Legal Internships Do Not Amount To Active Legal Practice: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has recently observed that legal internships undertaken as law students do not amount to “active legal practice” after being enrolled as an advocate.

“Internships undertaken as part of legal education, though valuable in providing practical exposure, do not satisfy the professional experience requirement for practicing law,” Justice Sanjeev Narula observed.

The Court made the observations while dismissing a plea by a lawyer, Ujwal Ghai, seeking inclusion of his name in the list of shortlisted candidates for an upcoming interview for empanelment of the “Jail Visiting Panel”.

Ghai enrolled as an Advocate on August 13, 2021. In June, the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee issued a notice inviting online applications for empanelment of Advocates and Mediators for different panels. submitted an online application for empanelment in the “Jail Visiting Panel”. However, his name was not included in the shortlist of candidates published by DHCLSC on September 24.

Upon oral inquiries, he found that his application might have been rejected due to not meeting the minimum experience requirement of three years of legal practice as of May 31, the cut-off date.

Ghai submitted that he had actively interned during his law school with various lawyers over a substantial period of time and thus, his internship experience should be included for fulfilment of the eligibility criteria of 3 years which would make him eligible for participating in the interview process.

Justice Narula rejected Ghai's contention of equating the terms “internship” and “apprenticeship” which suggested that the internship experience gained before being formally enrolled as an Advocate should be treated as equivalent to an apprenticeship under legal terminology.

Observing that the interpretation overlooked a critical distinction, the Court said:

“The period of “internship” as a student does not amount to the active legal practice contemplated under the eligibility criteria, and as such, cannot be counted towards the three-year experience required for empanelment.”

It noted that certain government bodies also engage services of law graduates as apprentices in their legal departments for a stipulated time, however, such opportunities are available for people who have graduated with a LLB degree.

“Therefore, to equate a law student's internship with post-enrolment practice would blur the distinction between academic training and professional legal experience, thereby undermining the clear intent of the eligibility requirement. Hence, the Petitioner's practice must be calculated from the date of his enrolment with the Bar Council, not from any internship period during his legal studies,” the Court said while dismissing the plea.

Title: UJWAL GHAI v. DELHI HIGH COURT LEGAL SERVICES COMMITTEE (DHCLSC)

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 1118

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