Planning to make a career in Law?

OR
Did you just take admission into a Law College?

Then, surely this eBook is for you.

Many people think of a college, as just attending lectures.

But, college is not limited to that.
For a law student, you have to do a lot many things along
with your regular studies. Like participating in co-curricular
activities, becoming active in some club or society, getting
experience through internships, etc.

But, Why?

Because all those things mentioned above will help you to

grow & develop your personality. So that, you are ready to
step into the real legal world as soon as you complete you
law degree.

Now, after reading till here Lawyers may think that this
eBook is not for them...wait bro wait...It is also very helpful to
you too..!!

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I know what struggles you have to go through, especially for
young lawyers when you have just started and trying to
establish yourself in the field.

Below is a list of Topics covered in this eBook.

 Read
 Language
 Study Smarter Study better
 Exams
 Other Courses
 Co-curricular Activities
 Getting Experience while studying
 Everyone has a PLAN
 Your Resume
 Work-life tips
 Get what you want..!!

Especially the Last four chapters will be very helpful for

lawyers, who have just started or who are working from few
years.

If you follow all tips given in this book, you will surely get a
good start in your career.

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You may find some points very obvious and mundane, but
even if people know these points they either forget or ignore
to implement it.
So, I have explained everything step by step.

Because, not all students and lawyers get proper guidance.

Hey there…!!
My name is Prasanna Naidu, and this eBook is written by
me.

Even, I was not aware of most of the things when I entered

the Law College. And due to that I had to struggle a bit.
Later, I researched a lot, read books, asked others and
collected information.

Now, this book is written to give you that guidance. I am just

sharing all that information with you through this book as a
medium.

I would love to hear, whatever you would want to say, about

this eBook or about “Budding Lawyers”.
You can contact me anytime at
buddinglawyersindia@gmail.com.

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 READ

I understand, this is really tough if you are a non-reader.

Even, I was in your category only. It was a big thing when I
use to read textbook for the sake of clearing exams.
So, reading books other than textbooks, NO Chance bro…!!!

But, once it happened someone forced me to read some

book and I read it.
No, it wasn’t so easy...I took many months to complete that
100 pages book. But, after that I got interested more and
now it is like I don’t get enough time to read as many books I
want to read. And my booklist keeps on increasing.
Reading books helps you gain knowledge & also changes
your perception.

Please understand this, the author has spent many years or

sometimes also his/her whole life, researching on a
particular topic. And after that he has written a book on that
topic based on his experience and knowledge gained after
so long time.
You are getting so many years of experience, knowledge,
wisdom, information well compiled in a book. Which you can
read in a few hours or days, isn’t it amazing..??
That is the reason, you must start reading.
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And students looking for a career in law must seriously
concentrate on law books and inculcate the habit of reading
regularly.
Studying merely for degrees would only result in ineffective
handling of legal procedures.

A legal professional in any field, be it the courts, law firms,

MNC or a NGO has to read a lot.

Thus, this is the main habit which you have to incorporate in

yourself.
Read some books written by lawyers on some legal topics or
read some Biographies of well-known lawyers.
I recommend reading a book named “Roses in December” -
You can check out a short video on this book here.

And don’t just restrict yourself by reading books only related

to law. Explore other areas too, whichever you like. It may be
literature, fiction, business, science, art, technology,
philosophy, self-help books, anything. Reading these books
won’t be a waste of time, you will surely learn something.
Your future clients can belong to any field, so such extra
knowledge gained by you obviously will be helpful to you.

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Other essential skill which you need to acquire is “speed
reading”.
Reading takes time. Now that you have to read so much,
isn’t it better to increase the speed of your reading.
Books by Norman Lewis, Tony Buzan, Evelyn Wood are of a
great help in this regard. Even there are many channels on
YouTube, which help you to develop this skill.

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 LANGUAGE

Fluency in English is a must for this field. So, you must start
improving and building a strong command over the language
at an early stage.

You must also take efforts for building a good vocabulary &
improving grammar simultaneously with reading.

Some may argue Why? English??

English is a universal language as well as the official
language of this country. From all Government offices to
private sectors the language of communication is English.
In Supreme Court & most of the High Courts, the language
which is mainly used is English.

Yes, I agree that in lower courts and many government

departments all drafts, documents, etc. are prepared in Hindi
or in the State’s official language.
But, are you going to work only in the lower courts
throughout your life??
If the answer is YES, then it’s fine you don’t have to work on
your English.
But, if the answer is NO, then you have to start working on
your English.
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Apart from English, make sure that you are able to read &
write the State’s official language too. Especially if you are in
Litigation then knowing the State’s official language in which
you are practicing will be very beneficial.
Or at least be fluent in Hindi and/or one Indian official
language.
If you start working as a lawyer internationally, and if you
start getting more foreign clients, then go for some foreign
languages too.

The more you know, better it is for you.

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 STUDY Smarter STUDY better…!!

College life is going to be tough. Apart from studying for your

exams, you have to participate in many other activities also.
So, you have to prepare yourself accordingly.

No Minimum Attendance -----> Re-exam.

Don’t miss your lecture until there is some emergency or you
are genuinely ill. Maintain whatever percentage of
attendance your college prescribes, which is usually 75%. Or
else you may end up taking re-exams just because you don’t
have the minimum required attendance. And re-exams aren’t
going to benefit you in any way.

