As the title read - did not choose law wilfully. In my second semester, doing average academically - not too spectacular but also not failing. I can't bring myself to see 5 years down the line in this profession no matter what path I end up taking. Any tips to fix this / and personal experiences that helped you get out of this rut?

Wow, did this interview just wipe out one more 10+ PQE litigator from my competition? Brutal.

Thanks, Gaurab Da. Please, do more interviews. Be candid, be carefree… keep accidentally torching the field while you’re at it.

As a first-gen litigator, I’m being squeezed from both ends: nepos on one side, and people pricing themselves like clearance sale items on the other just to get a foot in the door. So yes, more of this, please. I need all the help I can get!

I have to refine ur statement regarding nlus not being IITs of law. Just getting a status of state law University doesn't means that they are not best law schools of india.No matter they are state funded or central funded they are still able to attract best employers for law students and also produces best legal minds. Even central gov psu hire from these state funded nlus. Furthermore nlus are equally respected in legal domain as IITs in engineering

I am not from an nlu but still consider them topmost law schools in our country and in future they may get ini or ioe like NITs

following AI for 50 years now when my dad was himself was sperm, you AI fanatics including winners of turing awards like Hinton who ran google AI until 2024 said AI will replace all jobs in the 80s, LLMs cant think, they can merely regurgitate with a semblance of accuracy both of which a donkey could go, you have never been paid for those skills maybe with the exception of banking or cap marks teams

damn all this yap with 0 actual analysis of precedence?

what happened when the internet was first coming into prevalence.

what happened when the computer or the fax machine came in?

lawyers of that era atleast A1-3 levels had very mundane jobs and thought there role is done, all you have to do is a basic google search instead of scouring through countless commentaries or statutes, why did lawyers increase after the internet came in?

cause the role of A1-3 could be irrelevant but how do you get partner level attorneys without A1s?

You don't, hence more responsibility is given to A1s, they incorporate tech and work on harder complex tasks and find their work far more interesting.

This is what my opinion is, if you think I am incorrect feel free to downvote.

PS - Sridhar Gorthi (Managing partner) from trilegal speaking about the same - https://x.com/barandbench/status/2027033380181918165?s=20

Hello everyone. Honestly, any good advice will be appreciated–I feel extremely underconfident in my work. I am just starting out and every task feels new, and I lose confidence a bit more. I do not think I have ever submitted quality work, and I am scared this reflects badly on me/I wont get work any work.

Fellow A0s feel so much more smarter and competent. I am constantly comparing myself. I feel really bad and my confidence is deteriorating. If anyone has any helpful advice, I would appreciate it. Does it get better? Or will ot always be this way? Is there any way to improve my skill on the side?

The Delhi office of this firm is facing a jaundice outbreak with 5 to 6 attorneys down. It is linked to the water supply to the office. It is shameful that there is no official communication circulated by the admin yet but those who have come to know about this have started using branded bottled water. A pathetic state of affairs to be honest - slowest WiFi, slowest laptops, contaminated water, archaic policies, and bloated/outdated leadership. Revenue targets set at 3x of attorney compensation and yet unable to provide the very basics. It is all downhill for this firm.

I can confirm that work in law firms have dropped across practice areas i.e. Banking & Finance, General Corporate, Disputes and Capital Markets. Furthermore, our clients were discussing that how they are unable to get funds for lending business in the market. This is a very big red flag. My ▮▮▮ firm has asked us to make presentations on the work we have previously done. What a joke!!!!

I work in disputes in a T2/T3 firm. For the past one month, I have observed a massive drop in new work in-flow across my team, and broadly for other teams as well. Hardly any new matters coming in these days. It's made life so much easier, but there is an anxiety creeping in about how long this goes on. Any one else feeling this?

since its about the money, why dont we auction the seats? may be have some cut of mark to participate in the auction to ensure that merit is not compromised. it also ties in with your point that we should not dismiss meritorius people just based on some two hour paper written on a sunday.

Please see the data objectively: in many (if not most) cases, NUJS NRI CLAT scores are higher than caste quota scores. Please compare the final GPA as well, after graduation. An NUJS NRI student (who declined a merit seat at NLUJ , because of city preference) received a prestigious scholarship at Oxford. Many others are doing very well at firms abroad and in India. These people turned down merit seats at NLIU, RMLNLU, HNLU.

If you want NRI seats to be abolished, then so should caste quota seats — IF your logic is meritocracy.

Everyone has already explained how the NRI seats help subsidize the fees for all others. So that's the financial aspect.

