So, everything is hunky dory, right? With the market having bounced back, law firms have started recruiting, even if cautiously. This time the firms that come for recruitment in NUJS every year, came earlier than ever. They were picky, but took the toppers and were quickly gone. Initially things were looking very bright in fact, given that the recruitment season started so early and that by the first two months almost 30 students were recruited. But after a month of inactivity on the recruitment front, some dark questions are now raising their heads. People are yet to talk about these doubts openly, but the uncertainty is palpable.
How it used to be
I guess those reading my blog already know about the glorious recruitment history of NUJS. Till the last year, when recruitment was hit by recession, the general idea was that once you are in NUJS, getting a job is more or less a matter of time unless you flunk years or make a complete ass out of yourself in your 5 years. Some people even flunked or made a complete ass out of themselves in various ways and still managed to bag lucrative jobs. Well, that was till 2007.
Since last year
2008 saw the recession. This year we thought we are back in good old days. I thought so too, but I am rethinking now. What made me rethink? It was the fact that almost all of the traditional recruiters of NUJS have already been to the campus to recruit, but half of the batch is yet to be recruited. It has been a month since the last recruiter came, and we are now looking at a month of holiday in December, and no one can even guess what the next firm to come to campus will be. Even if a few new firms do come, how many more students will they recruit? 40 more? I have serious doubts. From where I am looking, it is very obvious that the recruitment is not going to be very memorable in 2009. And now it all seems so obvious suddenly, that I am surprised no one is panicking about it.
The change that some of us missed
The equations in the recruitment game have changed. The most fundamental change is that there are many more players now than last year. Or the year before that. I have lost count of the new national law schools that has come up. Many of the first batches from these law schools will graduate this year. They have not been sitting idly while we revelled in our successful recruitments in the last few years. The students from the new national law schools paid premium fees, and had high expectations from the beginning. They have tried as hard as they could – studied, mooted, wrote articles, interned at the right places, impressed the right people. I dare say many of them tried harder than some of us in NUJS do. Now that finally they are up for recruitment, they are as good contenders as we are. The NUJS brand and the goodwill the seniors have built over years will go some way in keeping us ahead in the race, perhaps, but the time for complacency is over.
If you follow the recruitment news (try Legallyindia.com if you don’t know where to find it; also notice that there has been no news of recruitment recently even on this ever alert portal), it will be easy to notice that law firms are happy to recruit the toppers from a relatively new national law school and they have been saying so very clearly. Given that the talent pool is now much larger, they see little reason to recruit in bulk from any one law school. It seems that the recession has made them rethink their recruitment strategy, and they are pickier than ever. Those law schools that will fail to follow this change and adapt quickly, will find it very difficult to get students recruited beyond perhaps top half of the class. Self-denial won’t help here, what is needed is some smart thinking.
What is wrong?!
NUJS, for one famous but unmentionable reason, has a very small recruiter base. All of these are large law firms that come to the campus, invariably with the best packages in the market. We have grown completely dependent on these firms for any recruitment. Students invariably intern at these places, and expect a job there at the end of 5 years. Most of them do not even consider anything else. Many of them are yet to notice that these law firms are no more even looking beyond the top 20 rankers anymore. This is not something peculiar to NUJS, this is happening across the board.
The new pickiness of big law firms should not have mattered at all if we had a bigger recruiter base. In the past, NUJS has mostly ignored the corporate recruiters who paid less than big law firms. This is evident from the number of regular corporate recruiters we have now (is the number one now? I’m not sure).
There is another sort of potential recruiter NUJS students almost never courted, and that should be the target now. These are the small and medium law firms that would not come to recruit in the campus as they just recruit one or two freshers in a year, and recruits only from the interns they get. Ranks do not matter in these places as much as sincerity and ability to get work done.
Many of these firms are extremely professional, with good work environment and great long term opportunities. There has also been a bunch of start up law firms who are slowly recruiting freshers. I expect the rest of the recruitments in NUJS this year to be done by these firms; but in a limited manner, as success with these firms depends on individuals who must intern at such firms first.
