Contents

1. Prospects
2. Academic Study
3. India's Premier Law Institutions
4. Law Institutes in Kerala

Qualifications in law offer attractive career avenues today. Judiciary has a very important role to play in India, which has further increased the importance of legal education. Traditionally, education in law has been considered a prestigious professional qualification along with medical science and engineering. Education in management science is the latest addition to this list. Legal education offers varied openings and gone are the days when a law graduate could only go in for legal practice or be a judge by joining judicial services.

Prospects

L.L.B (Bachelor of Law) is the basic degree in legal education and offers many openings. Legal practice is one of the most common one. A law graduate, after completing L.L.B. can get himself/herself enlisted in the local State/Central Bar Council to start private practice. In the absence of any practical and procedural training offered by most of the universities, the lawyers have to first get a bit of experience in consultation with some senior advocates before starting the work independently. Depending upon the aptitude and specialization, one could start practicing in civil or criminal cases, or even both.  Several law graduates prefer to specialize in only one of the above aspects. Today, the number of lawyers who specialize and practice in tax laws including the income tax, wealth tax and commercial law is increasing. Professionals dealing exclusively with the labour laws are also on the rise. Another dimension added to the conventional legal practice is setting up of legal firms/companies or even consultancies. There are several legal consultancies today, which specialize in the matters like patents, trademarks, sales tax or even foreign exchange. The number of such consultancies and the services offered by them are increasing rapidly in the metropolitan and industrial cities.

Another opening in legal profession is the service with the Government or corporate sector. State judicial services are one avenue to which recruitment is made by way of a competitive examination conducted by the State Public Service Commissions. Minimum academic qualification is a degree in law and the selected candidates are appointed as Sub-Judge or Munsif. Such candidates may rise to the levels of Chief Judicial Magistrate, District and Sessions Judge or even as Judge of the High Court, depending upon the seniority and vacancies. Even after practicing as a lawyer for a specified number of years, one can directly be appointed as an Additional District and Sessions Judge or even a Judge in the High Court, provided that in the opinion of the Governor/President, the candidate is considered to be suitable to hold such position.

Various Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), both in the States as well as at the Centre, need several Law Officers, Legal Assistants and even Managers (Legal Services). Law graduates with specialization in labour laws or company laws are preferred in such cases. Law graduates are also required by the JAG (Judge Advocate General) Branch of Army Headquarters for handling the legal matters, Court Materials etc. Law professionals in this case are selected as Commissioned Officers in the regular ranks. But they have to undergo Services Selection Board (SSB) interview for judging their suitability for service in the Armed Forces. The SSB interview is a comprehensive test of one's personality in which leadership traits of the person concerned are judged.
Teaching is yet another option. Law graduates with good percentage and a good aptitude and taste for teaching; may also go in for LL.M (post graduations) or even D.L. or LL.D (Doctorate). The teaching job can be taken up in any University or Institute offering law courses to students.

Academic Study

Conventionally, LL.B. study is taken up after doing graduation in any stream. The three years LL.B. course, after graduation, enables a candidate to become a law professional. Hence the Bar Council of India now decided to introduce a five-year integrated law program after 10+2 Level. After completion of this program, a candidate would be awarded a degree of LL.B. Many Universities/Institutions in India have already switched over to this new system. Among these are: Mohan Lal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, Kerala University, Osmania University, Calcutta University, Madurai Kamraj University, Symbosis Societies Law College at Pune, Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar, M.D. University Rohtak, Calicut University, Pondicherry University, Andhra University, Shivaji University Kolhapur, Nagpur University and Jodhpur University.

The admission procedure and rules adopted by various Universities are different. Some of the universities have also started the method of having an entrance examination for LL.B. Courses, but this practice is not very common. The minimum requirement of marks at the 10+2/graduation level is also different.
One of the most prestigious degrees in law is given by the National Law School Bangalore, sponsored by the Bar Council of India. It is a five year integrated program taken up after 10+2 level. The admission is granted on the basis of an entrance test. To be eligible, a candidate must secure at least 50 per cent marks in any discipline at 10+2 level and should not be more than 20years of age. National Law School (NLS) has a few examination centers for entrance examination at places like Delhi, Calcutta, Bangalore and Pune. The entrance examination is objective type in nature and is only in English medium.

NLS offers one of the best LL.B. degrees in the country. Even post graduate courses are offered at the School. Teaching is not restricted to the conventional classroom methods only and adopts innovative ways to make the study of law more practical and interesting. Methods like case studies, mock court procedures and mock trials are resorted to with a vie~ to make the understanding easy and observing. Most of the law graduates of NLS, who wish to take up salaried jobs, are picked up by many private concerns by way of campus interviews. Even those who decide to go in for Government jobs or private practice have been doing exceptionally well.

The aspiring candidates must prepare well on the aspects like General Awareness, Reasoning, Numerical Aptitude and basic knowledge of Political Science and Indian Polity. All the above information is available in plenty in "The Competition Master" month after month. Aspirants are advised to start early and continue to be in touch even after their selection, particularly if they wish to go in for competitive examinations after the LL.B.

There are many universities, which offer law degrees by correspondence or open education System. Normally such degrees are called BGL (Bachelor of General Laws), BAL (Bachelor of Academic Law) or even LL.B. (Academic). Annamalai University, Madurai Kamraj University, Kurukshetra University and Jammu University are some of the universities offering such law degrees. The opportunities available to law graduates are ample and a person with such a degree can Straightaway go in for legal practice or seek a Government or Corporate jot)after an initial Struggle for a few years, during which time the lawyers try to understand the procedural and Practical aspects, private practice become highly paying and one can choose the courts at Subdivision/Taluk/Tehsil Level, District Level, and State Level or even at the Central Level (Supreme Court). But one thing must be kept in mind. One has to have a certain type of aptitude to be successful in legal profession. The candidates willing to do well must cultivate the required aptitude. Such an aptitude includes good communication skills both written as well as oral good listening and understanding capability, regular reading and having general awareness of happenings in the country as well as around the world. The technological development has also influenced the legal profession where computers have made deep inroads in a big way and in the years to come, computers will be increasingly used in legal profession. Hence, a good knack of the handling computers is also a must.