Come prepared to the class. Before entering the class, just

flip through the chapter your teacher is going to teach. By
prepared I'm not telling you to just read and come. By
prepared I’m telling you to also think actively about classes.
Create a habit to pack your bags a night before the class.
See to it that all the necessary books and other required
material are in the bag. Get your laptop and mobile fully
charged prior to going to class, and stuff like that.

If you find that you’re not able to remember all the things, an
easy solution is to create a reminder, such as:
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 1. A note by your door or on your desk
2. A recurring daily task in your to-do app
3. An alarm on your phone

Mere attending lectures for the sake of attendance will be

clear waste of time.

Have you joined a law school just for getting a degree?? Or

you really want to learn & understand law so that you
become a good lawyer??
Answer this Question!! It is really important.
If you really want to learn, then sit upfront & listen carefully.

Take Notes during the class. We more easily remember

things that we actively participate in. When it comes to
lecture-style classes, the best ways to be active are to speak
up in class discussions and to take lots of notes.

Take Notes Effectively. Simply writing down whatever your

professor is saying would be meaningless. Then, instead of
writing, you can just record it. But, that is not of any help.
Hence, take your notes in a particular format, which is easy
for you to understand and recollect.
1. Add bullet points. Make a hierarchical structure.

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 2. Add your own words. Have you tried memorizing
something word to word without much
understanding?
We all have and we know how hard it is. Instead
if we just understand and write it in our own
words then we are able to remember it very
easily. That’s why you must add your own words.
3. You can draw something or write it in your
mother tongue or some other language too... it is
fine. Your main focus here, is on understanding
well and noting those points in such a way that
whenever you read it... you will quickly remember
and understand the concept.

You may say that you don’t get enough time to do what I
said above. Then you can use some note-taking methods.

The Cornell Method was invented by Walter Pauk.

To take notes in the Cornell style, you divide your paper into
three sections:
1. The Cue column
2. The Note-taking column
3. The Summary column

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The Note-taking column just contains the notes you take
during class. You can write there anyhow you want. Notes
usually consist of the main ideas of the lecture and long
ideas are paraphrased. Long sentences are avoided and
symbols or abbreviations are used instead.
As you take your notes, you’ll use the Cue (Recall) column
to formulate relevant questions based on main ideas and
important details from the Note-taking column. Because
questions will be fresh in the student’s mind at this point.
Once class is over, you should immediately write a small
summary of what was presented in the Summary column.

Mind-Map method
Mind mapping is my favorite method for creating a kind of
design of connected ideas, and I find that creating mind
maps helps me to better organize ideas I want to write
about. They’re a great way to visualize a lot of information.
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To create a mind map, start with a single term in the middle
of your page. Then, start branching out from it by drawing
lines and writing down words that are connected to that main
idea.
Mind maps are very visual, so you should experiment with
using different colors, drawing pictures next to your terms,
and doing other things that help you understand and
remember the information more clearly.
There are plenty of apps that let you make mind maps on
your computer, my favorite one is ‘Coggle’. Because, it is a
free web app with good features.

Hand-write or App??
You can take notes directly by writing it in a book or
through an App on your mobile or laptop. But, studies show
that when you work with technology you work faster.
Two most used Apps for this are OneNote and
Evernote. I suggest you to use OneNote, as it is completely
free with really good features.
Through OneNote you can create a Notebook dedicated to
each subject. And inside that notebook you can make
sections and further add pages in those sections.
You can note whatever you want on those pages by typing
text or writing directly with your hand. You can also add

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images, videos and links on your page. Also highlight, mark
and comment if you want to.
To get a visual example, you can watch my video over here.
In this video I am explaining how lawyers can use the
features of this App, but you will surely get a glance of the
features and you can use it according to your needs.

Taking Notes can be hard. So, you have to build a habit for
doing it. Because, when you make notes you are less
distracted and you are able to focus and understand more.

By preparing notes by your own, you also reduce your

burden during your exams. As you already have good study
material for reference & understanding.
To make it a habit, you can do a couple of things -
1. Whenever you enter the classroom and your professor
comes, first thing you do is to take out all your note
making materials and be ready.
2. You can make a group with your classmates & share
notes with each other.
3. After reaching home, sort out all the notes and
organize it properly.

But, HOW to build a habit? We are very weak at it. We start

doing a thing and after few days return to the normal routine.

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But, just go through the life of any successful person in any
field. You will see that they have reached where they are
now because of really important habits they built at an early
stage.
So it is very important to build a habit. I understand you may
find it hard. So to overcome this, I would like to suggest you
a very good book - “The Power of Habit”. Do read it, and
changes will happen.

The Learning Pyramid

Now, some people may disagree with this learning pyramid.

But, I think you should decide what works for you in the best

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possible manner. I personally agree with the pyramid. Firstly
reading, listening then some activity & then teaching. Out of
which Teaching is the best method of learning and revising
what you already know. Because, teaching something
results in higher retention of that information in your brain.

Remember these steps below :-

First, just go through whatever was taught in the lecture
every day. No need to go in detail, just a quick revision.
Because, whatever was taught is fresh in your mind. So,
even just going through the notes will help you at this
moment.

Allot some time in a week for studying. And at that time read
and understand in detail.

