Speaker 1: There was Family Law, Contract, Criminal Procedure was also there I studied the entire Indian Penal Code I even studied the Companies Law I scored really well in Constitutional Law And I think I did a really good job in Arbitration as well when I studied that How do I decide the specialization on which I should do my LLM? Should I even do my LLM right after completing my Law degree? Do I need to wait for some more time so that I can acquire experience? It's getting very difficult for me to decide. I think I need to take help from somebody. So being a law student, being a practicing advocate, being someone who has love for studying and someone who has gone through this entire process, these entire kind of emotions that we go through when we are in law school, when we pass the law school and even until today I feel such things going on in my mind. I should have done my LLM before. I need to do it right now. how do I prepare for it, what steps should I take, which university should I choose, how will I be able to spare time for classes. I think I need those courses which are not regular where there are evening classes. All of these things go into my mind. But, but if you're law students or if you're lawyers who have just passed their law degree, I think it's time to sway these confusions away. Sabke mind mein yeh aata hai. But agar right time pe humein koi guidance mil jaye toh usse zyada achchi koi baat nahi hoti. I understand that everybody understands best from their own experiences but agar humein kuch pata lag gaya hai kisi jeez ke baare mein toh why should we shy away from sharing that? And that's what I will be doing today. The last video I did on Corporate Lawyer vs Litigation as a Career you people gave a lot of love on that video and there was one more query from your side and that was Should I do LLM before acquiring experience or after acquiring experience? So by way of this video, I will be clearing that doubt through a 7-point guide. Let's get started. Again, I have a table in mind. I have a table before me. One side says, doing LLM before acquiring experience. I don't know why I want to say expiring every time I say acquiring. Let's not consider that. And the second side of the table says, LLM post-acquiring experience i.e. after acquiring experience. So these are pointers. Again, you have to write plus one in the pointer that suits the best for you. And wherever your score is high, I think that option will be the best for you. That route will be the best for you. First one, if you want to do LLM before acquiring experience, sometimes people for that, they have a clear agenda in mind. And that agenda is doing this LLM, acquiring this degree is necessary to achieve the goal that I have in my mind. I'm not saying that it must be necessary for your ultimate goal, because that may even change. But let's assume that you have thought of being a professor, you have thought of going into the line of teaching in law curriculum only. You need to have an LLM for that. You need to have a master's degree for that. So if you have such kind of goal in mind, then you should go for LLM. Or other than teaching there are certain jobs which require LLM as mandatory or where LLM is desirable. So in those cases you should go for doing LLM such as jobs of being a legal manager at some of the banks, at some institutions. Sometimes they do require LLM and many a times that they say that if you have an LLM degree then it I mean it's desirable for them that their candidate should hold an LLM degree. Now if there is no such mandatory requirement, let's assume that you want to make your career as a practicing lawyer, let's assume you want to give judicial services examinations and become a judge in India, then there is no such requirement of acquiring an LLM degree. That means your goal is not directly or indirectly linked to your LLM degree. So in those cases, people do LLM most of the times after acquiring some experience. Now why do they do this after acquiring some experience? I know there is no mandatory requirement but sometimes their love for studying, their love for research, their love for getting to know more takes them through this LLM route and sometimes it also happens that they want to make a good name for their own selves. People say that you should have a master's degree if you definitely want yourself to be considered a master in your subject although I really feel that in law there is no such thing I have seen many many ultra successful advocates I'd say who do not possess an LLM degree who have not studied who have not acquired formal education after completing their law degree. Toh aisa kuch nahi hota hai ki aapke paas ek master's degree hogi tabhi aapko subject mein master mana jaayega. Maine yeh pura pura yeh cheeze achche se court mein observe kari hai but still aise log jinko yeh wali requirement zyada suit karte hai wo LLM karte hain thoda sa experience acquire karne ke baad mein. Now next point is related to specialization. Now if you fall into that category where LLM is necessary for your goal and you want to do it before acquiring any kind of experience that is right after you complete your law school. You want to give CLAT-PG, you want to give other exams, DULLM and all such exams which are there for LLM. So you decide your specialization as per your goal. See if you want to become a legal manager somewhere, see if you want to become a legal associate somewhere and that field may require your specialization to be in corporate field. So go for specialization in corporate law. In case you want to teach family law aspects to law students, go for LLM in family law. In case you think that you just want to be an associate professor somewhere and you are not sure what subject you would like to teach, you are not yet sure about that, go for a a general LLM such as the one Delhi University offers that will be good for you in that case and like I have such friends who are thinking of doing