Interview of Mr.Saksham Dwivedi (AIR 37, U.P. Judiciary, 2016 batch) on how to crack judiciary exam

1) Sir , please introduce yourself to our readers .

Hello Everyone, I am Saksham Dwivedi. Having graduated from CNLU in 2016, I joined UP Judicial Service (2016 Batch) and am currently serving as Civil Judge cum Judicial Magistrate at Ayodhya.

2) Please tell us about your law school period and what are certain things which one learn during law school which helps him/her in professional career ?

Law School was pretty amazing and those 5 years introduced me to the finest sets of people I know and made me stand where I am today. As far as learning is concerned, one should never restrict oneself. But at the very least, one should groom his/her speaking, reading and writing skills along with the foundational principles of law.

3) What is the one thing you experienced which changed totally after you finished your studies and entered into professional life ?

Entering the professional life is a very different experience from law school. To quote from Rang De Basanti, “college ke gate ke iss taraf aap life ko nachate hain, dusri taraf life aapko nachati hai.” Practising law is not wholly divorced from what you have learned in law school but yes, it is another extension of sorts in terms of experience.

4) Securing AIR 37 in U.P. Judiciary is a big feat.

Please tell us about your experience when you heard the news that you are AIR 37.

I was in Delhi with my friends when the results came out. It was a jubilant mood thereafter. I was rather confident of getting selected but yeah, seeing one’s name in the list is a relief that cannot be expressed in words.

5) What are the things which a law student should do in college , if he/she aims to clear Judicial Services Exams.

Please share your experience regarding your academic performance along with other co-curricular activities and internships which you did during your law school and how it helped in achieving such a remarkable feat .

Whatever be the professional inclinations of a law student, all that one should do is focus on learning law and harnessing skills required as a good lawyer. You do your bit and success will follow. As Palkhiwala used to say, God pays but not every week. As for me, I took to writing research papers and also started my blog. Over the years, I published over two dozen research papers in Law Reviews and Journals of many NLUs, other law colleges, Judicial Academies, Bar Councils and other independent publications. Having written those articles, I also took to participating in legal essay writing competitions and won 5 of the 11 competitions I participated in and garnered Merit Certificates in others. Another set of opportunity develops in terms of conferences and seminars wherein one can also use this to enhance their travel experiences. Best of all, I miss participating in the moot court competitions. We participated in Surana Trial Advocacy at NLUJAA , GNLU International Moot & 2nd MLS National Moot. Also, I worked with Lawctopus & Legally India in the 4th and 5th year. As for internships, I suggest everyone to explore every avenue viz law firms, advocates, govt offices, judicial clerkships. That will help you in choosing your career better.

6) What piece of advice would you give as a person who have written and published dozens of research papers to law students who have just put their foot in law college and have an interest in the research arena? How to deal with general issues whilst writing research paper like how to go about it, choosing a topic that grasp the viewers attention, how to garner relevant information pertaining to the topic and how to make the content different from what's already out there?

Writing research papers, articles, conference submissions are all similar in terms of the effort needed. Firstly, choice of topic should reflect an area where something is to found or postulated. There is no point in choosing a topic where there is already tonnes of literature available. It should reflect questions of contemporary relevance and significance. I would finalize the topic and then divide it into segments to confirm or the deny the research question or hypothesis. So each segment becomes a paper in itself culminating finally into one.

7)How did you paved your way into starting Lawoctopus Journal, landing up as its managing editor and making the journal a big success ?

Please share this experience of yours .

Lawctopus was looking to start a journal in 2014 and I applied for it. Tanuj Kalia, the founder of Lawctopus liked my CV and thus we began working on this concept called Academike. It was essentially to convert the tonnes of law school projects dumped otherwise to serve as useful basic literature on any topic. Also, the well researched projects were to be rewarded. We thus formulated a team and with the help of law school managers and associated editors, we created Academike.

8)Please share with us about your preparation journey of U.P. judicial services exams.

Which books you opted for different subjects and what was your strategy during the preparation.

For those who are preparing for Judicial Service Examinations, I’d suggest the following few pointers:-

 Each State has its own syllabus and thus, one size fits all strategy won’t work.

 Narrow down the States you wish to appear for, memorize their syllabi and go through their PYQs.

 Meet/Talk to people who have cleared the exams so that you can streamline and avoid trial and error.

 Sources for Law subjects remain same as in Law School. Read, Revise and Practice Test Papers. Do not pay extra focus on one portion compromising the others. Its a competitive exam and hence, play similar attention to maximize your scores.

 As for the GS portions, go through the PYQs to identify the nature and pattern of questions. Each state has a different focus and thus, you should try and capitalize on that. GS and Local Law scores often see the highest degree of variations. So, try and utilize them to score that little extra which will help in your selection and even in Ranks. A caveat herein, GS has the capacity of overwhelming the candidates. So, don’t get bogged down by the numerous resources. Restrict your sources for GS to one current affair magazine and one source for each subject. The magnitude of GS is too wide to be covered and hence, focus on retaining whatever you have studied by constant revision and practicing test papers.

9) Preparing for Judicial Services Exam is not a cakewalk. One needs to stay focused and concentrated on the goals along with putting a lot of efforts.

How one is supposed to be motivated and concentrated while preparing for Judicial Services Exams?

None of the competitive examinations are easy. So the key to succeed is to understand that you can only do your bit of hard work. The harder you work, the luckier you get. I had clear daily and weekly goals to be achieved and the most important bit is continuously revising whatever you have studied.

10) Thank you so much sir for talking with us , please end it with an adage which will motivate our readers in pursuing the legal profession.

Well, I’d like to quote from Fali Nariman’s autobiography where he, in turn, quotes Edmund Burke who used to say that ‘the study of law renders men acute and that they are able to auger misgovernment at a distance and sniff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze’.