Legal roles, salaries, law firms , work life, in house lawyers.

Top tier corporate law firms (around 5-7 eg. Trilegal, SAM, Khaitan etc. along with some specialist boutique firms) typically pay 15-18LPA for freshers. Most are track roles with linear advancements. A 4-5 PQE senior associate can expect anything in the range of 40-48 LPA all in. Also, since lawyers in firms are paid salaries as retainers, they pay CONSIDERABLY lesser tax which makes the pay a bit more lucrative. Partner salaries vary by firm and practice and a considerable portion is determined based on whether the partner is a salaried or equity partner.

Typically a partner can rake in anything >1 crore at top tier firms and typically hit this at 8-11 years of pqe depending on the firm. Work life balance is typically bad with most corp lawyers working 12-14 hours on most days (can be better or worse ofc).

In house varies widely and really depends on your bargaining power and how the function is viewed. Many folks move laterally after getting some experience at firms which allows them some bargaining power. Post which it’s really up to the value they’re bringing to the company overall.

Amen 🙌🏽🙌🏽