The exact mentality which will continue to ensure for years, decades, centuries to come, unless great care is taken by NLU admins not to imbibe it (something which only Sudhir of NLS is doing), that India's best law schools will not become hubs for research.

The kind of law school whose name, when uttered, makes us sit up and take notice is willing to put a shit tonne of money into research in the type of areas you so glibly look down upon. You don't even need to do GBP-INR converting on oanda.com or using the UK foreign ministry (FCDO) exchange rate, the CER, to know how much money is being put into this. Tell me, would a law school of world-wide repute be willing to put the amounts you are proposing if this learning was so useless? And note, this is a law school well known for commercial law, not legal philosophy.

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study-legacy/funding/yeoh-tiong-lay-centre-for-politics-philosophy-and-law-phd-studentship#maincontent

while what you are saying isn't incorrect, you're overemphasising on only one aspect of the legal world, perhaps the ones that receive the spotlight because of their social impact. However, most of the cases that are courts are faced with aren't such socio-politico-legal matters, they are plain commercial disputes. That is where the money is. That is what everyone in law school who intends to make a career in law is after. Even for criminal matters, a lot of them are white-collar crimes. Understanding society and its evolution and impact on jurisprudence is essential, and I agree there is no need to "replace" BA with BBA or BSc. But to look at things fairly, it makes more sense to popularise and adapt the latter two streams than the former. The reason why BA is so popular is because law has conventionally been viewed as a part of humanaties, and that the sort of disputes a couple of centuries ago were not of the same nature as today. Social leaders popularised law. But the world has changed, businesses are growing, and we have more commercial disputes than ever. Having a deep understanding of how money and businesses work obviously gives you an edge in your day to day life.

yaar. if you dont want to do BA course why sign up for a BA course and then tell universities to change? Go na. Do BSc, BCom, BBA. then do an llb. why should the world be remade in your image?

FWIW Jindal has all of these Bcom BBA llb type courses. The best students still want to do the BA course. Make of that what you will.

You are partly right. Both NLS and NALSAR have been a joke. When these two places decided to increase the student intake (assuming that the administration felt that each could handle additional students) what did they do? NLS just increased the intake of BA-LLB and NALSAR started the IPM programme. Being in Bangalore and Hyderabad, both had access to the tech industry but chose not to leverage the same and offer something innovative. What a lost opportunity. But then one can't expect much from state universities. Mapping to MASLOW's hierarchy of needs NLUs are struggling to stay even at the lowest layer having been orphaned by their respective state governments. For NLUs even mere survival is a big task, let alone think about innovation.

Agree. The education would need to be broader.

It's also disingenuous because it sounds like PR for NFSU. Part of me really feels sorry for responding with the comment about degree options, because somebody has chosen to turn this debate back towards the direction of dick measuring contests (which I was hoping could be avoided), by piggybacking on my earlier reply.

Why do you look at them as mutually exclusive? Rather than go on this exclusionary (and ridiculous) tirade, ask for more options and diversity. What is impractical and uninteresting to you may not be for others, and vice-versa. Live and let live, the heavens will not fall down.

You see, as a criminal law practitioner, I feel this is very disingenuous and unhelpful - BSc LLB should not be in data science! How does that help a lawyer in any real sense? Now had it been in Human Biology/Anatomy or anything of that sort...could have been very useful.

Similarly for corporate forensics... I don't think we need any more than a strong understanding of accountancy & bookkeeping here.

These frankly seems like science degrees with LLB slapped on, rather than law degrees being paired with a field of study that could be used to advance the understanding & practice of law itself.

Just my two cents. Feel free to disagree.

An excellent counter, to which I don't think I want/need to add anything substantive.

Just here to say that even if we were to adopt the OP's worldview completely, I think the call to 'replace' a BA LLB degree is uncharitable, and therefore disappointing. I think a much wiser call would be for NLUs to provide more programme options (i.e., providing students with the option to register for a BA LLB or BSC LLB or BBA LLB degree). The world's reputable universities have done this, e.g., providing students with the options to study Law and Criminology, Law and Politics, Law and History, Law and Business, English Law and French Law etc., so why can't a place with a strong reputation like NLSIU do something like that in the context of our circumstances as well?

A BA degree helps you better understand the context in which the Indian Legal System has come about, and thus practice/apply law better. The context matters a lot, especially for things like Constitutional Law.

To say that "caste, feminism" etc. has no practical relevance for a lawyer...seems trollish. The only reason I've not marked this trollish is because you seek a "rational counter".

Let's deal with it point-wise, I guess:

Re: 1 - Why is an ideal end-goal for a law graduate a management job? In any case, if some people are specifically inclined towards that, they can opt for it - no need to replace BA with BSc.

Re: 2 - You're right, knowledge of accounting principles etc. does help somewhat, especially at things like commercial litigation/white collar crimes. But then an MBBS helps you understand bodily injury-crimes better (I regularly consult doctors for insights into MLCs, PM Reports, etc.). ALL knowledge really helps you have an edge in some manner. A BA degree similarly helps you understand the society better, and gives you an edge in the constitutional matters/writ practice. That by itself is no reason to place one of those at a higher pedestal than another.

Re: 3 & 4 - Umm. Okay. Not really a separate point, is it? The response stated hereinabove be read in response to 3 and is not being repeated herein for the sake of brevity (I know, I'm being cheeky).

So BSc & MBA will help you better deal with AI/climate change/business, you claim. But what about criminal matters, election petitions, constitutional law cases, social-rights litigation etc.?

1. A BSc or BBA degree will prepare you better to crack CAT/GMAT and do an MBA in India or abroad. Then eventually get coveted jobs in Wall Street, Silicon Valley and the top jobs in Mumbai.

2. MBA apart, a BBA will teach you practically useful stuff like accounting, investing, managing projects etc. This, in turn, will make you more in demand in the job market and also empower you better to found your own company.

3. Tech and AI are the future. A BSc degree, if it includes subjects like coding, will be an asset. Also, add subjects like bio and environmental science and you can add value in jobs related to climate change.

4. In contrast, just look at the BA curriculum: no practical relevance in studying judicial administration in colonial India, the Constituent Assembly, ▮▮▮ etc

I challenge anyone to rationally counter me on any of these points (instead of just impulsively voting because you want to defend your BALLB degree).