1. Too much supply. Similar to engineering boom when supply was low in early 1990s-2000s and bust eventually, in terms of salaries. I honestly don't see salaries recovering anytime soon.
2. A lot of contract work will be automated soon.
3. Work life balance, return on effort (in terms of number of hours put) is less comparatively.
Having said that, a lot depends on your own passion, strengths and weakness. You may earn very well if you have the required set of skills.
If you pursue law as a choice of profession and not just mindlessly jump at a Tier 1 job for the money,then law will always remain interesting and a good life choice.If you join a law firm you will only join a rat race to do a whole lot of paperwork,lose your self esteem,wonder why you chose legal profession and lose interest in law.
Mostly, being a lawyer is not just a matter of a high paying job. Even if you land a high paying job, it comes with its rigours of excellent quality work, ethics and client management. It is not the same as being academically excellent. You need have an appetite for hard work (beyond a typical 8-10 hour job) and an X factor to be successful.
Law is very stressful, robs a lot of your personal time until you are 35-40 and possibly, after that too. The profession ultimately caters to a client's whims and fancies and you are often not the master of your time.
The bar is largely unwelcoming to women and it is far easier to be a woman doctor or engineer or MBA than a woman lawyer. The rigours can make it incompatible with childcare responsibilities.
All this being said, it is a beautiful profession. It informs every aspect of your life and makes you sharp mentally. You are surrounded by smart people. Legal education by itself is transformational. As for hard work, if you love the law, you sometimes won't even notice the midnight oil burning because the passion drives you. Knowing how to deploy the law is a weapon in itself, it will help you in smaller things like with a traffic cop or negotiating a lease agreement. If you want, you can help people pro bono. Or change your career midway and do something for the community. Your career trajectory is much longer than that of an engineer. They become obsolete at 45, you are at your peak then.
I would not suggest any career path. Rather, some factors that you should think about while choosing what you want to do. It could be cooking, or going into management, or joining the civil services, or becoming a teacher -- a career path isn't something that I should tell you but something you need to figure out by yourself. While trying to figure it out, keep some things in mind:
What do you want in life? A lot of people want to relax but end up going after money, many want the 'power' and respect but end up going after a relaxed life, etc. So probably ask yourself what do you want from your life? Lots of money, driving a merc? Or a middle class life with lots of free time? Or that laal-batti? Then see which career choices align and which don't. As others on this thread have said, law as a profession gives you little free time. So factor that in. As a teacher, you will get lots of free time, but not enough money.
I feel a lot of people, while giving career advice, skip this part. It is as important as following your passion, assessing your strengths and weaknesses, etc. Because - personal opinion, others might differ - there's no point pursuing your strengths and passions if the life that you ultimately get out of it makes you a miserable person.
Personal anecdote on this point: I had been bullied for most of my childhood, and I wanted a life for me where I had some sort of 'power' - something that prevented people from pushing me around in life. Being a (litigating) lawyer has that. Yes, the time that I have to put in is extreme, I don't get to spend a lot of time with my family, the money in the beginning isn't good - there's a whole list of complaints about the cons of litigation. But never in my life have I hated choosing this career because I was clear about the reason I'm getting into it. Lawyers get away with a lot of unethical and morally wrong stuff - manhandling cops, not obeying laws, dragging innocent people to court whenever they try to push you around. You don't have to listen to anyone's BS (except in the beginning of your career). That's what I wanted from my career, and that's what I have. The cons are still there, but I'm happy.
Be honest with yourself: what do you want? Know what to expect in each profession. Many of my friends in law school had chosen law after watching Harvey Spectre, only to get frustrated because real life isn't anything like that. Many of them have changed their career paths since (got into business; became a chef; went for civils). Know why you're really getting into this profession, what your motivation is.
Lastly, remember that none of the choices you make today have to be permanent. There is no shame in changing your paths at a later time in life. You become wiser as you grow, and you reassess your choices. Some choices may not be viable anymore; some other may have become feasible.
If you're thinking of law just because you have great language skills or abstractly think you like to argue, don't choose it for these reasons. Think of what you will do with a law degree if you get one and then choose whether its worth it. Look into how much litigation pays and if you could put in that many years earning not so much, and into what corporate law firms are like to see if it in any way aligns with your interests and would be palatable to you as a life path. If its policy etc you're looking into, consider if a specialised undergraduate degree like political science or economics or sociology may serve you better. Think it through before giving CLAT blindly! Sincerely, Batch of 22 kid struggling to find jobs that give a liveable wage without being insanely stressful- hours etc. wise. If your finances are chill, litigation could be great.
