The purpose of this topic is simple. For the next 3 days we will be flooded with analysis from various exit polls. The Congress has announced that it will boycott all such discussions on news channels, because both exit polls and news media are biased in favour of the BJP. Thus, we can use LI as a forum to share unbiased info on how young, liberal Indians like us voted.

On 4th June we will see which exit poll is correct: LI readers or pro-Modi corporate media!!

An interesting point to note is that students are now having these issues with the concerned faculty now that the marks have been declared and not throughout the semester when these ought to have been flagged and reported. Goes to show that so long as even incompetent people keep awarding inflated grades, no NUJS student would really care about the quality of teaching.

More practices are closing offices in China’s largest city as corporate work and M&A deals dry up


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MENU Financial Times Sign In Legal servicesAdd to myFT Exodus of US law firms from Shanghai accelerates More practices are closing offices in China’s largest city as corporate work and M&A deals dry up Shanghai, home to China’s biggest stock market, was the financial centre during an era of growing cross-border activity in the 2010s © Qilai Shen/Bloomberg Exodus of US law firms from Shanghai accelerates on x (opens in a new window) Exodus of US law firms from Shanghai accelerates on facebook (opens in a new window) Exodus of US law firms from Shanghai accelerates on linkedin (opens in a new window) Exodus of US law firms from Shanghai accelerates on whatsapp (opens in a new window) Save Thomas Hale in Shanghai, Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong and Joe Leahy in BeijingYESTERDAY 21 Print this page Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. More US law firms are closing their offices in Shanghai as a dearth of financial activity and depressed business sentiment force them to reassess their mainland China presence. In recent months, US firms Sidley Austin, Perkins Coie, Latham & Watkins and Orrick have all closed or said they will close their Shanghai offices, adding to the departure of Weil and Akin Gump from Beijing. International companies and professional services firms have struggled to navigate China’s shifting business environment following the Covid-19 pandemic and have been affected by deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing. In Shanghai, home to China’s biggest stock market and the country’s financial centre during an era of growing cross-border activity in the 2010s, the impact has been particularly acute for the legal sector. “The biggest factor is the drying up of M&A and capital markets work, followed by the decrease in other corporate transactions,” said one lawyer on the mainland who asked to remain anonymous. “Many firms cut staff in Shanghai first because that’s where the corporate work dried up first.” Dealogic data shows that overall M&A activity in China, including inbound and outbound deals, is running at its lowest pace since 2012, at $72bn so far this year, while domestic equity markets activity is lower than in any year since 2009. Sidley Austin, which will retain offices in Beijing and Hong Kong, said it would not be renewing its Shanghai lease in September “as part of our review of office space and attorney requests to relocate or retire”. Orrick said its decision “reflects a rebalancing of our Asia-Pacific platform, including the launch of our Singapore presence in 2021, to align with client demand”. Perkins Coie said it remained “committed as a firm to our China practice and clients”. Latham & Watkins, which still has an office in Beijing, declined to comment. Han Shen Lin, a finance professor at New York University’s campus in Shanghai, said US law firms “increasingly struggle to cover China costs” in the current operating environment. He added that state-owned enterprise clients “present due diligence or security concerns, and possibly payment delays”, while foreign multinationals “aren’t doing that many onshore deals”. “If a US legal firm in Shanghai targets local Chinese enterprises going outbound, they may only get a small referral percentage fee compared to their US colleagues who ultimately manage the engagement,” he said. Recommended Chinese business & finance China’s ‘red circle’ law firms rush to tap other markets A position paper published last week by the British Chambers of Commerce in China noted a 16 per cent decline in foreign law firms with representative offices between 2017 and 2022, citing figures from China’s Ministry of Justice. Seventy per cent of professional services firms said last year was even more difficult than 2022. “Last year and continuing into this year, there’s just a lot less business activity,” said Julian Fisher, chair of the British Chambers of Commerce in China. He added that there was now an uptick in Chinese companies going abroad. Other financial groups have closed their offices in Shanghai in recent years, including the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund Norges Bank Investment Management last year and UK wealth manager St James’s Place in 2023. Many other large businesses have retained a presence despite the slowdown. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan chief executive, last week said parts of the investment banking business had “fallen off a cliff” in recent years, but he remained optimistic on other areas of potential growth, including asset management.

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Nope. I got in a tier 1 law firm with zero internships; but obviously it was cause I was a gold medalist from my batch, did some moots and some publications. However things have gotten more competitive, so do atleast 2-3 internships in areas you want to work in especially if it's corporate.

Well, let us hope that any internship you end up bagging at least helps you to learn basic English grammar. I mean to say, "Do internship teach us anything" as a thread title, when it should be "Do internships teach us anything", is, as my dad would say, "pretty ordinary". And to add insult to injury, your thread title doesn't even contain a question mark!

1. You may not necessarily learn substantive law through an internship, though it could assist you in learning and applying what you have learned in law school, or even in learning some soft and hard skills (how the law works in practice vs. in theory).

