Careers360 Law School Ranking 2025: Best Law Institutions, Choosing the Right Law School

Career Opportunities: Why Choose Law as a Career Option?

As of 2025, the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) data reports that over 65 Lakh civil and criminal cases are pending due to the non-availability of lawyers. The Ministry of Law and Justice revealed in 2023 that India has around 20 lakh lawyers registered in various courts in the country. Considering the number of cases pending in different courts, India needs more qualified litigation and corporate lawyers.

The number of law schools has significantly increased over the last three decades. Behind this unprecedented growth of law schools lies the numerous opportunities available in the legal profession. Traditionally, the legal profession in India was associated with courtroom practices. However, in the post-reform period, the growth of the private sector has opened up the corporate sector for law professionals and private law firms.

While litigation and corporate law are popular traditional career options, the legal profession has expanded beyond courtrooms, in areas such as legal research, advisory services, media and journalism. Law graduates have more career opportunities today than ever before.

The growing demand for specialized legal professionals has also resulted in law colleges offering different types of LLB degrees. The integrated LLB programme is offered with multiple combinations such as BA LLB, BBA LLB, BCom LLB, BSc LLB, and BTech LLB. Within these courses, specialisations are offered to meet the industry demands. These include specialization in Corporate Law, Cyber Law, Intellectual Property Law, Environment Law, Criminal Law, Tax Law and others.

How to Choose the Right Law College?

Students are recommended to research various aspects of law colleges before choosing one for their higher education. Some of these are listed below.

Academic reputation of law school

The easiest way to understand the academic reputation of a law college is to check its place in various national and global rankings. The best law schools in India are ranked within the top 30 in all the major national ranking providers.

Accreditation

Law colleges in India must get accreditation from the Bar Council of India (BCI). The BCI is the apex regulating body in legal education. Non-recognition from BCI means the degree offered by the college will not be valid for practising law in the country.

Faculty quality

The quality of faculty is directly related to the quality of learning. Students must understand the student-faculty ratio and their academic backgrounds. Experienced and permanent faculty are more likely to offer quality education.

Specialisations

This is one of the most important factors students must consider when applying for a law school. While LLB is available in most of the law colleges in India, relevant specialization may not be available. For example, students looking to enter corporate law are generally recommended to take up BBA LLB and choose the specialization subsequently.

Relatively new fields like Cyber Law, Intellectual Property Law (IPR), and Forensic Science Law might not yet be offered by all law colleges. So, students interested in these fields should apply to the colleges offering these specializations.

Internships and placements

Studying law without internships is similar to studying engineering without practical training. Students must check if the college they are applying for has a dedicated internship and placement cell.

In top law schools, they are likely to find recruitment coordination committees often managed by the students. However, many law schools may not have these facilities.

Infrastructure - Library, Moot Courts

Libraries are essential in law schools to trace the historical evolution of law and state. Legal research and study of different laws is a crucial part of the LLB curriculum and libraries play a crucial role in ensuring that students get easy access to all study material required. Whereas, moot courts prepare students for the courtroom culture and decorum.

Location and proximity to courts

The location of law colleges is another important factor the students should consider. A law school closer to the courts and corporate houses is likely to offer more internship and job opportunities than a law school far away from the city.

The law colleges in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad are typically situated near courts and corporate offices. This helps the students find relevant internships and job opportunities.

Top 25 Law Colleges in India by Careers360 Law School Ranking

Top 10 Law Colleges in India - NIRF and Careers360 Rankings

National Law School of India University, Bangalore

The first national law university in India, NLSIU Bangalore was established in 1988. The NLSIU Bangalore is consistently ranked as the best law school in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). The law school is also ranked as the top law school in the country by Careers360 Law School Rankings.

Based in Bangalore, Karnataka, NLSIU Bangalore offers BA LLB and LLM courses through the CLAT exam. Around 85-90 of the top 100 students in the CLAT exam choose NLSIU Bangalore.

In the 2023 batch, the university has a placement rate of around 75-85% and a median package of Rs. 16 LPA for integrated LLB, making it one of the most attractive destinations for studying higher education in law.

In recent years, NLSIU has started offering non-traditional law courses in an attempt to make it multidisciplinary. The recent courses started by NLSIU Bangalore include a 3-year LLB, Bachelor in Arts, Master’s Programme in Public Policy and various postgraduate diploma courses around Law.

National Law University, Delhi

NLU Delhi is ranked the second-best law school in the country by both NIRF and Careers360 Law School Rankings. The law university is based in Sector 14, Dwarika in the national capital.

NLU Delhi offers BA LLB, LLM, Masters in Law and PhD in Law. Admissions to all these programmes are held through AILET. In the 2023 batch, the university achieved an 83% placement rate, with a median salary of Rs. 14 LPA for BA LLB students.

NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad

NALSAR Hyderabad is the second most preferred NLU in the CLAT exam. The university has been consistently ranked 3rd best law school by NIRF Law School Ranking. It offers BA LLB and LLM, MBA, five-year Integrated Program in Management (IPM) and various other courses.

