What is a Law Firm?

A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers, who are all involved in providing legal services to clients.

  • The lawyer partners share the profits of the firm as well as the risks (liabilities)
  • They can also engage other lawyers to work with them as associates in a Law Firm.

These associates can work at the firm for a period of time or if they establish their competence at work, they can even become partners at the firm and share in the profits and management of the firm.

Law firms cater to the interests of companies and private individuals alike, though most of the large law firms deal exclusively with corporate houses, i.e. companies.

Working at a Law Firm in India: Litigation vs Corporate

Working at law firms involves dealing with a wide variety of problems that may or may not be restricted to a particular area of the law (depending on the specialization and culture of the firm). Most law students in India choose between two primary career tracks when joining a law firm: litigation or corporate.

Major Law firms have separate litigation and corporate departments.

Litigation Department

The litigation department deals with the disputes which the firm's clients are involved in. Working in the litigation department of a law firm entails interaction with leading lawyers and a feel of the world of court practice. You will be involved in drafting pleadings, conducting legal research, appearing in courts, and advising clients on dispute resolution strategies. For students passionate about courtroom advocacy, this is the most rewarding track.

Corporate Department

The corporate departments of law firms advise companies on the corporate deals which they are involved in, such as acquisitions of companies, important inter-company agreements, investment in India by foreign clients, financing of massive projects undertaken by clients and so on. In addition to these, corporate lawyers today also handle areas like private equity, venture capital, intellectual property, competition law, and data protection, making it one of the most dynamic and fast-growing practice areas in Indian law.

Major law firms actively recruit from top Indian law schools, particularly the National Law Universities (NLUs).

  • Among the major recruiters from the domestic legal schools are top law firms such as
  • Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

    • - Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas

    - AZB Partners

    - J.Sagar & Associates

    - L&L Partners (formerly Luthra & Luthra Law Offices)

    • Foreign law firms that recruit from Indian law schools include the
  • UK-based Herbert Smith Freehills

- Singapore-based Rajah & Tann

Recruits join as junior associates and are promoted based on performance.

Pros and Cons of Working in a Law Firm

Working in a law firm comes with significant rewards, but also real challenges. Here is an honest breakdown to help you decide if a law firm career is the right fit for you.

 

Pros

Cons

Salary

Tier 1 firms (especially through top NLUs) offer INR15-22 LPA for fresh NLU graduates, rising sharply with experience. Salaries grow faster than corporate in-house roles.

Tier 2 and Tier 3 firms pay INR5-12 LPA, significantly lower. In-hand pay can also be affected by retainer structures.

Work

You work on high-profile, complex legal matters: M&A deals, international arbitrations, and regulatory challenges at a very young age. The exposure and responsibility you get in the first 2-3 years is unmatched.

Work hours are demanding. A 10 am to 10 pm day is standard at most Tier 1 firms, with late nights during deal closures being common.

Growth

Clear career progression: Associate → Senior Associate → Principal Associate → Partner. There is also the option to break away and start your own firm once you have built enough experience and client relationships.

Very few associates make it to partner level. Competition for partner positions is intense, and the larger the firm, the tougher it gets.

Specialisation

Developing deep expertise in a niche area like M&A, IP, or competition law makes you highly valuable and commands a premium salary over time.

Risk of being pigeon-holed, specialising too early can limit your flexibility to switch practice areas later in your career.

Network

You interact directly with senior officers of top companies, judges, and industry leaders from very early in your career, building a network that lasts a lifetime.

Firm culture can be hierarchical and personality-driven, which means office politics and ego clashes are not uncommon.

Now that you know what to expect from a law firm career, here is a real look at what a typical day working in a law firm actually looks like for a junior associate.

A Day in the Life of a Junior Associate

We will now look at the typical day in the life of a junior associate in a law firm, particularly during your first year, when the learning curve is steep but the experience is invaluable.

Morning

  • The day starts at around 9:30.
  • Work begins with the checking of emails, sending off any pending mails, organizing work for the day and preparing a meeting cum work schedule for the partner you are working with.
  • At around 10:30 the partner calls you in, and the next half hour is spent briefing him on any unfinished business, upcoming meetings and the day’s schedule. These include pre-meeting reviews where the deliverables are identified and documents revised.
  • At 11:00 the client meetings begin, to which you will accompany the partner wearing your best suit.
  • During the meeting you are not expected to make your presence felt unless specifically called upon by the partner, and hence you can sip coffee and devour biscuits and pray that the partner doesn’t make too many commitments on your behalf.
  • After the clients leave, there is a follow up session with the partner where the entire meeting is reviewed, so don’t dream away all your time.

Noon

  • After the meetings, which could take up to two hours depending on the number of meetings and the type of client, you head back to the office to prepare a report of the meeting, and speak to other clients to fix further meetings.
  • Lunch is at 13:30. The entire office gathers together and makes this single hour truly enjoyable. Many firms have an in house cook, but employees are free to bring their own food or order, whichever suits them best.
  • The atmosphere is informal and after the lunch hour there is a short smoking break for the smokers up on the terrace or outside the building.
  • The best thing about this period is that the office hierarchy, which is so rigid during other parts of the day, does not exist then.

Post Lunch

  • At 15:00 most of the post lunch meetings begin.
  • Most such meetings are conducted through video conferencing or a conference call to enable easy communication with clients in the UK, bankers in Hong Kong and their lawyers based in some other part of the world.
  • New transactions are discussed and strategies for collaboration are devised.

Evening

  • At 17:00 you meet with another partner to brief him on some other pending issue, or provide a research opinion on a foreign investment transaction.
  • All the relevant research material must be handy and after the meeting you return to the office to incorporate all the material into the office files.
  • At 19:30 you conduct another conference call with a new client in the US and listen to their brief about their transaction, as this is a first time interaction.
  • They want to set up a financial services company in India, and hence you commit to sending them a detailed written report on this in a few days, which contains cutting edge legal advice on how to set up shop in India.
  • Come 21:00 and it is dinnertime. To pacify the stomach rumblings you order food with a vengeance, especially since it is going to be a long night ahead. Since most of the office is still in, time will be spent in cheerful banter, which serves to relax the body and mind a good deal.

Post Dinner

  • An hour later you get back to work.
  • Drafting of a Joint Venture Agreement that will hit the media headlines within the next week must be done with great attention and care.
  • Following time would be spent in finishing all the other work that the partner has engaged on your behalf apart from planning for the next day.
  • By 00:00 you are done, and after mailing the work to the client or partner for review you head back home in the office taxi.

As you can see, the work in Law Firms is long, hard and demanding, but the reward at the end of it is considerable.

You get to do a lot of high profile work, meet with the biggest names in the corporate world, be part of cutting edge legal processes and finally gain a lot of respect from the people around you.

At Tier 1 law firms in India, fresh associates today earn somewhere between INR1.2 to 1.8 lakhs per month, with salaries rising sharply based on performance and the firm. The position is one of great responsibility and excellence is amply rewarded.