You will be having a lot to read. You professor will tell you
many popular commentaries, good articles and stuff like that.
But it won’t be possible to read everything, especially if you
are active in your college committees, extra-curricular, and
handling your personal life at the same time.

So, select your reading material wisely. Ideally it must be

one reference book & your class notes, which would be
enough. While selecting the book don’t completely rely on

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the popularity. Sometimes, you won’t be able to understand
anything from the most popular book. So, just read few
pages of 2-3 reference books and then select that book
which helps you clearly understand the concept.

Even after minimizing the reading material, still you will be

having a lot to read. So, must develop a habit of speed
reading. There are many courses and books available online
through which you can learn speed reading.
But, for now I will just tell you one simple method through
which you can increase your reading speed by more than
50%.

Reading in chunks. We have a habit of reading word to

word. But, that is not necessary. You just have to read the
main words which appear after similar distance in the line
and skip other words. Our brain is so sophisticated, that it
gets the exact meaning even after skipping so many words.

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You can try it now by yourself and you will see the
difference.

If you read the book like you read the newspaper, it will take
more time and the process will bore you. Instead read it like
you are having a conversation with an intelligent friend.
When she talks, you listen with full attention. When she
pauses, you contribute your ideas and together generate
great conversation. This type of reading is called Active
reading.
Read actively,
1. Connect the book’s concepts to the real world.
2. Note down your doubts which arise while reading.
3. Pay more attention to words & phrases which are
bolded, italicized or are in lists, bullet points.
4. Mark & highlight important sentences. You can
underline or just make brackets. (Use a pencil or a
highlighter)
5. Make notes for some specific topics, which were not so
easy to understand from the book. You can use the
note making methods mentioned above to make these
notes.

You can also makes notes in the margin of that book. I use
to do this. Just write main keywords of the paragraph in the

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margin in such a manner where all keywords are connected
to each other. So, whenever I wanted to do a last minute
revision, at that time I will just go through the margin of the
book and I was able to remember everything.

After all that, resolve those doubts which came to your

mind while reading. Now, for resolving your doubts you don’t
have to go to your teacher every day.
First, re-read what you didn’t understand or read some other
books through which you can try to understand.
Then, search it on the internet, read blogs, watch videos, ask
your colleagues.

By doing all this, you very well might solve the problem
yourself, before you need to ask. Still if you didn’t get the
answer, only then go to your professor.

When you go for help, you should be able to show the

professor all that you do understand up to an exact point –
and even show what you understand afterwards.

By doing this, you show the professor that you’ve really

taken efforts to clear your doubt and solve the problem.
Doing this has some benefits:

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 1. You save the professor’s time and help them
understand the exact context of your query.
2. The professor knows that you actually are serious and
will have a much better impression of you.
Because, your professors are already burdened with other
things too and if you bother them very frequently then they
may not give proper attention to your questions. Also it may
become quite irritating.
So, “First you must try and then you must ask.”

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 EXAMS

Failing in exams will just put an additional burden of re-

examination on your busy schedule. Resulting in wastage of
time & increase in stress.
So take your exams seriously from day one, make a proper
timetable for your exams & follow it.

Studying daily for some time and/or weekly study time must
be there in your time table, no doubt about that. But, apart
from this you must make a separate plan for your exam
which you should start executing at least 30-50 days before.
Do not make any new commitments at least a month before
your Exams.

Eat healthy at least during the exam period. Now, don’t

make a list of what to eat and what not to eat. Just keep
some simple points in mind -
 Stop eating junk food.
 Avoid oily and packed food.
 Stay hydrated (water, coconut water, juices)
 Eat more fruits & salads.

Exercise..!! Exercising doesn’t mean you have to play with

iron bars 3 hours a day. Running is best. If not running, then

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go for a jog and then do some basic warm-up exercises or
yoga asana. Meditating for some time will be power booster.
Keep 10-15 minutes slots for each activity.
An hour for exercising is more than enough. You can extend
it according to your will and availability of time.

Sleep, your body needs rest too, so get enough sleep. At

least 6 hours a night. And once your exam starts, staying
awake whole nights is a bad idea. It affects your physical &
mental health a lot. So sleep for at least 4 hours before the
exam. Do some revision if you want. Have a light snack
(juices & fruits are best) before you enter the exam hall.

And during this whole period don’t just study, study &
study…!! Or else you may start looking like a zombie...lol
Keep some leisure time. It may be playing a game, running,
meditating, talking to a friend, watching a movie or shopping,
anything which helps you Relax.

If you plan & start studying for exams at least before 50

days, then there won’t be much last minute stress and
hassle.

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 Other Courses

There are many subjects in law to be studied. Everything is

not covered in your 3/5 year course syllabus. Those subjects
can be studied by reading books or enrolling in short
certificate courses which are offered offline as well as online
nowadays.

For classroom type offline courses, you must check your

college’s notice board or inquire with your professors and
friends.

For online courses, many websites provide such courses

related to Indian laws & practice. Some of them are MyLaw,
LawSikho, RostrumLegal, etc.

There are other websites, which do not offer courses

specifically related to Indian law. But, general topics like
Contracts, International law, Criminal law, etc.
Example of such websites are - edX, Harvard, Coursera, etc.

But, while surfing through the internet, I found a website

which is like a Database for all online courses.
The name of that website is – www.class-central.com

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You just type a topic and it will show you all courses related
to that topic available on other websites.

