What even is the discretionary bonus. Inse yearly bonus toh time par diya nahi jaa raha.

Yahaan yearly bonus bhi discretionary hi hai. It is the owners discretion when the bonus is to be released and how much is to be released. Billing, partners' recommendations, your hardwork, nothing matters

Hi, people of LI. I have secured an internship at this firm, but it will require me to relocate for a month. Can anyone tell me about the firm? I know it is a good firm for M&A/PE/VC. But any additional information would be useful, as well as their hiring prospects. Thank you!

No.

Getting a job in a magic circle or AM 100 firm feels like a dream. But these days if you are really competent in a decade or less you can make partner at a tier 1 law firm in India.

It's far more difficult to make partner at an US or UK based firm than in India. Indian legal market is about to become even bigger (along with the country's GDP) Western Economies and law firms are already running at full capacity.

I recently interned for a well known DRT, DRAT lawyer in Mumbai. What I wanted to know was how much money could a lawyer starting in the field could hope to make. To the best of my knowledge, the practice is heavily dependant on getting yourself empanelled with various PSBs and playing the volume game well while managing costs by hiring relativity junior lawyers.

The reason is that your interviews are not going as well as you think. If I were to make a suggestion, it would be to request your interviewer to give you feedback after the process is over. Most of them will be happy to have a chat and you will have a better understanding of where you stand.

Partners need Associates and therefore they are not hired to fire. Lawyers work in high pressure situations so if you are the one who understands where is the senior coming from and deliver what you are expected to do, imo you will not find ppl toxic unless they use abusive language or yell.

Why don't you go work in litigation? Why do you want to work in a law firm? I don't understand - if you are 2024 graduate, its already more than a year. You claim to have worked for a year and left because it was toxic. Do you think any other law firm, whether T1 or T77 would be any less toxic or the nature of the work would be the same. On the issue of connections, when you have connections, why, for the sake of yourself, go through the torment of working in a firm where you'll be a slave? Why not go for litigation where atleast you'll be your own boss? Goes beyond me.

My limited understanding is that not all references are the same. A few years ago, I faced a similar situation, dint have too much approach, but whatever limited contacts I had, landed me two interviews with tier 1 teams and they did not convert. My sense is that for a reference to really result is an offer letter, the reference has to be solid, there has to be an actual requirement for a resource in the team, the timing of things has to also workout- for instance, it should not be that the team is going through a phase of low volume of work etc., they should of course at some level like you/your profile, it also really helps if this reference via which you have approached the firm, can be of some use to the firm later on (its all quid pro quo really) - law firm partners are smart they are generally able to assess your closeness to your reference - also matters how influential is this reference, is it a siting judge before whom the firm regularly appears or is it some lesser known former judge with whom the firm may not necessarily cross paths and may be of lil to no use to the firm in terms or contacts and favours etc. There is a very fine difference, things like personal terms with the hiring partner etc. also matter, it could be a variety of factors, I am just stating a few. But most of all I think it’s about the timing!

As regards to your fear of negative feedback from your previous team, this is less likely, normally ppl don’t go on to actively damage a freshers career like that. There may be a few exceptions to this, but mostly negative feedback from a previous employer would only come if you really did something grave - unethical/unprofessional, minor issues with competence, availability etc. are generally overlooked and forgiven as long as you dont have a reputation for being a ticking bomb.

No one really knows what is going on except maybe Nishithbhai and NaiDA. The mass hiring is to make up for the exits at a mid and senior level. Personally do not think the firm will shut down anytime soon but its performance will continue declining until it eventually loses what is left of its reputation and becomes just another firm in the system.

I'm a Jindal alumnus who graduated 6+ years ago. Problems have always been there, but with DJ as the Exec Dean, this was bound to happen. She has a very, well, let's just say 'different' way of looking at things - which mostly tend to be very authoritarian, contrary to whatever she may preach in class. Look at what she had done to the previousy-very-successful legal aid clinic. Not surprised at all, just disappointed at my alma mater.

It's okay, don't worry. There are a few ways you can deal with this:

1. Talk to the professors you are close to, or those who are known to be helpful to students. They can guide you on how to deal with the situation.
2. If you had any medical leaves/leaves for competitions, etc., they should be considered, and again, talk to the department concerned for the same.
3. Take a backlog this time, and realise what you have done. Next time onwards, start to attend classes instead of missing them for no reason at all.

I joined a Tier 1 law firm last year and I am part of a very large team with six partners. I mostly report to one salaried partner who made partner about two years ago. Since the day I joined he has shown zero interest in training me. I do understand that with the workload and deadlines it is not always possible to sit down and teach, but in my case it has been absolute neglect. I keep asking him for feedback on how I can improve and it seems like i am expected to figure it out from the redline of my drafts?! the problem is whenever I make a mistake it is never pointed out directly to me. Instead it somehow gets discussed among the partners and the feedback spreads internally, but no one actually addresses it with me. So I do not even know what exactly I did wrong or how to avoid it the next time.

What is getting worse is that this partner has started throwing me under the bus in very subtle ways. For eg in one recent matter there was a non technical issue around the execution of an engagement letter and in the team group chat it was said that as the junior most I should have flagged it. The truth is I had no idea that this was something to even be flagged because with my limited experience I do not yet know the practical implications of that. Instead of guiding me he just lets it look like I messed up. This was just one example but it keeps happening. He never speaks to me about it directly.

He is passive aggressive, gives bad feedback behind my back, does not correct me, and never takes the time to guide me. I want to learn and I am open to feedback, but it feels like I am constantly set up to fail. Has anyone been in a similar situation??

