Does anyone here feel as if graduates are deliberately being offered internships/assessment internships positions, and are subjected to almost equal work of that of an associate, of course with a pay ranging from Rs. 5k to 15k. The position should be clear from the employer's side, especially if they are law firms. If you don't have the vacancy then stop offering assessment internships. On the pretext of such opportunities, law firms have been exploiting individuals citing that they would be offered permanent position after 6 months of assessment.

An assessment should at maximum be stretched to two months, which is enough time for a partner to gauge the capacity and learning curve of a candidate. And then you can at least elevate such candidate to the position of a Trainee, if found to be satisfactorily performing.

What's wrong in such expectations on the part of a candidate.

Don't know ke farak padhega ke nahi. But I am seeing a lot of people now opting for work in non-corporate area. From my recently graduated batch itself, I can think of like not more than 15% who are into law firm space. Most of them scoring assessment for themselves on their own accord. No University help.

And more importantly, those who were academically excellent are amongst the remaining 85%. I believe most of the NLUs at least are seeing this pattern.

Don't know, but if academics is an important factor in recruiting new lawyers, law firms have made themselves aloof to this creamy layer.

The person who wrote this post is an unbelievably delusional muppet. Do you think the complex work we seasoned Advocates do can even be delegated to an intern? Do you think the intern can even understand the A of such work? Do you think we have any inclination to share the sensitive matters we do with a rank intern? You are unimaginably naïve and a profligate blunderer. "Oh yes there is a vast conspiracy to use interns for their work and throw them out"... seriously... grow up.

Don't agree with this. When I was working as an assessment intern last year, sensitive information was shared with me with emails marked as confidential. I sat with my superior (Partner) discussing cases in hand.

Again, it depends on places, colleagues and kind of work. OP might be not be projecting a picture different from the reality.

Assuming but not admitting that no confidential details are given to interns, are you trying to say that interns are only called for some charity purpose and whatever research work done on specific proposition, often related to the case, are not useful and save your time? I appreciate your goal of gatekeeping and not allowing interns from smaller towns/villages and belonging to humble background to grow and expect performance-based stipend. You would expressly specify that the internship opportunity is only for the forth and final year law student of a prominent law school, having good research, communication and hundreds of other skills along with the zeal to work hard; and you would not give them performance-based stipend allowing them at least to meet their minimum expenses and argue that there was no work which saved your time. I do not even wish to comment on using interns for content creation and other clerical work.

Your reply reeks of obstinate blockheadism. Be that as it may kiddo, understand something first :- an intern brings NOTHING to the organisation. Absolutely NOTHING. It’s a favour that the organisation is giving to the intern - a very brief and momentary taste of the fruit of life in the firm.

For potential recruitment, we take in only assessment interns on 3-6 months. During this period, there is still nada that the AI contributes to us - this time is used by us to analyse the AI and their personality and whether they have the very basics needed to succeed and fit in with us - honesty, desire, fire in their blood, ambition etc. Some basics are also ascertained from their research and how they can draft a one page letter for instance.

It truly does pain me to say that you have obviously wasted the best years of your life by reading putrid regurgitated garbage on this forum and others - nothing else can explain your nonsensical gatekeepers remark. My court clerks son is now an associate with me and has a bright future. Many of my juniors are first generation advocates.

It is still not too late for you to shed your mantle of victimhood and be a man and reach for the stars instead of griping like a shrew.

Enough with the tone-deaf rhetoric. Your assertion that interns bring "NOTHING" to the organization is not just dismissive, but it demonstrates a lack of understanding of the diverse challenges faced by law students. It's easy to tout the virtues of assessment internships when you're oblivious to the financial struggles of those who aren't fortunate enough to intern from the comfort of their homes.

Sure, your court clerk's son may have seamlessly transitioned into an associate role, but let's talk about the stark reality. Not every law student comes from a well-connected background. Many of us hail from smaller towns, and interning means shelling out money for accommodation, food, and travel. Unlike your privileged court clerk's son, we can't just walk into an internship without financial considerations.

Your glorification of assessment internships conveniently ignores the fact that even stenographers and peons receive compensation for their work. Are you seriously suggesting that the research, drafting, and due diligence work carried out by final and penultimate year law students, often in unfamiliar cities, is not worthy of acknowledgment and fair remuneration?

Your simplistic advice to shed the "mantle of victimhood" and "reach for the stars" reveals a profound disconnect from the financial realities faced by many law students. It's not about personal ambition; it's about addressing the systemic barriers that perpetuate inequality within the legal profession.

If the goal is to build a truly inclusive and meritocratic legal community, it's high time to reassess the archaic stance on internships and recognize the financial strains faced by law students from smaller towns.

Regards, A Law Student

Unfortunately you have a proper reservationist mindset.

First you must understand the world doesn’t owe you jack and the world cares not a whit about how rich or poor you are. You seem to be under some misguided assumption that we care about alleviating barriers or bringing some “equality”. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are hardcore commercial advocates for whom our clients are our gods - they repose total & complete faith in us and it’s not a responsibility we take lightly. We are here to make money, make our clients happy and win glory and name for ourselves.

We are NOT here to give freebies or break barriers or whatever other nonsense you may have in your mind. I have many people who ask me for an opportunity to work as an associate for free - and here you are blabbering blithely about some paid internship.

You seem to be under a misapprehension that the world is fair or owes you something or you deserve some recompense as you are from a small town / humble background. The moment you perish such thoughts as ideal fantasy, is when your progress can start.

I also deeply appreciate your critique of my lack of understanding. I suppose my 20+ years of experience (which include involvement in setting up one of the new NLUs) leaves much to be desired.

Thank you for acknowledging that:

(1) you are completely driven by profit motive and obviously nothing wrong in that.

(2) The interns are of no use whatsoever and do not save even a minute of your staff.

(3) yet firms and offices would delegate the task of handling internships to HR, have a dedicated mail ID or a space in the career page and some even ask for sample works, allowing to utilize the resources of the office, giving them internship certificate etc.; not sure if that is a waste of resources, before, during, and after the internship. Some, especially the smaller one's, even go to the extent of reaching out to platforms for the advertisement of their internship program.

(4) That experience makes one infallible and it is a significant criteria in determining one's arguments/opinion.

I would leave it to the wisdom of the readers of LI.

However, I must clarify that I did not advocate for paying more then what one is actually entitled to. At least that's how I read performance-based stipend. The fact that many come from smaller town was only to accentuate why it is necessary to at least pay to the extent that they can meet their minimum expenses and not to exploit beyond a point just because of the huge imbalance in supply.

Anyway who am I to question elitist and exclusionary views/practices.