Introduction: Studying law as a career choice has become very popular now days, much because India has developed into a mammoth nation with a legal system in place. What does it mean to have a legal system? The legal system in any country makes up the judiciary system with a set of rules and regulations known as the rule of the nation.
The judiciary system works as a redressal forum for settlement of disputes, punishment in criminal cases and safeguarding human rights. Whereas the same judicial system is also required for performing other legal activities like land registration, legally certifying marriages, registration of trusts and NGOs, registration of companies etc.
To perform the various legal chores as per our need we require a professional who have a sound knowledge of the Legal system in our country and here in comes the need of an “Advocate” or a “Lawyer”.
The advocate or a lawyer is a representative of the party in the court of justice he/she is a professional who has acquired an academic degree of Law education in India and is been permitted by the “Bar Council of India” to practice ones skills learned during their legal education.
The term Legal education is used for the various programs that are taken up by individuals to get a valid degree in legal education before they could finally professionally become a practitioner.
Before we move further let us first understand what is Bar Council of India.
The Bar Council of India is a statutory body established under the section 4 of advocates Act 1961 that regulated the legal practice and legal education in India. The members of the council are elected members from the lawyers in India and represent the Indian bar.
It recommends standards of professional conduct, etiquettes and exercises disciplinary jurisdiction over the bar. The same council also set standards for legal education and grants recognition to Universities whose degree in legal education will serve as a qualification for students to enroll themselves as advocates upon graduation.
Functions of Bar Council of India
Section 7 of the Advocates Act, 1961 lays down the Bar Council’s regulatory and representative mandate. The functions of the Bar Council are to.
- Lay down standards of professional conduct and etiquette for advocates.
- Lay down procedure to be followed by disciplinary committees
- Safeguard the rights, privileges and interests of advocates
- Promote and support law reform
- Deal with and dispose of any matter which may be referred by a State Bar Council
- Promote legal education and lay down standards of legal education.
- Determine universities whose degree in law shall be a qualification for enrollment as an advocate.
- Conduct seminars on legal topics by eminent jurists and publish journals and papers of legal interest.
- Organize and provide legal aid to the poor.
- Recognize foreign qualifications in law obtained outside India for admission as an advocate.
- Manage and invest funds of the Bar Council.
- Provide for the election of its members who shall run the Bar Councils.
- Organize and provide legal aid to the scheduled caste.
The source of information on Bar Council of India is from Wikipedia page
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Council_of_India) copy paste link in a browser.
How to complete Law courses in India.
There are two ways to acquire a Law degree in India.
- Degree after 12th standard: The establishment of the specialized Legal education universities/college in India has created a 5 year integrated degree program which could be pursued right after the successful completion of 10+2 from a recognized board.
- Post under graduation degree: The traditional 3 year Bachelor degree program is for aspirants who already hold a Bachelor’s degree.
The above mentioned programs (Integrated 5 years and 3 years degree programs) both are eligible for enrollment with the Bar council of India. An individual having the degree has to fulfill the eligibility conditions and after the approval they may appear in any court in India.
LAW courses available in India.
- Bachelor of Law (L.L.B): The duration of degree is 3 years and one has to have an undergraduate degree in any stream from a recognized university.
- Integrated degree: The duration of this degree is 5 years and could be pursued after the 10+2 from a recognized board. These degrees are mostly offered in the autonomous colleges having duration of five years.
- Master of Law (L.L.M): The LL.M. is most common postgraduate degree which has duration of one/two years. UGC introduced the one year LLM course in 2012.
- Master of business Law: The focus of the MBL is on business law also comes with one or two year completion time duration.
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph D): Ph D programs are great for individuals seeking to teach courses in colleges also good for freelancers and Law enthusiasts. Many autonomous institutions provide the Ph D degree.
- Integrated MBL-LLM/ MBA-LLM: Generally a three years double degree integrated course with specialization in business law.
Admission process, Eligibility and Entrance exams for Law courses in India.
Admission process
Admission in LLB is done through the entrance exam and the score card of the entrance exam is used to secure a seat in merit list. It should also be noted that many prestigious universities and colleges do not require entrance exam score card. Rather, admission criteria exist with minimum pass percentage in board exam or undergraduate degree.
