I am a current fourth year student a top NLU (one of NLS/ NALSAR/ NLUD/ NLUJ) and seek to do a 1-month internship under a Supreme Court judge in the summer of 2024 ie. after my fourth year, or online post-class if those are available during the coming semester.
I know that the routes to getting those are either through the calls sent out by judges/their LRs or by approaching the LRs directly.
However, I haven't done any litigation/judge internship so far as I was focussing on research and corporate internships. Will this pose a huge problem in getting an SC judge internship? What are some workarounds? I have a very good batch rank (top 10), good CV and publications.
I have interned with an SC judge recently and don't think this is a necessary hurdle. Go through the roster and find a judge who is working on subject areas you have demonstrable competency in. Your work will consist of case briefs and occasional research tasks/proofreading of judgements in some cases so in your cover letter, mentioning how you'd be able to do these sorts of tasks well will help along with the usual fluff about how inspired you are by the judge in question, how some judgement of theirs (preferably not a controversial one) was well-reasoned and furthered your understanding of the law etc. Publications and other proofs of research experience can make up for the lack of litigation experience.
Also, apply to the newly elevated judges if possible since they won't be bombarded with applications
OP here, thank you so much! When do you suggest I should cold apply for the next summer (that is, not in response to specific calls)? I don't want to be too early in case they disregard/forget, and I don't want to be too late and miss the bus
Replying to both. I applied three months in advance. You could do SC registry email, in which case it would be entirely random. Or as I did, LinkedIn message the LR and get the number/email of the PS. I messaged pretty much all of them probably lol and generally got replies, they’re also recent grads and get the struggle
I know that the routes to getting those are either through the calls sent out by judges/their LRs or by approaching the LRs directly.
However, I haven't done any litigation/judge internship so far as I was focussing on research and corporate internships. Will this pose a huge problem in getting an SC judge internship? What are some workarounds? I have a very good batch rank (top 10), good CV and publications.
Also, apply to the newly elevated judges if possible since they won't be bombarded with applications