Conversations with multiple law students from Mumbai and Delhi revealed the extent to which they are overworked and underpaid. A prominent Tier 2 litigation firm in Mumbai pays interns just ₹1,500 per month. Their working hours are 10 AM to 8:30 PM, for six days a week, and they often get called to the office on Sundays too. A litigation firm in South West Delhi recently posted a full-time job opening on LinkedIn for a junior advocate. The working hours were 9 AM-6 PM and the salary mentioned in the post was ₹5,000 per month.
A 2020 survey conducted by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, a legal think tank, revealed that over 79 per cent of lawyers across 7 High Courts believe that junior advocates with less than two years of experience earn less than ₹10,000 a month. Welfare funds set up by the Central and State governments under the Advocates Welfare Fund Act, 2001, remain defunct in many states.
An overwhelming 92 per cent of advocates practicing in the Delhi High Court were not aware of anyone who had received financial assistance from the fund. The situation was no better in Gujarat and Madras, with 75 per cent and 66 per cent of the advocates in those High Courts respectively denying knowledge of any beneficiaries.
Source: Barandbench
