Practicing Law

Traditionally, law is a noble profession. Many students aspire to practice law and provide justice to the society. With globalization, law is not just restricted to practicing in a court. New areas of interests like copyrights, trademarks, intellectual property, cyber law is fast gaining impetus. Now, the real question is how to go about it.


Eligibility
You can pursue law after graduation (3 years) or after 12th (5 years) leading to BA LLB (Hons).

Colleges
Some of the best law colleges in India are:

• National Law School of India University, Bangalore
• Symbiosis Law College, Pune
• Government Law College, Mumbai

Specializations

You can specialize in:

• Civil Law: Concerns private rights of individuals, handling damage suits, breach of contract suits, wills, mortgages
• Tax Law: Deals with income tax, real tax, franchises, problems of inheritance
• Criminal Law: Deals with interviewing clients, conducting trials, preparing a case for defence, examining, cross examining in court
• Corporation Law: Deals with advising corporations on their legal rights, obligations, privileges, studying statutes, constitutions and ordinances
• International Law: Specializes on international treaties, customs and traditions
• Labor Law: Deals with workers, their associations, working conditions, workers’ rights and duties
• Real Estate Law: Covers conveyance of property, search records and deeds to establish titles of property, acting as trustee for property
• Patent Law: Focuses on securing patents for inventors from the patent’s office

Private practice immediately after graduation is difficult, unless you have a family firm. There are law firms that employ fresh graduates as apprentices or assistants. After two years of articleship, the apprentice appears for an examination of articled clerk conducted by the Law Society. It generally takes several years under an advocate or solicitor before you are ready for your own practice.

There are also plenty of opportunities in private industry. There is also the possibility of becoming legal consultants (part time or full time) for companies. Opportunities are aplenty in government service. You have to qualify the Law Service Commission or State Public Service Commission.