A short internship or a long one?
"A good internship period would be at least a month as the intern takes time to settle and to gel with his colleagues," says ALMT Legal co-founder and recruitment partner Sameer Tapia.
Trilegal Mumbai recruitment partner Nishant Parikh agrees: "We prefer long internships. It becomes easier to assess and to know the interns."
However, the benefits of doing several shorter internships of two or three weeks each are that they provide an opportunity to explore various areas of law, meet different people and work in diverse organisational settings.
Aditya Verma graduated from National Law School of India University Bangalore last year and is now an associate at Fidus Law Chambers, which is smaller firm in Noida. He says that doing two short internships does make sense since the scope for learning in a five to eight-week internship can be limited after a point.
But if you are sure of the area of law you want to get into, a long internship at a specialised organisation is invariably a good certificate showing your dedication to an area or firm.
Big name or small name?
Interning with one of the big law firms will invariably garner you CV points. But there are alternatives and the experience gained at large law firms will not necessarily always be the best or most appropriate for the career path you wish to follow and you could get stuck with photocopying and carrying files for eight weeks.
"A big firm offers the intern an opportunity to work on various types of matters and under various partners having different legal skills which is not possible in a small law firm," argues Tapia.
However, benefits also exist at smaller firms. Verma of Fidus who has done a fair number of internships during his student days at NLS Bangalore remarks: "Smaller firms are unlikely to invite interns above their need or capacity and thus provide greater opportunity for deeper involvement in projects."
Another benefit of interning at a small organisation is that entrepreneurship-oriented individuals might actually learn the nitty-gritty involved in running and managing an organisation rather than just being one cog in a smoothly oiled, self-running machine.
Should one ask for stipends?
"The intern is well within his rights when asking for a stipend", is Tapia's clear-cut answer to the question.
Parikh says that Trilegal pays a fixed stipend of Rs. 15,000 to interns who work for four weeks or more.
Stipends can actually help you choose if you are vacillating between two otherwise similar internship offers because the fact that an organisation provides for stipends can be a clear indicator that it takes its internship program seriously.
Verma agrees: "Stipends provide the employer with an incentive to utilise the intern's resources to the maximum and also make the intern realise that his work is of some consequence."
The best application?
Tapia says that the biggest mistake potential interns make is that they provide "too much information" in their CVs along with "long explanations and odd referral of people, which is not needed".
He adds: "The CV is a good reflection of the candidate – of course the degrees and experience statement reflects the interest and qualifications but sometimes it reflects more than just the achievements. Grades do form a part of selection but I think the school, college and year along with general experience and interest would also play a crucial part in selecting."
Keeping it simple is a good adage in this instance.
Do you have any internship, recruitment, CV or other job or workplace-related questions? Email us in the strictest confidence at or by clicking here.
We will ask a panel of experts to answer your question and give you advice.
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[Parikh of Trilegal actually said Rs 15,000. Have now clarified the wording in the article to avoid future confusion. -Ed]
the article is really good tanuj bhaiya and after reading this,even i am inclined 2wards writing such articles.
Thank you for your comments. Rest assured that the research on my part will get better from here.
@Stud Lawyer
Here is some additional information on the length of internships I acquired during the research of this article.
Sameer Tapia from ALMT Legal said: "The experience is very different – A big firm is usually very organized and professionally tabled with a firm manual which guides and lays down principles of working in a systematic manner as opposed to a small firm. Small firms many a times specialize only in a particular area of law or be a litigation firm which is usually the case in India."
Aditya Verma from Fidus Law Chambers said: "Working in very well-organized big firms provides a different experience altogether though, in a logistical more than legal way."
I hope this helps with some of your queries.
Well said! Being internally motivated is fine, but a stipend does make things easier, specially when you are interning away from your home/college.
@ Galen
That would be pretty Utopian. And its things like 'the length of an internship' and the 'size of the organisation' which determines the type of relations to end up making with the group of people in that organisation and the sort of work/ research which you get to do.
@Anzar
1st of all you hunt for firms. Websites like legal500.com and www.chambersandpartners.com can be a good starting point.
Emailing the selected firms might sometimes yield a response. If they don't calling them directly is the obvious next option. It's always better to apply through the placement committe, especially for bigger law firms.
I have few queries :
First of all to apply for internship through the placement committee it would become difficult for students as in few law schools including mine you apply for internship through placement committee in the fourth year. Then it would not be possible for the student to grab an intern at a big or a small or a good law firm.........
The second question with regard to the mail students send to the respective ID's of firms for internship application are sometimes not even replied to and the people with contacts get interns faster than those without contacts and may be the students who are without contacts have to sit at home for thier intern period because they have no intern...........
What would be the appropriate time to apply for intership?
It would help if some guidelines could be issued which could give the students some idea for vetting their CV. For the first year students it would be helpful if they would know what should be the contents of the CV like research papers, publications, moots, etc., this would help them think and start writing or mooting....
I agree with the discussion abiut the period of internship the longer once help more as you come to know the working style of the firm and learn more form the associates both senior and junior...
I didn't get your first query...please do repost it.
Yes. Many firms do not reply to emails. A good way to approach them is to mail them your CV first and then follow up with a couple of calls. And it is advisable to apply at least two months prior to the internship period for a small/ mid-tier firm. For a large firm, the earlier you apply, the better!
And well talking about emails, "Marking several firms on the same email is one of the biggest mistakes interns commit', was what was said by Nishant Parikh of Trilegal to one of my queries.
Your third query, I guess is regarding making a CV. The CGPA, publications, moots all help but always do some research on the firm/ organisation you are applying to and highlight those achievements which specifically pertain to their work. Also, in a good application a short cover letter (which could form the body of the email) is a necessary precursor to the CV.
Whether it is for four weeks or eight weeks really does not matter that much - as long as you are keen from day one.
More importantly, I feel doing short-stints in various firms doing disparate work is a better way of getting trained as a lawyer.
At this stage of your career you really don't want to narrow your horizons - a full-spectrum approach would be more enriching.
Furthermore, an internship will tell you whether you are really interested in the branch of law you fancy - and here, pre-conceived notions quite often prove wrong.
Lastly, if you are fortunate enough at having interned at good law-firms or under a noted advocate (and not actually carried his or her files and fetched coffee), then this fact should be good determinant in whether your resume' gets consigned to the bin or not!
Quite often, average grades, but combined with good, solid internships at well-respected firms will add more cachet to your CV.
But wherever you go, insist on getting paid!
And having won an internship after fierce competition - please don't do it merely for "time-pass".
first of al thnx tanuj 4 such a gud info..
and thnx 2 rest of the frds who posted here with there queries and views..
but one thing is missing if i m nt wrong..
HERE MUST b THE spECIMeN COPy OF A GUd CV wht SAY frDS ??
It seems LegallyIndia will soon come up with an answer to your query!
good research....nice article....
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