In an extremely proud moment for the university, Ms. Sukriti Singh from the Class of 2017 ranked 110th in the extremely competitive and prestigious Delhi Judicial Services examinations 2019.
Q.When did the idea of taking up a career in judicial services prop up? A.Judicial services had been at the back of my mind as I started considering my career options in earnest during my fourth year. As almost all my batchmates geared up for Day Zero, I had to make a call and was able to deduce that I didn't want to do a corporate job, but I hadn't decided on what I would want to pursue. I knew I liked to write and I knew that I enjoyed studying law too much to give it up for an administrative career, so that narrowed it down a bit. Right after graduation, I happened to attempt the MP Judiciary prelims out of curiosity and once I cleared that, preparation just took its own course. Q.What role did NUJS have in shaping your interest towards the judiciary? A.This is not necessarily specific to the judiciary; I earnestly believe that if you immerse yourself into as many of the varied opportunities NUJS has to offer as you can, you will turn out the other end a very well rounded adult, able to mould yourself into whichever field you choose. Of the very many varied career paths the alumni of NUJS have taken, I think we all carry an indelible mark of having been a Noojie. There is also the immense leg up you get through mentors who take you under their wing regardless of you never having been on campus at the same time, something I have genuinely benefitted from during my preparation. Q.What was your motivation behind appearing for the exam? A.From my experiences during internships and those of my sister during her (brief) corporate stint, I knew that it would take some form of strong daily motivation to keep me at a job. Every single order made by a trial court judge affects at least two persons, and by extension their families, which to me is a very good reason to bring your best self to the job everyday. This coupled with the job security and prestige associated with the Bench, made for a clear mindset for the judicial services. Q. When did you start preparing for the judicial services? A.I started preparing in earnest after I appeared for the MP Mains in December 2017. I had, however, started being religious in my newspaper note-making since my final year. Q. Did you target only one state's examination or multiple states'? In case of multiple states, how did you change your strategies for each state? A.I have pretty much been writing exams continuously since I started preparing; it kept me on my toes and showed me how far I had progressed and what I needed to do to get further. Since the basic laws remained the same, I focused primarily on those along with general and legal awareness (Livelaw for the win!). Local laws and other extra laws I broadly covered as far as I could through MCQs (both past papers and mocks), because I tend to retain better through testing. Q. Did you opt for campus placement? A.I did not. Q.Would you like to give any tips or advice to the NUJS students aspiring to appear for judicial examinations? A.Still not entirely sure I am in a place to give out advice (the imposter syndrome is real, people) but being familiar with the paper pattern of whichever State your primary target is, would be essential. The first step is to analyse how that State tends to frame questions (I always started off with flipping through the past 10 year papers, atleast) and moulding your reading of the law accordingly. Some States have a more conceptual-practical bend while others have a more theoretical leaning and figuring out which is which will make your preparation more targeted. Most importantly, be honest with yourself about the things you are willing to give up in pursuing this path but once you have made up your mind and are willing to put in your dues, I assure you cracking any exam is doable for every single individual. Q. Which books did you refer during your preparation? Did you start your preparation directly with text books or the bare acts? Are bare acts reading with landmark case laws enough for preparation or text books are quintessential? A.Bare Acts are the natural starting point, and coupled with past papers, quite sufficient for prelims. For Mains, again, depending on which state you are going for, you tend to pick up important areas and landmark cases as you go through past papers. I made separate revision notes based on these and the mini-research sessions resulting from Livelaw articles almost every day. I only really used a textbook for Constitutional law (MP Jain) and then too only the relevant portions. Q.Where do you see yourself in future(in 10 years or so)? A.The major takeaway from this examination process, for me, has been the unpredictability of life. I never dreamed that Delhi would be the first state I cracked and yet, here I am. I just hope to do good work and be content in all my decisions then, as am I now :) At NUJS, it gives us immense pride and honour to congratulate her and wish her the very best on serving the nation. We also hope to her have her among us soon.
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