FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions about LLB, Bar Exam, LLM and other Legal topics - Page 4 of 28

Universities & Colleges are not ‘affiliated’ to the Bar Council of India. It is just that their their LLB programs (5 year / 3 year) are ‘recognized’ by the BCI.

Also, while BCI may at some level advise on the syllabus for LLM programs, they don’t actually get involved much.

The BCI is primarily concerned with LLB programs.

Background . . .

BCI is the body which regulates the Legal profession in India. An entry into the legal profession requires a Full-time LLB degree. Hence, BCI gets involved in prescribing the syllabus and setting the standards in terms of how the courses will be conducted.

Colleges which offer LLB programs are either

stand-alone ‘Deemed to be Universities’ – e.g. The NLUs
regular colleges affiliated to any University – e.g. Karnataka Law University
faculties of law / university law colleges – e.g. ULC Bengaluru

Can a college have an LLB program that is not recognized by the BCI ?

Yes. Since BCI does not recognize part-time or distance LLBs, such courses offered by any any college are not recognized by the BCI.

These degrees may still be UGC recognized and useful as an additional qualification or as a base for pursuing LLM / PhD etc; but they are not ‘Professional’ degrees.

A professional LLB degree is what enables you to practice as an advocate in India.

List of colleges / Universities . . .

If you Google or check around on the BCI website; or even the Gujarat Bar Council website, you will find a PDF document which has a long list of colleges.

The list is old, but it is a good starting point.

If you are using the list to decide on a college to join, do reconfirm with the college that they are still a BCI approved / recognized

Q : What is the difference between a serial number and registration number? Can anyone explain me with an example?

Ans :

An example . . .

When a car is manufactured, it comes with a Serial number.

If there were thousand cars of the same model that were made by the company, they will have the serial numbers from 0001 to 1000

10 of the cars where used for crash testing.

10 were used as exhibition cars.

10 were given to the R & D department for research.

10 cars were written off / scrapped due to damage in transit.

So, only 960 cars were eventually sent to the dealers for sale.

The customers who purchased these cars got them registered in their names at various RTOs (DMVs).

Though the cars had a sequential serial number, they ended having different registration numbers.

Even though cars with serial numbers 50 – 100 were produced first, they were painted bright yellow color, which was not a fast moving color. Cars 101 – 150 were plain white and sold quite fast – so, many cars from the 101 – 150 series got registered first and hence there was no exact correlation between Serial numbers and Registration numbers.

A more simpler example . . .

A college started selling ‘registration forms’ for an entrance exam.

The college printed and sold 1000 forms, which had a sequential ‘Serial number’ from 0001 to 1000

However, only 75% of the students who bought the forms eventually submitted them. So, there were only 750 registration numbers.

Q : How is the placement at NLUs for LLM students?

Ans :

This is adapted from my recent answer to a similar question.

The answer below is specifically about NLSIU Bengaluru; but the situation will be similar in most of the top NLUs.

You can go to the NLUs website and check the UG and PG placement brochures and make a similar analysis.

The actual placement packages for LLM are not disclosed by NLSIU, but you can ‘guesstimate’.

Considering that the LLM candidates will usually have more experience + the additional educational qualification; there will be a wider variation in the LLM placement packages as compared to the LLB packages.

And not all LLM candidates will opt for placements.

Some would prefer to study for the UGC NET or other exams.
Some would prefer to prepare for the Judiciary and other exams.
Some would start their own practice.
Some would take up opportunities outside the college placement process.

When we look at the 2016–17 LLM placement details for NLSIU, the list of companies, LPOs and legal firms is as given below in this answer.

A majority of them are the same firms which recruit from the LLB classes of NLSIU.

The median pay package mentioned for NLSIU LLB placements is around Rs 14.5 lakh PA; so the LLM placements will also be in a similar range, if not marginally higher.

The NLSIU LLM students also do their internship / vacation schemes in a variety of firms; and some of them can convert their internship into jobs after graduation.

