legal education
The Mumbai chapter of the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) is starting on its drive to become an organisation relevant outside of Delhi, kicking off with a continuing legal education programme for associates.
Law minister Veerappa Moily has reiterated his stance on liberalisation and vowed to set up four super-charged "law schools of excellence" throughout India.
Last week a Legally India reader confessed heartbreak after reading Professor Madhava Menon's views on the quality of Indian LLM degrees.
Now, as the LLM forum discussion nears 50 posts, we have asked Menon for his response on how domestic master's degrees have not been up to scratch.
The Mumbai Mirror wrote about a gentleman this week who is "probably city's oldest law student" at 80 years of age. If so, he is lucky to have slipped through the age-barrier net that has been woven by the Bar Council of India (BCI).
Uddhav Alkari (not pictured) is an ex-employee of Madhya Pradesh State Secondary Education Board and the father of three children. According to tabloid Mumbai Mirror, he waited until his children were well settled to follow his dream of studying law.
He has had a tough time getting there, even without the BCI rules, as his 1967 exam scores were too low for law school admission and he had to get to law school in a round-about way.
In any case, hearty congratulations to Mr Alkari for his efforts and achievement.
However, despite most BCI members probably being of the same generation as Alkari, the body would probably not be pleased for him.
The Bar Council of India, Rules of Education, 2008 schedule III clause 28 stipulates that general category students seeking admission for BA (law) courses should not be above 20 while the age limit for the reserved category is 22 years.
The candidates for post-graduation course (LLB), in the general category should not be over 30 while for the reserved category the age limit is 35.
The Law Commission of India led by chairman A R Lakshmanan had also endorsed this rule.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court recently stayed all further proceedings in 12 High Courts on petitions challenging the Bar Council of India Rule fixing upper age limit for admission to LLB.
Delhi University Faculty of Law alumni Shilpi Gupta had studied with much older classmates and believes there is some value in the new BCI rule.
"A majority of students in our class belonged to the age group of 30 and above," she tells Legally India, "consisting of working professionals who were not interested in serious pursuit of law as a career, but rather hoped for advancement in their established fields."
"Therefore, BCI's mandate on imposing maximum age limit for admission to a law school is a welcome step. It will ensure that more seats are available for younger candidates for whom law is a preferred career option and not a tool for value addition."
Photo by Sukanto Debnath
Law minister Veerappa Moily has weighed into the debate over who should regulate legal education, opposing Human Resources Development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal's wide-ranging plans to take control of the sector.
The Times of India reported yesterday that Moily said: "So far as introducing an academic course is concerned, we have no objection. But when it comes to setting standards of legal education, the law ministry has to consider. That is the domain of the law ministry."
This follows the Bar Council of India (BCI) disapproving of the HRD's move to take control of legal education.
In Moily the BCI will have found a powerful political ally to retain its current remit.
He has been called a "living legend of law" by the International Bar Association and is nothing less than the father of modern Indian legal education. But even at age 75, Padmashree Professor Dr. Neelakanta Ramakrishna Madhava Menon is not slowing down.
We have talked to him about his vision and hopes for the future of legal education and of India.
Professor Madhava Menon has said that a master’s degree in law does not add much value if a student gets a quality LLB education, as the Legally India forum has attracted over 20 comments on the topic.
Prof Madhava Menon has rallied behind the ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), which has campaigned for curtailing the Bar Council of India's (BCI) legal education remit.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) is displeased about plans to take away legal education from its ambit by the ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD).
The Bar Association of India and the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) has instituted an annual award in the name of NLSIU Bangalore founder director Padmashree Prof N.R. Madhava Menon honouring the achievements of law teachers in India.
Four other law teachers were also recognised for their services in the field on Friday, on the eve of India's national Teachers' Day.
The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF) is hoping to widen its appeal outside of its traditional centre Delhi by strengthening local metro chapters and inducting new committee members.
SILF's Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and other regional chapters will be headed by prominent local lawyers.
Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) wants to redefine India's academic study of law. Its ambitions are high but so is the price of admission – the college has costlier tuition than any other major law school in the country.
Legally India has asked JGLS' founding dean and vice-chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University to explain the law school's fees and its vision.
The Bar Council of India wants to tackle the growth of private legal education providers by closing colleges which do not provide an adequate standard of legal training to budding lawyers.
Law and Justice Minister Veerappa Moily wants India to "become the resource reservoir of the global legal fraternity" after upgrading the quality of its legal education system.
Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co has significantly increased its recruitment of penultimate year students from one of India's top law schools.
The firm's Mumbai office has enlisted 11 fourth-year law students from National Law School of India University Bangalore (NLSIU).
National Law School of India University (NLSIU) Bangalore may expand internationally, as it plans to grow and modernise under the guidance of a new advisory board.
The advisory board will include managing partners from Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co, AZB & Partners and Luthra & Luthra, as well as one of the legendary co-founders of Infosys and a host of other prominent industry figures.
NLSIU vice-chancellor Venkata Rao (pictured) said that while international expansion will be on the agenda, decisions would only be made once the new board is fully constituted and has had its first meeting in July or August of this year.