Internship Experience @ Hon’ble Justice Sandeep Mehta, High Court of Rajasthan, Jodhpur: Internship aided me in enhancing my knowledge of law

Name

Kanika Jamwal

Organisation

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sandeep Mehta, High Court, Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

Application Process

I joined after mailing my Curriculum Vitae to Sir post which I was called for meeting Sir in the Court chamber.

Duration

29th June, 2015- 29th July, 2015

First Day

Though there is a new High Court building coming up, even the current place is spacious, well managed and entirely air- conditioned.

The same stands for the intern room attached to Hon’ble judge’s chamber.

Main tasks

A regular task at the internship included reading case files and attending the proceedings next day.

Post the proceedings, if I found any case extremely interesting, I had the liberty to discuss it with Sir.

Before hearing days, I would prepare files lined up for hearing and judgment.

This was one of the most complex, yet interesting tasks I did because this involved reading the entire case file i.e., case of the petitioner, documents/evidence available on record, provision/provisions of law in question and reply of the respondent.

My task here was to closely scrutinise all of this, read, understand and make sense of the provision/provisions of law involved and determine whether or not the said law had been transgressed and if yes, then where and how. After preparing the file I used to discuss it with Sir.

Another work that I frequently did along with the aforementioned was to research on various sections of CrPC and IPC.

Being a second year law student, I did not have much idea about it and hence I was always full of doubts.

However, I would like to mention, that none of my doubts or queries ever went unanswered. Sir would always find time to answer all my questions and remove the tiniest doubt that I had.

Work here also included reading important judgments or pronouncements by different Courts.

This helped me majorly in improving legal articulation and also gave me an insight into the amount of thought that goes into judgment writing.

Environment

Everyone including the staff and the co-interns are extremely friendly, helpful and co-operative.

They extend help in all possible ways. I would like to make a special mention about the Library staff with their warm smiles- they were always ready to help me find books that I required while researching.

If you are a foodie, there is a lawyers’ canteen in the Court campus itself, which serves decently tasty food which is very inexpensive (I loved their tea and their Masala Dosa 😛 ).

Best things

Despite Sir’s busy schedule, he always had time to read through my research and listen to what I had to say.

Not only this, Sir also gives equal importance to the opinion of the intern regarding a particular matter and hears it entirely.

Furthermore, his conduct and promptness during the proceedings of the Court and otherwise, is spell binding.

The way Sir dictates the judgments, reflects his clarity of thought and in-depth knowledge of the law.

The best thing about this internship was the amount of time that Hon’ble Justice Mehta spared for addressing the problems and complexities that I came across while researching.

He always had time to read through my research and listen to what I had to say. Not only this, Sir also gives equal importance to the opinion of the intern regarding a particular matter and hears it entirely.

Furthermore, his conduct and promptness during the proceedings of the Court and otherwise, is spell bounding. The way Sir dictates the judgments, reflects his clarity of thought and in-depth knowledge of the law

Bad things

None as such.

Stipend

None

Biggest Lessons

The internship aided me in enhancing my knowledge of law.

It also helped me in improving my legal drafting and articulation skills.