Myths not to believe in: Aspiring Lawyers and dealing with Legal Myths | The biggest problem regarding CLAT is the presence of various myths surrounding the exam and its preparation strategy. The source of these myths remain unknown, but their effect remains strong till date because CLAT being a huge examination with hundreds of examinees, circulating myths and getting them work is not a very tough task.
It is best to know about these myths and then distrust them blindly since they are wrong anyway.
– One of the primary myths circulated to unnerve CLAT examinees is that it is necessary to rote (mug up as we popularly call it) if one wishes to do well in CLAT. While it is certainly undeniably important to store information, there is no point in trying to mug up information in an age where electronic appliances make studying much easier. Students are tested on their skills of interpreting particular information and not on how well they mug up. Hence memorizing law is out of the question.
– Disgraceful remarks about law as a profession are nothing new. Lawyers have often been branded as professional liars and law itself a criminal profession. The fact that the whole country requires law to function properly for a system to be maintained is often eclipsed, especially when such remarks are made. Again, ignorance is a golden virtue in such cases and ignoring such remarks is a mark of a person possessing such a virtue.– Is it really important to have a legal family background in order to do well in law? This is a recurring question that often unnerves students who are probably the first in their families to ever think of taking up law as a profession. The answer is an obvious no because had that been the case, thousands of students would not have appeared for CLAT every year. Many presently reputed lawyers and law firms did not have a family background when they began their legal career. Like any other profession, law too does not require one to have a family background and thousands of students successfully appearing for CLAT every year is proof enough to eliminate any such thought.– Myths about litigators spending the initial few years without being able to make any money must never be believed as they are contagiously harmful. Litigation work is taught and students are hired at intern litigators while they are still in their law schools completing their graduation. A few unsuccessful litigators has resulted in spreading of such false rumors about the whole litigator community as the list of successful litigators (No they did not have to wait for 5-6 years in order to achieve success) is a long one. Marketing oneself is very necessary if a law graduate wants to find success as a litigator. Learn the marketing basics and combine them with your legal knowledge. Litigation work will arrive in heaps and bunches!
– CLAT students have been known to fight for seats in law schools such as NUJS, NALSAR and NLSIU etc. It is expected from them to do so because the reputations enjoyed by these institutions are national and they are the obvious first choices for any aspiring lawyer. But not being able to secure a seat in either of these institutions does not mean waving a goodbye to your legal career. True these institutions are known for their infrastructure, faculty, training and placement services, but other law schools are not bad either. The necessary skills needed to become a good legal professional can be learned from any institute of law and then they can be used wisely. Writing, listening, arguing logically and sensibly, networking with fellow lawyers and marketing your work are the skills which makes a law student a good legal professional, not solely the place from where the degree has been obtained. So a reputed institution should be a preference, not a compulsion. Lawyers from law schools which do not fall under the “Top” category have also been known to do well and you can too.
CLAT being a vast and difficult exam, myths should not bother a law aspirant as he or she will barely have time to think about them. But then again CLAT is also known to unnerve the candidates and in such a state, these myths tend to bend the confidence of a CLAT examinee (which takes an awful amount of time to build up). So it is better to know about and ignore the myths beforehand so that in case they are encountered later, they can be blissfully ignored.