One of the common links among the greatest freedom fighters and political
leaders of our country has been a degree in law. Be it the father of the nation
Mahatma Gandhi or the first President of the country Dr. Rajendra Prasad,
whether it was our first Prime Minister Pandit Nehru and his deputy and the
first Home Minister Sardar Patel or India’s first law minister and popularly
called the father of the Constitution Dr. B.R. Ambedkar – all studied law to
become a lawyer or barrister in their early years of life.
Despite most of the prominent parliamentarians after independence were lawyers,
legal education in India was never given the attention it deserved and it was
left to be taken care of by Central and State Universities as one of the
departments or faculties of the University. Unlike engineering, technology,
medicine or management, no premier institution was created solely for legal
education in the country. A large number of law colleges without adequate
infrastructure or faculty members or libraries were granted affiliation to the
various universities all over the country. This resulted into a large number of
law graduates passing out each year from small town and mofussil law colleges
without any education facilities. The credibility of a law degree and legal
education was at stake and study of law was being taken as a loser’s job or a
last resort in one’s career.
The Bar Council of India which has the statutory responsibility to maintain the
quality of legal education in the country, first time decided to establish a
full fledged law university in the country as a premier institution in law in
association with the Government of Karnataka and introduce a 5 years integrated
B.A.LL.B. Programme after 12th standard. The National Law School of India
University (NLSIU) was set up by an Act passed by the Karnataka Government in
the year 1986 as one of the boldest experiments in the history of Indian legal
education.
B. National Law Schools
The NLSIU had its first batch of students in the year 1988 on the basis of an
all India admission test. The Chief Justice of India, as Visitor of the NLSIU
and the Chairman of the Bar Council of India as Chairman of the General Council
of the law school guided the founder director Professor N.R. Madhava Menon in
creating an Institution which is now a world class in its field. The decade of
nineties was the era of globalization. It opened up vast opportunities for
young law graduates in newer areas of legal practice like corporate, economic
and intellectual property rights laws. Indian and international law firms
opened their doors for law school graduates who later on proved to be much
above their expectations.
The NLS experiment proved to be such a great success in legal education that it
was followed by most of the state governments. Now, India has 12 National Law
Schools or Universities, each created by a law passed by the respective state
governments creating an atmosphere of world-class quality legal education in
the country. Though created by separate state governments the National Law
Schools are similar in matters of establishment, objectives, autonomy, faculty,
syllabus, admission process and even the campus placements. Each of these Law
Schools has close links with the higher judiciary, either the Chief Justice of
India or the Chief Justice of the respective High Court happens to be the
Chancellor of these Law Schools. All National Law Schools are fully residential
and now they are admitting students on the basis of a common entrance test like
IITs or IIMs.
C. New career opportunities in Law
The traditional career options for law graduates were to join legal practice as
a civil lawyer or a criminal lawyer and either argue for settlement of property
or land disputes or argue to defend an alleged offender. Another option was to
join the Judicial Services of the state as a Munsif or Magistrate after passing
a competitive examination and work as a Civil Judge or Judicial Magistrate. The
traditional options remain open, options like joining the civil services,
teaching law and working as law officers in the government departments and
public sector and private sector undertakings also remain available to the law
graduates.
However, most impressive are the options thrown open by the emerging global
economy to a graduate from the top law schools in the country. Emerging options
for a law school graduate are as follows:
International Law Firms
Indian Law Firms
Consulting and Advisory Companies
Corporate Legal Departments
Legal Process Outsourcing (L.P.O.) Companies
NGOs and Global Organizations
Higher Education in World’s Best Universities
Even in litigation or legal practice, the traditional options of civil and
criminal law no more hold the key. In the post-liberalization period, newer
areas of legal practice have emerged, like Corporate Laws, Securities Laws,
Economic Laws, Taxation Laws, Arbitration Laws, Intellectual Property Laws,
Real Estate Laws, Cyber Laws, Environment and Consumer Protection Laws, etc.
A lawyer working in a law firm works in either litigation or corporate side of
the law firm. He ensures all legal compliances for the firm’s clients which are
normally national and international companies. He is a part of all important
deals of the company. From a simple fund-raising or issue of shares to a
complex joint venture, amalgamation or merger or technology collaboration, a
law firm associate is a core part of each of these exercises.
A law graduate working in the legal department of a company plays important
role in management of the company. He is responsible for all legal compliances
applicable to his company’s business. He is also responsible for drafting,
vetting and negotiating contracts for the company. He provides inputs to the
company’s lawyers in the court if company is facing a legal dispute.
Similarly, a lawyer working in a consulting group or advisory company plays a
critical role by providing expert legal advice on issues ranging from
environment protection to investment banking.
D. Placements at National Law Schools
Annual campus placements at the top three National Law Schools at Bangalore,
Hyderabad and Kolkata have started witnessing the active presence of Magic
Circle Firms of UK (London’s top law firms) like Allen & Overy, Linklaters,
Herbert Smith and Clifford Chance – also largest in the world, every year in
law schools. These UK law firms offered a pay package of 35,000 pounds (around
Rs 28 lakh) to fresh graduates during the NLSIU placements for the year 2007.
Salaries of the selected associates during second year would be on average,
40,000 pounds and in the third year 55,000 to 65,000 pounds as per standard
practice. International Law Firms from Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Germany
and USA have also recruited from the law school campuses. One-fourth of the
batch at NLSIU is being taken by international firms each year.
Top consulting companies like Boston Consulting Group, Mckinsey, Ernst & Young
and KPMG are recruiting law school graduates on a regular basis. Almost all top
Indian law firms and companies as well as regulatory bodies of the government
like SEBI and Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) companies like Pangea3 are
recruiting students in campus placements. The average Indian salary for the
year 2007 at NLSIU was over Rs. 7 Lakh per annum. Same is the case with
National Law Schools at Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhopal and Jodhpur.
Some of the law school graduates opt out of placements each year either to
start a career in legal practice under India’s top lawyers in the Supreme Court
and High Courts or to study at some of the world’s best law schools like
Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, LSE and the Fletcher School. They
are claiming the prestigious Rhodes and British Chevening scholarships almost
every year.
E. Common Law Admission Test, 2008
The year 2008 is another landmark year in the Indian legal education as the ten
national law schools conducted a Common Law Admission Test or CLAT for the
first time to admit students from the length and breadth of the country. For
over a thousand seats on offer at the law schools, approximately twelve
thousand students wrote the CLAT in 18 cities across the country. This became
possible due to the writ petition filed by a student named Varun Bhagat against
the Union of India and various National Law Schools in the Supreme Court of
India in 2006. The Chief Justice of India directed the Union of India to
consult the National Law Schools with a view to evolving a scheme for common
admission test and the Bar Council of India and the University Grants
Commission strongly supported this move towards common admission test.
Undoubtedly, the National Law Schools have transformed legal education into a
professional education in its truest sense and law as a career option has come
to the centre stage. Brand ‘NLS’ is now comparable to brand ‘IIT’ or ‘IIM’ in
matters of quality of education or quality of placements or simply the
perception of the intelligentsia of the society.
(* Author is an alumnus of Campus Law Centre, Faculty of Law of Delhi
University and presently working as Product Manager for Law Entrance Programmes
at T.I.M.E.)
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