an internship email and eventually got a PPO).

Would suggest that the best way to do this is ask for an assessment internship and work your ass off in that, and hope it converts. Direct applications to join may not always bode well since most T1 firms have strict hiring processes.

Are you mailing partners for jobs? Damn, I had no idea that it would even work for someone with 0 PQE. Let's hope for the best atp. My Day Z also didn't go as planned. I was expecting an offer from at least 2 firms, but look at me rn. I genuinely want to work with some good law firms, although we now have the options for PSUs and in-house teams.

I got my job at a T1 by cold emailing my Partner. It took eight months (you read that right) of following up before I got an offer but it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't cold emailed him.

I got my second T1 job (after quitting my first one) again by cold emailing my Partner. I do want to emphasize that I had a decent CV in terms of non-T1 experience for a few years before this worked and that I had to email a LOT of Partners in the process.

Now that I've been in the system for quite a few years, I know how insanely lucky I was. I'm not a Partner and yet I get several emails from potential applicants on a weekly basis. My Partner has to spend a solid fifteen minutes every other day just deleting random emails. It is very unlikely that cold emails work out and actually convert into jobs but you might get lucky. (Apologies to Partners reading this, I know no one wants to read fifty unwanted applications a day).

For younger folks reading this: it is EXTREMELY unlikely cold emailing will work for you if you have less than one year of experience. Big Law has an insane amount of intern churn on a daily basis. There is absolutely no reason for a Partner to go out of his/her way to give time of day to a kid out of law school (no matter how brilliant their CV might be) if they can just call HR and ask them to send pre-vetted CVs of fresh graduates who have already cleared interviews.

Cold emailing can work. It can get you the interview, and sometimes even the job. But if you’ve got a reference, I’d recommend using it. The reality is, in India—just as in many places—employers, even the big law firms, can be fickle. They often bring in juniors and retainers through connections that promise a little more influence, or some bragging rights. And here’s the thing—those folks are usually the last to be let go when work is scarce, especially if they’re even halfway decent at what they do. If you don't have a godfather and have to seek employment at a T1 - 100 law firm / chamber and you wish to keep that job - then you must ALWAYS OVER DELIVER AND BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF OF YOUR BOSS - IRRESPECTIVE OF HOW BIG A PIECE OF SHIT HE/ SHE IS .

Don't have a recommendation at all. I have tried asking professors, alums, even places where I have interned and everytime I have been told that it would be against propreity because that would be akin to influencing the process and firms don't take people in like that. Quite hypocritical of them tho to talk about propreity when the truth of the matter is that they want to save these connects for their own sons and daughters (which is fine by me, but at least don't take a moral high ground)