Smart Skills
If courtroom dramas excite you
and TV serials like Street Legal have been among your
favourites, then it is worth considering a career as a lawyer. But
stay tuned — while law is a fascinating career, the notion is
slightly less romantic in reality than the TV serials make it out to
be. Work is tough and involves a lot of responsibilities. Often you
hold somebody’s future in your hands. Along with engineering,
medicine and civil services, the legal profession, that third wing
of the democratic system, is once again one of the more respectable
careers, and so, highly sought after. The buzz is that lawyers are
making news, and, much money. The black coat doesn’t only have to
do the rounds of musty civil courts, today’s lawyer can choose the
sophistication of corporate boardrooms. In other words, it is now
fashionable to be a lawyer. Law is one of the most basic social
institutions. It establishes the rules that define how society will
live, and each individual’s rights and obligations. It also
determines how the state will enforce the rules to maintain law and
order, and prescribes penalties for those who break these laws. A
case of new choices
The Bar Council estimates that about
1200-1500 lawyers enroll every year. But even this number is
inadequate for the thousands of legal cases that come up every day.
Moreover, it has been estimated that the backlog of pending cases
alone would take 300 years to be cleared! As the legal system
covers and regulates practically all aspects of our social,
political and economic interactions, lawyers can specialise in
specific areas of legal interest. These include: civil cases,
criminal cases, company law, taxation law, labour law, constitution
law as well as more recently corporate law, human rights law,
international law, environment law, patents law, cyber law,
intellectual property law and so on. Judge
your role
Those who have qualified with a law degree and
completed their articleship can start their careers as advocates or
as solicitors. Advocates plead in court and give advice on legal
matters, normally being consulted by solicitors on behalf of their
clients. So, they are actively involved in litigation. They give
advice on legal matters and use their critical judgement in deciding
what legislation and what precedents are relevant in any particular
case. Solicitors, on the other hand, provide legal advice to
clients on a wide variety of personal and business matters. Where
the case is taken to court, it is the solicitor who instructs and
briefs the advocate to appear for a client. However, today the dual
system is no longer observed, and often solicitors too appear in
court on the client’s behalf. Initially, a junior assistant
performs routine jobs like filing, researching, securing
adjournments, and attending court with the senior. The assistant
will be required to read up case laws and look up authorities from
time to time, or file suits and notices Gradually, the assistant
begins working on briefs and the drafting of plaints is an important
aspect of an advocate’s job. After several years of drafting work
with an /solicitor, a lawyer can start actively appearing in
court. A majority of lawyers are involved in private practice where
much of the work depends on the clients a lawyer works for, whether
in industry, commerce, with government or in specialist legal
departments. A majority of lawyers get into private practice
representing clients in the courts of law. These include the
subordinate courts, the administrative tribunals, the high courts
and the Supreme Court. Judges appointed to these courts are
basically senior lawyers who preside over cases in law courts and
deliver the verdict. Way to
becoming a legal eagle
To become a lawyer you need to
have qualified with a Bachelor’s degree in Law or BA.LLB. This
involves a — 5-year course, after plus two with any subjects, or a
3-year law course after graduation in any discipline, A highly
competitive entrance test is held for admission to the 5-year
programme. To qualify for legal practice however, a year’s
apprenticeship with either a solicitor or an advocate’s firm in
required. After two years of articleship the law apprentice can sit
for the exam of articled clerk conducted by the Bar Council which
then licenses the lawyer to practice. Places
of work
After graduating, a lawyer has several
professional options. You can work in government, in the corporate
sector, with financial institutions, in a law firm, consultancies or
private practice. To work in the government, lawyers can join the
Indian Judicial Service or the State legal service, after qualifying
in the Law Service Commission, or the State Public Service
Commission entrance examinations. Those who are selected join as
munsif is a district court, and move up in time to the post of
district and sessions judge, or to senior positions in the judiciary
and revenue departments. A lawyer can also apply for the legal
branch in the defence services, the Judge Advocate-General’s
department through the services selection board tests and interview.