The new recruiters
Still, if 100% recruitment does not happen in NUJS this year, we shall probably have only our lack of foresight to blame. There are some new recruiters that we seem to have overlooked so far. For instance, one of the prime targets this year should have been Competition Commission of India which is slated to recruit many freshers over the next couple of years. I am surprised that people are not flocking to intern at that place, given the growth possibility for a person who works there for even a couple of years. Also, given the fact that they have to recruit a large number of lawyers quickly, CCI is unlikely to be very rank conscious. Some in NUJS will remember the SEBI recruitment in NUJS in 2007; that is the sort of thing I am talking about.
I know many of you were not thinking of government jobs, but this one comes with many advantages (Imagine yourself after a 2 year stint at CCI, in a country that has no available and credible expertise in competition law right now). Plus, you must adjust your expectations when you are not getting a job otherwise!
I know many of you were not thinking of government jobs, but this one comes with many advantages (Imagine yourself after a 2 year stint at CCI, in a country that has no available and credible expertise in competition law right now). Plus, you must adjust your expectations when you are not getting a job otherwise!
I have to work in a LPO now??!!
The other sort of recruiters I shall talk about will take an even bigger expectation-adjustment. LPOs are doing crazily well in India. The good ones are paying in the 30-35 grand bracket, and if they get a law school student, normally they are ready to overlook bad marks script as long as you seem to be a person who can do their work. The job profile is not something everyone is looking out for, but when you are not getting anything else, it won’t hurt to cool your heels there for some time till you get yourself a better opportunity.
Also, if you are enterprising enough, you could to be one of those running a LPO rather than working at the lowest grade. Law school tag should help you there. This industry will need managers, marketers, liaisons and inventors with legal skills in near future, not only foot soldiers.
I am sure some of you will think I am reading too much and will still be confident about another brilliant seamless placement season once college reopens in January. May be I am misreading, and I would certainly like to hear what others have to say. What unnerves me most is that no one is even talking!
I agree with you completely that the recruiter base needs to be widened. Even then foreign law firms - which used to recruit at least the top 5 % of the batch, seem to have drastically slashed their intake this year, with Allen & Overy taking 4 from all over the country for their Vacation Scheme (or internship), that is, one each from NLS, NALSAR, NUJS and NLU, these being the only places they shortlisted from, Herbert Smith having taken 3 in total from all over the country and Ashurst just 2. Even as recently as last year, Allen had taken about 5 from NLS alone and Herbert Smith had taken 4 (internship and training contract combined) (note that this was just before Lehmann went bankrupt), which clearly shows the reduced intake. Of course, many will be glad and grateful that the firms are still visiting India to show their interest in the legal market here.
ReplyDeleteA point that you've quite obviously overlooked, which is amongst the primary reasons why the recruitment trends are the way they are, is the post-recession affect which forces them to account for the year that has been.
ReplyDeleteLook at how the recession really affected the law firms during the past few months - the sudden decline in their pile of work wasn’t only what bit them hard. It was the burden of having too many cooks, but few dishes to cook; the dead-weight on their shoulders.
The firms/companies that you talk about had recruited heavily in the past few years. When recession came calling, not only did the hiring have to take a back-step, there was a need to re-access and re-structure from within.
True, there was a recruitment frenzy earlier this year. But, it may be safe to assume that that was primarily to compensate for attrition or to meet the modest estimated requirements for the year to come. No firm would gamble and recruit heavily, unsure of how the next few months really turn out, especially when the concept of “recruitment-seasons” has lost its charm. If the need arises, and if expansion beckons, the same firms could re-pay a visit to the campuses as soon as another 6 months. It is unrealistic to expect the firms to continue hiring with enthusiasm until the wounds of the recession have fully healed.
The Indian legal industry is expected to grow manifold in the years to come. There is an acute shortage of talent. Once the storm blows over, recruitment is expected to continue to be at par with the past years.
