How to Get an Internship in Law Firms: A Complete Guide

India’s legal services market is projected to grow from roughly USD 28 billion in 2025 to over USD 42 billion by 2034. That growth hasn’t made internships easier to land, if anything, more students are chasing the same handful of Tier-1 slots every cycle. Landing one comes down to a specific, learnable process: knowing where to look, how to reach out, and what to do once you’ve got a foot in the door. Here’s how to actually get an internship in a law firm.

Know What You’re Actually Looking For First

Before you send a single application, narrow down which area of law genuinely interests you. Corporate law, litigation, IP, tax, and dispute resolution each have their own recognised specialists, and applying with a clear sense of direction changes how your application reads. If M&A and private equity draw you in, firms like AZB, CAM, SAM, and Trilegal lead that space. For dispute resolution, S&R Associates, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, and Desai & Diwanji stand out. IP work concentrates around firms like Anand and Anand and Remfry & Sagar, while technology and cross-border transactions point toward boutique specialists like Nishith Desai Associates.

That last point matters more than students often realise. A boutique firm internship in a niche you’re genuinely drawn to often gives you far more depth than a generalist internship at a bigger name, even if the bigger name looks better on paper at first glance.

Use the Listing Platforms, But Don’t Stop There

Several platforms aggregate internship listings specifically for Indian law students: Internshala, Lawctopus, LawBhoomi, and similar sites post new openings daily, and they’re worth checking regularly. But relying on listings alone puts you in competition with every other student who saw the same post. The strongest internships often go to students who reached out directly, before a firm ever needed to publicly advertise.

Cold Emailing: Where Most Internships Actually Come From

This is the part most guides gloss over, and it’s genuinely the highest-leverage skill you can build. Cold emailing works, repeatedly, according to students who’ve actually landed Tier-1 internships this way, including at firms like Trilegal and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas. It also involves real luck: for every partner who replies, several won’t respond at all. The students who succeed at this treat it as a numbers game with a quality filter, not a single perfect email sent once.

A few things separate a cold email that works from one that gets ignored:

• Find a named person, not a generic inbox. Search the firm’s website, LinkedIn, or bar association listings for a specific partner or associate working in the practice area you’re interested in. A named recipient beats “To Whom It May Concern” every time.
• Reference something specific about their actual work. Mention a recent matter, case, or piece of writing you’ve genuinely looked into. This single detail is what separates your email from the bulk template ninety percent of applicants send.
• Keep it under 200 words. State who you are, your college and year, one specific reason you want to intern with that person or team, and your exact availability. Attach your CV as a PDF rather than pasting it into the email body.
• Mind your timing. Several students who’ve had success with this report that emails sent midweek, around lunchtime, get opened more often than ones sent late at night or over the weekend, when a partner’s inbox is either empty or already flooded.
• Follow up once, not five times. If you haven’t heard back within seven to ten days, send one polite follow-up. Beyond that, move on. Repeated follow-ups read as pressure, not persistence, and can work against you.

Build Your Network Alongside Your Applications

Professors, seniors, and alumni remain some of the most underused resources students have. Most people are genuinely willing to help a student who asks specifically and politely, whether that’s an introduction to a firm contact or just advice on which teams are currently hiring. If you don’t have professional connections yet, moot court participation and law school competitions are a legitimate substitute, they build real skills, and they put you in front of practitioners who judge these events and sometimes remember strong performers when hiring season comes around.

Get Your Application Materials Right

Once you have a specific firm or contact in mind, tailor your CV and cover letter to that application specifically, rather than reusing the same version everywhere. If you’re applying with limited experience so far, lean on what you do have: relevant coursework, moot participation, research projects, and any volunteer work that connects to the practice area you’re targeting. Follow whatever format the firm specifies exactly, and always double-check your documents before sending, since a firm receiving hundreds of applications will use small errors as an easy filter.

Prepare Seriously for the Interview Stage

If your application leads to an interview, treat the preparation with real weight. Research the firm’s recent matters and practice areas beforehand, this single step consistently signals genuine interest over a generic application. Be ready to speak to your own CV in detail, including anything you’ve listed, since interviewers will ask. Prepare a few thoughtful questions of your own about the team’s work or culture, and practise your answers out loud with a friend or mentor beforehand if interviews make you nervous.

Follow Up After the Interview, Then Follow Through Once You’re In

A short, genuine thank-you email within a day of your interview is worth sending, it’s a small gesture that costs you nothing and reinforces your interest. Once you’ve actually secured the internship, confirm your joining date and reporting instructions promptly, and look into the firm’s recent work before your first day. From there, the fundamentals matter most: show up on time, stay responsive, and treat even routine tasks seriously. Ask genuine questions when you’re stuck, but make a real attempt first rather than defaulting to asking immediately.

What to Know About Pay and Realistic Expectations

Most Indian legal internships are unpaid, or offer a modest stipend, particularly earlier in law school. Paid internships at top-tier firms exist but are genuinely competitive and typically open up from the third year onward. Manage your expectations accordingly, especially for your first one or two internships, where the experience and exposure matter more than the stipend attached to it.

The Bottom Line

Getting a law firm internship comes down to combining two approaches: applying to listed openings through platforms like Lawctopus and Internshala, and proactively cold-emailing specific people at firms and chambers that genuinely interest you. The second approach takes more effort and comes with real uncertainty, but it’s also how a meaningful share of strong internships, including at Tier-1 firms, actually happen. Be specific, be persistent without being pushy, and treat every internship you do land as a genuine opportunity to build the relationships that lead to the next one.

If your CV needs work before you start applying, read how to make a law student CV that stands out to recruiters. And once you’ve landed a few internships, our guide on highest paying law firms in India for freshers can help you think about where those internships might lead.

Have questions about internships, cold emailing, or which firms to target? Ask a mentor directly on The LawCademy’s QnA Mentorship Segment. – https://thelawcademy.in/questions/ask-a-mentor/