Name of the Student, College and Year of Study
Mr. Harshavardhan Kshirsagar, Pravin Gandhi College of Law, Penultimate year BLS-LLB.
Name of the Judge, City and State
The Hon’ble Justice Shahrukh Jimi Kathawalla, Bombay High Court, Mumbai- 400023.
Duration of Internship
26th October 2021 to 30th November 2021.
How to Apply?
As aspiring law students who intend on absorbing opportunities of marvellous learning & unprecedented experience. If you are a first- generation lawyer there always exists an propriety of nervousness.
There exists no particular procedure to apply. The procedure is to come to Bombay High Court with a copy of your CV or in case you forgot to carry a hard copy then there are many xerox shops for xeroxing your CV within 20 steps of all the gates. In case if you remember after entering the court premises, there is one right outside court room 18.
After that you just need to enquire for his chamber & drop your CV at his chambers and they will ask you to wait. Justice Kathawalla will call you inside for your interview & if selected he will either ask you to join on a particular date or else he will ask you “ from which date would you like to join from?”
Its ensured that if sir is busy he would ask you to come on a date or week he tells you to and then take your interview. On an average estimation you need to wait either for 30 mins or 3 hrs for sir to interview you, depends upon his schedule.
First-day Formalities
The bench of the court sits at 10:30 am and we are expected to be present in the court around 10:00 am. The bench sits for 3 hours in the morning & 2 hours in the afternoon. During both of these sessions we are supposed to listen to all the cases & arguments made by counsels and note down our doubts.
After the afternoon session is over, we are allotted case briefs for the next day. We are expected to do 2-3 briefs per day, prior to meeting him. Around dinner time J. Kathawalla calls all his interns to his chambers for solving our doubts with respect to the cases & arguments that took place on the same day & brief him for the cases next day.
Please note that he is very particular when it comes to briefing him. You are expected to be prepared thoroughly & know the case details perfectly.
Main Tasks
There were large variety of cases from original & appellate of both civil & criminal cases especially during J. Kathawalla’s last Diwali vacation bench.
After the vacation bench was over, regular court started. During the regular court, there were matters generally from appellate side with respect to all types of civil cases.
The day-to-day tasks as an intern in the chambers of J. Kathawalla is to attend court hearings regularly, studying the briefs for next day & ask our doubts with respect to cases of the following day.
Good Things (Pros)
Apart from working on a large variety of cases, we get to attend in- chamber matters & discussions which are generally serious and, on some days, very humorous incidents take place.
J. Kathawalla ensures that he takes time for his interns at the end of the day for interacting with them. As serious he might look in court, he is a very generous gentleman in his chambers.
Apart from this, on some days other judges also come to his chambers & if you are lucky enough you get the chance for interacting with them as well.
As he is a very senior Judge, we have had the opportunity to see some of the best know names in the legal industry argue in front of him on very complex questions of law.
Bad Things (Cons)
There are no cons of interning under the knowledgeable exposure of J. Kathawalla. It is recommended to be like a sponge & absorb as much as you can.
As I’ve mentioned it was J. Kathawalla’s last vacation bench, he had a lot of matters per day some times even 60-70 cases per day. He is known for his dedication, which was reflected when he sat for hours in the court without lunch breaks.
I remember it was my fourth day and our whole batch of interns had lunch at 6:00 pm, as J.Kathawalla didn’t take any lunch break but eventually we got used to it and shouldn’t be a matter of question for you.
Stipend
No Stipend. However you learn a lot apart from law, like hard work, dedication & one to one interaction with him as a student is way more then any monetary compensation.
Office Timings
The official timings were 10: 30 am to 05:00 pm, but we used to leave court between 9:00- 10:00 pm. On some days after the official court hours, we had fixed matters which could go for hours, so there is no such specific time when you leave. We once left at 10:30 pm.
Accommodation and Commuting
I live in Bombay so I didn’t need to arrange for accommodation. But PGs around the Bombay High Court vicinity are in large numbers suiting your budget and requirement.
Personal Opinion
It was an all-round enriching experience. I acquired a lot of knowledge within a span of one month that I couldn’t acquire in the initial years of my college. It comes at an expense of “No personal Life” till the time you are interning in his chambers, which completely dedicates you to the subject.
He is a very generous man. During our interactions with him, he used to tell us stories of his practice, used to crack jokes, and most important of all used to guide us through the cases.
It was a blissful experience and I suggest everyone to try and acquire the opportunity if given. I wish you all luck.
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