Digital Fellowship 2024 by NLU Delhi [Stipend Rs 50K, 5 Seats]: Apply Now!

About National Law University, Delhi

National Law University, Delhi (NLUD) is one of the National Law Universities in India, situated in Sector-14 of Dwarka, Delhi. It offers courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. As one of the national law schools in India, NLUD is built on the five-year law degree model proposed and implemented by the Bar Council of India. The National Law University Act, 2007, provides for the Chief Justice of India to be the university’s visitor, the Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi to function as the university’s chancellor, and its vice-chancellor to function as the chief administrator.

About the Fellowship

The Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University, Delhi (CCG), is calling for applications for the DIGITAL (Digital Rights and Inclusive Technology for All) Fellowship, to be offered to successful candidates for a period of 8 to 10 months. The Fellows will be hosted by a civil society organization or litigation chambers (host organizations) to provide them with exposure to litigation research in digital rights and other areas.

They will also develop legal and policy research under the guidance of the CCG. Throughout the Fellowship, the host organizations will work on a range of cases across digital rights and other litigation subject areas. The Fellowship aims to create an enabling environment to provide Fellows with litigation skills and exposure across a range of subject areas.

The Fellowship Programme

The DIGITAL Fellowship 2024 is an 8 to 10-month full-time Fellowship that will be awarded by a Selection Committee. The Fellows will be placed either in civil society organizations undertaking litigation around digital rights or litigation chambers that are involved in litigation across subject areas, including digital rights. CCG has a list of potential organizations and litigation chambers that the Fellows can be placed with. However, applicants are welcome to suggest organizations or litigation chambers where they would be interested in working within their application form.

The final discretion on the placement of the Fellows with a host organization remains with CCG. The Fellowship will commence in April 2024.

Stipend

A monthly, non-negotiable stipend of INR 50,000 will be provided to each Fellow. They intend to offer the Fellowship to a maximum of five full-time Fellows for this edition. In exceptional circumstances, CCG may choose to award part-time Fellowships to candidates depending on their application and profile.

Eligibility

Applicants for the Fellowship must:

• Be born on or after January 1, 1989;
• Be registered with the Bar Council of India, or, have a provisional registration with State Bar Council. Please note that applicants with a provisional registration with a State Bar Council may be eligible to apply if their registration is valid until 31 May 2025.
• Demonstrate a strong interest in and commitment to the development of digital rights and related subject areas; and
• Have excellent legal writing, drafting, and oral advocacy skills.
• Preference will be given to applicants with a minimum of two years’ experience in litigation.

Responsibilities

Litigation research, drafting, and briefing

Fellows will be required to undertake extensive research to support the development of petitions and other filings at the host organization, irrespective of whether the subject matter is related to digital rights or not. Fellows will also be involved in
briefing the senior advocates/counsels who are leading arguments in courts in these cases.

Research and policy output

The Fellows will be required to carry out high-impact policy-centric research and write briefs, responses, blogs, articles, and other documents around digital rights.

Building a national network of digital rights stakeholders

Through CCG, the Fellows will convene lawyers, technologists, and civil society organisations working on digital rights issues to enable an exchange of ideas and facilitate learning from each other.

Selection Process

Interested applicants must submit the following:

A signed and completed DIGITAL Fellowship 2024 Application Form, is available here. The form has the following two essay questions, which applicants have to answer in a maximum of 5000 characters (including spaces):

Discuss up to 3 cases you were directly involved with in your career, which in your opinion, have been impactful. Give details of the cases, including the judicial forum, outcome, and impact, as well as your role in achieving them. It encourages applicants to highlight their experience in fundamental rights/digital rights litigation. If you do not have experience in litigation, discuss up to 3 projects that you have worked on in areas relating to digital or fundamental rights. Provide details of the projects, their significance and outcomes, and the role you played in achieving them.

If granted the Fellowship, please clearly articulate your goals, their alignment with the Fellowship’s objectives, and how you would go about achieving them. Please also specify how the Fellowship fits in with your broader professional goals. Applicants should note that they cannot save their work on the application form and return to it later, so they may find it advisable to prepare their essays beforehand. Candidates will have to submit the following information in the form-

• A copy of their Certificate of Practice issued by the Bar Council of India, or a Copy of the Enrolment or provisional certificate issued by their State Bar Council which clearly lists the date of expiry;
• A two-page Curriculum Vitae (CV);
• A writing sample (published or unpublished article, essay, blog) between 1000-2000 words on a topic preferably related to the Fellowship.
• Names and contact details of two professional or academic referees who can be contacted for an oral or a short written reference (to be filled in the form).
• Please combine the CV and writing samples in a single PDF file labeled as “[Your name] – DIGITAL Fellowship”. The PDF should be uploaded on the link provided in the application form.
• Since it requires applicants to upload their CV and writing sample, accessing the form requires a Google (Gmail) login. For applicants not having a Google (Gmail) account, it encourages them to create an account, following the simple and quick steps here.

Click Here to Apply.

The official notification is here.