Gone are the days when every other student aspired to be a doctor or an
engineer. Today the so called unconventional fields like Law, Hotel Management,
BBA, Fashion designing are into vogue and students are making a beeline to get
into prestigious colleges offering these courses.
Legal profession is now among the more highly sought after careers
today. 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.
In addition legal complexities are multiplying by the day, opening up
challenging opportunities for legal graduates in the corporate sector.
Thus the profession attracts a lot of youngsters even today.
The legal field can broadly be classified into two categories. Public matters such as administrative laws, constitution, international laws, criminal cases etc. Private matters related to property, inheritance, family issues, contract, etc.
Though the more conventional image of a lawyer is that of one wearing a black robe and arguing cases in the court, the liberation process has opened up many opportunities in the corporate sector.
Most big companies seek legal executives, including public sector undertakings, multinational firms, banks and hotels.
There are two kinds of LLB (Law) courses:
the 3-year course and
the 5-year course.
For the 3-year course, the basic eligibility is a Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent from a recognized university.
For the 5-year course, the basic eligibility is the 10+2.
Various entrance exams are conducted for students who wish to join courses in Law after Std. XII.
The most popular test is the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) conducted by the national law universities.
These entrance exams mostly test students in the areas of:
A law graduate can choose the field of work from any of the areas:
The Litigator
Environmental Law. Constitutional Law, Securities Law, Intellectual Property
Law…
The Corporate Lawyer
Mergers & Acquisitions, Foreign Investment, Project Finance, Joint Ventures etc.
International Organizations
Diplomacy, International Development, Human Rights etc.
Social Work
Development, Human Rights, Ethnic Issues, Women's Rights and other Social
Issues.
Research and Academics
Law School Teaching, Policy Making, Research on Cutting-edge Areas and
College Administration.
Judiciary
Lower Judiciary, Higher Judiciary.