what exactly do you think will come out of this PIL lol? its a matter of demand and supply. there are lakhs of law graduates every year who are desperate to get something on their CV. forget paying interns, these days interns are paying to get internships. not everything is governed by fairness and justice, some things are governed by economics.

1. Lawyers don’t need interns- they can hire law graduates for 10k-15 per month to work full time, in small towns just for 2-3k

2. 20 years back no law students interned except NLU students and there were just 5-6 of them

3. Even law graduates have no leverage because your college does not teach you anything useful, forget interns

4. Lawyers are already cagey about taking interns who add no value, work for a short time, expect to be taught skills - and bitch when not paid. Why should a lawyer entertain that? What value did you add in your last internship that someone would want to pay for it?

5. Interns who stay longer, work hard, usually get paid because they become valuable to the practice. But it does not happen in less than 3 months.

Be nice to a lawyer who still taken an intern, they do it

1. As charity, give back to profession and all

2. Build a pipeline for future hires

3. Its nice to have some young people in the office, energetically speaking

And they can absolutely do without it if it becomes too much trouble

If you fight economics, you economics will win

Go learn some professional level skills and be ready to grind if you want to be taken seriously and get paid

I don't think PIL would be helpful but Law firms should better start paying interns. Example: Most of the inters at Trilegal don't get paid 16k because they come through references. In a month there are nearly 250 interns across all offices out of which very few get paid. Either don't take interns through references so that an equal opportunity is provided to all students or better pay them. This is the case with all law firms. Another example would be Wadia Ghandy's unpaid 6 month Assessment internship. HSA Advocates hire students on mass internship basis without paying a dime. Veritas legal being one of the high paying boutique law firm pays merely 2500. Bharucha and Partners pays 12k only to call back inters. Free labour needs to stop. These firms are capable enough to pay interns but it has become a norm as a student gets a "reputed" name of their CV. Its more like students are paying to get internships lol.

PIL to force people to pay you for an internship? If you dont see why that would not work, the issues with state function, freedom of contract and business, and more generally how internships are conceptualised- And if you cant think of solutions other than PILs for everything. I dont think you know enough law to be demanding anything for your legal services.

Paying interns, lol

Kid, listen up

There are hordes of juniors who are paid under 10k even post 2 years

Look up the vacancies for juniors

People straight out say "industrial standards" and bleeping have 5k per month advertised.

Guess what? Even these cheapskates are flooded with applications from juniors

Things are far more rotten than you think

Before anyone asks, I naturally don't support this chana payment, but rather showing the real picture like other commentators

Paying interns and juniors is a good step. India is such a bad country where people can be replaced pretty easily. Hence, the work standards in India are low. If this were to happen in any developed country, law firms and companies would have already been boycotted. Instead of glorifying hectic work hours, no leaves, unpaid internship and poor pay standards, lawyers should help in changing the current scenario.

Paying below 40k to junior lawyers in these times should be shameful for the employer. This practice of paying 8-20k is not something to proud of and needs to be changed. I came across a post by Ethos legal alliance wherein the partner had mentioned that in order to save time we don't pay interns. Why should an intern work a long term internship if you don't have the time to check applications and contact them but you're entitled enough to want interns to work for free.

I was an Associate Partner (glorified PA who must also be present in all client meetings) at Fudda Legal office in Jangpura, and the firm had an unwritten unspoken of policy of getting interns to do all clerical work related to litigation along with basic research. They would have extensive 3 month internships where they would do all this stuff and making LoDs and arranging files while getting no stipend, no learning of law and no real experience, just internship certificate. No callbacks offered or hiring done either, and interns hired from 2nd and 3rd year of 5 yr programs so they do not pin hopes on the internship. There was a joke about it within the office - it was like getting an extra pair of farm hands while harvesting winter crops. It was simple exploitation.