Internships are the initial route maps for a law student to step into the shoes of the actual profession. It is often the tip of the iceberg! Here is one such internship experience that law students can derive inspiration from:
Afitha Semeer, a penultimate student pursuing 8th semester in 5 year integrated BA LLB, in Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram shares her internship experience:
IBS Softwares is a private company providing Saas solutions (Software as Service) focusing in the Airline industry. Software as a service means the provider hosts and manages the software application, and users access it via the internet on a subscription basis. IBS has a variety of products including airline operations, hospitality solutions, cargo and logistics, loyalty management, tour & cruise etc. The legal team of IBS stays as a defence mechanism by forming a fort around the company thereby protecting the company from legal complications and other losses from erroneous agreements.
Internship at IBS was my first corporate internship. One month at IBS was really informative and fun. The legal team was especially supportive. Manoj and Sabari are the senior assosciate counsels at IBS and their support was something I feel I should mention. At IBS, they don’t promote “sir” culture, so I was free to call them by their names. I spent most of my times with the legal executives Adarsh and Anupama. They taught me many things which is indeed for a fresher. They were just like friends than colleagues. I had also got opportunity to work with Abhilash who is the Assistant manager of legal team. Every week the IBS legal team will have a group call with the team head, Sai. It is in that call, they share their work updates and all. I have also got opportunity to interact with Sai on my work updates too.
Major work at IBS included reviewing agreements and finding leeway, making amendments, drafting agreements, making quarterly reviews of signed contracts etc. Reviewing was the major work. I have reviewed Non Disclosure Agreements, SOW’s (Statement of Work), Service agreements etc. Drafting amendments and termination letters were challenging as it is completely different from what I have learnt from classes. What all we study from the colleges only form a base and when it comes to the real world, the skill should be practicability. Everything studied should have to be applied in real time situations and it needs both vigilance and diligence.
A Non Disclosure Agreement is the first agreement that will be signed by a company while entering into a contract. Each and every clause of the NDA should be drafted or analysed carefully. Reviewing NDA was really important as it is an agreement involving confidential information of the contracting parties. Another important job was to closely scrutinize the governing law in the contract. Usually the governing law will be either common law or civil law. The companies mostly opt for common law as it is more flexible than the civil law. While entering into a contract that involves the personal data of the European citizen the compliance of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is must. As a result, I got an opportunity to learn about GDPR and its application. I have also made an overview of the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act as a part of my work. Knowing and understanding AI and the legislation governing the same is the need of the hour. Unfortunately, the European Union is the only one, which has developed a comprehensive law on Artificial Intelligence so far. Understanding the EU AI Act made me realize the risk based approach adopted by the EU towards a digital transformation by ethical and safe use of Artificial Intelligence.
Interning at IBS gave clarity about how a legal team works at a corporate company. Reviewing an agreement from a corporate lawyer perspective is different. As a corporate lawyer, they should try to negotiate the clash of interests rather than dragging it into courts. So reviewing an agreement needs concentration, reading comprehension skills, critical thinking and analytical skills. I hope I have started to develop these skills. Apart from this, I have understood how a particular theory of law is practically applied. Putting theories into practicality is a difficult thing. Understanding this was a major milestone in my law school life. Another important skill that i learnt was problem solving. A corporate lawyer should be skilled in problem solving to save the company from unacceptable losses from unprecedented situations. Again, learning a new legislation such as GDPR, EU AI Act was a major opportunity to understand more about a foreign law and its overall application. One month was a very short period to learn from IBS. I guess at least three months are needed just to study the basics. IBS provided a stress free and friendly working atmosphere that really helped me to give my best and to develop my skills.
