This article is written by Ramanuj Mukherjee, a former NUJS graduate who topped law entrance back in 2006, founded CLAThacker.com in 2008 and helped hundreds of law aspirants to crack CLAT. He has recently launched the first comprehensive online course for Legal Aptitude (CLAT) with a revolutionary new approach that can help you to score high effortlessly. If this is not relevant to you, please forward to someone who may find it useful.

India Today, Outlook magazine and many others come up with their annual law school rankings and sell a lot of magazines to anxious parents as well as advertisers who cash in on those parents with large, expensive ads.

However, given that you are a smart, discerning person who know about us and read our mails, how seriously should you take those law school rankings?

Back in 2011, when I was just beginning my career as a lawyer at one of the country’s best law firms in Mumbai, thereby putting an end to my 4 year long career as a law entrance/CLAT coach and mentor, I wrote an article on this subject. The title of this article was “Law school rankings are for idiots.” The article was an instant hit and was read by over 11,000 people.

Therefore, you can understand what my sentiment with respect to most law school rankings will be. I also refuse to come up with my own rankings any more. After 5 years of working on legal education, teaching law online to thousands of lawyers, law students and professionals, and seeing many young law students and law graduates achieve greatness in their chosen path, I am certain more than ever that these rankings matter the least.

Alright, but then how should I choose which law school to go to given my choices?

I am rewriting my old article a bit, so that it is updated for now!

What is law school ranking all about?

Law school ranking is all about perpetuating a myth. It’s all about getting the law students of various colleges worked up about their position and they fighting tooth and nail with each other on comment boards of various online publications. It is also about making money by carrying full page advertisements by (mostly private) colleges who need to fill their seats one way or the other. Do not fall for these scams.

To understand the sinister design behind these rankings, you must consider the origin of these ranks.

There was a time, when there was only one law school, an experiment by a maverick visionary. This was the case for one whole decade as that law school struggled in Bangalore hidden away from public eye to prove itself as a successful model of legal education of the new India.

Then one of the professors from the bangalore law school set up one more in Hyderabad in 1996. Rankings were not relevant – people knew these are the only two law schools, both good with the first one having some advantage. There were few takers anyway, those who were smart enough to see the potential got into the one that they managed to get admitted to.

Then NLIU was started in Bhopal in the same format, largely unnoticed – and it had a terrible admission procedure. It was not remarkable, at least not for the first decade of its existence. I understand many NLIU alumni will vehemently disagree, but according to my understanding and observation it never quite matched up to NLS Bangalore or NALSAR Hyderabad, but is a pretty decent law school by its own right. Goes without saying, many alumni from NLIU has achieved amazing heights nevertheless.

In 1999, the same maverick visionary Dr. Menon came and did a slightly different experiment in Kolkata, when he was invited to start a law school there by late Jyoti Basu, the erstwhile Chief Minister. Within few years NUJS students left a mark in every aspect of academics and professionalism, like the first two law schools. Till this point, no one clamoured over rankings of law schools.

Soon the 2nd VC of NLS Bangalore Dr. N.L. Mitra built another law school in Jodhpur, and introduced his trademark work ethics and great intellect. NLU Jodhpur kind of gave the older law schools a run for their money in many areas in it’s earlier days. It’s fortune has varied since then as other VCs who follower Dr. Mitra failed to keep the standards as high as it used to be. Still, it is considered amongst the very best.

Each of these places were great because the people there worked hard to make them great. The faculty, the administration and the students toiled to excel. They did very, very well.

Copycats

Then the model was copied everywhere. Too many law schools mushroomed, not all of them were good. State governments threw money at these new National Law Universities. Many of them had great infrastructure, much better than the original law schools, but still didn’t find the great leadership or the sweet spot of building a great culture. And this was the time when the national media realised what a great opportunity higher education is for business – even the poorest of poor will spend last penny of their hard earned money to send their child to a good school, and then they will borrow more. This was a ripe market.