It would be wonderful if you end up doing something where you don't have to sacrifice time to earn. Time is finite, irreversible and hence the most precious asset of a human. Law unfortunately is a profession which takes up a disproportionate amount of time. No amount of professional success could compensate for time not spent with parents/ grandparents/ siblings/ spouse/ partner and close friends, who won't be in your life forever. Human relationships make life meaningful (atleast to many). Hence try to be something where you can earn through your brand/ reputation/ finite asset(s) and make more meaningful choices with your time. Would be difficult, but hey you're in Class X and your whole life is ahead of you! All the best!
I would have rather choose doing computer science, the amount of opportunities in the growing sector of AI ML and software is a lot and shifting to USA and Canada is very easy for techies. Even the money spent on your masters can be recovered in 3 years.
Join a good CLAT coaching centre and try to make it to one of the top 5 (NLS, NALSAR, NLUJ, NUJS, NLUD). After that, even if you don't want to do law, you always have an option to quit. Can't say the same if you join a TLC or a private college
1. Too much supply. Similar to engineering boom when supply was low in early 1990s-2000s and bust eventually, in terms of salaries. I honestly don't see salaries recovering anytime soon.
2. A lot of contract work will be automated soon.
3. Work life balance, return on effort (in terms of number of hours put) is less comparatively.
Having said that, a lot depends on your own passion, strengths and weakness. You may earn very well if you have the required set of skills.
Law is very stressful, robs a lot of your personal time until you are 35-40 and possibly, after that too. The profession ultimately caters to a client's whims and fancies and you are often not the master of your time.
The bar is largely unwelcoming to women and it is far easier to be a woman doctor or engineer or MBA than a woman lawyer. The rigours can make it incompatible with childcare responsibilities.
All this being said, it is a beautiful profession. It informs every aspect of your life and makes you sharp mentally. You are surrounded by smart people. Legal education by itself is transformational. As for hard work, if you love the law, you sometimes won't even notice the midnight oil burning because the passion drives you. Knowing how to deploy the law is a weapon in itself, it will help you in smaller things like with a traffic cop or negotiating a lease agreement. If you want, you can help people pro bono. Or change your career midway and do something for the community. Your career trajectory is much longer than that of an engineer. They become obsolete at 45, you are at your peak then.
What do you want in life? A lot of people want to relax but end up going after money, many want the 'power' and respect but end up going after a relaxed life, etc. So probably ask yourself what do you want from your life? Lots of money, driving a merc? Or a middle class life with lots of free time? Or that laal-batti? Then see which career choices align and which don't. As others on this thread have said, law as a profession gives you little free time. So factor that in. As a teacher, you will get lots of free time, but not enough money.
I feel a lot of people, while giving career advice, skip this part. It is as important as following your passion, assessing your strengths and weaknesses, etc. Because - personal opinion, others might differ - there's no point pursuing your strengths and passions if the life that you ultimately get out of it makes you a miserable person.
Personal anecdote on this point: I had been bullied for most of my childhood, and I wanted a life for me where I had some sort of 'power' - something that prevented people from pushing me around in life. Being a (litigating) lawyer has that. Yes, the time that I have to put in is extreme, I don't get to spend a lot of time with my family, the money in the beginning isn't good - there's a whole list of complaints about the cons of litigation. But never in my life have I hated choosing this career because I was clear about the reason I'm getting into it. Lawyers get away with a lot of unethical and morally wrong stuff - manhandling cops, not obeying laws, dragging innocent people to court whenever they try to push you around. You don't have to listen to anyone's BS (except in the beginning of your career). That's what I wanted from my career, and that's what I have. The cons are still there, but I'm happy.
Be honest with yourself: what do you want? Know what to expect in each profession. Many of my friends in law school had chosen law after watching Harvey Spectre, only to get frustrated because real life isn't anything like that. Many of them have changed their career paths since (got into business; became a chef; went for civils). Know why you're really getting into this profession, what your motivation is.
Lastly, remember that none of the choices you make today have to be permanent. There is no shame in changing your paths at a later time in life. You become wiser as you grow, and you reassess your choices. Some choices may not be viable anymore; some other may have become feasible.
Think of what you will do with a law degree if you get one and then choose whether its worth it. Look into how much litigation pays and if you could put in that many years earning not so much, and into what corporate law firms are like to see if it in any way aligns with your interests and would be palatable to you as a life path. If its policy etc you're looking into, consider if a specialised undergraduate degree like political science or economics or sociology may serve you better. Think it through before giving CLAT blindly! Sincerely, Batch of 22 kid struggling to find jobs that give a liveable wage without being insanely stressful- hours etc. wise. If your finances are chill, litigation could be great.