'Exposure does not pay the rent'

Unpaid 'donkey work, lack of opportunities or guidance, quiet sexism tarnish the early careers of young lawyers - unless they have family connections

- K Nitika Shivani

Ridha Joshi arrived early at the Patiala House Courts complex, her case file tucked under her arm. It was her first case since enrolling as an advocate, and she had spent the night before preparing, reading through the brief again and again.

Before the case could be called, a senior male lawyer approached her, she said. He looked through the papers and told her she was not experienced enough to argue the matter. The brief was taken from her and handed to someone else.

"There was no discussion," Joshi recalled of the 2021 case. "No one asked what I had prepared or whether I was ready. I was just told I did not have experience. Once that is said, you have no space to speak."

She stayed in the courtroom as the case went on without her. "I was holding the same file I had worked on," she said. "That is when you really start asking how anyone becomes experienced if the first chance is taken away." Hundreds of new law graduates ask themselves the same question.

Junior advocates working on cases in lower courts across the country Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh struggle for opportunities to prove themselves. They are asked for experience but rarely given the chance to build it. The legal aid system gives them a platform but leaves them to navigate it without any guidance. Women lawyers are worse off. Young law graduates describe the transition from law school to legal practice as shaped by hierarchy, unpaid work and limited access to real cases.

Experience sans opportunities

In Bengaluru's City Civil Court, Dhrithi Kulnal, a recent graduate trying to enter litigation, said unpaid internships have become unavoidable. "You sit in court the whole day, draft applications, go to the registry, do everything you are asked to basically donkey work," she said. "But there is no salary and no clarity on whether you will ever be allowed to argue."