An intervention that will help strengthen legal education

• Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law, and Justice released a report addressing the quality of legal education in India.

Historical Context

• Legal education in India has historically lagged behind fields like medicine and engineering.
• However, the establishment of National Law Universities (NLUs) in the 1990s marked a positive shift, offering new opportunities for aspiring lawyers.

Current Challenges

• Despite the success of NLUs, many law schools in India still suffer from mediocrity.
• Most of the NLUs too have failed to emerge as centres of excellence in legal research.
• Only two Indian law schools rank among the top 250 law schools globally in the QS rankings.

Recommendations

• Against this backdrop, the committee suggested limiting the powers of the Bar Council of India (BCI) to regulate legal education.
• It proposes creating an independent body, the National Council for Legal Education and Research (NCLER), to oversee non-litigation aspects of legal education.
  • The BCI’s role in regulating legal education that pertains to acquiring basic eligibility to practise in the courts is indispensable.
• This proposed body will develop qualitative benchmarks to regulate legal education.
• In addition to judges and practising lawyers, the NCLER should have eminent law professors with an unimpeachable track record of research and serving legal education.

Focus on Research

• Many of India’s 1,700-odd law schools principally focus on teaching, with scant attention to research.
• Additionally, Out of more than 800 law journals globally indexed in Scopus barely a handful are Indian law journals.
  • Scopus is an internationally recognised database that lists leading journals in all fields.
• The report emphasizes the need to prioritize research in legal education to foster critical thinking among students.
• It calls for recruiting top researchers as faculty members and increasing state funding to bolster research ecosystems in law schools.

Global Perspective

• Recognizing the impact of globalization on legal education, the committee recommends
  • Implementing a global curriculum
  • Facilitating international exchange programs
  • Incorporating more international law courses
  • Increasing students’ exposure to different legal systems

Cultural Shift

• The committee's suggestions signal a positive change but highlight the need for passionate and visionary leadership within law faculties.
• It calls for academic freedom and autonomy to promote a culture of legal research.

Conclusion

• The intervention of the parliamentary committee is welcomed as a step towards enhancing the quality of legal education in India, urging all stakeholders to collaborate for improvement.