A really stupid topic was posted LI a few days ago, most likely by a first year kid, on UK law firm TCs and on UK law schools. Other posters, most likely also first years, responded with their "expert" comments. In short, a whole bunch of clueless teenagers were sharing their "expert" opinions on various "tiers" of British universities, how NLUs are better than most British Universities, how British law firms apparently prefer NLU grads etc. It's really maddening to see such uninformed opinions being spread and the moderator (the ringmaster of LI's troll circus) often encouraging such ridiculous posts.

The real answer is this:

- Chambers and Partners regularly compiles statistics on which law schools are preferred by the top UK law firms. It's so unfortunate that Generation TikTok does not even bother to do such basic research.

https://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/where-to-start/newsletter/law-firms-preferred-universities-2019

- A 10-year assessment shows that nearly 80% of UK law firms give preference to a set of approx 25 universities belonging to the "elite" Russell Group ("elite" because these universities get the most research funding and produce a lot of research: unlike in India, research funding and output is a big deal abroad).

- The most recent top 10 ranking for TCs is Oxford>Cambridge>Durham>Bristol>Exeter>Overseas Universties>Nottingham>Warwick>KCL>Birmingham.

- Note that LSE, UCL and Edinburgh don't even feature in the most recent top 10 while the likes of Durham, Bristol and Exeter do. In fact, Durham and Bristol have often outperformed UCL and KCL, while UCL and KCL have often outperformed LSE. That's because UK law firms are not so hung up on labels and legacy like Indians. Indians blindly think LSE is supposedly "better" than KCL and UCL, while KCL and UCL are supposedly "better" than Durham, Bristol and Exeter. That's not how it works in the real world.

- You will note that Overseas universities feature in the top 10, but NLUs just form a tiny percentage here. A Google and LinkedIn search, and anecdotal accounts, will show that first-world countries dominate (e.g. US, EU, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand). In fact, UK and Australia have just signed a major mobility agreement allowing citizens of both countries to work seamlessly in either country.

- To put it another way, you will statistically be far more be likely to get a UK TC as a graduate of a Russell Group law school than an NLU, and even as a graduate of NUS Singapore or Melbourne University. In other words, NLSIU is no "Harvard of the East" when it comes to UK law firm recruitment.

- No doubt Indian law schools have some good professors, with NLSIU and JGLS currently leading the pack. But, as a whole, the quality of faculty in any law school in UK is far superior to that of NLSIU and JGLS. So is the research output. As an example, look at the faculty Cardiff University, which is allegedly a "lower tier" law school according to LI "experts". Just click on any random professor. You will see an impressive resume (in terms of educational qualifications, work ex and publications) which few NLSIU/JGLS professors will match. In fact, with due respect, even Sudhir Krishnaswamy's publication record is not so impressive. He actually lists an article on Legally India in his resume!

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/law-politics/people/academic-staff/law

https://www.nls.ac.in/faculty/sudhir-krishnaswamy/

Thus, in a nutshell, please stop posting comments without proper research and knowledge and moderator please exercise some discretion or at least use the "Contested" label.

Your analysis is detailed, but you are wrong to say that B-tier/C-tier UK universities are better than NLSIU. I think 90% of Magic Circle partners would rather recruit from NLSIU than from any British university, for the same reason that tech companies prefer IIT over MIT. It is 10 times harder to crack CLAT and get into NLSIU than Oxford or Harvard, similar to IIT-JEE. We are only held back by visa restrictions. That is the only reason NLSIU has fewer TC hires than British universities. Take an NLSIU student and an Oxford/Harvard student: 9 out of 10 times the NLSIU student will have better knowledge. The best example is NLSIU winning Jessup twice.

Of course, I cannot comment on other NLUs. Only talking about NLSIU here.

It's so goddammit funny to see someone trying to make the universities in their own country far more superior and then ignoring certain facts.

How many students from top NLUs get placed? 3-5 students in each of these schools. Meanwhile jgls, which was also my option for law, Has limited information regarding where their graduates are working and from what we know most of em are working in top Indian law firms, but becoming a solicitor after job experience and LLM foundations.

