Traditionally, solicitors have drafted conveyancing and transaction documents. If you wish to learn how each word in a drafted document matters, solicitor articleship is about the only way to learn. No organisation or law school teaches conveyancing properly, hence you see badly drafted property contracts across India. That's also why Bombay's property transaction documents are considered the gold standard in India. Similar expertise extends to other agreements, but new age firms prefer American style contract drafts in M&A etc is another story for another time.

Also, most solicitor also do litigation apart from transactions. If you want a unique blend of training in litigation and drafting training (particularly in property transactions and litigation), Bombay solicitor training is the best way to go.

Two pillars of BILS solicitor exams are Company Law and Conveyancing. I doubt there is anything out there that tests knowledge of these two aspects in such depth and rigour. No wonder most solicitors are either advising or sitting on the boards of top companies in India. For example, an old school firm's top partner was on the board of Reliance until he passed away.

You will see that Bombay legal culture is very similar to English law culture in everything. It's a par excellence option given Bombay economic primacy and its famed meritocracy across sectors. Note that CAM, SAM and AZB all are Bombay rooted firms and their leaders have had either solicitor or counsel training.

Good luck to everyone.

Advocate's Act. They banned the other class of attorneys. That's why. Before, the Cal HC used to conduct the same exam as the BILS conducts. Only reason BILS got away w it was becasue the Bom HC gave the duty of conducting the exam to BILS. So, it was a private exam conducted by a private body. the calcutta ILS atleast could have continued with it.n

LOL NO. VERY few of them. Miniscule percentage. You'll find seniors who earns lakhs per day and barely pay their juniors 30K and what's more - there is no yearly spike or anything.

The good paymasters are Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Shadan Farasat, Ritin Rai, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Rebecca John and Dayan Krishnan.

I'm a fresher looking for good mentors who teach and have sufficient work where I can learn and grow my PE/VC/ and M&A career. Please let me know of any partners working in this vertical - who are hiring or open to an assessment internship.

Been on the lookout for 9 months now. Please help me out.

Dismissed in two lines with no reference to Karnataka HC's decision rejecting such reservation in the NLSIU case. What now??

https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/supreme-court-upholds-25-domicile-reservation-at-national-law-university-jodhpur

I've followed the standard recommended routine, i.e.

- Cold email law firm partners.

- Ask alums for help.

- Ask for assessment internships in case their firm isn't currently hiring.

None of the above has worked out for me. My profile is admittedly not stellar but I do have publications, some editorial experience, moot awards, a good college background and so on.

I'm at my wit's end.

Yes, LI likely reported it. Paper was widely circulated then ofc after the exam. Dr Yashomati Ghosh, who previously taught at NUJS (and did her postgraduate here) was the concerned teach at NLS then, now NLU Goa. For more you can contact her or the spouse Ani C also at NLU Goa now.

Hi guys,
I am a 2025 grad from a private college in Tamilnadu. So, to give some context, through my internahips I gained interest in IP law and started interning specifically with IP law firms through out my law school. My internships experiences have been with a few (read 2) lit oriented firms in the beginning, after which I went on to intern with 3 IP boutique law firmsand one with commercial litigation team of T2 firm. I enjoyed the work as an intern and even got offers from 3 places that I interned with, which I ended up not taking since I landed up with an Assessment Internship with Surana with the IP practice team (and since the T2 firm ended up saying no vacancy even though my mentor recomended). It has been 2 months through the assessment, and I have realised that I do not want to do IP prosecution at all.
So, while going through other options I felt like I have some Real estate related knowledge through my internhips (title due diligence and drafing & vetting some contracts). I feel so bad that I just kept myself only to IP in lawschool and should have done some corp internship.
I have tried applying multiple places and all I've been getting back is no vacany.
So, if any of y'all have any leads on any firm in chennai where you guys would recommend me to apply for an Assessment/internhsip which can be potentially converted if I stay for long and do satisfactory work. Area: Real estate.
I swear it would be super helpful if you guys could help me through this, cause I've hit a all time low mentally.
Btw, I don't mind doing corp too, just that I have got zero exp at all, so my chances of getting hired idk is prolly weak i feel.
Thanks!!!

You have any proof of the same? Well, I do. Some law reports of HN Salve show he was earning close to 100cr a year in 2011 or so. By law reports i mean he challenged it before the income tax tribunal or something. That's 15 years ago. Mukul Rohatgi, and a few other seniors like Sibal charge 16.5L to 20L a hearing. A retired Madras HC judge who practices in the SC - I've seen his billing too, 3cr a month. For the first two, aram se it would be over 100cr a year. The latter? 30cr a year. atleast.

Sure, these are the top tier A-grade lawyers. Now, tell me, which of the top tier A grade law firm partners, even the ones who have their names on the wall, earn so much? They'll be earning no more than 50% of it.

Sure, you'd say these are the cream of the cream. But go, see any lawyer who's doing well in any HC[that's my criteria, since at the principal seat of most HCs, most mid-top tier law firms would be there], who's say, 15-20 years in practice. The worst of them would be charging what? 15-20k an appearance? Desginated would be charging say 40-80k an appearance? With even 4 appearances a day, which is reasonable, that'd be 50k-2L a day, not including conference fees/opinions/outstation matters/arbitration etc. 5 days a week, that's 2.5L a week to 10L. A month? That's 10L to 40L a month. Given 10 months, its 1Cr to 4cr. How much would their equivalents in a law firm earn at that stage? 1cr? Perhaps, but hardly, and very rare. Add to that - the partners won't have their names on the wall, and their fee growth trajectory won't be as high as that of a litigation lawyer. There you go. Real facts.

