The Supreme Court of India has raised the stipends for graduates joining as judicial clerks for one year from Rs 20,000 per month to Rs 25,000, having taken on roughly 50 to 55 students this year, with further stipend increases rumoured for 2011.
The monthly pay for the one-year Supreme Court judicial clerkships has increased to Rs 25,000 per month, according to a Supreme Court source and several law students.
One law student said that there were plans at the country’s top bench of increasing the stipend in 2011 to Rs 30,000, although a Supreme Court source told Legally India that this figure would remain unchanged.
“For this year we have already completed our process now,” said the Supreme Court source, who declined to be named. “For next year we will start our process in the month of January.”
He added that roughly 50 to 55 students had joined for this year’s judicial clerkship at the apex court but that numbers always depended on the “requirements of the honourable judges”.
Judicial clerkships have been popular with students for a variety of reasons.
“Either they want to apply for an LLM after this thing or want to build up contacts with lawyers because the time you visit court with the judges, those practising lawyers come to know that you are working with a Supreme Court judge,” explained one student.
Another student said: “I definitely think it’s pretty useful – you understand a lot of procedure at the end of it. Previously I had done an internship under an advocate and I think that I learnt better procedure with a SC judge.
The student had gone for a six-week judicial clerk internship but decided not to apply for the full one-year programme on graduation said that it was mainly because the remuneration was not satisfactory. “I thought it’s better to do a law firm job and I am also not so interested in litigation.”
One law professor explained that judicial clerkships were a system that had caught on very well in the US. “The culture started where they would join a judge and see the actual workings in a court room and after a while that became so competitive that the brightest students got the best judges.”
“Now in India it has reached the stage too where it is a mark of academic excellence but students still don’t get to pick individual judges,” he added, “and the not so good judges may get the brightest students.” Nevertheless, he said that many US universities often valued Indian judicial clerkships very highly for LLM applications.
Selection for apex court judicial clerkships happens through interviews conducted at national and other law schools that are approached by the Supreme Court or through direct application.
In 2006 the programme appears to have been only open only to students from national law schools and ILS Pune. But one national law school student said: “It is not just national law schools. I have seen a number of people from other law schools also [doing judicial clerkships].”
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There is also a new article that will be updated with the latest salary information of Indian law firms and legal recruiters. Please help Legallypedia by updating it.
2010-11 Indian legal recruiters' offered remuneration | ||
Firm | Base retainer pay (Rs lakh) | Offered total package incl. max bonus (Rs lakh) / other |
AZB & Partners (Mumbai) | 11.4 | "competitive bonus" |
Khaitan & Co (Mumbai) | 10.8 (7.2 - 8.5 for 2010 batch) | 14.8 |
S&R Associates | 10.8 | |
Trilegal | 10.8 (10.2 for 2010 batch) | 12.8 |
Amarchand Mangaldas | 10.3 - 10.8 | 14 - 15 |
Luthra & Luthra | 10.2 | 12.6 (+3 insurance benefits) |
AZB & Partners (Delhi) | 9.8 | "competitive bonus" |
J Sagar Associates (JSA) | 9.6 | |
ICICI Bank | 9.05 (salary with retainer option) | CTC* with other benefits convertible to full retainer after six months. |
Wadia Ghandy | 8.4 | |
Talwar Thakore | 8.4 | |
Desai & Diwanji | 6 - 8.4 | |
Nishith Desai Associates (NDA) | 7.2 (salary) | +4.8 fixed amount is paid out after three years with firm. First-year CTC* figure therefore 12. 12 forms base for 2nd year increase. |
SAIL | 6.6 - 6.8 | |
Phoenix Legal | 6 - 7.2 | |
IFMR | 6 - 6.5 | |
Juriscorp | 4.8 - 6 | |
Pangea3 | 4 - 6 (5 - 7 for 2010-11) (CTC* incl. bonus at top 10 law schools) | |
Lakshmikumaran Sridharan | 4.8 | |
Crawford Bayley | 4.8 | |
Kochhar & Co | 4.2 - 4.8 | |
Supreme Court judicial clerkships | 3 (stipend) |
Source: Legally India research: interviews with students and college recruitment committees and putting those figures to law firm or organisation for correction or comment.
*CTC: "cost to company" figure can include other benefits than just base salary.
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fresher from non-National law school with 0 contacts= Rs. 0 p.m
However, part of the reason I cited a 2006 article was because I could honestly not find any other useful previous references on the internet. The only other prominent article was one in The Hindu from 2002.
www.hindu.com/thehindu/op/2002/08/06/stories/2002080600060200.htm
Wikipedia also has a nice write-up although there are no references and not many details either. Will add a link to the Legally India story too.
bit.ly/aODps7
Best regards
Kian
all the young lawyers and law students shoud get together and fight SILF.
There is also a stand-by list which includes the School of Legal studies Cochin, University of Science and Technology Cochin , Government Law College Mumbai, Department of Law Calcutta University, New Law College, Pune and faculty of Law University of Delhi. Apart from that applications for SVKM, Mumbai and AMITY Law School are under consideration for empanelment.
(See Supreme Court Annual Report 2008 -09, pg. 112
Available at
www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in/sci Annual Report 2008-09.pdf [Please try this link: bit.ly/bnI2Gd ]
As per the approved procedure for engaging Law Clerks, Law Schools which are on the panel, are required to submit applications of their final year students pursuing 5 year law courses . A committee of Judges then selects the candidates based on an interview and a list of selected candidates in accordingly prepared. Presently the selection committe consists of Hon’ble Mr. Justice Altamas Kabir and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Dalveer Bhandari.
Further, out of the two Law Clerks provided for each judge, the first candidate is to be only from one of the empanelled Law School, however in exceptional cases if a judge wishes, someone from a Law School not empanelled may be considered as the second clerk provided he otherwise fulfils all the other qualification.
Here is the list of the Clerks appointed for the Last Year.
www.supremecourtofindia.nic.in/lawclerk2009-10.pdf
Those with bandwidth caps, bewarned by the way, the first link is a mammoth 60MB PDF!
"A mammoth 60 MB PDF!" What a delightful little relic from the past!
Most graduates from the top law schools tend to assume that the clerkships are a waste of time primarily because justices usually don't entrust substantial responsibilities upon those who do short term internships during the course of their studies. However, the law clerks who are engaged for a year or more are pressed into service since each bench has to process scores of admission matters every week. The dynamics of each justice's office are of course very different and the workload for the law clerks can range from light to heavy. Owing to the generational gap, clerks can be especially useful in using online resources to speed up research while also filling in the justices on newly emerging practice areas. In the US, applying for a clerkship is a very competitive process (even for Federal District Judges) and it's only the top students who are able to secure places with Federal Circuit Court judges. The Supreme Court justices choose their clerks from among the pool of law clerks in the Circuit Courts. In contrast, the top students at the best Indian law schools view the clerkships in a negative light and i often wonder if there is a false sense of entitlement at play. In that context, comparing the stipend in what is a government job with lucrative jobs in the private sector is totally inappropriate and misleading.
regards,
Sidharth Chauhan
But best place to learn is High Court ... if you get opportunity just grab it! Best forum to learn and expand ...
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