Supreme Court Law Clerk Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Eligibility

Part I carries 0.25 negative marking per wrong answer. Parts I and II are on the same day in two sessions with a one-hour break. In 2026, Part I was online, and Part II's question paper was shown on screen with answers written in pen and paper. The Scheme allows Part I by OMR, online or hybrid, and Part II in physical, pen-paper, online or hybrid mode.

Part II questions

The Scheme gives the paper's total as 300 and prints no figure against Question 1.

How the field narrows

1. Part I: 60 per cent. Below it, Part II is never marked.
2. If many clear Part I, Part II scripts are marked at 1:10 against tentative vacancies, on the Part I merit list.
3. Part II: 50 per cent.
4. Interview calls at 1:3 against tentative vacancies.
5. Interview: 150 marks, at least 50 per cent.

The written result is on combined Part I and Part II marks. The waitlist is ordered on Part I, Part II and interview combined.

There's no syllabus document as such. The Scheme sets out the format and question types, which is specific enough to prepare from.

Part I: 100 MCQs, 1 mark each, 2 hours 30 minutes

The questions include the relevant statutory provision where necessary, so you're tested on applying a section, not recalling its number. Both the old codes and the new sanhitas are named, since cases begun under the old codes continue under them.

Part II: what each question is marked on

• Question 1 (precis): identifying and marshalling the relevant facts; the legal issues before the High Court or appellate tribunal; the High Court's analysis in the impugned decision; its ratio; the grounds now before the Supreme Court; condensing and structuring logically; and brevity.
• Question 2 (research memo): use of relevant legal sources; legal language; exposition of the law; applying the law to the facts; structure of the opinion. Spotting which authorities don't apply is part of the test.
• Question 3 (analytical): developing an argument through reasons and examples; coherence and structure; sentence construction and grammar.

Outside the paper

The essential qualifications ask for research, analytical and writing skills and computer knowledge, including e-SCR, Manupatra, SCC Online, LexisNexis and Westlaw.

Age

20 to 32 years as on 7 February 2026, the last date for applying in the 2026-2027 cycle.

Essential qualifications

Scribes

PwD candidates can use a scribe, claimed on the proforma at Annexure-I or Annexure-IA of the advertisement with the entitling certificates. The scribe can't be a law graduate or law student, and must be one step below your qualification. Bring the documents to the exam and to document verification, or you lose the scribe and the candidature. No other attendant is allowed in.

False information

You're admitted on what you declare. If it turns out false, or you don't meet a condition, the candidature is cancelled without correspondence.

1. Part I, 100 MCQs, 100 marks, 60 per cent to qualify.
2. Part II, subjective written, 300 marks, 50 per cent to qualify.
3. Part III, interview, 150 marks, at least 50 per cent.
4. Consideration by Judges, against your own preference list of Judges' offices.

The ratios and thresholds between stages are in the exam pattern. After the written result, the list called for interview is published on sci.gov.in with the cut-off score.

Matching to a Judge

• Interview qualifiers submit a preference list of Judges' offices.
• On rank, each candidate is shortlisted for a Judge's office; a higher-ranked candidate is considered for a Judge from the top of their own list.
• Each office gets a proportionate number of candidates and may hold an online interview.
• By a first-round cut-off date, each office tells the Registry whom it wants. The rest are listed and shared with all Judges.

So rank decides who looks at you first, not who takes you.

Reserve Pool and waitlist

Mid-term changes

If a Judge retires mid-term, their Law Clerks go to the Reserve Pool. If a Law Clerk resigns or is terminated, the office may take someone from the Reserve Pool or the top of the waitlist, appointed until the end of the following summer vacation and extendable by twelve months.

Seeking support by unfair means disqualifies you and invites legal action.

There are no other allowances or perquisites: no DA, HRA, transport allowance or pension. It isn't a pay level in the 7th CPC matrix. It's a fixed contractual fee that doesn't rise during the term, and since you can't practise or take other work, it replaces your income rather than adding to it.

Term and notice

Time served counts towards the Advocates-on-Record exam. Waitlisted candidates are paid nothing.

Apply online only, through the link on sci.gov.in. Postal applications aren't accepted.

Fee

₹750, plus bank charges if any, non-refundable, paid online through the UCO Bank gateway. The advertisement prints a single fee with no category concession.

Upload and keep

Upload a recent photograph and signature. You get an Application Number; keep it. The admit card, call letter and all later notices come through the judicial clerkship portal with your registration ID and password. Email and SMS to your registered contacts count as received.

No corrections

• A submitted application can't be withdrawn or changed. There's no correction window.
• If you submit more than one, only the last counts.
• Applications that don't follow the instructions are rejected summarily.

An admit card confers no right to selection.

One institution: the Supreme Court of India, through its Registry (Recruitment Cell). What varies is the office you're attached to.

The Chief Justice and each Judge may have four Law Clerks, of whom the first two must come through the Registry's selection. The panel each year is about 90.

A Committee of Judges on Law Clerks, set up by the Chief Justice, nominates the Part II examiners. All rights over the engagement rest with the Chief Justice of India. The Scheme also commits to advertising widely, working with the Commissions for SCs, STs, Backward Classes and Women, and running awareness sessions.

