LAW AS A CAREER: SUCCESS ALL THE WAY
Alok Bansal
Law is being pursued as a promising career by more and more students today. Traditionally, world over lawyers have been at the forefront in shaping the future of countries and companies alike. Most popular leaders in the past and the present have pursued Law at some point of time in their lives.
Since the time the legal education was considered an important component of the legal profession, an act was passed by the parliament. Under the Act, the Bar Council of India is the supreme regulatory body to regulate the legal profession in India and also to ensure the compliance of the laws and maintenance of professional standards by the legal profession in the country.
Bar Council of India instituted upon an experiment in terms of establishing specialized law universities solely devoted to legal education and thus to raise the academic standards of legal profession in India. This decision was taken somewhere in 1985 and thereafter, the first law University in India was set up in Bangalore which was named as the National Law School of India University (popularly 'NLS'). These law universities were meant to offer a multi-disciplinary and integrated approach to legal education. It was ,therefore, for the first time that a law degree other than LL.B. or B.L. was granted in India. NLS offered a five years law course upon the successful completion of which an integrated degree with the title of "B.A.,LL.B. (Honours)" would be granted.
Since the time National Law Universities were set up, law today is completely different from what it used to be a decade ago. People no longer assume that Law is for those who can't get into any other course. The National Law Universities (NLUs) of India today offer jobs that are at par with graduates of the IITs and the IIMs. A degree in law from the NLUs arms you with all the requisite skills required in the profession and offers a plethora of opportunities suited to every student's personality.Today, practising as an advocate in court draped in black and white is not the only option left after you complete your law course. Fields such as Corporate Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Taxation, etc have emerged as promising career avenues after law graduation. Corporate houses are spending heavily to hire specialised lawyers for providing legal aid. Law firms are shelling out as high as Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 14 lakh to recruit fresh law graduates from the NLUs, and things only get better as one progresses in one’s career.
The growing popularity of these NLUs and Law as a career is further manifested by the manifold increase in the number of applicants writing the major law entrance exams every year, primarily the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). Some of the required personal traits for a career in Law are: (a)Good communication skills (b)Quick responsiveness, excellent memory(c)Open, flexible mind (d)Goodauthoritative leadership qualities (e)Logical reasoning (f)Good listeningand powerful oratorical skills (g)Out of the box thinking ability (h)Knowledge of all statutes, rules and regulations, and notifications and (i)Patience, as some cases can drag on endlessly.
Who are the recruiters?
Some of the major recruiters from NLUs are law firms, corporate and the judiciary.
Private Law firms and . foreign law firms come regularly to NLUs for recruitments.Corporates: ITC Ltd, IBM, Infosys, etc.
Judiciary: The Indian judiciary is evolving rapidly. The need for able and well-read advocates will increase exponentially in the coming years. There is also a shortage of judges in India, which will be solved in the future by the law graduates of today.
About CLAT
The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a centralised test conducted by the National Law Universities in India for admission to the 17 NLUs.The test is taken after the Higher Secondary Examination or the XIIth standard for admission to integrated undergraduate programs in Law, or after graduation in Law for Master of Laws (LL.M) programs. From 2015 onwards, CLAT is being conducted in an online format.
Eligibility
Undergraduate courses: Senior Secondary School/Intermediate (10+2) or its equivalent certificate from a recognised board with not less than 45% marks in aggregate (40% in case of SC and ST candidates). Students waiting for their results are also eligible to take the test.
Postgraduate courses:
LL. B / B. L. degree or an equivalent degree from a recognised university with not less than 55% marks in aggregate (50% in case of SC and ST candidates). The candidates who have passed the qualifying degree examination through supplementary/compartment and repeat attempts are also eligible to appear for the test. Admission to such candidates will only be granted upon submission of proof of having passed the qualifying examination with 55/50% percent marks on the date of their admission or within the time allowed by the respective universities. Commencement of submission of application : 1st Jan. 2016 Last date for submission of duly filled in Online Application Form 31st March 2016 (11:59 pm) Date of CLAT-2016 Online Examination 8th May 2016 (3:00 pmto 5:00 pm)
Pattern of the Test:
It is an online examination with a duration of 120 Minutes. Based on the past year pattern the test comprises 200 questions divided into five sections:
Section 1: Verbal Ability- 40
Questions- 1 Mark Each
Section 2: Problem Solving- 20
Questions- 1 Mark Each
Section 3: Legal Aptitude- 50
Questions- 1 Mark Each
Section 4: Reasoning- 40 Questions-1 Mark Each
Section 5: General Awareness- 50
Questions- 1 Mark Each
The exam is of 200 marks and each incorrect answer attracts a penalty of 0.25 Mark. The pattern is designed to evaluate the basic aptitude of the student in pursuing a career in Law. The questions are based on the course content like basic maths, reasoning skills and grammar. The legal Aptitude section is designed to test the basic legal knowledge and legal reasoning.
Some other major Law Exams are
1 AILET Delhi (For NLU Delhi), Exam Date: 1st May 2016
2 IP University, Delhi,
3 Symbiosis Entrance Test
4 LSAT for Admission to Jindal Global School of Law
It is highly recommended that students take an early decision on appearing for the exam and take help
of expert guidance for the same.
(The author is Director, IMS Learning, New Delhi, e-mail : www.imsindia.com)