Mumbai advocate praised for offering ₹45,000 stipend to interns. But there’s a catch…

A Mumbai advocate has polarised opinion on social media with his LinkedIn post offering ₹45,000 to interns for three months of work.

A Mumbai advocate has divided opinion with his LinkedIn post looking for law interns to work under him. The post from Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee gained wider attention after an X user praised him for offering a stipend of ₹45,000 to the selected interns.

A Mumbai-based advocate has divided opinion with his social media post on hiring interns (Representational image)

The X user, however, failed to read the finer print of the advocate’s post, which clearly mentions that ₹45,000 would be the stipend for three months of work. An intern, therefore, would essentially earn ₹15,000 a month, which – as many people pointed out – is still not at the lower end for internship stipends.

In his LinkedIn post, Mumbai-based advocate Rizwan Siddiquee said he was looking for three law interns to carry out “complex research and drafting work.”

The internship would last six months and the interns would be paid in two installments. For the first three months, an intern would earn a minimum of ₹10,000 per month - although the amount could go as high as ₹15,000 “depending on their capabilities and deliverables,” said Siddiquee.

The interns would be paid this cumulative amount at the end of three months - meaning that at the end of the three month period, they would get ₹30,000 or ₹45,000, depending on their pay grade.

"The said minimum amount of Rs. 30,000/- or Rs. 45,000/- (as the case may be) will be paid at the end of the 3rd month," he wrote.

For the next three months, the interns would get a 50% hike on their stipend, effectively going from ₹10,000 a month to ₹15,000 a month (or from ₹15,000 to ₹22,500 per month).

Take a look at the advocate’s LinkedIn post below:

On LinkedIn, the hiring post has received nearly 800 reactions and dozens of comments.

In the comments section, several LinkedIn users praised the advocate for his transparency in revealing salaries and also for his detailed post.

“For the first time, I’m seeing such an elaborated post on the internship! This way interns will get more motivated and will learn and work with the full zeal!” wrote one commenter.

“Rizwan, this is a very transparent and honest way to engage with interns and get the best out of them. I really appreciate the approach and opportunity you have provided for upcoming law graduates and I wish you the very best!” said another.

The post gained wider traction after a law student wrote about it on X.

“This one advocate in Mumbai who is offering Rs. 45K stipend to his interns has my utmost respect. The man is leading by example how the seniors at the bar should treat their juniors and interns,” the X user wrote.

Many, however, urged him to disclose the fact that the stipend amount of ₹45,000 would be paid for three months of work. Others, however, pointed out that ₹15,000 a month for an online internship is still a good deal.

“Thinking about tier 1 law firms giving 5k while making us work offline,” wrote one X user in response.