Law course

Law as a career- Practical approach

Common apprehensions of beginners in law
Career Oriented v. Exam Oriented
Moot Court- Key to success in law career

Law as a career - Practical approac

h
Theoretically we learn to hear that law cours
e has a good career
eg- In courts,banks, corporate sector, insuran
ce sector, labour courts, tribunals , military ,
real estate, alternate dispute resolution etc

Practical approachBroadly can be divided into 2 categories

Litigation
Non litagation
Apart from being lawyers , Judges, Court Martial
Law firms- New trend

Litigation
Appearing before the Courts of law
Subordinate courts, High Courts, Supreme Courts,
tribunals, consumer court, labour courts, Alternate
dispute resolution , administrative tribunals, appell
ate tribunals , District Magistrate, Tahsildar etc
Get to wear black coat which is the identity of law
yers- in simple words

Practice as a junior advocate under any senior ad

vocate
Stipend does not exceed Rs 5000 to 10000 Per m
onth initially
Later depends on your hardwork
Within 1- 2 year can start own independent pract
ice and earn good amount
You can be your own boss
Never jobless Practise anywhere within India

Non litigation
Drafting, Document writing , Agreements, Contr
acts etc
Real estate , corporate, insurance ,banking etc
Legal advisors,
LPOs - cannot be called as advocates
Government jobs as legal advisors to public sect
or undertakings - with or without minimum expe
rience

Management trainees
Eg BHEL, HAL etc
1 year trainee, with good pay minimum Rs 4000
0 per month
Service for minimum no of years
Keep checking websites of such public sector un
dertakings
Central govt job
All types of facilities

Judiciary
Apart from being lawyers
Facilities are more or less equal to IAS cadre
IAS applicants are lakhs together all over India
Judiciary applicants number hardly crosses 1000
0 within State
Chances of getting through is quite good
Reservations for various categories
Women have reservations

Consists of 3 stages
Preliminary - consists of MCQ
Legal knowledge of majority of law subjects tau
ght in your law school
Written examinations-translation, civil and crimi
nal judgement, legal theory paper
Interview
Freshers can apply

Court martial- judge,

Persons interested in joining army
Notification
Payscale - min Rs 70000
Not suitable for ladies - unmarried only
Gents - both married and unmarried can apply
Freshers can apply

Law firms
Usually Based in Metropolitan cities
Usually intake national law schhols passed out
May also intake other college students - tough co
mpetetion
Payscale depends on lawfirms
wide difference min to maximun
But within 2-3 years , will get very good pay
Usually no vacancy, consists of same team that d

They never resign as they are well established

Mostly in the case of corporate law firms
Tough work culture
Timings - have to extend beyond office time, sta
y latenight to complete deadlines
Under tremendous pressure and stress

Choose
Litigation/ non litigation
Govt job / pvt job
Transferable job/ non transferable job
Initially good pay job/ initially hard work job
Knowledge enriching job/ technically repetitive j
ob
jOb/ higher education

Choice is all yours

Depending upon your personal interests, family
necessities, your hardwork etc
Start preparation from first year, right now
Competetion is very very tough
Later in third part - let' s discuss in detail

Common apprehensions of law beg

inners
Different background -Arts, Commerce and Scie
nce
Prelaw subjects -economy, political science, soci
ology, history - basic knowledge regarding the so
ciety
Engineering, medical v. Law- career
National lawschools v. Other law colleges- hard
work counts and nothing else

Kannada medium- boon in translation

Scoring in exams is not as high as in PUC- never
mind, it happens to all law students

Career oriented v Exam oriented

exam oriented
Completing law course only keeping exams in m
ind
Everyone does it atleast in one or more semester
s including me
Be thorough with past year question papers_ pre
pare notes and be regular, attend lectures and ea
sily get through
Does not serve any other purpose except degree

Career oriented
plan systematically nomatter how many times
End up somewhere rather than being nowhere
Develop skills
Computer
Typing
Word
Excel
Ppt

Make use of library daily atleast for an hour

Legal magazines, articles, AIR, law books, textb
ooks etc
Even if u dont understand , keep on reading
By 3rd year you get to understand law a little if y
ou start now.
Learn typing without looking at keyboard
Softwares
Try to explore different legal websites

Update with all legal news

Learn how to make legal research
Not easy as google search
Must be definite and accurate
Must get limited results
Legal research is an art as well scientific method
Requires skills to do legal research
Thorough by 3rd year
Keep on browsing websites of national schools

Try to simultaneously enrol for CA, CS,CMA

It is a good combination
If you want to continue in that line
Mostly similar law sbjects like ipr, company law
etc
Can also complete diploma, certification courses
There are numerous options available
Make use of your valuable afternoon time in first
two years

Make better use of internet

Try to visit major law websites and get to know .
By the end of second year pls get yourself thorou
gh with these skills
This will help you in moot court and actual court
s and also be a strong base in your career

Moot courts
They are the prestigious competitions
Mock court procedures are followed to get the st
udents well acquainted with the court procedures
Practically very useful and add a value to your C
V
Participatiob is important

Different types of competetions

Moot court
Trial advocacy
Bail aaplication
Judgement writing
Arbitration
Mediation
National and international levels

2 speakers, 1 researcher make a team

1 st and 2nd year be the researchers and assist yo
ur seniors
Try to know the various rules, court manners
Dont try to directly become speakers
Judges will ask numerous questions
3rd year is appropriate to become speakers

Moot court memorials

more than 30 pages, both the sides
Follow proper citation, NLS guide
Neatly bound
Numerous copies
Cases , index, issues etc

Moot court problems

Many in website
Solve them
Knowledge and experience gaining is important
rather than mere participation

Classes and moot court must balance each other

Plight of several law schools
Right from first year - do not attend classes for th
e sake of moot court
Active moot court society in college
Atleast in college try to participate in all moot co
urt activities and arrange for more and more com
petetions in college

These are my experiences when I was a law stud

ent and in this profession of law
Hard work right from the beginning can yield go
od results
Make your future bright by acting as soon as pos
sible
In the last moment if you start working, it would
be an absolute disaster

Start dreaming and preparing for your bright care

er from today onwards
All the best
Thank you
Mrs Aparna V Bhat
BA,LLB,CS, PGDCL, MBL