As far as your comments on NUJS are concerned, I fail to see where your concerns emanate from. I have to say that they are fairly inaccurate, far too pre-mature and prone to induce needless panic. Even at this point, if recruitment is to be taken as the sole bench-mark to draw comparisons between law schools (as you have), there is little that sets aside NUJS from the law schools that it traditionally competes with, ie NLS / NALSAR. All the points in discussion are off-shoots of industry trends, and to presume that they reflect on the standing or the qualification of law students from any one of these law schools is absolutely misinformed.
Many of the new law schools, and we see too many of them opening shop every year, are in their infancy. Of course, we hope that they are nurtured into schools of quality and offer a competitive & sharing environment for legal education in India. But, at the moment they do face their share of teething problems. Without prejudice to the new law schools, the reality is that education standards (even judging by the quality of research being conducted and the faculty) and exposure available to students at the relatively older national law schools still remains a notch higher.
(contd..)
ReplyDeleteTo be prepared and not be caught unprepared and complacent is wise. But, it needs to be said, that is a matter which concerns recruitments over a period of time. Not this year, or the next.
As far as exploring other places of internship / recruitment are concerned, I agree with your conclusions, but for different reasons. Internships should reflect on the interests of the students and provide valuable work experience. This has been (mis)understood to mean that interning at big law firms is the be-all and end-all. We must realize that what matters is the experience we garner at these internships, the skills we pick up. Interning in herds in bigger law firms, just for the sake of having been-there-done-that is often not worth the experience. Moreover, law school sets the base for a diverse range of possibilities. Why do we not realize that there are several other career options that are open to us?
All in all, I do believe that the recession has taught us a few things, and not all of them are undesirable. The recruitment worries are matters of industry trends, and do not reflect on individual law schools. Lastly, its too early to panic. NUJS has much to offer to the legal industry, and there should be no doubt that the students are sufficiently equipped to take on the competition from any other law school.
Thanks for ur comment, especially because this brings out the opposite view points.
ReplyDeleteMy intention was not to compare NUJS with any other law school, nor am i talking about educational standards and arguable concepts like quality of research and faculty. I have not ever said that other law schools will have better recruitment than that of NUJS's. My central point here is that the big law firms have changed their recruitment policy in a certain way, (and i see no reason to see that as a temporary change given the scheme of things) and a lot of people are yet to realise that.
I am not sure if you are agreeing that there is not much left to be expected from this years placement season. In any case, I did not overlook the recession, rather my opionion is that even once the economy bounces back, big law firms are unlikely to recruit in bulk from a single law school or 2 or 3 of them given that they have a lot of quality choices.
For examaple, there was a time when AMSS sourced all of its annual intake, of about 50, from NLS, NUJS and NALSAR. Days like that are unlikely to come back.
a point that everyone seems to miss here is that the traditional recruitment season has not even started yet... these dark forebodings are too premature in my humble opinion... please understand that the traditional recruitment season is still 3-4 months away and the biggers firms that recruited, wanted to pre-emp the foreign law firms in picking up toppers... its is grossly unfair for someone to create a perception and spread it only because "legallyindia" has not reported recruitments in a while...
ReplyDeleteI am only trying to point out that these big law firms are actually almost the entire recruiter base of NUJS. smaller law firms are unlikely to come all the way to a campus in Calcutta from other metros to recruit one or two freshers. in these circumstance, I am very curious about who are going to be the recruiters who will recruit during the 'traditional recruitment season'. if you have any names on mind, please share them.
ReplyDeletealso, if you spend some of your precious time reading this post, you shall see that the perceptions were based on several other things but not lack of available news on recruitment. that is what i call an unfair comment.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ramanuj & Arpan for discussing extremely important points......... Let us not give up hope so soon......... still some time is left!! All the best to all of us.............
ReplyDeleteThank you for an insightful post Ramanuj. A couple of points - while you are right that the recruiters now have more choice, it is also true that the Indian legal market is expanding. New firms like SNR, Argus and Platinum Partners are entering the market. Others like Khaitan and Desai are also expanding. These are not small firms and pay as much as AMSS/Luthra or close. Foreign recruitments will also step up once the recession is truly over in the west (and believe me it isn't). So, while you guys will still feel the knock-on effect of the recession (as the firms may still take on unemployed top 30 from last years batch instead of lower rankers from your batch), eventually there will be a demand-supply adjustment and things will even out.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, it is of course no bad thing that low rankers aren't getting high paying jobs. Generally speaking, this protects the reputation of the college and the Indian legal market.
