List of Careers

There are different categories of law in every country and a lawyer has to be well-versed in all these categories. Following are the main categories of law existing in most countries -

Civil Law

 

This category deals with lawsuits and other hearings where there is no accusation of a crime. Both sides are private parties and nobody is usually remanded to judicial custody over the issue at hand, but the court can issue rulings which make people carry out certain obligations, refrain from acting in a certain manner and/or award monetary compensations.

Criminal Law

This category covers the cases which deal with crimes. In these cases, either the government or a certain private party brings a litigation of crime against the accused party. The government prosecutes the accused in court on the strength of conclusive evidence of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In certain exceptions such as rape, in some countries such as India, the responsibility is on the accused to prove he is not guilty, failing to prove this he is sentenced to a punishment. In certain other theocracies such as in some Islamic-law ruled countries, a woman who brings a case of being a rape victim is regarded as guilty and punished unless she proves herself to be innocent as a non-accomplice in the act, supported by witnesses. These are exceptional cases; otherwise the legal system follows the concept of innocent till proven guilty.

Administrative Law

This type of law deals with the internal running of government departments and services. It varies from department to department according to the nature and need of the department.

Corporate Law

Both civil and criminal laws deal with regulating corporations and their proper conduct in the society. This includes aspects such as accounting regulations and financial fraud (Criminal) as well as consumer rights and service quality (Civil).

Constitutional law

This area deals with an overall handling of the interpretations of Constitutional statutes. This is used in cases such as the political matters and also in public interest litigations (PILs).

Defence Law

Defence services in most countries such as India may have their own judicial system. Accused defence personnel are tried and punished by the defence courts according to their own set of rules, which follow the guidelines of the Constitution. This is called Court Martial. Prisoners of Wars are also tried by Court Martial and defence courts have to follow the UN Convention of trying the prisoners of war on the same lines as their own soldiers. The lawyers and the judges in the Court Martial are from the Defence Service itself; hence a non-defence lawyer is not involved in this. However, a person willing to join the defence and providing his services for the Court Martial should be conversant with the Defence laws which are taught in the defence legal academies.

Civil and Criminal laws have further sub-categories. For example, family laws dealing with divorce, alimony and maintenance are a sub-category of civil laws. Similarly, traffic laws are a sub-category of criminal laws.

Becoming a lawyer involves long-term planning and considerations in order to achieve success. First, one has to see whether one has the right aptitude for a legal career. The candidate should ask oneself certain questions to ascertain this -

• Entry into an LLB requires a prior bachelor’s degree. LLB is a 3 years programme in India and a 4 years programme in the West. Besides, certain LLB Hons. Programmes run for 4-5 years. Hence, one has to be prepared to dedicate this time to get the basic degree in law. In order to specialise further, two years for LLM study are required; 5-6 years if one wants to go into research at PhD level. Are you prepared to be dedicated and motivated to spend the required amount of time to get the degree you want to pursue?
• Legal practice requires sophisticated oratory skills and only the best orators who can present their cases with persuasion and analytical clarity succeed in this profession. Besides, a case has to be presented in a convincing manner to different audiences in different forms so that they can understand the intricacies of the case and be convinced. An introverted personality is not suited for this profession. Do you have the required oratory, debating and analytical skills?
• Lawyers need both oratory and written skills, because lengthy legal documents have to be prepared to persuade the various parties to one’s point of view. This obviously means that a lawyer has to have a strong command over the language in which s/he argues – both in writing and speech. In both India and in Western countries such as the UK and the US, this means a strong command over English. In India, a lawyer also has to know at least one or two Indian languages in order to be able to deal with the clients from different backgrounds. Do you possess the necessary linguistic skills?
• In order to reach the height of success, a lawyer has to sacrifice weekends and vacations, has to work even in the night, has to deal with monotonous administrative work involving minute details and repetitive work. A lawyer has to almost always choose between a regular life pattern and a successful, remunerative legal career. Which one would you like to choose?

In India, entry into LLB and LLM degrees are based on a Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) held across the country, or an entrance exam held by the law department of a university. If one wants to go to the US for an LLB, one has to qualify for LSAT, apart from TOEFL or IELTS for English proficiency. For LLM and research degrees in the US, GRE and TOEFL/IELTS are required. For UK, no entrance tests are required, but all Western institutions offering a prestigious law degree expect an exceptional academic record and an engagement in activities which show proficiency in skills required for a legal career, such as oratory and linguistic proficiency. An LLB in India is not very competitive, but it is highly competitive in the West.

A law degree is the essential qualification towards becoming a lawyer. Here, it must be kept in mind that the law that one studies is country-specific. Hence, if one studies the law in a particular country, one has to practise in that particular country after graduation. The specialised disciplines of advanced law such as international law, environmental law, international trade law etc. are exceptions to this. Hence, one should choose the institution for the first law degree in a country where one wants to practise law, unless one has decided in advance to go for a specialised law discipline which has a global focus. In the latter case, the person would be working in international organisations and travelling across the world.

The most basic degree in law is the Bachelor’s in Law or the LLB. In India, this degree is of three years, some institutions having a 4-5 years of integrated LLB (Hons.), while in the Western countries it is of four or five years. Indian bachelor’s degree is not accepted in the West as complete because of this difference in years, unless one has done a 4-5 years of LLB Hons. from an accredited institution, or unless one has completed the Masters in Law (LLM) after LLB. Hence, those students who want to go abroad for a higher law degree should get a 4-5 years of LLB Hons. from an accredited institution or go after LLM. Otherwise, they will be required to repeat the LLB in the foreign country before going for the advanced degree. In India, admission to an LLB course is made on the basis of a Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) or an entrance test conducted by the law department of a university.

Masters in Law (LLM) is of two years and gives the student an option to take some specialised courses so that a more specialised legal career path can be chosen in future. Apart from these two degrees, there are the research degrees called Mphil and PhD in law. These opted by people who wish to teach as professors of law in the legal institutions. There are also distance education degrees in law for working professionals who are not able to attend regular courses.

Following are some well-known legal studies institutions in India -

• National Law School of India University, Bangalore
• Symbiosis Law College, Pune
• Faculty of Law, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
• Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, Delhi
• Faculty of Law, Punjab University, Chandigarh

Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi offers highly specialised interdisciplinary research degrees in Environmental Law and International Law in its School of International Studies and also at the Centre for Studies in Law and Governance.

Following are some of the prestigious institutions offering law degrees abroad for students who wish to practise law abroad or globally -

• Cambridge University, UK
• King’s College London, UK
• University College London, UK
• Harvard Law School, US
• Stanford Law School, US
• Yale Law School, US