Will you give OP money to feed and clothe him/herself, pay their electricity bills/rent, pay for any family obligations etc, in case this doesn't work out and OP has a hard time finding a way back into the industry? No you won't! You will just not, in 99.99 cases out of 100, want to go quite that far. Your standpoint, however, would be selfish in the extreme. At least the "armchair naysayers" who can be so easily dismissed are transparent that they won't help like that either, but at least they are clear on that by not being hipocritical! Instead, they are giving OP realistic advice to stay on a stable career track (for now at least), so that later life problems can be avoided.

You know what? You people - the so-called "idealists" - are all the same! Always blaming everyone else but yourselves for problems, always trying to deny that the consequences of your choices and actions can still impact 20 years down the line! If you aren't wealthy enough, that's because there are people with stinkingly high levels of wealth. What is so hard in pulling up your bootstraps and doing whatever it takes to get to that level? Because that is exactly what people like you will do in 20 years' time. When OP's social circle will be sending their kids to swanky schools and will have the financial standing to ensure that they get exclusive and swanky higher education opportunities (many outside the country) - exclusive because they require (i) solid brains from the kids; and (ii) plenty of the right stuff as well (with limited options to access it if not available) - you will dismiss the life achievements of such people as "privilege". What's the problem in making some life sacrifices? In just grunt-working at a T1 job for 20 hours a day, so that your kid might be able to follow her calling? Your kid will be privileged enough to make most of her talents to follow her calling. For all you know, she may want to become a historian in LSE, but the educational opportunities required to get there with even small degree of smoothness require her to show her brains are the best as well as she has money in her pocket. Will she thank you for randomly "following" some whim in your 20's? No she won't! At best, she will grin, grit her teeth and try for those limited options for funding to access those opportunities at postgrad level; at worst, she might do that and curse you in her adult life. Stop thinking only about yourself and think about others, too. There is plenty of time - so much that it drags - to follow whims in later life, if you have money, then that will just be so easy. Don't waste what time you have now!

As someone who did this, don’t do it without a few years of work experience atleast. A T1 job is not worth throwing away for the CSE gamble unless you’re 100% sure you will never want to return to corp for money and other perks. Unless you get IAS/IFS or maybe IPS, the rest of the services have work profiles that are as dull and even more thankless in terms of pay and prestige and you will be treated as if you didn’t even succeed in the exam. And I’m sure even you’ll feel the same way if you don’t get a top 100 rank and crack the top 2-3 services. Even IPS officer repeatedly attempt the exam year after year for rank improvement which tell you all you need to know about the design of this exam.

Big mistake. Huge. There is so much luck built into an exam like UPSC, I dont know why anyone would give up on a whole career path to take years off to prepare for it. Its one thing if you dont have a job generally- then yeah, you can use your time to prepare for exam and try and crack it. But to give up a career on the offchance you might get really really lucky and be- what?- a babu? ridiculous trade.

Hello to whoever is reading this. i have completed my llb from campus law centre, University of Delhi. I want to learn more about corporate law and work in this field. I do not have any prior experience except a one-month internship at a Tier 1 firm. How should I approach this issue. Can you suggest some good law firms/ advocates that deal in corporate law and accept freshers?

Interned at the pune office. Office is nice. It is expected that the interns have good knowledge of IP(not basic). However, they taught me everything. I did not find IP very interesting, but the office is good. Some explained the work really well while some just wanted the task to be done anyhow.

Any idea on the infrastructure, faculty, and environment of the 5 year BA LLB course of Campus Law Centre Delhi? I understand that information is limited about the course since it started only in 2023. I secured a rank of 8** in CLAT this year with 87 marks and am looking at a Tier-2 college like Lucknow or Patiala as my best bet. I hear that CLC Delhi has similar cutoffs and am therefore wondering if it is worth the gamble to choose CLC Delhi over a 2nd tier NLU. The first batch of the 5 year course might still not have gotten placed but I would like to know the placement scenario for the 3 year LLB course at CLC Delhi.

Same as the above. I have few queries if anyone will be kind to share any insight it will be very helpful.

1. How did you prepare for exam? Self study or coaching ?

2. If coaching then which coaching did you join?

3. Any resources for judgment writing and essay? Or are bare acts enough?

4. Please share your interview experience. Which questions were asked?

5. Lastly how's life after clearing the exam?

The firm primarily focuses on securities litigation and capital markets, particularly relating to SME IPOs. It does not have a corporate culture, operating more like a family-run law firm. However, the treatment of interns leaves much to be desired. Interns are often tasked with working on weekends, while associates take holidays, and interns are expected to stay later than associates. Although there is significant learning, particularly in the litigation team in Mumbai, the workload can be overwhelming, especially if you're hoping to focus on capital markets. On a positive note, the only female associate, who is also a Company Secretary specializing in capital markets, stands out as an incredible mentor. She provides meaningful work and takes the time to teach, which is a rare and valuable experience in the legal field.