@ Rahul Saha
ReplyDeleteSo, in many more words than it had already been said in (refer to previous posts), you say that we should expect the post-recession effect to gradually wear off and the market to continue expanding. Got it. Thanks.
The only contribution that your post really makes is that last line -
"it is of course no bad thing that low rankers aren't getting high paying jobs. Generally speaking, this protects the reputation of the college and the Indian legal market"
To be honest, I read that and I laughed!
How do you draw a co-relation between a "low-ranker" getting a "high paying job" and the "market reputation"? That's just a foolish & ignorant comment, and a somewhat irresponsible generalization. Let me explain why.
Firstly, EVEN IF we assume that all "low-rankers" were indeed absolute duffers as your own bias would suggest, you should know that "high paying jobs" is not synonymous with "jobs which require the most intellect".
Secondly, there's a growing realization (even amongst the recruiters) that ranks are imperfect indicators of capabilities. Look at this years recruitment. Many of those who have been recruited are relatively lower ranked than those who are yet to be recruited.
Thirdly, how in the world do you reason that low-rankers sitting idle without (these "high paying") jobs is for the benefit of the college's reputation?? That's just silly.
When the recruiters come and make the offers, they thoroughly assess the candidates. The college reputation (and yes! the Indian legal market too, for that matter) is better served when the recruiters make an offer after having all the information before their own eyes.
Please don't be mistaken. If a rank 50 in a class was made an offer, the recruiters knew that he was a rank 50. They found him suitable for that job, and made the offer. Now, assuming the firm had recruited a rank 10 and a rank 30, I would think twice before passing off judgment on who would make a better lawyer! At least, based on every internship so far, I would say that they would be very competitively placed. Because the fact is, CGPAs give students an advantage on paper. Thats it. Not in practice. And very often, not in knowledge either.
God forbid, if a day was to come when CGPAs were to dictate the recruitment (there are far too many exceptions to believe that it happens today) - it is THEN that the reputation of the college would be in turmoil. Who are we kidding? CGPAs indicate your exam-cracking skills. Not your advocacy skills. Not your ability to think-on-your-feet. It doesn't reflect your ability to multi-task deadlines.
In fact, recruiters relying on CGPAs and thinking that they've picked up the "cream" of the batch is the height of folly.
@Jurisdiction - Sweetheart, sorry for stepping on your low ranked toes. You're right. You did already make the point that an expanding legal market would mean that the post recession effect would wear off (albeit in not so many words, and with less clarity). I probably should have footnoted you but I'm sure you'll forgive me if I didn't have the time to read your rather long post before posting.
ReplyDeleteAnd as far as my last comment about low-rankers go - I refer to one phrase in my comment, "genrally speaking". Of course its a generalization and I said so as much. But it is a generalization, which on a "general" level (FYI this means there are expections) has held true from previous experience (which, I must point out, I have and you don't). As you say, the recruiters are not dumb and thoroughly asses the candidates. And that is why luv, "generally", the highest rankers get the highest paying jobs (I obviously have not been involved in this year's recruitment but I speak of the general trend over the last five years).
Oh and another thing mate, a word of advice if you will - (and I give you this advice sincerely, with no sarcasm)- don't base your expectations and opinions on your internships (although I know the college and your recruiters have told you to). The law is a long, hard slog and you should really listen to those who have done it for a while before you form an opinion on what it takes to succeed in law (or, at least, at law firms). Don't think you know better than the people who've been doing this for years based on a couple of internships.
Best of luck for your recruitment.
@ Rahul Saha
ReplyDeleteOh, whatever made you think that the toes were low ranked? The toes are comfortably placed, thank you. The point, which you missed, was that they needn't be highly ranked in my class for me to perform well or badly after recruitment. I may do as much damage to the "repution" or the "industry", whether I'm highly ranked or not.
