3 years LL.B. or 5 years Integrated LL.B.

I am starting this blog site with a highly debatable topic for law graduates. Which course a law aspirant should chose – three years LL.B. or five years LL.B.? I shall begin my write up with the answer first and then would try to support in an unbiased way, hopefully. The answer is EITHER. Let us begin with a basic natural principle of evolution. We all know and science has time and again proven that diversity brings in the best. Diversity in the gene pool, diversity in the food habit, diversity in the adaptation to natural habitation, so on and so forth. Likewise think of the civilizations which have survived the onslaught of time. Compared to monistic societies the pluralistic societies have been better in survival and in bringing out the essence of knowledge and philosophy to the world. Having said that I would like to buttress my above answer with a statement that graduates coming out from both the courses will bring in the diversity that the Legal sector needs.   There are many points that one can take into account while trying to answer the above question. It will be foolhardy to say that there are no negatives with either of the courses. In fact, each course has got its own negatives and at the same time lots of positive as well. Let me bring them out in some comprehensible way (subtopics);   Decision to choose a course: Many 3 years’ students would have opted for this course as they did not have much options to choose from after their graduation. Similarly, many 5 years’ students would not have chosen the course themselves but their parents would have done that. So, we can find a large chunk of law graduates from both the courses who pursue Law just like that. The small section which knowingly, using their discretion, join a course do good when they pass out regardless of the course. Hence the point here is that more than the type of course, the willingness to pursue the subject will propel a student.   Age and Maturity: Maturity can come at any age and can be lost at any age.  Usually it is assumed that post graduation one becomes matured and then pursuing a three-year course will add to his/her decision-making capabilities whereas someone who has just completed higher secondary may not have the same maturity to handle complex subjects like law. This argument does not hold good in absolute terms and has lots of subjective element. A graduate pursuing LL.B. can and will have little more maturity compared to the student who is pursuing 5 years course but at the same time the five years course student is in its formative age and a good system and education can bring out the required maturity in a disciplined manner with in that student.  Considering the admission to a law college or school as starting point, seemingly, the three year’s course guy will have some edge but at the second starting point wherein both are about the start their career the difference in maturity level might not be there at all.   Opportunities: This is one area where the five years course students have an edge over the three years students because of the institutionalization of certain activities like placements, moot courts, and different kinds of cells that the colleges have. Undoubtedly the five years course students have a better take-off speed in terms of job and salary. But if you ask anyone, who has seen the industry for quite some time, he or she will tell that over the years graduates from both courses come at the same level. Rest is what they make out of the opportunities available and how quickly they are able to accelerate. This is all about the corporate jobs. The scenario is a bit skewed towards the three years course students when a senior lawyer wants to engage a junior attorney. For independent practice, to start with, three years course graduates are kind of preferred over the five years course graduates.   Brand name: I would like to be straightforward here. For corporate legal jobs college’s brand name does matter and some of the colleges offering five years course have created a niche for themselves. For independent legal practice the college brand name does not play any role.  A lawyer himself or herself creates a brand name. A practicing lawyer’s name takes precedence over the college from where he/she has graduated.   In my opinion the decision to choose a course can be made basis the aspirations that one has. And, it all depends on an individual that what he/she wants to make out of the decision that is made. Regardless of which course one is opting for, if that person is circumspect and knows where he/she is heading to, I think he/ she will be able to derive he best out of the college and do wonderfully good career wise.