Dear 3y LLB NLS students,

I am not a troll. I, infact, gave NLSAT this year 2024 and would love to get a seat at NLS. I think for 3y LLB, there is no other school which can compete with NLS.

But, at the end of the day, we are giving 3y to the school and a campus placement is like a jetpack to the top. I am sure the same tier 1 firms would not even consider people from DU Faculty of Law or other top 3y programs, but, since it is NLS, they might give it a shot.

Please spare me the - come for the legal education, serve the nation, what about human rights etc. thing. I want to come in, because I want to get into a Tier 1 firm and earn money. So, please give out stats as of today and please update it once the placements get over by June 2024.

My questions are as follows - out of the 90 or 120 students which are pursing this course -

1. How many were able to secure T1 internships?

2. Did any of you were able to get into the Magic circle law firms or their India branch (Clifford Chance has opened an office in New Delhi)?

3. Did anyone get the Allen & Overy scholarship?

4. How many have been able to get PPOs in tier 1 firms?

5. How many do you think would be placed in Tier 1 firms in the coming placement season?

6. Basically, I think you are competing with around 1000 Top 5y NLU students. So, are you getting the same level of placement opportunities or the Tier 1 firms favour the 5y BA LLB crowd?

6. Do you think you have meaningful chance to get into Tier 1 firms? What I mean is are you guys being considered equally. Whether one gets selected or not that's a different issue.

7. Overall how was your experience at NLS? Do you feel you have better employment and earning opportunities now?

8. What message will you give to the upcoming 3y LLB batches on what to do to secure better internship opportunities or increase employability?

I wish you all the best and I wish all of you destroy competition in all fields and create a path for the future success of the 3y LLB Batch.

Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah

All the best!

The present 2nd Year Batch has around 60 people so keep this in mind while going through the answers:

1. Around 20-30

2. No

3. No

4. None, as of now.

5. Difficult to say at this point but should be around 5-10.

6. Firms do prefer students from the 5yr program rather than the 3yr programme. However, that is offset to some extent by admin support from NLSIU who are more accessible to 3year LLB students than the 5Year Programme.

7. Personally, I had done a BA degree before coming to NLS so yes, the employment prospects did increase because you have the option of going into Research Institutes, Litigation, or Judiciary if not corporate placement at the end of this course.

8. Focus on academics as much as possible and intern during the breaks. Don't waste your time over useless moots/ADRs etc.

Good Luck!

Avoid the 3 year course for gods sake, people getting the internships and assessments are usually through reference. Magic Circles don't recognize the us 3 year course for Indian students too and the knowledge built over the 3 year timeline is very restricted and half decent as compared to the 5 year students. On top of that, the course is new and in its "trial and error" phase. Would opt for the 3 year course at SLS, Pune due to the organized syllabus but the NLS tag is an offset for bragging rights to be very honest. Please make an informed choice for gods sake my friend, best of luck!

I went to NLS to interview the students on Day Z. We interviewed students from both the 3-year LLB as well as the 5-year LLB. Honestly, the BALLB students were better in all aspects. The CV, the depth of knowledge and other like considerations. From a hiring perspective, we did not have any biases against the 3year LLB. We hired whoever was fit for the job. However, the 5-year folks who appeared were not good enough. Its not about the program, its about the quality.

High attrition proves that we successfully hire quality students. If we would have hired incompetent folks then we would have seen mass firing which is extremely rare at least in my firm. Honestly, there is a lack of quality students who are willing to grind for 12 hours daily which is why we see attrition.

I will tell you a story. I went to a very expensive undergrad college. All bade baap ka beta types study there. Sharir India me hai, aatma sab ki USA me.

So, the university organized a Model UN. I got selected in a prestigious committee. But, all the people there were from top schools like - Dhirubhai Ambani Mumbai and all. My English as you can see, was below par.

A friend told me one thing. He said - Yudh gyan ka hai, angrezi ka nahi. Research karo aur ratta maar ke jao.

I researched and researched (pre ChatGPT era). Imagined arguments and counter arguments. And went to the MUN. For the next 3 days with my tuta phuta English, I destroyed and held the conference hostage. I refused to back down, made factual counter arguments on the basis of History and stood my ground. I lost nevertheless. :)

The point is, mana ki humari angrezi kharab hai. Par yeh tay rahe, ki hum facts, history, macro economics me pakke hai. Aur ratta maar ke, words pakad ke, argument dete hai.

Aur humari career ki chinta chhod dijiye sir. I will find my way. Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah. I hope NLS gives me an opportunity. If it does, I promise, (from what I can gather from Legally India), I will go after the big dog - Ashwath Rau.

By offering this 3-year LLB option, NLS has demonstrated a lack of ingenuity - to say the least. The original intent of setting up NLS was to offer LLB after Class 12. That was innovative, and now NLS goes to the model that has been already in practice for several decades in India. This is a regressive step for NLS.

Another case for example was just across the town in IISc. 25 years back it started offering Integrated ME (4-year duration) open for BSc students. This program could never garner the respect that the regular ME (that comes after BE/BTech) that IISc offers. The quality of students never matched up. Eventually, after a few years, IISc discontinued the Integrated ME program. Remember, we are talking of IISc - a much better endowed and much higher in global rankings.

It is well known that the 3-year LLB option is the brainchild of the current VC, so the admin will do everything to make it successful (or at least projecting that way). Once he leaves, it will be orphaned. Mark my words.

To be fair to the LLBs, you will see some placement from the batch but that is mainly attributed to the candidate rather than the University or the course. For example, there are people who have completed CA, CS and have work experience, another person has a MBA from IIM-A and has work experience. These students will get placed, there are also people who were in civil services. However, the value addition of the LLB programme is much less than what it is for BALLB where students with no work experience, immature folks straight out of school get placed in the top firms

I believe that we agree on the point that the CA/CS/MBA people with work ex + LLB from NLS will get a good job. All that I had said is that the LLB degree does not add much value in terms of employability in the Corp field. People with CA/CS/MBA who have come here were already working in corporate, sure their roles may change but at the end of the day, they would be getting similar packages. However, the employment prospects for someone who has done a BA/BSc degree is still uncertain

You are asking too many questions. Mostly unnecessary at this stage

First, compete and secure a seat by qualifying the entrance exam.

If you fail, think other options.

If you secure a seat, you have joined India's No. 1 law school. Nothing better available in law field here in India.

Go to Singapore or USA/UK if you want better.

If you join LLB just for a job and first pay check, you better join an MBA or some other degree.

NLS is taking good care of LLB students. Don't panic unnecessary.