BCI lays out plan in SC to revamp legal education

NEW DELHI: Senior lawyers may soon have to give space to at least five young lawyers in their chambers, according to an affidavit filed by the Bar Council of India (BCI) in the Supreme Court on a raft of proposed reforms in the country’s legal education.

Based on scores obtained by young lawyers in an online legal aptitude test, they could be placed under lawyers designated as senior advocates or those with 25 years of standing at the Bar, the affidavit, filed on April 11, has revealed.

The BCI was responding to a flurry of questions from the court on March 15 when the bench implored the regulatory body to bring in a slew of reforms — starting from the standards being followed by law colleges to placement of young law graduates.

Another significant change that BCI contemplates, relates to introducing a state-level entrance test for admission in law colleges instead of letting universities and colleges conduct their exams separately.

“The appellant is constituting a high-powered committee to check the legal and constitutional validity of compulsory chamber placement with senior advocates or advocates having years of standing at the Bar for young law graduates or to a fair system for juniors to find placement in chambers. Upon reaching the conclusion on how to implement this issue, each such advocate shall be requested to engage at least 5 such juniors in their chambers,” stated the affidavit, filed before a bench led by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul.

The affidavit, filed through advocate Durga Dutt on behalf of BCI, added that the council is also planning to frame a rule wherein online objective tests will have to be undertaken by fresh law graduates and the results of the online tests shall be valid for a period of six months.