Amicus Partners

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  • Indian law schools and the rankings game

    After the previous article, a kind reader (one of twelve I might add) sent me this link to a speech given by Associate Prof. Rahul Singh of the National Law School of India University. The speech, made by Singh as the chair of the undergraduate council at NSLIU, is interesting for a number of reasons – a push for greater interdisciplinary studies, a focus on financial aid for law students, and raising the quality of academic publishing.

    All this was spoken in the larger context of “breaking into” the QS World Universities rankings or “similar international rankings”. Which is an interesting statement to make primarily because I can’t recollect Indian law schools paying much attention to rankings. Apart from the NIRF rankings of course, but even there, participation levels have been quite low.

    The yearly ones published by India Today, Outlook and a couple of others are also not really taken too seriously. Most institutes, at least the private ones anyway, prefer taking out full-page adverts in the rankings specials. Others either pretend to be above it all, or simply don’t bother to share the information asked for.

    While I was at Bar & Bench, we did try to come up with a ranking scheme but eventually pivoted to the “Law School Darshan” series – this involved personal, first-hand accounts of different law schools. A few years ago, we did make another attempt at comparing different law schools through their faculty profiles. Again, not an ideal holistic comparison. But what has stuck with me since then has been the great reluctance of law schools to share information.

    Which is why I will be very interested in seeing how NLSIU approaches the rankings. It is a long term process for sure, one that will require significant amounts of investments in faculty, research, and physical infrastructure.

    But it is also a “game” in the sense, and this has been written by far too many people to be ignored, that one can always exploit the methodology to move up the rankings table.

    Over all though, Singh’s speech is one of the few times I can recollect where a “national” law school has publicly declared a tangible, measurable goal. How, when and if it all NLSIU does achieve it will certainly make for a great study.

    These are some interesting times for legal education. Of this I have little doubt.

  • Introducing the Amicus Podcast: Episode 01

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    At Amicus Partners, we are always trying to make the LLM application process that much easier. And in order to provide as much information as we can, we have recently launched the Amicus Podcast. In the first episode, Priyadarshini and I discuss the broad aspects of the application process, the things one should keep in mind, and just a little bit more. As always, we welcome your thoughts, comments and suggestions.

  • Career trajectories of Indian law graduates post a foreign degree

    A few months ago, Priyadarshini and I started compiling information on Indian law graduates who have pursued a master’s course outside the country.
    Thus far, we have (some) data on about 150 law grads. Given that the data is quite scattered, I would not want to really draw any conclusions. Not yet, anyway.
    But what has struck me during this exercise is the sheer variety of careers embarked upon post the master’s course.
    And the variety in the courses themselves.

     

    Although an LLM is, by far, the favourite, there are more than a few who have chosen non-law specific courses.  Which is particularly interesting to me because it goes back to the notion that legal education is meant to be an inter-disciplinary affair. That the (true) study of law cannot be done in a silo of sorts.
    Or, perhaps the lines above are a classic case of confirmation bias.
    Perhaps.
    Anyway, to get greater feedback, we have compiled a 12-question survey that can be taken here.

  • Four web resources every #LLM applicant should utilise

    As we have mentioned in our first post, researching on which law school to apply to can be a decidedly exhausting process.  Right from deciding which course to study, to law school identification to scholarships, the LLM aspirant can often feel overburdened by these tasks.
    However, there is help at hand. What with the advent of technology, a lot of information that may have been difficult to access is now (comparably) easily available.
    Given below are four web-resources that all LLM aspirants are advised to take advantage of.
    Yes, we have mentioned it in our first post, but I just want to underline the usefulness of this particular site. Not only does LLM Guide have a comprehensive database on LLM’s from across the world, but most of the information is up to date.
    A definite plus are the Discussion Boards that act as an effective medium to reach out to those in a similar boat as the one you find yourself in.
    Much like LLM-Guide, this website’s most useful feature is the database of LLM courses that are on offer across the world. You can also register for the newsletters for updates on open days, and scholarship applications.
    Run by law graduates and law students, SuperLawyer is a fantastic resource for those seeking first-hand accounts of Indian lawyers who have pursued post-graduate degrees outside the country.
    There is even a University-wise breakup of interviews conducted.
    Conducted by law graduate Bharatendu Agarwal, the #ProjectLLM interviews will provide some extremely useful information to potential LLM aspirants.
    Even if the interviews do not cover institutes that you are interested in, the advice and insights are really applicable to the LLM application process in general.
  • Three questions you need to ask if you are thinking about a master’s degree after law

    Three questions you need to ask if you are thinking about a master’s degree after law

    It is not always an easy decision to make, of this I have little doubt. In all probability, this is the first educational choice you are making after your decision to study law. And, if you decided to study in the five-year program, that decision was made a while back.

