Finding Your Legal Career Path

1 What this path is

Many law students reach their third or fourth year without knowing what they want to do. This roadmap helps you explore the main areas of legal work through small, practical tests rather than guesswork. No career here is ranked above another. They are simply different kinds of work.

2 Who this path may suit

Any student who feels unsure, or who is torn between several options.

3 The roadmap, step by step

1. Explore litigation. Litigation is about taking disputes to court, drafting pleadings and arguing.
   Learn: how a case moves through the courts.
   Practise: by spending a full week watching hearings and drafting one bail application or plaint. See the Litigation Lawyer roadmap.
2. Explore corporate work. Corporate work is about deals, contracts and advising businesses.
   Learn: what due diligence and a shareholders' agreement are.
   Practise: by reading the annual report of a listed company and noting who owns and runs it. See the Corporate Lawyer roadmap.
3. Explore research. Research work means reading deeply and writing carefully on one question.
   Learn: how a research paper is built.
   Practise: by writing a short case comment on a recent judgment. See the Legal Researcher roadmap.
4. Explore public interest work. Public interest work uses law to help people and communities.
   Learn: how legal aid and public interest litigation work.
   Practise: by volunteering at your legal aid clinic or filing an RTI application on a public issue. See the Human Rights and Public Interest roadmap.
5. Explore technology and cyber law. This area covers privacy, cyber crime and the regulation of technology and AI.
   Learn: the basics of the IT Act and the data protection law.
   Practise: by reading the privacy policy of an app you use and noting what it says about your data. See the Technology Law Pathway.
6. Explore intellectual property. IP is about protecting brands, creative works and inventions.
   Learn: the difference between trademarks, copyright and patents.
   Practise: by running a trademark search for an imaginary brand name on the IP India public search. See the IP Lawyer roadmap.
7. Explore ADR. ADR is about resolving disputes through arbitration and mediation.
   Learn: how arbitration differs from a court case.
   Practise: by drafting an arbitration clause or taking part in a mediation role play. See the Arbitration and ADR roadmap.
8. Explore tax. Tax work involves advising on tax duties and handling disputes with tax authorities.
   Learn: the difference between direct and indirect tax.
   Practise: by reading the summary of the latest Union Budget's tax changes. See the Tax Lawyer roadmap.
9. Explore policy. Policy work is about shaping laws before they are passed.
   Learn: how a bill becomes a law.
   Practise: by reading a bill currently before Parliament and writing a one page summary. See the Policy Professional roadmap.
10. Explore academia. Academic work combines teaching and research.
    Learn: what an academic career involves.
    Practise: by explaining a topic to juniors or running a study session. See the Law Teacher and Academic roadmap.
11. Compare the type of work involved. Look past job titles and compare the daily work.
    Learn: how much time each career spends on drafting, arguing, reading, writing, meeting people or working with numbers.
    Practise: by talking to at least three people working in different careers about what a normal day looks like.
12. Identify your strongest interests. Look back at every test you tried.
    Learn: to notice which tasks made time pass quickly, even when they were hard.
    Practise: by writing down the three tasks you enjoyed most and the three you enjoyed least.
13. Select a primary direction. Choose the area that interests you most.
    Learn: the core laws and skills of that area from its roadmap.
    Practise: by planning your next internship and next project in that area.
14. Select a secondary direction. Keep one other area open. Many careers combine two fields, such as technology and corporate law or tax and litigation.
    Learn: how your two directions connect.
    Practise: by doing one smaller project in your secondary area.
15. Start building relevant skills. Now move from exploring to building.
    Learn: the core skill roadmaps your primary direction depends on.
    Practise: by starting its roadmap at Step 1 and working through it steadily.

4 Your levels and checkpoints

Exploring

You are trying different areas.

• Tried at least five small tests from the steps above
• Spoken to at least three people working in law

Narrowing

You are comparing.

• Listed what you liked and disliked in each test
• Narrowed your options to two areas

Decided for now

You have a direction.

• Chosen a primary and a secondary direction
• Planned your next internship and project around them

These checklists are for honest self assessment. They are not an official certification.

5 Build these projects

1. One small output from each area you test, such as a bail application, a trademark search or a bill summary
2. A comparison note of what you enjoyed in each area

6 Internship direction

Take at least three internships in different kinds of workplaces, such as a chamber, a firm or company and an NGO or policy body, before you decide.

7 Portfolio evidence

Keep the small outputs from your tests. Even if you do not choose that area, they show range and curiosity.

8 Common mistakes

• Choosing a career only for its reputation or salary
• Waiting for certainty before trying anything
• Assuming that one choice can never be changed

9 Go deeper

Internship Guidebook and every roadmap in Sections 4 · 5 and 6

All 76 skill roadmaps · Interactive roadmap explorer

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