List of firms who have recruited from NLSIU LLM in the past (As per the 2016–17 brochure :

Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co.
Anand & Anand Advocates
AZB & Partners
Bajaj Allianz
Bhasin & Co.
Clifford Chance
Companies & LPOs
Desai & Dewanji
DLF Limited
DSK Legal
Dua Associates
Edelweiss Corporate
Exchange Credit Guarantee Corporation
Fox Mandal Little & Co.
HAL, Bangalore
IBM
KNM & Partners
KPMG LLP
Krishnamurthy & Co
Larsen & Tourbo Infrastructure
Legasis Service Pvt. Ltd.
Lex Orbis Intellectual Property
MCX Stock Exchange Ltd
Microsoft Corporation
Pangea
Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.
Quistex
Reliance Power Ltd.
SBI Life Insurance
SEBI
Tata Motors

Q : If the Supreme Court has the power to repeal any law made by the Parliament, then does the due process of law in India have any significance?

Ans :

The Constitution is the ultimate ‘Law’ . . .

The Indian Government consists of three main components – the Legislative, Executive, Judiciary.

– The Legislative creates Laws.
– The Judiciary is supposed to interpret and enable implementation of laws.
– The Executive actually implements the laws.

The roles and remits of the three arms are quite clearly demarcated. However, there is scope for a certain amount of overlap.

There is also a ‘maker-checker’ kind of a concept built into the system. e.g. When the Legislative makes a law, the Judiciary can question it’s constitutional validity or the Executive can ask for changes based on the implementation challenges..

The power to make laws is given to the Legislative by the Constitution of India; and as long as any law is within the prescribed limits, the Supreme Court cannot repeal it.

If a new law is passed or an existing law is amended by the Legislative, the Judiciary can review the same to ascertain its legality & constitutional validity. This is called Judicial Review.

For example, till recently, Adultery was a criminal offence under IPC Section 497. However, only the Man could be punished, even if the adulterous relationship was initiated by the woman.

Under Section 497 a husband could prosecute his wife’s lover. However, a similar right is not conferred on a wife to prosecute a woman with whom her husband has committed adultery.

This situation goes against the basic tenets of justice and equality. So, when a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court, it struck down IPC Section 497 as being unconstitutional.

So, the Supreme court cannot arbitrarily repeal any laws. Only if the law is deemed to be unconstitutional, it can be repealed.

The second line of defense . . .

The Constitution has been and can still be amended. So what happens if the Legislative tries to amend the Constitution itself, just to accommodate a currently unconstitutional law ?

Something like “If you can’t play within the rules, change the rules !”

This is where the Doctrine of Basic Structure comes into play. Whereby, any amendment to the Constitution cannot change / overwrite the basic structure of the Constitution.

Based on previous cases, there is a list of attributes that are considered to be the ‘Basic’ tenets of the constitution. (The list below is from Wikipedia)

Supremacy of the Constitution
Rule of law
The principle of Separation of Powers
The objectives specified in the Preamble to the Constitution
Judicial Review
Articles 32 and 226
Federalism (including financial liberty of states under Articles 282 and 293)
Secularism
The Sovereign, Democratic, Republican structure
Freedom and dignity of the individual
Unity and integrity of the Nation
The principle of equality, not every feature of equality, but the quintessence of equal justice;
The \”essence\” of other Fundamental Rights in Part III
The concept of social and economic justice — to build a Welfare State: Part IV in toto
The balance between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles
The Parliamentary system of government
The principle of free and fair elections
Limitations upon the amending power conferred by Article 368
Independence of the Judiciary
Effective access to justice
Powers of the Supreme Court under Articles 32, 136, 141, 142
Legislation seeking to nullify the awards made in exercise of the judicial power of the State by Arbitration Tribunals constituted under an Act[8]
Welfare state

** The list above is from the Wikipedia

Q : Can an MBA and an LLB be done together?

Ans :

Depends on the Country you are referring to . . .

In India, studying ‘Law’ refers to taking up the LLB degree; which can be a dual degree 5 year program (after +2 : under grad course) or a 3 year program after a prior graduation in any field.

I am not aware of any program in India that combines MBA with LLB. There are BA / BCom / BBA & even a B Tech + LLB, but there is no MBA + LLB being offered anywhere in India.