You made the generalization. I merely pointed out that you were wrong. CGPAs alone are a bad standard to base expectations on. There are far too many exceptions for this to be considered a rule. It's true that "some" firms regard the ranks to be holistic and sacrosanct, but its safer to assume that these recruiters are an exception. Many firms would rather recruit based on realistic expectations of performance by making offers to past-interns or offer Training Contracts for this very reason. Others would, no doubt, take the CGPAs into consideration, but not solely rely on them. This is true for a majority of the recruiters. This practice (of PROs/TCs) should by itself sufficiently demonstrate that the recruiters realize that "low rankers" are not devoid of talent. You may argue that PROs/TCs are generally made to high ranked students. But that's not true. The issue of ranks here is co-incidental. The offers are, more often than not, made considering the work experience as an intern (independent of the CGPAs), as in the case of PROs, or evaluation/tests/interviews, as in the case of TCs (which then based on the work experiece, may lead to job offers).
@Your comment about the internships - you missed the point, yet again. I referred to the internships with reference to the capabilities of my fellow interns, and that alone.
If only there was a post here to recycle what the previous post had already stated! If the previous post was too long for you, and you didn't read it in the first place (like you said, you didn't have the time?) - state THAT instead of making vague remarks about clarity!
Your advice is appreciated (sincerely, no sarcasm) - but I'd rather heed to advice from those with more insight and experience (including a past & current recruiter, a recruitment analyst/journalist and graduates from our/other law school/s with considerable experience). No doubt, with a year or two of working you may have gathered some experience - but please don't be under the mistaken assumption that you're in a position to make such flawed assumptions.
(Since the debate is now digressing from the issue, allow me to offer an apologize for stepping on your know-it-all toes if you found the previous post offensive. If you have anything to comment on the issue per se, I'd be glad to read.)
I think we all agree that there's a reason people work hard to get good grades, and also that recuiters give preference to high ranked students at 'campussing' events because they have little more to look at - they cant do a soul searching in an interview. Grades help them in sorting ppl, because a person with good grades has clearly done something right that others could not.
ReplyDeleteit is not really so coincidental that people with high grades do get PROs, they do well in their internship because they know the law, they are more used to hard work and generally they are better managers. exceptions will be there, but still, i will rather bet on a person with good grades rather than one with bad grades. that should be self evident.
Clearly, the above process is not full-proof and naturally, not the favourite of many recruiters. They prefer to check out the student over internships, preferably two.
Clearly, grade alone is not everything, and one without good gradescan still do well due to the reason mentioned above. This is what i have tried to convey through my post in the first place. Idont think Saha is saying you cant do well in law if you dont have good grades in law school.
Thanks Ramanuj. Never meant to say that people with bad grades can't do well in law firms. Some of my best freinds have proved otherwise. This is why I used the phrase "generally speaking" but jurisdiction doesn't seem to know what that implies.
ReplyDeleteHowever, my point is, I know of far too many low-rankers (I can't name names for obvious reasons) both from our college and other colleges who have either been asked to leave major law firms or been fired. It is an undeniable fact that this has damaged the reputation of the college and when it happened at a major law firm in UK, it damaged the reputation of the entire Indian student body (the law firm in question did not return to India for the next 2 years). (If jurisdiction actually interned at a major law firm and managed to win the trust of the senior associates there, they themselves would have told him about this). On the other hand I don't know of a single high-ranking student (let's say top 20) who has been fired or asked to leave. I don't know why this is but maybe its because after having worked so hard in law school they don't want to throw it away. So yes, it is no bad thing that low rankers are not getting jobs in the first round of "gunshot recruitment" as that does not allow for a proper examination and may damage the reputation of the college.
In anycase, jurisdiction mate, I never meant to argue with you. Just give you some advice. If you don't want it that's fine but you must be joking if you think I'm going to argue with someone who's never worked at a law firm about what it takes to succeed in a law firm. Its as pointless as arguing with someone from high-school about what it takes to succeed in a law school. I'm sure you have good advisors as you say but if their views differ from mine I'd rather be debating with them than with someone who has second-hand information.
Ramanuj my email is sahaworkid@gmail.com if you want to talk about March. Cheers.