Read 17 comments as:
Filter By
The wise people of LI tend to to discourage people from doing higher studies abroad, even belittling people who do it. The arguments made are:

1. It's pointless learning about foreign law if one is returning to India.

2. Firms don't care about foreign degrees. Barring Zia Mody, none of the big law firm owners studied abroad and just have DU/GLC LLBs, like the Shroff brothers Also, only about 10% of NLU law firm rockstars in India have foreign LLMs.

Now, I went to the website of Allen & Overy and clicked on 7 office locations: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore. 18 names popped up on the first screen, out of which 14 were Asian and the rest British. I clicked on the Asian lawyers and found the following (links to bios below):

- 6 had done a single LLM: 1 from Southampton Uni, 1 from LSE, 1 from Oxford, 1 from Harvard, 1 from Cornell, 1 from Duke

- 1 had done 2 LLMs, from NYU and Michigan

- 3 had done a US JD (which is a postgrad degree) and 1 of these 3 also had an MSc in physics (a patent lawyer)

- 1 had qualified as a CA after her LLB (from Hong Kong)

- Only 3 out of the 14 (around 20%) only had an LLB (1 from Sydney Uni, 2 from Hong Kong Uni)

This brings us to the obvious question: when foreign law firms enter India, will they give preference to those with LLMs and other postgrad degrees from colleges abroad?

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/jane-jiang

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/noparat-kaewsringarm

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/victor-ho

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/yvonne-ho

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/jonathan-hsui

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/pallavi-gopinath-aney

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/shuhui-kwok

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/jill-ge

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/tess-fang

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/fai-hung-cheung

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/melody--chan

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/eugene-chen

https://www.allenovery.com/en-gb/global/people/suparerk-auychai
The people who can give a correct answer will be the managing partners of the India offices of these firms, who will likely be Gen X NLSIU grads. But my guess is that foreign firms will split applications into:

1. Big 3 NLUs (NLSIU, NLUD and NALSAR)

2. Other top law schools (JGLS, NUJS and GNLU)

3. Good tier 2 law schools (NLUJ and NLIU)

4. Rest

For 1 and 2, a foreign LLM will not make a difference. For 3, it will perhaps not make a difference if you have a top 5 rank, but for others it may. For 4, it may make a big difference.

This is just my guess.
NLUD has never been a top 3 contender anywhere other than NIRF. Their placement is way behind.
Got to give credit to the promptness of people from NUJS to keep claiming they are still top 3 over NLUD. The only area you’ll be ahead is on domestic law firm placements. On a serious note, not everyone at NLUD wants to join the corporate slave drive unlike the older NLUs. Also, people who want such jobs, generally end up getting them. And NLUD’s foreign placements have always been good even since the very first batch. Atleast 2-4 people in every batch get TCs, on average. So the foreign law firms coming to India will continue the trend and increase recruitments, if nothing else.
Yes college does matter - and those people who downvoting and saying β€œit doesn’t β€œ - don’t to heed to them
You can't compare India with random places like Thailand and Vietnam! Indian students are waaaaay superior. The average NLU grad is much better than the average grad of top law schools abroad and does not need a foreign LLM. Of course, a comparison between China and India is valid, but remember that Chinese students do an LLM abroad for exposure to common law and to improve their English. Indians already have that advantage.
Hong Kong & Singapore dekha? Both English speaking with law schools that actually feature in international rankings
Very true , now some people will troll you for saying things correctly lol
Per capita income of Thailand: USD 7,631

Per capita income of Vietnam: USD 4,163

Per capita income of India: USD 2,466 (lower than Angola, Congo, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka)
But this is just one firm and that too a very elite one. What about smaller foreign law firms? Maybe they will directly hire from NLUs?
Doesn't matter. Foreign law firms will replicate the Big 7 model of recruitment, i.e top 25-40 students from top 7 NLUs and top 10 from next 4-5 NLUs. This model has served law firms successfully for decades. Why change it? A GLC or Amity grad will never be superior to an NLU grad, even with a foreign LLM.
Bhai kya yaar itne kyu jalte ho. Clg hi toh hai. Saalo baad jabhi office mei jaoge, koi nhi puchega kaunsa clg hai. Character and kaam pe charcha honge. Entry milgyi toh nlu kya aur Amity kya sab same.
Interesting that these firms are willing to give a shot to LLMs in their Asia offices but not their HQs. Good enough for the colonies but not enough for the metropole?
Idk why you’re getting downvoted. I have an LLM. Completely agree w you.
I think the LLM preference may also be because of a certain exposure to international cultures and customs that an undergraduate education in Asia does not typically bring, because Asian universities (barring Singapore) are quite homogenous and lack international students, unlike overseas universities. My brother studied computer science at Queen Mary and his