What is B.A. (Hons) in Legal Studies?
The three-year B.A. (Hons.) Legal Studies programme aims to nurture legal imagination among young students and build a strong foundation to study law and social sciences in the future or be absorbed into legal and allied fields.
B.A. (Hons.) Legal Studies programme by Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) is the first-ever multi-disciplinary undergraduate degree in legal studies of the country which was launched in 2020-21 academic year. It allows a high school student to gain knowledge of the law in a three-year programme and yet retain the option to migrate towards several post-graduate programmes.
The Jindal Global Law School of O.P Jindal Global University (JGU) has been the torchbearer of innovation in legal education in India.
It has come up with world-class five-year law programmes that have gained massive popularity in the last decade. This was achieved through a series of actions targeted to bring excellence in academia and allied activities for the law school.
World-class faculty, Global Infrastructure, Diverse environment, and a dedication towards public service has enabled the Jindal Global Law School to be a part of the top Universities of the world in a short duration of time.
Continuing the journey of innovation and excellence, Jindal Global Law School in 2020 launched the B.A (Hons) in Legal Studies programme. The aim of this 3-year degree is to bring a change in the way aspirants think about the study of law. This course has gained massive popularity in the United States and the United Kingdom, therefore JGU decided to bring this curriculum to our country so that our children also have an option to expose themselves to the study of law without committing 5 years to it.
What are the advantages of pursuing B.A(Hons) Legal Studies?
The Legal Studies programme offers a variety of subjects spread through six semesters including law, politics, economics, etc. The curriculum finds relations between several verticals to the area of law.
Listed below are the advantages of pursuing this course.
- 3-year course: Until the introduction of this course, when a student wanted to study law after their 12th std examination, they had to commit to a 5-year course. A five-year commitment for a student who is not sure whether she/he wants to pursue law as a career is not ideal and hence, they can benefit from this course.
- This course offers an extensive and detailed study of the law and other disciplines while allowing the student to retain the option of pursuing a three-year LL.B. programme if their career aspirations are aligned with the pursuit of law as a career.
- This programme also gives them the freedom to switch to any other discipline of their choice in their post-graduate programme and land up in a different profession.
- Study of law at an undergraduate level allows you to understand the larger context of law, the uses of law as a social engineering tool, protecting the rule of law, promoting access to justice, and introducing the legal architecture to promote business, trade, investment.
- Studying a programme of law at an undergraduate level helps the student to develop an analytical mind that can help in the formation of a lawyer’s arsenal.
Who is this course for?
This course is designed to suit the needs of a wide range of candidates. With subjects ranging from law, economics, political science, history etc, this bachelor’s in arts course equips the candidate with the knowledge and opportunity to either continue their pursuit of law or change avenues towards other career goals.
- High Schoolers unsure of pursuing a career in law
It is tough to make life altering decisions, especially when you’re not even 18. The idea of following a profession without even knowing about the intricacies of practice is scary to many high schoolers.
Sadly, this is the situation for many courses. To pursue a technical degree in Engineering, a 12th std student must invest four years before he can get the real taste of the industry. It is not until after graduation that compatibility with the job is tested and if it does not fare well on the litmus test, working in that stream becomes tougher every day.
Similarly, if a student decides to pursue law as a career right after school, they put 5 years on the line. Most of the time, they get accustomed to the life of a law student and later that of a lawyer but there are times when it gets tough to continue in the field.
They may not be aware of the day-to-day life of a lawyer and how challenging or rewarding it can be for them.
This course gives that freedom to the student; they can choose this three-year undergraduate course and get a deep knowledge and understanding of law and the legal system of our country. They get to learn about trade laws of the world, the history of Justice Delivery mechanisms in the world. This is complimented by practical learning through internships wherein they get to learn about the realities of the profession.
At the end of the course, they are given a choice, whether to continue the path of law as a career or bid adieu to it and move on to another career.
- Students whose career goals align with law but are not aiming to become a lawyer
Generally, there are 2 types of students, those who are interested in studying law/becoming a lawyer and those who do not want to study law/not interested in law.
There is a third type, the student who is interested in the study of law but not in becoming a lawyer. Their goals can be vibrant as there are quite a lot of opportunities apart from becoming a lawyer which involves the study of law.
A popular example is that of competitive examinations like the UPSC. This examination involves a dedicated preparation of a plethora of subjects. Various topics from law form a vital portion of the syllabus viz. Constitutional Law, provisions of penal code as well as criminal procedure.
They ask questions related to political science, history, economics etc, all of which are a part of this B.A. (Hons) in Legal Studies programme.
- Students aiming to start their own venture
The new age of business in India is here and it is here to stay.
Our youth has moved beyond the usual 9-5 jobs and family businesses; they are now a part of a global revolution that is creating world-class entrepreneurs.
One of the most recent examples is the show Shark Tank which has arrived in India after being a huge success in almost 40 countries. Most contestants are youngsters and even the Govt of India is betting on their youth with schemes like Mudra Loans or Startup India.
The knowledge of law, especially corporate laws and trade law, comes in handy while starting your own venture. There is the traditional method where you pay someone to take care of all the compliance where the cost to work ratio might not be suitable for your bootstrapped venture or you can oversee every element of compliance and lead the way wherever there is a legal hiccup or challenge in the way of your venture.
This course gives exposure to several corporate laws like Contract Law, Company Law, International Trade Law etc.
Any other student who finds their calling in law
While the most popular way to pursue law these days in India is the five-year course, the 3+3 gateway remains to be a strong option.
In simple numbers, let us look at three scenarios
Scenario 1: You pursue any graduation like BBA or BCom then pursue LLB, you are exposed to law for 3 years at law school.
Scenario 2: You pursue the five-year course; the total exposure is almost 5 years to law but there are additional subjects like accounts or management or literature that are not going to help you in your legal profession.
Scenario 3: You pursue the 3-year B.A. (Hons) in Legal Studies programme and then go for the 3-year LLB. The total exposure to law here is 6 years, the maximum in all three scenarios.
Even the subjects that you study other than law in the 3-year graduation are structured in a way that complements your legal study.
Want to know more about Legal Studies and Jindal Global Law School?
Listen to Prof. (Dr) C. Rajkumar, Vice-Chancellor of JGU, talk about B.A(Hons) in Legal Studies here
Click here to download the brochure for B.A (Hons) Legal Studies.
Admission to the B.A (Hons) in Legal Studies programme at Jindal Global Law School, O.P Jindal Global University can be secured through LSAT-India, JSAT-Law, CLAT UG.
Click here to apply for this programme.
