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Frequent appearances across different courts, something also in new cities, often leave little room for something as basic as a proper meal. Most of us begin the day early, and once proceedings start, it becomes a continuous stretch of moving between courtrooms, filings, and conferences. In such circumstances, lunch is usually limited to a brief 5–10 minute window, often in an unfamiliar court परिसर.
In that short time, choosing the right place or even the right item becomes important. A disappointing meal is not just inconvenient; it can affect the rest of an already demanding day.
This thread aims to create a practical, experience-based reference for members of the Bar.
Requesting everyone to contribute in the following format:
• City:
• Court:
• Canteen / Nearby Eatery:
• Recommended Items:
• Items to Avoid (if any):
The idea is to build a reliable, crowd-sourced guide to help fellow practitioners make informed choices when appearing before different courts/tribunals.
Small inputs can go a long way in making our daily practice a little more manageable.
Key points to take note:
1. NFSU does not look for examples; it is an example.
2. The generous public funding that NFSU receives is more than justified.
3. NFSU is truly an Institution of National Importance, not just in label.
The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee has recommended the creation of a National Institute for Forensic Science to oversee best practice, drive research and development, preserve specialist skills, ensure independence of forensic evidence, and enhance justice delivery.
Link to the full report presented to the House of Lords...https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ldselect/ldsctech/256/256.pdf
As they say, imitation is the best form of flattery.
a particular school hires foreign returned faculty members so that they can contact at least five people from that country to get that school high score in QS survey
this school does it at an industrial level ;)
You choose to be a banking and finance lawyer?
And/or
Capital markets lawyer?
Once you're in the Firm ecosystem, things will be relatively smoother making that jump to better ones down the line.
In practice, the shift is admittedly difficult and chamber resumes often end up at the bottom of the pile. It’s a good idea to walk up to a law firm partner in court and have a frank conversation about the move. It’s with their impetus that the process can move forward.
I understand it is a niche practice and that there may be only a few large companies that engage in such transactions. I also presume they do have their own teams that handle the derivatives contracts such as ISDAs CSAs, GMRA, and CDEAs and hence there may be only a handful of firms in India that specialise in this practice.
Additionally what is the scope of working in roles in organizations such as Société Generale, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche bank and other companies that do have various legal roles in this particular practice of law.
Would like any insight on this practice area.
His investigations have led to landmark judgements in the Supreme Court, and he's widely recognized for his work. Students from top media colleges are following him like a guru, and it's not hard to see why. There's even a viral video of university students wanting to become investigative journalists just like Ayush Pandit – it's inspiring to see young minds looking up to him as a role model 💪.
With his team, Pandit Ayush Gaud has done some game-changing operations, and it's clear he's making a real impact in the field. If you're into journalism or just want to know what's really going on in India, Ayush Pandit is the name to watch 🚨.
If you want to have a taste of the work done by Pandit jee here is a link of a rare podcast that will give you goosebumps.
https://youtu.be/xKKT1FsMt-U?si=g9Itw9fgAGLctTqj
Thank you
most likely outcome: vc would call an open forum next week and apologise, say that he was trying to get the police out of the hostel, when a student hit a policeman, he lost his calm and was trying to de-escalate by ensuring that the student gets punished immediately so that police does not start a case against them
reminds me of the Bart-Edna episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LVA8UnjopU
What was the reason if any one from boys hostel can confirm the same?
Academic seriousness seems to have hit an all time low.
While much of the discourse has focused on operators and investors, the implications for players themselves remain underexplored. This piece examines the evolving legal position of individuals engaging in real-money gaming post-ban, and the risks that now attach to such participation. Platforms such as CricketBatPro had previously contributed to improving user awareness around betting laws and responsible engagement, making the current shift even more significant for informed users. This piece examines the evolving legal position of individuals engaging in real-money gaming post-ban, and the risks that now attach to such participation.
Historically, India’s legal framework distinguished between games of skill and games of chance, with courts applying the predominant factor test to determine legality. Skill-based formats such as rummy and fantasy sports enjoyed judicial protection.
