Hello LI readers, Something I had been thinking about for a while, why does an LLM even matter? From my limited experience in the field of law, and from what I've read and heard from many (not just LI), I feel an LLM is really redundant from a career perspective. While I've heard that a Uk LLM "opens your horizons", I'm really not sure what that would exactly mean. My only question is, is it relevant to pursue an LLM, unless I really want to learn the specifics of a particular kind of Law (which is the real purpose), and will it add anything to my career progression, like knowing the game better, thinking more vividly etc. (I have specifically omitted to hint at which career I would like to pursue, or which institution I belong to for a reason)
For working in an Indian law firm, an Indian LLM has zero career advantage. A few non NLU or lower NLU people think that doing LLM from a top tier NLU will give them a brand name and compensate for their LLB part. Nothing can be further from truth. I am saying this because I fell in to this trap. I went into a tier 1 college for LLM with high hopes of placement. No firm came. There was no day zero, there were no big placements. However if you are aiming at foreign LLMs from good places it might just give you a little semblance of an extra thing in your CV and may be some Partner might just be willing to give you a chance, provided you have decent internships and grades and general knowledge of your discipline. I would suggest to start working for a few years and then do masters abroad (only if you have some fascination for it).
2. Some very talented people have done LLM from Ivy/oxbridge and have shifted laterally to foreign firms, but they are extreme outliers rather than the norm.
3. Do LLM if you want to leverage that qualification to a non-corporate, non-practising career like research organisation, policy, academia etc.
For international arbitration, international trade etc fields, which are slightly niche in India, an LLM, especially a foreign LLM can massively help you jump the queue. And it doesn't necessarily have to be an LLM from oxford/Cambridge, even Singapore would do.
Very rare to find top good arbitrators or trade lawyers in India without a foreign LLM.
Foreign LLMs serve many purposes, other than learning about law.
First, it's about personal satisfaction. You get a chance to spend a year or two in a Western country, absorb the culture, and experience a completely different lifestyle. It "broadens your horizons" in the sense that it exposes you to systems and institutions that are not Indian, and this can change the way you think.
Next, if it is a top institute, it is about signaling. "I am good enough to go to Yale" or Harvard or Oxford. Those are powerful brands, and getting them next to your name makes people look at you differently.
Third, these help build contacts and networks that can prove very valuable to you over the years. Alumni contacts, especially. The kind of people you can meet through alumni connects is something you don't realize until you're an actual alum.
If the financial side is manageable, by all means go for it. It may or may not give you a head start in a corporate career (it mostly won't), but it enriches your life in many ways.
Genuine question: Most LLM courses, at least in the US, are geared almost exclusively towards foreign lawyers. How would building alumni relationships with those in say, Latin America or even Continental Europe going to help me if I am a lawyer practicing in India?
If you want to come back to india it won’t help at all. But a good number of these people stay in the US and work there. The llm qualifies you for the bar there. That often needs networking .
While I agree that certain people do stay in the USA after their LL.M., I would not agree that they are a 'good number of people'. Pretty much only a minuscule minority find these opportunities and then introduce the false belief (because of survivorship bias) that you (you, as in not you in particular) can make it as well.
Don’t think that’s true for my experience. Of all the Indian people in my llm batch I was the only one to come back. But there’s a trade off of course. I wanted to spend all my time reading and working and they had to spend so much more of their time networking and applying to jobs.
US markets are very busy and there's high attrition. Firms have actively started hiring LLMs this year as they are desperate. More LLMs will get jobs this year and next than any other number in recent history. Guaranteed.
Agree - if you want to work in an Indian law firm, an LLM has zero career advantage in the long run. However, if you get a scholarship for LL.M from a good school in UK or US, do it - but, dont spend huge amount of money on it.
Reading all the comments, I notice people missing the point completely. LL.M is a Masters degree, a masters degree was and is never supposed to get you a job anywhere, it's actually a path way towards an M.Phil and a PhD. It's narrowing your focus down to specific areas of your field. M.Phil is now redundant, and with the new UGC guidelines where some people may pursue PhD directly from UG I believe masters would also be redundant. Having said that, I always tell people around me that don't do a masters unless and untill you want to go into academia or research or policy institutions.
LL.M. is for an academic career, it's a bridge between UG and PhD. Law is a career where a simple bachelors is more than enough. However due to a rise in unemployment and lack of opportunities, people are now doing masters to polish their CV, not realising that an LL.M will not get them a job. Abroad a masters is done to specialise in fields say for example tax or arbitration. However we do not have that in India. In India, it's money grab for universities and a way to lure in unknown non-elite students.
Something I had been thinking about for a while, why does an LLM even matter? From my limited experience in the field of law, and from what I've read and heard from many (not just LI), I feel an LLM is really redundant from a career perspective. While I've heard that a Uk LLM "opens your horizons", I'm really not sure what that would exactly mean.
My only question is, is it relevant to pursue an LLM, unless I really want to learn the specifics of a particular kind of Law (which is the real purpose), and will it add anything to my career progression, like knowing the game better, thinking more vividly etc.
(I have specifically omitted to hint at which career I would like to pursue, or which institution I belong to for a reason)
2. Some very talented people have done LLM from Ivy/oxbridge and have shifted laterally to foreign firms, but they are extreme outliers rather than the norm.
3. Do LLM if you want to leverage that qualification to a non-corporate, non-practising career like research organisation, policy, academia etc.
For international arbitration, international trade etc fields, which are slightly niche in India, an LLM, especially a foreign LLM can massively help you jump the queue. And it doesn't necessarily have to be an LLM from oxford/Cambridge, even Singapore would do.
Very rare to find top good arbitrators or trade lawyers in India without a foreign LLM.
Foreign LLMs serve many purposes, other than learning about law.
First, it's about personal satisfaction. You get a chance to spend a year or two in a Western country, absorb the culture, and experience a completely different lifestyle. It "broadens your horizons" in the sense that it exposes you to systems and institutions that are not Indian, and this can change the way you think.
Next, if it is a top institute, it is about signaling. "I am good enough to go to Yale" or Harvard or Oxford. Those are powerful brands, and getting them next to your name makes people look at you differently.
Third, these help build contacts and networks that can prove very valuable to you over the years. Alumni contacts, especially. The kind of people you can meet through alumni connects is something you don't realize until you're an actual alum.
If the financial side is manageable, by all means go for it. It may or may not give you a head start in a corporate career (it mostly won't), but it enriches your life in many ways.
The benefits might not be direct, but many of the people I know who did it grew an appreciation for the law and their own abilities.
Law schools here can really ravage with your sense of self and it is nice to go to places where these things are done well.