Less than that. Back in 2018 and even up until 2023. No matter whether you have experience or not. They're offering the same even to someone whom I knew had 5 years of continuous experience. Do not fall for the trap that they will issue a offer letter or retainer a "few" months down the line or even hike it. It's not gonna happen. Do yourself a favour. Keep looking for something else. There was no administrative management till mid of 2019 reporting to the Senior Management. So the mid level associates create a massive chaotic situation causing folk to leave even without jobs in their hands. The rule then was to complain, complain, complain, scream and shout to the decision makers so that the person is forced to leave or go mad. But I think it's instigated. Working hours are unnecessarily late. There will be no conveyance for staying back late ( 14+ hrs ). Please do take into account you need 1 hour or more to reach anyplace in Mumbai. So that's almost 17 hours of being out of home and then coming back. Working Saturdays are not an off. Neither will be the 2nd and 4th. Hard work and delivered results will never be valued. Nothing will be informed to you properly. Quality of Mid level associates "may" have changed but can't guarantee

People keep asking this over and over again. Perhaps because they're so nervous about their futures. But the truth is, no one can know enough details about your individual profile to give you a good answer.

What people can tell you generally is that getting a good GPA- in the top third of your class from a top university means you will be able to land a job at a big law firm just because of that.

If you don't have either of those things- a top GPA or a top university—you will have to work significantly harder. It's unlikely that large firms looking to hire a bunch of people based on short interviews will trust you have the skills because you don't have the GPA or the university. They have no reason to believe that you can do the work. You can try and assure them in the interview, but every single student with a low GPA believes it doesn't reflect their true qualities and will make the same argument.

Your best bet, if you don't have a top GPA or a top university, is to choose one mid-sized firm or litigator and intern with them multiple times for a long period of time. Build trust with them so they will prefer to hire someone they know, someone they know can do the work, than a stranger with a decent gpa. Its going to be hard. Many places will let you intern endlessly without even discussing your career. You should take the initiative to be direct. Ask them pointed questions and refuse to let them get away with evading an answer. Do it in a way that is professional and not entitled.

Instead of repeatedly asking strangers on internet to assure you about insecurities- just think about what an employer would want from an employee, and then try to become that.

Don't think you are incompetent just because you have failed an interview taken by a senior. You failed because the interviewers did not know you and knew other people (Who got selected). College interviews taken by seniors are always fixed.

If you want to improve your interview skills, watch a few mock interviews on YouTube, that might help. There are multiple mock interview rounds of UPSC toppers on YT.

Hi OP. Fellow A0 at T1, NCR here. Would you please shed some light on exact reasons of exit, if that's possible?

My team is okay. Work is a Lil dull. Compliance, secretarial, memos, advice, less exposure on the transaction side. Tbh I prefer shanti in life which I am getting but I am afraid I will lose out on the learning.

Can I get a list of firms that officially don't work on Saturdays (from office)? Now, I know it's not realistic to think you won't have to work the weekends in a law firm as I myself work on weekends more often than not. It's just that I have the liberty to work from home on Saturdays and Sundays and whenever I plan to switch I want that same liberty. I don't mind working on weekends as much as I mind the commute as I live quite far from where the offices are in Mumbai. I just wanna know which firms don't work on Saturdays officially so I can only apply to those because the ones that I come across with openings almost all of them work on Saturdays and I just can't handle a 6 day commute.

Dear Community,

I am a final-year law student at a private university (which I would rather not describe). Unfortunately, we have no placement support at all. I have completed a few internships at T2 and T1 law firms, primarily in General Corporate and Capital Markets. I have accumulated 3-4 months of solid experience in Capital Markets at a T1 firm. Additionally, I have a strong foundation in M&A and PE/VC, as I am pursuing a diploma in these areas.

Despite having a good rank in my batch, I am experiencing significant anxiety because I am struggling to secure assessment internships, whether at T1, T2, or boutique law firms. I am determined to keep my focus in M&A, PE/VC or Capital Markets.

I would be deeply grateful for any guidance on how to proceed and what my approach should be if I am unable to crack any opportunities. Also what boutique firms I can target so that I am able to gather some skills.

Thank you in advance for showing me a path forward.

