I've been seeing this latest trend where people are joining PhD programs without any future in mind. This is the same sh!t that happened with LLM boom ten years ago, thinking another degree will get a better job. IT WON'T!!!

1. DO NOT do a PhD if you have no interest in academia. If you do not want to be a professor. If you do not want to teach. If you do not want admin work. Do not do a PhD. A PhD is only for academia.

2. "I love research" so a LLB will suffice. A PhD is not just about research, you'll be made to teach and do admin work as well. If you love research join a think tank or research centre. A LLB and LLM is more than enough. You need more publications and not more degrees.

3. If you think a PhD will get you more money or prestige, no it won't. Better to work at a law firm and you'll be earning more than what a PhD scholar and later on gets.

4. Some people are giving competitive exams and are afraid of not having a plan B, so they choose a PhD. They end up committing to neither. Better to litigate instead. A PhD is 3-5 years. 5 years of court experience is a million times better as a plan B than 5 years researching a single topic with minimum wage or none at all.

5. If after all of this you still feel a PhD is something you want to do, there are only 3 options. 1. Abroad. 2. Top 5 NLUs (nothing below that) 3. IITs/IIMs (you can easily do a socio-legal research, a corporate research or even tech research there).

6. Do NOT do a PhD from a private University. Doesn't matter if it's Jindal, symbiosis, Nirma, Bennett, UPES, christ, MAHE etc. A Private university is the last place to do a PhD from. Yes some may provide stipend, some may provide concession, but all of those are smokes and mirrors. They will make you do TA duties for 6-8 hours a day. They will treat you like a slave. They will literally pass your PhD in a mediocre manner just to increase their numbers for NAAC and NIRF. Once you graduate you will find yourself unemployed. Why ? Because "private University PhDs are brought with money." That's what I've heard everywhere.

7. Recap. Do not do a PhD to waste time. It's not a plan B. Instead be brave and litigate for those 5 years. Do NOT do a PhD as another degree. Do NOT do a PhD if you don't want to teach and do admin work. Do NOT do a PhD if you don't care about your students and give them mediocre learning. Do NOT do a PhD from private universities, no matter the brand. Do NOT do a PhD from a private universities just cause of stipend, you're selling your reputation for peanuts.

All the best. Love from an Assistant Professor who's seeing mindless, clueless and time wasters increase in Phd programmes.

Indeed. Very well written. I especially like point 2, which people might find to be a little less than intuitive. "'I love research' so a LLB will suffice. A PhD is not just about research, you'll be made to teach and do admin work as well. If you love research join a think tank or research centre. A LLB and LLM is more than enough. You need more publications and not more degrees."

True. Since people believe a Phd is a research degree, I should get that. But look at majority of think tanks across the world, everyone there has a LLM or masters. Hardly few PhDs you'll find. A PhD in research centre is necessary for STEM. But not for law, since majority of our research can be done doctirinal and we don't need hardcore empirical or lab evidence. So that's something a llb can easily provide. The LLM helps with a certain specialisation like ipr or tax to give you more edge is your writings. But the rest is more about publications.

As long as your end goal is in sight, it's fine. Don't do it as a backup. Do it if you enjoy it and see yourself in academia. Whether you get selected in academia or not is a different issue. But the will has to be there. Experienced many boring and non enthusiastic professors in our lifetime.

Jindal maybe the only except. Also it depends on the advisor you get. Jiggles is good for outreach especially international,.but you must use maximum of the opportunities it gives. The stipend is good for non-jrf. But don't expect instant recognition like an NLS or NLUD or NALSAR PhD. You will have to build your publications accordingly.

Maybe improve your comprehension. That's what OP is saying; In law, a researcher doesn't mean only after getting a phd. A PhD doesn't make you a researcher. It makes you a academician and that involves teaching and administrative work, something that a lot of people hate.

Research can be done even after an LLB or an LLM. So if you want to do research, don't get into a PhD program. Instead using your bachelors and/or masters degree get into a research centre or thinktank. Many have research assistant and research associate post with minimal llb/LLM requirement. Do that instead.

Maybe you haven't been part of the research process. In India, unfortunately, in majority places, including NLUs, IITs and IIMs, one cannot select or choose their own advisors. So no one can choose their supervisor. Sure if you have internal connections that's a different issue. But majority people do not have that option. Their supervisor or advisor is chosen by the university themselves.

That's the point. That's why universities prefer "safe" phd topics so that they can just throw it to any Advisor irrespective of field. I've seen Constitution law professor guide IPR scholars, Criminal law professors guide civil law scholars, jurisprudence professors guide family law scholars. There is no respect for a specialist and their niche. Look at Maritime law, majority centres like in MNLU and NLUO don't even have Maritime law professors in Maritime law centers. A taxation professor is teaching Maritime law. This is the level of legal education in India.

If you apply outside, you first mail the faculty. Then if and when the faculty approves then you apply at the University, which inturn asks the faculty if approval was given. Here all of us, irrespective of specialisation give the same entrance, and same interview and then are thrown to any random professor.

so apply outside? or cultivate an indian professor by attending their public lectures and sending emails that show you listening carefully. if they respond warmly, ask for a quick meeting to discuss the PhD and gauge their interest. Don't be pushy. Just respectful and admiring.

Doesn't happen to everyone especially if you don't have a recommendation. My friend emailed a very famous university in Geneva. No reply. He contacted his professor in Jindal, who sent him the personal email of the faculty concerned, and through that he got in touch. Can you believe a normal student doing that ?

If my friend wasn't rich , he wouldn't be in Jindal and if he didn't flaunt his connection in Jindal, his professor wouldn't have given him this geneva professor's personal email. And if he didn't have the personal email, he'd end up in the long list of people who would send their emails and be rejected even before replying.. in the end it's all about money and connections.

Only if indian professor knew how to operate their emails. Lol. As a PhD scholar at IUTKgp, I manage my advisors emails for him. Clear instructions: do not inform him about any student that wishes to apply with him, instead tell them to apply for through the official channels and he has no say in selection. Which isn't true, since I applied through his former PhD student. Lol. Sad to delete many such emails with hopeful candidates who think the professor has read their email and is just following the non-existent university protocol.