I have graduated from one of the top 5 NIRF-ranked NLUs with a decent CGPA. I wish to join academia in the near future (not necessarily JGLS, even an NLU will do - i.e., $$ is not the top consideration). I don't feel my CGPA is high enough to pursue an LLM from Oxbridge or Ivy League. If I appear in CLAT-PG and pursue an LLM from someplace like NLSIU or NALSAR, will my chances of being hired by these go down significantly (compared to foreign LLM holders)? What can I do to be a better candidate and will I have to be accepted into a PhD program while applying?

Thank you in advance!

So my information is out of date and I don’t know about the new programmes at nls. Having said that- bulk of the masters students from these institutions find it hard to land in a decent academic job. The programmes are underserved compared to the undergraduate degree and it shows in how ill prepared the students are for the real world. There’s a considerable difference in the quality of education someone from even soas has and someone from a top NLU in India.
So even if you can’t get funded at Oxbridge or Ivy League- to my mind it would be worth it to see if other universities would fund you.

You could of course go to these NLUs and try and ingratiate yourself to some of the faculty there so they could hire you back as a professor after you’re done- but I don’t know that that would give you many options to move around and advance in your career as much as you might want to.

A PhD from a reputable institution with an advisor who has great street cred is about the only thing to do if you want to firmly established yourself. I’d try applying for phds if your research agenda is strong enough even without a masters.

That’s true legally. It’s not true in terms of practice. Someone who went to Ivy League / Oxbridge has many options. They could expect to get job offers at a number of nlus. Someone who finished their masters here just needs to work a lot harder to find a mentor who will take them under their wing. And when they do manage to find this elderly academic and get a job as an assistant professor - they’re usually beholden to their mentor and have few options if they want to move universities/ jobs. Being overqualified gives you certain freedoms in the job market.

Yes if you go by the numbers strictly- most people teaching at NLUs don’t have degrees from other countries. But if you speak to them- they will admit that they’ve faced more barriers and have fewer options than their colleagues who did grad school abroad.

Just like most people practising law in India didn’t go to NLUs - and they’re doing fine. but the ones who did the NLU scene have undeniable advantages and more options.

This person went to a decent law school- even if they don’t get funded at Ivy League/ Oxbridge- they would get funded at other universities- and there’s no reason to not do it if it means they get an advantage at the work place.

I know plenty of such people and they have never faced such an obstacle, mostly because barring a couple of exceptions, the authorities in no public law university in India actually give preference to people with foreign degrees when it comes to recruitment. Mostly because they have got traditional college degrees themselves. In fact, people with foreign LLMs are often treated with 'suspicion' (they might display better quality), and any progressive ideas about curriculum and pedagogy that they might come up with actually face greater opposition. This is the actual general state of Indian public higher education in the legal sector.

Again- a vast majority of Indian lawyers also either don’t care or have disdain/ are suspicious of NLU grads as well. But it hardly affects how well they’re employed or what options they have.

I guess it depends on what kind of academic OP wants to be? If they want to get any old job and stick around one institutions for years and years and retire as middle management- sure go do your llm from some random college.

If you want to be able to find jobs easier, and learn new things and have a shot at reaching the peak of your profession- give yourself every opportunity to get the best education possible.

Look the truth is - as elitist as it sounds- the best reason to get a degree from a world class university is because it simply makes you better equipped to do your job. As an academic- the more exposure you have to different institutions the better. It makes you better at research and it makes you better at pedagogy. Post graduate degrees in Indian legal academia are by and large just not funded/ designed to really work. These universities barely have the faculty to properly teach the five year course let alone actually mentor and graduate masters and doctoral candidates of any calibre. There are some exceptions but maybe less than what I can count on one hand.

This isn’t to say that the students who attend these programmes are inferior- they are just stuck in choices they made.

Then the EU will be out of question for the chap, because admission to a PhD programme requires a masters degree. Of course, this is because the concept of a PhD itself is different in EU and the Commonwealth countries (the former is an employee contributing to research and teaching and the latter is a student doing courses and writing a thesis). Nonetheless, I do think that most universities in the QS/Times top 100 in law would be a great place to go to if you get a scholarship.

email sid chauhan and have a chat

my advise will be to do llm from the uk (lse, kcl, ucl - if you are spending your own money, other russell group and plate glass unis if you get scholarship) and then come back to india for a teaching stint and then think about a phd

if you do llm from top 3 nlus in India your chances do not go down, there are quite a few nlu llb llms who are teaching at nlus

I agree the other than Oxbridge LSE/KCL/LSE are good. In fact, in certain commercial subjects they have better faculty. SOAS is good for human rights, while Queen Mary is good for IP. Other than these Edinburgh and Warwick are quite good. After that comes Leeds, Leicester, Glasgow, Sheffield, Essex etc. They are good but the brand value is a bit lower (not an issue abroad but a big deal for some in India, since we love dick measuring contests through QS rankings).

Dear Mr Troll, do you even know what the term "feeder course" means? The term "feeder course" means a course to prepare one for entry to a higher course. For example, an MPhil at JNU is a feeder course preparing one for the PhD programme at JNU. A summer school in corporate law at XYZ university is a feeder course preparing one to enrol for an LLM. Maybe it's time you enrolled for a feeder course in English to equip you to study abroad?

https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110810104907227

Don't talk BS about what you don't know. SOAS is really good. Some top-notch people have studied there. Some top-notch NLSIU alumni are SOAS alumni.KCL, QM, Edinburgh etc are all very good too. Most of all, none of the colleges are "mediocre". Which law school did you fo your undergrad from BTW? How good are the faculty for you to declare top 20/top 50 QS ranked law schools as "mediocre"?

As for being "feeder" colleges, are you aware that even Amity and Symbi grads have been admitted to Oxford and Ivy League colleges? I don't wish to take names. All UK/US colleges look to fill up a few seats for money. Doesn't detract from the quality of faculty and the course. Furthermore, I can argue that many NLU colleges have poor quality students because of quota seats. And don't even get me started on Jindal/Symbi.

It's definitely possible to start teaching with an Indian LLM, especially if you get absorbed in the uni in which you do it. The UGC regulations have changed so now you need a PhD to be assistant professor. One way is to start your higher studies in India and then go abroad. You can do an Indian LL.M. get a little teaching experience and then do a foreign LL.M. Or begin your PhD in India and do a foreign LL.M. in between. The specialisation and exposure to different institutions and academic cultures will offer you more options. It's not necessary but it does help.

If I was recruiting someone SOLELY on the basis of an LLM (i.e. ignoring where he/she did the BALLB from), then the sad truth is that I will not give any value to an Indian LLM degree. Indian LLM courses are treated as second-class by NLUs themselves. The quality of training and faculty is very poor. If LLM students are today cruelly mocked as "Lallams" and looked down upon, it is because the admins at law schools themselves have enabled it. Also, there is no scope for specialisation in commercial subjects, as 3 compulsory public law courses are dumped upon students.