I am an incoming 3rd year law student in a T2 NLU, have a 3.2/7 CGPA, no major internships under my belt, I majorly want to work in disputes, so what should I do from now onwards, so that I could have a good chance to get a decent disputes job at any Tier-2 or boutique firm (not aspiring for T-1, given my grades and internships) or is it too much to aspire for given my grades and no prior experience

Reply:

What the traditional Bombay solicitor route used to be
------------------------------------------------------

Historically, especially in Mumbai:

- You did an LL.B.
- You clerked/articleship under a solicitor firm
- You passed the Bombay solicitor examinations conducted by BILS
- Becoming a “Solicitor” carried major prestige in commercial practice

In the pre-liberalisation era, many elite commercial lawyers in Mumbai came through this path.

After the creation of the NLUs — especially National Law School of India University, NALSAR University of Law, The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, and others — the recruitment model shifted.

Today, the dominant elite corporate-law path is:

1. Top NLU
2. Campus placement
3. Associate at a top-tier firm
4. Senior associate
5. Partner track

Firms like:

- AZB & Partners
- Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
- Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.
- Khaitan & Co
- Trilegal

mainly recruit through internships and campus pipelines now.

So is the BILS exam “relevant”?
-------------------------------

### Still relevant for:

- Traditional Mumbai solicitor culture
- Certain legacy firms and practitioners
- Lawyers wanting additional commercial-law prestige
- People who enjoy structured transactional training
- Some in-house/corporate credibility contexts

### Less relevant for:

- Getting into top-tier firms initially
- Litigation careers
- Modern NLU-driven recruitment
- General practice outside Mumbai
- Partnership track in most modern firms

A top NLU graduate with strong internships generally has far more market leverage today than a non-NLU lawyer who merely cleared the solicitor exam.

———————-

Do you agree with the reply? If it’s true, then why the fuss with this exam? Yes, it has a low pass rate, but then the top law graduates are probably not giving this exam anyway, so won’t it obviously have a low pass rate?

where should i choose to intern out of jsa, indus, trilegal, kochhar for a potential placement offer?

(bo’27 delhi ncr)

basically i want to know which firms might be hiring more actively, more generous with ppo’s or have vacancies so that i can invest accordingly and have a better shot.

if you have any other tier 2’s in mind, pls share

An LLM will be useful if you want to do legal policy, research or academia in the US. For those purposes actually contrary to the doom and gloom here it is useful (of course visa issues are whole other thing). But if you want to do law, like corporate or litigation you are better of doing expedied J.D

Not trying to body shame or be judgmental about looks, but this is a fact and it’s a health issue. Saw a guy today who was very handsome and a total jock in law school: star athlete, slim, muscular. Now very chubby, big belly, puffy face, sagging eyes and skin, balding. He said he barely sleeps 4-5 hours a day. Eats burgers and pizzas in office every second day.

Even one senior girl who was the most beautiful girl in college looks worn and wrinkled, like she probably goes to sleep at 4 am everyday.

We won’t stay beautiful forever, but we can surely try and stay healthy? This doesn’t look healthy to me. Is it worth it, just to earn more money?

X is a Tier-2 law firm in Delhi. Y is a partner there who heads a particular team. The attrition rate within that team is extremely high. Most of the team consists of freshers, with only one or two seniors. One of the senior members of the team has repeatedly been accused of inappropriate conduct (POSH related) by making female associates and interns uncomfortable through persistent staring, approaching and other behaviour. Over the years, several women have left the team because of him. However, the partner and the management have continued to protect him, allegedly because the team lacks sufficient manpower to manage the workload without him.

Cannot understand this frenzy amongst politicians to appear personally before the Courts to argue their cases. Started by Didi and then followed by Kejriwal, all in hopes of appeasing the masses and the Bench as well. They forget that the lawyers they engage are way more qualified, experienced and regular before the Courts than their own words will have much weight. But alas, to each on his own.

Just out of curiosity, I've not seen these posts for any other NLU in India, only NUJS people seem to be wondering how everything will affect NUJS. Is it really the case that state cabinet ministers think about NUJS while taking decisions? NUJS people seem to think the entire state revolves around them, I highly doubt the state govt. gives a flying hoot about it, especially over colleges like IITKGP and IIMC.

Having interned at various offices of LKS, I can tell you that the experience at LKS Kolkata is the best. If you intern in their Mumbai or Delhi offices you'll be allocated to a team handling a very specialised area (such as GST advisory) whereas in the Kolkata office you will get exposure to all kinds of work from GST Advisory to FEMA litigation.

Ever since there has been shifting around of partners between offices, the Mumbai office seems to have lost its stride. There is also a very real bias against the Mumbai office, with it being treated like a step son of sorts, and the partners seem to take it out on their associates.

It was a firm that was known for its ability to retain employees but those days are long gone. There have been layoffs at the associate level and the increments/bonuses (unless you're chummy chummy with the partners in question) have been abysmal.

I know someone who worked there for 4.5 years and was denied their promotion for no apparent reasons. You either kowtow and become a partners pet, or you sit and grind but are never truly appreciated.

There are better places, that will pay you more for the same work that Tuli asks of you. You just gotta look.

I am really sorry for your experience of being balding. But the fat part, you could help. One meal a day six days a week and two meals a day on the seventh (with both meals comprising only fruit and vegetables), rigorous workouts at every free moment, walking when taking a car could be avoided... the strategy suggestions are endless.

Please help me to identify a chamber in Delhi / Bombay / Madras who have a good deal of work involving tax, arbitration, company, insolvency and other commercial areas for someone with 5 years of PQE. Ready to slog.

Recommendations involving counsel who treat juniors as humans + Counsel who do not lie through their teeth + Counsel who do not insult juniors + Counsel who do not blame juniors for no fault of theirs are highly appreciated even though it is extremely utopian-ish. (Still holding on to the belief that there are some such lawyers in the profession)

Even if there aren't such counsel, chambers with good litigation work of such branches would be highly appreciated.

For that, NLS has to reduce the number of general category seats and increase the number of domicile seats even further. Are you ready for that? Remember, NLS has already traded 10 additional domicile seats for a mere 7 acres of leased land. There is a precedent for this kind of cheap barter practice.

Overcrowded, sub-subsistence-level infrastructure in NLS (and other NLUs) is a good training ground for what's to come later in life. Students shouldn't be whining about them; they should be grateful to the administration for providing real-life experiences so early in their careers. Overcrowding and crumbling infrastructure should be the very reason students should flock to NLS.

What are the future job prospects in this practice, if someone doesn’t want to continue in law firms and eventually move in house? I agree on the salary that it is better than boutique firms but the mandates lately have become extremely high in my team and given the amount of work I am doing I was contemplating an in house position. What would be your thoughts?