DR.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA

NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY,LUCKNOW

2020-21
Final Draft

LAW AND EDUCATION

LEGAL EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Dr. Shashank Shekhar Deepak Kumar Rav

Assistant Professor (Law) Enrolment No. 160101059

Dr. RMLNLU, Lucknow. BA.LLB (Hons), X Semester

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I express my gratitude and deep regardsto my Assistant Professor Dr. Shashank Shekhar for
giving me such a challenging topic and also for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant
encouragement throughout the course of this project.

I also take this opportunity to express a deep sense of gratitude to my seniors in the college for
their cordial support, valuable information and guidance, which helped me in completing this task
through various stages.

I am obliged to the staff members of the Madhu Limaye Library, for the timely and valuable
information provided by them in their respective fields. I am grateful for their cooperation during
the period of my assignment.

Lastly, I thank almighty, my family and friends for their constant encouragement without which
this assignment would not have been possible.

Your’s sincerely,

DEEPAK KUMAR RAV

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………………………………4

OVERVIEW……………………………………………………………………………………....5
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................5

AIM OF LEGAL EDUCATION.....................................................................................................6

LEGAL EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA..................................................................................7

PRESENT SCENARIO...................................................................................................................8

STUDY AND PRACTICE..............................................................................................................9

CURRICULUM AND TEACHING..............................................................................................10

CAREERS IN LEGAL FIELD..................................................................................................….12

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES…………………………………...........………….…12

CONCLUSION……......................................................................................................................13

SUGGESTIONS………………………………………………………………………………....13

BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………..……14

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

This project will be analysing the legal education system in India, it’s present scenario, study and
Practice, Corriculum and teaching, Qualification and Examination, Careers in legal field,
Challenges & Opportunities and at the last Conclusion & Suggestion.

Legal Education in India

The Research in this topic is trying to elaborate the legal education system in India. Today India
produces the largest number of law graduates & around more than fifty institutions produces more
than 5000 graduates per year.

Present Scenario
In this paper the researcher has dealth with th entities responsible for legal field in India. Like, Bar
Council of India is the present regulatory body who makes rules and regulations.

Study and Practice

In this paper the researcher here has explained the importance of practice required in the legal
field. The essentials to have practical knowledge of law to understand that in what sense and how
a law or rule is applied in a given circumstances.

Challenges and Opportunities

The researcher in this article has investigated the challenges & opportunities faced by lawyer.
Legal education system need new ideas, thinking and innovations to make it more relevant,
effective, trustworthy, authentic and focused on research and legal training to produce value based
qualitative lawyers in the country.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
1) What is the role of Bar Council of India in legal education system of India?
2) What are the challenges and opportunities faced by legal students in NLU’s?
3) What are the legal statutes/ authorities governing Legal Education in India?
4) What are the minimum qualifications for a law student to practice law as a legal profession
in courts?

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OVERVIEW

This article give insights of legal education system in India by locating it within a wider context of
form and ways of legal education in country and analysing that ‘Is law school a good investment?’
and what opportunities we have in this field. The article makes some observations about present
and scope of legal education in India and explores the aims and objectives of legal education in
India. The article then turns to method of teaching and examinations and qualifications required at
each level in this field. Then it looks in the gap between study and practice and the possible
changes required to be made in the existing curriculum in order to improve the legal education
system and to make it more relevant and meaningful in this globalised world. The article then
considers the role of the Bar Council of India in the field of legal education as with the changing
needs of the society the task of the lawyers is highly technical and there is an imperative need to
have competent lawyers who would be trained in the right culture of legal education. The article
concludes with some reflection on the career opportunities and the challenges which the legal
system faces and the possible reforms in the Indian legal education system.

INTRODUCTION

Legal education means acquiring knowledge and skills of the subjects of law to become legal
professionals. It means teaching law as one of the academic disciplines for the practice of law
and to become member of the profession. Law includes both professional and liberal education
i.e. acquiring professional skills as well as aiming at value-oriented, socio-cultural education. A
lawyer is the product of such education, who is boon for the society as he works for the benefit
and welfare of the society by claiming justice on behalf of his client in the court of law. Legal
education works not only as an instrument of social control but also as an instrument of social
change which is imperative to create cultured law abiding citizens, who are inculcated with the
concept of human rights and values which is the essential medium of the change.

