Latin Legum Baccalaureus or LLB is a study of legislative laws (legal studies). There was a time when pursuing law meant a study of a 3-year LLB program after graduation but since time has changed itself and so has the academic pattern. A new trend has come up for the students interested in pursuing law as a career option. Now they can enrol themselves in the 5-year integrated course of BA.LLB or BBA.LLB or BCom.LLB. Many colleges and universities all over the globe provide the course. This article is an attempt to lay down a clear picture of the difference between BA.LLB, BBA.LLB and BCom.LLB, with the help of different parameters and elucidate the difference between a 3-year and a 5-year integrated LLB course.
Introduction
Law is considered to be the most prestigious study in the field of education and it is a demanding course amongst the students too. One of the biggest problems being faced by a law aspirant in his/her career is to decide the right career path along with the course to be pursued. The choice lies between the law course that is whether a 5-year integrated course of BA, BBA or BCom.LLB is better or a 3-year LLB course after graduation is better. This is a very common question which is asked frequently in the field of law.
The difference between the two lies amongst the duration of the courses respectively that is 3-years and 5-years. The difference between the two is based on their respective curriculum also. In 3-year course, students will be studying the core subjects of law as well as the Constitution of India. Moreover all the subjects are dedicated to law education only whereas under 5-year integrated law course students will study subjects related to the graduation programme for example BA. BBA, BCom, etc as well as the core subjects of law. The value of both courses is considered to be the same in terms of job opportunities.
Being a law student for the past 5 years at K.R Mangalam University, students ask a lot of questions related to their career choices and one such question is “what to choose between BA.LLB, BBA.LLB and BCom LLB?”. There are numerous private and government colleges which offer the highly demanding 5-year integrated course in the field of law. Opting for an integrated law course is a great option as numerous law related subjects are being taught to the students, which gives them a chance of great exposure, besides the advantage of saving 1 year.
This article will cover every aspect related to BA.LLB, BBA.LLB and BCom.LLB. Before comparing the courses one thing should be clear: If one wants to make a career in the legal field then any of these subjects do miracles for the same. After completing the 5-year course, one can opt for litigation that is practising in the court or go for further studies by pursuing an LLM (Latin Legum Magister), which means Master of Laws. After pursuing LLM students have a chance of greater exposure and salary packages compared to an undergraduate student. Before deciding whether BA.LLB, BBA.LLB or BCom.LLB is a better choice, there are certain parameters to look upon and they are-
- Course profile
- Subjects being taught
- Eligibility criteria
- Future perspective of the course
- Salary offered
Course profile
BA.LLB is a 5-year integrated course of law which includes subjects of arts and law. BA.LLB stands for Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Legislative Studies. The course includes subjects like economics, sociology, history, political science, etc. and the subjects related to law as well like administrative law, the law of contract, legal history, etc. In short, subjects of arts and law are being taught throughout the course and their correlation with each other. The subject BALLB aids in developing a humanitarian perspective in the understanding of law.
BBA.LLB stands for Bachelors of Business Administration and Bachelors of Legislative Law. It is a 5-year integrated course and on its completion, the aspirant is awarded a professional degree. The subjects being taught during the course are a blend of business administrative studies as well as the legal studies. For example- business environment, financial management, marketing management, etc. and some core subjects of law too like constitutional law, family law, taxation law, labour law, etc.
BCom.LLB is a professional integrated law programme with a duration of 5 years. It includes the study of commerce related subjects and law subjects. BCom.LLB stands for Bachelors of Commerce and Bachelors of Legislative Law. There is a blend of both commerce and law. The course is designed for aspirants with the interest in law and business. Moreover, for aspirants who want to practice law in courts or want to pursue their career as a financial-legal advisor. The subjects under this course are accountancy, statistics management, legal subjects- property law, civil law, criminal law, etc.
BTech.LLB is a professional course which includes the study of engineering and law. It’s a course which is taught by a few colleges/universities in India. For example, the course is offered by the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun and many other universities.
Eligibility criteria
The eligibility criteria for all the three integrated courses are different for different universities-
- Private Universities
- Government Universities
Private Universities
BA.LLB
Minimum of 55% aggregate in class 12th and must pass in English exam.
BBA.LLB
Minimum of 50% aggregate in class 12th and must pass in English exam.
