Engineering and Law are two very different career paths when compared with each other. Still, as seen according to the reports in recent years candidates are willingly pursuing law as a second career after completing their graduation in engineering. Due to this, it has been observed that there is an increasing demand for tech-savvy legal professionals in various career paths such as cyber law, intellectual property rights and corporate law. Candidates are seen using their technical expertise to excel in the legal field. In this blog, we will discuss the various career opportunities, the top colleges and other essential details for the candidates willing to pursue a legal career after completing engineering. Check out all the necessary details below before switching your career towards law.
Law After Engineering
Candidates might wonder why it is a viable option to choose law after pursuing an engineering degree. The reason might vary from individual to individual. Some candidates require career diversification, some require higher earning potential while some choose this for their personal interest. Check out below the reasons why candidate should choose this shift in career:
- Candidates find an interdisciplinary advantage while choosing this career option with various legal background opportunities such as patent law, intellectual property rights and cyber law.
- A combination of an engineer and a lawyer generates higher earning potential for the candidate often compelling them to charge higher due to their specialized knowledge.
- The legal profession is known to offer long-term stability and growth and opportunities for advancement.
- Candidates can also choose to offer their contribution in policy making as legal knowledge helps in making technological policies, handling data privacy and regulations and much more.
Career Opportunities for Engineers
Candidates must have a question about what are the career opportunities after pursuing a law degree as they will have to add extra years of education to their career. Is taking such a risk even worth it? Let’s check out below the career opportunities that shall be available for the candidates:
- Patent Attorney: Patent Attorneys help companies and individuals to legally and socially patent their inventions. Engineers are considered suitable for this role as they will understand the technical terms and innovations and draft the patent application accordingly.
- IP Lawyer: An IP Lawyer is an intellectual Property Lawyer who’s job is to protect trademarks, copyrights and patents. They need to fight legal battles over disputes over intellectual property rights, licensing agreements and other related cases.
- Cyber Law Expert: With the increasing cases of cybercrime the need for cyber law experts have also increased. The role of a cyber law expert is to ensure complete data security and compliance with regulations with GDPR and IT Laws.
- Legal Advisor: Engineers with legal expertise can work in various regulatory sectors such as SEBI, RBI and TRAI where they need to implement their technical as well as legal knowledge for policy making.
- Technology Law Consultant: Startups and tech companies often require guidance on policies, and data privacy laws related to technology. Engineers with well legal knowledge can become good advisors in this sector.
Law Courses for Engineers
Engineering Candidates willing to pursue law after completing their graduation can consider choosing the following law courses to pursue a legal profession:
- LLB: Bachelor of Laws is an ideal course for those candidates with a bachelor’s degree in engineering.
- LLM: Master of Law is a 1-2 years program ideal for those candidates who are interested in specialised areas like intellectual property rights, cyber law and corporate law.
- Diploma and Certification Courses: Candidates who do not have time to pursue a full-time Law degree can opt for short-term courses in cyber law, technology law and patent law.
Law Colleges for Engineers
Candidates willing to pursue law after completing their engineering can consider the colleges given below:
| College | Location |
| National Law School of India University (NLSIU) | Bangalore |
| National Academy of Legal Studies and Reasearch (NALSAR) | Hyderabad |
| National Law University | Delhi |
| Symbiosis Law School | Pune |
| Jindal Global Law School | Sonipat |
| Faculty of Law | Delhi |
| Government Law College | Mumbai |
| Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, IIT Kharagpur | IIT Kharagpur |
| Indian Law Institute | Delhi |
| The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS) | Kolkata |
How to Pursue Law after Engineering
Candidates can check out the eligibility criteria, the various entrance examinations and the skills required to pursue law after engineering:
- Eligibility Criteria: Engineering candidates can choose to enrol in a 3-year LLB program, and appear for law-based entrance examinations such as CLAT-PG, LSAT India or the CUET PG Entrance Examination.
- Entrance Examinations: Candidates can appear for various law-based entrance examinations such as CLAT-PG (Common Law Admission Test), LSAT India( Law School Admission Test), AILET PG(All India Law Entrance Test) and DU LLB (Delhi University) entrance examination.
- Skills Required: Engineers transitioning towards the legal profession require a certain set of skills including strong analytical and problem-solving skills, research and writing skills, communication and negotiation skills, critical thinking and paying attention to detail and understanding regulatory compliance.
Challenges Faced by Candidates
Transitioning from an engineering background towards a legal background might seem an exciting opportunity to the candidates but this comes with a lot of challenges. Check out below the challenges that a candidate can encounter while transitioning towards a legal background:
- Transitioning towards a legal career sets a new learning curve for the candidates. It requires a different mindset to study law compared to the engineering background.
- Pursuing a legal career will add some extra years of education to your career. Candidates will need to complete a 3-year LLB program to do so.
- The legal profession comes with a competitive job market, especially in high-paying domains like corporate law.
FAQs
Yes, candidates graduating from engineering backgrounds can also become lawyers by pursuing a 3-year LLB program from any of the recognized institutions.
Candidates interested in pursuing a legal career after completing their engineering can choose various law fields such as patent law, intellectual property rights, cyber law, corporate law and also technology law.
Yes, IIT Kharagpur is known to offer a specialised law program limited to its candidates by Rajiv Gandhi.
Yes, candidates can choose to pursue engineering without appearing for any of the entrance examinations as some of the private colleges offer direct admission.
The decision completely depends on the candidate, if the candidate is deeply interested in law and wants to explore a legal career they can choose to shift towards a legal profession.