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A FEW decades ago, law as a career was towards the tail end of preferences for a student. Medicine and engineering were the coveted ones, and admission to law was seen by some as the last bus. Things have changed to a great extent in the last two decades or so. The demand for a law degree is evident from the fact that there are close to a thousand registered colleges in India, offering a degree in law. One could join the three- year law course after graduation and the student would end up as a professional with the degrees of B.A and law. A five-year course became popular later, which combined graduation with law, and after completion, the student earned a B.A., LL.B combined degree. This was after plus two, so a year was saved. The demand for legal services in areas like healthcare, intellectual property, venture capital, energy and environmental law has brought about a sea change in the way aspiring students look at law as a career. Study of cyber law and media law, which are still being drafted, are exciting areas of study for their very contemporary relevance. But is law a good career option? Is the degree enough by itself, or does one have to add another course like a company secretary or an MBA, to make it effective? The following are some of the options open to a student after his law degree. The most obvious, though ironically less preferred, is litigation. A student can start practising in the Courts. He could initially join a lawyer, and then later practice independently. Initial years are very difficult with financial inflow not in accordance with expectations at all. Though later, it indeed is a wonderful profession with more than ample opportunities and returns. The young lawyer of today has the "corporate world" as a carreer option after his degree. Multinationals, national and international business houses are recruiting lawyers for their affairs in India and overseas. Some of the advantages are a regular salary, safe and plush environment to work in and, above all, a name tag of the company that speaks volumes. The negatives, of course, are heavy hours at the office, monotonous work and very little excitement, which is a big plus in hardcore litigation. Joining the judiciary is also an important option open to fresh law graduate. After clearing the exam, and the training period, the candidate is appointed as a judge. It is a good life with a regular pay, power and respect as some of the fringe benefits. Further study is another important option which a fresh law graduate can look at. This can be in two directions. Firstly, within the ambit of law itself by doing a Masters degree and then moving on to Doctoral/post doctoral study. An LLM would take two years (under a year abroad), while a Ph.D could take anywhere between three to five years. If the student has this in mind, chances are he wants to enter teaching, for which he has to clear his UGC exam and then join the profession. Teaching is a softer option, which has the benefits of a regular salary, good working hours and interaction with new batches, though some might find it financially restrictive. Secondly, the value of a law degree can be enhanced by adding qualifications, which can aid in acquiring a very good job for the candidate. What makes a good combination with law is an MBA or a CS/CA degree. This will ultimately add to the value of the candidate at the time of the interview. Though mentioned last, the option of joining organisations such as banks, government departments, NGO's etc are always open because the need for a good lawyer is perennial. So after plus two, a student could join a good law college. For this, he needs to clear his CLAT (Common Law Admission Test). This exam is based on reasoning, basic mathematics, English and knowledge of civics and rudimentary law. If his merit is high, he can opt for any of the National or prestigious Law Colleges in India, such as NLS (Bangalore), NALSAR (Hyderabad), GLC (Mumbai), NLU (Jodhpur), Juridical Studies (Calcutta) etc. There are many colleges in North India, such as the Army Institute of Law, Panjab University Law Department, UILS, Punjabi University (Patiala), Rayat and Bahara Law College offering 3/5 year degrees. Thus, armed with a law degree, a candidate can fulfil his dreams and goals, and achieve success while contributing to his family, society and the nation. One doubts the proverbial saying "Law is an Ass" when one realises the options that a degree in law can offer. Choice of courses There are two main streams of legal education: one is the three-year LL.B. course with a Bachelor’s degree in Arts, Science or Humanities as the basic entrance qualification; the other is the Five-year Integrated Course after 10+2, culminating into a degree, usually styled as B.A., LL.B. Most of the Universities in India continue with the traditional 3-year LL.B. course, whereas some of these are sporadically offering admission to the 5-year course along with the traditional stream. In the year 1987-88 with a view to bring about qualitative changes in professional legal education, a new model law school - National Law School of India University - was set up in Bangalore (Karnataka) at the instance of the Bar Council of India. This school has grown into a centre of excellence within a short span of less than a decade. Following the success story of this model, one has witnessed the establishment of several National Law Universities during the last decade. Apart from Bangalore, such schools are located in Bhopal, Hyderabad, Jodhpur, Kolkata, Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Raipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Patiala, Patna, Delhi, Chinnai, Orissa, and Guwahati. Admission to national law schools (barring aside the last four ones, which are presently conducting their own admission tests) is organized through Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). All these schools are residential and provide for the five-year integrated course leading to the degree of B.A., LL.B. (Hons.). Of course, the candidates are asked for their preference-order amongst those schools. The Bangalore National Law School continues to be at the top and the most preferred destination almost by all the applicants on all-India basis. — Baji Rao Rajwade is Assistant Prof of Law, Army Institute of Law, Mohali
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The nature of this subject
involves understanding about recent electronic technologies with its
impact and effects. Use of electronic transactions, e-commerce,
e-documents sometimes adversely results in to cyber crime. Therefore
there is need to understand cyber laws. Initially it may seem that Cyber
law is a very technical field and that it does not have any bearing to
most activities in cyberspace. But, whether we realise it or not, every
action and every reaction in Cyberspace has some legal and cyber legal
perspectives. Cyber law does concern individuals as a ultimate medium
ever evolved in human history, every activity of in cyberspace can and
will have a cyber legal perspective.
The study of Intellectual
Property Law provides an appreciative insight into the role and
significance of the different forms of Intellectual property rights,
their application to a work environment and their management in the
greater generation of value and wealth; through an understanding of the
fundamentals of the IPR regimes and protection systems. Globalisation,
multilateral trade and new economic order are continuously reducing the
geographical barriers to trade rendering the global trade very complex.
IPRs become important parameters influencing trade. Therefore, one
expects that a large number of IP rights would be generated and
protected all over the world, including India. The current importance of
IPRs is dictated by the following reasons:-
In the post-Independence
era, corporate regulations are employed as a principal means in the
strategy for attaining constitutional values. Companies are instruments
of economic development. Besides bringing returns and financial benefits
to capital and labour, they help amelioration of the living conditions
of the masses.