Virtual Internship Experience at SVS Attorneys

 

Name of the intern 

-Ritika Rajawat

 

College and Year of the Intern

-4^th Year at Maharashtra National Law University, Nagpur,

 

In which firm/organisation did you intern. Kindly tell us something about the firm 

-The details can be obtained via the official website of the Firm at www.svsattorneys.com. The firm has offices in New Delhi, Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur (M.P.)

 

What was the duration of Internship and daily timings?

-7th January 2021 to 26th February 2021. (45 Days)

 

The Internship is for a minimum period of 45 days preceded by the Mentorship Period of around 6-7 days. If in this Mentorship & Training Period, you are unable to meet up the expectations of the Chambers, then you would be informed to apply at a later stage when you have gained some more experience of work. I saw some of the interns being asked to apply later when they failed to meet up the work standards during their pre internship mentorship Period of 7 days.

 

How did you apply and secure an internship? 

-I read the reviews of internships in ‘SVS Attorneys’ on a site posted by the firm's previous interns & paralegals. Then I applied for the internship by sending my CV along with the Cover Letter at office@svsattorneys.com, srg@svsattorneys.com. After that, I got a document (of its own kind) titled ``Riders & Disclaimers about the Internship” through email, which contained basic conditions & work environment pertaining to the online internship. It’s like a toolkit for what the internship is all about and fun in doing it.

 

What are the core areas of law dealt in the firm/organisation?

-Constitutional & Administrative Policy

-Mining, Real Estate, Contractual & Infrastructure Law Disputes

-Banking Law, Debt Recovery & Security Enforcement relating to Banks & Other Financial Institutions

-Insolvency & Bankruptcy

-Arbitration, Mediation & Other ADR Mechanisms

-Municipal, Urban Development & Other Town Planning Laws

-Property, Tenancy, Agricultural & Land Laws

-Educational Matters (Relating to both Colleges & Students)/Affiliation and others)

-Labor Employment & other Service Laws

-Taxation, Stamp Duties, Excise, Municipal and Local Body Taxes

-Blue & White-Collar Crimes

 

What were the main tasks assigned to you? 

-Drafting of various Applications, Writ Petitions, Written Submissions, Rejoinders, legal pleadings etc.

-Preparing List of Dates; Synopsis, Case Briefs of cases listed in coming days.

-Extensive Research Work & Article writing work. If Sir is impressed with your research you are also offered to be Co- Author with him for the article.

-Legal translations & proofreading of Edited Documents.

-Typing of emails; correspondences to clients, Law Firms, other personalities in the legal field.

-Office works in an extremely streamlined manner. You keep getting audio clips throughout the day about the work you are supposed to be doing. Then you have to complete the assigned work in the deadline mentioned in the audio clip as per oral instructions contained therein.

-The Office is highly technology driven and you get to learn a lot of hands-on skills after working here, that will be your lifetime companions. Sir himself is a tech-savvy guy and prefers technology over any kind of manual /labor intensive work.

 

How comfortable did you find the work environment?

-Let me clear one thing, this internship is not for those who join the internship just for the sake of adding a Certificate to their CV; this is only for those who really wish to learn about the field of litigation. I must say that these 45 days are really challenging for every intern who joins and works with Siddharth Sir. Further, this is my 9th internship, and what I have learnt here I haven’t learnt it in any of my previous internships. You can't expect the type of work which will be assigned to you in this internship in any of the virtual internships. If you are keen to learn the skills of Litigation and ready to work hard, then you won’t get an opportunity better than this.

 

Were there any specific breaks given. If yes, what were the timings?

-Since it was a virtual internship, nothing was specifically mentioned.

 

Did you attend any Courts?

-No

 

What were the perks? Was stipend provided. If yes, how much?

-I was awarded a stipend of 10, 000 INR at the end of my internship.

-Sir does not believe in taking the help & services of their interns for charity. So, he will provide mandatory stipend to their interns in lieu of the help & services provided by the interns to him. This is however subject to one’s performance clearly. I know of some interns who weren't even given any penny, perhaps they annoyed the office much more than they worked for it. They were also asked to leave midway before they could complete their internship formally.

 

Were there any things that could be improved?

There are no leaves & no holidays unlike all firms of the country that offer their interns. You have to work continuously from Monday to Monday (Sunday is missing) for even 10 hours a day if it's one of those demanding days. So, there is no concept of weekend or a week day off in this internship which sometimes becomes very stressful as everyone needs a Sunday in their life after continuously working for a week. However, if you have any urgency or prior commitments, then you will be allowed to have a leave as an exceptional case, subject to prior intimation to be compensated later.

 

The workload entrusted to you as an intern will be too much, at times breaking your mettle to handle it. But still you are required to handle & discharge it else you will not be assigned any work on your failure to complete the assignment.

 

Expectations from you in the internship are to possess the level of understanding as a professional does, which gets difficult at times for any UG intern to develop.

 

There's no mercy or accommodation when urgent assignments are handed over to you. If there's urgent work handed over to you, it has to be completed by late midnight at the cost of your sleep which becomes quite unbearable at times, especially with your online classes and college commitments.

 

People who are touchy, impulsive and sensitive must not apply at all as the office is not conducive for their temperament. If you fail to perform, then you perish that too with reprimands from the senior ups. So better not to apply at all for such people.

 

Also read- Internship Experience at Chir Amrit Legal LLP, Jaipur