The vultures descended

Magazines started to come out with ranks to make the job of the parents easy – it started with India Today. What random rankings! And the rankings changed every year – like TRP of TV serials. If this year Amity is the best law school in the country (I think that was the case in 2004 or 2005, when i was preparing to get into NUJS), then next year it is Symbiosis. NUJS did not even make it to the rank list until 2007.

I always wanted to meet the people who trusted those rankings and joined a law school based on that information. I would love to hear what they have to say about India Today rankings now. Well, that legacy is being continued.

I said so in 2011 in CLAThacker.com, and since then almost all serious legal publications have agreed. From LegallyIndia to Lawctopus, everyone has called the law school rankings a joke at some point or the other.

In 2011, according to a ranking by The Week, NUJS was ranked 13th and NUALS was ranked 2nd. Some NUALS students were elated about this, not that this was their fault, but what a sad joke. I graduated in 2011 from NUJS, I got 4 job offers of over 14 lakh per annum each. My batchmates had abundance of such offers.  First graduating batch of NUALS, or even those who joined in 2011 and graduated in 2016, would have had a very different story to tell. Here is a report on recruitment of NUALS 2016 batch, those who got into NUALS seeing the 2nd best law school in the country report from India Today. 16 out of 21 got through to any campus placement jobs at all, with none in the top 6 law firms which are the best paying jobs.

Compare this, yourself, with NUJS 2014 and 2016 batches. You will at once know what is the worth of that India Today ranking.

Are there any sensible rankings?

The first sensible ranking I saw anywhere was at LST, by Sachin Malhan. And the ranking has not really changed since then. Rankings don’t change, by definition. Guess why?

There is no tangible way of measuring a law school’s success. Not even by seeing who wins MPL. Not by looking at how many Rhodes Scholars have come out a stable. Not even by counting the number of successful entrepreneurs or senior counsels.

I am better than you: rankings to fuel egos

In reality, law school rankings are myth, passed down from generation to generation. NLSIU is the best. Then NALSAR. Then NUJS. Then NLUJ. Hold on, maybe NLUD is better.

Sorry, stop right there. We have already done enough of that and misguided too many young law aspirants.

After seeing the law schools for 5 years, and then another 6 years in the legal industry,  after seeing what happens before, after and within the walls of law school, I can vouch for the fact that these rankings make no sense. This is just vanity. One up-manship which has no meaning and no value.

If NLS was better than NUJS or even NLUJ in any measurable, intelligible and substantial way, then the recruiters would have recruited only from NLS and not make it a point to visit NUJS and NLUJ also. Then you could predict that everytime NLS teams meet others in a moot NLS will always win. Or that there would be things that only NLS kids can do and no one else. These rankings are mostly irrelevant and not of any use to anyone.

Even recruiters don’t look at them. If you are a law student or law aspirant, why should you?

Why would you let anyone else tell you or make you think that you will become a lesser lawyer because you couldn’t get through to a certain law school?

What should you look at while choosing law schools?

Am I saying that there is no intelligible way of choosing a law school over another? No, that’s not what I am saying. I am just saying don’t fall for self-perpetuating myths. What should you consider before choosing a law school? Here is a list of things you should think of before deciding to go to a law school.