dual LLM if after a certain period of time you are in your teaching job and you decide that I am liking let's say constitutional law more. So nobody is stopping you from acquiring another degree another LLM with your specialization in constitutional law that also happens and if you are doing LLM after acquiring some kind of experience. I would say that there is no field in which you should definitely consider to do LLM. There is nothing like that. Our law degree does not offer any specialization. So if you are taking experience, then take advantage of it so much that you do LLM in that field or master in that field in which you have a lot of interest. If you feel that your interest is in constitutional law, then go there. If you feel that your interest is in IPR, cyber laws, then go there. If you feel that my interest is in family laws, then If you want to acquire more knowledge about law, then you can definitely go for general LLM. If you are practicing like a corporate lawyer or doing contract drafting, then you can do IPR related LLM. In fact, if you do general LLM, then decide in advance that what are the optional subjects you have to choose. What area do you want to increase your knowledge in? Now people ask me that when is it easy? Should I do it before or after acquiring experience? See if you are studying well in law school And your connection is made with studies And when we work and when we are in law school If I compare both the situations So we have comparatively more time when we are a student I mean studying formally Then we have more time So at that time, I think it is a little easier to prepare than my own experience. You are already in touch with a lot of subjects, like generally the subjects found in LLM are Public International Law, Family Law, Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence. You are directly in touch with all of these. And there are less and less questions that come from the exam. Company Law, IPR, Trademarks, Consumer Protection Laws, etc. So you are definitely in more touch at that time. You remember more to study, to revise daily, to set goals, to set targets. So I would say that at that time it is easy for you to crack the entrance. Not doing LLM is not as difficult as cracking the entrance. Because there are very few seats in India than what people want to do. That's the problem, that's not your problem. Sorry, that's the problem of the system and right now we can't help it. We can't help it, but we can do so much that we do not make a big hype to acquire any degree. Slowly, slowly, prepare steadily. It is not done at once. Prepare for the next time. Do something else for that time. Don't think like this. Your world is not going to end if you don't have an entrance exam clear. Or you don't have a stair to acquire a degree. You can't climb. If I see on the other side, once you start practicing, once you start working, you have There is very less time to prepare. Even if you think that you will do it regularly, then many times it happens that you miss studying. And many times it happens that if you are talking about working, then you will need more external help. And in that too, it is possible that you will take external help, you will also take coaching classes. And many times you have to miss it because of doing your work. And once you are settled into your work, it is very difficult for you to leave that work and go back to LLM. So, a lot of people who are working prefer LLMs where degrees, colleges allow them to work simultaneously. Evening colleges prefer LLMs. So, keep this in mind. Keep your goal, your target, your mindset in mind and you will be able to prepare at that time or not. It is up to you to decide how important a degree is for you. Then, this LLM before acquiring experience, a lot of people do it like this too. Some people think that let's just get done with all the degrees in one go. I want to be called a master in laws. So let's do that too. But post acquiring experience, those who think that it is necessary for me to take practical exposure, I want to first stand on my feet. I want to first be called independent. I want to first see that if I want to study further, what else do I have to study? I have studied school. I have done 5 years of law or 3 years of graduation, 3 years of law. and I have never stepped into the outside world. Let's see what the outside world has to offer for me and then only I'll come back to this entire scenario and I'll, you know, begin my studies again. There's no one stopping me. You read a lot in law anyway. So if you want to have some income in hand before going further, if you want to have some kind of exposure in hand, you definitely should go for LLM after acquiring some experience. Fifth point is related to dependency. So this is a very big thing. It feels so small to hear that you are dependent or not on anyone. You will say that it is just a matter of two years. But for many people, it is very difficult to understand which category you belong to. It becomes very difficult to cut. And it is better that your self-confidence falls. You can lower your self-esteem yourself. All this is not in our hands. You should not do all this. But still understand yourself a little. Understand your mind. Understand your heart. What will you feel at this time? and decide that when you will do LLM right after your law school that means for two more years you will be dependent upon your guardians you will be dependent on your parents or you will be dependent on your guardians who will take care of you while LLM post acquiring experience there it is a little difficult to prepare and crack the entrance but there is no burden of dependency on your head you have already removed that burden The confidence that you get by working, the confidence that you get by sustaining yourself has come inside you. You are evolved now. You are no more somebody who is dependent upon your parents. You are no more somebody who can actually