Depends. People usually say 3-7 years is the gestation period, after which you go independent. There are various examples. Nani Palkhivala became a giant within 2 years of his practice, while MC Chagla took more than 10 years to even set up his own independent practice. G. Banerji, the well known arbitration lawyer, as far as I have heard, did not join a senior ever. R. Nariman, as far as I have heard, took about 3 years. Same with H. Salve and another famous SC senior. Somnath Chatterjee took about 3-4 years to become independent. Then you have Anindya Mitra, a legend in the Calcutta Bar, about 3 years. Ditto with S.K. Kapur, another legend of the Calcutta Bar. An AOR I know, took 7 years to go independent, though you must take into account these 7 years included the COVID period as well. Another lawyer with 5 years' experience in Calcutta has gone independent in 3-4 years. Another brilliant junior (actually two) of a renowned young recently designated Senior Advocate in NCLAT is 11 years into practice, and is just going independent. A few other lawyers from Bombay and Calcutta HC whom I have worked with, all excellent lawyers, recently designated and joined the bar in the early 2000s, took no more than 6 years (least was 4 years) to go independent.

Even 70 years into practice will not be enough to learn all court crafts. When you go independent, you are basically someone who has been given a driver's license and trusted enough by their parents to drive. You may/may not know how to navigate the roads and drive properly. You become better with age, like wine. But you'll learn the basic court crafts, allowing you to be independent (and in the more real sense, you don't need your senior to get clients {and not money, since client/work gets you money}, and hence, you get the confidence that you can go independent)

With your lawyer skillset, you can always join social impact sector which will keep you engaged for 6-7 hours a day, give your life more meaning than sucky corp jobs, and take care of your monthly expenses. 10 crore is more than enough for retirement. You need to put it in a mix of liquid funds + FD + bonds + flexicap funds.

OP’s post should be a cautionary tale for everyone. Cracking UPSC is very, very, very tough. Seats are very few and only 50% seats are in the general category. Plus, you are competing with people from small towns who have been preparing full-time for 4 to 5 years, because they went to colleges that fudged their attendance and automatically passed them (not just small local colleges but even larger places like Aligarh Muslim University do this).

Objectively, your odds of marrying a Bollywood actress are probably higher than your odds of cracking the UPSC. Let that sink in.

Why the superiority complex man?

Obviously, dirtying a shared place is not cool, but placing all the weed smokers in a single bucket, and categorising them as "degenerate junkies" speaks volumes about you.

So many of my friends (Me included) have smoked a lot of pot in our personal space, and are doing fairly well for ourselves (Hell, I feel half the people in my floor (Tier 1 Law Firm) smoke/smoked weed in their life. )

At the end of the day, it's a personal choice. You do you. Not that it matters, since your placements should be effortless considering you're competing with "degenerate junkies"

Yes, I'm sure a lot of people who partake in this stuff can be very successful, but I feel like there's a marked difference in those people. Someone who drinks at parties is very different from someone who wakes up and takes a shot, and that's exactly what's happening with weed.

I doubt any of these successful managing partners or senior lawyers were people who woke up to their bongs and spent the rest of the day lazing around and continuing to smoke.

only way they will be able to control this to some extent is by taking extremely strict measures like actually reporting these kids to the police and when two people will serve jail time, most of them will stop. But honestly, I would feel really bad for those two kids because so many people for os many years have been smoking up and they will go as collateral damage.

Totally agree that some of the stoners really made successful lawyers but you cannot use them an example to excuse 100s who smoke up everyday. In the recent batch where almost 80% of the seniors were consuming weed, only 4 got placed, rest of them are still slogging for a job or at a local chambers, hoping to score some at the end of the day.

Bruh SAM Delhi is way behind SAM Bombay then. Serene views (at least from the marine drive side). Most teams have retained 1 day wfh. Food is mid. We got blue tokai coffee machines.

Reimbursement of food is quite subjective, i would say. If the client is stingy, your partner would not allow reimbursements.

