Career In Law: Top Sectors That Hire Legal Advisors, Course Options In India — All You Need To Know

Becoming a lawyer requires one to obtain extensive training in legal procedures and to be familiar with the laws that have been laid down by the constitution.

A law aspirant must have an LLB degree to be a Lawyer.

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By Prof. R Anita Rao

The judicial system in India is under tremendous pressure owing to an overwhelming volume of case pendency, which could touch the five-crore mark as per the recent remarks of India’s Law Minister Kiren Rijiju. According to estimates, there are only 15 lakh lawyers in India, against a requirement of 45 lakh lawyers. 

Unlike earlier, wherein, one lawyer would be looking into all kinds of cases in their practice, there is a trend of super-specialized fields of law, spinning across various niches like mergers and acquisitions, cybercrime, intellectual property rights enforcement, arbitration lawyers etc. Companies are hiring their own legal teams.

With citizens becoming more aware of their legal rights, there is a marked increase in demand for lawyers. With more suits being instituted, there is also a demand for more judges. The senior judiciary in India has been commenting on the shortage and the need for filling up the vacancies.

In 2022, around 60,000 candidates registered for the CLAT exam. Every year, approximately 60,000 - 70,000 law graduates join the legal profession in India. This count could have risen to 80,000 in 2022. The country requires more lawyers and more judges and more legal awareness among the citizens. With international trade barriers becoming more porous, law and justice also get a globalized flavour. Given that, more foreign companies are wanting to invest in India, there would be a need for legal advice.

Career Options In Law

Advocates or lawyers are advisors and solution providers to legal issues that could range from disputes of property, marriages, divorce and criminal offences to even the rights of an individual etc. Lawyers are the ones who represent their clients in court - be it initiating a lawsuit, attending formal hearings, documenting legal papers, assessing the cases to come up with solutions and so on.

Becoming a lawyer requires one to obtain extensive training in legal procedures and to be familiar with the laws that have been laid down by the constitution.

A law aspirant must have an LLB degree to be a Lawyer. It is not possible to be an Advocate or a Lawyer in India with just a Diploma or Certificate of Law courses.

A lawyer or advocate can either deal with individual clients, law agencies, law firms, litigation, administrative service, government agencies or corporate houses etc. With varied employment areas and options to choose from, the legal position of a Lawyer remains secure and safeguarded in the market.

Advocates or lawyers are advisors and solution providers to legal issues that could range from disputes of property, marriages, divorce and criminal offences to even the rights of an individual etc.

Students with a Law degree can also explore the following options: Mediators, Arbitrators or Conciliators, Legal Assistants and/or Paralegals, Lawyers, Judge/ Hearing Officers, Family Lawyers, Securities Lawyers, Environmental Lawyers and Tax Lawyers.

Top Sectors That Hire Lawyers Or Legal Advisors

Lawyers can find a variety of employment opportunities in different sectors as well. Corporate businesses, MNCs, Media and Entertainment houses, Political Parties, Engineering firms, Information Technology companies, Finance companies, Consulting Firms and Universities and Colleges are some sectors that hire lawyers and legal advisors.

Types Of Law Courses

There are two kinds of LLB courses being offered by Law Universities these days.

Firstly, there are five-year LLB Hons courses that are gaining popularity amongst students interested in Law. These courses can be taken up after passing class 12 and after clearing the entrance exams conducted by various Universities across India. These five-year courses have a holistic multi-disciplinary approach and the student gets an education in Humanities, Commerce or Business Administration along with an in-depth knowledge of legal subjects and also saves one year in the process when compared to following the traditional educational route.

Another option to get a Bachelor’s degree in law is to take up a three-year LLB course after completing graduation. Many Universities offer three-year courses as well and that is how people got their degrees one generation back. Here, a student first completes a three-year Bachelor’s degree and then takes up a three-year LLB course. One advantage here is that LLB three-year course can be applied for at any given point in time, even working after graduation for some years.

A five-year course has an edge over a three-year course nowadays, as the student saves one full academic year in the pursuit of this integrated Honours degree, while still being able to gain education in multi-disciplinary subjects.

So, a five-year course gives the same wider depth to the understanding of a student wherein if he/she is doing BALLB (Hons), the student is studying subjects from the Humanities stream along with law subjects, and if the student is pursuing BBA LLB (Hons), then he/she is studying Commerce subjects along with their ongoing legal education.

Therefore, in today’s contemporary world where time is of the essence, a student saves that one year in getting a graduate degree, while gaining a holistic understanding of their subjects.

The author, Prof. R Anita Rao, is the Director of GITAM School of Law, GITAM (Deemed to be University).

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