Law is a great field of career choice and with approx. 5 lakh students join the LLB course every year. It is the career of legalities where lawyers act as the representatives of their clients and demand justice for them. If you are someone who has the calling of helping people and wants to make a career in the law field then you should choose to go for the LLB course.
If you’re wondering how to become a lawyer in India, then this article will be of great help to answer your questions.
A lawyer is a professional who works to uphold the law and protect the interests of clients using legal knowledge. Lawyers advise, research, collect evidence, and draft various legal contracts related to the case. There are many other responsibilities that lawyers have to fulfil, depending on their area of expertise.
Becoming a lawyer is not an easy task, one has to have a keen interest in the field of law, prepare for entrance, read books, research and keep updating their knowledge and skills. If you want to career in the legal profession and wondering how to become a lawyer in India, then this guide is for you.
Following are the steps to become a lawyer in India-
If you are wondering how to become a lawyer, then firstly you need to complete your high-school education from any of the respective streams. As there is no particular stream you have to choose to become a lawyer. You can become a Lawyer if you belong to any stream, i.e., science, commerce or arts/humanities.
Once you have completed your school education, your next step towards becoming a lawyer will be to prepare for the entrance exam. The preparation depends on the course you choose to do. You can either choose to do a 5-year integrated programme or pursue graduation and then a 3-year LLB.
For admission in 5-year integrated LLB programme, you need to give law entrance tests like- CLAT (Common Law Admission Test), AILET, LSAT and SET and for admission in law after graduation, you need to give exams like DU L.L.B., LSAT, MH CET, BHU L.L.B
Your next step towards becoming a Lawyer is to obtain a degree in Law (L.L.B.). You can pursue LLB after the 12th or after completing your graduation in any other subject. If you are determined to become a lawyer and pursue a career in the field of Law, you can enrol in the five-year integrated program. In this, you will be taught the basic graduation subjects and the subject of Law.
Some of the in-demand law courses are B A. L.L.B. (Hons), B.Sc. L.L.B. (Hons), BBA L.L.B. (Hons) and B.Com. L.L. B (Hons). Or you can pursue a 3-year L.L.B. program after graduation if you need time to decide the career you want to go for.
After completing 5 or-3-year law study, you need to pass the All-India Bar Examination. As per the government guidelines, it is compulsory for every law graduate to pass this test to do legal practice. It is made compulsory for the students who completed graduation in the academic year of 2009-10 or later.
After completing your 5-year or 3-year program and getting the necessary law qualifications, if you are wondering where to start and how to become a lawyer. Then your answer is, that you need to undergo a mandatory internship as per the norms set by the specific institution. This will help you to gain experience and a chance to do legal practice under qualified and experienced seniors.
If you are wondering how to become a lawyer and continue your law qualification. Here are some of the best law colleges that you can enrol in to pursue your career in the field of law. These top Law colleges in India are ranked each year by agencies like NIRF, India Today and so on.
The field of law has various diversions that you can choose from. All these various branches of law deal with different cases. If you are interested to work specifically for one branch then you need to the specialization course in that. Some of the in-demand and popular specialisation courses are.
If you are someone who wants to become the voice of the helpless and protect the civil rights of common citizens, then choosing civil law as a specialization might be the right decision for you. This specialization branch deals with cases where wrong is done against a person or an individual, such as defamation, breach of contract, negligence resulting in injury or death and property damage.
Of all the specialisation courses the most famous and in-demand specialization in Criminal Law. The lawyers in this field of law are called Criminal Lawyers, these are the individuals who represent or are against a criminal. They study the case, collect evidence, look out for the reasons behind the crime, and then demand justice for the defendant. In case the defendant is found guilty, it is the criminal lawyer’s duty to demand negotiation or settlement. To handle such cases criminal lawyers, need to have good knowledge of penal codes, criminal laws, and the constitution.
With the rapid growth of digitalisation, there is also great is in the crimes to the digital world. This field of law deals with those cybercrimes. As a cybercriminal lawyer, you are supposed to study and take cases related to cybercrimes like online bullying, public offence, online payment frauds, hacking etc. It deals with the internet and internet-related technologies, including computers, software, hardware and information systems.
Corporate Law is another currently in-demand and preferred specialization for becoming a lawyer. It is also known as Business Law, which is the body of Laws that governs persons, companies, and organisations’ rights, relations, and conduct. Corporate Lawyers work to safeguard the legality of commercial transactions, representing corporations and advertising corporate employees on their legal responsibilities. They ensure that in legal battles with competitors a middle ground can be found, which safeguards the interest of both parties.
If you are someone who has a great interest in taxes and wondering how to become a lawyer using your knowledge of taxes, then you can choose tax law as a specialization. This specialization deals with the various tax policies and primarily focuses on different taxes like income tax, real tax, estate tax etc. You can work for a law firm where or become a private counsellor for a firm, where you work will be to counsel on topics related to tax obligations, related to the selling or acquisition of assets.
