India’s law schools are noticing a shift among their students. Where once law students saw their future in a courtroom, surrounded by judges and juries, today most graduates are eyeing up the profits to be made in the corporate arena.
Corporate law firms can offer new graduates around US$1,000 per month, while the entry level salaries of criminal lawyers is closer to US$150, moneycontrol.com reported.
As India’s business booms and grows ever more complicated, the demand for corporate lawyers is increasing.
According to A Jayagovind, vice chancellor of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, some 85% of students are focusing on corporate law.
Jayagovind said part of the problem is that most criminal law firms are one man operations, with individuals unwilling to organize themselves into more effective firms capable of handling bigger cases.
“And, unless leading criminal lawyers provide good career options to young lawyers, the lawyer in the black robe may get extinct soon,” he told moneycontrol.com.