Legal education and its importance to establish rule of law in society to impart justice does not
receive serious priority although one can easily study history of modern times which shows that
lawyers are social engineers who gave leadership to nations. For example most of our freedom

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fighters such as SardarVallabhbhai Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Rajaji, etc were lawyers and were
not doctors, engineers and not people from other fields. It is due to the reason that they interact
with society at large and have knowledge of law that how one should find loopholes in law and
apply it to do good for society by safeguarding their rights from arbitral powers. It is due to the
continuous efforts of lawyers only that we enjoy our basic fundamental rights which cannot be
abridge by government or any other authority and these are the basic rights a person must receive
in order to have freedom in his life and any law or rule which infringes the fundamental rights is
made ultra vires as to secure justice. Legal education not only provide justice but create
awareness among individuals of their rights, duties, values, ethics and morals i.e. it create
consciousness through law and religion among society that what is right and wrong and in which
direction a person needs to head by following rule of law.
Today in India there are 23 National Law Universities and other includes private and state
universities imparting legal education under the supervision of BCI and every work in the field
of legal education is done in consonance with the provisions of BCI with its approval and BCI is
responsible to lay down rules and to promote legal education in India. All the universities
imparting legal education are affiliated from BCI and students seeking enrollment as advocates
require to qualify All India Bar Examination conducted by BCI which is a compulsory exam to
enroll as advocates in our country.

AIM OF LEGAL EDUCATION

Legal profession has always been considered as a noble profession as lawyers are the centre
pillars of the society who help the common man to know his rights and claim them legally.
We need legal education to fulfil the needs of the society and country as well because lawyers
are the persons who interpret the law and deals directly with the entire society.
Modern legal education in India was started by the British and its principal aim was to acquaint
Indians with rules of law which would help them in the administration of the country.
Even after the independence the state of legal education remained unsatisfactory for years and
there were no changes in the age old syllabus of courses according to the changed needs of the
country. While the Radhakrishnan Committee (University Education Commission 1948-49), the
Bombay Legal Education Committee (1949) and the Setalvad Committee (1954) showed their
disillusionment and dissatisfaction with legal education in their respective reports and drew
attention to its defects and deficiencies, it was the Gajendragadkar Committee (1970) which
could be credited for articulating the objectives and aims of legal education in India. The aim of
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legal education,’ said the Gajendragadkar Committee, ‘would be to make the students of law
good lawyers who have absorbed and mastered the theory of law, its philosophy, its functions
and its role in a democratic society.’
Thus legal education has diversified aims:
Its primary aim is to make the student familiar with the legal concepts such as process of making
laws, settling disputes and court room manners etc. and to provide justice-oriented education and
produce competent legal professionals.
Since law is a multidisciplinary subject hence understanding it in various social, economic,
political and scientific way to fulfil diverse legal needs at home and abroad is it’s another aim.
Its aim is to give knowledge of basic subjects of law with its use in practical terms i.e. it require
study in terms of both theory and practical part to produce lawyers who are equipped for law
practice in the global legal environment and who can serve the interests of Indian citizens,
business, government and NGOs and provide transnational legal services in a highly competitive
interdependent and interconnected globalized world.
Its aim is to improve teaching by providing emphasis on research and publications in legal field so
that students can combat any legal problems which come their way and to create new legal
knowledge and ideas to meet new challenges facing the society.
Lastly it aims at providing reforms in legal field as there is inadequate quality of legal education
and infrastructure and lack of relevant skills training to meet the ever-changing demands of the
modern world and there is need of creating clear quality standards for legal education.

Legal Education System in India

Study of law is referred as legal education and law is considered as a multi-disciplinary subject
which involves basic knowledge of science, philosophy, business modes, arts, general knowledge,
history etc. and include everything which concerns the welfare and intercourse of men in society
i.e. a lawyer need to have understanding of all these to regulate the relation between individuals in
society and although to produce lawyers of such qualities is certainly not possible for our law
schools but all efforts need to be made to achieve this goal of legal education in our country.
Today India produces the largest number of law graduates and around more than fifty institutions
produces more than 5000 graduates per year. The number has increased over the years and there is
wide range of professional opportunities available for students creating the future direction of
legal education immense in India. The legal world has changed with change in legal education
system and now it is completely different from what it was 10 years ago. Now the opportunities or
career options are vast for trained lawyers and the method of teaching is also significantly
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improved from the past years making it a promising career option then earlier when it was used to
be the last resort.
Present Scenario

