This Issue - Icwai

LEGAL LEGAL EDUCATION
EDUCATION
Legal Education in India—How far the
Second Generation Reforms will meet the
Global Challenges
Since the Vedic times, dispensation of justice has
been considered a sacred ‘Dharma’. Such
dispenser of Justice, the King or any of his
nominee, used to be one considered infallible—the
integrity personified.
The Regulation Act, 1772, recognized for the first
time the legal profession in India. Thereafter, it was
codified in Bengal Regulation VII of 1793, prescribing
the scales of fee to be charged by the Vakils. It was
further modified by the Legal Practitioners Act, 1846,
as a subject to regulate both the Vakils and Barristers.
The Legal Practitioners Act, 1853 and 1879, made
suitable amendments. The Bar Council Act, 1926, was
passed to unify the Bar in India and to give the legal
profession measured autonomy in its affairs wherein
the State Bar Councils and the High Courts were
authorised to regulate the admission and the conduct
of the Advocates practicing in the Courts.
Rule of law became a fundamental doctrine for
governance of country with the adoption of the
Constitution in the post-independence era. Consequently
arose the need to streamline the legal education
in the country and, finally, the Advocates Act, 1961,
replaced the pre-existing laws and gave autonomy to
the Bar Council of India and the Bar Councils of the
States. Under the Act, one of the many functions of the
Bar Council of India is to promote legal education and
lay down standards of such education in consultation
with the Universities imparting such education, and the
Bar Councils of the States. It is also required to maintain
high standards in legal profession and discipline the
Advocates.
Section 7 (1) (h) requires the BCI to “consult the
universities for the purpose of laying down these
standards of legal education”. Section 7(1) (i) of the
Act enables the BCI to grant recognition to universities
whose law degrees shall be sufficient qualification for
enrolment as an advocate. The BCI may, for this
purpose, visit and inspect the universities concerned
whose degrees in law may be recognized for the
purpose of enrolment of law graduates as lawyers.
Similar power is conferred by Section 6(1) (gg) of the
Act on the State Bar Councils in regard to inspection.
Section A of Part IV of the Rules made by the BCI
deals with the five years’ course, Section B deals with
the three years’ course and Section C deals with
inspection. However, in practice, it may not be
* LLB, FCS, FICWA
K P C Rao*
possible for the BCI to consult each and every
University and there is no manner prescribed in the
Advocates Act, 1961, for rendering effective
consultation in this regard.
Today, legal education has to meet not only the
requirements of the Bar and the new needs of trade,
commerce and industry but also the requirements of
globalization. New subjects with international
dimensions have come into legal education. There is
also an enormous need for non-practising law
graduates in trade and commerce. It is also necessary
to allow engineers, Company Secretaries, Chartered
Accountants, scientists and doctors to qualify in law
for non-practising purposes. Indeed, it is gratifying
that some Indian Institute of Technology (“IIT”)
institutions have recently started several courses in
law. The Open University system must also be
allowed to cater to legal education. The Bar Council
of India may, of course, still deal with the minimum
standards of legal education for the purposes of entry
into the Bar but there is a need to have a new regulatory
mechanism that will cater to the aforementioned
present and future needs of the country.
Paradigm shift in conceptual thanking
India currently faces the major challenges in the
field of providing legal education to respond to global
challenges. Although India has emerged as a leading
global hub for the knowledge based service industry
for the past decade, it still needs a revolution to meet
and respond to global challenges in providing
services—particularly by the lawyers, whether in
litigation or non-litigation side.
At present, professional legal education is being
imparted by 913 colleges recognised by the Bar
Council of India and 14 National Law Universities/
Schools established under the State Acts. The Bar
Council of India, under the Advocates Act, 1961, has
made rules to regulate legal education but the
standard of legal education does not meet the present
day requirements of the legal profession. The matter
relating to the legal education has been examined by
the Law Commission of India in its 184th Report on
Legal Education and Professional Training and
Proposals for Amendments to the Advocates Act,
1961, and the UGC Act, 1956 (2002). Earlier, Supreme
The Management Accountant |September 2011 793