Eligibility Criteria LAW
- For integrated degree program the student must have 10+2 pass certificate with minimum of 45% to 50% aggregate marks. The admission could be availed in courses like BA LLB, BBA LLB, B.Com LLB for 5 years duration.
- For candidates already having an undergraduate degree can clear entrance exam to sort admission in 3 years degree program.
- The upper age limit is been withdrawn by the Bar Council of India. Perhaps the lower age of the candidate should be at-least 17 years.
Entrance Exam Law
The most familiar entrance exam in India is Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) which is acceptable in most of the colleges and universities in India. However, there exist particular entrance exams which are for specific university like LLB entrance tests for Delhi University.
There exception to entrance exams where university and colleges have their personal admission criteria based on merit list.
It is highly recommended that one should check with university where the admission in considered.
Important Law entrance exams In India.
- CLAT: Common Law Admission Test
- DU Faculty of Law: Delhi University Faculty of Law
- AIBE: All India Bar Exam
- SSLC Pune: Symbiosis Society’s Law College Pune.
- ILS Pune: Indian Law Society.
- ALS: Amity Law School.
- GLC: Mumbai: Government Law College Mumbai.
- QLTT: Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test.
- TNDALU Chennai: Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law Univeristy Chennai.
- BHU UET: Banaras Hindu University (University Entrance Exam)
List of Top Universities Offering LAW Courses in India
- Symbiosis Law School, Pune
- National University, Lucknow
- ILS College, Pune
- Nirma University, Ahmedabad
- The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), Kolkata
- University (NLSIU), Bangalore
- Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), Delhi
- National Law University (NLU), Jodhpur
- Bharati Vidyapeeth New Law College, Delhi
- Faculty of Law, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
- Dr. B.R. Ambedkar College of Law, Visakhapatnam
- Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya
- Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, Delhi
- Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar
- National Law School of India
- Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad
- National Law University (NLU), Delhi
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur
- Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala
- M.S. Ramaiah College, Bangalore
- Bangalore Institute of Legal Studies, Bangalore
- Army Institute of Law (AIL), Mohali
- Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar
- National Law Institute University (NLIU), Bhopal
- Indian Law Institute, Delhi
- University School of Law, Bangalore University, Bangalore
- Amity Law School, Noida
LLB course fees in India
The course for LLB depends upon the college chosen for the course, for government colleges the course fee is not much but for a private college course fee is a much higher as compared. The average course fee lies between anywhere between INR 20000/- to 300000/=.
Fee concessions are available for meritorious students and for those who have scored well in entrance exam.
Career prospects after completion of course
Before you work on your own one has to work under a lawyer to learn all the nitty gritty of the work done by a lawyer. The training will help you learn handling day to day tasks and become confident as a lawyer.
Post completion of the training you can stand on your own and could take up various roles. Most of the lawyers choose to work on their own. Others may take up jobs at legal firms, NGOs, corporate, Trust and business houses.
Aspirants also take up examination for the position of Judge and Magistrate.
Few of the Career option are mentioned below.
- Lawyer
- Advocate
- Magistrate
- Solicitor
- District & Sessions Judge
- Teacher
- Munsifs (Sub-Magistrate)
- Trustee
- Attorney General
- Magistrate/Judge
- Notary
- Legal Advisor
- Oath Commissioner
- Lecturer
- Law Reporter
- Legal Expert
- Civil Litigation Lawyer
- Government Lawyer
Earning of a Lawyer in India.
Lawyers who have established themselves has good cliental and they earn because they have a good name for themselves. Apparently on an average a lawyer could earn around INR 3 lac to 8 lac per annum. But if the practice is good then there is no limit.
For salaried lawyers the average starting per annum salary is around INR 2.5 per annum the increase in the per annum salary depends upon the role and the organization you are working for. Some law experts earn more than INR 50 lac per annum so it totally depends on your academic credentials, personal knowledge and organization you are working for.
Conclusion: Students aspiring to become a lawyer should also consider developing a strong personality, research skills, confidence and presentation this will help them take their careers to next level. Lawyers also have to deal with all sorts of chaos and stress so be ready and give it your best.
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