internships

2006 NUJS Kolkata graduate Debolina Saha had started Internship Bank in December 2019 as a non-profit initiative to provide internships in the Indian legal profession to women, which we had covered in April 2020.

Juris Corp has increased its intake of interns by taking its internship programme “virtual”, as the continuing Covid-19 pandemic has made physical internships all but impossible.

“I had always made it a mission to mentor students to the extent I can,” says Debolina Saha. “What I noticed over these years, there were brilliant students who had everything on their CV. The only thing they didn’t have was a brand name of top school or university.”

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has directed law schools to forbid their students from undertaking internships outside of their university vacations.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has published a call for interns. Law clerks should be graduates from a recognised university and will be paid Rs 25,000 per month, while law interns will be students pursuing a law degree who "would not be paid any remuneration and shall be exposed to the learning experience in the field of environment issues and shall be awarded Merit Certificate at the conclusion of the internship".

Law clerks or interns will have to work for at least six months to get issued the certificate, but their posting can be terminated at any time without notice or reason, according to the invitation. "Any ethical breach" by an intern or clerk would be "viewed seriously and will entitle [sic] the Law Clerk / Law Intern from receiving the certificate", with breaches, "if it becomes necessary", being "reposted to the Bar Council" if they are enrolled.

Clerks or interns will not be able to appear before the bench to whom they are attached for one year after concluding their tenure. The NGT has two currently active benches with former Supreme Court judge Swatanter Kumar as chairman. [Notification with job description]

Dear Aunty & Uncle. I am a fourth year from a lesser-known law school in Delhi, which has no placement committee, and my parents have no legal background. How can I get a corporate law job?

Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) and White & Case have entered into a formalised but non-exclusive tie-up to offer internships and knowledge partnerships.

Finally after many, many requests Legally India is now ready to offer internships to law students.

Three life lessons and the top eight tips to help you bag those law firm and advocate internships.

J Sagar Associates (JSA) Mumbai office has formalised its policies of long-term interships for students and articled clerks by making these subject to regular reviews in an attempt to put shorter internship programmes on an equal footing and attract a greater variety of law students.

This is a long poem and has no rhyming scheme but if you read it in a rhythm and read it for fun, things will rhyme.

Note- What the associate of the firm says is in ‘CAPS’.

Note (further) - Something on Trademarks. Trademarks are divided into various classes. For example ‘class 1’ might deal with ‘furniture’; ‘class 2’ with ‘toys’; ‘class 3’ with ‘hotels’ etc.

AND SO THEY WROTE...

It was the intern’s first day at work.

Clean shaved; he arrived at eight

And waited with a bated breath

To see what life ‘as an intern’ held.

Meanwhile he checked his formal shirt,

Formal pants and formal shoes.

‘Formal’ was an informed choice,

‘Be prepared...’ (A lawyer’s ploy).

Back when 1000 mails he did send

Querying about ‘work’, ‘stipend’, ‘dress’ and ‘time’,

Alas! No replies had come to 999,

One said ‘research’, ‘no’, ‘9-6’ and ‘formal is fine’.

[It was a new place for the intern,

In a new city he was encapsulated in.

He looked around- big buildings, dusty squalls,

And then he realised; his capsule was small].

He bade goodbye to such philosophical thoughts

And moved inside the office; “So Posh”!

And said “Good morning ma’am! I am Rohan”,

“Oh! The intern”, she replied (We are expecting your lot).

“Please come. This work station is yours”

“Be seated Rohan, till work comes”, she called.

He remained seated, and no work came

During lunch...behold! Somebody did take his name!

(Or something which sounded similar...same?)

He jumped, excited, he jumped, did not walk.

He jumped to that man, he jumped to his voice,

The voice he heard, had just called his name,

Ah! The intern (Under sun, this, his place).

“HI! I AM RANJIT, ASSOCIATE, IP DIVISION”

“WELCOME” (welcome, a little late for cohesion)

“YOU WILL WORK UNDER ME” (under my weight you’ll die)

“MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE” (here! Have some chai)

Two biscuits and three pleasantries later

He was given a bundle of documents and a letter

Containing 1,2...150 trademarks to be filed

“THE WORK IS RESEARCH” (hope you won’t mind).

The intern was happy...his purpose of life

He attacked the work like: Dogs and bones, Jaggery and flies

He learnt the work through the pre loaded files

Training for puppies (coz puppies can’t fly).

Every class had a different mark...

Trademark...he noted it religiously in a copy.

“Every religion is just the same

A bundle of thoughts, a different name...”

Ah! The musings! Were troubling him again.

He concentrated on his work! The trademark work,

Working fast, concentrated and with flair (feigned)

His clean shaven (ignore dirty pimples) face

Had now bristles of black hair...”SO FINE

YOU CAN LEAVE, IT IS ALREADY NINE”.

“All right sir. Thank you. I have filled fif...”

