Your Law Internship Formula

INTRODUCTION:

We often hear that bookish studies don't matter at all until we know how to practically put them to effect. It is true for law students as well. We can learn all the required laws and sections and proper acts in a particular law but, all of that knowledge won't help us until we know how to practically apply those sections in a case or, for a corporation. Legal studies of any law student are incomplete without the practical usage of it. How do we learn various legal processes, you ask? The most important and crucial part of law is the practical knowledge of it and internships help improve legal skills, shed light on a student’s interested fields in law, and also provide ample practical exposure for various legal fields.

WHEN TO START INTERNING:

Many law students believe that internships should start from second year whereas most top law schools advice their students to start interning from the first year itself so that they can gain step-by-step practical knowledge about various legal processes. Most elite law schools encourage their students to intern at least twice a year following a widely accepted “Internship Formula”. The formula provides knowledge about where to intern in each year of a Ba.LLB degree for better practical knowledge of law.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has also made it mandatory for each registered student to complete a minimum of 12-week internship for the three-year course and 20 weeks in case of a five-year programme.

WHAT SHOULD BE THE DURATION OF THE INTERNSHIP:

The internships should at least be one month long; and once or twice a year. It is important that the internships last minimum one month because any law student would take at least two to three weeks to understand the legal requirements or the legal processes of the particular cases or, workings of a legal office. So once the student understands the basis, they can work or contribute towards it and further improve their legal skills in the particular field.

WHERE TO INTERN IN EACH YEAR OF YOUR LAW DEGREE:

1st Year:

It is strongly recommended that each law student starts interning from the 1st year of their course because any student would be most enthusiastic in their first year to learn about the legal processes. But it is to be noted that in the first year itself, a law student won’t have much knowledge about any specific laws so if they work in major legal organisations or under High Court or Supreme Court lawyers in the first year of their course then it might further cause in diminishing their morale as they won’t be able to understand all the case laws or the type of work that is being done in the corporations or the firms.

Thus, to keep it simple in the first year of the course, law students are encouraged to intern in Legal cells of NGOs and in the next semester of the first year, they can intern at various District Courts under the district attorneys. In the first year they can learn basic laws used by social organizations and general right of the public, etc. While in the District Courts, they can learn about the basic court procedures and working mechanisms at the District level. In the first year of internships, a law student should be entirely focused on developing new ideas and getting a better understanding of the legal world.

2nd Year:

In the second year, a law student is expected to continue working in district courts. For instance, the various district courts in Delhi include Rohini Court, Tis Hazari Courts, Saket Court, Dwarka Court, and more. The student has freedom to chose any district court which is in close proximity to their homes. There are varying advocated in all the Courts, working in several legal fields, for example: Civil advocate, Criminal advocate, Family law advocate, and so on. The students can apply for internships under each advocate for a period of time or chose the one field, they feel they would be interested in. In the courts, a student gets to watch various court proceedings and hear arguments over varying cases. They even learn some basic court procedures while working under a professional lawyer. The students also become aware of the various basic legalities of working a case like, how to attach a Vakalatnaama, how to get a witness statement attested from the Oath Commissioner, how to write legal applications for a case, etc.

3rd Year:

In the third year, a law student has knowledge about the basic laws and legal procedures and they can work in professional corporate sectors, as well as under a High Court Lawyer. The High Court lawyers get major cases with various aspects of law and thus, the best of major legal processes can be learnt by working under a good High Court lawyer. The professional corporate sectors that the student selects can vary according to their likeness in a particular legal field. Like the students who are interested in Social-Legal work can apply in the legal cells and team of various national social organizations. The ones who are interested in Company Law and Corporate sectors can apply in legal firms and in other professional legal offices. The best part about interning in a professional legal corporation or firm is the professionalism and work ethics that you learn. Apart from all that, these organizations and firms train a law student all they need to know about the corporate legal sector which included the working of a legal firm, the various types of tasks that an advocate has to do while working in the corporate sector, etc.

4th Year:

Internships have slowly and gradually turned out to be an integral part of a bachelor’s degree law programme. This has mostly been due to increasing expectations of professional legal skills. Especially in the corporate sector, it has been found that the firms and companies do not intend to waste time on a lawyer that they first have to train. There is increasing demand of work experience in each field of law and dedicatedly working in internships in all years of law really helps a law student when they hit the market for jobs. 

Furthermore, in the fourth year, a law student can work in corporate sectors and legal companies that work on a larger basis. They can also work under the Supreme Court advocates and get to learn the legal processes and working of the Apex Court. Every law student who intends to be an advocate and practice law someday hopes to work in the Apex Court on cases that include some serious offences. Working cases in Supreme Court is pretty much a dream for every law student so interning under an experienced Supreme Court lawyer can give the law students wide exposure if they intent to practice law after their degree is complete. The cases which include some heinous crimes have to be dealt very delicately and the legal processes involved in them are very complex so each student has to learn those with full determination.

5th Year: 

In the last year, a law student who intends to practice law or further give exams for Judiciary may intern under a Judge to learn the working of a Judge and how to understand various laws and arguments and give judgements based on them. The ones who do not intend to practice law and want to work in the corporate sector, may work in some National or International legal firms or corporations to further get a better understand of the legal working of such corporations.

Apart from working under a Judge, almost every law school has a policy that it is necessary to do a proper legal training in the student’s opted legal fields in the last six months. It could be a legal corporation or a lawyer or judge. It all depends on which field of law a student wants to work in.