As a law student in UiTMLaw, there will be a subject that requires you to undergo Industrial Training (to put simply, an internship) during your semester break for 4-5 weeks. You may do the internship either in semester 4 or semester 5 of your law degree. The faculty just wants to expose the students to multifarious people, situations and legal work. Even though you might not get the chance to enjoy and rest during your semester break, on the bright side, you will get the first-hand experience in the legal profession and a close look at the day-to-day responsibilities that come with being an attorney. But apart from this compulsory syllabus, you can always try to apply for an internship at any firm throughout your law school journey, but it is all depending on your courage and zeal.
So, this article is to help future legal interns to make preparations and picture the real-life situation of industrial training.
I believe that everyone has high hopes and expectations at the beginning of their internship experience since you will expect to learn a lot of new knowledge and skills. But the reality is often not as sweet as a dream and probably not everyone had a good internship experience. Since we are still in a pandemic, you might not get a lot of chances to go for a court proceeding with your supervisor as many hearings will be conducted online. You will not always get the tasks that are related to your studies, and you will sometimes get tasks that are related to administration, marketing, or even clerical work. Just assume that it is part of your learning curve that will give you the chance to learn a new skill that can be helpful in the future. Being given a task to photocopy tons of documents is normal and everyone will experience the same thing. This will somehow assist you in acquiring the skills you need so that you can perform up-to-par when you are hired full-time. Remind yourselves of the whole purpose of doing the internship when you started to have some negative thoughts on the task given. In short, if you think you will feel insincere when you are not being paid for interning there, then try to find a place that will pay you because every internship involves your investments in time and energy and at the end of the day, it will be you who gets tired and not the firm.
The lecturers will always remind us to find a place that is near our house and easy for us to commute for one month or any place that would be convenient to us. You need to always consider the duration to get there, and if you are driving, then you need to think of the fuel consumption, traffic jam, and parking fees. But if you are okay with the distance etc and you want to take this internship as a practice for your chambering or working life, then just apply to the firm that you have been wanting to go to. On a side note, it will be more fun if you can get the placement with your friends instead of interning alone. At least they could make your internship experience more bearable because when I was interning alone, it can certainly be daunting to confront new people but it was not really bad.
The supervisor will not always be in the office and he or she might forget to entertain you, and hence, you should not hesitate to ask for more new tasks. It is fine if you want to speak up and mention something specific that you would like to learn, or you can ask the supervisor if there is anyone else in the office that you should ask if your supervisor does not have anything ready for you. This is your chance to ask a lot of questions whenever you feel curious or confused about a certain application of law or its procedures. It can be the biggest mistake and regret if you do not take initiative as you might end up finding yourself getting bored on the clock and start scrolling through Twitter. This will be a waste of your time when you actually can learn more if you ask and be proactive. You cannot treat your internship as permission to sit back and wait for things to happen or to expect them to know what task that they should give to you. I know when our only job as students was to sit and be taught but in industrial training, it might not give a positive impression about you and your institution. I believe that your efforts to gain more experience and be helpful to the team or company will not go unnoticed.
I hope that your industrial training could help to furnish insight into what type of law that you would want to pursue after graduating from law school and take this perfect opportunity to explore your options. Good luck!
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