“RIGHT...RIGHT MOHAN! I’LL SEE THAT TOM” (miffed)

“It is Rohan Sir...” (smiling)

“OH! SORRY”! (smiling, snarling).

The next day he came at nine,

A new shirt and new shoes that shone.

Clean shaven again (from the Gillette’s store),

He started on Trademarks (razor blades, class five).

‘Toys’, ‘underwear’, ‘furniture’ and ‘perfumes’

And such daily items of daily use

Formed a part of his ‘research’

A research which did contusions produce.

(Life paralysing, brain tumour causing contusions).

‘Food’, ‘milk’, ‘clothes’ and ‘toys’,

More research... (A lawyer’s ploy)

To make the intern get rid off

All that he cares, all that he enjoys.

The internship was completed, the research was done.

“NICE JOB MOHAN. HOPE YOU HAD FUN”

(The associate remarked).

“It is Rohan, Sir”. “OH! SORRY” (the second time)

(Two times, they had talked).

But he had learnt, and so he hoped

And researched ‘on various areas of law’

And so they wrote; on his certificate which said

“MOHAN SUCCESSFULLY INTERNED...”(And returned dead).

Disclaimer: Any resemblance to anyone living, dead or in between is delusionary.

PS- To people with money: If I made you smile with this poem, you might consider giving some cash; so that we writers survive and make you smile more. Contact blogging[at]legallyindia.com

Q. Are internships helpful in getting a PPO. How do I go about it?

Ans.  Yes they are. Why...I'll tell you later. First get your hands on the PPO thingy.

GETTING A PPO

1.) You have to be in the 4th/ 5th year for that. (If you are in the 5 year course that is).

2.) Then, have a portfolio which is perfectly aligned to the place you are interning.

A 5th year student, interning at Anand and Anand (a leading IP firm) and expecting a PPO should have done at least couple of internships in IP boutiques, presented/ published a dozen papers on the subject and also completed some good add-on courses on IP.

3.) So you are at Anand and Anand. A teenie-weenie 4th year student. Now impress the boss you are working with.

Impress him with your research skills. Pop up the best caselaw for the best law which applies to the case.

Strain your mental sinews. Come up with brilliant analysis. Impress him/her.

Come up with brilliant plaints, legal opinions. Show-off your analytical and writing skills. Impress.

Be in your best formal clothes, best smile, neatest hairdo and shiniest shoes. Impress him/her.

Look like a studious student. Don’t be the dude.

Be the first to arrive. Leave last. Slog like anything. Interact with the associates at lunch. Impress everybody.

Ask great questions. About his/her lawyerly life and about life in general. About what coffee he likes.

Be good with the coffee. Impress.

Be a legal beagle. Wag your tail, always. Sniff for opportunities. Impress.

Be a legal eagle. Observe keenly. Show the splendour in the flight. Impress.



WHY INTERNSHIPS?


1.) Internships are like an add-on course you do.
For example you do a cyber law course from Asian School of Cyber Laws and learn about cyber law in theory (though it may have many 'real life' examples). On the other hand or the same hand (doesn't matter...depends how dexterous you are in using your hands) interning under a stud cyber law lawyer will provide you with a decent practical knowledge of the subject.

So a good 4 week internship, in a way, replicates doing a 100 hour practical course on the subject. (Note the word good. Most internships aren't good). Ah! Ha!

2.) Internships tell that you have an inherent interest in the subject.
In first year, for my NGO internship I intern at NABARD. Then I do internships only in legal departments of banks and niche law firms practicing banking law. The recruiter can bank upon the fact that I have an interest in Banking Law. (PJ...I know).

3.) Every skill gets chiselled. 
Work ethics, practical skills, interpersonal skills, communication skills, THIS skill and THAT skill.


PS- Ideally, one should intern to explore and not to pigeonhole oneself. Coz when the cat comes, the pigeon closes its eyes. He is gobbled up. The pigeon is then not in the pigeonhole. He rather becomes an a**h***. (I might go down in the history books for this quote). Ha!

PS 2- When LegalPoet doesn't write poetry, he deems himself fit to give some free advice.

PS 3- As said before (read comment # 9), I love animals.

PS 4- I'll keep on blasting law firms and hounding Kian till they don't sponsor some goodies for the bloggers. Why is it always that the writers have to starve. :P

PS 5- Then you can't blame us the writers for blowing our own trumpet...or posting the links to our own blogs. :)
 

Question: I am not sure how to go about making a good CV which will bag me a good internship. I've only interned once with a small law firm in Mumbai so that is the only experience I have. Can you please give me some suggestions?

Picking interships is probably the most important step in a budding legal career, particularly as CVs without internship experience are likely to end up in the bin. An increasing number of firms are also beginning to exclusively recruit from their batch of interns.

However, applying for internships is also a potential minefield. We will attempt to deal with some common questions.