In a world where remote work, technology, and AI are making work smarter, why are law firms still demanding 24x7 availability, endless all-nighters, and weekend marathons?

Why are young lawyers still working through sickness, exhaustion, burnout, and pain not because they want to, but because they’re terrified of losing their jobs?

I’ve seen colleagues work through a relative’s death. I’ve seen some log in from hospital beds, with fevers, with panic attacks. I’ve seen them pull all-nighters and still show up the next day with no acknowledgment, no recovery time. Work weekends, then dive straight into another brutal week.

It feels inhuman at this point.

Why do we still call it “dedication” when it comes at the cost of health, sleep, social life, and family?

Why is raising an issue met with silence, or worse, the threat of being fired?

And for what? A paycheck? Three vacations a year? A fleeting escape before the cycle begins again?

This isn’t resilience. It’s survival. And it’s breaking people.

Wonder what’s driving it: tradition, ego, or just greed? The kind that reduces human beings with dreams, families, and lives into nothing more than resources on a spreadsheet.

If every other industry can evolve, why can’t law?

If AI can read contracts, why can’t we read the signs of burnout?

If technology can transform business, why can’t we transform culture?

And more importantly, why are we not collectively protesting against it? Why are we still normalizing the idea that this is just how it is?

So, the real question is - will we ever stand up together and demand better? Because the system will not change, unless we do.

In one sense, you are right. Give it to the fellow with more experience and a good track record. But if you have an NLU lawyer with as much experience and a lawyer from "Maharishi Dayanand University" (what uni is that, BTW? Never heard of it.), then you'd be taking, let's just say, rather interesting decisions in doing that, unless you had (I don't know?) prior professional dealings with the "Maharishi Dayanand University " alumnus.

As a Bengali who has spent a good part of his life outside Kolkata (first in Bangalore, and then outside India) but who has lived in Kolkata for a portion of his life and goes back reasonably often, I must say I am very curious as to what you were doing in Kolkata in the first place. Totally godforsaken place to be. No progress of any kind there. Get out as soon as you possibly can.

Kolkata is a hopeless powder cake of religious sectarianism, ideological/political battles totally devoid of any level of critical thinking, the most toxic among the old fashioned attitudes of the world and economic stagnation. Living in such a place is deeply unhelpful to one's overall development, both as a professional and as a person.

And if you are talking about "culture" (in terms of exposure to Rabindra Sangeet etc), that is a mere paliative: as Wilfred Mulliner, the protagonist in some of Wodehouse's short stories once thought in an analogous situation, being given a good cutlet for breakfast when you are imprisoned and held against your will is not a net contributor to overall happiness. The influence of such things really varies based on circumstance: if the circumstances overall are good, then they are a significant bonus; if bad, they are no more effective to make them better than taking a pain-killer would be if you'd dislocated your knee and were stuck at home for three hours without being able to get to a medical facility!

Take an example: you can have (if you know how to play your cards right) a perfectly satisfying career in Berlin, Germany, with the equivalent of the good cutlet being a bonus in that situation being that car radios in Berlin and Vienna tend to broadcast Beethoven violin concertos or Mozart operas, as opposed to the generic junk you hear on car radios almost anywhere else (including in big Indian cities, such as Bangalore). The trouble is, in Kolkata, through "cultural exposure" (if you have any), you are getting the equivalent, in Berlin terms, of all the professional advantages of Berlin being taken away but the Beethoven violin concertos and the Mozart operas still being played on the car radios.

An Indian employer has called out Gen Z, short for Generation Z, for being entitled after hiring a junior worker who expected to be spoken to differently. In a now-viral post on reddit titled "Gen Z Entitlement Rant", the user remarked that it was perhaps the 'generational difference' that dictated the behaviour of most new-age employees.

"I work in Tax. We recently hired this junior, Gen Z, smart, very pretty, and very aware of it. Within weeks, she wasn't just asking what she could learn but also when she'd be leading negotiations. She actually told me, "I think I have the presence for it." Presence, not skill," the user wrote in the r/IndianWorkplace subreddit.

The OP highlighted that whenever a senior gave instructions to the new hire, she replied saying she did not like the tone and expected better.

"Not because she was insulted rather just because she feels she's owed extra softness, extra patience, extra polish. She did once mention something like 'my facecard never declines,'" the user said, adding that her behaviour may have been tied to her 'looks' as she was used to doors opening and people being excessively polite to her.

