Litigation Internship Guide: How to Land a Seat With Top Advocates, Senior Advocates and Judges
A litigation internship is the one thing no law school placement cell can hand you on a plate. There is no portal to apply through, no HR team screening resumes, and no fixed hiring season. If you want to work with a courtroom lawyer or a sitting judge, you need to know exactly who to email, what they practice, and how to get their attention before your message disappears into a crowded inbox. This guide hands you that map: a curated list of Advocates, Advocates on Record, Senior Advocates and Judges’ offices that regularly take on interns, their practice areas, and the contact details you actually need.
Why a Litigation Internship Changes How You Think About Law
Nothing in a classroom prepares you for watching an argument collapse in real time because a judge asks one sharp question the lawyer did not see coming. That is what a litigation internship gives you: front row access to how the law actually gets tested, argued, and decided. You draft under pressure, you sit through hearings that run longer than expected, and you start to understand how a case really moves from a client’s complaint to a final order. For anyone eyeing a future as an Advocate, an Advocate on Record, or eventually a judge, this exposure is simply irreplaceable.
Advocates and Advocates on Record: Your Starting Point
Most Advocates on Record practice primarily before the Supreme Court, and this group covers everything from commercial disputes to criminal defence.
| Name | Practice Area | |
|---|---|---|
| Kunal Chatterji | officeofkunalchatterji@gmail.com | Mostly commercial, some public law too |
| Vrinda Bhandari | vrinda.bhandari@gmail.com | Heavy on criminal law, especially at the Delhi High Court, some private too |
| Prateek Chadha | prateekchadha@gmail.com | Public private law mix, plus some State work |
| Adit Pujari | aditspujari@gmail.com | Criminal, mostly Delhi High Court and District Courts |
| Fauzia Shakil | fauziashakil@gmail.com | Civil and criminal law |
| Abhinav Chandrachud | abhinav.chandrachud@gmail.com | Criminal law, Bombay High Court |
| Abhinav Sekhri | asekhri@llm18.law.harvard.edu | Criminal law, Delhi High Court |
| Anandh Venkataramani | anandh@rvramani.com | Private law: arbitration, IBC, competition, plus some public law |
| Talha Abdul Rahman | officeoftalha@gmail.com (applications via Google Form linked in his office email) | Public private law mix |
| Prashant Bhushan | prashantbhush@gmail.com | Mostly public law |
| Hemant Kumar | office2014.advhk@gmail.com | Delhi High Court and District Court, criminal plus civil and family law |
Senior Advocates: Where the Stakes (and the Learning) Get Bigger
A chamber run by a Senior Advocate usually handles the most closely watched matters in the country, which makes this tier of internship especially competitive and especially rewarding.
| Name | Practice Area | |
|---|---|---|
| Shyam Divan | shyamdivan@gmail.com | Public and private law, highly reputed practice |
| Rebecca John | rebeccajohnoffice@gmail.com | Mostly criminal law |
| Shadan Farasat | sfarasat@farasatlaw.com | Mostly public law, some arbitration |
| Ritin Rai | ritin@rrai.in | Private law, mostly Delhi High Court and other forums |
| Saurabh Kirpal | saurabhkirpal@gmail.com | Private law at the Delhi High Court |
| Madhavi Divan | divanmail@gmail.com | Extensive public law, some arbitration |
| Rajshekhar Rao | rao.rajshekhar@gmail.com | Private law, mostly Delhi High Court |
| Gourab Banerji | gkbanerji@gmail.com | Domestic and international arbitration |
| Gaurav Pachnanda | gaurav@gauravpachnanda.com | Arbitration, plus IBC matters |
| Shashank Garg | office@shashankgarg.net | Arbitration, Delhi High Court practice |
| Prashanto Chandra Sen | pcsen@quadrantchambers.com | Arbitration and other commercial law |
| Arvind Datar | office@arvinddatar.com | Tax and constitutional law, Madras High Court and Supreme Court (typically only students with a tax background) |
| Gopal Sankaranarayanan | gsanks@gmail.com | Public law, environmental and constitutional matters, some IBC work |
| Nitya Ramakrishnan | nityarkrishnan@gmail.com | Criminal law, Delhi High Court and Supreme Court |
| Gaurav Agarwal | agrawal439@gmail.com | Civil, commercial and criminal, some constitutional work |
| Sanjiv Sen | sanjvsenoffice@gmail.com | IBC and other private law |
| J. Sai Deepak | internship@lawchambersofjsaideepak.com | IP law, some private law and constitutional matters |
| Siddharth Luthra | secretary@sluthra.in | Criminal law, some private law |
Judges’ Offices: A Front Row Seat to How Judgments Actually Get Written
Interning at a judge’s office is a completely different experience from working in a chamber. Here you watch how a judgment actually takes shape, and the subject matter usually follows whatever roster the judge is currently assigned.
| Name | Focus | |
|---|---|---|
| Purushaindra Kaurav | pshmjpkkaurav@gmail.com | Follows the Delhi High Court roster |
| KV Viswanathan | applications.hmjkvv@gmail.com | Follows the Supreme Court roster, a wide variety of matters |
| Joymalya Bagchi | officeofhmjbagchi@gmail.com | Follows the Supreme Court roster |
| JB Pardiwala | pstojbp@gmail.com | Follows the Supreme Court roster |
How to Actually Turn This List Into an Offer
A generic CV blasted to every email on this page will not get you anywhere. These inboxes fill up fast, so your application has to earn a second look. A few things that genuinely move the needle:
- Keep the email short. Two or three lines explaining why that specific practice area interests you is worth more than a long introduction.
- Attach a clean, one page CV along with a short writing sample if you have one, ideally connected to the lawyer’s area of practice.
- Mention your exact availability dates upfront so there is no back and forth before a decision can be made.
- Follow up once, politely, after about a week if you have not heard back. Inboxes here are genuinely busy, not ignoring you on purpose.
A litigation internship is competitive precisely because of how much it teaches you in such a short window. Pick two or three names from this list that match what excites you most, write a sharp, specific email, and be persistent about following up. The courtroom experience you walk away with could end up shaping the rest of your legal career.