What is Law?: Course Fees 2026, Subjects, Top Colleges, Admissions

Law is one of the most popular disciplines of study which deals with the practices, rules, and regulations governing a community and are considered to be binding upon its members. However, there is no specific Law full form as such. This is seen from increasing number of Law colleges in India with 1000+ private and government law colleges for law education.

Specializations in Law stream: 

• Civil Law: This specialization focuses on representing clients in criminal cases and understanding criminal justice procedures.
• Corporate Law: It deals with the legal aspects of businesses, mergers and acquisitions, contracts, and corporate governance. 
• Criminal Law: Focuses on representing clients in criminal cases and understanding criminal justice procedures.
• Constitutional Law: Studies the Indian Constitution, fundamental rights and the relationship between different branches of government.
• Many More: Intellectual Property Law, Tax Law, Environmental Law etc.

People who want to bring about a change in our country through the means of their legal services can opt for this course. A career in law is quite fulfilling and reputable. Lawyers often indulge in work bigger than just a job, they help people and maintain the legacy of the Indian legislature. They also challenge existing laws that are out dated and unjust in some sense.

The scope is vast, actually. With the increasing demand for legal services in both national and international scenarios. Major drivers of that are corporate, technology, and international law needs all over the world. One can look forward to working in profiles like - litigation, judiciary, corporate counsel & policy advisory, along with other specialised roles. With correct guidance, academic background, skills and relevant experience one can make a reputable career in law in India as well as abroad.

No, After completing LLB you become a lawyer, however, you are still not an advocate and hence cannot practice law. To become an advocate and to practice law as a profession, you mandatorily need to clear the All India Bar Examination (AIBE). After qualifying AIBE, one can practice law as a full fledged profession. 

LLB full form is the Bachelor of Legislative Laws. It is a 3-year-long undergraduate degree program in the field of Law. Although candidates can also opt for a 5-year integrated LLB program, which combines 3 years of a regular degree program with 2 years of legal studies, such as BA LLB, BSc LLB, BCom LLB, and BBA LLB.

The learning approach of this program is a mix of theory & practical, case studies, moot courts, etc. Graduates can further go for LLM (Master of Laws), MBA (Master of Business Administration), or Diploma and certificate programs. Interested candidates can continue reading the article for more details on the LLB course in India. 

BBA LLB graduates usually aspire to work for corporate entities that are known to have better salary packages than litigation or public services opted for by the BA LLB graduates. 

An LLM right after LLB is only a good option for academic or research purposes. If you want to make a career in pure litigation then you should gain some real world experience first. 

Yes law is considered to be one of the most reputable and well paid profession in India. Given that you've an impressive academic background, relevant skills and experience and weight to your resume you can make a good career out of it in India.

Your options after studying law in India include working as a litigation lawyer, joining corporate firms, pursuing judicial services and working as a legal advisor. You can work in both public and private sectors. 

Specializing in a specific domain like IPR, cyber law, working with NGOs, journalism, academia like further studies of LLM/ PhD is also open.

Yes, you can study law after 12th, by pursuing 5 year integrated LLB course,  right after completing your schooling and scoring well in class 12th exam. You can look forward to clearing entrances like CLAT, SLAT, MHCET LAW, etc for the same.

One needs to be confident, diplomatic, meticulous and dedicated to pursue a course in Law. Lawyers often need to pull extra work hours. You also need to have the ability to read and recall long written content as law books usually have heavy and vast coursework.

Corporate law is a set of legal regulations for running a business in an ethical manner, be it for stakeholders, shareholders, workers, and business operations.

Corporate law courses comes at a later stage of any business, however, business law is right there from the time of inception. Both laws are mandatory for legally running a business. Therefore, Corporate Law and Business laws are both sides of the same coin yet have different applications across various litigations. They differ on the basis of the legislation and their area of applications. 

Your aspirations are what make a course 'better'. Both courses have respective pros and cons. If you're already a graduate and want to transition your career towards the legal field go for a 3 year LLB. Talking of 12th pass outs - you can either go for a graduation first if you have yet to decide if Law is for you.

If you're certain on the fact that you want to pursue law only - then go for 5 year integrated course. Also a 5 year integrated course will save you one year as compared to traditional graduation followed by LLB. 

The top Law colleges in Delhi are here for your reference. Take a look

Note - The information is taken from the official site of the college.

Know more about -

Property Law Colleges in India

The table below has some of the top Law colleges in India without CLAT, with course fees and eligibility requirements -

Note - The information is taken from the official site of the college.

Know more about -

Property Law Colleges in India

Generally those who score 90 and above have more chances of getting admission into one of the best law colleges in Maharashtra. 

