Practising and Teaching Law in India

The prospects of the legal profession in India in the recent past have been quite promising. The steady increase in the number of national law universities in India indicates that a substantial number of students from diverse backgrounds are interested in pursuing a career in law. Moreover, a vast majority of the students enrolling into the bar showcases the growing popularity of the legal profession which offers myriad career opportunities after the completion of the degree of law. Hence, there is an integral relation
between law schools and the quality of the students who pass out from these institutions. In this regard, the law schools have been looking for opportunities to bridge the disconnect between the academia and the legal profession through various mechanisms, such as bridge courses, value added courses, internships, workshops, etc, while acknowledging the fact that there exist huge gaps between the two. A major reason for the disconnect between the two stems from the lack of the faculty members’ knowledge of the procedural aspects and practical challenges faced by the people on the ground.

According to the Bar Council of India (BCI) Rules, 2009, full-time law faculty members are disallowed to practise before the courts of law. This makes legal education distanced from ground-level realities, unlike other professions such as medicine, journalism, chartered accountancy, etc.