bar exam

Indian lawyers planning to qualify as English solicitors were thrown into temporary tizzy this week, as the new Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) came into effect. Under the new rules Indian lawyers will not be allowed to apply to practise in the UK, as India is not included in the list of jurisdictions to benefit from the QLTS.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has published the preparation materials and model questions and answers for the new all India bar exam that is proposed to take place on 5 December 2010.

Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Gopal Subramanium said that the BCI would crack down on any recently enrolled lawyers who were practising law without having passed the proposed bar exam and that law colleges whose graduating law students did not take the bar exam could be derecognised.

Supreme Court advocate K V Dhananjay along with a group of practising 2010 law graduates from Nalsar and NUJS have secured a three-pronged victory for godman Swami Nityananda, including restoring his passport that was impounded following his arrest after an alleged sex scandal involvement in April, and securing an injunction against the publication of a book and a police order.

The bar council of Maharashtra and Goa said today that it would oppose the proposed all India bar exam after a decision reached by 11 chairmen of different state bar councils on 31 July, although the body admitted that unless the Bar Council of India (BCI) or a court intervened the exam would go ahead.

The tentacles of the "pseudo-lawyers" have driven the bar to the wall, claims advocate and partner Elizabeth Seshadri. Is a bar exam enough to cure the setting rot or do we need a test that reaches far more deeply?

The Supreme Court today outright dismissed one public interest litigation (PIL) against the bar exam filed by a Delhi University law graduate and issued directions to combine the pending national high court writ petitions against the bar exam for hearing before the Delhi High Court, as Friday's Bonnie FOI case hearing was adjourned.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has responded to common queries and concerns about the bar exam, explaining that the BCI is discussing options to ameliorate lot of 2010 batch graduates, that legal challenges will cause no shift in timetable, and that the Rs 1,300 test fee is reasonable, answering questions relating to Rainmaker's appointment to assist in the exam.

A writ petition filed in the Madya Pradesh High Court by a final year student of University Institute of Law in Jabalpur has increased the tally of reported cases challenging the all India bar exam to at least 10.

A group of law graduates from Delhi University have invoked the Supreme Court’s writ jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution as two students of the NUALS Kochi have filed yet another petition before the Kerala High Court against the all India Bar Examinations.

Is India a success story because or in spite of democracy? Compared to China, for example, hundreds if not thousands of different vested interests have made Indian reform painfully slow, if not impossible.

But in the legal sector someone is clearly trying to force a leapfrog. 

A High Court bench in Maharashtra has ordered the petitioner students of Manikchand Pahade Law College to join the Bar Council of India vs Bonnie FOI Law College and Ors proceedings to set aside their grievances against the all india bar examin while it is understood that the BCI has written to the CJI to seek transfer of such pending petition to the Supreme Court (SC).

"I don't think students are against the exam, only against the waiting period," says solicitor general and Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Gopal Subramanium, who is the architect of the proposed all India bar exam. The exam remains controversial because this year's final year students would not be able to practice law until 2011. Legally India asks the BCI chief some of the questions that have preoccupied students.

A 2010 Nalsar Hyderabad graduate yesterday challenged the six-month gap between bar council enrolment and passing of the proposed all-India bar exam, which would give litigating lawyers a "right to practice" only months after they graduate.

Four further law students from Panjab University's law department have challenged the Bar Council of India's (BCI) proposed bar exam, following four cases in the past two weeks challenging various aspects of the exam.

The bar examination has faced further hurdles in a fourth court case by a Karnataka student, while a group of protesting final year students representing a number of law schools met law minister Veerappa Moily last Monday evening, calling the exam an unfortunate decision taken in haste that could cost jobs.

The Monsoon has been welcome where it has hit but the real floodgates apparently opened this week with the publication of the Gazette of India, which contained the notification of the Bar Council of India's (BCI) resolution to hold an all-India bar exam.

A Chennai advocate and a retired mechanical engineer from Ahmedabad have independently filed two further writ petitions claiming that the Bar Council of India (BCI) is violating the 1961 Advocates Act and India's constitution by holding an all-India bar exam.

Six law graduates have filed a writ petition challenging that the Bar Council of India's (BCI) proposed all India bar exam should not prevent them from practising in courts.

Graduating students can work as "trainee advocates" with advocates or law firms but will not be able to "practice" law until they pass the all-India bar exam, the Bar Council of India (BCI) said in a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) published today, noting also that seniority of practice would be unaffected.