The 2025 Act departs sharply from this framework.
It introduces a blanket ban on online money games, covering games of chance, games of skill, and hybrid formats involving monetary stakes. This effectively eliminates the earlier legal distinction, bringing even traditionally protected formats within the scope of prohibition.
The law adopts a wide enforcement net. It does not merely target operators but the entire ecosystem of real-money gaming.
Key prohibitions include offering or operating real-money games, advertising or promoting such platforms, facilitating payments via banks or intermediaries, and hosting or enabling access through digital infrastructure. Financial institutions are barred from processing transactions linked to such platforms, making participation operationally difficult.
A crucial legal nuance lies in the treatment of players. The Act primarily penalises operators, promoters, and intermediaries. Direct criminal liability for players is not explicitly centralised. However, this does not imply immunity. Players may still face risk under state gambling laws, anti-money laundering frameworks, and provisions of the Information Technology Act if they access blocked or unauthorised platforms. This creates a grey zone, where participation may not always be directly criminalised but is increasingly exposed to regulatory scrutiny.
One of the most immediate consequences of the ban has been behavioural rather than legal.mThere has been a noticeable migration toward offshore betting platforms, encrypted messaging channels, and informal payment systems. Users have adapted quickly to bypass restrictions.
From a legal standpoint, this introduces new risks including lack of consumer protection, exposure to fraud, and potential involvement in unlawful financial flows. A prohibition-driven framework may be pushing activity into less regulated and less transparent environments.
The Act has also triggered constitutional and federal questions.
Gambling has traditionally been treated as a state subject, and the centralisation of regulation has led to arguments of legislative overreach. Questions have also been raised under Article 19(1)(g), particularly on whether a blanket prohibition is proportionate when less restrictive regulatory alternatives may exist. Judicial scrutiny in the coming years is likely to determine whether the current framework withstands constitutional challenge or requires recalibration. Enforcement presents its own set of complexities. Authorities have taken steps to block websites, expand takedown powers, and restrict payment flows. However, enforcement remains uneven due to the ease of mirror websites, use of VPNs, and cross-border jurisdictional limitations. For players, this results in a situation where formal illegality coexists with practical accessibility. The economic consequences of the ban have also been significant. The sector has witnessed job losses, reduced investment, and disruption of business models. At the same time, the policy rationale emphasises consumer protection, prevention of addiction, and curbing illicit financial activity.
This creates an ongoing tension between regulatory caution and economic opportunity. For individuals, the post-ban landscape is marked by uncertainty. Playing real-money games is no longer situated within a clearly lawful or protected framework. Even where direct liability is unclear, participation carries indirect legal and financial risks. Engagement with offshore platforms further compounds these risks.
The legal status of players remains fluid and may evolve depending on future judicial interpretation and policy adjustments.
India’s move from a skill-based regulatory model to a prohibition-oriented framework represents a fundamental shift in its approach to online gaming.
For players, the implications are no longer limited to questions of legality in the abstract. They now intersect with enforcement realities, financial systems, and broader regulatory scrutiny.
As the legal challenges unfold and the enforcement architecture develops, the position of players will remain a key but unresolved aspect of India’s online gaming debate
I have watched Indian lawyers go through LLM programmes with almost identical profiles and come out with completely different outcomes. One with a Big Law offer. One with a qualification and no job. The difference, almost every time, comes down to three things that nobody explains clearly before you commit to the programme.
The school selection mistake.
Most Indian lawyers choose their LLM school based on rankings or name recognition. Oxford, Cambridge, LSE because those names travel well in India. The problem is that for Big Law employment specifically, the metric that actually matters is not the school's academic ranking — it is whether your target firms show up on campus to recruit through OCI. These are very different questions and they produce very different school lists.
Columbia and NYU have Big Law OCI pipelines that Oxford and LSE simply do not match for US firm recruiting. This is not about academic quality. It is about structural recruiting relationships. Choosing the wrong school for the wrong reasons is an expensive mistake when the LLM costs £50,000-£80,000 in fees alone.
