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:
Arjun H Nair, a penultimate student pursuing 5 year LLB in Govt. Law College, Thiruvananthapuram shares his internship experience:
As a fourth year law student who has done internships mainly with government bodies like various commissions and tribunals, an opportunity to intern at a corporate body like IBS Softwares was a refreshing and enriching experience. IBS Softwares was founded in 1997 and has since then grew on to become one of the global leaders in providing Software As A Service ( SAAS) solutions to various travel, transportation and logistical industries. Some of the major softwares of IBS includes iFlight, iCargo, iTravel etc. They also provide services like CDx (Customer Data Exchange) and Cloud hosting services to name a few.
On my first day, I had to complete an onboarding process as guided through by their HR team and once the process and tasks were completed, I was provided with a company laptop and ID card for easy access inside the premise. I was introduced to their contracts and legal team which included a General Counsel/VP and two Associate General Counsels, one Manager, one Assistant Manager and two Executives.
As baby steps, I was introduced to a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) which is very essential to protect the confidentiality the company may disclose in relation with their business. I was asked to review an IBS Standard NDA and was encouraged to make a checklist of the most important clauses needed while drafting an NDA. I was also made aware of the significant difference between a term of the NDA and a term of confidential information inside an NDA.
Then I was introduced to various other important agreements like the Master Service Agreement (MSA) which acts as a fundamental agreement on which other agreements like Statement Of Work (SOW) are built upon. I also got to know how due-diligence shall be done when reviewing a ‘Vendor Contract’ and a ‘Customer Contract’. I was also asked to draft an amendment for extending the term of a SOW, comparing external agreements with IBS standard agreements and also prepared a PowerPoint deck involving the deals closed by IBS in the fourth quarter.
I was happy to be given insights on various legislations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by the European Union and the EU Artificial Intelligence Act. I was also made aware of the working of the data protection team of IBS and why it is important to protect the data of customers and how it comes under the ambit of GDPR. I helped in preparing an overview of the EU AI Act which was used to acknowledge the risks and compliances needed when deploying or producing an AI system. With the motivation and guidance of the legal team, I was able to write and publish two articles on the salient features of GDPR and EU AI Act respectively.
I can’t conclude writing about this experience without mentioning the legal team. They were very approachable and all-ears to every doubt and questions and were very patient enough despite their hectic work to give the right guidance and exposure to a complete fresher in the industry. The team encouraged team-bonding exercises like team lunches and tea breaks which helped me to gel with the team effortlessly.
Overall the experience at IBS software has equipped me with the practical knowledge and know-how with respect to the legal and compliance side of a software company. It also helped me in thinking in a way that’s more beneficial to protect the interest of a company which is the primary duty of an in-house counsel. I would also like to thank the Placement Cell of GLC Thiruvananthapuram for providing me an opportunity to complete a very intellectually stimulating internship experience.
