I am a fifth-year law student graduating in June 2025. My experience so far has been heavily focused on trademark prosecution and litigation, having worked with top-tier IP law firms such as Anand & Anand, Remfry & Sagar, and K&S Partners. In addition, I have completed advanced courses including CopyrightX from Harvard and have authored multiple international articles.

However, despite this background, I have yet to see concrete job prospects, which has been unsettling. I am now considering a switch in practice area but am unsure which field would be both highly rewarding and provide solid job opportunities before graduation. I am ready to put in long hours, as long as the work is challenging and well-compensated.

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

I don't wanna comment on most of this, but let's please pick up on one thing: this so-called publication of "multiple international articles". Obviously, some places are better to publish in than others, because of the reputation of the uni or other organisation they might be linked to, standards maintained, etc. But none of these so-called 'publications' that Indian law students seem so obssessed about have actually gone through an academic peer review process like what would happen with a Law Quarterly Review, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies (OJLS) or Indian Law Review kind of a journal. Therefore, whether it's for an LLM kind of application to an international uni or for a job, this ain't really gonna be the deal-maker (or deal-breaker!) on your CVs! Nobody in jurisdictions with more robust legal systems would even dare call these kinds of things 'publications' - they'd be laughed out of the park - only Indian law students would! How the legal profession in our country allows for the propagation of such utter nonsense is beyond me.

Guys, please don’t get swayed by PM Modi’s rhetoric and think that India is like California or London. We are a big zero in innovation and ideas, so IP and tech are bad practice areas here. All the good work is only in first world countries and also China now. We don’t have Apple, Amazon, YouTube, Netflix, Nike, Adidas etc fighting billion-dollar IP lawsuits here. Arijit Singh‘s lawyers won’t even be paid 1% of Taylor Swift’s lawyers. If you are impressed by IP cases you read about in the New York Times, then migrate abroad, don’t stay in India. There is no such work here. Please DO NOT believe fairy tales of Vikshit Bharat.

"I am ready to put in long hours, as long as the work is challenging and well-compensated."

You need to just focus on putting in the work. Any conditions will NOT help.

Also, IP in full service firms is not the best place to be in. You would be better off in a boutique firm. If you have a technical degree in engineering, bio or related fields and a patent agent certification, you could possibly be part of a patent prosecution and disputes team otherwise its TM and related work which may not be punchy enough.

I'm not an IP practitioner myself (independent litigator mainly doing commercial matters other than IP) — but I have several friends doing IP in various firms. I agree with this. Put in the hard work without conditions. And boutique firms are significantly better to learn. Sacrifice money to learn more, then move on to better places.