As per the 2023 placement records of the university, 98 out of 112 students secured placement with a median salary of Rs. 16 LPA.

The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata

Established a year after NALSAR Hyderabad, the WBNUJS Kolkata is ranked 4th in both NIRF and Careers360 Law School Rankings. The university is the third most popular law university among those participating in the CLAT exam. It offers BA LLB and BSc LLB at the undergraduate level, and LLM at the postgraduate level. In the UG programmes, the university offers 20+ elective courses, leading to specialization towards the end of the programme.

A median salary of Rs. 20 LPA secured by students from WBNUJS was the highest among all NLUs as per the NIRF 2024 report. The university achieved a placement percentage of 85% in the 2023 batch.

Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar

GNLU Gandhinagar is ranked 8th in the NIRF 2024 Law School Ranking. However, it secured 5th rank in the Careers360 Law School Ranking. The university was established in 2003. It has also started an off-campus in Silvassa in Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 2023. GNLU Gandhinagar offers five types of integrated LLB programmes — BA LLB(Hons.), BCom LLB(Hons.), BSc LLB (Hons.), BBA LLB(Hons), and BSW LLB(Hons). At postgraduate level

The CLAT cut-offs indicate GNLU Gandhinagar is the 5th most preferred university among students who take the CLAT exam. As per the placement records of the university in NIRF Law ranking 2024, 163 students from a batch of 175 got placements. The median salary was Rs. 16 LPA.

Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi

Jamia Millia Islamia is ranked 6th in both NIRF and Careers360 2024 Law School rankings. JMI is a central university. The Faculty of Law Department at JMI offers BA LLB and LLM courses. The university is among the most affordable law universities listed in the NIRF Law School Rankings. The BA LLB fee at JMI is Rs. 15,000 per year for the regular course. The university offers 60 seats, however, being a minority institution, a majority of seats are reserved.

The placement records of JMI are better than those of other central universities offering undergraduate law programmes. As per the NIRF Law ranking 2024, 55 students were placed from the 2023 batch of 66 students. The median salary of this batch was Rs. 8.4 LPA.

Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

IITs are traditionally known for engineering courses. However, IIT Kharagpur is the only IIT which offers a 3-year LLB and LLM programmes. The institute is ranked the 7th best law school in India by both NIRF and Careers360 Law School Ranking 2024.

The courses offered by IIT Kharagpur are ideally designed for engineering and medical graduates wanting to study intellectual property law. The institute conducts its entrance exams for LLB and LLM admissions.

As per NIRF Law ranking 2024, the institute achieved a 100% growth in the placement packages offered to students of the 2023 batch. From a batch of 33 students, 29 were placed with a median salary of Rs. 18.23 LPA. In the 2022, and 2021 placements, the median salary secured by students at IIT Kharagpur was Rs. 9 LPA and Rs. 7 LPA respectively.

National Law University, Jodhpur

NLU Jodhpur is ranked the 8th best law school in India by Careers360 Law School Ranking 2024. The university did not participate in the NIRF Law Ranking 2024. Last time it participated in the NIRF 2022 edition of Law School Ranking and secured 10th position.

The CLAT cut-offs for previous years indicate that the university is 4th most popular NLU in the CLAT exam. It traditionally offered BA LLB and LLM courses. Recently, NLU Jodhpur has also started offering BBA LLB through the CLAT exam. Apart from the traditional law programmes, the university also offers MBA (Insurance) and Doctoral programmes.

Symbiosis Law School, Pune

Symbiosis Law School, Pune is among a few private law schools which compete with the top national law universities. The SLS Pune was established in 1977, almost 10 years before the first NLU was established.

SLS Pune is ranked 5th in the NIRF Law School Ranking 2024 and 9th in the Careers360 Law Schools Ranking. The law school offers BA LLB, BBA LLB at the undergraduate level and 3-year LLB and LLM at the postgraduate level. Apart from these courses, SLS Pune also offers multiple diploma courses for law students.

In the 2023 placements, the SLS Pune students of 5-year LLB secured a median salary of Rs. 18 LPA which is almost 100% higher than its 2022 placements. As per the NIRF 2024 data, 297 students graduated in 2023, of which 278 got placed.

Government Law College, Mumbai

GLC Mumbai, established in 1855, is the oldest law school in Asia. While the law school has not participated in NIRF rankings, it is ranked the 10th best law school in India by Careers360. GLC Mumbai offers a BLS LLB course at the undergraduate level and 3-year LLB and LLM courses at the postgraduate level. Admissions to LLB courses are conducted through the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test for Law (MH CET — Law).

The law college is also one of the most affordable law schools in India. The LLB course fee at GLC Mumbai is approximately Rs. 6800 per year. While GLC Mumbai does not make placement records available to the public, the Recruitment Coordination Committee keeps students updated about job and internship opportunities available with law firms, corporates and judges.