2. They'll make you start from 'Level 0' anyway.

3. The main advantage for somebody who has interned compared to someone who hasn't is that the former can show themselves to be more job-ready (see no. 1 above) vs. those who have only learned law in theory.

NB: All of this comes about only if the internship programme is well conducted, and not one where interns are regarded as glorified coffee servers (which is the case at many law firms in India, unfortunately).

Do interns really learn some law which would be useful after them become associates or they would have to begin from level zero ?

Do people who have interned have any benefits over those who haven't ?

Except learning the culture, teamwork is there substantial knowledge of law involved too ?

Can I get a good job and learn on the job without internships ?

Despite SAM's explicit promise of increment announcements by the 'end of May', the inbox remains devoid of any such communication. If employees are held accountable to deadlines, why isn't the firm? This tactic of stringing along employees to retain them longer is futile if you can't even keep them satisfied. Flexing power at the expense of employee well-being is unacceptable

That's because it's an anonymous email and there is no evidence of any student having sent it. In fact, one faculty was trying to force the LLM students to send a mass petition in favour of the EC, which they summarily rejected. The VC of course produced this anon email in the EC in a desperate attempt to show that students are with him.

Lol, you are just full of misinformation. First of all, the admin and students have often approached the alumni for multiple reasons but no concerted response gets generated. Secondly, Ashish at least often talks about NUJS and has done so about the recent VC controversy too. You're just a person who hears about everything second hand and aren't even in the state.

Questions to determine if you are successful upon graduation: (i) did you secure the Rhodes Scholarship (or some equally flashy LLM placement); and (ii) did you secure a vacation scheme at one of London's 'Magic Circle' firms or American firms with large London operations? If one or both of these questions is answered in the negative, you aren't successful. Period. End of story.

I know everyone has their own personal definition of success. So I'm looking to know what are the most common/'conventional definitions of success after law school, or how most people deem a person (lawyer) successful or unsuccessful especially when they've recently begun their career.

15k ka budget hai toh teeno type ke bag lele for different outfits.

On somedays you'll have to carry stuff that won't fit in a crossbag so backpack is preferred.

Laptop bags carry only a laptop. So you'll anyway need an extra bag if you have books/papers to keep.

Cross body for times when you have nothing to carry.

This is naturally trending with many BJP supporters outraged etc. But I have a deeper question. If this is what AI can do in the early stages of AI, what's going to happen in the future when AI develops further? For example, will AI engines generate sophisticated, realistic videos that are meant to incite hate? Or perhaps fake videos of politicians taking bribes etc?

What's scary is that there is no real attempt to put curbs on these AI developers, because of the power of the tech lobby.

https://www.news18.com/world/openai-exposes-ai-driven-propaganda-campaigns-by-russia-china-israel-iran-lok-sabha-election-2024-bjp-congress-latest-news-8912338.html

Yes, take a trip/ enjoy your life, go on dinners/smash/Imagica, etc. Do all the things you couldn't because of college or shortage of money without worrying.

I would not recommend investing those 25k. You deserve to spend that money on yourself. Afterall, you're going to earn to live a good lifestyle which won't be possible once you join a T1 firm.

Especially if Modi is elected with a big majority? Or do law firm recruitments have no connection with GDP growth and a pro-capitalist government at the centre?

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/indias-gdp-grows-7-8-per-cent-in-q4-fy24-growth-pegged-at-8-2-per-cent/articleshow/110595616.cms?from=mdr

I am joining a full-service tier 1 firm for their IP team as an A0. I am not happy with the pay so I am planning to make a switch next year to GC or TMT, depending where my interest align.

What would be the best approach to switch team in a different law firm? Anybody with experience who did that?

Since u are in 2nd year, better go for CS. It is aligned with law and will give u a bosst if u clear all levels till professional. Plus is it relatively inexpensive as compared to CFA. CFA is benfifical if u have a few years of eperince and are working in finance domain, so wouldn't be much helpful.

Partner tried to make me postpone my paternity leave which I had got approved months in advance because of some urgent matter. She told me I should postpone my leave by 2 months although she knew that the reason for the leave was due to childbirth. I told her rge birth cannot be postponed and neither will I postpone my leave. I took my leave and then quit after a couple of months. In a much better job now. Pay is less compared to what I could have been making at a law firm but the pay is still decent enough and the work life balance is great.

Now, it depends. There are advisors in tier 1 who are terrible. It's impossible to get to them. No use having these kind of scholars as guides. On the other hand, some guides are good but institutions are terrible. They are least responsive to PhD scholars.

There is a decent chance of a teaching position at the place you're doing PhD, provided you have a good rapo with your guide and your guide has a good rapo with the university.

I know, the way I'm saying things may sound like a scam where everything is subjective, but that's unfortunately true.

Hi guys,

I have been seeing that a lot of govt jobs for law graduated require them to have some experience after their qualification. My question is how do they verify this experience and how does someone prove it? Do they see the IT returns or cases filed in a persons name or what?

Thanks!