Introduction
When it comes to the judicial system of this country, the Supreme Court is not just the apex court but holds the revered status of being a temple of justice. This institution thus has the constitutional responsibility of ensuring that WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, live in a just society.
The idea of one day arguing before the Supreme Court is a dream for most law students when they enter law school. We often derive our inspiration from the excitement that beholds the decision-making process behind landmark judgments as old as the Keshvanand Bharti’s Case and as new as the Naz Foundation Judgment.
In this perspective, one must consider whether becoming a judge who dreams of entering the Supreme Court one day or serving as an Advocate-on-Record or a practising litigant are the only options through which one may contribute towards the functioning of this prestigious institution.
The answer to the above question is a resounding NO. The Supreme Court of India gives an opportunity to final year law students as well as fresh graduates to understand its workings by joining in as Judicial clerks cum Research Assistant to the serving judges of the Supreme Court.
This exciting opportunity does expose a student of law to a depth understanding of various matters that are argued before the Supreme Court within its Original, Writ and Appellate jurisdictions by undertaking the following responsibilities:
- Maintaining the libraries of judges by updating appropriate documents
- Attending sessions of Courts to record the necessary information
- Drafting or proofreading judicial opinions, decisions, or citations.
- Participate in conferences between judges and attorney
- Prepare briefs, statements of issues involved in cases.
- Research laws, court decisions, documents, opinions, briefs, or other information related to cases.
Thus, the role of a Law Clerk cum Research Assistant is multifaceted and equips an individual not only with tremendous amounts of research, reading, writing and analytical skills, but also gives an opportunity towards bringing in an effective change in this country by contributing to the judicial wing. Not only this, but the opportunity also adds an extra star to your CV and work experience, particularly if you wish to become a judge in the subordinate judiciary, join a policy think tank for higher research or simply ace litigation.
Career opportunity after pursuing the short-term clerkship
- Prepare for Judiciary/ UPSC and other competitive exams (law) after having a close vision of the workings of the apex Court.
- Pursue a career in litigation with a good amount of experience and acquaintances in the Supreme Court of India
- Become an Advocate-on-Record after getting exposure to a pool of practical knowledge and day-to-day workings of the Court.
- Pursue higher research/ higher studies with a good educational institution within India or abroad.
Before getting into the strategies required for preparing for this exam, let’s figure out whether you fit in the eligibility criteria of this exam or not:
Eligibility Criteria
- The candidate must be a law graduate (as on the date of appearing at interview) having a Bachelor Degree in Law (including Integrated Degree Course in Law) from any School/College/University/Institution established by law in India and recognized by the Bar Council of India for enrolment as an Advocate.
- Candidates studying in the fifth year of the Five-Year Integrated Law Course will also be eligible to apply subject to furnishing proof of acquiring Law qualification at the time of interview/before taking up the assignment as Law Clerk-cum-Research Assistant.
- The candidate must have knowledge of computers including retrieval of desired information from various search engines/processes such as Manupatra, SCC Online, LexisNexis, Westlaw etc.
Age And Nationality
- A candidate must not be below the age of 18 years and above 27 years as of the last date of receipt of applications.
- He must be a citizen of India.
Disqualification
- A candidate must not be a practising advocate nor engaged/appointed elsewhere on an honorarium/payment basis.
- A candidate should not have been involved in any criminal case, whether convicted or against whom the criminal trial is pending. A declaration on this behalf shall be made by the candidate.
Character
The candidate must have absolute integrity, honesty and good moral character, for which he/she will submit the certificate of two responsible persons.
Syllabus
There are two stages of the selection process:
- Written Test
- Interview
Written Test:
On the basis of the marks secured by a candidate in the test, a merit list is drawn, and candidates are shortlisted for an interview (the number of candidates shortlisted for the interview is three times the number of available positions).
The written test is conducted in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. The applicants are required to choose their Test Centre at which they want to appear while filling the online form.
The test comprises 150 questions. There is one mark for a correct answer and a minus 0.25 for every incorrect answer.
Minimum qualifying marks for the Test are 60% in aggregate, with minimum of 50% marks for each of the two Sections.
The two sections are:
- General Section and
- Legal section (not necessarily named as such)
Section I is of 50 marks, and tests questions on:
- General English
- General Awareness
Section II is of 100 marks, with questions on:
- Indian Constitution
- Indian Penal Code
- Indian Evidence Act
- Civil Procedure Code
- Criminal Procedure Code
A Walkthrough of LawSikho’s Booster Course
LawSikho has come up with a course to crack the Supreme Court Clerkship exam to not only make you ace the stage written test, but also the interview stage (the latter may be available at a base top-up of Rs. 1500). The Course exhaustively covers all the subjects in the written test with a plethora of Supreme Court judgments through recorded lectures by experts on various topics and an exhaustive question bank in the form of multiple-choice questions, along with doubt clearing support as and when required. Check the table below:
Course Structure
Each student who will enrol for this course will get access to these many materials on each module as mentioned below:
1. General Awareness, Static General Knowledge And Language
2. Law Section:
Who should take this course?
- A law student who thinks he is lacking practical exposure to the workings of the Court.
- A fresh law graduate willing to become a judge and wishes to have a glance at the ground reality.
- Any candidate who wants to excel in litigation and bridge a gap between his law school knowledge and his practising career.
