The Target: The FTC investigated law firms participating in the "Mansfield Certification" program operated by the DEI consultancy Diversity Lab.

- The Antitrust Concern: The FTC argued that coordination among law firms on standardized DEI hiring metrics, demographic hiring pools, and candidate-sharing agreements violated competition laws, specifically Section 1 of the Sherman Act and Section 5 of the FTC Act.
- The Outcome: Under immense regulatory pressure, Diversity Lab dissolved and permanently ceased operations to avoid continued FTC antitrust investigations
The Two Sides of the Argument

- The Anti-DEI Argument: Opponents argue that if a law firm sets a quota, uses a diversity scorecard, or gives a hiring preference based on race or gender, it is no longer hiring purely on talent. They view this as illegal discrimination against highly qualified candidates who do not fit those specific diversity criteria.
- The Pro-DEI Argument: Supporters argue that the traditional legal system was never a true meritocracy to begin with. They believe that systemic biases, exclusive networking, and elite university pipelines naturally lock out talented people. In their view, DEI programs level the playing field so that actual merit can be spotted and rewarded, regardless of a person's background.

> A very reputed senior counsel once told me in my first year of practice to always write dates in DD /MM/ YY format and then comes a Senior Associate who butchered me for not writing in this format December 20 2026 and there I was wondering .... who's right ?

There is no 'right' answer for these things, follow your workplace's style guide.

I am a physics grad, before that spent 2 years doing some business and trading ( average returns)

Always had a liking for legal education but given some family crisis, it looked impossible back then that's why went with physics ( science background and I was much more comfortable with it)

This year gave my first attempt and got into nalsar

1)What can I expect?

2)Will my age be a hindrance?

3)I still can pass for 19-20 so I am more concerned about intership chances and other job oriented oppurtunities.

4) which exams can I keep as a backup of I am not accepted in T1, T2 firms , ( no UPSC) given most exams have a age barrier like sebi or some psus

It would be really helpful to get some valuable advice

Please

Everyone is freaking out and NALSAR here is making the economy look good. Is it the batch of 2027 that is so hardworking and exceptional specifically? I have seen NALSAR have good placement figures over the years, but given how I have been hearing students from that batch struggling so much, it is amusing to see NALSAR stand out by such a margin.

I do not mean to be snide about this at all, but just a small observation. I was scrolling through Linkedin over the weekend, and saw NALSAR's recruitment brochure. Another law school which is supposed to be its biggest competitor had released its brochure only a few days earlier. I also remember having seen NLS' brochure last year. Among all of these, NALSAR's appeared quite off to me for some reason. Maybe I am just getting old and working at one of these boring law firms (which will also be hiring you lot) for the past 6 years has been aging me faster - but I think the brochure lacks much effort for a law school which is supposed to be competing with other equally talented pool of candidates at the two other very proficient NLUs in the Eastern and Southern parts of the country. It comes across as poorly to a recruiter, and may lead them to mistake the lack of efforts as a general character trait amongst the students.

Again, this is only an observation as a 30 y/o, so don't be very bothered by it. But I hope you all do work hard in the upcoming placement season. Good luck!

Hi, OP Here, thank you for the insight and yeah I do agree my salary wouldn't really be anywhere near corporate but that is a trade off I have come to accept as I try to understand what I want in life (which seems to exclude 18 hour work days). I'll try getting in touch with this person you mentioned that's a useful resource. I looked up the CIPP?E qualification (why on earth is $1200 ?) I'm going to postpone that I suppose.

Hi, check out LLMs from Tilburg and other places in NL. Data privacy jobs are fairly aplenty. Probably you can speak to Anubhuti Sinha (an NLS lawyer who did her LLM from NL and is working there.) You have to make peace that salaries will plateau beyond a point and career trajectories are questionable; even if you do land a job. Wish you the best. You can also plan to do CIPP/E qualification!

