Junior lawyers, interns hit by arbitrary salary structure

Junior lawyers in Tiruchi district are struggling to make ends meet as most employers (senior lawyers or law firms) are unwilling to pay them a regular salary, despite it being made mandatory by order of the Madras High Court in 2024.

According to the court order, any established lawyer engaging a junior for performance of professional duties must pay a minimum monthly stipend of ₹20,000 in Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore and a minimum of ₹15,000 in other parts of Tamil Nadu as well as Puducherry.

“Since the stipend has been mandated by law, ideally, it should be paid. But there are practical difficulties because the income from legal practice is not standard, especially in smaller cities like Tiruchi. Many fresh graduates, especially after the pandemic, have started practising on their own rather than working for senior lawyers because of this,” S. Balasubramanian, president, Tiruchi Bar Association, told The Hindu.

Approximately 300 fresh law graduates have joined the field in Tiruchi district in the past two years, said Mr. Balasubramanian. “We have over 1,000 registered advocates in the association, of whom at least 500 are in full-fledged practice. Besides juniors and interns, lawyers have to employ clerical staff, so the cost of running an office can be as high as ₹50,000 per month.”

A postgraduate student of Law based in Tiruchi, who did not want to be identified, claimed that junior lawyers were treated more like office assistants, and hardly got paid for their work. “Interns also do not get paid because the training is supposed to be a ‘gift of knowledge.’ Law courses tend to focus on theory more than workplace reality,” he said.

The student took up five self-funded internships over the course of his study.

A Tiruchi-based student, who worked at a financial securities law firm in Mumbai in December 2024 for a salary of ₹7,500, said the amount did not help to cover his living costs. “I had to attend court, draft letters and research case backgrounds, besides doing other tasks for the firm, but on my own expense.”