The Bar Council of India is the present regulatory body who makes rules and regulation for the
promotion of legal education in India. Law degrees are given and conferred in terms of Advocates
Act, 1961 under which BCI is formed as a statutory body and given regulating power to conduct
for both legal education and profession. Universities are also need to be affiliated from BCI, it
also prescribes rules and standards of courses of study, infrastructure requirements, eligibility for
admission and is responsible for the promotion of legal studies in India. According to BCI rules
part IV section 4 of chapter II there are two study systems operating simultaneously. Traditionally
legal education was imparted as a three years graduate degree (unitary) after completion of
Bachelor’s degree which is introduced by BCI in 1961 and other is an integrated five-year law
course (double degree) introduced by BCI in 1982 which is provided after 12th standard as an
alternative to three year course so that law aspirants can directly enroll in universities to avail B.A.
LL.B, B.Com LL.B, B.B.A. LL.B, B.Sc. LL.B. It is an integrated course means Bachelor’s degree
is given with the law degree in which student studies subjects of both the degrees simultaneously
at the college and at the end one degree is given which is combination of both bachelor’s and law
degree.
Whereas in three year course only after completion of bachelor’s degree a student is eligible to
enroll for law degree, in this only law subjects are taught to the students for 3 years and then the
degree is granted. Both the courses are conducted in semester system which shall not be less than
15 weeks for unitary degree and 18 weeks for double degree. Further there is also provision for
moot courts, seminars and tutorial classes per week for the students. It also states that each student
shall accomplish his internship at legal aid office or at a lawyer’s office or at any place where
legal work is given to him.
Apart from studying law as a discipline there are various courses which include study of law
subjects that means by legal education we not only refer to study of basic law subjects but also
study of applied law programs for other courses such as business law, taxation law, company law
etc. By this we can assume that legal education is also scattered in some or the other way in form
of study of law subjects in other courses as well, for example-
There are various diploma and certificate courses provided in various subjects like cyber law,
taxation law, banking law, human rights and legal literacy etc. we also study commercial and
taxation law in commerce and accountancy at undergraduate or postgraduate level. Similarly
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Intellectual Property laws are taught at undergraduate engineering level, subjects like securities
law, company law etc. are taught in company secretary course and business law at business
school. Hence legal education not only includes basic LL.B degree but also study of various other
law subjects in different courses at each level which students study in various form to gain
knowledge of law to be applied at different scenario.

Apart from this legal education also includes vocational courses such as CA, CS, ICWA, etc.,
higher academic degrees and doctorates for more advanced study. We also have continuous legal
education system where judges and senior advocates are provided with opportunity to enhance
their present knowledge and skills.

Study & Practice

Legal education is both a theory and includes practice as well because there is a big difference in
the education we receive and the practice we dream to do in real life. Textbooks only provide us
with basic knowledge or crux of the law or case we study but in reality what facts are followed
become issue which can only be understood by practicing it in real life and the cases which we
study only includes the substantial part of the law but in reality a case involves questions and
issues from various branches of law. Therefore it is essential to have practical knowledge of law
to understand that in what sense and how a law or rule is applied in a given circumstance.

Chief Justice Burger in his address to the American College of Trial Lawyers in Columbia
observed: “In some jurisdictions, up to half of the lawyers who appear in court are so poorly
trained in that they are not properly performing their job and that their manners, their
professional performance and their professional ethics offend a great many people. They are
engaging in on the job training at the expense of their clients’ interest and the public.” Chief
Justice Burger’s comment would hold equally good in the context of legal profession and its
education in India. It is very general knowledge that a large part of the two lakh graduates being
added every year to the existing ten lakh advocates in the country, are absentee law students who
pass out from about 500 law colleges/schools. Such advocates ultimately learn, if at all, at the
cost of the poor clients and court time.
To avoid such problems Bar Council has made it mandatory to do internships during legal
studies to gain practical knowledge of subject. A student must do minimum 12 weeks of

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internship for three year course and 20 weeks in case of five year integrated course under any
authority or body corporate where law is practiced. Thus a law school needs to produce
graduates who not only receives formal education but those who are trained to postulate new
social, economic and political issues requiring legal attention. Training is an integral part of legal
education which prepares students to contend any issue which comes in his career in which even
he receives no formal education.

