Internship Experience under Hon’ble Justice K.M. Joseph, Supreme Court: Great Insights into Litigation at the SC

Name of the intern

Kiran Antony

Name of your college

Government Law College, Ernakulam

Name of the course and year of study

B.A LL. B | 5th year

Name and address of the organisation

Supreme Court of India – Hon’ble Justice K.M. Joseph

Duration of internship

From: 15/04/2019 Till: 11/05/2019

How did you apply for the internship?

Through acquaintances.

First day formalities, infrastructure, first impression

There were two of my classmates for this internship. Prior to the internship, we had to meet with Hon’ble Justice KM Joseph at his residence for ID verification.

Hon’ble Justice KM Joseph gave me the impression that he is really down-to-earth and was quite honest and nice to us. It was quite easy to communicate with him, and he assured us that the internship would be worthwhile.

He also encouraged us to work hard in order to achieve our ambitions. On the first day of the internship we were directed to obtain a pass because we were interning under Hon’ble Justice KM Joseph.

Mr. Saket, his then-Judicial Clerk, assisted us in obtaining the pass. We were frisked every day at the Supreme Court of India, as it is quite guarded.

We were led to courtroom no. 12 where Justice KM Joseph and his bench, Justice Ashok Bhushan, presided.

We were expected to sit in the first row with the Judicial Law clerk. We watched the hearings and took note of the top lawyers’ argumentation skills because we were unfamiliar with the ongoing cases.

After the sitting, Mr. Saket accompanied us to show us the library which were reserved for the judges.

The Supreme Court of India is indeed very big with a lot of courtrooms and is extremely prestigious.

After the Court sitting we went to the His Lordship’s residence at Motilal Nehru Marg. There we were assigned tasks to brief the cases which were to be decided the next day.

Main Tasks

The cases that needed to be briefed ranged from tax issues to murder investigations.

We were able to follow the cases after the first day because we had briefed the instances for the next day and were familiar with them.

We were fortunate enough to hear the judgement in the Rafale case.

His Lordship was gracious and patient in explaining the terms of several laws and providing us with study materials on euthanasia.

He explained each and every concept and ensured that we understood thoroughly.

Work Environment

The work environment was fast paced but very comfortable. It was made sure that we did not experience any kind of discomfort.

Timing given to us were from 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. from Monday to Saturday. The dress code was black and white formals along with a blazer.

Good Things

We were able to observe and witness some of the proceedings presented by prominent advocates such as Kapil Sibbal, Mahesh Ram Jethmalani, Mukul Rohtagi, Pinky Anand, Abhishek Singhvi, Aishwarya Bhatia, and others.

During the internship, we also had the opportunity to interact with the lawyers. We were fortunate enough to witness the Meghalaya coal mining case, the Bengal BJP election candidate dispute, and other events during this internship.

We received a lot of knowledge about cases from various fields of study as a result of this internship. We also learned that being straightforward and humble will lead you to this point.

Bad Things

I cannot pinpoint as such at any bad things about the internship.

Since I am coming from Kerala, there was a bit of a language barrier while communicating with the court officers as they spoke in Hindi and not in English.

Stipend

No stipend

Details about accommodation and commute

We stayed with a friend in Sukhdev Vihar and commuted to the Supreme Court of India via Metro, which took around 15 minutes.

Anything else?

It was both a trip and an internship because Delhi is a happening location with bars, pubs, shopping, monuments, and so on.

This was, without a doubt, one of the best internships I’ve ever had.

Certificate