Law studies are among those specialised courses in India, which allow students to learn targeted skills to practise in the future. It is also among the traditional courses offered by colleges and universities in the country, which before 1987, was basically a 3 year course. After the Advocates Act 1967 was passed in the parliament, law degrees were conferred on students, who took admissions in the colleges earmarked for law education. This act defined the law education and the conduct of legal profession. Bar Council of India was to be made the supreme body in the country to enforce rules and regulations regarding legal education and also to ensure the adherence to law and maintenance of professional standards in legal practise.
According to the notifications by Bar Council of India, legal education was supposed to be imparted in form of law degrees, after the students studied a bachelor’s course. LL. B or Bachelor of Laws or B L or Bachelor of Law was conferred on students who studied for 3 years in a law college or law school, after completion of a normal bachelor’s course. To streamline the law education in India, the government of India, based on recommendations of commission set up to evaluate the education system of legal education in the country, in 1985, recognised the need of separate universities. As a result, the first law university in India was set up in Bangalore. This was done to raise the attention given towards law education and to raise the standard. This law university became famous as National Law School of India University. Law universities were targeted towards integrated and multidisciplinary approach towards legal education.
It was by the setting up of a separate and independent university for legal education that led to the conferring of another degree for https://www.curabon.com/ the first time, which was for 5 year duration and was known as B.A., LL.B (Hons) course. After this, more law universities were set up, with the next being National Law University in Bhopal in 1997 with NALSAR in 1998. Further developments in the branches offered in universities with regards to law education were in the form of BSc. LLB offered by West Bengal National University of Juridical Science and KIIT Law School in Bhubaneswar offering integrated law courses with BA, BBA and BSc streams.
Despite of many integrated and Hons courses, the traditional three years LLB courses were offered by almost all the universities and law schools. This has been all through the years, recognised as the eligible degree for practising law in the country. Although, the LL.B courses requires a prequalification of bachelor’s course, the integrated courses offered these days can be pursued with a basic eligible qualification of 13th standard.
Further to the pursuant of the legal education in the country, interested students can go for LLM or masters in law courses, which is the most common post graduate degree in law, for a duration of two years. Some institutes are also offering double degree integrated course with specialisation in business law. Admissions to different universities nowadays is being done through Common Law Admission Test or CLAT and is currently recognised as the most prestigious among all the law entrances in the country. With such courses in the line, students are highly interested to pursue and this interest has escalated in recent years to a great degree, reviving the path for law education in the country.