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Internship Experience at Dua Associates: Deep Understanding of Arbitration

Name of the Student

Yashvardhan Ghosh

College and Year of Study

Institute of Law, Nirma University, B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) | 3rd year

Name and Address of the Organization

Dua Associates, Palani Centre, 32, Venkatanarayana Road, T. Nagar, Chennai-600 017

Duration of Internship

1 June 2022 to 1 August 2022; 8 weeks

How did you Apply?

I sent my CV and cover letter to jayaraman[at]duaassociates.com

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First-Day Formalities, Infrastructure, First Impression

On the first day, you will be expected to carry a few passport-size photos, your covid vaccination certificate along with your college ID card. You will be given a form to fill out along with a worksheet wherein you will have to track all the tasks assigned and get them signed by the partner or associate who has assigned the task.

The Chennai office of Dua Associates is humble, and one might find it congested as the office like any law office is crammed with files. The office is located in the heart of old Chennai and therefore it is situated in a relatively old building, and not a hi-fi commercial complex. Even though the office may seem outdated at first, everyone working there has made perfect use of the space.

I would suggest one not get too carried away by the infrastructure of the office as you will be working with one of the finest legal minds in the country. On my first day, I was a little overwhelmed seeing the stack of documents, but the firm is closely knit and everyone will be eager to host you as an intern which eased up things for me greatly.

Main Tasks

Dua Chennai only has disputes and a real estate team. I was interning with the disputes team. The firm deals with mostly commercial litigation and arbitration matters. The majority of the clients are big infrastructure companies and therefore a lot of high-level infrastructure contractual matters are dealt with by the firm.

I was given a wide variety of tasks, however, research work is the most predominant. I was asked to peruse various documents like SODs and SOCs in arbitration, construction agreements, etc. The firm also deals with IPR, and IBC-related cases so apart from arbitration, I was also asked to research these areas.

Drafting work is given to interns, however, I was asked to draft an evidence affidavit in a trademark registration case and an application for withdrawal of a civil suit. Throughout the internship, I had regular visits to the Madras High Court, the City Civil Courts, and sometimes even the NCLT. I also got to witness an arbitration proceeding for a construction arbitration dispute.

Work Environment

Dua Associates, Chennai prides itself on an extremely friendly and supportive environment. The office has an open-door policy, so even an intern can directly approach the partner or even the principal associates for work and guidance. On my very first day, I had a solid 20-minute conversation with my partner about the goals and expectations of the internship.

Everyone in the firm treats each other, even the intern with great respect, and always makes a genuine effort to ensure that the intern does not face any problems in carrying out their assigned task. There often is a crunch of work in the office and thus, In order for an intern to make the best out of this internship, they must show interest and zeal by consistently approaching everyone and taking on some work.

An intern sits in the library, which is a little secluded from the rest of the office, therefore, one really has to ensure that they make their presence felt and take on some work on their own. For every task, a very reasonable deadline is assigned. The workload is never excessive and on a usual day, the shift for an intern ends by 5:30 pm, barring a few exceptional circumstances.

Good things

The best thing about this internship is that there will be a bounty of learning if one truly makes the effort to learn. The work assigned will be practical and one can expect to gain a deep understanding of arbitration after this internship. Whilst at Dua Associates Chennai, remember- “Help will always be given to those who ask for it”.

Another great thing about this internship is that your shift will not constitute ungodly hours of work. You are expected to be at the firm by 10:30 and on most days you will be allowed to leave by 5 pm itself. There is no strict need to spend your entire day at the firm.

The associates are very approachable so in my pastime, I would often discuss my goals and college life with them, in the hope of some tips and insights.

Bad things

The books in the library were quite outdated.

Accommodation & Conveyance to Office 

I am a resident of Chennai so I managed to either travel by bus or the metro.

Stipend

No stipend is given to the interns.

Disclaimer: Internship Experiences are opinions shared by individual law students and tend to be personal and subjective in nature. The internship experiences shared on Lawctopus are NOT Lawctopus’ official views on the internship. We also do not edit internship experiences (except to ensure readability) to ensure that the intern’s voice remains intact.

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Source: Lawctopus

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