O'Melveny & Myers' (OMM) Singapore office is to offer annual internships to Indian law students in association with a Bangalore not-for-profit organisation.

The US firm's Singapore base, which has a focus on Indian capital markets led by counsel Pooja Sinha, has agreed to take one student per year from India for a four to six week period, with all expenses and a weekly stipend paid.

The scheme is backed by an Indian project which trains and mentors underprivileged law students in the country, known as Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA).

The internships are specifically targeting law school volunteers at the organisation, and particularly those in their penultimate year of university.

IDIA currently has 400 student volunteers recruited to help would-be law graduates from minority or underprivileged backgrounds to obtain places at universities and to study for the Common Law Admissions Test (CLAT) – India's centralised exam for admission to prominent national law schools.

To intern with OMM, two or three student team leaders will be put forward each year by IDIA trustees, with the law firm selecting the best candidate after interviews.

O'Melveny & Myers Singapore base comprises four core practices – Indian capital markets; investment funds; banking and finance; and restructuring and insolvency.

The firm currently has three partners on the ground in Singapore, with investment funds partner Dean Collins due to leave the firm in the near future to set up a base for Dechert.

OMM currently does not have a licence or joint venture partner allowing it to offer local law advice, but has said it continues to keep the option under review.

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