Major bump!! Someone please expand on the early switch to a different location preferably from a T1 to another T1. Mainly due to being near the family for personal obligations. How early is too early to switch? 4 months, 6 months?! Are freshers asked to take an experience discount in this scenario?

Also, please tell about point 7 and the hiring cycle. Thanks

While the UGC has started allowing people without a master's to do a PhD now, it's still advisable to do it.

ILI could be a good place for PhD. NLS has improved quite a bit now when compared to 4-5 years ago, with its fellowship and other things. Process is very streamlined, you have a proper scholarship and doctoral committee is much more responsive. Even NUJS has done away with its earlier structure and things are much more smooth there.

Then you also have good central Universities- JNU, BHU, AMU and some others. JNU is still very well regarded in academia, BHU also is very good but I'm not aware of its PhD program.

Other universities I don't really have an idea

I love that people have spent hours bitching about me, but apparently couldn’t spare a minute to actually read what was written, or even establish whether I’m first-generation or not.

But there is something I find particularly amusing about all of this.

I enjoy the fact that I can remind you, quite openly of how powerless you are. You can complain about me, call me a snob, arrogant, rude, entitled, or whatever else makes you feel better. Please, carry on. I genuinely enjoy reading it.

The only question is: what exactly are you going to do about it?

I’m not hiding behind anonymity. My LinkedIn is open (Tushar Nair). My Instagram is open (nairtushar9). If you want to speak, speak to me. If you want to play a sport, I’ll see you on the ground. If you want to discuss the law, I’ll buy you coffee and we can discuss. If you want to kickbox, I’ll meet you there too.

There is no mystery here. No distance. No hiding place.

And if you’re genuinely determined and you really want to kick my ass, I’d be more than happy to give you the opportunity to try.

You just need to have the balls to ask.

This comment demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the law and how it actually operates.

Please go ahead and file it. If you can't, then your comment had no substance to begin with.

Shouting A.K. Balaji doesn't make anyone a Fali Nariman or Indu Malhotra

The real concern here is not whether ELP “survives” as a brand. It is what happens to the people and practices left behind after the restructuring. If Tax/Trade is indeed moving out, the remaining firm needs to answer a far more fundamental question: what is the business model, leadership structure and growth strategy for the residual ELP? Associates cannot reasonably be expected to make career and financial decisions based on rumours while senior management remains silent. A firm may survive a partner exodus, but prolonged uncertainty inevitably affects retention, morale, compensation and client confidence. Transparency is now not optional, it is essential.

Read your CV well. Go through every publication listed, even if it is a blog post. Expect some very general and broad questions about your areas of interest, but if you have applied for a specialised post, like say AP of Corporate Law, then expect at least one panel member to directly ask you questions about that, even if they are not an expert. Do not be goaded into a confrontation, if someone pushes you, just shrug it off and provide some courteous basic reply that you shall keep that in mind in the days to come or something. You may be asked about some general questions about legal education like use of AI etc. If you have any idea of raising money for the university through research projects or outreach, wait for an opportunity to present that, but do mention that you hope to do so under the tutelage of the present leadership and learn from them in the process. Best of luck!

Senior Counsel Rohan Shah started ELP sometime in 1998-99 as a sole proprietorship and later converted it into a law firm in 2001. Three partners joined him, namely his friend Vikram Nankani and two younger lawyers (SAN and Sword) whose fathers were also lawyers (one a very wealthy rent control lawyer and the other a Senior Partner at Crawford Bayley). SAN and Sword bought their way into the partnership, since they hadn’t established themselves in their fields and the funds they brought in allowed ELP to grow and expand. Vikram Nankani was the first to leave, after he became a Senior Counsel. Then Rohan Shah left, for reasons that are disputed. SAN and Sword controlled a big majority of the equity and they managed ELP reasonably well for many years, though their individual billings were never very high and neither made a big mark in their specialisms. Indirect Tax has been the mainstay for ELP and they carry the rest of the firm.

