This article is written by Ramanuj Mukherjee, CEO, LawSikho.

Many law students and young lawyers complain to me that they are not able to enroll in our premium courses because of money issues.

However, if you are having money issues already, it will not only be for enrolling in our courses alone but everywhere else in your life is probably stuck for want of money. 

Maybe you want to watch a movie, but you have to stop yourself. Maybe you want to give a treat to your friends, but you can’t. Maybe you want to travel the world, but money is stopping you. I know the feeling.

The solution is to earn money. 

I am sure you know that. The question is how to earn money.

Well, one way to do so is to identify what side gigs you could possibly do. As a law student, it is best if you can do legal work and earn money. Even as a regular intern who comes in for 2 hours every evening to help with some legal work like drafting, filing or research, you can earn a small sum. That would be a way to start. 

But here is the thing. More your skills, the higher is your chances of earning a handsome amount. 

Here is a message I got from a student last evening:

Working with startups is a great idea for young students and lawyers to get started. Even if you have no other skill, you can get a small stipend for even handling their social media accounts!

You may have to start small, for free initially perhaps, but within a month or two you will be in a position to ask for money if you are generating enough value for the organization. Good work gets rewarded.

When I say this, many people tell me that this is easy to say when you live in a big city. Small cities do not have any startups.

What? Most towns actually have startups! When people say that to me, I do a quick google search. 

There are no startups in Siliguri!

Yeah? Did you even check? Here is what I found when I googled. 

https://yourstory.com/2017/12/siliguri-based-teabox-raises-7-million-series-b-funding

https://inc42.com/startups/from-siliguri-to-40-countries-how-udyan-tea-brewed-success-with-indias-tea-legacy/

I found 2 of them when I googled. And there are more. There is even a startup weekend happening in an institute called Inspiria!

Yeah fine, but I am in Udaipur. There are no startups here.

Again! There are at least 20 of them. 

https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-good-start-ups-in-Udaipur

There is even an incubation center called Startup Oasis.

Jabalpur? Sure. Check this out, over 35 startups have been incubated in Jabalpur Incubation Centre: https://jicjabalpur.org/startup

Please don’t give me lazy excuses. Do not listen to the hopeless seniors, do not get influenced by the excuses given by lazy and dejected people all around you.

Even if there are no startups in your area, even if that was true, if you have internet, you can reach out to them online all over the world and work with them online. Start for free, and then prove your worth, and then begin to charge.

Click Above

What if you are not interested in working with startups? What if you want to get paid a lot more?

No problem. There are lots of other businesses to work with. In every single district, no exceptions.

I will share with you a crazy idea on how you can get work as a law student or a young lawyer.

Here is my approach. Every district in India has an industrial profile published by the government. It will help you to understand the nature of industries in that district. Data is usually a little old, but still, it will help you to get a clear idea about what kind of work exists. 

I often get calls from lawyers and law students from different districts from all over India who claim that they do not have many opportunities locally. At this point, I proceed to pull up their district’s industrial report from Google, and start telling them about the kind of businesses that exist there and therefore the legal opportunities that must exist by corollary.

It also helps me to recommend courses that will suit them very well.

Every district has hospitals, hotels, factories, mines, transport companies, travel agencies, trading corporations and many other businesses that require legal help. You need to get your ass there, talk to people, build relationships. You need to understand what kind of legal work they have that is not getting done. Then help them.

Do not be lazy. 

Here are some district industrial profiles: 

http://dcmsme.gov.in/dips/DIPS%20Ahmednagar.pdf

http://dcmsme.gov.in/dips/DIP%20%20Etawah%20SK%20Gangal%20Inv%20G&C.pdf

Check out what is there in your district.

Listen, the poorest district in India is Alirajpur of Madhya Pradesh.

Here is it’s industrial profile: http://dcmsme.gov.in/dips/DIP_Alirajpur.pdf

Even there, there are 230 registered industrial units. Even there, you have over 105 agro-products units. There are 5 steel fabrication units and several engineering units. 

And there are 20 mining businesses!

Do they not need legal assistance?

It may not be a thriving legal market you want to make your career in, and I will surely advise any lawyer to get out of such a place as soon as possible and go to a place with more wealth, but my point is that you have no excuse to not get practical exposure by working with existing businesses in your environment.

And you always have the internet.

What is your excuse? Did you check what industries and businesses exist in your area? What are their legal needs? Are you in a position to cater to such needs?

What skills would you have to learn to be able to help those businesses?

Want to discuss this with us? We could guide you over a call.

Will any of the following courses help in any way?

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Diploma in Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Laws

Diploma in Advanced Contract Drafting, Negotiation and Dispute Resolution

Diploma in Cyber Law, Fintech Regulations and Technology Contracts

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Certificate Course in Labour, Employment and Industrial Laws for HR Managers

Certificate Course in Capital Markets, Securities Laws, Insider Trading and SEBI Litigation

Certificate Course in Media and Entertainment Law: Contracts, Licensing and Regulations

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Students of Lawsikho courses regularly produce writing assignments and work on practical exercises as a part of their coursework and develop themselves in real-life practical skill.