LAW AS A CAREER

by Niveda.C.P

A Gist on the opportunities for your path from High School to Law School

Law is a multifaceted and one of the most fascinating field one can ever dive into. Law helps an individual get better understanding of the political, social, civic and economic issues in a Country. Any socially spirited citizen or individual interested in affairs of our Country, the concept of governance, policy decisions taken by the Government etc would definitely enjoy studying law. Law regulates various transactions that we see around for example a purchase of a pen from a nearby stationary shop, buying a piece of land, wanting to start a Company, running a Company, contesting in election, entering into any agreement with any third party for their services everything is regulated by law. Law regulates all the transactions that a human being partakes being a part of the society. If any of the above topic interested you, you are in the right track, continue reading.

Law is a Bachelorette degree which can be either a 5 year integrated program (in various forms BALLB, BCOMLLB, BCALLB, BBALLB etc) that you can pursue immediately on completion of your 12 th Standard Board exams or a 3 year Under Graduate program (LLB) which you can pursue on completion of any other undergraduate program (from Arts and Science to Engineering and Medicine, no restrictions).

Just like how IITs are considered the best schools for engineering, a consortium of 14 Law Schools across India collectively referred to as National Law Schools are the best law Schools in India. They are highly competitive and provide a great platform for law aspirants to build their career. These Law Schools have a scrutiny process which is primarily based on an entrance exam named CLAT- Common Law Admission Test , which is a single National exam conducted across the Country. This Exam has 5 sections accessing various skills of the students following is the pattern and the particulars about the Exam :

Maximum Marks : 150
Duration of CLAT Exam : 02:00 Hours
Multiple-Choice Questions : 150 questions of one mark each
Negative Marking : 0.25 Mark for each wrong answer
Subject Areas with weightage : (approximate number of questions)
English Language : 28-32 questions, or roughly 20% of the paper
Current Affairs, including General Knowledge : 35-39 questions, or roughly 25% of the paper
Legal Reasoning : 35-39 questions, or roughly 25% of the paper
Logical Reasoning : 28-32 questions, or roughly 20% of the paper
Quantitative Techniques : 13-17 questions, or roughly 10% of the paper

For further details regarding application process, model question papers etc please check in the website clat.ac.in. Apart from the National Law Schools there are also various other Laws Schools like O.P.Jindal Law School, Symbiosis Law School Pune, Christ School of Law, NLU- Delhi which conduct a similar exam as a scrutiny process for selection. You can check in the respective university websites for more information. There are coaching centers that offer training and instructions to prepare and appear for these exams, they are established in most urban cities few widely popular ones are Sriram, Career Launcher, LST etc. They even offer postal coaching by providing materials all over the country. If you are aspiring to appear for CLAT the coaching can start from as early as 11 th standard. They also offer 6 weeks crash course which can be taken immediately after 12 th Boards and before the CLAT Exam. The CLAT exam usually is held on the first Sunday of May.

Further, apart from an entrance based admission, there are colleges that provide admission based on you 12 th Standard Board Marks. Most Government Law Colleges and Government University like Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, GLC Chennai, Coimbatore, School of Excellence in Law and other private law colleges like Saveetha School of Law, Sashtra Law School, SRM etc offer admissions based on your 12 th Standard Board Marks. The Counselling for all the Government Law Colleges is conducted as a one window counselling. Apart, from the above there are various other universities that offer Bachelorette in Law a mere google search of the same will provide you the required details. During your period at Law Schools try to indulge in various co-curricular activities like Moot Court Competitions, Parliamentary Debates, Conferences and Paper Presentations . Active involvement in these will give a very good idea about the various fields of law and will help you to identify your areas of interest. The opportunities that are available to you after completion of law are innumerable. One can pursue a career as a litigating lawyer by joining as a Junior under an advocate. Being a litigating advocate basically involves Court Work, attending court, conducting cases, researching for case etc . This is the most interesting career as the scope of monotony is very less. You can opt being a junior under any Advocate or in any law firms. You can also become a transactional lawyer who primarily does non- court drafting work and negotiations, this is a growing field as the influence of big corporations in our day to day life is increasing. You will be expected to draft various Agreements, Conduct due diligence etc.

You can opt to do Masters and then gradually enter into academia. Role of a Professor is law school is tremendous and you will get to inspire and aspire the next generation. You can also become an in-house counsel in Multi National Corporations wherein you will be drafting and vetting agreements pertaining to the Company you are attached to.

You can pursue UPSC after completion of law, as law is one of the major subjects that you can take in group 2 it will be very helpful. Law also primarily helps you understand the functioning of a society and government better which is integral for an UPSC aspirant. You can become a Bank Legal Officer by writing Bank Exam. The opportunities you have as a lawyer are infinite. You will explore various specialisations in law as and when you progress in your UG degree. This article is a very basic outline on the opportunities you have to start you career in the field of law from school.