Winter Internship Assessment

Nov-Dec 2019
Singh & Associates

Submitted by
Shikhar Singh Rawat

Division- D
PRN- 17010223108
Semester- V
Batch- 2017-2022

Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA

Symbiosis International (Deemed University)
19th January, 2020

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 C E R T IF IC AT E

The Internship entitled “Winter internship presentation 2019” submitted to the Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA for the Course on,
Projects and Presentation in Semester V as part of assessment is based on my work carried out under the guidance of Singh &
Associates from 02nd December, 2020 to 31st December, 2020 at ABW Tower, MG Service Road Sector 25, IFFCO Chowk
Gurugram, Haryana. The written submission displays work carried out by myself by following the policies, rules and regulation
applicable at the place of internship. Further it has not been submitted elsewhere for any purpose academic or non-academic.

The material borrowed from other sources and incorporated in the written submission has been duly acknowledged. I understand
that I myself could be held responsible and accountable for submission of information otherwise, if any, detected later on.

Signature of the candidate

Date:19th January, 2020

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 WRITE-UP
Details of the Recruiter-

This Winter Internship break of 5th semester 2019, did my internship in a law firm name, Singh & Associates which was suggested
by one of my good friends. Manoj K Singh, Advocates and Solicitor was the founding partner of the law firm which was established
in year 2002 in New Delhi. He has extensive experience in domestic and international arbitrations, including ad-hoc and institutional
arbitrations, especially in infrastructure, shipping, telecom and mining. He has successfully represented his clients in many
international arbitrations, including under the rules of the ICC, LMAA, LCIA, and SIAC. He is a member of the Bar Council of
Delhi, a vice chairman of Legal Services Task Force of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and an assistant general secretary
of the Society of Indian Law Firms.

Manoj was ranked for dispute resolution practice by Legal 500 and was named Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year by Legal
Era’s Indian Legal Awards 2019. Chambers and Partners named him as a recognized practitioner in dispute resolution in 2019
and Asian Legal Business named him one of the top five dispute resolution lawyers of the year in its India Law Awards, 2019.

The firm has its offices at Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The firm has four major Practice areas i.e., Litigation and
ADR, Contracts and Transactions, Corporate, Insolvency and Tax, and Intellectual Property. S&A has got numerous awards for its
outstanding professional services. Mostly, I worked under the guidance of Tanuka De, Principal Associate, who used to give us
works like research on legal propositions and flagging and validating the entries given to us.

Internship tenure- 02nd December to 31st December.

Timings- 8:45am to 7:15pm

Work Assigned during tenure-

1. The concept of overhead cost: the proposition given was to “find a case laws based on overhead cost and case laws where
arbitrator has relied on Actual as well as Formula based methods for computation of damages”. Before we could find the
case laws, we should know the concept of overhead cost. For that to understand, McDermott International Inc. v. Burn
Standard Co. Ltd1 which explains that overhead costs are the cost which were spend even after the expiration of the time
period at same cost as earlier to complete the work. This is also the judgment where the court has used both the methods
i.e., Actual Based as well as Formula based to calculate the damages. The choice of use of any method is up to the
Arbitrator.
2. Loss of profit: claim for damages of the incomplete work which was held, represented as loss of profit. Two types of loss
of profit-
A) Extension of time
B) Terminated the contract (Future profit)
3. Escalation clause: In the commercial contract, tender is made as per the estimated price of material and labour in future.
However, such price can be changed unexpectedly due to uncontrollable reasons. Such unforeseen change in prices, shakes

1
MANU/SC/8177/2006
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 the foundation of bargain, which leads to frustration of the contract, which in turn leads to termination of contract. Basically,
Escalation Clause takes care of the rise and fall of the price.
4. Inordinate EOT or prolongation of contract: the proposition given was “claim for damages for Inordinate EOT due to
unforeseeable condition even when there exist No damage clauses”. Here, inordinate EOT means that the contract was
prolonged for too long on account of defaults of unforeseeable events. For this to understand, s. 56 of Indian Contract Act,
1872 (for short ‘ICA’) and a case law help to answer the legal proposition. Section 56 of ICA, states that impossibility of
performance i.e., An agreement to do an act impossible in itself is void. It also states that make compensation for non-
performance of the promise, where one person has promised to do something which he knew, or, with reasonable diligence,
might have known, and which the promisee did not know, to be impossible or unlawful.
National Carriers Ltd. v. Panalpina (Northern) Ltd2 this case law states that Unexpected difficulty is in general no
excuse for non-performance unless the parties have intended to end the contract on such situation. Please note that here, it
is dealing with the Difficulty and not Impossibility. Therefore, compensation must be paid to the contractor.
5. Pre-Arbitration Condition: Appeal rejected on the grounds that pre-conditions of contract not followed. G.D. Bhutani
& Co. v. DDA (2009)3 states that it’s a settled law that Arbitrator is not a judge in equity as he’s supposed to adjudicate
the claim made by parties in accordance with the terms of the contracts. Therefore, there were various judgments which
rejected the appeal only on the grounds that it didn’t satisfy the pre-condition of the contract.

Role and Responsibilities assigned-

1. Research on legal proposition.
2. Flagging and validating the entries given to us in voluminous data.

Learnings-
1. Never assume that you have done your job without intimating the same to the associates.
2. Update associates about you current status.
3. Avoid taking clerical work.

Overall Experience-
Work environment is one of the best things about this firm. Associates were very helpful and were always ready to help you out
with your problems.

You tend to remain active and engrossed with work. Whenever you feel free, you can discuss with them, any doubts related to
Intellectual property.

The best thing about the Sing and Associates internship was free supply of Tea and Coffee throughout the day and the friendly nature
of associates. Sometime, cakes and chocolates were also offered by the associates.

The firm also organizes office party, which is more than what an internee expects.

2
[1981] AC 675

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