Internship Experience @ Keystone Partners, Advocates & Solicitors, Mumbai: Litigation Law, Research Work, Hectic Environment

Name, College, year

Shivani Chimnani, Fifth Year of the Five Year Law Course, Government Law College, Mumbai.

Organisation and Address

Keystone Partners, Advocates & Solicitors, Mumbai, Office Nos. 311-312, 3rd Floor, Hari Chambers, 58/64 Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001.

The firm is headed by Ms. Sita Kapadia, a first-generation lawyer who is a qualified solicitor having over 15 years of experience practising in various courts in Mumbai.

Ms. Kapadia maintains strict discipline in the firm while at the same time giving her juniors utmost autonomy to handle high-profile and complex matters. Her juniors regularly appear in courts arguing small to mid-sized matters.

Duration of Internship

1 month

Application Process

I sent my CV along with my preferred period of internship in an email to mumbai[at]keystone.law.

First Day Formalities

There are no formalities. The interns are directly allotted work as they enter.

Main Tasks

The work entails equal parts grunt work and brain work like all attorney work including inter alia research, drafting, attending counsel briefings and court proceedings.

Interns have the freedom to go up to the associates and ask to assist on specific matters or do certain specific tasks based on their strengths.

Good Things

If an intern appears competent and committed, he/she will be swamped with amazing work.

It is a very egalitarian workspace where open and direct communication along with intellectual humility is most appreciated.

Occasional threats of violence are exchanged between persons with one saying “I’ll beat you” to the other, but these threats never materialize.

Bad Things

Since it’s a growing firm, there is a lot of work which might seem hectic for some. There is zero scope for slacking.

Stipend

None

Concluding Remarks

The firm epitomizes female leadership which is a rarity in the Bombay litigation space.

Since in Bombay, there is a strong divide between counsel practice and firm-litigation, Keystone is one of the few firms which makes genuine efforts to bridge that divide.

Keystone provides a holistic firm-litigation experience.

Point to Remember: There is a cat in the firm so those allergic must avoid applying.