The Supreme Court of India has approved revised guidelines for engaging law clerk-cum-research associates on short-term contractual assignments.

The guideline says that law clerks will be engaged purely on a short-term contractual assignment commencing from the re-opening of the Court after the summer vacation and concluding by the end of the following year's summer vacation.

The guideline further says that the term can be extended for the succeeding year subject to the satisfaction and approval of the Judge with whom the law clerk is attached or the senior-most Judge of the Committee of Judges on Law Clerks.

A law clerk engaged under these guidelines would be paid a remuneration of ₹80,000 per month for the assignment term, and if given an extension after twelve months of the initial assignment, then a remuneration of ₹90,000.

All the Judges would be entitled to engage four law clerks, of which two will mandatorily be through the selection process of the Registry. They will also be free to engage all four through the procedure. Moreover, subject to their workload, they can engage five law clerks.

The guidelines also say that the period of engagement of the law clerk will be counted for the purpose of eligibility requirement for the Supreme Court's Advocates-on-Record (AoR) examination.

After being selected and before being engaged in the Court, they will be trained by the Centre for Research and Planning or the Training Cell of the Supreme Court's Registry on the preparation of briefs, case notes, research notes, etc.

Click to read the complete guideline