The top-most Law entrance exam in India is considered CLAT (Common Law Admission Test) because it provides admission to the NLUs in India. After CLAT, AILET (All India Law Entrance Test) is another top exam conducted by NLU Delhi. SLAT (Symbiosis Law Aptitude Test) is another exam to offer admission to the UG Law programme at Symbiosis.
Apart from these, CUET, CUET-PG, APLAWCET, TSLAWCET, TS PGLCET, etc., are also conducted for Law courses at the state level. 

Legal Aptitude in a Law entrance exam means, they'll check your problem-solving and analytical thinking, required in the legal field. In the Legal Aptitude section, you'll be given a mixed set of questions from Legal knowledge (current affairs, legal topics), and logical reasoning (comprehension, problem-solving). You will apply the legal principles to the given factual situation. This section will include passage-based questions and case studies. 

Candidates need to be Class 12 pass to pursue integrated Law courses such as BA LLB,  BBA LLB,  BSc LLB and BCom LLB. On the other hand, candidates need to be graduates in any stream to pursue three-year duration LLB degree courses. 

Both the AP LAWCET and CLAT entrance exam are conducted for admission to the Law schools in India, however, the syllabus for these exams are different on many parameters and candidates should strategise differently for both the exams. AP LAWCET exam has sections including Current Affairs, Legal Aptitude, Contract Law, Constitution, etc. and the CLAT entrance exam sections include English Language, Legal Aptitude, Mathematics, etc. AP LAWCET does not have mathematics subjects, AP LAWCET exam focus more on regional knowledge. CLAT generally covers the deeper aspects of the particular subject. 

These are just a few really popular law specializations. To decide which is right,consider your interests, skills and goals. Research different specializations and talk to lawyers who work in those areas to get a better understanding. of that field. Some most popular Law specialisations among students  are mentioned below -

• Civil Law
• Tax Law
• Criminal Law
• Corporate Law
• International Trade Law
• Labour Law
• Real Estate Law
• Intellectual Property Law

The LLM specialisations that will best suit you when you want to work in large corporations are:

• Corporate Law
• Labor Law
• Tax Law
• Intellectual Property Law
• Labor and Employement Law

For startups:

• Cyber Law
• Tax8 Law
• Information Technology Law

Moreover, Big firms always require legal professionals who are experts in regulatory compliance and established legal frameworks, while startups need lawyers who can dynamic and often unpredictable legal challenges of early0stage businesses. 

NLUs are the top Law colleges in India. Candidates can see the table below for the top NLUs in India with their NIRF rankings of 2024 and 2025:

Source: Official site and may vary.

The best Top-Ranked Law colleges in India are mentioned below -

For LLM admission offered at NLUs in India, candidates have to appear for the CLAT exam and meet the cut-off marks criteria for admission to 22 NLUs in India.

However, for admission to NLU Delhi, candidates have to appear and qualify AILET exam. Therefore, candidates need to score top ranks in CLAT PG in the range of 1-1000 to get admission in the top NLUs. LLM through CLAT PG is highly competitive, keeping in view the increasing number of candidates appearing for the exam and difficulty of the paper. 

No, you cannot become a lawyer without a Law degree. You mandatorily need to obtain degrees such as BA/BCom/BSc/BBA LLB or LLB in order to be a lawyer in India. To become a lawyer, one must first complete three-year or five-year LLB from a recognised university and possess degree certificate. Then, they must enrol themselves in local Bar Council of the concerned state and enrolled as an advocate. Within two years of the enrolment, they must appear and clear AIBE in order to be eligible to practise anywhere in India. 

No, After completing LLB you become a lawyer, however, you are still not an advocate and hence cannot practice law. To become an advocate and to practice law as a profession, you mandatorily need to clear the All India Bar Examination (AIBE). After qualifying AIBE, one can practice law as a full fledged profession. 

There are countless. You can become a practicing lawyer based on the Law specialisation you choose, you can join a firm or an MNC as a legal consultant, or take any other job role in the legal department, or you can even join a government department like the Judiciary, PSUs, banks, etc.

The salary prospects in the Law profession are based on the job role, position, employer, experience, and skills. Also, in India, Lawyers are generally paid based on the cases they handle; the number of full-time hired Advocates is less. You'll find some full-time hired Advocates in MNCs or in government organizations only; the remaining ones work more as consultants. These salaries can be: 

 Note- The above salary has been taken from external sources, and hence may vary.

There is no fixed age to study law. Eligibility to enroll in a basic LLB course is to have graduated in any domain. 
On the other hand you'll need to pass class 12 to be eligible for integrated course like BA LLB or BBA LLB.