"The entitlement is wild. Back when I started, seniors could tear your draft apart in front of the whole team and you'd thank them for the lesson. Now, she wants her mistakes pointed out like a spa receptionist breaking bad news."

https://www.ndtv.com/offbeat/employer-rants-about-gen-zs-entitlement-at-work-calls-it-generational-difference-9193602

https://www.news18.com/viral/employer-rants-about-gen-zs-attitude-at-work-internet-says-this-new-generation-isnt-taking-sht-9540358.html

https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/from-dont-like-the-tone-to-facecard-never-declines-senior-employee-slams-gen-z-colleagues-workplace-attitude-internet-is-divided/articleshow/123612737.cms

speaking as someone from bangalore myself, why the hell did yall even get admitted here. what was the selling point?? like, if placements and good corp firms are your goal, the only colleges that will help you in bangalore are nlsiu or slcu. anything else and you WILL struggle.

if you bombed clat, you could've tried slsp or jgls. they're not even that hard to get into and are very well-known in big circles obv.
i dont get how people get admitted to unknown colleges who have no alumni in big firms (or maybe the partners dont even know their colleges) and expect internships and placements and PPOs to just flow in. i'm not hating, just trying to understand why.

I am an IGNOU student who is about to resubmit some of my assignments because apparantly they misplaced them, I came about to know this information a few days after my admissions into LL.B got confirmed on a provisional basis.

I really want to not lose this year, losing the first semester's fee is a secondary concern for me at best, my degree will say that I graduated in the month of January and took my last examinations in December, what do the guidelines have to say regarding my situation?

Mixed bag experience.

Work :

There is debt and equity work. You’ll get to work on early stage VC deals, and do fundraising work, and also work with debt funds. Depending on the client, it can interesting or very demanding.

Otherwise, they have some legacy clients, for whom they sometimes tend to creat unnecessary urgency to please these clients. The firm also takes up lot of secretarial work for such clients instead of hiring a CS.

Work hours:

At times there can be immense work pressure, when you’re working till 2-3 am daily and also working on weekends. But there will be periods of less work pressure also when you leave at 7:30/8pm.

Work experience:

This firm has a semi hybrid structure - at associate, SA, PA level, you are working across Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore. Your SA can be in Mumbai while you’re in Delhi or vice versa. Technically, you may be working remotely, but you still have to come to office. Also, depending on who your senior is, you can have a very different experience. Mumbai team works hard, but they are more reasonable and easier to work with. Delhi team has some people who are difficult to work with and who micromanage a bit. Bangalore team is slightly relaxed.

Leaves - they say they are ok with people taking leaves, but often times seniors call up juniors who are on leave or make them feel guilty for taking leaves. While some seniors do make an effort not to disturb others on leave, some seniors don’t care as much.

Culture:

Lot of the seniors are home grown talent, and haven’t worked in other firms. Since they have been trained under the same person, they have a similar way of working. The firm has its own non legal training sessions for its lawyers, and the overall emphasis on certain things and way of functioning can give off cult vibes.

In the firm, the seniors do discuss about trying to create a balanced workplace, and of adopting innovative methods, but there is still lot of groundwork that needs to be done. As someone above mentioned, you can’t cram decades of innovation in 1 month.

Overall, the firm is trying to be better, but since most seniors have a similar way of working and thinking, it seems sometimes they are unable to recognise their own blind spots.

Left the firm a while back. If you don’t have other options, you can join the firm to learn basics and use this as a stepping stone.

My personal view is that this practice is dying. Its days are numbered. Once Trump threatened with tariffs it was clear that all foreign antitrust enforcement would be seen as an attack on the US economy, most heavy handed regulators went from roaring to meowing.

At best you will have a supportive role in merger filings - the regular kind. The contentious ones will get a good PR firm or lobby firm. For business they have more value add than competition lawyers. Competition lawyers themselves will be relegated to back end filing.

The only people who are not on contract are those who joined several years ago and were hired on or converted to open-ended contracts. For the last 7-10 years, everyone has been on contract and it is exceedingly rare to get converted. However if you're doing well it isn't an issue at all

I worked as an associate in the firm even after 6 years of Work ex. The salary structure is extremely poor. The have a record of salary delay for 2-3 months. You keep writing emails to accountants. so if you are someone who will have monthly bills or rents to pay, pls plan accordingly.