Now that the Tax and Trade teams are leaving ELP to join Dhruva Advisors, what are the lessons for family-run firms, where currently the founding partners have full control and also have a good reputation and billings, but the succeeding generation might not have the same reputation and billings? For example, around 12 years ago, India’s then biggest and most prominent law firm split into two, and the two law firms formed as a result of that break-up are still Tier 1 firms. The Mumbai HQ firm is still very much under the control of one individual (who has a Persian first name and so let’s call him Cyrus). Cyrus has a son (Son) and a daughter (Daughter) and both are good lawyers, but unlikely to become leading legal luminaries in India’s crowded legal market. Cyrus is in his late sixties and after he retires, will other partners in the firm allow Son and Daughter to take home a big chunk of the bacon, even if they aren’t billing in proportion? Won’t the other partners just walk away, even if Clever Cyrus is likely to have embedded a number of poison pills in the firm’s partnership deed to prevent or at least discourage exactly that scenario? What do you all think?

For those who have experience applying to law firms, what is the better approach when applying for an internship?

If a firm has a designated internship/HR email or application portal, should one first apply through the official channel and then cold-email relevant partners, or is it better to cold-email the partner first and apply through the official channel only if they ask you to?

I’m particularly confused because I’ve seen very different advice. Some people say partners will simply redirect you to HR if the firm has a formal process, while others say that cold-emailing partners can work if the email is personalised and relevant to their practice.

So, practically speaking:

1. Should the official application be submitted first?
2. If yes, how long should one wait before emailing a partner?
3. If cold-emailing a partner, should one mention that an application has already been submitted through the official channel?
4. Does this strategy differ for Tier 1 firms vs smaller firms?

Would especially appreciate answers from people who have actually secured internships through either approach.

In hindsight, Sudhir deserves belt treatment for behaving so arrogantly and dismissively with the IIT Delhi Director. Just because he got a Rhodes scholarship and went to Oxford doesn’t make him a God. Even the Jindal VC was in the same Rhodes batch as him. For all his faults, the Jindal VC would never speak so arrogantly with an IIT Director. On the contrary, he maintains excellent PR with everyone.

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

We think NLSIU is like Harvard and even tier 3 NLU students flaunt the NLU tag. But we are beggars compared to IIT students. 😢

I remember that viral clip where Sudhir was dissing the IITD Dean for harping on practical education linked to industry. He was saying how NLSIU would rather teach theory well, instead of “a shallow version of craft”. But IITD is mogging NLSIU with these stats.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Btechtards/comments/1w6ytau/iitd_unofficial_intern_stats_2026/

> The newly made/new book partners also drop rates to build a book and clients tout those rates to T2/Boutiques saying oh Tier 1 has given me this rate - can you match.

This sounds just like street shopping tactics. Bhaiyya woh dukandaar ne toh 100 rupay me bech raha tha aap iskeliye 200 bol rahe he. Barabar daam bata dijiye. Varna me vaha he khareed loongi

Is small and mid size firms doing any justice to their juniors by always recycling their juniors. One wonders is it worth joining any of these firms anymore?

The partner's remain intact irrespective of their flaws...but the juniors gets replaced every 1 year. An associate that I knew got displaced like this.... recently...so from what I have heard...they have new faces as an associate pool every 2nd year.

"I would avoid boutiques with tier I aspirations. These are the worst of both worlds. They import the hours, the face time, and the hierarchy of a large firm without the pay, the infrastructure, the support staff, or the deal flow that might make the trade defensible. Watch for the signs: obsessive talk about rankings and directory submissions, aggressive lateral hiring to build headcount, non sense linked posts churned on repeat, self-glamourisation, a founder who talks constantly about where the firm will be in five years, and a website that describes the firm as full service when eight people work there." I cannot emphasis enough how spot on is this.

You will not face any physical discrimination because of this but there maybe subtle discrimination,that would arise out of resentment that you got a way lower rank than most and still managed to get admission there. Especially sometimes it may be from drop year generals who might have tried and got a rank higher than you earlier but still failed to get admission

A few days ago, I received my internship confirmation for the B&F team at Vritti law. I am a 9th semester student. Is it wise to take up the internship considering it is lined up next year? Do they hire interns in their 9th sem? Moreover, do they hire interns at all?

would really really appreciate honest insights. getting a job is the biggest priority!!!

Is there stagnation, at PA level, if you don't have clients of your own?

I see a lot of seniors from my college get promoted from Associate to PA in 3-4 years and then stay at PA level another 4 years +

How does once break the cycle? considering evey year new promotions / new PAs are made. Where are they all accomodated?