- A candidate who has a little exposure to the kind of questions tested in the exam and requires grooming towards the interview for the exam
What is unique about the course?
- Time & Cost-effective: An independent course to crack the said exam has never been offered which would definitely save your time and prove pocket friendly.
- Top-notch content: Exhaustive recorded content, topic wise quizzes and assignments will be provided to the students so that they don’t have to purchase any other book or material after taking this course.
- Explanation of concepts through video recordings: To have a better hold on every concept, recorded lectures by experts of an exhaustive list of topics for each subject is provided.
- Special tools to make learning faster and easier: Flow charts, Videos, Mind Maps, Infographics, animations, and much more. All the unique techniques which help in learning things in a faster and better way will be part of our course.
- Doubts resolution through dashboard: Online doubts resolution is provided through a dashboard where one can post their doubts and expect their answers within the next 24 hours.
- Practical insights: Practical approach towards various concepts will be provided to help you to write the best solutions to the questions asked in the exams and interviews.
- MCQs: A bank of MCQs will be provided so that you can practice and play with them as much as you can for your preparation.
- Interview support: A student of this course has the opportunity to grab the benefits even at the second stage to be interview ready by renewing the course at a minimum charge.
- Self-paced: You can use the reference material provided by us and prepare at your own speed.
- Solutions to queries through various platforms: You can ask your queries to our mentors, experts, evaluators and support team on various platforms like our Learning management system (LMS), WhatsApp groups, emails, calls, live sessions, problem-solving sessions, and if required personal sessions through video conferencing.
- Special webinars: Special webinars for sharing insights to crack various competitive exams (law), tricks, myth-buster sessions, the experience of experts, toppers talk, State-specific exam strategies, and much more will be discussed at frequent intervals.
Training Methodology
Online 24/7 access
Access to basic study material through an online learning management system, Android and iOS app
Practical Exercises
2 practical exercises every week, followed by written feedback
Certification
This course is recognized by the National Skill Development Corporation, a PPP under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of the Government of India. You will receive a certificate cobranded by NSDC and Skill India on successful completion.
Below is how the certificate from LawSikho will look:
This is how the certificate from NSDC and Skill India will look as per the current applicable format (may change as per the approval authorities):
Money Back Policy
Candidates enrolled for this course will be eligible for a money back policy provided that one should complete 25% of the course within 1 month from the date of their enrollment.
Here are some of our faculty members
Note: This is an indicative list of our guest faculty members and not an exhaustive list. We may change the faculty members at any point based on availability.
Course Plan
Above prices are inclusive of all applicable taxes and charges.
Individual strategies and focus areas to crack exams
Get digital access to entire study material
Access on LMS, Android or iOS app
Doubt clearing on WhatsApp, LMS & in classes
Doubt clearing within 24 hours
Guidance for legal practice development
Interview preparation guidance
Access to updated content online for 6 months
FAQs
We recommend that you should have completed your Higher Secondary / Class XII from a recognized Board / University. In the case of foreign nationals, you should have completed the equivalent of Higher Secondary in India in your respective country. You should also be comfortable with the English language and using a computer. However, we have no formal pre-qualification requirements because we are not a University or college. Anyone who wants to learn is welcome to join our courses.
Students of LawSikho will be provided hard copy materials, we will dispatch it within 45 days of your course commencement date.
However, online classes, videos, regulatory updates and periodic upgrades to the courses cannot be included in the hard copies. We will provide you with hard copy material for all important chapters. We keep adding many new chapters from time to time and there are restrictions on page numbers so all online material cannot be available in hard copy. We would keep adding new material online from time to time, so please do not expect all such material to be made available in the hard copy also. You can use the hard copy materials for your reference, however, we recommend that you do not exclusively rely on hard copies for cracking the assessment test and the exercises. Please refer to the online library of materials from time to time.
Note: We will send hard copy material through our service partners. We have three service partners.
1. Indian Speed Post (Provides delivery ‘anywhere in India’ under contractual service)
2. Delhivery
3. Trackon Couriers Pvt Limited
If our service partners do not have a presence in your area and want to get the hard copy, you can send us a specific request.
LawSikho will not be responsible if the speed post bounces back or hard copy material is not delivered. We will levy the courier charge on you in such a scenario.
Please visit the respective course page to learn more about the hard copy study material policy of that course.
If international students require hard copy material, they need to share their correct address and we will let them know the cost of the courier which they need to pay and then the hard copy will be dispatched. This is the process because the cost of an international courier is very high compared to the domestic courier within India (for domestic courier we have no additional charges). Some international students provide us with an Indian address for couriering hard copy material. In those cases, we charge nothing extra for the courier.
A person can visit the official website of LawSikho and find the relevant course and see the course syllabus, learning objectives and even a list of weekly exercises. You can also subscribe for free sample material. If more clarification about the course is needed, feel free to chat with our online chat specialist. You could also call us on our landline number, +91 11 40845203 for further assistance.
We do not offer any demo classes. You will not understand the course's quality by attending a single class as the results we produce is done through a combination of many things - study material, assignments, personal feedback on assignments, and then finally, class. The only way to experience the course is to take the course for a month, risk-free, as we give no questions asked and refund between the 30th and 45th day provided you attend all classes and solve all the assignments.
The refund policy may vary. We advise you to go through the refund policy given on the respective course page to know the actual refund policy applied to you.