Beat the heat : Career options for Law Students
By Sukhmani Singh, Army Institute of Law, Mohali
We are all full of expectations when we enter the college of our choice, a subject that we choose. We are full of hopes and dreams. We want to excel at what we do. Be it Engineering or medicine or law. Dreaming is a step towards success, I feel. So, let us skip the part where you juggle your options and land up in a law school. Law is an ever expanding field. It has a lot of challenges and the schedule is hectic when you are doing the right things. For a person who is completely in love with law and logic will absolutely flourish in this field. Most of you who are reading this article are already law students and for some, their first year of law school is starting or has just started. Let us explore the various options that are filled in a law school.
First of all, you need to know that just because you are in the top law college does not mean that your life is set. You need to work hard and do things to achieve success. Opportunities are present in every single college and it depends on how you use them. I see people from mediocre law schools do really well in life. You need to be aware of your choices and the consequences attached.
Here is a list of qualities that are generally present in all legal professionals:
* Good communication skills
* Quick responsiveness; excellent memory
* Open, flexible mind
* Good authoritative leadership qualities
* Logical reasoning
* Good listening and powerful oratorical skills
* Out-of-the-box thinking ability
* Knowledge of all statutes, rules and regulations, and notifications
* Patience – for some cases can drag on endlessly
If you think you have these qualities or if you think you can develop these qualities, then read on.
The field of law is vast. If we think about it, we realize that law touches every aspect of the society. There are so many fields that are developing these days. Law and medicine, IT, Intellectual Property Rights and so on. Law reflects the society and changes according to the needs of the people. When you choose law and start your college, you generally think that you have only 3 options after finishing the course. Those are Lecturer, Litigation and Corporate law.
I think these options are the traditional options that are considerably safe and expected. One has to work hard at making a successful career. Be it any of the options that we have now. So, you sail through college, do a lot of moots, papers and internships. What next? What options to explore? Well, read on.
Here is a list of career options available after graduating. The list includes the traditional as well as unique career options for law students in the country.
1) An Associate in a Law Firm: A safe option. It involves a lot of hard work and tough nights of lots and lots of work. The process is pretty simple. You pick the right subjects in college, do some internships and sit for placements. If you are good enough, you get picked before your college ends.
2) Judiciary: After graduating, you can start preparing for the Indian Judicial Services and become a judge. It is a permanent job and is ruled by the conditions given in the Constitution. No confusion there. You have fixed hours and a good social status with lots of responsibility on your shoulders. But, it sure is a proud place.
3) Litigation: The most traditional career option after pursuing law. It requires pure dedication and lots of work. You will have to put in a lot of hours, especially in the beginning when you are building your career.
4) Author: Believe it or not, if you are creative and you love writing, you can explore the option of being an author as well. You have read John Grisham’s books, right? He did law from University of Mississippi School of Law. He even practiced for a decade but then, you wrote a book called A Time To Kill which was published in 1989 and the rest you all know. This is a unique option after law.
5) Journalism: There are so many reporters and journalists who are law graduates. Law and journalism work on developing common skills which is why making a jump from law to journalism is not a tough leap of faith.
6) Politics: Most of the politicians are law graduates. If you are one of those people who want aspire to serve the society by being a politician, law is a useful subject. It gives you an idea of how the society works, its rules and application.
7) Law Officer: They handle all the legal work in a Government or Private Department.
8) Teaching: Well you need a bit more than LL.B. You need a Post Graduation degree and you also need to qualify exams like NET/SET/SLET.
Well and one more thing all careers which need basic graduation like Bank Jobs, PO etc are open for you.
Pros and cons
* It’s an exciting and challenging profession
* It can be satisfying to know that you have the ability to save an innocent person from a life in prison or from execution
* With enough experience, you can have handsome financial gains and social and professional recognition
* Modest salaries and struggle at the entry level
* It takes time to establish yourself and prosper in independent practice
Be smart and pick wisely. Do not follow the multitude blindly. Work on finding what you love within your field of choice.
Here are a few links which I have referred to, and they talk about some other career options for law graduates as well:
— http://www.hindustantimes.com/hteducation/greatcareers/exploring-law-as-a-career-option/article1-906532.aspx
— http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/law-admissions-lowdown/2012/01/23/5-unique-career-paths-for-law-school-grads
— http://blog.oureducation.in/career-options-after-llb/