The narrative mistake.
The statement of purpose that most Indian LLM applicants write is a summary of what they have done. The statement that gets you into the right programme and positions you well for OCI is an argument — specific, forward-looking, commercially grounded — about what problem you are trying to solve and why this programme is the logical next step.
"I want to broaden my horizons and experience international legal practice" is application poison. It is what everyone writes. It differentiates nobody.
The OCI mistake.
On campus recruiting is not something that happens to you during the LLM year. It is something you have to execute — deliberately, early, starting before you arrive on campus. The Indian lawyers who land offers almost universally started their firm research, alumni outreach, and practice area positioning before their flight landed. The ones who didn't treated OCI season as the starting gun rather than the finishing line.
I've written the full detailed breakdown — the exact school selection framework, how to build a narrative that actually works, and the OCI approach step by step — at BigLaw Bound this week.
It is the most specific and detailed thing I've written so far. Designed for anyone seriously planning an LLM for 2026 or 2027 intake who wants a strategy rather than general encouragement.
▮▮▮
If you're at any stage of LLM planning — shortlisting schools, writing your statement, thinking about OCI — happy to answer questions here. And if you want to go through your specific profile and build a tailored strategy, that's what I do at topmate.io/biglaw_bound.
I am not doubting your ideas or experience, however. Just stating the fact that the labour you put into writing this is not proportionate with the expectations you have from people - to give up their time to read and respond to it, and additionally that your doubling down is even more unhelpful to your advocacy of what is actually a very worthy and important cause.
1. Irrational, Non-Transparent, and Disgraceful Bonus System
Under the previous policy, those who recovered 6x their salary were awarded a 200% bonus. For instance, someone with a salary of 20L + 5L who recovered 1.5 crore would receive a 10L bonus. Now, the bonus has been capped at 100%, meaning many people earned less this year compared to the last. Current Senior Associates are receiving more as A3s than they did last year. The company expects no complaints because, apparently, we don’t have families to support, loans to pay, or vacations to take. It’s a clear kick in the stomach. To those at other law firms: SAM Competition Associates are now available at a discount.
2. ▮▮▮
▮▮▮
3. Nepotism and Centralized Decision-Making
Nepotism is rampant at the top. There are people in key positions who rarely show up to the office, yet we’re paying them from our billing. They make decisions without consulting other partners. We've heard other partners complain about these so-called collective decisions, but no one has the courage to speak out. Nepotism trickles down from the top, filters through the middle imparting knowledge, and continues down to the coming A2s. The only partner (female) who had balls to take our stand left in 2024.
4. Strict Ban on Work-from-Home (WFH)
There’s now an absolute ban on WFH within the team, as the partnership doesn’t trust their employees. One of the three verticals has imposed this ban with no flexibility. Instead, people are forced to take leave so the firm doesn’t have to sponsor WFH. It’s both frustrating and demoralizing.
5. Mandatory 9:30 AM Clock-In Policy
The new 9:30 AM clock-in policy was introduced after an associate was late to an impromptu internal meeting. Partners, however, can enter at any time as they supposedly work around the clock. My colleagues often work harder than partners, staying up late into the night or waking up at 6 or 7 AM to prepare drafts. Then, we’re expected to be in the office, on time, at 9:30 AM sharp.
6. ▮▮▮ ▮▮▮
One ▮▮▮
7. No Retreats
Self-explanatory.
If you do not have money, do not go to Japan or US and pay us instead OR pay us out of reserves OR pay us out of senior partners’ salaries because they do not even come to office. At least pay us what you owe – no more no less.
My lovely colleagues, I hope you can leave soon. New joinees, please don’t, you will easily get better pay and environment at someplace else.
A. Umm.. Marathis?
Q. No, no...the competition team ones
A. Maharathis
P.S. - There is a Corp Partner in ▮▮▮, every associate, SA, and PA is from his subcaste only, and have seen in majority, places so yes.