There are several legalities in the employment of any worker, from monthly salary to set EPF funds there are hundreds of things. And to safeguard the interests of workers and provide them with their legal benefits, labour law is made. This Law specialization deals with workers, their association, rights of workers regarding their duties and working conditions.
A labour lawyer specialising usually sorts out issues between the management and the employees and does negotiations and settlements which benefit and protect the worker’s rights and don’t collide with management’s interests too.
Wondering how to become a lawyer for protecting things like inventions, someone’s ideas and creations, then Intellectual Property Law specialization is for you. This deals with the rules for securing and enforcing legal rights to inventions, designs and artistic works.
Intellectual property is a term referring to a brand, design, invention or any other kind of creation which a person or business has legal rights over. As Intellectual Property Lawyer you will be taking cases related to copyrights, patent rights, brand names etc.
Just like humans and their ideas, nature and our environment also need protection and it is protected by Environmental Lawyers. If you are a nature lover and thinking about how to become a lawyer and protect nature, then you can do specialization in Environmental Law. It deals with studying different national and international rules and regulations, and policies regarding the protection of the environment.
Apart from the specialization mentioned above, there are many more specializations, including International Law, Real Estate Law, Patent Law, Media Law, Competition Law and Mergers and Acquisition Law.
If you have chosen the field of law but getting confused about how to become a lawyer and which specialization to choose, then you have various lucrative choices.
| Types of Lawyers | Salaries (LPA) |
| Civil Lawyer | ₹3 LPA |
| Criminal Lawyer | ₹3 LPA |
| Cybersecurity Lawyer | ₹4 LPA |
| Corporate Lawyer | ₹6.7 LPA |
| Tax Advocate | ₹5 LPA |
| Labor Lawyer | ₹4.6 LPA |
| Intellectual Property Lawyer | ₹4.5 LPA |
| Environment Lawyer | ₹11 LPA |
Source- Ambition Box
Now that you know how to become a lawyer and what are your options in the field of law are, you might want to go forward with your choices. However, before acting on any choice, know about some pros and cons of becoming a lawyer.
As a lawyer you will have several options, you can work in the private or public sector. Once you pass the bar exam and do legal practice and can choose the specialization field of your choice for which you are passionate.
Thinking of how to become a lawyer. Once you finish your lawyer qualifications if you want you can start your own business in partnership, or start independently and take clients.
A Lawyer is one of the highest paid jobs with an average salary of 3 LPA which keeps increasing with years and experience. However, if you want to gain most of the financial gain in this field then you should go to the private sector. Where you can be a reputed and well-paid lawyer for a firm.
Unlike other 9-5 professions where you have to work for a fixed number of hours with limited to have personal time, the field of law provides you flexibility. As a lawyer, you can choose how many hours you want to give to your cases, for maintaining a work-life balance.
Becoming a lawyer is great but it’s also a stressful profession. As you will always be working on complex cases, doing negotiations and surrounded by law and legal issues.
It takes years of qualifications and experience to become a full-fledged and high-earning lawyer.
Lawyers have to research and store too much information in their minds and throughout their careers, they work closely with cases whose information are needed to be kept confidential for the public interest.
Choosing a legal profession is just and right choice, not only is it’s a great career choice but also a job that helps people and fulfils social duties. As mentioned in the article there are several choices within the field of law you can choose.
Besides that, your question has also been answered about how to become a lawyer in India. So, start your journey of becoming a lawyer while keeping the pros& cons and your passion for becoming a lawyer in mind.
Ans. If you choose to become a lawyer as your career, then it will take somewhere between 5- 8 years to become a full-fledged lawyer. Before that, you need to complete your higher education, and after that, you need to complete graduation, then LLB. And if you want to become a lawyer after 10+2 then you need to pursue a 5-year integrated LLB programme.
Ans. If you are wondering how to become a lawyer, then your answer is that you need to follow certain steps for that. To become a lawyer, you need to complete your higher secondary education, after that, you can choose either to pursue 3-year LLB after graduation or enrol for a 5-year integrated programme. For both 3- and 5-year programmes you need to give an entrance exam.
Ans. If you want to start your legal profession right after the 12th class then you need to prepare for law entrance exams like CLAT, LSAT, SET etc. And based on the scores of the entrance exam you can take admission to law school under integrated programs like BA LLB and B. Com LLB. LLB etc.
Ans. Studying law will require you to work hard and give your best. And if you have an interest in becoming a lawyer and a passion to help people, then nothing is hard. Yes, there will be lots of difficulties and you need to study in-depth about law, penal codes and the constitution. But it’s all will be worth it when you will finally achieve your goal.
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