One of the most common questions asked by Law Students, is that do I need to pursue my LLM. after my LLB.
Even though it is not important to do your llm It is important If you want to pursue your career in teaching or any other academic work . When you want to take up a government job Sometimes it helps having an llm degree .
Corporate generally prefer someone With a C.S.LL.B. degree and a couple of years of experience in the litigation field . LL.M. can be an added benefit for a corporate career .
It is not mandatory to complete your LL.B. immediately after your LL.B. degree. You can always take a break and then pursue your LL.M. degree. T he education gap between LL.M. and LL.B. is really not a big deal.
If you wish to pursue a career in teaching or in academic or research In that case it is mandatory to have an LL.M. degree. A lot of times what students do is immediately after the LL.B. they join a law firm and after a couple of years when they take a break to start their own practice that is the time when they start pursuing the LL.M. degree as well as start teaching parallelly as a visiting professor in any law college.
An LL.M. degree can be attained by either full-time or a distance learning mode. The duration of LL.M. degree is anywhere from one year to three years.
If you wish to continue with your practice along with your LL.M. degree in that case you can just take your degree from any university via distance learning method. If you wish to pursue your career in teaching it is important that you pursue LL.M. via full time. Once you complete your LL.M. degree that is your full time LL.M. degree. You can then apply for the job of For the job of assistant professor in any law school .
Difference between the degree attained Via distance learning and A full time course
If you want to pursue a career in teaching or Legal Research, it is always advisable to pursue LL.M. full time college. When you do LL.M. Full- time, more amount of time is dedicated exclusively for research. If you intend to pursue LL.M. only for the sake of a Degree and to enhance your Knowledge, a distance learning LL.M. will suffice.
A full time LL.M. is more expensive than a distance learning Master’s Degree but simultaneously, it also carries more weightage in comparison. A full time LL.M. from a good reputed University will help you to get a good Job as an Assistant Professor with a good University. An LL.M. Degree from a distance learning institution will help you become a visiting professor in any Law College.
LL.M. from a Foreign Country
Also a lot of students pursue Distance Learning and Full Time LL.M. from Universities abroad. These Degrees cost around Rs. 10 to 15 Lakhs per year. I have personally seen a lot of students, who take loans and pursue degree from these fancy colleges and then end up coming back to India and are still unemployed. Until and Unless, you are not going to get into any IVY League or Oxford or Cambridge, or such top Universities, My suggestion is avoid LL.M. from a Country abroad if you do not have strong financial background or sufficient contacts in foreign countries. Different countries have different provisions for lawyers who can practise, understand the same and then take a decision. Don’t be in a financial debt, at the beginning of your career.
Will doing an LL.M. get me better cases and better clients ?
A client is least bothered with your degree and your marks. Clients are not impressed by your fancy degrees or fancy offices. Clients are only interested in two aspects, in how you get results for them and mainly how you treat them. Remember today there are a lot of options available for a client. He can go to different lawyers who may be more qualified and more capable than you, so do not let your behaviour cause that loss. An LL.M. Degree is of least importance to the client.
Will doing an LL.M. Degree get me a better job ?
In Corporate sector, your performance is all that matters. But still if given an option Corporates will still select a candidate who has pursued an LL.M. Degree from a good university.
If the Human Resources has two candidates who has done LL.M. from an unknown foreign university and a candidate, who has done LL.M. from a National Law University, the chances are that they will select the candidate who has completed his degree from National Law or any similar University. At the end of the day it is not your degree that matters. It is your performance that matters.
I hope this article has clarified a lot of your queries. In case if you have any query, pls do mention in the comment section, will try and address the same.
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