Coming to the LLB program, BCI rules are quite clear in stating that it has to be a full-time course and the student should meet the minimum attendance criteria (usually 70%) ; so doing two full-time programs LLB + MBA would be quite a bit of a challenge – unless you figure out a way to juggle the timings / classes etc.

If the MBA is a distance education program; you should be able to manage it with your LLB. (Quite a few people do take up distance MBA or some other courses like CS / CFA etc. which do not require them to attend classes.)

What about the work load?

A normal student putting in a little bit of extra effort should be able to manage the two programs quite easily.

The challenge may be in case of logistical / calendar issues; whereby there is a clash in the exam schedules.

Both these programs can be relatively heavy in terms of assignments to write, books to study etc. So, if you do taken them up, you need work on your time-management skills.

Q : What should I do to start my law career? I completed B.Tech.

Ans :

You mention that you have completed your B.Tech. However, to become a Lawyer & practice as an Advocate, you need to have a BCI approved LLB degree (3 year or 5 year).

As of today, 14th Nov , there is no upper age limit for taking up LLB.

The minimum academic eligibility for a 5 year LLB is 12th
The minimum academic eligibility for a 3 year LLB is a Graduation

Since LLB is a ‘Higher Degree’ of sorts, the requirement for a LLB is that the student should have another Bachelors degree. So the 5 year LLB (after +2) is a dual degree program – BA LLB / BBA LLB / BCom LLB etc.

The three year LLB needs the candidates to have a Bachelors degree (any Bachelors degree) before taking up the LLB.

In India, there are three ways to taking up an LLB course . . .

[1] Without any entrance exam (3 year / 5 year) – There are many tier-3 and some tier-2 Law Colleges across India, where admission is done on a first-come-first-admitted basis.

No entrance exam. Just meet the minimum criteria in terms of your previous academics and pay the fees.

These are proper colleges, recognized by the Bar Council and have 3 year & 5 year LLB courses, affiliated to various Universities.

They normally will not have any placement process and the other facilities also are quite basic.

But, you will get a proper LLB degree after completing the course.

[2] With entrance exam (3 year / 5 year) – there are tier 2 colleges that have their own entrance exam and in some states there is a common entrance exam for Law Courses across many participating colleges – tier 2 & 3.

For example, the Andhra Pradesh – AP LAWCET, Telangana – TS LAWCET, Kerala CEE , DU Law entrance exam etc.

Bulk of the seats are filled through the exams, but there will usually be a ‘Management quota’ of seats with higher fees in private colleges that participate in these common entrance process.

[3] Through CLAT (5 year only) – CLAT is the common entrance exam for the National Law Schools / National Law Universities across India.

These tier 1 institutes have placement process, superb facilities and the competition for getting admission is also quite tough.

Note : NLU Delhi and HPNLU Shimla do not participate in the CLAT as they have their own separate entrance exams.

Q : What is brokarage charges by law?

Ans :

Depends . . .

Since there are no additional details in the question, this is a generic answer.

Brokerage in certain formal sectors e.g. Financial services is regulated and limited to a specific amount or percentage by some applicable law or as notified by some agency. (SEBI / IRDA / RBI etc.)

Brokerage in the informal sector – like Real-estate deals; is not formally fixed. For example, Brokerage charged by house rental agencies / agents can be anywhere from a few 100’s to one month rent.

When I was in Chennai, initially I had to use the ‘Company suggested’ broker who charged me INR 25k for a house with a 25k PM rent.

Later, when I moved to a different house closer to office; I took a house for INR 20k PM and I paid only INR 5k as brokerage to the agent who found the house.

Q : How do I get an admission at Gujarat National Law University?

Ans :

I am reusing part of my answer from another question . . .

GNLU Gandhinagar is one of the National Law Universities that admits students though the CLAT – Common Law Admissions Test for both UG and PG.

Once the official details are published, you should take up the CLAT 2019 and apply for all the Institutions that use CLAT scores.

Rest of the answer is about LLB admissions in general :