Research Internship at the Centre for Labour Law Research and Advocacy (CLLRA), NLU Delhi (Online or Offline, Minimum 4 Weeks, Rolling Applications)

The Centre for Labour Law Research and Advocacy (CLLRA) is a research unit of National Law University Delhi. It was set up to reinvigorate labour law thinking in the context of the debates around the new labour legislation, to revisit the jurisprudential understanding of the labour law framework, and to strengthen the livelihood discourse through a bottom-up approach. Its work covers the whole of the workforce, with particular attention to the informal sector and to workers from marginalised communities.

The Centre carries out documentation of informal sector work, analysis of the four Labour Codes, comparative jurisprudence, budget analysis of welfare funds, boards and schemes, and evaluation of entitlements and health systems for working people. Alongside research it undertakes advocacy, public interest litigation, training programmes and publications, including a double-blind peer-reviewed annual journal on labour. The Chief Patron is Prof. G.S. Bajpai, Vice-Chancellor of NLU Delhi, the Patron is Prof. Ruhi Paul, and the Director is Dr. Sophy K. Joseph, Associate Professor of Law at NLU Delhi.

CLLRA has an open call for interns on a rolling basis. The Centre describes the programme as a chance for students to gain hands-on experience in the field of labour law, and as an opportunity for undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students to engage in labour and legal academic research, policy development and outreach.

Ideal candidates are described as enthusiastic and motivated individuals with a strong interest in labour law and social justice issues, who have good research and writing skills and can work both independently and as part of a team.

• Legal research on labour law and allied issues
• Drafting of reports and publications
• Writing blogs and case briefs, for which formatting guidelines are supplied by the Centre
• Assisting with ongoing research projects of the Centre
• Helping organise seminars and workshops

Interns are expected to be familiar with the standard research databases, including SCC Online, Manupatra, HeinOnline and JSTOR, and to follow the research ethics set out in the UGC guidelines.

The internship is open to students from all law schools and universities, as well as to recent graduates with a keen interest in labour law. The Centre states that the programme is for undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students, and that while it primarily takes law students, it also welcomes students from other backgrounds who have an interest in labour and policy research.

Interns can choose between full-time and part-time positions, and between online and offline modes, with a minimum commitment of four weeks. The offline option is at the NLU Delhi campus, Sector 14, Dwarka, New Delhi.

The Centre sets out a three-step process for its internship programme:

• Written submission
• Interview
• Approval

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Send a resume, a cover letter and a writing sample to cllra@nludelhi.ac.in. The Centre asks for applications by the first week of the month preceding the month for which the internship is requested, so an applicant seeking a November internship should write in the first week of October.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and there is no application fee.

CLLRA publishes a set of internship guidelines that selected interns are required to follow. Interns maintain a shared task sheet recording the work allotted, who assigned it and the deadlines, which also feeds into the preparation of the internship certificate. They report back on their own initiative to whoever assigned the task, raise queries at the start of a task rather than at the deadline, and keep the Centre's work confidential. The Centre notes that failure to submit assigned work can lead to the internship certificate being withheld, and that an internship may be withdrawn where the guidelines are breached.