NEW DELHI: Bain South Africa has dropped by at an Indian campus this year to offer a consulting job. The institute in question is India's top law school - The National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore. Bain India is planning to do so too."We haven't hired anyone with legal expertise yet, but are considering doing so, possibly next year," says Gopal Sarma, a partner with Bain & Company who heads the consulting firm's recruiting in India, and is the leader of its infrastructure practice in Asia-Pacific. "We believe this will add a different, additional dimension to the skill sets we see in our incoming consultants," he adds.With average salaries hovering around Rs 12 lakh-Rs 14 lakh per annum and the biggest companies waiting to rope in bright legal minds for roles in their domain and beyond, competition for hiring the best talent is hotting up at law schools.So far, there have been three offers for business consultancy jobs at NLSIU - the biggest number so far, with multinationals like McKinsey & Company and Deutsche Bank hiring students for non-legal work and grilling them on their knowledge of markets and changing business environments. Deutsche is also in talks with National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (Nalsar) Hyderabad, and might consider recruiting students for roles in investment banking and corporate finance from the campus this or early next year, the institute stated.Deutsche Bank did not respond to email queries. "Non-legal jobs are increasingly becoming popular among law students at the campus and hopefully there will be more such opportunities coming up during this trimester," said a spokesperson from the NLSIU's recruitment committee.While placements are on at all top law schools, Nalsar Hyderabad has had the best placements so far this year, with all top six corporate law firms recruiting 25 students on their day zero. The average salary is Rs 14.5 lakh per annum and two magic circle law firms (term used to describe the top five UK law firms), Allen & Overy and Linklaters made three offers each to students graduating in 2014. Another foreign firm, Baker & Mackenzie, has evinced interest in recruiting from Nalsar and the highest international pay package is 40,000 pounds. Cadbury, Daimler, and Tata Power could be the other first time recruiters at the campus for the batch of 2014 while regular recruiters include ICICI, ITC, Sebi and Wipro."The number of high-paying job offers has resulted in better average salaries so far. A few domestic firms have also intimated the selected students that there might be an upward revision of their salaries before they join," says Vishal Binod, a member of Nalsar's recruitment coordination committee. So far, 41 students have been placed, and 31 of them have jobs with a pay package of Rs 12 lakh and above.The number of students opting for placements has also been on the rise over the past three years. This year 68 students in a batch size of 80 opted for placements compared with 50 in 2011. "Earlier, the percentage of students sitting for placements was about 50% while others chose to opt out for pursuing litigation, masters or civil services. But that is changing," says Binod. Fifty students out of a batch of 79 who decided to sit for recruitments at NLSIU Bangalore, while the remaining 29 opted for higher education or litigation. Companies such as Accenture and Vodafone would be visiting NLSIU for placements for the class of 2014."Corporate law firms remain the most popular choice among fresh graduates like me as compared to litigation because of high fee structures in law schools and low remuneration in litigation," says Shourya Sengupta, a final year student and coordinator of the campus recruitment committee at NUJS Kolkata.The average salary at NUJS is Rs 9 lakh per annum till now and is marginally up from last year. Companies ranging from Ernst & Young to Reliance, HUL, Vedanta, to production houses like Star India and Dharma Productions have recruited from NUJS. "Corporates predominantly recruit for legal departments. However, there have been recruitments in policy/strategy teams, think tanks and also research and analysis divisions. There have also been students who have been selected for employment in government departments subsequent to them clearing the required tests," says Sengupta.Owing to stiff competition, the recruitment process which commences with Day Zero (traditionally the period when the top six firms visit campuses to flag off recruitments), has now been pushed up by most law schools. "In fact the Day Zero process is completed almost a year before a student graduates. The most important reason behind this is competition. Over the past few years there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of law schools with every school wanting to recruit its best students before anyone else," says Sengupta.At NLIU Bhopal, the average salary so far has been around Rs 12 lakh per annum. "The highlights of the placement process this year are 8 job offers from Amarchand Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co, Mumbai which has been the maximum number from any law school this year. More than 50% candidates were placed in the first trimester," says Dr Raka Arya, faculty advisor for their placement coordination committee.