Also, the MC and SC put emphasis highly on recruiting those who have been to UK universities (who are providing) LLM, LLB, MLAW, etc) because of these university's connections through their MoUs.

Another factor yall are avoiding is that these law firms prefer those who have done UK LLB more than who has done LLB or BA/BBA LLB.

Also don't lose hope as long as you have a good job experience, win a few moot court competitions, mentor who have connections and can give reference for you at a firm, multiple vacation schemes (IMPORTANT) and the biggest and the most important factor of all...PASS YOUR SQE EXAM FOR GOD SAKE. If you want a training contract, its better if you pass SQE 1 exam in you 3rd year of LLB or 4th year of BALLB and do your QWE for SQE during training contract (including internships, clinical work or vacation schemes).

Also if get an opportunity to do vacation schemes at an MC or SC, make sure to perform your best with your experience and NETWORK for future reference, it's said you have done well in your VC then you will get a TC at the same law firm. However, it's recommended to do it in your 3rd year of 5 year program or 2nd year of LLB as you may have gained better experience from your past interships to help you during VC.

Is LNAT the only thing they see?

Your work experience as a highschooler?

The books you read, moreover Oxford has its own interview?

Class 10 and Class 12 grades should be excellent.

And the LNAT MCQ is the easy part ,not the essay.

Unlike Clat (Which is just a test ,you crack it, you get in)

CLAT is difficult only because of India's large population and that means nothing. For example, India (with a population of 1.3B) has more professional footballers than Wales (population of 300,000). It's much harder to make it to India's football team than the Wales football team. But at the end of the day the Wales team is much superior and has qualified for the World Cup. Same with NLSIU v foreign law schools. One gets better faculty, better training, better curriculum and better infra at foreign law schools, which makes all the difference. Even a nursery school abroad probably gets more funding than NLSIU.

This is true but in some ways it is also a cycle. Better faculty join because they are supported and treated with respect. Students learn because they accept everything foreign more easily. And then of course these institutions understand the international jobs that students are aiming for so they can learn how to prepare and present themselves.

I cannot study abroad because of finances. But if I had an LLB scholarship at a Russell Group University or a Go8 University (the equivalent of Russell Group in Australia) then I would blindly choose it over any NLU, including NLSIU. I would work hard on the course and try to build a career in London or Sydney. I think it is better to work for White & Case in London or Sydney than CAM in Mumbai. Nevertheless, if I ever want to return to India and work in CAM for some reason, I could enrol for the bridge course at an NLU (a few people do that) or appear for the foreign law graduates exam.

Whatever had been said about clat being tougher to crack and VISA RESTRICTIONS is correct - this is like comparing iits with foreign tech schools , nlsiu and top 5 with B grade foreign unis , just knowing a term called “funding” won’t make any arguments true - lol I can understand why they will jealous with the merit ghat the top NLUs provide.

IMO the prestige rankings would be:

1. Harvard, Yale, Stanford 2. Oxford, Cambridge

3. Columbia, Chicago, NYU, UC Berkeley, Penn, Georgetown

4. NLSIU

5. LSE, KCL, UCL, Duke, Cornell, UCLA

6. Northwestern, Virginia, Queen Mary, SOAS, Warwick, Edinburgh

7. UT Austin, Vanderbilt, Boston, Bristol, Durham, Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore

LOL, I see what you did there. Quietly sneaking in NLS, a law school about which no one outside India (and even many within India) knows a thing about, as part of some kind of global "prestige" ranking. You should be more worried about your insecure ego than making up cheap rankings.

OP has linked to clear evidence showing that the top UK firms preferred to recruit from UK colleges. That it’s better to enrol in a top 15 UK college if you want a career in London. Yet, most of the replies are busy arguing that NLUs are superior because more candidates appear for CLAT. We see this attitude even in discussions about QS rankings. We Indians really live in denial! Next thing, you guys will say that India is better than Australia and the UK in the Olympics, and the IOC is at fault for not including kabaddi!

As someone who was at Law School, joined a Magic Circle firm, and did the Oxbridge LLM in the gap year before starting work let me tell you something that the senior partner at my firm said “we prefer going to India for TCs because it’s better than hiring from Tier 3/4 UK universities”. I remember feeling quite small that day.