NLSIU Bangalore’s 2017-graduating batch placed 33 out of 53 participating recruitment coordination committee (RCC) members, out of a total batch of 81, on 2 April.
The 33-day-zero-jobs figure matches last year’s NLSIU tally of 33 Day Zero jobs, which was also held on 2 April.
The top recruiter this year was Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas (SAM), which picked up five students via pre-placement offers (PPOs), which are normally made to students after internships at a firm, and four accepted offers on the day zero on campus.
Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) recruited a total of eight, with four to join via the PPO route and four after campus interviews.
Khaitan & Co and Trilegal hired a total of 7 students, with a mix of PPOs and campus offers.
AZB & Partners and Luthra & Luthra recruited three and two respectively, solely from campus interviews, while Talwar Thakore & Associates hired one student after Day Zero campus interviews.
Samvad Partners and S&R Associates both did not participate in campus interviews but picked up one student each via PPO. J Sagar Associates (JSA) also attended Day Zero but did not return with any new hires.
One lucrative training contract has already been accepted by a student with London-headquartered international magic circle firm Allen & Overy (which pays Rs 39 lakh in the first year of training contracts, increasing to Rs 74 lakh after two years; Indian law firms pay up to around Rs 15 lakh per year at most to freshers). Two students have been offered a vacation schemes with Linklaters Hong Kong (vacation schemes have a good chance of being converted into a similarly well-paid training contract at the international magic circle firm).
With a whole year in the NLSIU recruitment season still to go, it seems likely that NLSIU will again hit its tally of 100% placements as it (and several other national law schools) did in 2015.
The 2017 RCC at NLSIU is run by Akshat Agarwal, Lavanya Chawla, Ishani Banerjee, Gaganjyot Singh, Nupur Raut, Sulakshan V. S., Surbhi Ajitsaria.
Also read: all our previous law school campus recruitment stories
Also read: Last year’s Day Zero figures at other law schools:
Nalsar Hyderabad got between 35-39 jobs on its Day Zero last year, NUJS Kolkata secured 40 jobs for its fourth years, NLSIU Bangalore’s Day Zero last year yielded 33 jobs and 4 vacation schemes, while NLU Delhi secured 20 jobs and 4 vacation schemes, NLIU Bhopal got around 22 jobs, GNLU Gandhinagar 24 jobs and NLU Jodhpur hauled in 31.
NLSIU I2017 batch Day Zero recruitment stats
| PPOs accepted | Day Zero offers accepted | Total accepted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shardul Amarchand | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| Cyril Amarchand | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Khaitan & Co | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Luthra & Luthra | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Trilegal | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| AZB & Partners | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Talwar Thakore Associates | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Samvad Partners | 1 | 1 | |
| S&R Associates | 1 | 1 | |
| Allen & Overy | 1 training contract | 1 | |
| Linklaters (Hong Kong) | 2 vacation schemes | ||
| Totals | 16 | 17 | 33 |
Total class size: 81
Total RCC membership: 53
Day Zero: 2 April
Comments
For the record, NUJS RCC has declined to provide figures despite two separate requests made.
Know this:
1. We will get 90% of the NUJS Day Zero figures anyway, whether the RCC tells us the figures or not. It might just take us a day or 2 longer.
2. If the RCC does not tell us the figures, all you're doing is making us waste some time that should be better spent reporting on opaque administrations, as NUJS students in particularly exhort us repeatedly to do.
3. Law firms aren't stupid. They know they haven't been invited for Day Zero and that the 'best' of the batch have been hired already. If you hope to keep that stuff secret from them, it's a little naive / borderline dishonest. There has also never been any correlation between us having published Day Zero and final recruitment tallies at law schools. It depends on individual merit and performance in interviews and internships after Day Zero, not deception of recruiters.
4. You are depriving aspirants from transparency while picking their law schools.
5. You are trying to have your cake and eat it too by hiding your results, yet gleefully LOL'ing at other law schools' performance, while trying to deprive them of intelligence about market sentiments and recruitment projections at law firms.
I know angry NUJS alums and students will disagree with me, and sure, RCCs have a right to make their own policy and yadiyaa, but we also have a right to disagree with those decisions and criticise the lack of common-sense logic to them.
Not expecting this to change intransigence of NUJS, though holding out hope they'll come to their senses.
Or do you mean Magic Circle market conditions? No major upheavals, and I am led to believe that many other NLU's also have a few Vacation Schemes. Which means, that unlike other years, no Magic Circle dominance this year by Law School, which is disappointing by Law School's own standards.
No doubt, the bottom or even middle rung in a batch of 80 from law school are easily outclassed by the upper echelons of all Tier I NLUs. However, recruitment numbers seem to hold because they look for a certain kind of candidate, at Tier I Indian firms. Those that can do a lot of work (often requiring very little application of mind), in a time efficient manner. A lot of people in Law School manage the course load in the trimester system quite efficiently. In my mind, that is the primary difference in training that sets Law School apart in terms of recruitment.
It's got nothing to do with intelligence, or ability.
PS: I say this as a Law School product, who'd been with a Magic Circle firm since I was recruited. I often take part in campus recruitment drives, either actively in person or at some stage of review of applicants. My friends in Tier I Indian firms have said, "we often hesitate to take someone on Day Zero if they're middle-rung (academically) at NALSAR/NUJS, but we are more comfortable with extending offers to NLS people in the same relative position. More often than not, these guys are able to adapt to Big Law work culture better than similarly positioned fellows from other Tier I NLUs.
PPS: As for my earlier comment on more Magic Circle recruitment from NLS not being the case anymore, of course it has to do with more NLUs coming up. However, I hear through the grapevine, that this year's crop of applicants to our firm weren't particularly impressive. Far fewer Vacation Schemes were extended by our firm to Law School applicants than before.
Even if certain professors are average, course material is usually vast and enlightening.
Point being, there's a culture unique to law school which has little to do with most of the faculty.