Reasons for enrolling in such courses -

1. If you have already decided that you are going to
specialize in a particular field of Law. Then, taking up
courses related to that area will help you grow
faster…
2. If you start developing interest in a particular academic
subject and want some practical insights. So, such
courses will provide you with that practical
knowledge, which your law degree was unable to
provide.
3. If you have free time, which you want to use
productively by learning something. Even if you haven’t
decided the field of law in which you want to specialize,
still you must take up such courses because when you
start working you will come across many cases,
dealing with multiple areas of law. So, your knowledge
will never go waste.
4. It will also add a certificate to your Resume.

Such courses are usually part time courses which can be

completed even while your normal law course is going on.

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Advantages of enrolling in online courses -
1. You will save your travel time because you don’t have
to go anywhere. You just need your laptop or mobile &
your earphones.
2. There are no time restrictions. You can watch it
according to your schedule.
3. You can watch it again ‘n’ number of times.

Now, the question arises, How to choose a course?

I obviously don’t suggest you to keep on enrolling in all
online courses. Because, it takes time and money, both.
In addition to that, think practically while choosing a topic.

For example, if you have worked for decent amount of time

with a Consumer organization or a Lawyer practicing solely
consumer law and you are confident that you know in and
out about Consumer Law & practice in India. Then, enrolling
for an online course about “Basics of Consumer Law” won’t
make sense.
You must choose a topic from which you will learn
something new, a topic about which you already don’t know
much.

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 CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

These activities are also a must. There will be many

opportunities, and you have to make use of it.

Below are some of the activities:

Moot Court Competitions – It is a mock court. Teams from
different colleges compete with each other. And law students
(like lawyers in court) argue before a panel of Judges.

Model Parliaments – Here, students participate in

parliamentary proceedings of a legislature in a mock
parliament. It helps students understand the working of a
government also know about how laws are made. Which is
important for future lawyers plus it is also a good confidence
building exercise.

Writing Papers – Getting their writing published in a reputed

law journal is a dream come true for a student. Usually law
journals issue “Call for papers” inviting articles from Law
students, academicians, and legal professors. You are
required to read a lot, also improve your researching skills
for writing such papers. Both of which are important tools for
a lawyer.

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Model United Nations – MUN is a simulation of UN bodies
like the Security Council & General Assembly. It is an activity
in which the students can learn about diplomacy,
international relations & United Nations.

Essay, Debate competitions, Seminars & conferences –

Many of such competitions, seminars, workshops, etc. are
being organized by Law schools or law related
organizations. Such events are a great way to know about
contemporary developments in law & society. You also get
to learn from and interact with experts, develop your
presentation skills, speaking, structuring your ideas &
answering questions.

Why should you participate in such competitions?

1. Participating in such competitions will help you build
confidence and improve your public speaking skills.
2. It improves your research & presentation skills.
3. It also enables you to make new friends, connect with
your seniors and also professors.
4. You get an idea about, how such national level
competitions are organized.
5. The certificates you get after participating will boost up
your CV.

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You will come to know that some of your colleagues and
some seniors, are very good at some skills, like mooting,
writing, speaking, etc.

You may feel very low and may become nervous. But, you
will have such competition everywhere so don’t stop yourself
from participating just because of this reason.
Nobody was born with such skills, they have learnt &
developed it. Even, you can do that. You just have to START
and be committed.

Some Tips for young students -

1. Enquire and get all the details of the competitions. You
must know even the smallest thing. (Date, location,
time, topic, eligibility, team requirement, pre-requisites,
etc.)
2. Seek help from your seniors & your colleagues who
had earlier participated in such competitions.
3. Accordingly make a plan, distribute the work and start
preparing.
4. Practice before your seniors, friends and if possible
any of your professor.
5. Don’t think in terms of winning or losing, that's just for
the sake of motivation. Think in terms of learning &
make full use of such opportunities you get.

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 Getting Experience while Studying

WHY must you start working while you are studying..??

You can’t learn swimming by reading a book on how to

swim, right?
To learn swimming, you need to jump into water.
Accordingly, until and unless you personally witness all the
hustle which lawyers go through in courts, in office, with
clients, etc. You won’t understand the profession better.

Trust me, especially in litigation young lawyers don’t

understand much what’s going around in courts at least for
few weeks or months at start and it’s normal. So, if you have
solid amount of experience beforehand, then it will be helpful
for you.

If you are into Litigation then you will also learn about
travelling, especially in metro cities. There are many courts
and apart from them there are tribunals, commissions,
boards. So, you come to know many things like - which court
is situated where, the most convenient travel option to reach
there on time, at what time does this judge come, what type
of matters are taken first in this court, etc.

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If you will get good exposure & have hands on experience
then your CV will stand out, no matter where you apply.
Because, the recruiters prefer those candidates who have
more practical experience.

So what should you exactly do, from where should you start?

Internships
Start interning at an early stage. But, go step by step. If you
apply for internship under a Top notch Supreme Court
lawyer in your 1st year itself, you obviously won’t get it.

At start go for sectors where basic knowledge will work and

you won’t be expected to know much about the legal field.
Like NGO’s, Startup’s, Journalism depending on your
interests. Here, you may not learn much about law, but you
will surely learn skills which will help you in your career
ahead.

