How To Choose A Law College

By Author: Venkatesh Donglikar
Total Articles: 11
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Choosing the right law school is the first important step you take in building a successful law career for yourself. While a law school’s reputation holds a certain amount of weight in the process of decision- making, it isn’t the only consideration.

Let us look at some major factors that you need to consider before choosing a law college that’s just right for you. Whether you're looking for the best law colleges in Mumbai, Delhi, or the best law colleges in Bangalore, these factors are important to making your decision.

1.Faculty

A good professor can made all the difference to how you learn a particular subject and your interest towards learning. Some topics in law can be dry and drab, but with the right professor covering such topics, they can be made interesting and even make you look forward to class. Before narrowing down your list of college, make sure to have a look at faculty profiles to get an idea of who you will be taught by.
The teacher-student ratio is another vital sign to check in a prospective law school. The larger the faculty body, the more available and accessible they ...
... are likely to be to students.

2.Internship and Placement Information

Any law college you are considering must offer quality academic and professional opportunities that go beyond classroom learning. These internships may include working with clinics, journals, firms, companies, and judges during your course duration. Depending on your performance during the internship, you could land a great placement opportunity for yourself to take up once you graduate.

3.Alumni base

Get in touch with the alumni base of a potential law college to understand the campus experience, course quality, and teacher-student relationship from someone who has experienced it first-hand. You can also get details on the specialisation you are choosing to pursue during this conversation. This is a good opportunity to get an early start on networking.

4.Emphasis on legal research

One of the telling signs of a good law school is whether or not they publish academic journals. This speaks volumes regarding the quality of education that you can expect at the college. You can also find out if faculty and students are getting published regularly and read up on some of their work to get a better understanding of this.

One of the institutes for law in India that fare very well on the above-mentioned criteria is Alliance School of Law, which is also among the top law colleges in Bangalore.

Check student satisfaction

Maybe some senior from your school or some friend’s friend is already studying in the Law school of your interest. Talk to him or her to gauge their satisfaction with the school. Ask about his achievements and how the Law school has contributed to his personal and professional development so far. Ask what he looks forward to becoming after graduating from that school. You may find answers to many of your questions this way.

Clinical programmes/ research centres at Law school

Check whether there are active and quality clinical legal programmes, and legal aid clinics available and functional within the school. Does the Law school have research centres in specialised areas of law? These will impart you practical experience. Make sure to know whether the research centres are just listed on paper or website, and if they are truly functional. Ask for the research reports or publications or even newsletters of the research centres. Try to collect some information about the professors heading these centres. For instance, does their work interest you? Answers to these questions can help you in a big way in your search.

A campus visit is a must

Judge the school not only by its printed materials and its reputation but by what you see when you visit. Discover what the culture and community is really like on each campus. Talk to students to find out more about the environment. How competitive is it? What is the social scene on weekends? You should also explore housing facilities, looking into on-campus and off-campus options. Lastly, experience some of the extracurricular and sports activities. While you should be able to easily find a list of student organisations on each Law school’s website, actually interacting with the students on campus or even on social networks will be much more revealing and informative.