President Pranab Mukherjee also said that “Our educational institutions imparting law education
have to bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and practical application. They have to
ignite inquiry and encourage curiosity," as the study of legal system could not be pursued in
isolation from the wider socio-economic realities, he observed.

Curriculum & Teaching

Curriculum is a necessary instrument for achieving aims and objectives of legal education and its
continuous development must be carried for making legal education more relevant and
meaningful for its aspirants. A reliable curriculum not only reflect the vision of legal education
and demands of legal profession but must be in consonance with the requirements, learning
needs of the students, adequate infrastructure, competent faculty and other social needs.
Curriculum is an organized academic framework to facilitate the teaching - learning process but
syllabus is not framed by BCI. Syllabus is left to the universities and this accounts for the
various different syllabuses for the same subject throughout India. Curriculum shall be made in a
way which not only includes formal legal education but help in the growth of the students to
enable them to opt for career in any legal field or outside legal profession having studied the
subjects of law.

According to schedule II of Bar Council Of India rules on legal education the academic
standards and courses to be studied are: for both the unitary and double degree course students
have to take not less than 28 subjects which includes 18 compulsory subjects, 4 clinical subjects,
6 optional papers and includes any additional paper as prescribed by the university. For honor’s
students one has to take up at least 30 papers and university can choose accordingly from the list
of subjects that which paper it would include as ahonor’s paper i.e. there is freedom to
universities to restrict subjects in group for offering options based on the availability of faculty

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and other facilities. Bar Council of India provides the wider outline that which basic subjects,
clinical subjects, optional subjects shall be included in curriculum to make it effective and
meaningful to students. There is a complete list of basic subjects given by BCI to be taught to
students like constitutional law, contract act, law of torts, civil law, criminal law, etc. and clinical
subjects like drafting, pleading, conveyance, alternative dispute resolution etc. with other honor’s
subjects including foreign language as mandatory subject to be taught in every law school.

Apart from this moot court exercise and internships form important part of curriculum because it
is the only way of giving practical training to students in their academic life. BCI has provided
norms for this as well which says that each registered student shall have completed minimum 12
weeks internship for three year course and 20 weeks for five year course during the entire period
of studies under NGO, Trial and Appellate Advocates, Judiciary, Legal Regulatory authorities,
Legislatures and Parliament, Other Legal Functionaries, Market Institutions, Law Firms,
Companies, Local Self Government and other such bodies as the University shall stipulate,
where law is practiced either in action or in dispute resolution or in management.

Method of legal education has been constantly changing but value of syllabus lies in the manner
in which students are exposed to the contents of the course and not merely in the contents itself
thus skilled and qualified teachers need to be retained by the universities to impart good level of
education. Though there is substantial changes are made in the teaching method from the past
but still there is a room for improvement to enhance the level of teaching and to use innovative
methods for training purpose as well. The lecture method plays an important role and is still in
practice as a mode of instruction because teachers are medium for transferring not only book
based knowledge but newly created knowledge combined with practical experience, reasoning,
their own thought process and perspective on the subject to students.

Now a days teaching method has been changed from teacher- centric to learner centric method
which includes participation by students in topic discussed, seminars and guest lectures method
to teach by eminent persons in their respective field as to provide them knowledge of specific
subjects from their perspective and experience which help students to have better understanding
of subject concerned. As in curriculum training and legal aid program form integral part to
prepare students for practice and gain experience of work of lawyers in different subject matters
so as to learn professional skills and sound understanding of legal profession it is required that

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apart from whole time law teachers they should be taught by faculty members or learned persons
of field having academic knowledge, experience and professional proficiency which lacks in full
time teacher of universities or law schools to benefit students from all sides.

According to the provisions of BCI medium of instruction must be English and full time faculty
members shall be holders of Master’s degree and other visiting, part time faculty may be
appointed from the retired judicial officers, a person practicing in court of law or having
professional experience in the field. In present scenario research can contribute significantly
toward improvement in teaching and, more importantly, addressing numerous challenges relating
to law and justice. If one were to look at the faculty profile of the world’s top law schools, one
will find that there is great emphasis on research and publications among academics. Therefore
universities are required to hire good academic professionals having proper knowledge of their
subject and one who are top researchers in law field imbued with sound teaching methods and
those who emphasize on research and publication to create an intellectually vibrant environment.