Law is a popular course choice among candidates aspiring to become lawyers in India. Candidates can pursue a Law graduation course after Class 12 or obtain a bachelor’s degree. Those wanting to pursue the course after Class 12 need to enroll in five-year integrated-LLB programmes such as BA LLB, BBA LLB, BSc LLB and BTech LLB. Those who wish to pursue Law after graduation can enroll in LLB courses of three years duration. The post-graduation degree in Law is known as LLM. There are almost 30 Top Ranked Law colleges in India. Out of which,  Delhi has the maximum Top Ranked Law colleges in India.

If you pursue Law after Class 12, the law course is of five years duration. If you pursue LLB after graduation, it is usually of three years duration.

For LLM courses, generally a candidate has to spend one year or two years to obtain the degree. The duration of the course depends on the entry-level. Until a decade ago, integrated law course was not as popular as three-years LLB programme. But with the emergence of National Law Universities, five-year integrated LLB course has become extremely popular choice amongst students who have completed Class 12th. 

Admission to the first year of five-year and three-year law programmes is based on the Maharashtra Law Common Entrance Test (CET) score. Please keep in mind that CET is required for admission to the programs listed above at ILS Law College. The College does not have a separate entrance examination. There is no additional registration form to complete for admission to ILS Law College.  There are no management quota seats available at ILS Law College. The Centralized Admission Process (CAP) is used by the CET Cell, Mumbai, to determine the eligibility for all programs at ILS Law College based on the results of the CET.

Candidates can also pursue various online courses in undergraduate, postgraduate or certificate levels such as Online LLM or Online certifications. Some of these courses offered by Shiksha Online are given in the table below:

• Online LLM by Golden Gate University
• Post Graduate Certificate in Finance and Taxation Laws by Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning
• Diploma in Taxation by Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning
• PGD in Labour Laws and Employee Relations by Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning
• Intellectual Property by Swayam

Law is required in almost every section of the society including government, corporates, and private practices. So in comparison to other sectors LLM and other Law professions will always be in demand, as the complexities are increasing. 

No getting admissions into the Symbiosis Law School for the LLM course is generally considered easier than other institutes.

To get admission to the LLM course at Symbiosis Law School, candidates need to fulfill following LLM eligibility criteria: 

• Clear either a five year integrated LLB course or a three year LLB degree from any recognised university.
• They should have obtained minimum of 45% marks in their law degree.

To get a Law degree in India, you need to complete bachelor's in Law, i.e. LLB, or integrated Law degree such as, BA LLB, BTech LLB, BBA LLB, and BCom LLB. 

After gaining a Law degree in any of the above field you can either choose to puruse LLM or sit for AIBE exam that give you license for practicing law in courts.

There are possibilities that AI and automation can significantly modify the Law structure of India. Primarily by automating the repetitive manual tasks like legal research and document review. This can ease off the work for lawyers so that they can focus on other important tasks like strategic and client facing aspects of legal practice, rather than completely replacing their roles. However, law students should start learning skills that can help them to work with AI. 

The eligibility criteria for mainstream Law courses in India -

• A 3-year LLB requires you to have a bachelor's degree in a relevant discipline from a recognised university.
• A 5-year LLB (BA LLB, BSc LLB, BCom LLB, etc.) requires you to pass Class 12 from a recognised board; the stream can be any.
• For an LLM, you're required to have an LLB degree, and for an LLD, an LLM degree is required.

Source - Multiple external/ official sites, info may vary.

The LLB course duration is 3 years; however, if you plan to pursue a BA LLB, BCom LLB, BSc LLB, or a BBA LLB, then the course duration will be 5 years, that is, 3 years general course + 2 years LLB.
Now, talking about the structure, you'll study almost every Law specialisation on a basic level. For instance, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Contract Law, Property Law, Tort Law, Family Law, Jurisprudence (legal theory), International Law, etc. 

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BA LLB

Some of the top law colleges in India along with their cut-offs for the year 2025 are mentioned in the table below:

Source - Multiple external /official sites on the web, data may vary.

Yes, you can study law after 12th, by pursuing 5 year integrated LLB course,  right after completing your schooling and scoring well in class 12th exam. You can look forward to clearing entrances like CLAT, SLAT, MHCET LAW, etc for the same.

Some of the popular types of undergraduate and postgraduate Law courses in India include:

Given below are the best BA LLB colleges in India. These are well-known to accept students' admission via MHCET Law entrance exams

Source - Multiple external/ official sites, data may vary.

Although BA LLB and LLB are law programmes, the area of study and the scope of these courses vary to a larger extent. The Bar Council of India is the body that approves both the programmes in India. BA LLB is a 5-year integrated program that amalgamates arts subjects along with the law curriculum. On the other hand, LLB is an undergraduate programme that deals with the study of the law principles, legal system, and constitutional amendments and so on.