have tension in someone's house. So you decide how much dependency you need. 6th point which is very important as per me Even if you feel that LLM is not only for quality, it is also very important for us to acquire this degree, it is important for work, but 6th point is related to your researches. So if you are doing a master's degree in any subject, it means that you are also contributing something to the society, you are contributing to some field. You are also making some researches for yourself, writing dissertations, articles, writing good papers, working with professors. That's important if you're going for a master's degree. If you're going to work so hard and go to such a good college, and you're going to study so much, then take advantage of it for yourself. So, I feel that when we do LLM after acquiring experience, the aspects that can be included in our research at that time, the practical exposure aspects, we can never do that before acquiring experience. You can do empirical studies better, you have first-hand experience, Maybe you have done a lot of work in the field of IPR and then you will do LLM in IPR. So, the version that will come out of it and the better version that will come out of it will be something else. So, if I look at it from that perspective, then LLM post-acquiring experience is better. If I look at the quality of research that will be prepared by you, then I like to go there more. I feel that it is a plus one in this category. So, then LLM before acquiring experience, some people do it who feel that I have to anyway prepare for my competitive exams let's just do my LLM simultaneously. So I can also prepare for my exam and I can also give these I can also go to the college, give LLM exams. This is again a little difficult for some people. But in case you're serious about any of the competitive exams, in case you think that you want to have some quality education, then I would advise that you should go for LLM simultaneously. But only if you have the ability to attend the classes, if you have the ability to prepare your researches by your own and then also come back home, prepare for your competitive exam and all just don't let it burden you too much and then it also helps some people that if we go to judiciary, I will have master's degree then I will get help in salary and there are many other perks and benefits for those people Simultaneously, if I see that some people think that I am doing this litigation or I have a job as a corporate lawyer. Along with that, I also do LLM. I will also prepare for a competitive exam because who knows what will happen in the future in litigation. Right now I am working with a senior, I don't know about the future. So, I do LLM along with preparing for a competitive exam and I will also become a judge in the future. Or I will clear another competitive exam or I will prepare for an exam like IELTS. So I think it's a big no, don't do this. It's very difficult to manage all these three things together that I want to prepare for Judiciary, I want to go for LLM. I mean, I'll be doing my LLM and I'll also be doing a job. Please, please, I request you, don't try to do this. I have seen so many people doing this. Either health wise problems or because these goals cannot be completed at the same time, you have limited time in the day, I know it comes out of taking out time, but it does not mean that you will do three entirely different things at the same time. Very difficult to do this, so it's a big no from my side. Now there is one more tip for you, do not get trapped into specializations. I have seen this a lot, that I never had an interest in this, I never had an interest in corporate law, I don't know why I did LLM in corporate law, now what do I have to do, I don't understand it, I didn't enjoy studying, I didn't enjoy doing research, what would I have made a dissertation on mergers and acquisitions, I didn't like it at all. Why did I do it, because everyone used to say that corporate law is in fashion, it's very good for new generation, you go in this, go in this. But on the other hand, I have interest in constitutional law. Don't do this, please do what you like during specialization. With that, you will make a career once again. See what happens in law, a lot of career does not depend on what your specialization is. You can change your career trajectory even when you have done your LLM in a specific field. So, by doing LLM in Corporate Law, it is not that you can't go to the Supreme Court and deal with Writ Matters or the High Court. You won't have the ability to deal with the violation of Fundamental Rights. Or it's not that if you do LLM in Constitutional Law or in IPR, you can't become a Corporate Lawyer. It's nothing like that. So, for now, do what you like. Do specialization in that only. Don't come under anyone's pressure. Absolutely, and for those people who say that you have to prepare for the competitive exam as well, I don't know in which hurry you are that you have to do the job. Maybe you have to do a little bit of litigation so that your clients also come to me and you also have to do that I have to take admission in LLM as well. Along with that, you have to prepare for the Judicial Services Examination. Again, this is very difficult, so tell me by writing in the comment box that what is the hurry, where to run, Which train is departing, maybe our train is also departing, we will also see, don't do that. I know I am also a bit like that, I also feel that do a lot of things together, do multitasking, but please don't put that pressure on your mind, peace goes away, that's very precious. Now I hope this little bit of confusion of yours must have cleared, by the way, there is no clear-cut guide for this, but still I tried to prepare this 7-point guide for you. Let me know what you feel about this video, let me know if you need more such videos. I will meet you again very soon with a new video on a new concept. Bye for now.