Law / Legal Education is the education gained by individuals to become legal professionals or practitioners. The degree obtained by an individual in this stream can also be useful in some other fields like in business, academic or in politics also.
Unlike other forms of professional education such as Medicine and Engineering, Law Education is both professional as well as liberal. It aims at the acquisition of professional skills, if taken as a professional education. But it can aim at value-oriented, socio-cultural education if it is considered as a liberal education.
The main difference between Law and other social science subjects is that legal studies are multi-disciplinary in character. In many law subjects, a scientific background is not only necessary, but is essential. Similarly, in many legal subjects, knowledge of finance and accounts has become essential. Law is concerned with governance and therefore, legal education must be developed upon a sound basis of multi-disciplinary education.
India, owing to its rapid development in professional education, has also provided Law as a hot career option to its aspirants. The various Law schools and universities in India offer several academic programs in Law. The course may be of 5 years, 3 years or of 2 years of duration. One can also pursue 1 year or even 6 months Diploma courses to gain specialized knowledge in the field.
CLAT 2014 provides the students the ease of filling up a single application form to get admission to any of the participating institutes. According to the MoU, the Common Law Admission Test would be conducted by each of the National Law Schools on rotation as per the criterion of seniority. It is expected that the National Law Schools (i.e., the Law Schools established by State enactments) would join the existing eleven Law Schools in due course. Meanwhile, the results of admission test would be made available to them on request.
Apart from CLAT, there are several other entrance exams which are conducted by institutes individually. Some of the most important Law Entrance Exams in India are listed below:
The Bar Council of India (BCI) is a statutory body, constituted by Government of India under Advocates Act 1961 with the main objective of controlling and governing the working of all immediate subsidiary state-level bar councils besides laying down the standards of professional conduct and etiquette.
Though it comes under the purview of Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India, it is a corporate body having perpetual succession and a common seal, with power to acquire and hold property, both movable and immovable, and to contract, and may by the name by which it is known sue and be sued.
The Legal profession has today become one of the fastest growing professions all over the world. Besides being lucrative, it is an adventurous and exciting career. Lawyers are held in high esteem in every society. There is a growing demand for Law Professionals everywhere due to the changing economic and social scenario all over the world.
Some of the fields in which a Lawyer can apply to are as follows
Law courses in India are increasingly gaining popularity among students both at the undergraduate and at the postgraduate level. Law programs are now among the top ten programs in India. You can either enroll for a five-year B.A.LL.B course straight after your 10+2 or join a three year LLB course after graduation.
B.A LL.B (Undergraduate Law Course)
BA.LLB is an integrated five-year duration program. For admission to the above program, one must have passed the Higher Secondary School Examination (10+ 2) or an examination equivalent thereof, securing in aggregate not less than 50% in all the core subjects and English put together.
LL.B
LLB is an undergraduate degree 3 year programme that aims to impart education in the field of law. The course is intended for graduates.
Bachelor of General Law (BGL) / Bachelor of Academic Law (BAL)
Bachelor of General Law/Bachelor of Academic Law is an undergraduate distance learning course in the field of law. The course does not entitle you to practice in the court of law. But it does give you the basic knowledge of law and teaches you among other things constitutional law, labour law and Law of Evidence with Drafting.
Master of Law (LLM)
While the undergraduate programme in Law teaches the basics of law many subjects, you can specialize in a field of your choice in LL.M. A candidate should have secured a LL.B. degree or its equivalent from a recognized University, having obtained not less than 50% marks in the aggregate.
Master of Business Law (MBL)
While MBL is not on an equal footing with an LL.M, Degree-wise, but content-wise it is more than LL.M. LL.M. has a narrow specialisation when compared with MBL. All Laws required to be known by a business law consultant / Advisor / Officer, are included in the curriculum. The course is theoretical as well as practical oriented.