How Law Students Can Choose The Right Legal Specialty

The law industry is currently targeting developing and helping several parts of society. It not only ensures a stable future for legal professionals and students but also helps them to develop the right skill set to excel at it. Several factors are related to the credibility of a student. Every law school has its own approach towards the curriculum they design for shaping the students. So, the law school that a student comes from matters the most while choosing their legal speciality.

Though the basics remain almost the same, there are added benefits that help in shaping fresh and young law minds in fields like – analysis of a case, perspective building, research work, critical thinking, etc. Approximately 80,000 students are passing out from law schools but only a few are cutting. Hence, a good law school plays a vital role in helping the students to choose their legal specialization. While choosing any legal speciality, there’s also the decision of whether to diversify the law students’ portfolio or practice a speciality. Many law professionals practice several fields of law to widen their potential clientele and appeal to a sizable firm. But, there’s likely to be one or two areas that will appeal to a particular student more than others. Few important points are listed below which law students must consider while the process of choosing their legal speciality.

The law students must know their forte 

Any law student must know their forte before deciding their legal speciality.  Firstly, the law students must list their preferences and chalk out colleges offering such specializations and check for prospects of that subject. Extensive research work has to be done before finalizing in which field the student wants to practice. Keeping at least two specialization choices is recommended to the students. This will help the students to find out their field of interest after exploring and practising properly.

Self-Assessment Tools 

Repeated and reputable assessments should be done by the law professional to find out exactly where he is standing and how strong he is in the chosen specialization. Law students can play a full part in law school and discover their USP on the basis of goal setting process and reviews by their mentors. If the law professional gets confused or falls in a dilemma during these assessments, he gets a chance to change the chosen specialization. The self-assessment should be done from reputable sources which provide solid results. 

Long term thinking 

Firstly, law students should think about how long they are going to practice and how the chosen law field is going to sustain for years to come. 

Secondly, law students should not decide their specialization overnight or in a week, they must ponder well before coming to any solid decision. This should be a carefully plotted step during which the legal minds spend months researching, weighing, and practising because it’s a choice that will shape the rest of his life.

Seek advice from professors or mentors 

Proper supervision is very necessary while choosing the legal speciality. Sometimes, the professors’ advice is very accurate for a law student while choosing their legal specialization because the basic assessments are done by the professors. They act as mentors to the students along the way and help them to find their strengths and interests.

Research common law firms

One of the easiest ways to choose the legal speciality is finding out which law firm is commonly practised in the area of where the student resides. The legal mind should find out what is generally practised in that particular region and whether there is a market for a new practice in that locality.

Allow change in circumstances

The young legal professionals should recognize that the field of law they are selecting may not be in demand after several years or they may not want to practice in the same field forever. They may also get disinterested eventually. Therefore, young law minds should stick by their thoughts and interests and make necessary changes when they are willing to. Because it is much easier to change the field earlier than doing it decades later.

Job shadowing

A legal student should understand the importance of job shadowing and follow it. Job shadowing helps young law professionals to observe and get familiar with the work culture, ethics and ambience. Also, choosing a well-established and talented person to shadow for, will open up various perspectives and might enhance the law student’s work morale.

These are few things that young law students must consider before choosing their legal speciality. Seeking help from experienced law professionals is always beneficial. All students need to have a developed skillset and express enthusiasm and flexibility towards the field.

Shashikala Gurpur

Guest Author The author is the Director, Symbiosis Law School, Pune & Dean, Faculty of Law, Symbiosis International (Deemed) University