Intern Speak On Their Experiences At Law Firms

India currently has more than 1,300 law schools and 418 law universities. Every year, lakhs of students take up the CLAT (Common Law Admission Test) to get enrolled in one of these schools or colleges. Even after getting a LLB or LLM degree, one is expected to intern with professional advocates before finally beginning to practice on their own. The first few years of a fresh law graduate goes in learning and getting training under a senior advocate or in law firms.

Internship is a mandatory requisite for both LLB and LLM (post graduate in law) students. Here's an experience note shared by two law graduates who did their law internship in famous law firms.

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Prachi Sangwan, Delhi

I completed my LLB from the Faculty of Law, Delhi University last year. In our third year, we were advised to get hands-on experience and intern with law firms. I started looking for internships for law students. It is a bit tough to get internships in my field the usual way, however, I came across a social media post shared by a law firm inviting applications for law internships. I immediately applied and in two days got a call to join the firm for a three month law internship. My internship timing was from 2 pm to 7 pm and the stipend was Rs 3,000 per month. I used to go there after attending college.

I was interning under a very senior and renowned advocate who practices at the Delhi High Court. I was assigned two tasks - to note down the important points of cases that were given to me and to do legal research along with preparing briefs relating to various fields of laws like Code of Civil Procedure, IPC, Taxation etc. During the initial days, I found it difficult to do research work and submit my work everyday by evening but soon, I picked up the pace and started working with ease without much difficulty. Twice in a week, during the evening tea time, the senior advocate used to talk with us, discuss with us about our work and shared his experience. All these interactions were very informative and gave me great insights and learnings. Once, I also got the opportunity to visit the Delhi High Court along with him and see the court proceedings. It was such a delight to watch the court proceedings; how advocates argue with each other, how the victims and accused are questioned and how the judges give verdicts and judgements.

I found all the people working in the law firm very helpful. It was a lively and placid place to work in. I got to learn and understand many things which couldn’t have been possible just by reading the law books. Practical experience is very important as it lets you see and explore the real working and it gives you ample learning opportunities. To sum up, my internship gave me great learnings and I experienced how advocates and law firms work really very hard to prepare themselves for cases.

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Varun Singh, Prayagraj

I completed LLB in 2020 from National Law University and Judicial Academy, Assam. As a part of mandatory academic components, we had 6 credits for a 12 week internship. I applied for the law internship by filling the application form, attaching my CV and cover letter on the official website of a law consultancy. After five days, I got the opportunity to intern in a law firm under a well-known advocate. Along with me, there were two other law interns as well. On the first day of my internship, I was asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement and was allotted the work. The main tasks assigned were to examine, analyse, and discuss bail petitions and case research, legal research, making case briefs and attending court proceedings. Approximately, we were given around 6 - 7 bail petitions during the whole period of internship. After going through the bail petitions, we used to write annexures for the same and used to have a series of discussions with the advocates. During my internship, I didn’t receive any stipend.

The office had all the facilities that are mandatory to work in law firms. It had a decent library with all Bare Acts and Legal Commentaries of all major Acts. Interns were given a conference room to study and discuss. Everyone at the office was very helpful, be it senior associates or junior associates, they used to clarify even my smallest and silliest of the doubts that I had regarding the work that was assigned to me. At the same time, they were also very strict in terms of deadlines and submissions. The discussion sessions that we had with our sir were both educational and motivational. The only problem I faced during my internship was that there was no weekly-off, not even on Sunday. Other than this, my whole internship phase was very enriching and it gave me fruitful experience.

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