A majority of lawyers take up jobs in law firms or private
practice handling civil and criminal cases, matters of property,
inheritance, contract and commercial issues, theft murder, crimes
against society or the state and so on. Other specialised areas
could include tax law, concerning income-tax, wealth tax, estate
duties and so on, or labour law, specializing in solving problems
arising between the management and the labour force in an
organisation. or even excise and customs law, constitutional law,
international law and several others. Choose
corporate law
A dominant trend these days is the lure of
corporate jobs for law graduates. Corporate or business lawyers
advise companies and corporations on their legal rights, obligations
and privileges, drawing up contracts and statutes, handling transfer
of properties in purchase or sale, company mergers, joint ventures,
corporate taxation and so on. It involves a study of constitutions,
statutes, ordinances, decisions of quasi-judicial nature applicable
to corporations; advising corporations on mergers and acquisitions,
collaborations, fraudulent practices, and so on. Companies can also
avail the services of a corporate lawyer from a private law firm to
handle the company’s legal cases. A corporate lawyer needs a 3
years Bachelor’s degree in law or 5 year-integrated BA.LLB,
followed by a postgraduate diploma in corporate/ business law. The
duration of the postgraduate diploma/degree in corporate Law varies
from 1 to 2 years. Corporate lawyers can further specialise in areas
such as international business law, intellectual property rights,
patency, etc. Another specialisation in growing demand is that of
human rights law, which deals with social issues and cases of
violation of basic human rights, issues pertaining to
discrimination, societal violence, refugees, war victims and so
on. Plead for human rights
The
denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms invariably creates
conditions of social and political unrest, sowing seeds of violence
and conflict within and between societies and nations. Today there
are several extra-judicial killings, including faked encounters,
deaths of suspects in police custody and excessive use of force by
security forces combating active insurgencies. Cases of extensive
societal violence and discrimination against women, child
prostitution and female infanticide, widespread exploitation of
indentured, bonded, and child labor; and trafficking in women and
children are common. Also, there is discrimination against persons
with disabilities; serious discrimination and violence against
indigenous peoples and scheduled castes and tribes; widespread
inter-caste and communal violence. All such cases require redress
— cases to be handled by lawyers specialising in human rights. To
become a human rights lawyer, you will first have to get a degree in
Law and then follow it up with a master’s degree (LLM) or a
postgraduate diploma or degree course in Human Rights Law. A master’s
degree (LLM) in Human Rights Law, is offered at selected
universities in India. There are also postgraduate diploma courses
and short term courses available in the area of human rights
law. Intellectual property law, which protects patents, copyrights
and trademarks, as well as cyber law, handling the many crimes on
the internet and world wide web are other specialisations that
provide opportunities for lawyers. Other options for lawyers
include publishing of law books and journals, journalism, or
teaching and academics. With some years of experience you can also
opt to work as a legal expert in international organisations such as
the International Labour Organisation, the World Bank , and the UN,
in particular the UNHCR. Money
matters
Initially, low salaries dissuade some people
from signing up for this profession. But this amount increases
substantially, depending on where you are working. Successful
lawyers are among the wealthiest in our country today. Moreover, law
graduates passing out from the top law schools are being offered
salaries on par with MBAs. International organisations often pay in
dollars as well and the UN provides very good tax-free salaries.
Moreover, as lawyers become partners in law firms after some years
of experience, they can make a lot of money. The sky is really the
limit, for those who have a sharp analytical mind, powers of logical
reasoning and concentration; argumentative abilities, presence of
mind; confidence and excellent communication skills. With the
globalisation of the Indian industry and multinationals streaming
into the country, lawyers dealing in specialisations like human
rights law and international law are highly sought after today.
Legal matters span national and international boundaries today and
provide tremendous opportunities for those who choose to enter this
profession. Training talk
Leading
institutions offering the five-year law degree programme (BA.LLB)
include:
The National Law
School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore; National
Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Hyderabad; National
Law Institute University (NLIU), Bhopal; Symbiosis
Society’s Law College, Pune; Indian
Law Society (ILS) College, Pune; West
Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. Leading
institutions offering the two-year master’s degree programme in
Human Frights Law (LLM) or postgraduate diploma courses in Human
Rights Law include: National
Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore Indian
Law Society (ILS), Pune National
Law University (NLU), Jodhpur National
Law Institute University (NLIU), Bhopal National
Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Hyderabad The
West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata Allahabad
University, Allahabad. Cochin
University, Cochin. Mumbai
University, Mumbai. The writer is a noted
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While the jury may be out on that one,
the fact is that the judiciary is the organisation that guards the
rights of an individual and upholds the tenets of the Constitution.
Despite the media hype and a range of opinions that are vocalised
every day, lawyers are still held in high esteem in our society and
there remains the faith that when all else fails, one can still take
recourse to the legal system.
