Meet the Indian Litigation Fellows for 2024-25

Four lawyers have been selected for the Indian Litigation Fellowship, a program that aims to provide financial and mentorship support to empower young women entering the legal profession..While Preethi G, Dnyaneshwari Patil and Dhanya Visweswaran have been selected as Litigation Fellows, Siddhi Nagwekar has been selected as a Lawyer-in-Residence..Supported by Advocate Smaran Shetty, the Litigation Fellowship will allow the three fellows the chance to identify litigation chambers of their preference, where they will receive mentorship, professional exposure and training that align with their professional goals. The Lawyer-in-Residence - supported by IDIA, Tanmay Amar and Anusha Reddy - will work with Advocate Shrutanjaya Bharadwaj at Pravah Law Offices, New Delhi for a period of one year..Each of the fellows will receive a yearly amount of ₹3,60,000..Preethi is a 27-year-old hailing from a small town in Bhavani, Tamil Nadu. After finishing school in Kerala, she pursued a degree in Computer Science Engineering. She went on pursue law at Law Centre 2, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi and graduated in 2023. Preethi has a particular interest in women's and prisoners' rights. Specifically, she aspires to join a pro bono service office where she can play an active role in addressing social issues and providing legal assistance to individuals in need. At present, she intends to join Defenders Bureau, renowned for its commitment to providing legal advice, defending clients, and offering pro bono services..Patil hails from Nagpur and is a 2023 graduate of the Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University's Babasaheb Ambedkar College of Law. Currently, she is practicing in Nagpur under an advocate who majorly practices in the Bombay High Court.The intricacies and challenges involved in civil litigation have particularly captivated her interest, and she is eager to develop a robust command over civil law. In addition to civil law, she has developed a keen interest in debt recovery cases and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code due to her long-term internships in banking-related matters. However, she is also open to different aspects of laws covering criminal, taxation and service matters..Visweswaran is a recent graduate of National Law University, Odisha. She is particularly drawn towards criminal litigation due to its intrinsic problem-solving nature. She sees appellate side work as a puzzle of its own – having access to the entire lower court record allows for gaps and errors to be identified and fixed using a bird’s eye perspective. In the future, she intends to practice primarily as a criminal litigator in the courts of New Delhi..Nagwekar is a final year student of law at Karnataka State Law University’s Law School, Hubballi. Being a student from two states, she intends to practice in the courts of Karnataka and Maharashtra, and eventually at the Supreme Court someday. She intends to do the kind of work that will help uplift people, especially women, who continue to be subjected to unfair treatment whether at home, or at work. She shares a strong affinity and vocation for areas like access to justice, criminal justice and rights of women and children..The Litigation Fellowship is slated to commence this month, while the Lawyer-in-Residence fellowship will commence in September 2024.