CVs, Callbacks & Career Clarity: Aashna Jain on Cracking the Legal Job Market

Meet Aashna Jain, a dynamic Career Strategist for lawyers and law students with a strong background in top-tier law firms like Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. and Dua Associates. With deep insight into the legal job market, Aashna now guides aspiring legal professionals through career planning, CV building, interview preparation, and professional development. 

As a sought-after public speaker and legal career coach, she brings practical advice shaped by real-world experience. In this conversation, we dive into her journey, the challenges faced by young lawyers, and her expert tips for landing top legal roles.

You’ve worked at top-tier law firms and now mentor law students. Looking back, what key shifts have you noticed in the way legal careers are pursued today?

I have seen a major positive shift in how students approach their internships. Earlier, students were not very conscious of making a razor-focused resume on one or two areas of law; however, these days, students have the knowledge that streamlining the CV into one area is beneficial to them. 

Students, back in the day, were only eyeing full-service law firms, for most practice areas; however, these days, candidates have the consciousness that boutique law firms and parallel organisations such as CS offices, Arbitrator offices, can give some skills that are possible to attain even without interning with law firms necessarily. 

On the downside, students have become obsessed with having a certain number of internships on their CV, and some of them start from before entering law school. This culture should not be encouraged. Quality should always be upheld in terms of the quantity of internships.

What inspired you to move from a traditional legal career to mentoring students and young professionals full-time?

So this goes back to when I was in my fourth year of college and I had secured a placement with Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas. I was very free at that time. Suddenly, there were no internships, no major study load. In my free time, I used to help my peers from my college (NLU, Jodhpur) and other colleges, in prepping for their interviews, reviewing their resumes. 

In fact, even when I joined my SAM and later Dua, I helped out interns and sometimes even colleagues with their resumes and interviews. So when lockdown hit the country, I realised I was not enjoying working in law, and when I was looking at options for a career that can give me fulfilment, the answer was very obvious to me. I liked solving the puzzle, and career coaching was my answer. 

Internships are often described as ‘low learning, high pressure.’ How can students still extract real value from them?

Firstly, I don’t think the phrase low learning, high pressure is universally applicable to all kinds of internships. Secondly, I feel it’s more about your objective for which you are doing that internship. It is just to extract a callback/ job offer/ assessment internship from that tenure, or to genuinely learn something about the practice area you are working in. 

So let’s say, as an intern, one is just asked to take printouts of all transaction documents, nothing stops us from reading those documents and asking doubts on that document, as and when the chance comes up. Learning is very much dependent on the candidate. No one is going to serve the learnings on a platter, so we might as well step up and ask for it!

As regards pressure, I believe the higher the pressure, the closer it is to the actual work life that one will have after law school, so it’s better to acquaint yourself with it in the early stages. 

What would you advise a first-year or second-year student to focus on, especially if they’re unsure about their long-term career?

Honestly, 1st and 2nd year is not the time to be sure of your long-term career. In fact it’s detrimental to your interest, especially in this day and age, when our generation is witnessing a huge technological revolution, sticking to one career decided five years ago, with not even the complete understanding of the legal field, can make you lose a lot of good opportunities. 

So first and second year should be the time to do a lot of non-traditional internships, such as with Startups, newspapers, think tanks, etc.

Tier-2 and Tier-3 law school students often feel they’re already at a disadvantage. What practical steps can they take to compete with NLU peers?

I will list down 5 things: 

• First is to make your CV so consistent with one area of law that you are deemed to be an expert and also a candidate who is not distracted. 
• Second, make sure your CV does not only have research work pertaining to one area. It should have all the skills relevant to the practice area you have chosen for yourself. 
• Thirdly, to show commercial awareness through competitions/ publications is the best way to stand out. 
• Fourthly, don’t be shy about attending conferences, workshops, and legal events where you have the possibility of networking with leading individuals in your area. 
• Please be friends with students who are away from the co-system of your college. They will apprise you of opportunities that your college students cannot fathom at this stage. 

Many law students struggle with writing good CVs or preparing for interviews. What are three common mistakes they should absolutely avoid?

An inconsistent CV is the biggest sin. Make sure your CV looks like it is committed to one or max 2 areas of law.
Secondly, don’t write vague responsibilities in your CV. Make sure you are giving exact details of the research, drafting, and due diligence-related tasks given to you. 

Lastly, your internships should be in reverse chronological and all important things should come up in the first 1-1.5 pages. No one is reading beyond that. 

What should a student do if they don’t get a PPO after a firm internship, even after performing well?

Well, firstly, they should understand that it is not the end of the world. There are a plethora of opportunities out there. 

Secondly, self-assessment may not always be the truth. Make sure you ask your internship mentor about the reasons for not being offered a PPO. Work on those issues.

Let’s say the PPO was not given because of a lack of vacancy. Keep in touch with the team/ partner, so that when the vacancy comes, they can call you for an interview. 

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Keep multiple options. Check the usual practice of that team or firm before committing to a long-term internship, or for an internship of more than 2 months. 

What are some lesser-known but meaningful legal career paths students should explore beyond law firms and litigation?

Business Development, Legal Tech, Knowledge Management, Legal Journalism, and Legal Policy are a few that can be explored. 

Lastly, what do you wish someone had told you when you were a law student?

Skill-building is more important than just getting names of law firms on your CV.