It is said that “The good of the people is the greatest law.” Yet we know that evil is existent in some form or the other. To make sure good prevails over evil and everything is in form, we need an appropriate judiciary system in place. For that, we need more people to choose law and felicitate justice.

What are your thoughts on law as a career? Have you ever thought about the career options available after you have a law degree in your hand? If you are under the impression that “being a lawyer” is the only option, you are completely wrong. Here are all the details and clarifications you would ever need.

Careers in Private Sector

There are ‘n’ number of opportunities available to a student after obtaining the law degree. Here are the careers in law field available for students who want to venture in the private sector.

Work at Big Law Firms as a Corporate Lawyer

While working for a big law firm, you have the option to practice employment law, general corporate law, litigation or tax and real estate law. The big firms mostly deal with big clients and are in charge of big cases. It goes without saying that being a part of the firm requires long working hours.

You can be a part of the legal department of firms like Oracle, HDFC bank, Google and all the MNCs.

The salary structure is good and hefty because they mostly hire well trained and experienced candidates. The salary starts from INR 20,000 a month to INR 500,000 a month for experienced lawyers.

Working at Developing Firms

Working at developing firms is a great experience where you can work to a great extent on expanding your knowledge. You are an all-rounder and can get hands on most of the parts of a case. As the clients are individuals or small businesses, you handle the end to end case.

While the starting pay is around INR 15,000 to Rs. 20,000, experienced lawyers may be paid INR 1.5 Lakh to INR 2 Lakh a month.

Solo Practice

While solo practice as a lawyer is always an option for a law graduate, it is one of the toughest as a starter. You need to set up your own firm which also involves a high amount of risk. However, once you are a well-established lawyer, there is no bound to the amount of salary you can earn. Your salary can even go up to INR 25 Lakhs per hearing.

Have you heard of the highest paid lawyer of the Supreme Court, Honorable Shri Ram Jethmalani? He has been the chairman of the bar council of India. He has also been the union law minister during the prime ministerial tenure of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee which shows how active law is in politics. The 93-year old, who is a part of most high-profile cases was recently seen addressing students at the School of Law, Sharda University.

Careers in Government Sector

The government services in India are one of the most secure jobs. What can be better than being a part of the judiciary! Here are a few of the legal careers in the government sector.

Judicial and Civil Services

Every year, all the high courts hold a state judicial services examination for their respective states which is a great option for the law graduates. If you join the judicial services, your job responsibilities include being a judge in the high court. It is an extremely prestigious job as the exam is equivalent to the IAS exam.

Like every other government job, the job is well paying besides a number of other benefits.

The salary slab is somewhere around INR 60,000 for the newly recruited civil servants and increases gradually. Besides the basic pay, there are a number of other perks as well.

Public Prosecutors

The major job responsibilities of a public prosecutor include conducting a pre-trial investigation in criminal and civil cases, supervising penalty implementation, protecting the lawful interests of persons and state and submitting claims and applications to courts in the cases as required. Basically, the prosecutors are said to be agents of justice.

While the investigation is the prerogative of the police officer, the public prosecutor also plays a major role.

While the pay scale of a public prosecutor varies according to the jurisdiction, they receive salaries as prescribed by the government of India. For example, A public prosecutor of pay brand 2 gets a basic salary of INR 9,300-34,800 plus a GP of INR 5,400.

Internet – Cyber Law

Cyber law is the law that addresses problems related to the internet, electronic, communication and technology. With the cybercrime rate increasing day by day, being a corporate lawyer in the field of cyber law is one of the jobs in the legal field that pay well.

The scope for the people who are a part of the cyber law is huge. A person can be a part of IT firms, police departments, corporate houses, universities and varies public and private organizations.

We all know that there are n number of careers in the legal field. It is also one of the most sought after and respectful professions. Moreover, the silver lining is that there are “jobs for lawyers who don’t want to be lawyers.” Sounds interesting right?