Interview​

 

 

 

Q1. Why is internship important? Be it any field, not particularly law.

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For any fresher transitioning into the workforce today, it’s important to have some experience to gain experience. Let’s accept it that nobody wants to hire you unless you have some knowledge of the work, which is why internships become important. Before you get a chance to have face to face interaction with anyone, your resume matters, and resume should reflect ‘relevant’ internship history. Internships are imperative to fathom the pragmatic and experiential aspects of theoretical knowledge that students get from classroom lectures and textbooks. With the advancement in technology, there is a plethora of opportunities and internships to help these naïve law students to decide what field intrigues them the most. This is true for all fields.

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For example, A law graduate would often be confused about whether he should go for litigation or join a law firm or a corporate. If the students get exposure to all the options during their internship days then they will be able to figure out what interests him/her the most and would make the choice easier. Rather than deciding at the end of the course what exactly in law or in engineering or in MBA interests you, you can decide it probably before finishing your school or college and you would be able to make a well-informed career choice.

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Q2. Does internship experience matter in future jobs? If yes, then what kind of jobs does a student needs an internship for? For eg. When a student appears for the judiciary, the internship experience is least on the priority list.

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Internship experience does matter like I said before we need to accept this hard truth that nobody wants to hire a person straight out of College or University who has absolutely no idea about their field and his knowledge is confined only to textbooks. The practical exposure that one gets in an internship gives them an edge over other candidates appearing for interviews. Well, I can only talk about the law where internships do matter to a large extent. Law is what you learn in your classroom but how things work in the real world can only be seen through an internship.

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Yes, totally agree that internships are not on the priority list for students who have plans to appear for Judicial Services. But even though you are on the other side of the system, it helps you understand how things function when you have once been where the Advocate is arguing his case from. It gives you a better understanding.

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But there are many other hidden challenges faced by the students like there are many NLU students who grab the important internship places just for the NLU's namesake. Many other college students may be better than them but they don't get the right opportunity. What are your thoughts about that?

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I have seen both sides am a National Law School Graduate who is teaching in a private law school. Yes, the recruiters do prefer graduates from a National Law School and there is no doubt about the quality of students that a National Law School receives because only 3% of the top students appearing for CLAT make it to NLUs. Then for the next 5 years, you only compete with the best. The National Law Universities have set the bar high when we talk about the quality of teaching. But we cannot ignore the fact that not every brilliant student makes it to National Law School. Maybe, it was not his day when he was appearing for CLAT and he missed it. Eventually, such students will take admission in private law colleges and Universities. These students are no doubt at par with NLU students or even better but they will have to work slightly harder. The private Universities and Colleges are trying their best to bring in the same academic culture as NLUs and some of them have already achieved it with state of the art infrastructure, faculties from top-notch law school with amazing credentials and brilliant academic culture. Students from private law schools should work hard while interning and go for internships for a longer duration to get noticed and eventually grab a PPO because, in the end, there is no replacement for hard work and smart work. Law Firms/Lawyers/MNCs should also not reject CVs on the face value that the student is not from a National Law School.

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Q3. Is it an accepted fact that the National Law School students will always have an edge over the Private Law College students? And also what are the other common challenges faced by the students? How can they overcome the rest of the challenges?

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Yes, we cannot negate the fact that National Law Schools like an IIT or an IIM have a brand value. But that does not mean that hard work doesn't pay. I have worked with Lloyd Law College for one year and have been with Ansal University for over 5 years now. I am so proud of my students who have made it to Tier 1 law firms or made it to Ivy League Universities for their Masters or are working with the United Nations and some have become successful entrepreneurs. They are not from National Law Schools but they worked hard.

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Being an Assistant Professor and Internship and Recruitment Coordinator, we do interact with students post their internship to discuss the challenges faced by them. Some of the challenges they face are:

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•  They have high expectations specifically from their first internship. When they get trivial or no work, they feel demotivated as they wish to contribute much more. They need to understand that no work is small. Each experience will further enhance their professional abilities. For instance, first-year law students cannot be expected to work on important matters as they have no or little idea about law, and giving them such heavy work would again result in demotivating them. Even if they are given something as small as proofreading and they do a good job at it, the mentor will notice the same and will entrust them with more and better work.

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•  Interns are hesitant to ask questions because they worry about how they will be perceived. I would just say like I tell my students in the class that no question is silly and it is silly when you don’t ask a question that is creating doubt in your mind.

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•  Some interns find it difficult to adjust to the office culture in both cases, whether the culture is rigid or it is way too flexible.

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•  They feel disheartened when their work goes unnoticed.

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• Some interns are okay with constructive criticism but the lack of proper feedback leaves them worried about the quality of work being done by them.

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•  This whole office culture is so new to them that they don’t understand teamwork and find it difficult to project their opinion without being aggressive. It takes time and experience for people to get assertive and put forth their opinion politely without offending anyone.

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• Time-management is another challenge that is faced by interns.

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•  Sometimes uncooperative mentor.

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Q4. But as you would also know, Internship does not always breed knowledge. Many students just go for the sake of a certificate. What is the solution for that? Their CVs might look great later on, but their wisdom is still nill.

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True. A lot of times students just produce a certificate as the Bar Council of India makes it mandatory for every law student to intern for a minimum period of 20 weeks before graduating. The Placement Cell of Universities and Law Schools should take proper feedback from the HRs. Law Schools and Universities should be strict while marking the students for the internship component, they should know that in case the internships are not genuine, this will affect their grades. This also helps the Placement Cell to focus on every student individually and understand their skills and communication levels and accordingly prepare them to face interviews. At the end of 5 years or 3 years, when a student steps out of a law school then it’s not all about academic achievements but much beyond as they would be competing with the best in the country and not just with their own batch. We need to make them understand the importance of internships. The places offering internships should do the same.

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​​​​​​​​​​Q5. Also many times students don't perform well in times of stress and pressure, so how should a mentor deal with this? If he grades the intern badly then it will surely reflect in his certificate which will create a bad impression later on.

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The intern should approach their mentor and discuss the problems being faced by them. You need to effectively communicate your issues to your mentor for her/him to be able to understand the issue and provide a resolution to the same. A mentor is an experienced and trusted adviser. Need I say more?

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We also at our level try to help our students while they are interning. Mentor-Mentee Programmes have proved to be really effective especially at Ansal University, where each professor is a mentor for about 10-15 students. We have a mentor-mentee program to deal with the personal and professional issues of the student and everything shared by the mentee with their respective mentors is kept confidential. They do come to us to discuss the problems and challenges faced by them as interns; we counsel them, share our experiences with them, and guide them.