Wealth, Legacy, or Hustle: Who Really Becomes a Lawyer First?

Wealth, Legacy, or Hustle: Who Really Becomes a Lawyer First?

When I decided to step into the world of law, I believed — like so many others — that hard work and talent would be enough. I thought becoming a lawyer was a noble profession. 

But reality hit differently. I was wrong; this profession is for the wealthy.

This is not a story from books or television shows. This is a story from the corridors of courts in Delhi and Haryana, where young lawyers walk with heavy case files — and even heavier burdens.

Hard Work, Luck, and the Unequal Struggles of Young Lawyers.

No college, no internship, no degree can prepare you for the raw, unfiltered reality of litigation. Law schools teach you sections, case laws, and theories. But no one teaches you how to survive the first five years when you earn almost nothing.
No one warns you about the heartbreaks of seeing talent take a backseat while wealth and legacy drive the profession forward.

 

The First Reality: Time Favors the Wealthy and the Legacy Holders

A young man whose father owns law firms can afford to wait.
He can afford to spend 2, 5, or even 10 years building his skills without worrying about rent, food, or daily survival.
He gets time. And in law, time is everything.

A first- or second-generation lawyer, blessed with legacy, doesn't just get time — he gets mentorship.
Inside jokes with seniors, guidance on how to talk to judges, secret lessons on how to deal with difficult clients — knowledge that you cannot find in textbooks.

Meanwhile, poor and middle-class law graduates wake up each day looking for a chance — a way to earn, to survive, and to build a place in the profession.

The Second Reality: No Salary, No Stability

Outside big corporate firms and legal chambers of the privileged, juniors are rarely paid.
You work from 7 AM to 9 PM, carrying files, preparing drafts, attending courts, and researching endlessly — and at the end of the month, you might only hear these words:
"This is your training. You'll gain experience."

Experience doesn’t pay rent.
Experience doesn’t buy groceries.
Experience doesn’t buy metro tickets.

Every client wants an experienced lawyer. Every senior expects you to work without asking for money.
And every day, the middle-class lawyer wonders, "How long can I survive like this?"

 

The Third Reality: Struggle Beyond Talent

Even corporate jobs — the so-called safe havens — come with their walls.
Jobs are posted online, but the seats are filled through references.
Applications are accepted, but interviews are saved for the "known ones."
Talent matters, yes — but only after your name gets a foot in the door through someone else's name.

In litigation, self-promotion is discouraged. You cannot openly advertise. You cannot market yourself the way businesses do.
You must patiently wait for someone to notice your skill—a long and unsettling wait that few can afford.

One major issue for lawyers in India is that there’s no real freelancing system.
Even if someone is really good at legal drafting or research, there are no freelance opportunities where they can earn from just that.
There are no proper jobs focused on one skill — like drafting alone.
On top of that, law is supposed to be a profession of expertise, but in reality, lawyers take all kinds of cases, whether they have experience in that area or not.
Clients, too, don’t care about actual expertise.
They often choose lawyers just by looking at white hair — assuming age means knowledge, even if the person has never handled that type of case before.

I’ve seen something very strange happening in the legal profession.

People who studied in foreign universities or in expensive Indian colleges — where just the education itself costs 1 crore — are the ones giving out "struggle stories" and "success advice" to fresher.

They tell you how hard the journey is and how much sacrifice is needed.
But when you actually look at their careers, after 10 years of "struggling," they barely have 10 real cases to their name.

Here’s the truth nobody says openly:
1 crore is a lifetime earnings plan for a first-generation, middle-class lawyer.
For them, it’s just the price of a degree.

They drive luxury cars, tie up with big companies and police through their family connections, and have the freedom to "wait" for success.
They spend lakhs just for fun without thinking twice.
They can buy chambers at any cost, not by earning case-by-case, but by writing one cheque.

Their "struggle" looks very different from the real struggle of a lawyer who comes from nothing.
They never had to worry about survival.
They never had to wonder how they would pay next month's rent or travel fare.
They were born inside the network that a poor or middle-class lawyer spends decades just trying to enter.

The real struggle is not posting fancy coffee shop pictures with law books.
Real struggle is surviving when you have no backup — only your skills, your patience, and a belief that someday your work will be enough

So, who becomes a successful lawyer first?

Wealth builds patience.
Legacy builds connections.
Hustle builds character — but character alone doesn't pay the bills.

The rich and the legacy holders get a head start.
The poor and middle-class strugglers hustle in darkness, hoping someday their work will speak louder than their background.

Some make it. Many break before reaching there.

Luck and hard work favor a few — not everyone.

The rest wait — sometimes for years, sometimes forever — for life to notice them. 

Written by
Shivvay Dhuperr
Advocate & Legal Blogger