BCom.LLB
Minimum of 50% aggregate in class 12th and must pass in English exam.
Some private universities conduct entrance exams for admission in their universities for BA, BBA or BCom.LLB. For example, Symbiosis, Pune conducts an entrance exam named SET-Symbiosis entrance test with the required percentage for the admission as 45%.
Government Universities
Many government universities offer the 5-year integrated course of BA, BBA or BCom.LLB like IP University (Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University), National Law University (NLU), Delhi University (DU), NLUs across the country and numerous other universities. All the above-mentioned government universities conduct an entrance exam of their own as an eligibility criterion for the admission in the course, for example, IP University does conduct the entrance exam namely “IPU-CET” which stands for Indraprastha University Common Entrance Test whereas NLUs conduct the exam “CLAT” which stands for Common Law Admission Test. NLU, Delhi conducts its entrance test AILET(All India Law Entrance Test). Different universities conduct different entrance exams for the purpose.
Future perspective of the courses
Students who wish to go into the corporate field should aspire for BBA.LLB or BCom.LLB. However, due to the emergence of globalization, privatization and campaigns like Digital India, the course of BBA.LLB is the best choice amongst the two. If one needs to practice law on his own and wants to start chamber services in the court, then BA.LLB or BCom.llb is undoubtedly a good choice and if doing a course of a charted accountant, company secretary etc. it will be an added advantage. If one wants to work as an employee in a corporate firm then BBA LLB is a good choice as compared to BA LLB or BCom.LLB. After completing the BBA LLB, one can apply for job in a corporate legal firm or work as a legal advisor to companies.
Salary offered
As stated above due to globalization, privatization etc. BBA LLB is ahead of BA & BCom.LLB. Students having completed BBA.LLB have been successfully placed with a salary package of 2.7-3 lakh per annum which mean 22-25k per month which is a good start for a law graduate. On the other hand, students pursuing BA or BCom LLB get placed with a salary package of 2.3-3 lakh per annum which means 19-25k per month. In regard to the salary being offered, students pursuing BBA.LLB are benefited the most as compared to the students pursuing BA or BCom.LLB but as stated above, the interests of the students matters the most. If a student has an interest in legislative studies and is from an arts background, he/she may pursue BA.LLB irrespective of the fact that the salary offered in BBA.LLB is higher. The author himself is a student of arts background with an active interest in subjects like history, political science, etc and therefore is currently pursuing BA.LLB.
Notable Alumni
In India many of the eminent personalities have pursued their career in law. They have earned a lot of name or fame in the field of law and earn a hefty salary too, Here is a list of few of them-
- Soli Sorabjee
He pursued his career from a government law college and afterwards was awarded with the Kinloch Forbes Gold medal for his work in the field of Roman law and Jurisprudence.
- Fali Sam Nariman
He also pursued his career in law from a Government Law College, Mumbai and later was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1991 and a Global prize for justice.
- Mukul Rohtagi
He completed his law from a university in Mumbai and was given an offer to be a Legal Advisor of our current Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. But he refused to be in that position. Some of the famous cases he fought were- Ambani brothers gas supply case, 2002 Gujarat riots case, etc.
- Ashok Desai
After completing his graduation in law from a Mumbai based university he was called to London for being a part of Lincoln’s Inn bar. He has been felicitated with many awards and medals like Nation law day award, Padma Bhushan,etc.
Conclusion
There is a thin difference between BA, BCOM & BBA LLB in every aspect which has been mentioned above. As stated above, the salary slip of BBA LLB aspirants is high as compared to BA or BCOM LLB graduates. The salary does not matter if the interest is not there. The above-mentioned line means if one has an interest in commerce and management then an individual can opt for BBA LLB course else it is not fruitful.
References
- https://law.careers360.com/articles/advantage-lies-in-integration-of-subjects#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20BA%2DLLB%20starts%20nurturing,covers%20Business%20and%20Management%20topics.
- https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-difference-between-B-B-A-LLB-and-B-A-LLB-Which-one-is-better
- https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/ba-llb-or-bba-llb-which-is-better/articleshow/72452822.cms
- http://www.edmyt.com/clat/blog/ba-llb-vs-bcom-llb-vs-bba-llb.html
I have got a lot of information by reading this blog, I really thank you very much for giving us such information.