Indus gives evening snacks on all days and they are pretty good 8/10 times. one day wfh for all teams, free drop off for women post 8 pm by firm cars. Laptops are pretty good. Most teams as super chill about additional wfh requests. Up to 200% bonus (partner discretion) to a select few which ramps up the pay to higher than Tri/SAM for those select few. Regardless most people get at least 120/130%. Only catch is that it is disbursed 50/50 in March and then July/August so that people don't leave.

I started off badly at my new job as an A0 because of my lackadiasical attitude towards work. I was reprimanded by my seniors for the same. It has been 6 months since I joined this firm and 6 months till the appraisal cycle comes in. I have changed my attitdude towards work and started to see it seriously however I am afraid that my past actions will make my team not promote me from A0 to A1 (and I really want to become A1). What are some things that I can do to undo my past mistakes and visibly show my team that I am learning and improving?

Legal officers' Job is also prestigious. There is literally an all-India service call Indian Legal Service, and most states nowadays have a dedicated cadre for the legal service, where promotions happen till special or additional secretary rank in the state government. So only idiots will say its a mediocre ambition, you will deal cases of the High Court and Supreme Court, which needs better legal acumen than those that come for adjudication in the junior division court.

a person who values a sheet of paper, graduation day matters. for a person whose family has had no education, graduation would be a milestone. but for others, it's such a shitshow. the only reason to go back to a college where you had to "umra bhar ke marr marr ke jeena" (read alc till 4am and exams at 11am next day) would, maybe, be friends.

Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayan (GSN) rises to the podium to argue in the much-anticipated Presidential and Governor’s Assent case.

GSN:“Lordship, as we all know, the pioneer of our Constitution is Dr. B. R. Ambedkar…”

Before he can move further, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta (TM) cuts in—correcting not the argument, but the very name.

TM:“OR It is Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayan..”

To this, GSN—never one to miss an opportunity for wit—shoots back with a grin:

GSN:“Or perhaps… Mr. Rahul Gandhi?”

For a moment, the entire courtroom freezes. A pin-drop silence. Judges exchange glances. The gallery shifts in unease. The remark lands like a thunderclap—bold, cheeky, and completely unexpected in a case of such national importance.

Now, the real question is—does making such a daring quip in the middle of a high-profile constitutional battle not affect the mood, gravity, or even perception of the proceedings? Or is this just GSN’s trademark flair, pushing the boundaries of courtroom rhetoric?

And let’s not forget the subtext—there seems to be an undercurrent, a silent duel, between GSN and TM. After all, Tushar Mehta rarely interrupts anyone—but the moment GSN takes the podium, the correction comes. Coincidence? Or a subtle power play?

Does anyone here have inside scoop on this courtroom drama?

Because so far the only top-tier university, students involved in street protests have been from JNU. And ▮▮▮.

What about the more elite sections in other colleges? We saw some of it in Kolkata, when the girl student was raped in a medical colllege, but they were peaceful candlelight protests.

Don't really agree with this rant. Sounds like a very angry and p%$sed off team member who has nothing better to do.

Nikhil is a young partner and has much to learn but on balance, is a good leader. He will go places (now watch some cuckoo kid rip apart this line because they don't understand the meaning)!

Would joining in a Legal Service Cadre in the State Government be good? job is primarily give legal advice to the Government and postings are in the state Secretariat and job is non-transferable. what are the career prospects, i have seen these type of services already exists in Kerala, TN, WB, and other states. The Central equivalent is the Indian Legal Service (ILS). Any clarity would be better

In your dreams bro.......are you still high on dope or hoping that you get placement this year.....chill you won't....just because you formed a pr team which is leaving no moment unturned.... dosent mean NLIU is doing great....its in a fucked up condition. The infrastructure is literally shit ....the profs ....let's not even go there....if you want to have a reality check ...go and read gohill report on Nliu ....all honesty of the profs will be out in open . Nliu literally has shity culture , its doomed to be fucked up and the Vc and admin are in cohort leaving no stone unturned to achieve that.

Indeed. Lee Kuan Yew was right. What he did with Singapore should be done with India. Drawing inspiration from the Singapore policy, residents of each state could have to learn the state's local language as the mother tongue at school. Then they know the link language (English) and an Indian language as well!