Parts I and II are sat the same day in two sessions. The 2026 advertisement listed twenty-three cities:

Ahmedabad, Ambala, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Dehradun, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Imphal, Jodhpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram and Visakhapatnam.

The Scheme's standing list has Chandigarh and Gandhinagar instead of Ambala and Ahmedabad, and the number can change with applications. Go by each year's advertisement.

That's seven hours at the centre, six of them writing.

2026-2027 cycle

The yearly pattern

Watch for the advertisement in January, with the test in early March. In 2024 the scorecard and interview-preference shortlist came on 20 April 2024, the preference link on 22 April 2024, and the lists of those not qualified at interview and those placed in reserve or waitlist in June 2024. Notices appear only under Recruitments on sci.gov.in.

Download the admit card and call letter from the judicial clerkship portal with the registration ID and password you created when applying. Keep your Application Number.

An admit card confers no right to selection; you're admitted on the information you gave. Messages to your registered email and mobile count as received, so check both.

In 2026 Part I was online, and Part II's paper was on screen with answers handwritten. Scribe candidates must bring their supporting documents to the exam.

1. Part I model answer keys, the day after the test, with about a day and a half for objections at ₹100 each, refunded if valid. Other modes (letter, email) aren't entertained.
2. Individual scores on your registration portal.
3. The interview list with the cut-off score, on the Court's website.
4. Interview schedules, then the matching to Judges' offices.

The written result is on combined Part I and Part II marks. Part II is marked by examiners the Committee of Judges nominates. Results and notices appear under Recruitments on sci.gov.in. A place on the panel gives no right to regular appointment.

The minimum standards are published in the Scheme before anyone sits the paper: 60 per cent in Part I (100 marks), 50 per cent in Part II (300 marks), and at least 50 per cent in the interview (150 marks).

Sixty per cent with 0.25 negative marking is a high bar. Answering 80 questions, you need about 68 right to reach 60. Most Indian screening papers qualify at 30 to 40 per cent.

Even above 60, if many qualify, Part II scripts are marked only at 1:10. With a panel of about 90, that's roughly 900 Part II scripts and, at 1:3, roughly 270 interviews.

So Part I has the higher bar and the lower weight. The real cut-off is the one published with the interview list, on combined Part I and Part II marks out of 400.

• Build to 60 per cent in Part I with accuracy. At 60 right and 20 wrong you have 55; at 68 right and 12 wrong you have 65. Blind guessing among four options loses marks.
• Prepare both the old codes and the new sanhitas, alongside the Constitution, CPC and the Contract Act.
• Read the past year's Supreme Court judgments for their ratio. Recent developments are a whole Part I component. e-SCR, the Court's free reports database, is the source.
• Practise the precis. Take real Special Leave Petitions, write 750 words, then compare with the Court's own order. Brevity is marked.
• For Question 2, practise discarding. The bundle includes irrelevant decisions on purpose.
• Write by hand, to length. 750, 500 to 750, and 350 to 500 words in three and a half hours, reading off a screen and writing on paper.
• Grammar is marked in Question 3.
• Work the Court's own material. It hosts old question papers from 2015 onwards and a Sample Guide of Questions and Answers. Mark your practice answers against the Scheme's judging parameters. Coaching material from before the January 2024 Scheme may have the wrong thresholds or phases.
• Get fluent in the research databases named in the eligibility.
• Choose your Judges' preference list carefully. It decides what your year's work looks like.
• Sit it in your final year, when the material is fresh.

The Supreme Court publishes its own past papers: old question papers of the Law Clerk-cum-Research Assistant examination, from 2015 onwards, on sci.gov.in. It also publishes a Sample Guide of Questions and Answers for Law Clerk.

Part I model answer keys go up on the Court's website the day after each year's test, usually in early March, under Recruitments.

• Supreme Court Recruitments: every notice for this engagement
• Judicial Clerkship portal: application, admit card, call letter, results
• Advertisement No. F.21(LC)/2026-SC(RC), 20 January 2026: eligibility, fee, dates, centres
• Scheme, January 2024, as amended: pay, term, pattern, judging parameters, thresholds, matching
• Old question papers

Is this a permanent job in the Supreme Court?

No. It's a full-time contractual assignment with no right to regular appointment, and the Registry can end it on two weeks' notice.

Can I apply while I am still studying?

Yes, in the final year of a five-year or three-year law course. You need the degree before you start.

What is the age limit?

20 to 32, on the closing date (7 February 2026 last cycle).

What does it pay?

₹1,00,000 a month consolidated, ₹1,10,000 if extended after twelve months. No allowances.

What happens if I score below 60 per cent in Part I?

You're rejected and your Part II script isn't marked.

Is there negative marking?

Yes, 0.25 per wrong answer in Part I. Part II is subjective.

Will my Part II paper definitely be marked if I clear Part I?

Not if many clear it. Then scripts are marked at 1:10 against vacancies, in Part I merit order.

Does clearing the interview mean I am engaged?

No. You're matched to Judges' offices against your preference list, and each office chooses. Those not engaged go to the Reserve Pool or an unpaid waitlist.

Can I practise as an advocate during the assignment?

No, and you can't take other work. You can still enrol as an Advocate, and the time counts towards the Advocates-on-Record exam.

What does it cost to apply?

₹750, non-refundable, through the UCO Bank gateway.

Can I correct my application after submitting it?

No. Only your last submission counts.