This is true - sometimes it’s a question of being unable to find the time to train juniors. But by that logic, law firms should be firing ALL freshers. Why is it that only some freshers are fired and the rest continue? Are they fired ultimately because they are also deemed unworthy? You have to stop thinking that every partner / firm sees junior lawyers as fodder, that there is some sick twisted mentality behind every action.

Please appreciate it’s not a pleasant experience for a partner to let go of anyone in their team, unless they’re absolutely useless or just plain rude. Even if it’s the former, law firms struggle to figure a way out to adequately use someone’s time and it’s only when they find that there is no interest or aptitude that they take such a step.

I hope the junior lawyers / law students who are upset at these firms or partners come back to this page at some later point in their lives, when they are at a sufficiently senior position in their profession, to reflect after having gained some perspective. Please understand that it’s not easy doing what we do - we have pressures that you cannot possibly understand just yet - if you see someone clocking in and clocking out, without any improvement or indication that they care about the work they’re putting in, what are you expected to do? How many chats / “buck up” conversations are you expected to have? Why is it toxic to expect a junior associate to take pride in their work product and do a good job? Is it fair to expect a partner to carry a fresher associate if the fresher associate is not good / doesn’t put in the work? What about the impact it has on the firm’s resources and their ability to reward others who perform well and the firm sees them having a bright future? Is a year not good enough to evaluate whether a person is someone you want to carry forward? It’s harsh, yes - but what is the expectation here? How many chances does one expect to be entitled to? If you don’t find someone to be good, to be worthy of a place in your time, if you find that this is not their thing and they won’t cut it, what are you supposed to do? Just let them hang around until they decide to quit?

Dont several Associates joining t2 and t3, when they get first opportunity, they switch to a t1 for better branding and package. In Majority instances, such t2 and t3 firms see that happen helplessly. T1 also see a mass movement of associates to foreign law firms as they seek greener pastures even though they have to burn out there. So who takes care of interests of these firms who end up acting as just training grounds and conduits for Associates to help making them their next move. Anyone maintaining a list..No, because it will be a very long one. So lets see both sides of the coin and then decide whos right or wrong.

Sir/ma'am tell me something, law firms take pride in hiring only the top students from campus, students who have worked extremely hard to maintain ranks or balance studies and several extracurriculars. In cases of PPO, the team and HRs would have/should have keenly observed the student's work ethic. Why is it that these brilliant students are deemed unworthy by firms when there is a much higher incentive to work (promotions, bonus, reputation, career development) than they had as students taking part in paltry ADRs and writing papers on boring subjects of no interest? Do you overwork them or do you just not bother to train them well? Perhaps it is a mix of both.

The place is undoubtedly good for disputes. It comes at a cost ofc you'll be left with no work life balance. Some partners come v late like 11 so you can't think of leaving before 9pm. For interns it's supposedly 8 pm but you always end up getting work like around 6:30-7:30. Interns won't be given much work, you'll have to keep following up so many times that you'll feel like they have no work for you and find you to be irritating.

No stipend even for assessment interns. Pay is less too but I think it's easier to switch to tier one law firms later on because the exposure is good if you're in the team. Matters are good, yes. But you'll get to see it better as an associate and not as an intern. If you're lucky you'll be involved. There's no demarcation as such partners do all kinds of litigation obviously they do have their specialisation but you'll generally see real estate matters being taken up by solicitor partners.

It is generally accepted that Wadia Ghandy has one of the best commercial litigation and arbitration practices in Mumbai - arguably better than Tier 1s as well.

However, will appreciate if someone well versed with the firm's practice can help me with any of the following:

1. Work culture

2. Average working hours

3. Whether there is a strict division in terms of type of work (for ex., arbitration, insolvency related matters and generally appearing before the NCLT, civil suits before the HC/District Courts, etc.) handled by the respective partners? If yes, who handles what?

4. Which partners are generally good to work with and are running healthy teams?

5. Which partners to avoid at any cost?

Thanks in advance!! Your input is much appreciated!!

I woke up at 9AM yesterday after sleeping at 6 AM. Working since 10 AM yesterday, with at max 90 mins break, and now it's 5 in the morning when I close my laptop. Calculate my work hours. And it's not just my story, there are hundreds of lawyers who go through this in a regular basis, and trust me, NOT EVEN A SINGLE SOUL CARES. You raise your voice and you are shown the door

lol ! you really think people care about laws. Employment lawyer here, working hours are capped till 8-9 hours for all employees (depending on the state / factory), subject to payment of overtime, employees can at max be required to work 12 hours in a day. But guess what ? no one cares, most employers just don't record extra hours so worked.

Unless, we unionise and are more aggressive in demanding their enforcement, nothing will change.

Can use chat gpt

have questions for you is this a petition or documents to sent to client

There is reason that person has written in broken language is to send the message across

So please groww up and read between the line because everyone has unique senses of writing so being clear means exposing themselves out. I hope after writing all these facts noone would want to do that. Hopefully you grow up and understand this thing

JAs get about 60-70k pm. A0s get about 90k-1L pm. This is fixed. After 6 months of probation, an 8% revenue share is triggered (depending upon performance, your partner may shorten or lengthen the probationary period). This means that you get 8% of whatever the clients pay for your time. This is the real gamechanger and you easily make more than people at all the other firms.