1. Fee. Spend as less as possible. Some law schools are much costlier than others. Factor that into your decision.
2. Recruitment is the touchstone. See what has been the recruitment stats in recent years from LegallyIndia.com. If recruitment has not happened yet, take into account the possibility of recruitment. For instance, colleges like KIIT and UPES already have a bunch of recruiters hiring engineers and managers from the campus, and they are likely to have decent recruitment for the law students too. This might be better than some National Law Universities which completely fail with respect to recruitment. For instance, a glance at LegallyIndia reports will tell you that CNLU, NUSRL, RMLNLU etc have been really struggling with respect to recruitment over the years.
3. Academic culture or the lack of it – this one is tough. Let me help here – I saw a real, impressive academic environment in NLS in my time. Those guys really breathed and lived law in the campus. People respected the law students who debated, wrote and quarrelled about laws. Most of the other colleges lacked such a strong academic culture. I have heard NLUJ had it when Prof. Mitra was there. NUJS, NALSAR and NLUD have got a better academic culture than the others. It takes a strong academically respected VC, supported by young and energetic law faculty to create that kind of academic culture. The students thrive in such environment and work hard to achieve larger than life results. If there is only one reason that NLS is still somewhere ahead of the pack, or that NLU Delhi has risen fast amongst the ranks of law schools, then this is the reason. If you are reading this many years later after this was written, and have found a law school with a good academic culture, go for it. Don’t think much.
4. Quality of life is super important. Even if the academics suck, you have a chance to be a good student, a hardworking person, a self made man or woman and do well in life. But a bad quality lifestyle is soul destroying. There is no cure for that. How is the hostel? What sort of amenities are there? Is the place far away from the city? The fact that NUJS is right in the middle of the city, in quiet yet convenient Salt Lake, made my life easier and happier. You should hear the people living in Nagarbhavi complain. Things have improved compared to before, still.
5. Is the place you are going to liberal in spirit? This also goes into fundamental making of a person. Is the place full of conformists? Does the institution encourage diversity and individuality? Also, imagine a place that allows you to go out only for two hours in a day. That’s NLUD, and despite all its goodness, I shall avoid it for that reason alone. Same for NUALS, where the authorities insist that students wear blazers to class, not to forget the uniform. My life would have been very different had I not been able to go out of the college. For instance, I would not have taught hundreds of students for thousands of hours, training them for CLAT, or just teaching speed reading. I would not have surveyed the Kolkata food and drinks scene like I did. I would not have been able to attend Startup Saturdays, meet entrepreneurs and start a legal risk management company while I was still in college. That’s the kind of miracle that giving freedom and liberal approach brings about.
6. New institutes are better than failed institutes. I will trust a law school which has a clean slate and a good plan, a good VC rather than one which has failed in delivering what it originally promised. There are several of them. Go through recruitment stats, or even the reports of complaints and dharnas by students and you will know who they are. There are many so called National Law Universities that I am not recommending to my students any time soon, at least until they get a good VC or have at least one good recruitment cycle. I shall rather trust newer institutions with VCs with good track records of institution building over the ones who have unreliable leaders at helm. That way, Jindal Global Law School or Lloyd Law School may trump many National Law Universities. Go for newer institutes that show some promise and good measure of planning so far.
7. Closer to home, the better. Can you go back home quickly if needed? Home is a great support system everyone deserves but only few gets. One great thing about NUJS is that it does not insist on you to stay in hostel. Guess what? The day scholars’ average CGPA is a notch higher than the rest of the college.
8. No, there are no other considerations. Faculty is more or less similar everywhere – and quality of faculty drastically changes. NUJS had worse faculty than HNLU in my first year, and by my 4th year it had the very best thanks to legendary Prof. M.P. Singh. It’s something you can neither foresee nor control. Don’t bother.

And remember, law school rankings are self perpetuating myths. Take a decision based on what really works for you, not based on myths people have been propagating. In the end of the day, it is all about what you do with what you have, which has no ceiling, and no floor.

If you want to become an extraordinary lawyer, you can do it from anywhere. I run a company called iPleaders, which helps law students to get access to top legal professionals and acquire very advanced skills that ensure that they get the best jobs and opportunities. You can see some of these online law courses here. We also partnered with NUJS to launch these courses which have helped thousands of law students, law graduates, managers, consultants, CEOs, even IAS officers to learn practical aspects of law and become great with various aspects of law.

If you know someone who is interested in cracking CLAT or studying law, share this mail with them and also a link to this amazing online course for cracking CLAT that can help them to get a great CLAT score.