7 of India’s top law schools placed less than 30% graduates

New Delhi: Seven out of the top 30 law colleges in India recorded less than 30% placement of students who completed their LLB in the academic year 2020-21, according to the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2022 data. Of the seven, two are private institutions. Of the top 30 law institutes, the median salary of placed graduates at 12 law schools – seven private, two public – was less than Rs 6 lakh per annum.

An analysis of data submitted for ranking further shows dismal placement records among even the top law schools in the country in 2020-21. This was the last year for which data was available. One college in the top 30 was able to place just one student. That said, 2020-21 placements across disciplines were affected by the pandemic.

In India, the undergraduate law degree is awarded at the end of two types of programmes. A three-year LLB programme, such as the one offered by Delhi University, comes after a full-fledged three-year undergraduate course. The five-year integrated programmes offered by the National Law Universities (NLUs) and others, combining a bachelor’s in any stream with law leading to BA-LLB, BCom-LLB, BSc-LLB and other variations of these degrees. Admission to these programmes is right after school.

Participation in NIRF was made mandatory in 2018 and the same year, law schools were ranked for the first time.

Twenty-eight of the top 30 law schools offer the five-year integrated degree programme. According to NIRF law school rankings, Indian Law Institute, New Delhi, ranked at 29, is the only institute among the top 30 which does not offer a LLB but only a one-year postgraduate programme. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur offers only a three-year LLB. Two government institutions – Panjab University and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) – and three private institutions – Lovely Professional University, Symbiosis Law School and Siksha 'O' Anusandhan – offer both three and five-year courses.

Top 10 law colleges

Ten out of the top 30 law institutes are private. Two – Symbiosis Law School, Pune (at rank 3) and Siksha `O` Anusandhan Bhubaneswar (at 9) – are in the top 10 law colleges in the NIRF ranking. In 2022, the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bengaluru again secured the first position.

Among the top 10 law colleges in India, IIT Kharagpur has the highest placement rate – 97.7 % – and NLU Delhi, the lowest – 52.5%. The maximum median salary in the top 10 was Rs 18 lakh per annum at NLU Delhi and minimum, Rs 4.8 lakh at Jamia Millia Islamia University.

Placements in the top 10 (2020-21)

Fifty-four students of Gujarat National Law University, Ahmedabad went for higher education in 2020-21. This was the highest number.

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Lowest salaries in the top 30

A total of 12 of the top 30 law colleges recorded median salaries lower than Rs 6 lakh per annum in 2020-21. This included two institutions in the top 10 ranks in NIRF. Panjab University, Chandigarh has recorded the lowest median salary of placed graduates at Rs 50,000 per annum; it is followed by Amity University, Gurugram and Sikkim Government Law College, Gangtok, both at Rs 2.40 lakh.

Low median salaries

Low placement rates

According to NIRF 2022 data, Assam government-run National Law University and Judicial Academy, Kamrup could place just one out of 57 students graduating in 2020-21. BHU, which offers both three-year and five-year programmes, recorded 7.8% placement after placing 27 out of 345 students, while 180 students were selected for higher studies.

Amity University, Gurugram managed to place just eight out of 96 five-year programme students and recorded 8.3% placement of its UG students. Only nine out of 98 students were placed at Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi in the academic session 2020-21.

Lowest placements (2020-21)

In the winter session of parliament in December 2022, law minister Kiren Rijiju said that the government does not maintain the number of unemployed law graduates in the country.

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“Once a law graduate enrolls as an advocate he or she is deemed to have entered into the profession of advocacy. Advocates are professionals who enter the profession of legal practice and learn the skilled advocacy in the process of gaining requisite experience. Further, it is the discretion of a party to engage any advocate as per its choice,” Rijiju told Rajya Sabha. He was responding to questions asked by YSR Congress MP Ryaga Krishnaiah regarding measures taken by the government to reduce increasing unemployment amongst law graduates and to tackle instances of junior advocates working without any pay or remuneration.