Buddy, please take a deep breath. You are at a coveted firm, and what is the difference between T2 and T1? 20-30 lakhs worth of money per year as you climb the ladder? How do people only justify the arithmetic value of money without seeing the ramifications on other aspects of life? We all deserve a peaceful life :)

This is an opportune moment for law firms and enterprise to actually assess tools and products that are built with a strong infrastructure in mind. For Indian firms it will make good sense to explore products that are native to the local jurisdiction and then move to foreign players.

Fact that they don’t have enough working capital to fund associates’ OPEs should be concerning for anyone who wants to a partner. If they were trying to solve for matter partners not fully recovering OPEs on their files, it should be adjusted against that partner’s profitability - same as we do for discounts or haircuts on standard rates - and not mess up your associates’ cash flows.

Lala firms are always penny wise and pound foolish.

Yeah, so she did not clear it. I can't tell you how good it felt! been enjoying this feeling alone for the last few months. Finally realised that i should be informing you all also. Thanks for the great advice, you all. Now I don't have any issue with her clearing it in any other attempt. My best wishes to her!

Hi everyone

I am looking for guidance. I want to pursue corporate law in future and as of now I have secured admission at NUALS and Nirma. NUALS is on basis of nri seat so the fees is thrice the usual.

Should I opt for nuals or nirma, considering i want to do corporate?

Hi guys! Wanted to know if anyone has any experience with arguing counsels based out of Mumbai, who are specialising in direct tax? I know Percy Pardiwalla and Porus kaka are the famous ones but was wondering who could be good as a senior to learn from? Looking for a brilliant mentor, pay is not relevant as of now.

I am not uncertain as to what makes everyone so "sure" about picking NUALS. When it comes to tier 3, Nirma has a decent name, and is what comes to mind right after JGLS and SLSP in private law schools/non-NLUs.

That being said, NUALS has a much smaller batch size than Nirma which means lesser competition. You will find a few alma doing good as well, especially in BLR offices of law firms. Also, having the NLU tag might give you a slight edge over a private uni.

Do give this thread a read : https://www.legallyindia.com/convos/topic/182347-what-to-choose-between-sls-pune-and-nuals-kochi
The second comments appears helpful. Objectively, NUALS seems like the right choice. All the best! Work hard wherever you go.

Hi, I am an independent litigation counsel primarily engaged in civil and commercial work. I was thinking of getting a subscription to a legal AI software. I'm not the most technologically advanced and am worried that I might get left behind due to the legal AI surge. My ideal use-cases would be - (1) legal research (India-centric); (2) drafting List of Dates and Briefing Notes; (3) drafting pleadings (if possible). I am aware of the shortcomings of AI, and intend to use to softwares as a starting point / first-cut that I rework / build upon, as opposed to the final product.

For those who have used such softwares / platforms, which ones would you recommend? Claude Cowork, Lucio, Jurisphere or something else?

Please dont turn this into a hate thread against certain platforms or their team members. Just looking for some genuine advice - please help a fellow lawyer out

Interned there last year. The work is very varied - they practice in HC, SC, NCDRC, NGT (Suhasini), and sometimes some matters come up in NCLT and Saket district court. Rahul is kinda useless and annoying, but he's sharp and knows his stuff. Suhasini is sweet and very hardworking. Interaction with both of them is very limited, you'll mostly be getting work from the associates. 2 of 3 of the associates who were there when I interned have left and imo they were the best ones and genuinely guided me through stuff. Don't know about the new associates but the remaining 3rd one is a pain in the ass and is terrible to work with. Work usually ends by 8pm, but sometimes the associates stay on till 10-11. Friday ends earlier around 7pm, Saturdays are working but you can come in by 11. Pay starts from 30k, and you will get a 10% increase each year.

With Fable 5 returning today, quick reminder to all law firm partners and innovation people; if your legal AI provider starts providing access to Fable 5 again, you should drop them immediately.

Fable 5 was the first model from Anthropic that deviates from their data retention policy, allowing them to retain and review all prompts for a period of 30 days, making it completely unusable for most legal work.

Probably a good idea to see which vendors advertised support for Fable 5 when it came out last month (ex: August, Spellbook, Juris) and make sure you avoid them too.