5 ways to deal with burnout

burnout

For the past one year, I haven’t posted anything on this website. I also stopped writing my newsletter and posting on the Instagram page of The Five Things Checklist. It’s because I have been dealing with burnout caused by my intensive involvement with the Blog and social media. I felt an immense pressure to keep writing, creating, posting and fulfilling my commitment, which led to a time when I could do it no more. I was not enjoying the creator process anymore. It felt like a burden, a chore to be finished. I am sure as lawyers, we face such […]

5 lessons on mentorship in a legal career

mentorship

There’s a lot of buzz around the word ‘mentorship’, especially in the legal fraternity. Law students believe that they need mentors to shine in their careers and young lawyers feel that if they don’t have mentors, then they are not going to excel in their careers. Most of us are always looking for that one special mentor who will give us a leg up in our careers. But the truth is mentorship doesn’t happen just like that. Here are five lessons about mentorship that I learnt from my mentors over my legal career of 12 years and legal education of […]

5 tips to excel in your law firm internship – Part 2

law firm internship

This is a guest post written by Ayushi Gupta, a law graduate from Nirma University, Ahmedabad. She has recently started working with a firm in Mumbai. This is the second part of a two-part series on practical and actionable tips on how to excel in a law firm internship. Read part 1 here. In the first part, I talked about some of the ways which could make one stand out in their internship. In this second part, I dig a little deeper into the kind the work that interns do and other soft skills which could help students to make […]

5 reasons why a lawyer makes a very good journalist (Offbeat Career series)

lawyer journalist

I have decided to start a new series on my website – Offbeat Careers – to bring to you information about what alternate, exciting and fulfilling career you can choose post your law degree. This past year 2020 has seen many of us, especially those graduating from law school in 2020 and 2021, grappling with uncertainty on recruitment front. The pandemic and the resultant lockdown has seriously affected global economy, leading to employers freezing new hires and trimming their existing workforce. More and more of us are in the already competitive job market. I would like all the law students […]

5 Ways to Make the Best out of your Law Firm internship (Part 1)

This is a guest post written by Ayushi Gupta, a law graduate from Nirma University, Ahmedabad. She has recently started working with a firm in Mumbai. Before I even begin with how you should make the best out of an internship, it is important to get into the why of it. Majority of students including myself often bag a four-weeks internship which is too short a time to understand the workings of the firm, get to know people and convert it into a fruitful learning experience. This has been a roadblock for me throughout all my internships. Are you someone […]

MentorSpeak #4 with Shailja Singh

Are you still trying to decide between corporate law firm jobs, in-house positions, and independent litigation as career options? Are you trying to figure out that law subject which can be your interest area focus? Are you still trying to choose between corporate law, litigation related laws and so on? Then this episode is for you. There are far more options out there than the traditional subject areas or career paths for a law student. Our guest in this episode of MentorSpeak is a very dear friend of mine from law school – Shailja Singh. Shailja is an international trade […]

5 Lessons the year 2020 taught me

Just a few more days before this year 2020 comes to an end. In the last few days of any year, I like to reflect and look back at the year gone by. I usually write down the good, the bad, and the ugly things that happened in my life and how I responded to the same. I also look at the goals that I set at the start of the year and review how much I could achieve or otherwise. This exercise gives me an occasion to slow down and pause. It also helps me set goals mindfully for […]

MentorSpeak #3 with Bharat Chugh

In this episode of MentorSpeak, I have an amazing free-wheeling conversation with Bharat Chugh, presently independent legal counsel and ex-judge and ex-partner of L&L Partners. We talk about – taking decisions on the various stops of our career path judicial services as a career choice skills to be honed by law students irrespective of the career path chosen in future components of a good legal article Hope this was helpful. Let me know in the comments. Do hop over to the Youtube Channel and subscribe. There are new videos planned to be shared with you soon. If you want to […]

MentorSpeak #2 with Satyajit Gupta

mentorspeak

In our second episode of MentorSpeak, I have a wonderful 30-minutes chat with Satyajit Gupta, Vice-President Assistant General Counsel and Head-Legal of EXL-India on – (i) a career in law firm vs a career as in-house counsel (ii) writing and publishing articles as a working professional (iv) not getting boxed in one practice area in a law firm career (v) things an interviewer look for in a candidate (v) combating mental health issues as lawyers Hope this was helpful. Let me know in the comments. Do hop over to the Youtube Channel and subscribe. There are new videos planned to […]

5 Lessons I have learnt in 35 years

Today I complete 35 years. Every year, my birthday is the usual mix of activities – acknowledging birthday wishes over phone, whatsapp and other social media, dressing up in a new apparel, cake cutting, receiving birthday gifts from loved ones and having a special lunch or dinner out. I am sure most of us spend their birthdays in similar fashion. This year’s birthday feels different. We are going through a global pandemic. We have either lost our loved ones or know people who have lost someone close. Our lives have turned upside down irrevocably. Our habits, rules, norms – everything […]