If you are planning for litigation, apply for internships under

lawyers who have lots of cases. Don't worry about the
salary. When you are working it makes sense to get an
understanding of the field. Here, first work with lawyers who
have more matters in Trial Courts. Then go for lawyers
having more matters in High courts & Supreme Court.

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For those interested in non-litigation, they can try for law
firms or any legal department of a MNC. But here, research
is a key skill to be learned. Read legal memos, briefs, and
judgements from across the world.
Read agreements, contracts and try to tie it to the laws they
address. For example - how does the privacy law in Europe
change the user agreement for Facebook..??

Nowadays online internships opportunities are also

available. The work you get here is mostly research based.
So, remember the points I told regarding research.

There is one more way of getting experience where you

don’t have to apply anywhere. You just have to start working.

By Resolving Public Issues

There are many problems people have everywhere. You
know the solutions or at least have an idea how to solve it. It
is just that you haven’t thought of solving it sincerely.
Example: Making a simple application to your Municipal
corporator or MLA for getting things done in your area. OR
Filing a basic RTI application, taking initiatives for conducting
meetings, making periodic follow ups for the same.

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Now you may think I am telling you to do social work, then
you are right, of course I am.

You may not get any monetary benefits or certificate here.

Also you may ending up wasting your time and money, but
the amount of experience you will get, working with
government departments, organizations and with people will
be immeasurable.

Some Internship Tips -

 Remember, that you have to apply for internships well
in advance. You may be required to apply before a
week or at some place even before months. It totally
depends on that firm or lawyer.
 Always ‘Be ready for Work’. Because, you will get
experience only by working...lol.
If they don’t give any work, you find your way out.
Get to know what the fellow lawyers are working on.
Search it on internet, read some judgements about it,
in short do what you would have done if you were
already a lawyer and that work was given to you.
 Try opting for long term internships of at least two
months. But, at the same time if you feel that you
aren’t getting to learn much then consider leaving it
early.

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  I would suggest you to intern for longer duration under
an independent Trial lawyer at least once. Because, it
will give you an exposure about litigation system in
India which is the base of this field. And, this
knowledge will always be helpful to you, even if you
work in non-litigation.
 If you want to know more about litigation then I think
you must read a book named “Legal Confidential”.
It’s funny but a real story of a lawyer who started his
law practice in Tees Hazari Courts till he established
his own corporate law firm.
I have also made a video about this book, you can
watch it here.

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 Everyone has a PLAN

I know, you will say that many people you know are just
wandering without a plan. But, here I’m referring to
successful people. And every person in whichever field you
may see, is successful because they had a plan.

After reading this book till here, you may think there are so
many things to do. How will you be able to do it?
 Moot Courts require a team & at least a month’s
preparation before the actual competition.
 Other competitions need at least a week’s preparation.
 Writing papers will require hours of continuous reading
& drafting.
 If you are organizing the competition, then you have
more responsibilities.
 Simultaneously, you have to start studying and also
start applying for Internships.

Dude, Chill…!! You don’t have to do it in a year. You have 5

years or at least 3 years for the same.
And, you don’t have to top in every examination & excel in
each activity in which you participate. Because, that will be
too difficult for anyone.

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You just have to see, that along with your studies you get as
much experience and exposure as you can. And, that you don’t
waste any time which you can invest in some better activity.

But, you will be able to do it only if you plan systematically &

most importantly…. implement your plan.
Or else you will always be like, “Oh god…!! I forgot about
this...I forgot to do that...”

Long Term Plan - Some may suggest, that you must make
a complete 5 year or 3 year plan. From my personal
experience I can say that such plans do not work, especially
if you make a detailed long term plan. There is a reason
behind it.
When you start your college you may be just 18 or 21 years
old. Though you may know certain things, but you will come
to know a hell lot of things as years will pass. And, according
to time and your knowledge you plans will automatically
keep on changing. So, if you make a detailed long term plan
you will be just wasting your time. Because, just after a year
you will be having a completely new plan in your mind.

Instead of that, I would suggest you to just keep some

small goals. Like -

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 1st Year 2nd Year

Internship(1) Internship(2)

Moot Court(1) Moot Court(1)

Research paper(1)

So, you will not invest much time in it and roughly you will
have something in your mind for upcoming years.

Detailed Plan - Make a detailed plan for a year, where you

will usually have two semesters and holidays in between.
Here you have to plan….
 Where are you planning to intern?
o In which sector? (NGO, Firm, Independent
Lawyer, Company, etc.)
o Any particular Specialization? (IPR, Civil,
Criminal, etc.)
o What are the prerequisites to apply? Are you
eligible...if not what do you have to do for that?
o When do you have to start applying?
 In which extracurricular activity will you take part?
o Moot, Writing papers, MUNs ...
o Who is good in that activity? How can you
contact him/her?

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 o The preparations & the actual competition will
cover approximately how many days from your
semester period?
 Are you going to enroll in any certificate/diploma
course?
o Which course are you planning to enroll in for
this year?
o If enrolling into an offline course. What are the
timings? Will you be able to attend college &
these course classes simultaneously?
o Which institute is best for that course?
o Course fees? How are you going to arrange it?
 Which books (other than those required for exams) are
you planning to read?
o Decide one subject.
o Read reviews about different books & authors.

