In the corridors of Parliament, amid queries on legal reform, came a quiet but meaningful update: the Bar Council of India (BCI) is working on a Model Code of Legal Internships. The initiative—still in draft stage—aims to bring order, equity, and transparency to a chaotic and often opaque system.
The revelation came as Union Minister of State for Law and Justice, Arjun Ram Meghwal, responded to a pointed question in Parliament about the conditions faced by law interns across the country. The question, posed by MP Praveen Khandelwal, asked whether there was any central mechanism to standardise stipends, ensure fair selection, and provide grievance redressal for budding legal minds interning with advocates, firms, and corporate legal cells.
The Ministry didn’t offer a silver bullet—no binding rule, no guaranteed stipend. What it did promise was structure.
According to the Ministry, the BCI’s forthcoming Model Code is designed to uphold “fairness, transparency, and accountability” in the administration of internships—principles that, so far, have largely relied on the goodwill of individual practitioners.
While stipends remain a recommendation rather than a rule, the BCI has previously issued guidance for junior advocates: ₹20,000 per month in urban areas, ₹15,000 in rural zones—minimums suggested for the first three years of practice. But these, too, remain non-binding.
So, while there won’t be a mandatory paycheck for interns just yet, the wheels are turning toward something more reliable—an ethical compass for legal internships, long overdue in a profession built on justice.
