The Playbook To Cultivate Super Lawyers Of The Future

Legal education has gone through an immense transformation in India. The discipline has attained several facets and the number of young people aspiring to join the illustrious profession are increasing by the day. In March this year, Union Legal Minister Kiren Rijiju shared in Parliament that the country currently has 1721 law schools and universities. Out of these 170 are government universities, 383 government law colleges, 248 private universities and 920 private law colleges. The Union Minister on several occasions has shown a firm resolve to shut down subpar law institutes heeding to Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order passed in March, 2022 on the desirability of having better accountability from law colleges; absence of requisite faculty, therein; monitoring by the Bar Council of India to ensure that once a law college obtains recognition, it is to maintain the parameters as set forth by the BCI.

Speaking on the subject of the future of legal education, Dr. Ranbir Singh, founding Vice Chancellor of National Law University Delhi, currently serving as the Governor of the Board of the International Association of Law Schools, USA shed light on the Playbook to Cultivate Super Lawyers of the Future in a fireside chat with Dr Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief BW Businessworld and Exchange4media Group at BW Legal World Conference—Future of Legal Education in India held in June this year.

Here are some insights from the conversation:  

What has changed in the legal education domain in recent years?

Dr. Singh shared that there has been a huge transformation in the legal education domain characterised by the following:

Law and Multiple Avenues It Offers

Students are now opting for the legal profession as against pursuing it on a whim. This year 60,000 students appeared for CLAT (Common Law Admission Test) for 3000 seats. That is a telling factor that law is a serious career option. People may like to be lawyers, best of corporate lawyers, be a judge, a civil servant so on and so forth. In a nutshell, there are multiple career options before law students today making legal studies very popular.

Importance of Research 

Dr. Singh underlined the importance of research for being a good lawyer or a good judge. He said, "If you're not a good researcher, you cannot be a good lawyer." 

Law Institutes must generate good professionals 

Dr. Singh believes law schools are not meant for providing placements and law graduates must manage their own placements. He explained, there is a three-fold mandate for law institutes in current times: lawyers must be technically sound, professionally competent and socially relevant. That according to Dr Singh is the key to success and placements.

What are law colleges required to do, to be able to upgrade their faculties to keep in sync with the post-pandemic environment. 

There has been a spate of faculty development programs coming up, which is a step in the right direction, said Dr. Singh. He further called attention to the system of continued education followed in the medical stream. He insisted similar programs should be there for lawyers, law students and faculty.

Audience Q&A

A student at Asian Law College, Ms Vandana had her finger on the pulse of her peers when she asked Dr Singh—What are the qualities that a legal intern must have apart from academic excellence? 

“Work hard!” Dr. Singh answered. Plain and simple. He added students must read Roses in December by M.C. Chagla. It is an autobiography of Mahomedali Currim Chagla, an Indian jurist, diplomat, and Cabinet Minister who served as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court from 1947 to 1958.  Dr. Singh jested, “for a young lawyer, it is all bed in the beginning and no roses; when you become successful, it's all roses, and no bed!” In other words, one could surmise Dr. Singh meant—if one wants to catch a rainbow, one must put up with the rain. 

The Shining Star

Finally, the fireside chat came to a close with a gripping question from Dr Batra—Which law school is the best?

Dr. Singh at his wittiest responded that the best law school was the one that did the best. 

However, as a parting note, Dr Singh added that the students sitting in the audience were one of the best minds in the country and without a doubt, the future of legal education in India is very bright!