NCLA Internship Spotlight

Varun Mandgi

2023 Intern

Law School: Columbia University and Sciences Po Paris

Hometown: Richmond, VA

Campus Activities: Debate, Jessup Cup Moot Court, European Law Students Association, Entrepreneurship and Business Club, Philosophy Association.

Hobbies: Reading and writing books on philosophy

What were your duties as an NCLA intern? Conducting legal research, building case databases and brief banks, writing blog posts, organizing and staffing NCLA events, and processing case requests over email and phones.

What did you most enjoy about your internship? I enjoyed getting to meet so many incredible people at NCLA events and learn what conducting high level litigation looks like.

What interesting thing(s) did you learn about administrative law? I learned how difficult it is to guarantee due process behind the curtain of an administrative agency when “judges” and prosecutors work side-by-side.

How might you use what you’ve learned later in your professional career? NCLA has given me practical knowledge about how businesses and individuals can be directly impacted by government regulation and how the enforcement of these regulations threatens individual liberties. I have developed a serious appreciation for the procedural justice of governance systems that will influence the way I view and hopefully shape future governance systems in the firms and communities I join.

Any advice for other students who want to intern at NCLA in the future? Don’t be too shy to make friends. Everyone you meet at NCLA or at one of the firm’s events, whether they’re a law clerk, a litigator, a Ginsburg-Scalia Fellow, or a client, has an incredible story, and they’re always willing to tell it.