[Paid] Criminal Justice Student Fellowship at The Square Circle Clinic, NALSAR (Stipend Rs 60,000)

The Square Circle Clinic is a criminal justice initiative at NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad, with offices in Delhi, Pune and Nagpur. It was established in April 2025 by the team that built and led Project 39A from 2013 to 2025. Its pro-bono work and research span the death penalty, forensics, mental health and criminal justice, wrongful convictions, criminalisation and punishment, prevention of torture, and the use of science and technology in criminal justice.

The Criminal Justice Student Fellowship (2026-27) is a 12-month intensive programme through which Fellows work closely with the Clinic's litigation, mitigation, research and communications teams, and gain exposure to how a defence-oriented criminal justice organisation functions in practice.

• Research: doctrinal, philosophical, interdisciplinary and empirical work on forensic science (with a focus on DNA forensics), mental health and criminal justice, the death penalty, wrongful convictions, the criminalisation of poverty, and science and technology in criminal justice.
• Litigation: assisting the team in preparing death penalty cases and other strategic litigation, including legal research, analysing case records and preparing case briefs.
• Mitigation investigation: developing comprehensive life histories of prisoners sentenced to death for use in sentencing proceedings.
• Strategic communications: contributing to public engagement through blogs, social media and other communication strategies.
• Independent research project: completing a small supervised research project feasible within 12 months.

The Fellowship is open to students in the III, IV and V year of the integrated 5-year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) programme, or the II and III year of the 3-year LL.B. programme, during the academic year 2026-2027.

Fellows are expected to work a minimum of 15 hours a week during the academic year and to balance the Fellowship with their other academic commitments. Given the nature of criminal defence work, there may occasionally be periods requiring additional time.

There are three Fellowships, each for 12 months starting mid-August 2026. The Fellowship can be done remotely, but Fellows are required to work in-person at the Clinic's Delhi office for eight weeks cumulatively during the year (preferably in two installments of four weeks each); equivalent II-AC train fare is reimbursed. Selected Fellows may also travel to Delhi for the induction programme, for which travel and accommodation support is provided.

Fellows are paid a stipend of Rs 60,000 (Rupees Sixty Thousand Only) after the successful completion of the Fellowship.

Applications are accepted only through the online application form at https://forms.gle/J2fm7g3KnmAHiCom8. The deadline is 5 PM, 31st July 2026. Applicants must upload: (A) a resume; (B) a Statement of Purpose of not more than 700 words responding to the prescribed questions; and (C) a writing sample of not more than 1200 words (excluding footnotes) critically commenting on a criminal justice issue. Submissions exceeding the word limit will not be considered.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an online interview, and the Clinic reserves the right to conduct further rounds. If applicants do not hear back by 10th August 2026, they should assume the application was unsuccessful.