You corporate people do nothing but clerical job. You guys are glorified clerks who do nothing but document reviews and a desk job. Now let's talk about nepo. Yes, i am one. But guess what? I'm joining a first gen's chamber, who made it big. Guess what? All his batchmates made it big in litigation, all non-nepos. Not even a rich family background. I'm joining him. And guess what these poeple have in common? The same opinion as me.

Get it thru your head - corporate work is useless in terms of satisfaction, and much later, in terms of money. You wanna be a glorified clerk, go ahead. No one's stopping you. Anyone, in law, who has some family background, and can afford to have their family sustain themselves for 3-5 years, should get into litigation. They'll make it big surely. Please don't go around misinforming people.

The life is dry but 20 years into practice, you can easily earn 5-6 crores a year. If you're a rainmaker, then double that figure. Despite the work being mind numbing, it gives you money for doing a job which is easier than other similar high paying professions. Luxury cars, vacations, living in 2-3L a month rented apartments in Bombay, designer clothes, fancy restaurants are some of the things that can be accessed only through a lawfirm career.

Yes. Idea is to not think of work as your entire life - even if it’s taking up major part of it. Work is not the sole priority nor your sole purpose in life. If you’re happy (read: okay) spending the hours etc. to actually use your brain for other things (be it philosophy, skills, etc.)

I’m good at drafting and negotiating. There’s no extraordinary mind jumping I need to do to excel at work - I am instead using it to pursue things which challenge me.

one understands that legally india is shit scared of trilegal so it censors and deletes all negative comments and instead is quick to approve of comments even of helpless interns coerced to glorify mediocre people but I fail to understand why even this is censored. do not worry, RN doesnt care too hoots about LI

There is absolutely no point in posting anything anymore if all of it is going to be censored anyway, let us know if you only want us to write good things.

Rajiv Sir is god sent angel, when it was raining once and the roof in our home was leaking, Rajiv Sir came with an umbrella and held it above our heads for the entire night so that we can sleep in peace. Best Rajiv Sir is:)

Pretty normal and a sign that you should leave and find a nicer job.

Late 2021, fresh off Covid, a bunch of us college folks went on a trip. A classmate who'd just made RP was two drinks down when her teams ring tone went off. She was laughing when the call came in but immediately had a panic attack and it took the rest of us to calm her down. She left the industry a few months later.

It's a toxic job and you're not at fault. Heal yourself.

▮▮▮. I am absolutely surprised on the number of comments of ex-interns 'anonymously' coming out to praise the team - and each and every comment seems to have the same line of argument, sentence framing, etc. More like a cut-paste job from ChatGPT?

I would have refrained from commenting - and have no business with tax too - but given the alarming number of comments by ex-interns, I thought I will add my 2 cents.

My view is based on my interaction. They r all seniors so no malice intended.

Gopal Sanks is great. Reads his papers and fights it out demurely. ST will get there soon. Shashank Garg is very average and more interested in building his network than reading his papers. K Parmeshwar is the most hard working in this lot.

Sadly, never. Even the partners are not masters of their craft. Grilled properly, majority of the BnF partners don't know shit.

Don't aim for mastery of the craft. Aim for mastery of the process. At the end, B&F transactions are all process driven and no body gives a flying duck about the craft as long as docs are signed in time and borrowers get their drawdown (save and except a few high profile structured finance deals where lot of brain goes into structuring and then rest is just paper pushing).

You gotta be kidding me!!

So, according to your galaxy-brain logic, these people were so shy that they first recommended an assessment, then a PPO… because they were too polite to just say ‘nah, you’re not good enough’? 😂

Come on, Troll. That’s the best you’ve got?!

He got no chill. 🤣

Some counter-points would be:

1. Are you sure about the critical thinking bit? Have you ever attended a classroom lecture by the likes of BS Chimni, Amita Dhanda, or the various younger NLU alumni profs teaching in various places? Have you ever read the journals published by NLSIU, or the NUJS Law Review?

2. Isn't nepotism deterring NLU grads from joining the bar and bench? At least two NLSIU alumni withdrew their judicial nominations after their apppointments were being stalled, whereas all the children of judges have become judges.

3. Corporate professionals dominate the 1% of Indians who pay income tax and subsidise the 99% of poor Indians (plus freeloaders like politicians). For the first time in history, individual IT collections outnumber corporate tax collections. By giving 30% of their income to the government, and receiving nil subsidies, corporate professionals effectively work 4 months in a year free for the government. Is that not public service?

https://www.barandbench.com/news/nlu-model-has-steered-majority-of-law-graduates-to-corporate-jobs-cji-br-gavai

I made the most mistake of going independent too soon. It took me several years to build back a stable income because no firm/company wants to touch an independent counsel. So tread carefully.

Also, do not follow examples. Someone mentioned Gourab Banerjee, well his father was Attorney General and was extremely well connected, so he need not have joined anyone's chambers.

Same with Kapil Sibal, his father Advocate General for Punjab and was extremely well connected.

A chamber gives you an identity in court, so it is important. I know some people who have done well independently immediately after graduation but they are the exception rather than the rule and you do not know what connections they have.