What is Stressing Out Law Students In India?

What is stressing out law students? Since I am an Adjunct and Guest faculty in Law universities, I was concerned about the spate of suicides that recently took place in an NLU and tried to understand as to what is stressing out law students. Some of the common feedback that I got was:

·Law students are very stressed about their marks and grades. Reason? Recruitment pattern of law firms. Students are made to undergo as many as three screening tests; their LLB marks and even 12th class board marks are seen for the selection! I really do not understand the obsession that Indian agencies have with 12th class board exam results! Niti Aayog also, for its empanelment of Young professionals(who are in avg age group 25-32 years), asks for 12th Board exam results. Law Firms – Pl take a survey -how many eminent lawyers and judges topped in 12th class exams/ LLB? Pl see the academic marks of the founder fathers of law firms-were they all toppers in school and LLB? In my school batch, we had very bright students as well as students getting 58% in Board exams taking up legal profession. All are doing equally well. Giving pre-eminence to results of LLB and 12th class board exams, is neither looking at EQ nor at IQ.

·Job opportunities are getting more difficult at entry level.Why?

1.Because most Law Universities have increased their vacancies for commercial reasons, without looking at the available job market.

2.Because Law has become the new “engineering” which everyone(who is not interested in STEM) wants to go into!

3. Law graduates (unlike Engineering graduates) still haven’t started diversifying into other professions. At this rate we will soon have same status of law graduates as is happening in engineering(massive unemployability) .

·?Law schools are still following the outmoded non-transparent bell curve to grade students. Normalization of grades is done in a non-transparent way so that 80% students fall within the bell curve.

·?Law schools are becoming like engineering colleges in (not) making students industry ready and improving their analytical skills. Qs such as “List what kinds of property may be transferred under Section 6 of Transfer of Property Act “ are asked, with marks dependent upon who can replicate Section 6 best. I found this issue with most law students; while they scored very high marks in my direct objective questions, most could not analyze a situation(despite the fact that I take all my exams open book with no restrictions on surfing the internet also for the exam),simply because such questions had not been posed or discussed with the students.

·?Among students, the biggest flaw I found was trying to short cuts through AI – Chat GPT; which is easily discernible and often incorrect.(For example–ask Chatgpt what does MBL v DMRC judgment infer about No damages for delay, you get the answer-“In the case of MBL vs. DMRC, no damages for delay was a significant point of consideration. The court's position signifies a strong endorsement of respecting contractual agreements, which include provisions that limit liability for delays. This encapsulates the essence of contractual freedom while underscoring the need for diligent negotiation and drafting in contractual agreements”! This reliance and trying to take shortcuts through AI is severely impeding the analytical thinking of students.

·?Of course, at the end of the day, the major issue is of parents who need to stop pressurizing all non-stem children into trying for “professional qualifications”.