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A lof us were drawn towards law, or CLAT in particular, given the high potential salary figures we were sold by coaching centres. They, of course, failed to mention this was true only for placements in T1 law firms for students, with most graduating at the top fourth or third of their batch.
So this made me quite curious, what does the future look like for those graduating at the near bottom of their batch, particularly those from NLS/NALSAR/NUJS?
What do they end up doing and how does their potential fare in front of their higher batch-ranked peers?
(Not claiming that law firm jobs are more worthwhile and valuable, just curious lol)
A 3-word comment posted 2 years ago was not published.
What!!! I know at least 2 people who ended dead last at NALSAR now are partners in Tier 1 law firms in Bombay. And by dead last, I do mean last. However, this might be true only for the early batches (pre-2006/07) as competition grew thereafter.
Same pinch for Law School. People ranked 50th out of 65 and those with year losses got Tier 1 firms on Day Zero recently.
To begin with, as a general rule regarding placements, most coaching centres lie.

That said, as a NALSAR student whose rank falls in the bottom 40%, I believe I can offer a perspective.

Of those in the bottom 20-30%, most people get 'placed' in litigation chambers that don't pay a lot, or occasionally get absorbed in Tier 2 or boutique firms with pay scales of about 6-9 LPA.

Similarly, some people with relatively better grades go for government organisations such as ONGC etc.

Many also prefer to work in public policy orgs/ research centres because they provide respectable work ex even if at lesser pay scales, and most of the rich people prefer to get their LLMs from random foreign colleges which accept them - this opens the gates to JGLS and the like.

Then there are those who go off to attempt UPSC, judiciary exams etc.

Oh, and there are those who are indifferent to ranks because of baap ka paisa/influence/chambers etc. These people get great jobs pretty much regardless of what they do anywhere in life - including law school.

Lastly, for some people who come from marginalized backgrounds and/or face economic and social hardships throughout law school, making it through a Tier 1 NLU itself is a big deal, and many go back to their hometowns to work as social service lawyers or work as juniors under lawyers in the distt. courts. [You must understand that people come to law school at different stages of their lives, and not all are/can afford to be competing for law firm opportunities, even if they want to. Academics at Tier 1 law schools are relatively more difficult, and a good number of people are first generation students/law students/come from a predominantly non-English background. Unlike the relatively "lower" ranked NLUs like NLUO etc, there are no English classes here, the courses around English get converted into research oriented Law and Language courses and papers of 4-5k words are expected at the end of first sem. For people who have never seen/prepared for such an environment, even getting through is a blessing.]

However, as a CLAT aspirant, it's likely that your concern was only as to likely earnings/way outs for people who fall behind in acads of T1 law schools.

In that light, it should be noted that a lot of us have received great offers from firms where we interned, provided that the people involved had a CV that tried to make up for the grades - good int'l moots in the practice area, good internships, good assistantships, good publications etc.

At NALSAR, I've seen some incredible people with ranks bordering at the top 50% and 70% get foreign offers and Tier 1 offers respectively, but those were exceptional cases because of their well-known command over the subject etc.

So, yes, anything is possible, but your acads play a huge role in determining your placements, if you're looking for them. The only major ways to dislodge their importance is to either not go for top law firms, or be really good at the practical work you do.

And at the end of the day, regardless of how acads go down, you retain the privilege of the 'NLS/NALSAR/NUJS' etc tag, and that helps make connections in the formative years of your practice.
In addition, even if you get a tier 2/3 job and survive there for 1-1.5 years, there are very good chances of you being able to move to a tier one firm after that.
If somebody from a top NLU wants to end up at a T1 firm and has very bad grades, they have to take a different route. Join a smaller firm, get some work ex, keep talking to your friends and alumni about vacancies and get hired. After you get some work ex, nobody really asks about your grades. That's the thing, the NLU tag itself counts for a lot.
If it makes you feel better, the bottom placed persons in any NLU are more intellectually superior than those placed in the top ranks of private unis like Symbi, Christ and jindal. In terms of competing for jobs, the NLU tag will automatically ensure you have a headstart over these people.
Yea, get that NLU tag. Despite all the negative talk against NLUs and stuff like that, the NLU tag works like a charm. Gives you an easy pass into social respect - wherever you go.

I've had the craziest ride ever as a law school graduate, and yet the NLU tag saves the day every darn time. Of course, I've got my merit as well to hold it good, but the trouble of trying to validate merit goes away.

So just focus on using your time well, being productive and pursue happiness. Rest - dum maaro dum.
Your grades at the beginning of your career do not determine how the rest of it will go. There are no entrance exams to a good life. It’s also a fallacy to assume that better grades= more intelligence/ resourcefulness/ better work ethic. Some of us just choose not to play the gpa game in law school and instead are here to learn. Many of the people who graduated at the bottom of my law school class have gone on to do wonderful things in litigation, firm life, and academia. And many of the toppers have simply stagnated.
I graduated at the bottom of my class- like bottom quarter. It has been years since anyone even cared what gpa I had in law school. I’m pretty successful in the traditional sense of the word because I worked really hard after law school.
A 9-word comment posted 2 years ago was not published.