Internships… a sneak peek into a law student’s life!

CG’s News and Misc. section is back again with some interesting stuff, something different from the usual Committees and their boring reports after an exercise in futility. When I was a law school aspirant I was very interested in this entire world of internships and what exactly went on in law schools. So here is a little something different to give you a peek into the profession you are about to enter.

[Paushali De is a V year student at NALSAR. She has reached the fag end of her law school life and has much more locus standi than us to give you ‘gyan’ on law schools and life and times therein. She brings you an interesting sneak peek into her internship experiences. She has interned at various organisations and top corporate firms in the like of Amarchand Mangaldas Suresh A. Shroff & Co. We congratulate her on her securing a placement with Ernst & Young. Do not forget to thank her for this piece. – Cheers! – Sandipan De.]

It’s often told that “getting through law school is difficult, surviving it is a completely different deal altogether.” The wisdom in the words is not completely untrue. Five years at one of the prestigious law schools of the country and you might end up being a sleep deprived soul who does not even get to go home during holidays while the CV building exercise continues in the form of internships. One miss and you fall flat out of the rat race. So there you are- prim, in complete formal wear and heart wrenchingly painful heels- waiting for getting a call from that coveted law firm or corporate house which will add value to your CV and in most cases (not all) turn you into an unpaid slave for that six week period.

Stop! Don’t panic. Because an internship can turn out to be an extremely enjoyable one, even if you are not paid for it. It is a material fact that you end up learning something or the other from an internship. That obviously includes the improvisation of your people skill, ability to handle pressure while you work within deadlines (trust me! those law school project deadlines will seem benign creatures then) and most importantly it gives you an exposure and edge which many freshers in the market (!) do not have. It’s always preferable that one takes their internships seriously. It might just turn out to be one of the serious and good things you end up doing in law school. My experience tells me that you end up learning more law than the drab class lecture. It’s simple. You research on a particular proposition that your senior asks you to look into for two hours straight, draft and articulate it, attend the client meeting and next day your work might mean actual business for the organisation. As a student still learning the ways of surviving hostel life, that’s quite a high. Right?

And when it’s time to take stock, internships are the haloed tarot cards which make the professional/work experience part on you CV look interesting. Gradual climb from Big names to bigger ones with expertise on areas like Taxation, M & A, Banking and Finance…Bang on! You land up your plum job offer and the pay package which will shut up all those friends and relatives who had discussed your decision to join law for five long years.

Paushali De.