Cornelius, Lane & Mufti

Section 1: Basic Information

Cornelius, Lane & Mufti (CLM) started its business in the 1970s and its offices are in Lahore and Islamabad. In addition to these cities, CLM represents clients in all cities where there are High Court benches. The firm provides legal services in Corporate, Banking, Taxation, Regulatory & Administrative, Civil, and Alternative Dispute Resolution issues. The criminal work at the firm is limited to white-collar crimes only. The firm takes both Lower and Higher Courts work.

Section 2: Structure of the Firm

There are twelve partners and 30 to 40 associates at CLM. The firm has an accounts department but no human resources department. The hierarchy among the legal team is for internal records of the firm only. The firm offers a partnership track and most of the current partners started their careers as associates with the firm.

Section 3: Hiring Mechanism

Candidates approach the firm for both internship and associates’ positions through word of mouth and are selected after an interview.

Internship:The firm prefers senior/final year students to join as interns. The internship is only 2 weeks long and is unpaid. The interns are required to do research and draft letters and opinions. Depending on their performance, the firm prefers to hire interns as associates after their graduation.

Associate:After the interview, the shortlisted candidates are offered a three-month-long unpaid apprenticeship. If during the apprenticeship, the candidate’s performance is satisfactory, they are hired as Associates for a salary of 35,000 PKR per month. If an associate brings business to the firm, it can be signed by the partner only and will become the partner’s work. The associate may or may not receive a Finder’s Fee on a discretionary basis. The associates receive quarterly bonuses (range not defined) and occasional performance-based bonuses.