Stay Organized
After this, plan how you will complete your tasks daily. Divide
all your tasks into Academic Tasks & Non-Academic Tasks.
Academic Tasks (examples)
 Organizing your notes
 Studying for an hour
 Completing the Assignment
 Searching for a book in the library

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  Researching for the Moot Court, etc...

Non-Academic Tasks (examples)

 Household chores
 Getting your internet recharge done
 Appointment with your Dentist
 Exercise
 Hobbies...etc.

Planning Day - Decide a day to plan stuff for the week. You
can consider any day. But, Sunday is a good choice as it is
usually a holiday for everyone and your week starts after this
day.

Your memory won’t work here. So, write it down. You can
use a diary if that is more convenient to you. But, I suggest
you to type it in your mobile. There are many apps like
ToDoist, Wunderlist, etc.… you can use whichever you feel
is better.
But, if you don’t want any heavy app, then you can do what I
do. Basically, I use two apps.
1. Google Calendar
This app is already in built in your android mobile, so
no need to download. I use it to for saving events and
reminders which I have to do at a particular time.

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 2. Google Tasks
This app is very light weight, so it will not occupy much
space in your mobile. You can create tasks for that day
and mark it as ‘Complete’ when the task is done.
I use this app to add daily tasks which can be done
anytime, but have to be done on that day.
So, you just have to open the app and you know how
much work is done and how much is remaining.

You have to keep in mind, some points while planning.

Like...
1. Being in India we have so many festivals, even you
may be celebrating some of them on a large scale. So,
you will be expected to participate in it actively.
2. There may be some marriage ceremony, party or a
family function which you have to attend.
3. You may be actively working in some social
organization and you want to continue the work and
not stop it completely.
4. You may be having some other personal
responsibilities.
So, when you know about such things beforehand... then
while making plans & schedules do keep it mind and
accordingly adjust it.

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Even, after so much of planning & working. Some stuff just
won’t happen because of variety of reasons. Like…
 You had planned too much of work for that week.
 Some activities took longer time than you thought it
would take.
 Some unexpected events occurred, like a surprise test
in college or your maternal uncle (whom you hate)
arrived at your place without informing, which disturbed
everything.

You obviously have no idea what is coming up the next

moment. So, if things won’t workout 100% as you thought,
don’t worry. Even if you are able to complete 70-80% of your
tasks during such period, it’s a good achievement. Embrace
it and motivate yourself. :)

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 Your “Resume”

This is the document which you submit when you apply for a
job. Your Resume presents your qualifications, skills &
experiences.

Any good law firm or advocate who has sufficient amount of

work will receive resumes from many candidates applying for
the same position.

An employer will first just skim through all the resumes, will
not read it in detail. Then, select few resumes out of it.
These are the resumes of those people who will be called for
the Interview.

So, you resume will just have few moments to catch your
employer’s eye.
Thus, it is very important to pay attention to your resume &
draft it in a way, so that wherever you apply the employer will
not ignore your resume.

What exactly must you include in your resume?

1. Work experience
2. Educational qualifications
3. Participation in co-curricular activities
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 4. Paper publications
5. Achievements
6. Volunteer Work
7. Hobbies
8. Contact Details
What content should you add to your resume & how??

Firstly, make sections.

Add your details in every section and structure content of
each section accordingly. You can make sections by adding
a partition or simply by leaving a line. You can do it however
you want, it must just be visible that you have separated
different sections.

Do not write big paragraphs. So, keep it short. No one is

interested in you as much as you are… just kidding.
 Use bullet points, but not more than 5-6.
 Give them Numbers. Like 1st in ___ Moot Court or 3
research papers published.
 Describe in one or two sentences with most relevant
information.

Include only relevant information.

Go through the Job Description in detail and accordingly edit
your resume.

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If you are applying for a job in a Corporate Law Firm, then
you must not add your Internship with a NGO working for
educating poor kids.

Include recent information.

If you have done too many things throughout your college
life, then try skipping the most irrelevant ones.
If you have worked somewhere, then include that Job
experience and don’t add your internships.
Add details in a reverse chronological order. First add the
most recent one then the older one. Follow this chronological
order in every section.

Skills
If you do not have any Job or Internship experiences, then
add skills which you are good at.
 It may be writing, researching, speaking or any other.
 Make a separate section for ‘Skills’.
 Tell them how you learnt that skill. How you improved
in it and what activities helped you excel in that skill.
But, there are certain skills which you are presumed to be
known, like using Word, typing, sending emails, etc. So,
don’t add such basic skills. It will not add good impression on
your recruiter.

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Include relevant Keywords from your industry.
Go through your Job Description and look for words which
are used most often. Add these words in your resume. This
will help you get noticed easily.
At the same time don’t use jargon. Make sure your resume is
understandable by not only by the employer but also by his
assistant.

Power words
 Avoid using words which recruiters are tired of reading.
 Instead use power words, like organized, facilitated,
analyzed, etc. You can just google it to find appropriate
power words.

Highlight achievements
There isn’t much need to tell how much is your GPA you got
in each semester. Instead of that focus on your
achievements. If you received any scholarship, if you stood
first in any department or class, do mention such things.
By highlighting, I don’t mean literally using a highlighter or
changing the font color. But, you can make it bold or italicize
it.

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Other courses
Mention certifications of those courses you completed apart
from your graduation.
Also, do add if you are currently pursuing any online or
offline course especially related to the job. This, will help the
recruiter know that you are really interested in the job and
want to learn more.

