Law School Rankings 2024: Cultivating Market-ready Lawyers

Law is an ever-evolving profession. A lawyer has to develop overall growth with exceptional communication skills. The debate, on whether law schools must cultivate a breed of lawyers who can perform tasks with expertise from day one as a practitioner, is gathering steam. With Artificial Intelligence on the horizon, technological advancements in the legal profession also require that lawyers develop a sense of understanding and ease to operate in a multidimensional scenario. 

Law graduates have diverse career options, including corporate law, in-house roles, legal journalism, policy, and research. This variety makes the legal profession attractive to those seeking high growth opportunities.

In 2024, 68,000 students took the Common Law Admission Test, highlighting the increasing popularity of law. With around 1,800 law colleges in India—over 1,000 private, 300 government, and 100 semi-government—new schools are rapidly emerging. One of the major challenges for law schools is providing practical training while maintaining essential theoretical education.

According to the Bar Council of India, about 70,000 law graduates join the profession annually. With India's rapid economic growth, the service industry is booming. Lawyers are now involved in court litigations and business operations like mergers, acquisitions, taxation, dispute resolution, contract management, and negotiations. The role of a lawyer is evolving, with new fields and the in-house counsel role gaining traction.

The fast pace of today's law firms leaves little room for comprehensive mentoring, increasing law schools' responsibility to ensure graduates have a solid grasp of basic legal concepts. Experts stress the importance of reading law commentaries to understand the law’s application and evolution. Additionally, career opportunities within law firms are diversifying, with a growing demand for professionals in law firm management, focusing on business operations and strategic planning.

Educators emphasise a balanced approach integrating theoretical knowledge with practical skills. However, they maintain that universities' efforts to balance theory and practice cannot replace professional training.

At the BW Legal World Law School Rankings 2024, India's top law schools were honoured for their excellence, with the selection board evaluating them on several key criteria. The editorial process is jury-led and based on research conducted through a combination of sources, including information submitted directly by colleges and universities, as well as publicly available data and information on college websites where direct submissions were not received. 

The Jury

The eminent jury for the Law School Rankings 2024 comprised Jury Chair: Amar Kumar Sundram, General Counsel - Sr. Vice President (Legal) & Chief Compliance Officer, NEC Corporation India; Jury Co-Chair: Seema Jhingan, Partner, LexCounsel, Law Offices; Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, BW Businessworld and Founder, exchange4media;  Pinky Anand, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India; Pavan Duggal, Cyber Law Expert; Sudhir Mishra, Founder & Managing Partner, Trust Legal; Harvannsh Chawla, Founder & Managing Partner, K. R. Chawla & Co. Advocates; Mukul Shastry, General Counsel, Cube Highways; Priyanka Walesha, Head Legal, Yum! Brands; Divyam Agarwal, Partner, JSA; Vaibhav Kakkar, Senior Partner, Saraf and Partners; Siddharth Batra, Advocate on Record, Supreme Court of India; Kritika Krishnamurthy, Founding Partner, AK & Partners and Visiting Faculty to Diploma Courses at NALSAR; Pallavi Pratap, Advocate on Record, Supreme Court of India; Noor Fathima Warsia, Group Editorial Director, BW Businessworld, and Ashima Ohri, Managing Editor, BW Legal World.

Methodology 

The BW ranking methodology is a comprehensive approach that balances historical data from our previous editions, objective rankings from national rankings, and lays a strong emphasis on Industry Outlook evaluated by an eminent jury of practitioners many of whom are adjunct professors/visiting faculties in various colleges across all categories of government and private colleges. 

Here is the breakup on which institutes were assessed for the BW Legal World ranking:

Infrastructure: Whether an institute made provisions for quality facilities, dedicated rooms for co-curricular activities, and comprehensive libraries to ensure effective teaching and student development.

Placement & Pedigree: Whether institutions provided on-campus placements to help law graduates demonstrate their abilities and kick-start their careers.

Academic Excellence: Whether institutions produced notable research publications and academic results, supported by well-trained and responsive faculty.

Industry Perception: Whether the industry's perception of graduates reflects the quality of education provided by the law school.