    So here you are, scoping out LLM-guide or LLMStudy, speaking with peers and seniors, and (probably) wondering whether it is going to be worth all the effort in the first place. Like I said, this can be a difficult decision to make.

    Fear not, there are some ways in which the decision making process can be made easier. There are a few questions you can ask that may just help you in reaching the final goal.

    Of course, these questions only work if you are being honest with yourself. Which is not particularly easy (insert “lawyer liar” joke here). But is it worth it if you don’t have to try hard?

    Anyway, here are three questions I think you need to ask yourself before thinking about an LL.M. (or any other master’s degree) outside the country.

    Question One: Why?

    The first one, and often the hardest one to answer, is “why”.  Why do you want to do a master’s course? What value do you see in the course, how does the degree fit into your career goals?

    Those italicizations above are no coincidence.

    No matter what people tell you, and there are more than a few people who will want to selflessly share their thoughts, the final choice is yours to make.

    At Amicus Partners, some of the more common answers we receive to the “why” question are gaining specialist knowledge, a career in academia, or a desire to practice in non-Indian jurisdictions. Then there are the less common, but equally valid, ones such as a desire to take a break after a few years of the grind. Which is fair.

    Lawyers are human after all. Well, sort of.

    The point that I am trying to make is that you need to be honest with yourself here. And as long as you do that, you will be fine. Trust me.

    Question Two: Where?

    If you are reasonably sure of your answer to the question above, you can then start narrowing down on the “where”. Or maybe you don’t have the answer right now, and you want to think of something else. Perhaps take a peek at the “where” question?

    So, one of the more common ways of going about the selection process is relying on rankings. A few of the more popular ones are USNews, QS World Rankings, the THE rankings – all three of these have rankings for the study of law. Given our love (hate?) of rankings, this is a particularly easy way out.

    Without going into the problems associated with rankings, and I think there are many, the only rider I would add here is that you should use rankings as a starting point for your research at best.

    Another way of identifying your graduate school is by focusing on the faculty profiles. Often, experts within a particular field of study will be part of the faculty. Or you may have practitioners offering courses – both of which can make for deeply fulfilling learning experiences.

    A third way of going about the selection is to list the criteria that are important to you. Say, you want to study closer to home. Or you want to study in a cosmopolitan city, or perhaps a truly remote location.

    As long as you can identify what matters to you, you have a starting point.

    Question three: Who will pay?

    This is a factor whose importance should simply not be underestimated. And yet, it very often is. The costs of the LL.M./master’s course will, or rather should, play an important role in your eventual decision.

    The reasons for this are many, the one that is often overlooked is that the fees will determine your financial health at the end of the course. This in turn will play a pivotal role in your career choices after you graduate.

    On average, an LL.M. at a top tier US law school will cost more than seventy lacs, while one in the UK will set you back by about half that. These are no small figures, more so if you are planning to take a loan.

    There are a number of ways and means to reduce your financial liabilities, the most popular one being scholarships and/or bursaries. These range from course-specific, to university-specific, to general scholarships. Information on the first two are quite easy to locate – you will find them on the websites of the educational institution. The third category requires a bit more research, but that should not dissuade you.

    In addition to this, there are philanthropic organizations which offer interest-free loans with a generous repayment schedule.

    And if you will need to apply for a loan, apart from the banks, there are a couple of online lenders in the education market. For instance, both Prodigy Finance and MPower Financing claim to have a simplified application process (with no collateral requirement), and competitive interest rates.

    But, like any good lawyer, make sure you read the fine print before entering into any agreement.

    Final thoughts

    The questions listed above are just suggestions. They may work for you, they may not. Nine times out of ten, you are not going to arrive at this answer immediately.

    Nor is it going to be a completely linear process where one answer leads to the next and so on and so forth.

    Which is just fine.

    Trust me.