End Section
Add things like your interests, hobbies, etc.
Avoid controversial interests, like any interests related to
politics, religions, etc. It may happen, that your employer
may have different views or does not like your interests and
just for that reason you may get rejected.
If you are good at any sport & are applying to any MNC or a
Government Undertaking then do mention your
achievements in that sport. Some of these companies do
take note of it.

Contact Details
Add basic details like your residential address, email id and
mobile number just below your name. Residential address is
important because some employers do consider that.

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Make sure that it very clearly visible, just think how sad it
would be if you get selected and the employer was not able
to contact you because the contact details were not clear.

Fonts
The font must be clear and readable.
Avoid fonts like Times New Roman, Comic Sans, etc.
Some fonts which I suggest are Calibri, Century Gothic, Arial
and Helvetica.

Margins & White Space

Keep a decent margin & line height. If you increase it a lot,
then employer gets an impression that you have done it just
for the sake of making your resume long and filing more
pages. Which is not good.
Make sure that your resume does not exceed two pages.
Best practice would be to finish it within one page itself.

After you finish drafting your resume

 Let someone proofread your resume. Do not do it
yourself, because you will not find those mistakes
which they will.
 After you have completely edited and your resume is
ready to be printed, save the file as a Pdf document.

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  Name your file smartly. There will be many files with
your employer, having names like resume, CV,
Biodata, etc.
You can name your file with your name & the post or
just your name. Name it in such a way that your file
must be easily noticeable.
 Update your resume. You must not carry the same
resume after working for two years. Add recent work
experience, what you achieved, what you learnt, etc.
and keep updating.

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 Work-life Tips

Once you are done with your college, you may get selected
in your college placements or you will start your hunt for a
suitable job.
If you follow the tips given in this eBook and implement it
accordingly during your college life, then you will surely have
good amount of practical experience & your resume will
stand out. Which will help you get your desired job.

Still, the starting years will be your learning years. So, if

you get a good opportunity, then don’t deny that offer even if
the pay is low or not as per your demands.

You will take at least 1-2 years to understand the

procedures, courts, clients, office, etc. in short how the
overall system works.
But, you will surely grow faster if you keep updating yourself
with knowledge and skills simultaneously.

Start with the basics

Learn filing, arguing, working with court staff, your clerk,
handling files, reading judgements, clients...and the list goes
on.

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Make a physical notebook or use an app like OneNote. Take
notes of everything on it, especially when you come to know
about some unusual procedure. I would recommend you to
make a diary and update it daily, with whatever happened
throughout the day, whatever you learnt, etc.

Work with Dedication.

Though you are working for someone, under a firm or an
advocate… whatever it may be. Do not take your work
lightly, or do it just because you are given the work or
because some of your salary may be deducted.
Working in this way will not result in your growth.
You are working under someone only because you don’t
have that much exposure and experience, right? So, to get
these things you have to give your 100%, only then you will
learn.
Just remember one thing, whatever work is allocated to you,
do that work like it is your work. Like a client has personally
entrusted that work to you and you are solely responsible for
it and not your boss.

Also, start taking free work individually.

After so much slogging, why FREE?... I get it.
When you buy any product like a mobile or a car, do you test
it before buying?? You do it, right?

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So, don’t see it like you are working for free. It is an
investment which will get good returns. And don’t pay less
attention to this work because you are not getting money. Do
it with the same amount dedication. In return you can just
ask your client to give good rating to you on some website or
endorse a skill on your LinkedIn profile, that’s completely fair
and a win-win.

Apart from that, things which you must do include...

 Reading blogs, research papers, judgements, books
related to your field.
 Just skim through the news every day. Legal news and
General News too. There are many good websites
nowadays like LiveLaw, Bar&Bench which provide you
with good quality legal news.
 Follow some active twitter handles related to your field.
 Become active on LinkedIn. Keep some time every
day. Not much, even 10 minutes would be great. Start
building your network there, it can be very helpful in
future.
 Enroll in some online course related to your field.
 Keep learning about how you can improve your skills
(speaking, drafting, researching, etc.)
 And watch videos of “Budding Lawyers” on
YouTube…!!

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Plan Plan Plan. Refer the chapter named “Everyone has a
Plan”. Whatever is there in that chapter is also applicable to
you as a lawyer. The only part which will change is the
“Tasks” section.

Now, you will obviously have different tasks.

 You will have your work related tasks.
 Personal tasks related to family life.
 Tasks related to your personal growth. (The points
which I told you just above)
You will be having so many tasks to do, that’s why planning
is important. Make a plan for the week and follow it.

Everyone is busy and as a lawyer you will be busier. I

understand that, but you have to always keep a solution
oriented approach. You must know how to find a creative
way to get things done.
If you just keep on babbling about your problems then you
will go nowhere. If there is a problem, there is also a solution
to it, so keep finding solution and start acting accordingly.

Find out ways to get things done & increase your

productivity.
Like...

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  You can utilize your travel time for reading a book or
watching a video from your online course. If you are in
a metro city like Mumbai and if it’s difficult for reading a
book while travelling, then read that book on your
mobile (eBook) or listen to its audiobook version
through a wireless earphone.
 If you are in a courtroom and there is a lot of time for
your matter to be called out, then you can do some
tasks there on your mobile. Like reading a blog,
replying to Emails, posting on LinkedIn, etc.
 Make technology your best friend. There are a ton of
Apps and online services for every type of work.
Find out which app is best for your work and start
using that. Nowadays, there are many legal tech
startups coming up with cool products like case
management, lawyer’s diary, etc.