So recently the HNLU administration has announced that the admission process has been finished for this academic session. This is the second year that they didn't do their PhD admission process. The last time they had a PhD admission was in 2023. Now it's been two years. Is this not unfair for people who wanted to a PhD after their LLM from hnlu. Sad that yearly intake is not mandatory by UGC.

Wow all caps lol. Anyways I got you buddy.

ICDR (Schedule VI and IPO over main board), CA2013 (related to issuance of share and it's peripheri), BitS of LODR (for listing compliances) - Capital MarketPFUTP, Insider Trading, Intermediary Regulations, SEBI Act, ( Basically every other regulation that has scope for dispute resolution) - Securities Practice

Most law school alumni are extremely selfish.

The much vaunted "alumni network" students are told about is often just a thinly veiled excuse to rag juniors.

These networks really only exist if you were brown-nosing these alums in college. It sounds harsh but yeah, don't expect them to assist you at all. You can keep trying if you'd want, but I think it's much better to retain some dignity in your asks.

One of the reason these visa consultancies never show their unfair legal agreements initially because then they will not be able to do fancy, misleading marketing to lure you. They often cite the reason that their management needs to know you are "serious" about immigrating and only then they will dispatch the agreement and for that, you need to make an advance payment. As soon as you receive the agreement, they are behind your backs to sign it and return it to them because after that they are safe legally.

Had an Insight related to Indus law Bangalore, atleast for the BO'26 they wont be hiring at all and already are fully staffed after the enormous corporate hiring for BO'25. Also the story is the same with Disputes and only real estate has few openings ig that too if you intern for a minimum 3 months. A intern in their corporate team who observed and found out all these by himself.

Hello everyone, I am an A0 in a supposedly Tier 1 practice area in a multidisciplinary firm. I have completed 2 months here as of now, and I feel completely defeated and lost. Here's how I have lost my will and succumbed to being a robot.

I received this job as a PPO, and I am very grateful, even now and always, that I received this job in these adverse market conditions. I, as a fresher, was very excited to work here and learn. Although the pay is not competitive with its peers, it is said to be one of the best in the practice area. I started my work in July and got allotted to a team where the partner (let's use 'they/them' for gender neutrality) directly deals with A0s. Even better, right? What a great opportunity to learn from the master of the craft itself! But god, was I delusional.

I started off with no introduction, no greetings, no efforts to make me feel inclusive or different. I was dropped in between transactions, and the partner directly gave me work to draft transactional documents or research on the niche, which were often out of the scope of the practice area, because the client demanded so. I was answerable to the partner directly, as they were the person who gave me the work in the first place, which also included sitting through client meetings and taking notes. I thought, Isn't it great to have such exposure at such an early stage. But things started to get real. Partner expected the work to be of perfection, irrespective of whether I had any background in the work or the subject itself. The expectation mismatch brought doubt in my skills and basic things.

Partner spends 12-14 hours daily working, so am I expected to do so. Partner spends Saturdays and Sundays working and attending client calls, so am I expected to do so. The partner does not believe in my work; they spend time redoing the work I spent time on. They naturally spend 1/4th of the time I took to complete the work. I spend most of the time observing them work or doing unproductive work which will be redone by them. They will give me work at the end of the day, which is expected to be submitted tomorrow morning. I started burning the midnight oil, having 4 hours of sleep and falling sick.

I think this as a fee to learn what no one else at my level can experience or learn. The work is great, in fact, exceptional. But I have started doubting myself, am I even made for the law field, though I was among the top 20 during law school? I have given up on meeting any friends and families whom I love beyond anything and making weekend plans. I had various hobbies, but I stopped pursuing them, as my day consists of work and sleep. I told myself I need to give sufficient time; it would get better once I catch up with their pace, but I don't see anyone leading their life in any different manner in the office. Am I wrong in feeling exhausted in 2 months? Am I wrong in wanting to have life outside the office? Am I wrong to give time to my loved ones?

Remember this practice is purely grunt work based - so nothing out of box, it's purely SEBI approved instruction booklet - ICDR. Real deal happens at Partner level (at least in case of lala firms).

Just have the basics of Companies Act at your fingertips. Nothing much is needed.

All the best!