Acerca de

WHAT MAKES A MEANINGFUL AND WORTHWHILE PUPILLAGE?

Be courteous and humble to the partners, associates and your colleagues
- It does not cost anything to be kind to those you work with as well as your opponents.

Be willing and open to receiving work
- Do not be afraid to accept challenging work as you get to learn a lot.

Be willing to learn
- Pupillage is all about learning and delving into the facets of legal practice in order to prepare you as an upcoming lawyer.

Ask questions as much as you can, especially on the scope of work and how it should be delivered to your master
- Nothing is worse than assuming that the work given should be done in a particular manner and then messing it up.

Be grateful for the opportunities that come your way during pupillage
- It helps you to look at pupillage from a positive perspective.

Be open to constructive criticism from your master
- It is not meant to put you down or degrade your worth, but it helps you in improving yourself professionally as well as improving your skills in future work given to you.

Being proactive and self-sufficient enhances the learning experience. Things may be confusing at first, you don’t understand certain things but it’ll get better when you start communicating and seek guidance from your mentors, colleagues and friends. Do not drown yourself in the misery of not understanding some stuff.

Don’t let criticisms intimidate or frazzle you. Rather stand your ground, calmly explain why you made a mistake, and ask follow-up clarification questions so you can rectify your errors.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Pushing through challenges is what makes us grow.

Being confident is good, but it is also alright to not know things. Make an effort to ask and to find out, and learn.

Do not rush to get everything done, it’s completely fine to take your time to do your research. Everyone has their own pace and you are allowed to take your time. Just make it known to your master and get permission from him/her.

Be deliberately curious and inquisitive as that little piece of extra information you obtain each time will come in handy one day, even if it’s not today.

Know your firm of choice
- Take the time and put in the effort to explore any particular law firms that you’re keen to have your attachment at. Do thorough research on the firm of your choice, get to know their vision and mission, read about the latest updates regarding the firm, find out about the people that you’ll be working with at the firm, know what it is about the firm that attracts your interest or attention etc. All of this can be done with a simple Internet search on the firm’s website.

Know your area of interest
- Decide which area of practice you intend to be involved in. Examples are civil litigation, criminal litigation, human rights litigation, constitutional/public interest litigation, commercial/corporate practice etc.

Preference of size of firm
- This varies based on each individual’s perspective. There’s nothing wrong with having a preference for a big-sized firm, medium-sized firm or small-sized firm. It all boils down to the features that you look for in a particular law firm such as the work culture, organisation structure or work environment.

You can also look for firms that offer general litigation, so this allows you to dabble with every type of practice during your pupillage.