Today we have with us,  Smriti Tripathi, a young judicial officer from Jharkhand. She has her own Blog – On law and life where she shares her writings, legal pieces as well as resources and tips for judicial aspirants. There is especially helpful content regarding it like – How to memorise content for Judicial services, answer writing tips, what to study, where to get study material, etc.,  so be sure to check it out.

Thank you for coming to the interview. Would you kindly introduce yourself to our readers?

Thank You, Puralika, pleasure is all mine. Hello, I am Smriti Tripathi a law graduate from National University of Study and Research in Law, Ranchi, and am presently awaiting my joining as a judicial officer in Jharkhand.

Why did you choose law when almost all other branches of study are ‘trending’?

Haha! That’s an interesting one. I was in 10th standard when my father, knowing that I had no interest to become a doctor or an engineer (which were the only two courses people talked about then, and to an extent even today), suggested that I take the CLAT exam if that interests me. I did very well in my 10th boards, and naturally took science stream upon advice. But I wrote only one exam after I completed my schooling; CLAT. So I guess in a way, due to my father’s advice I was pretty clear about what I have to do and did not mentally exhaust myself by attempting to write any of the AIEE, JEE or other exams that everyone in my class was preparing for, simply because I knew these aren’t the paths for me.

Why did you choose Judiciary as a career option when legal dramas glorify litigation or law firms?

So again, judiciary was something my father suggested way back when I was in the 10th standard, but I was open to all options. Throughout the five years at law school, I interned at a variety of places, including lawyers who practiced at the district courts, High Courts, the Hon’ble Supreme Court, three of the ‘big five’ law-firms and with the in-house counsel of a company. All these internships were aimed at exploring the various paths I could take upon graduation, but none spoke to me too much, although I was overjoyed with the amount of learning I got at these places. Uptill my third year I was pretty sure that I would be joining a law-firm and practice IPR Law majorly, but after a wonderful internship at one law firm, with the best team I have ever worked with, I gave future a serious thought, and thought 20years down the line. It was in my 8th semester that I finally decided that I will prepare for judicial services.

As to the fact of legal dramas glorifying law firms, I had pretty much seen the inside picture and the amount of hard work that goes in making a firm. I had also interned with a Judge of the Hon’ble Bombay High Court, and could draw the contrast of the kind of work that goes on in both these places, and could see what spoke more to me. I think that practicing law is the most rewarding and thrilling thing for someone who loves law, but my choice was a personal one, suited to the kind of person I knew that I am.

Tell us about your blog – ‘on law and life’. What is it all about?

So, as the name suggests, I don’t just blog on law, but also about a few things here and there. I started this blog in 2009, if memory serves me right and as a kid I just wanted it to be a permanent repository of the novice poems I wrote. As I moved to legal writing my blogging took a halt in law school and I kinda forgot about it. Recently, after I got free from full-time examination preparations, I started writing about taking the judicial services exam, where I share tips and samples. I also plan to share plethora of answer writing samples and make a repository of previous year papers of all the states under one roof.

What inspired you to start it?

Boredom and the Lockdown, I guess. Haha, no so really what happened is that having exhausted myself off all that there is to binge upon on Netflix and Prime, I was extremely bored. I like to do multiple things at a time and cannot stay idle mentally though physically there’s very less that I do. So one day while I was jogging in my garden it suddenly struck me that there is no guide-book for Jharkhand Judicial Services. I then decided to write one. I spoke to the publisher and he happily agreed. But there was one problem. You see, my style of writing is conversational. I write as if I am speaking to the reader, this speaking I couldn’t do in the book. The publisher wanted the book to simply be a ‘Solved Past Year Papers’ book whereas I had sooo much I wanted to tell the students. It’s the little things I learnt in my journey, the little secrets that I wanted to spill.

So, I decided to resume blogging and from a blog that hosted my poetry, and proses, I revamped it to accommodate everything I wanted to tell the aspirants. There’s a lot of content on the internet that will serve as your study material, and so, my aim is to also blog on how to study and attempt questions.

Did you face any difficulties – technical or otherwise while making your blog?

Well, really, no. As I said the blog pretty much existed since a decade, it was just called something else. As to the technical part, I host it on blogger, so there isn’t much coding that I had to do. Although I learnt very-very basic coding in standard 6th and that has all been put to use in this blog. I twitch the CSS Code to accommodate content and new design. I keep changing the look and feel of the blog every now and then, and quite enjoy it.

How do you share content consistently on it? How much time does it take to work one post?

An hour a week at tops. I don’t write to market my content so I enjoy the liberty to really write when I have something to say. My goal is that after going through my blog, a student who cannot afford coaching can pick up the basic material and start confidently with his preparation. I keep going back to my days and try to remember the doubts I would have or the things that I learnt through my journey. I thus blog about basic things like what to study, from where to study, how many hours one should study, or what to do if one cannot remember what they have studied. These are all basic questions that trouble most aspirants, and we have all been there, all of us, trust me. I figured out the things that worked for me in some time, and I just aim to save that time for the readers of my blog.

Do you see yourself working on the blog even after you are working full time as a judge? Or would there be any restrictions due to Judicial protocol?

Well, as long as my goal is to offer a genuine hand of help, I don’t think there will be restrictions upon blogging after my joining. I do hope to keep blogging even then.

 Before we end, what message would you like to give to our readers?

Well, if they’ve made this far reading my interview, then I would thank all of them and request them to make intelligent choices regarding their preparation. There is an ocean of content nowadays on and off the internet and as an aspirant with limited amount of time in hand, it’s upon them to use it wisely. Choose good content for preparation, don’t read one thing from eleven sources. If you think one source gives you a good understanding then rather read it eleven times, that would do you more good, trust me. And for any queries, you may reach out to me via the Contact Form on my blog. I hope you all get what your heart desires the most. Happy preparation, people. See you on the other side!