New exam before legal practice

Your law school finals wont be the last paper you give before starting your practice. An all India Bar has been introduced for the purpose of maintaining intake quality.

Fresh graduates must take all-India Bar exam

• Law graduates intending to take up legal practice will have to pass an All-India Bar Exam, conducted by BCI
• The exam will test skills and basic knowledge critical for the profession
• The examination will be held twice a year. Those failing in the first test may re-appear.
• Rainmaker – a legal consultancy firm will help conduct the test in 9 languages, and will charge Rs. 1,300 per candidate.
• Mr. Subramaniam (BCI chairman) said: “The Indian legal profession consists of approximately 11 lakh registered advocates, around 1,000 law schools and approximately 5 lakh law students. Every year, approximately 60,000 law graduates join the legal profession.”
• Bill on legal education
• BCI is opposed to entry of foreign lawyers – unlike in other countries, in India there was a standard of practice maintained by lawyers and they were not governed by earning money alone.

Source: The Hindu

If all goes as planned, the new exam, set in capable hands, will help hold up quality and fend off inequality. Here’s hoping it lives up to expectations.

Law schools to get in line or get out!

BCI chairman wields the whip on slouchy law schools. Sets tasks and deadline.

BCI asks law schools to fall in line

• Bar Council of India (BCI) asks 930 law colleges to either conform to set standards or be barred from admitting students post 2011.
• BCI has directed colleges to start paying university Grants Commission approved pay-scale, to attract more talented faculty.
• Also, law schools ordered to revise educational curriculum as per BCI prescribed modern standards.
• BCI chairman Mr Subramaniam speaking on concept of a mandatory entrance test before being permitted to practice in courts: “This entrance test is going to be a great homogenising effect. If a student from a rural law college passes this entrance test and qualifies to become an advocate along with a graduate from a prestigious national law school, it will have a great balancing effect and remove disparity in attitude.“

Source: TOI

Go BCI! Cheers! 😀

TOI

LPOs and the West-tackling a nightmare

While Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) units arrive as an apparent blessing in the East, the West faces the ugly flip side of the coin.

Outsourcing: It’s Not Just About the Money

• LPOs are providing services at a fraction of the usual costs and are gaining attention from private equities. They are sure to blossom for a while.
• In response, the smarter law firms are finding new ways to stay in the market without getting into futile price battles with LPOs.
• Some are positioning themselves as the primary legal advisors – liaisons to the client, who direct the allocation and assignment of legal work – thus blocking direct connection between LPOs and clients.
• Others are in search of innovation – ways to carry out legal work more effectively and efficiently. They view this as more valuable than providing services at low cost.
• This leaves junior associates in a tough spot – they don’t have enough experience to serve as ‘valued councils’ for billion dollar clients, and are too expensive to provide raw manpower.
• Smart firms are directing the grunt work to LPOs while serving at the echelon of the legal machinery, rendering junior associates obsolete.

Source: Above the law

While cunning legal minds at the top of the pyramid are quick to adapt, the ones at the bottom, as usual, get the sour end of the deal. Look up the concept of ‘creative destruction’ (talk about an oxymoron).

Democratizing justice

Reaching out to the have-nots.

Legal Services Clinic-Law students giving back to the community

• GoI appointed a Committee for Implementating Legal Aid Schemes (CILAS)  to monitor and implement legal aid programs across India.
• CILAS is responsible for the set up several legal aid and advisory boards in States and Union Territories.
• Advocate R.P. Bansal who has been serving at Delhi High Court Legal Aid Cell for past 35 years speaks about the lawyers serving at the cell: “These lawyers don’t get to be a part of this cell just because they want to help but because they possess the intellect to do – not being rich is no reason why you should have a poor lawyer“.
• He laments that talented law students choose top law firms over Legal Aid Cells for internships and law schools don’t provide sufficient encouragement to reverse the trend.
• Students say they are driven to prestigious law firms or senior advocates to polish their resume due to fierce competition.
• The cell has delivered justice on cases relating to dowry, domestic violence, divorce, etc and the work provides much moral satisfaction.
• Bhargavi Mudakavi, fourth year student and Joint Convener of the LSC, NLSIU, Bangalore, on primary purposes of LSC: “a) provision of practical knowledge, training and development of skill sets, b) socially sensitization of students, and c) creation of low cost, dependable legal counsel and an awareness of the law in socio-economically backward sections.”

Source: Bar & Bench

Silly and witty lawyer jokes aside, one has to admit there is some very commendable work being done by a section of the legal society that looks beyond just paychecks, and wishes to make a difference. Some of them prove that fighting crime and bringing justice to the wronged isn’t a concept reserved only for caped heroes in  comic books. Cheers to the idealism of youth and those who manage to preserve it!

A major catch 22 in today’s legal world

Some interesting conundrums facing the legal world that you should be aware of.

Increase in cases due to knowledge of law?

• Massive spike in number of criminal and civil cases due to mass legal knowledge and liberal interpretation of law.
• In spite of amendments to simplify procedures, ordinary criminal trials take 15 years and civil matters extend across generations.
• While legal costs involved in establishing new laws may be significant, there is a definite need to expedite processes by reducing wordy legal documents to more crisper form.
• Some feel there should be an assessment of the cost burden associated with each new bill or legislature, along with provision for such costs.
• Another conundrum – new enactments may hinder legal processes that existing litigants would be involved in. In effect, subverting their rights for convenience of future litigants.
• Madhavan Menon, founder-director of the National Law School of India in Bangalore: “15,000 judges dispose of 1.5 crore cases annually. Add another 15,000 judges and you can comfortably wipe out the arrears in 2 years.”
• Systematic national legal surveys can forecast litigation demand and consequent court workload variations.
• Surveys can help predict future workload, and additions to the judicial machinery can be made accordingly.
• Similarly, experimental study on litigant response to a draft legislation before its introduction in parliament can assess litigation demand.

Source: DNA

A catch-22 situation neatly dissected and presented. But one wonders if such a simple answer alludes great legal minds of today, or whether there is more than meets the naive eye.

Online social networking for the visually challenged!

Here’s a great example of law school grads at their entrepreneurial finest!

Website for those who cannot see

• Inclusiveplanet.com – A social-networking site exclusively for the visually challenged!
• Replete with all functions such as – blog, share files, create profiles, comment, etc.
• Text-to-speech software reads out content and browsing is customized for the  blind.
• Site started in October 2009 by 3 former National Law School students.
• The website, built in 3 months flat, now boasts 4,000 members from 78 countries!

Source : Times of India

Goes to say, back a can-do attitude with an education that can help make a difference, and voila! You’ve got yourself a perfect recipe to rock the boat!