It’s high time now, that lawyers stop using the traditional
ways of working and upgrade your style of working.

Thus, Budding Lawyers has started a YouTube channel,

where I make helpful videos for lawyers and law students.

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Videos are related to marketing, law books, use of
technology in our profession, etc. I am also planning to add
interviews series and some other things in future.

I upload such videos every week, so make sure you

subscribe to the channel & hit the bell icon to not miss any
future videos.

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 Get what you want…!!!

All this planning and all, will be worthless unless you

implement it.
And you will implement it ONLY if you REALLY want it.

Now, you may say that if you want it then you will obviously
implement things in a planned way.
No bro, not necessary…
You want to lose your increased weight from many years...
You are planning to read a book every week from don’t know
when...
You also want to start studying, right when the semester
starts…
But, it never happens and you end up staying awake whole
nights before exams.

Do, you know WHY?

Many people may answer due to lack of motivation, I bet you
that many of you would be watching motivational videos. It
has an impact for sure but it is for short term only and not
long term.
I am not saying they are not good, in fact such motivation is
awesome but you must understand what to use and when to
use it. Ex: In an event, if you are standing backstage and are
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reluctant to go on stage due to stage fear, at that time you
require motivation. Some video, image or just someone to
tell you that you can do it, go and rock it on stage. Here, it
will surely help.

Motivation is also important, but you must understand how to

use it. I will get back to you on this later in this chapter.
Then, what’s the exact reason of this? Or what’s the formula
for getting things done?
The answer is your Subconscious Mind.

Meaning of subconscious according to Cambridge dictionary

- “the part of your mind that notices and remembers
information when you are not actively trying to do so, and
influences your behavior even though you do not realize it.”

Meaning of subconscious according to Oxford dictionary -

“Of or concerning the part of the mind of which one is not
fully aware but which influences one's actions and feelings.”

Read the highlighted part again.

Now, do you get it?
Why your subconscious mind is so important and why you
must use it wisely.

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Whatever you are doing in your life is highly influenced by
your subconscious mind. So, until and unless you program
your subconscious mind to achieve what you want in your
life, things won’t work out.

You may come up with number of solutions for the problems

you have in your success path. But, solutions won’t work
much effectively until you work on the root cause i.e. your
subconscious mind.

However you are now, you are that way because of your
mind. To explain this we will consider a part of the
Cambridge’s definition - “the part of your mind that notices
and remembers information when you are not actively trying
to do so...”

So, whatever you are feeding your mind, it is manifesting it

through different ways, like your thoughts, your habits, your
behavior, etc.

First, just look at yourself. See, what you are feeding your
mind. Go through your daily routine. Each and every small
aspect of it, what are you reading, watching, listening, etc.
Now, you will understand that all these things have a great
influence on whatever you are now.

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What you have to do is, just make sure that the content
which you are feeding to your mind, must be such that it
helps you achieve your goal.

Firstly, see yourself 5 years down the line, how do you want
yourself to be? Take inspiration by some successful
personality in your field.

Then, start reading, watching, listening to content which is

positive, informative, contains some wisdom, etc. related to
your field.

Make sure the books you read, videos you watch and
whatever you listen to... are helping in any way to reach that
goal you have set for yourself.

Keep the frequency. Don’t miss it out. Make it a habit, like

brushing, bathing, etc. You must do it anyhow, you can’t
miss...it may be reading, listening, anything. But, it is to be
carried out EVERYDAY.

Surround yourself with likeminded people. (This is very

important, because there will be many people around you to
demotivate or/and distract you.)

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Get involved in that field in whatever other ways you know.
Like joining discussion forums, groups, attending events and
be active in it.

One more method which works great is “Meditation”.

Yes, trust me...it works very well. Whatever faith, religion,

etc. it doesn’t matter. You can learn it offline or online.

But, if you are trying to learn any advanced level of

meditation then please don’t learn it online without any
personal guidance. If in case you do it wrongly, it may have
negative effects too.

Learn some basic & simple meditation method.

For example: You can do some pranayama (a simple

breathing exercise) & then sit quietly with your relaxed body
and focus between your eyebrows. After focusing, visualize
your goal, feel it. Then think about - what steps have you
taken towards it, what difficulties are you facing, how can
you overcome that, what mistakes you did, promise yourself
that you will not repeat those mistakes, etc.

But, once you start with some topic, you will reach
somewhere else. It happens with everyone because of the
nature of our mind. You just have to do one thing, whenever

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you realize that you are lost, just drag yourself again to the
topic...keep on doing it again and again. You will improve
only when you keep on practicing this way.

And, this is just an example.

I am just telling you to start some simple practice like this.
And do it every day.

You won’t see big results within few days, but it will help you
a lot.
It is like growing a plant. When you sow a seed, you don’t
get fruits the next day. It requires your nurturing and time to
grow into a beautiful tree and bear fruits.

By doing all these things you read above, you are investing
in yourself. This investment will act like a seed sown in your
mind, which will keep on growing slowly and give you
beautiful results later. And, you will surely achieve what you
want in your life.

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