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. :)
Comments
2. Same thing as above. Confused.
3. I'm thinking of staying with the courts this time around. And then shall move on to bigger and hopefully better things from next year onwards.
4. Slogging is something i enjoy(seriously). It gives me the satisfaction that i can only get by 14 hours of sleep. haha :P
5. Finally i find someone who doesnt "believe" in mooting. In our college mooting is an obsession for some, others only follow the trend. Not hard to guess the category i belong too.
Ps 1- Hoping for some more blog posts and healthy discussions
PS 2- Same here. National Law School Product in making 2nd yr.
PS 3- Much better than spending or wasting time on my Family Laws Project. :D
PS: I mostly hate thinking out of the box. Hence out of the box jobs scare me :P