Posting this comment as a prime example of why such comments are trollish.

1. Calling mods 'snowflake' is not a bona fide attempt to engage in discussion.

2. Please learn constitutional law: the government has a duty to you to protect your right of free speech, internet platforms or people's living rooms have no such duty to you.

3. You are constantly posting spam about law firms being places to do clerical work and only litigation being real law. We get it, you really do believe so and have reasons for it, but it's not what the person has asked and is a trollish attempt to derail a thread.

Hi all,

I got my LLB degree in 2018 and an LLM in 2019. I have worked in various capacities since then - litigation, legal journalist, in house role, law firm and also as a knowledge manager. None of them have been satisfying - sometimes its the boss, sometimes it's the team, sometimes work culture. Money has been a constant source of disappointment too. At my current job, its all 4. I think its time that i quit law. But I cannot figure out what to do next. Any guidance would be appreciated.

The PAs in this team leave because the existing partners are surviving on existing book and there is no scope of growth. In last 4 years, at least 7-8 PA level and 5-6 SA level people have left the team. Just facts for anyone arrive at conclusion and these facts can be easily confirmed.

To Law Graduates who have access to their Alma-mater University/Law College-paid resources like Manupatra, SCC and prestigious international/national journals and magazines,

1. Our Uni Admin is of the view that Alumni shouldn't be provided access as their contract with such platforms is for educational purposes and thus they get a discount which can't be extended to the ones who've long since graduated. The underlying reason is also that it would be a massive expenditure for our Uni.

2. So, is there a solution to this problem? How did your Law School figure out a way to provide you guys access?

3. I know that most of the firms do have subscriptions to these platforms. But, for a graduate opting to litigate, it'd be a boon to have such an access.

There's no need to. You are doing well where you are. Give it another 5 years - and you'll be independent and having clients. In 10-15 years, you';d have grown successful. In 20-30 years, you would be outearning the people of your level where you want to switch. Just give it some time. You'll be thankful that you did not jump to a clerical sector.

Ive been researching a lot about non-litigation roles for lawyers, especially in the finance sector, and it’s been tough to find proper info especially around salary in india

i’m trying to understand what kind of pay and qualifications are needed for legal roles in places like investment banks, mncs, fintechs, pe/vc firms, consulting companies etc (not law firms)

also wondering if there are any other sectors where lawyers can get well-paying non-lit roles, even as freshers

if anyone here has insights or has worked in these spaces, would really appreciate your guidance!

Its so funny that people who come and bark and say that corporate law firms are better than litigation because there's merit in law firms and litigation stenches of nepotism fail to realise that most of the law firms are family run. They have nepotism there as well. These delusional people fail to realise that law firms fail to offer any growth opportunity - any thing real. Yet they want to go and work there.

Thank you for your genuine answer, Samaritan. I am also of the same opinion. Even considering working here for 5-6 years before a shift seems suicidal. I can't fathom the amount of life I will lose in the process. There would be nothing left at the end of the tunnel. It surely is for people who really enjoy template work.

While DRT/DRAT/NLCT/NCLAT practice is much rewarding in terms of money, and the relative ease in it, there are two key factors which you must consider - first, the restrictive scope within which these tribunals operate, and second, the tag of becoming a tribunal lawyer. On the first, these Tribunals are limited in their scope and you'd be limited by the same. Second, whether we like it or not, there are hierarchies in lawyers - seniors in SC, then perhaps others of SC, then seniors of HC, where some HCs are considered better than others, then others of HCs, then district court lawyers. Tribunal lawyers, despite their earnings and wealth in knowledge, would always be lower in that hierarchy - and their senior designation can be affected too.

God knows. As far as I have used these two, it was not helpful at all [used for research in disputes]. As for a PE/VC team concerned, which would primarily be focused on more nuanced document review and DD work, where there is no requirement of any strategy, I believe the AI platforms you mentioned should be able to work. After all, they can do these clerical work with ease.

It's honestly sad and laughable that you want to know the package in a category of work that you are looking forward to. There cannot be a term called package in a profession. With the advent of the NLUs and the law firms, the unfortunate non-achieval of the goals of NLUs have deroded this culture and profession of law. Today people want to know packages and salary as if it is some kind of a job - it isn't. And if it is, you are just selling yourself to a firm where you can never grow and be someone independent.

You use the term "job". In law, there are no jobs. Its a profession. It is sad to see that people are today having such an incorrect notion about this. Much has been said about the growth trajectory (the lack thereof, ie) in law firms. In a smaller city like Pune which does not have a HC, it's even more prevalent. Those who seek to be in firms, are only gonna suffer much later.

UPDATE - OP here, I did not want to lie, I formally refused my PPO offer. Will be joining the chambers. I am thank full to all the advice, but I feel till the time I have that tier 1 offer as a back up Ill never truly be able to invest a 100% in this thing.

Now I have no option but to make this work. I have seen the struggle and hard work associates put in a Law firm, if I put that in something I find more interesting, It has to work right? I sound naive - but somehow I feel this is it for me.

Stay on top of things, DAW happens each year - for next year keep an eye out for event dates in advance. Do some basic diligence, connect with the right ppl on LinkedIn, stay active on lawyers WhatsApp groups, engage actively in the community, a lot of these events dont have entry barriers as such, being proactive is the key!

Hi, can someone pls tell me how much time Toer- I law firms take to tell candidates that they have been accepted or rejected. I am aware that they do ghost often but let's keep that aside for now.

For instance, if I applied in August for an internship at SAM for May next year then by when can I expect any sort of reply?