Legal careers research
Better career decisions start with better evidence.
Our research framework separates published employer terms, individual experiences, and editorial estimates. It is designed to make future stipend and hiring reports useful, reproducible, and honest about their limits.
Publication status
No completed survey benchmark is published on this page. Figures in the firm stipend guide are editorial estimates unless a source record says otherwise. We do not present example respondents, assumed review counts, or sample observations as research findings.
What a stipend report needs to establish
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Firm, office and practice | Different teams and locations can have different arrangements. |
| Role and internship period | Record the month, year, duration and whether the role was an assessment internship. |
| Amount and unit | Distinguish INR per month from a total stipend, salary, reimbursements and performance bonuses. |
| Evidence and check date | Separate an employer notice from an individual report; record who checked it and when. |
| Sample and method | State respondent count, collection period, recruitment method and deduplication rules. |
How results should be calculated
- Separate employer-published terms from self-reported payments. Never combine unlike roles or units.
- Check for duplicates and exclude incomplete, unverifiable, or contradictory records from confirmed findings. Describe exclusions.
- Publish the number of usable observations, collection dates, median and range where appropriate. Identify small samples rather than implying a representative market rate.
- Explain self-selection, location differences, outdated reports, unpaid roles, and other limitations. Do not infer placement or conversion rates without outcome data.
- Version each report, document material corrections, and retain a privacy-safe audit trail.
Contribute or collaborate
Students, placement cells, and employers can help improve the evidence base. Send a public careers notice or ask about contributing an anonymised stipend report at office@lawlit.in. Include the firm, city, internship period, payment unit, and which details may be published. Do not send offer letters, identification, banking information, or confidential work product in an initial message.
Submitting a report does not make it verified or publicly publish it. Permission and review come before inclusion in a research release.