Law Clerk - India

India

In India law graduates from the country's best law schools go through a competitive nomination and interview process to get accepted as law clerks. The Supreme Court of India and several High Courts of India offer paid law clerkships that are considered very prestigious. These clerkships usually last for one year and may be extended at the discretion of individual judges.

The Registry of the Supreme Court of India invites applications in January each year for 'law clerk-cum research assistant' positions. The selected applicants are then allocated to work under the sitting judges of the Supreme Court. Usually, one 'law clerk' is assigned to each judge for one year, though some justices are known to engage two or more law clerks at a time. The 'law clerks' usually begin their one-year service period in July each year, soon after the completion of the LL.B. degree, though there have been instances of 'law clerks' serving after having accumulated some work experience.

For the 2010-11 session each judicial clerk at the Supreme Court was paid Rs 25,000 a month, which may be increased further in the next year. In 2009-2010 each law clerk at the Supreme Court of India was being paid Rs. 20,000 per month.

In addition to this, students from law colleges all over the country are given the opportunity to act as 'legal trainees' under Supreme Court judges during their vacation periods. The institution of law clerks is still a recent development in the context of the Indian judiciary. Anecdotal references indicate that some justices are hesitant to rely on 'law clerks' on account of concerns with confidentiality, especially in politically sensitive disputes. However, their services are heavily relied on to go through the written submissions in order to prepare for the preliminary hearings that are held to decide whether a case should be admitted for a regular hearing on merits. In recent years, the contributions of law clerks to research for judicial opinions has become increasingly evident on account of increasing references to foreign precedents and academic writings.