In a first, Desi Kaanoon brings to you the experience of students who are making it big during their lives at law schools. One such student is Ms. Avni Agarwal, a penultimate year student of LL.B.(Hons.) at Amity Law School, Noida.
Q. How would you describe yourself as a law student?
A. Engineering turned Law student, I identify myself as an Epistemophile who loves to listen, write, create and speak her mind. Vide my previous work experiences; I have developed a primary interest in General Corporate Laws, M&A, Commercial Arbitration, Negotiation, and Real Estate. Always eager to learn and develop new skills, you can mostly find me working ‘Out of the Box Ideas’ and research. Besides Academics, I am passionate about philanthropy and luckily I got many opportunities to practice the same at both college and personal levels. As the Convener of my College’s Legal Aid Society which has been doing a humble work of spreading Legal Awareness among villages and local areas around my college, I got to exercise my passion for Quality Education by going to numerous schools and villages to make the parents and their children aware of their right to education and how they can exercise the same as the citizen of India. I also love teaching and in the past, I have taught underprivileged children residing in the Itki village of Jharkhand on the e-Vidyaloka platform via Skype. I am currently associated with Bhumi NGO in the capacity of a volunteer Mathematics teacher. When I am not lawyering, you can find me immersed in movie critiquing, playing chess, and composing short stories.
Q. You have had a significant association with NGOs as a Volunteer. Given that you are studying law, how beneficial has the experience been for you?
A. Personal reason to work with NGOs has been my increased interest in philanthropy. I believe that as a citizen and as a human being, giving back to our society is our primary duty. Thus my association with NGOs has not only made me more empathetic towards impending issues of our society but has also made me realise how CSR or better Corporate Social Responsibility plays an important role for giant MNCs. If one is looking from the point of view of a resume, then YES! Significant experience in social work helps you stand out as a candidate when you are applying abroad for higher study programs. In fact Law Firms abroad like the ones part of Magic Circle and Silver Circle will definitely look into as to in what way you have contributed towards the society. Even in India, few firms like Nishith Desai and Associates ask for your social responsibility role. Apart from making your CV look good, I would like to encourage all the readers that regardless of your profession, do make some contribution towards the society, doesn’t matter how big or small but for those who are needy, even your smallest of efforts could create a big difference in their lives.
Q. Before interning under law firms, you might have under-went an interview process. Can you guide our readers on how to ace an interview?
• there is no one single rule to ace an interview and honestly, it depends on several situations; however based on my limited experience, what I can quote as a golden rule to clear any interview is to know the answers to the following:
• Learn to introduce yourself in a matter of 30 Seconds which makes an impact. Apart from just highlighting your college and your grades, highlight your extracurricular activities, any leadership position you held, anything different you did and so on (It’s even better if it’s related to the job profile). The idea is to give the recruiter something to deliberate upon and give them a reason to hire you for the internship/Job;
• What particular thing about the Firm/Company made you apply i.e. whether it is the subject matter of the cases or so? The idea is to be specific and not sound vague;
• You should be thorough with the subject matter you have shown interest in. Now to ace that you need to do a lot self-study and be up to date in terms of current affairs and any recent development concerning that particular subject matter. So, for instance, I have interest in mergers and acquisitions, then I can display my interest and knowledge of the same by engaging the recruiter in a discussion on any particular aspect of that subject matter or my views and analysis on any recent merger;
• You should know your CV inside out. By that I mean you should know about every thing you have mentioned on your resume. If need be, I would suggest revising what you learned during your previous internship;
Q. You have been conferred the “Rep of the Month Award‟ by the University of Bristol, the U.K. What were the skills that you acquired throughout?
A. During my one year stint in engineering at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom, I learned some of the most valuable life lessons and skills. From being a shy nerd back in school to getting the opportunity to represent my undergrad electrical engineering cohort at University Level was altogether an amazing and outstanding experience. Initially, the interested students were asked to stand in elections and nominate themselves for the post. Even to date, I don’t remember what got me to stand in that election but I did which was followed by convincing my colleagues around the Engineering Cohort to vote for me. I remember drafting colorful emails, Facebook posts, and whatnot. After being appointed as the Cohort Representative, I was required to make timely reports on the academic structure of our electrical engineering batch along with changes to the subjects if any after consulting the subject representatives who used to be mostly post-grad students. My time as the Rep instilled in me some very exceptional leadership skills which I never knew that I had it in me along with time management. Moreover, as our batch consisted of students from around the world, the role allowed me to be exposed to multicultural surroundings as well as it made me think globally. And needless to say, I also got to polish my personality as an individual. I believe that it was this experience that truly taught me how to manage academics, diverse roles in various organizations and most importantly my health all together at the same time.
Q. While participating in moots, has there ever been a situation where a detail you thought to be unimportant turned out to be very important?
A. I am not the right person for this question, given the fact that I have only participated in two National Moots till now; One is the 6th Indraprastha National Moot Court Competition wherein I acted as researcher and the second was the 12th BR Sawhney National Moot Court Competition held at NALSAR Hyderabad wherein I acted as the First Advocate. It was during my second moot that I enjoyed the real essence of mooting. And when it comes to details, nothing is ‘unimportant’. Therefore where on one hand even a small detail can swipe the opposite team and lend you the winning streak, the same can make you lose some significant points in the eyes of the Judges. For instance, during my second moot, one of the issues was that of Maintainability of the suit. During the prelims, our team’s arguments had worked out wonders for us but who would have thought that the same would chuck us out in the quarters. So really it depends, therefore the most important skill which I believe is essential for mooting is that of thinking spontaneously.
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