i'm a fourth year law student at a tier-1 NLU. I was thinking of applying to foreign LLMs. I just saw on linkedin that people from random law schools are getting into Oxford/Cambridge. Are these colleges even prestigious or have they lost their glamour. will an LLM help me in my career in India?

They won't help you in any significant way for most traditional career paths in the profession. Anybody who knows what an LLM course is actually like knows they aren't of any value. Perhaps the tag. If you can afford to spend that kind of money on it, that is.

Of course, there are two major exceptions to this. One, if you want to work in academia. Two, if you want to do specialized policy research that requires a specialized LLM area. This goes for any kind of job that requires particular specialization, not just policy, to be fair. But these kinds of jobs are extremely few in number.

So if you're thinking of pursuing corporate law/litigation, no, they are not of much use. However, there are some niche areas apart from academia where they may help, but I'd still say its worth is not even close to the amount of money you put in. Unless you get a scholarship, of course. In which case, enjoy your paid one-year vacation.

No 'point'

If you want to do academia in India - do an llm at nlu or some other college (3L) and then do a PhD.

Foreign llm has no value in the Indian job market. Even in international job market it doesn't have much of value. It's almost impossible or very difficult to get hired as a lawyer in US / UK / EU with a foreign llm of that respective jurisdiction. They prefer native lawyers with JDs. Immigration is difficult. Law is not a skill like nursing or engineering for which foreigners are even considered.

If you are really rich and can comfortably spend 50L to 90L without any loans zero expectations of return on investment. Then go for foreign llm. It can give some exposure if it's a right college. I would say save 70% of that amount. Spend a summer travelling across Europe or north America instead of an llm.

Even at top places like Stanford, NYU, Cambridge. It's pretty much easier to get an LLM than any other degree. LLM is just a cash cow for these colleges and are not job oriented courses.

A lot of bullshit advice here from people who have never done it. Definitely don't break the bank. If the finances are easy, then go for sure. It expands your world. You will start thinking differently, maybe discover careers you don't have right now. Even if you return to India, you will come back with networks and exposure. Sure, people like all these commentators will be jealous, but no one ignores an Oxbridge degree. The most important reason is personal and intellectual growth. Not worth lifetime debt but absolutely worth it if it's financially accessible.

The petition isn't about your credentials - the credential bring you the client and mentors if you learn to work it. You can't figure out how to get the judge to listen after that, that's on you. It's telling that you expect everyone to treat you like a golden god instead of noticing which doors it did open.

Yeah this is dumb logic. The degree doesn't automatically take you to the other side of the rainbow. It does a few things to help you help yourself. There is nothing desperate about applying for jobs. It shows humility and a willingness to work which means they actually learned something from being outside their caste privilege and family support orbit.

Lmao people really think a 10 month cash cow course (widely acknowledged by uni administrators btw, don't even try to deny it) changes lives. Please enlighten me, how does one "think differently" after doing a foreign llm? Unless you've had a substandard legal education in India? LLM courses are designed in a manner where it's extremely difficult to even fail a course. I should know, I teach at a top Russell Group uni. And enough of the 'sour grapes' arguments, I've read for an LLM at a premier London law school. I had a tier-1 law school education in India, and found very little difference in the courses, both teaching and pedagogy-wise.

I agree with the networking part, but how many of them are actually able to make succesful careers out of an LLM through networking? Very few. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry has a foreign llm these days. Even the number of oxbridge grads are quite significant. The people who are actually able to successfully make meaningful connections and better their career from an LLM are maybe 1 in 100. To think a 10 month degree is worth most middle-class families' life savings is foolhardy, to say the least.

I literally said, 'don't break the bank.' Post-grad education is about opening doors, not forcing you to learn. Sure, people who think the credential is the same as education suffer. Everyone knows the markers of how well you learned are not that you passed but your specific grades and whether professors remember you and recommend you.

Administrators are focused on the money and often at least mildly racist. Paying more than locals for the same lectures doesn't mean we hear them differently. Is it unjust? Yes. Does that mean no one else should get the education you and I got, even if they can afford it, because we are feeling bitter about inequality that is outside our control and has been here for centuries? No.

Also, 'how does one think differently?' It should be obvious to someone teaching there. Your classmates are people from all over the world - the peer learning is incredible. And then a much higher percentage of your professors are researchers who excel in their field. Even if you think of Indian constitutional law, which one would think would be best learned in India. How many of its contemporary leading theorists (not empiricists) are in India right now?

definitely do it if you are from a non nlu uni/college and have the finances and are not dating anyone exclusively. Best experience ever to live it up and groom your self/have the best time of your life while studying. yes you will start to earn 1 year later but finances are not a concern is a going in assumption.

I can assure you now one is getting into Oxford BCL unless they are a top ranker NLUs, Jindal, or extremely rarely from something like Symbiosis / ILS. Your CV is only one part of the application and ultimately it also depends on the LoRs and SoP. These colleges continue to be prestigious. Cambridge is relatively less competitive and more accommodating in in terms where have you done your LLB, but it is no joke either.

But I would say that since you are from a T-1 NLU and you want a career in India, I doubt there would not be any opportunity that you otherwise wouldn't have access to.

Plus it's not exactly a good idea to do an LLM just for the sake of prestige. Go only if you genuinely want to do it, either to specialise in a particular domain or want to try your hand at employment there (almost impossible for US, for UK and other jurisdictions there is a chance if you have a good profile and are at the top of your class in LLM as well) but there are no direct ways in which an LLM helps with employment (no campus recruitment and you are essentially on your own).

regardless of which from which college have you done your LLB from, its a disastrous to do an LLM using your own money unless you are so rich that 1-2 cr is pocket change for you.

So get some work experience first. If you still want to do it and finances allow or you secure a scholarship, go for it.