Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Legal Education and Scope in India - A Fresh Look


“Justice that love gives is a surrender, justice that law gives is a punishment” - Mahatma Gandhi

Law Students Dissolution ed?
If you have ever felt that law in general is Greek, you may or may not be right.  Did you know that India today breed the larges number of legal professionals in the world? According to a Harward Law School report, there are approximately, 1.3 million registered attorneys, and half a million Indian law students pass out every year from various colleges in India. Albeit that not all of them go through the regular run of the mill jobs like litigation-oriented practice or drafting. The HBS believes that partnerships in areas of legal specialization should be toast of the future. 


 As an ex-content manager and co-founder of a legal website lawisgreek.com, I have felt that Law students are mostly unclear about what role they would like to enshrine in the field of law, for a simple reason that law is vast and it touches all of us in some way or the other. It is not just the glamour, the intensity, or the money or the status that a law graduate brings along once he is in the market place. It is much more than that. If you talk about the Indian legal market, I’d say, we are in a nascent stage in terms of growth even in the law courses offered by government law colleges. A law student should first of all identify his/her inherent interests, desired skill set he has, plus a yardstick to measure “legal professional opportunities” available these days.

Legal Education in India

One might ask about the outcomes resulting from the influence of the above factors and the future direction of legal education in India given the level of economic development and globalization. Never since Independence has legal education received the attention it receives today from society, government and the private corporate sector. This has resulted in better infrastructure, greater private participation and increased investment, though yet inadequate for quality legal education. In 2010, according to a trusted source, top hundred India based companies have spent last year nearly $ 500 million in the legal fees. Can you imagine what will happen in 2013?

Legal Transformation India Going Through

We are undergoing reforms even in legal education sector, and not just foreign direct investment. According to a Harvard Law School study, legal education is undergoing a constant process of change. The change could be in legal organization, the way management handles legal queries, legal content writing and dissemination and even the sources to disseminate or publishing legal content has come a long way since 1950. Basically the legal change is imminent and based on a social order such as installing democracy, following and adhering to human rights and installing the rule of law which will in turn secure the rights of a ‘law abiding citizen’. The rights are justice, liberty, equality and dignity.

Career in Law – What not to expect

If you are a fresh kid passing out of a law college, do not expect to make a mark in the legal fraternity instantly. It takes time, a lot of time to understand the intricacies the legal profession provides.  Initially a law grad may have to do all sorts of so called ‘dirty jobs’ like accounting or drafting and may find these jobs monotonous and boring, but that’s the catch. A career in Law is a competitive business, for the simple reason being that it requires basic understanding of “logical thinking”. Very good law colleges train to optimize this “logical thinking” and impart quality law education across.  A lawyer thinks like a detective or an investigative journalist and would like to go deeper in to the scheme of the things. Are you prepared?

The article first appeared on The 'Learning Curve' sponsored by The Chopras

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