A 1000+ ranked person getting through the NRI quota is far better than a 21000+ ranked person from the reserved quota. That's the last rank for NLS (as an example), which got in. It is worse for other NLUs. This is the merit aspect.

Nearly all of the category-based-reservation-entry students at both NUJS/NLUJ actually have lower ranks than the ones who get in via NRI quota. Would you then say that these students are even less meritorious than the NRI ones? Should we suspend reservations too? CLAT ranks are not indicative of anything but luck on the D-Day. If you were to actually compare and contrast the Batch Ranks of the students with their CLAT Ranks, there's absolutely no overlap. Every single quota is misused. At least the NRI quota gets the Uni some money. And yes, NLUs are in such dire need of money. They're state-universities, and very regularly face funding issues.

Fellas.

8-9 PQE in Gen Corp, M&A, etc. in mid tier and T1 firms.

I have been away from the profession doing other things, which leaves me with quite a bit of free time.

I love the law, but quit the T1 law firm and the Indian law firm circuit because its a broken system.

I want to work in law, but during my free time, which will allow me to give full attention to matters and contracts. I run my own business, so I can set aside time.

I want to know has anyone here done freelancing or independent work, and how does one get the work? Whats the route? Is it worth it?

Bhai ye Rishi Kumar ka article dekha kya?

https://arekay.substack.com/p/i-wrote-about-judicial-corruption

https://arekay.substack.com/p/the-supreme-court-of-india-has-no

I would suggest try to find law firms who do prosecution and M&E work.KLAW could be an option as from what I know TM and M&E team share resources. Other firms not sure if you can pick up work from different teams. M&E industry prefers to have in house lawyers so do take note that eventually your prosecution practice will take a backseat. Please keep that in mind.

Contractual work would definitely expand your skill set but if you’re in the IP team of a Tier 1 already, you could consider asking for more contractual work. There seems to be a dearth of TM associates who understand contracts. There are a lot of companies who hire for resources who understand TM portfolio management and can negotiate licensing agreements etc.

Course wise, I’m not sure what will be helpful.

1) ICICI pays 17.7 in the Delhi office, a bit less in the Bangalore office, and 18.5 in their Mumbai office. In hand often comes to 1.2 to 1.3 lakhs.

2) ICICI takes almost all fresher recruits through campus placements, and these recruits in most cases sit for an assessment internship which most freshers convert.

There is no ragging scene, that is, no consequence for saying no or walking off. No harm in loosening up though as it only lasts a couple of weeks and by that time you end up knowing a good number of people. I guess the only remaining tradition enforced by almost everyone is finding out a senior’s name and hometown without asking them directly. Try insta or LinkedIn.

First year’s for fun, exposure and memories you’ll cringe at when you look back at them in your 5th year. There is much to do with academics here yes, but just the simple act of attending adequate number of classes qualifies as not messing up.

Get used to mess food unless you can afford the eateries every day of the month. One vicious cycle people fell into is that of spending their money elsewhere and then spend the last 10 days starving kyunki mess ka khana kyun hee khana hai

You can ask your seniors about internships. Nothing too heavy. Probably a non-profit. That’s what i did.

It’s lax. You have most of the day to yourself unless you decide to keep yourself occupied with non-mandatory stuff like a moot or volunteering or a club.

Well it does help ngl. Smoking up too. But you won’t be percieved as anyone strange. Truthfully though, a fair number of people do drink. Not alcoholics but a few times a semester like b-days, treats and so on. Unless you have really strong opinions against such things, I would suggest you to try it with people you trust. Seniors you trust, as believe me it’s safer for first timers to be trying anything they haven’t with a senior than their batchmates.

I feel that you’re thinking too much about it. Valid i guess. I was in your position too when I joined. I think you should go with the flow. Do make friends. No need to be part of a large group as they don’t last the first sem itself. Just a few people would do.

P.S. An allowance of 10k should be fine.

As re: Iran, if I had been the kind of students you are writing about, I would have said silence is the best option. Somebody needed to go in and do what they've done. Americans and Israelis have voluntarily put themselves in danger to do the world a favour? You ain't finding me complaining, hell no. I will in fact say that whatever foolishness these kids have engaged in over the years, they are showing some signs of common sense now. If anything, you will find me clapping when watching the TV and hearing about that spineless popinjay in Number 10 Downing Street getting blasted for keeping the British out of the war. Sometimes, paradoxically, you do need more war to strive for more peace long-term.