Hi, I am a 4th sem student, I have done 3 internships previously and wish to do a corporate internship in Delhi in June and July. I am clueless about which 3rd or 4th tier firm I should apply to and which team. I wish to work in corporate eventually so guide accordingly

If anyone has faced similar issues and now working in a good firm please guide me.

Also, is TMT legal a good firm to start, and if yes which team?
And is there scope for me to build connections and further secure upcoming internships??

Comeback when AI will be able to deal with requirements like collecting all backups, going through them to ensure all are in place, how to tackle the situation when the relevant backups aren’t there. When AI is able up understand when a fire noc or an SE license is not required or is it okay If we skip the part regarding the years of experience of a kmp or smp a lot of these things bankers get done with the regulators on the side, it’s very subjective how a transaction in cap marks ultimately plays out. If AI will eat sth up, it’ll eat up the plain simple drafting jobs in PE-VC, M&A.

Hi, had been looking for information on Mumbai based T1 Disputes team. While there is a lot of talk around the work culture of AZB, SAM and Trilegal’s teams, there is an apparent dearth of information about Khaitan. Given that KCO has invariably a large disputes team (in terms of no. of lawyers), very curious to understand how the team functions, kind of matters it does, and how does their compensation fair against the above T1s.

Would be really grateful to all those who could provide their insights, especially from the perspective of a mid level A3/A4 in the disputes team.

Thank you!!!

This year appears very dry for Bo2026. No office (Mumbai, Del, Blr) appears to have given a PPO recommendation to students, let alone interviews and confirmation. This is true for T1 NLUs also. Teams seem to have submitted feedback but no news from HRs on enquiring Does anyone know what's up and when students can finally hear back? Or is this a big draught for Bo2026 wrt KCO?

Can someone tell what is the pay in IPR and TMT and does it increase with the experience, I am confused as I need a high paying field because of my loans, so please help. Also it would be good if someone can share the true salary the firms are paying. Please I need it to make my decisions.

hi interned at phoenix earlier, few things to know:

- they have a pool system there for interns, i.e. you are not assigned teams. 4th/5th year interns did get assigned teams a week in, but most of them did not get their first preference and were sent to disputes.
- you need to go to associates desks multiple times daily to ask for work, you can try mailing too, it works sometimes. try within the first week to build a rapport with the associates in the team you want to intern with, they will call you for work themselves once they're able to trust you. phoenix takes ALOT of interns so its important that you have 1-2 associates who regularly assign you work. makes life easy.
- there is very limited contact with partners. some junior partners did interact with the interns tho. if you are going to the internship through a partner, you can ask the HR to meet them.
- if you are interested in getting an assessment (4-5th year), you can ask the hr towards the end of the internship. she will ask the team you worked with and according to their review you be considered. when i was at the firm only one assessment intern got an offer out of 4-5 people.

i barely worked with gen corp and there are some young associates there who most interns had negative experiences with some of the younger associates. b&f and disputes team are really good tho.

Looking at the comments so far, sad that there are always people trying to get you down. Here are my two cents - please bear in mind though that I don't have exactly comparable experience, as I haven't prepared for civils, but I have hired (good) candidates who had career breaks due to UPSC prep.

1. You mentioned you've been at a T-1 firm for 6 months, I'd suggest you stay for at least 6 more months (if not more, if that works from your UPSC age limit perspective), rounding your work experience out to a year (if not more). If UPSC doesn't work out and you want to get back into private corporate practice (firms or in-house), the more law firm experience you have, the more desirable you will be as a candidate for both firms and in-house roles.

2. For the remaining duration that you choose to stay in your T-1 role, I'd advise against trying to prep simultaneously. In my experience, multi-tasking is a myth and humans do better when they are concentrating on one thing at a time. Instead, focus on doing a good job at work, build a network to the extent you can (don't stop staying in touch with your network during civils prep either), and save whatever you can - ensuring respectively that when you leave, you will have some goodwill that can help you land opportunities if UPSC doesn't work out, including a return to the same team if that is what you want + providing you a financial cushion.

3. Set an outer limit for the number of unsuccessful civils attempts you will allow yourself, so you know when it's time to activate your backup plans.

4. Also assess how easy it was for you to land your T-1 job. The sad but brutal truth is that at least for folks who pivot to law firms after unsuccessful civils attempts, it's easier for candidates from more established colleges to get a foot in the door (at least an interview, trainee associate position etc.) than others. For e.g., my post UPSC prep hires (with several years of prep) were from well-ranked NLUs.

5. Accept that should you choose to return to private practice, there will be a hit to your PQE as nothing but work experience will be counted towards that.

Good luck with whatever you choose!