Careers in Legal Field

The end result of legal education is lawyer and with the pace of time career options has also
increased. From the traditional practicing advocate in court now there are various scopes in legal
field which includes Corporate Counselors with increasing number of corporate firms, civil and
judicial services for those who want to serve the country, Paralegal services, Legal Analyst,
Document Drafting Lawyer who specializes in drafting various documents, Legal Journalist who
covers crime beats or legal and arbitral proceedings, Legal Advisor who offer consultancy to
corporate firms and other services which demands knowledge of law as the main ingredient.
Apart from this academic profession is also an option and there are various degrees at each level
for knowledge and promotion of lawyers at large like after LL.B (Bachelor of law) there is LL.M
(Master of Laws) which is postgraduate degree now of 1 year, Ph.D. (Doctor Of Philosophy),
Master of Business laws etc.

Challenges & Opportunities

Law as a profession is kind of defamed one therefore foremost priority must be given to it that
people should understand that lawyers are for the benefit of the society. Secondly there is need to
reform the curriculum i.e. there is course has been made too vast to be taught in short span of

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time which at times does not provide students better understanding of subjects and also some
modern day subjects of importance shall be added such as cyber law, investment law, taxation
law, information technology and others which are need of the hour. Further reform is needed to
ensure the quality of lawyers who enter the legal profession i.e. a far more practical training must
be given in the form of case study, participating in Trail as to ensure efficiency and effectiveness
in profession. Other challenges include physical infrastructure means there is need for sound and
developed infrastructure, requirement of hiring good teachers and researchers who initiate
research and encourage lawyers to opt academics as career option and inspiring students to work
towards establishing rule of law in Indian society.
In present there are ample of opportunities as new area of work are increased in wake of
globalization and governance such as international trade, foreign investments, mergers and
takeovers etc., which require agreements between the countries and knowledge of law of country
with whom agreement is made. Also with increased awareness among society there are civil and
human rights movement worldwide which requires lawyers to provide justice and help to needy.
To this end, legal education system need new ideas, thinking and innovations to make it more
relevant, effective, trustworthy, authentic and focused on research and legal training to produce
value based qualitative lawyers in the country.

CONCLUSION

Legal education has changed drastically from past 10 years but still reforms are needed to make
it effective and justice oriented. The legal education in 21st century ought to consider the
globalization and its suggestions on legal field at national and international levels. The Bar
Council of India, the State Bar Councils, the State Governments, the University Grants
Commission and the Universities have an extraordinary part to play for enhancing the standard
of legal education in the nation. They should work in an extensive way with no contention. New
roads ought to be investigated by the Bar Council of India and The University Grants
Commission in the period of PC applications and data innovation in the legal fields and potential
employments of web in the practice of law and legal education. They should discover the ways
and intends to address the new difficulties and give better apparatuses of research and strategy of
learning for the ages to come.

SUGGESTIONS
There are some issues which need to be looked into for repairing holes in our current legal

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system such as emphasis should be laid on research and publication activities, need to reform
curriculum at the earnest, trained faculty, imparting training based education, introduction of law
subjects at school level as to ensure basic knowledge of law to students of all stream etc. This
will help in growth and development of legal education with increase in reputation of the
profession to meet the challenges of the field and to grow and contribute by providing fullest
opportunity to law aspirants for the progress of the country.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Websites:-
 strippedlaw.blogspot.in
 www.legalserviceindia.com
 The Hindu
 The Economic Times
 www.ijtr.nic.in
 www.barcouncilofindia.org
 The Hindustan Times
 journals.iium.edu.my

External Web links:-

 Advocate T.M. Devdas, History of legal education in India, strippedlaw.blogspot.in,
November 14,2010.
 Nirmal B.C., Legal Education in India: Problems and Challenges,20 IIUM L.J.,147-48
(2012).
 Abhishek Anand, Legal Education and its Challenges, www.legalservicesindia.com, July
25, 2014.
 PTI, Law Schools should bridge gap between theory and practical: President Pranab
Mukherjee,The EconomicTimes, Hyderabad, August 2,2014.
 C. Raj Kumar, Improving legal education in India, The Hindu, June 27,2007.

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