Did he say whether he was chastised and humiliated because of his lack of preparation for a class that he was being paid for? Because he was not. Yet that's precisely the same standard that he likes to hold students to. Which is the problem. Whether he 'almost cried' or not is only hearsay. However, he did make many people actually cry. The incident that you described if true should have taught him more empathy. Clearly it didn't. Him being a law school topper, Rhodes scholar etc. has got nothing to do with justifying his lack of preparation when he himself doesn't listen to any excuses from anyone else about theirs.

Thank you for your reply.

While I know that there aren’t any specific percentages, I was curious to know “how likely” does an assessment intern end up getting the full time A0 position.

If most firms do not convert assessment interns, then I will drop the current opportunity (T2 IP firm) and move on with other options.

I do not intend on interning anymore because I have completed my undergrad and my LLM too right now. I am applying for full time positions

I will be completing my LLB from GLC next year. I will be 35. I know it's a weird predicament of being too old to start, yet to young in the legal world.I am not interested in corporate, nor will I get in because of age. I just want to ask whether I should go to litigation or teaching? Both will require another 3-5 years depending on career paths. Teaching will require a PG & PhD. Litigation will require minimum 5 years to get established. Money is not my motivation, I'm thankfully a minimalist and celibate. It's just me forever. What should I opt that will keep me busy till I die ?

All judges are mandated to pick 2/4 of their law clerks via the exam. If the judge hires a 5th law clerk, that law clerk must also be via the exam. A maximum of 2 clerks can be hired without giving the exam. Many judges pick all their clerks via the exam in the interest of fairness. You’ll have to find out what this policy is. But giving the exam allows you to be considered by all Judges and so your likelihood, if you get a good rank, of getting the clerkship is higher.

Your first bet is to express your interest in the job and identify who among the existing law clerks are discretionary/exam clerks. No matter how great you are at the job, it’s a question of numbers and whether a vacancy will exist when you want to join.

I don’t understand the question of needing to get in touch with the judge. Most interns work out of their residential offices. You’ll have to identify a good time to bring this up. But you’ll have ‘access’ to the judge fairly often. Don’t spring the question on him/her right from the start and always ask the law clerks about the office policy and the likelihood of a vacancy existing before you speak to them. Ensure you’ve had a chance to present some solid work to the Judge before you ask about working with them.

These aren’t assessment internships. Interns to SC judges are to help decrease their burden and there’s no guarantee of a job offer. By making a discretionary appointment, the judge is expressing confidence in your abilities and has some sort of an equation with you. It is not possible ordinarily to establish in 1 internship, so you might have to do a second one. Even then, there’s no guarantee.

One small piece of advice: be courteous and polite to the clerks and the staff, and as respectful as you can be to the judge. There is no need to excessively praise anyone or provide your opinions in unnecessary matters, such as telling the judge which of their judgements you agreed with unprompted. A sense of discreetness and sobriety are required for this role.

Hope this helps!

Hello everyone, I am a 4th Year T1 law student who woke up a little late in this rat race.

I have done a few internships in boutique and T3 firms specifically in Trademark Prosecution, Disputes, TMT and Litigation Chambers.

I wanted to explore corporate law/competition law. I am getting an opportunity via a personal connection to do a judicial intership in the NCLT Delhi for 4 weeks.

I was wondering whether such an opportunity would be a good learning experience or not. Is this worth it interning at such a place.

Please let me know both from a knowledge perspective and would it help me secure future internships/Help in Day Z perspective.

University of Melbourne is the best. Second is ANU. Then UNSW, Monash etc. It is good to stick with the Group of 8 universities. Scholarships are limited. Melbourne gives 2-3 Alex Chernov scholarships each year. Fees is approx 20-25 lakh INR.

Job prospects in Australia are nil unless you do a PhD (they require minimum two years of study to be eligible for the Temporary Graduate work visa). Job prospects elsewhere are wide open - international organisations, UN, teaching in Indian law schools, etc

hi, OP here. I mailed them at rajivmohanlawoffice@gmail.com. Received a reply in a day. It's mostly dealing with the associates there. If you're passionate about working, you can stay upto 12-1 at the chambers, although travelling back is a huge issue in Delhi. If you want to chill, it's great too, cause barely any monitoring of work.

I get that not every candidate can be hired, but sending a simple rejection email should be a basic courtesy. It only takes a minute or two to send a copy-paste response. What’s worse is when you follow up and still get ignored—it's disrespectful to the effort applicants put in.

Even more frustrating, I applied to a firm recently and didn’t hear anything, not even a yes or no. But then, I checked LinkedIn and saw that they hired a new fresher! It really makes you wonder—are decisions based on connections, or is it just luck? There's no transparency, and it leaves candidates in the dark. A little professionalism would go a long way.

Hey. It’s unfortunate you’ve landed in such a team. Sounds like cap marks or banking.

If you think your seniors are unhelpful, try to ask other A0s how they are coping/ learn from them.

Else, reach out to people in other firms with same practice area, and ask them to explain the concepts and process to you. Since you’re an A0, your work won’t be new or unique, so others can help.

During this time, actively reach out to peers in others firms to get a job. Switch practice areas if you have to (your call). Always easier to negotiate when you have a job in hand. The Tier 1 brand matters, so you can try tier 2 firms also.

Chin up, better days are coming.

the WIPO TUrin LLM is a mini LLM - in the sense that you are in Turin for a very short duration. I have seen the curriculum from a few years ago & was not too impressed.

Take this LLM ONLY if you get a scholarship of some sizable means.
I will NOT recommend doing this on self-finance mode, since the ROI will not be there and nor will the LLM be taken seriously here in India.