This article is written by Akansha Sethi, a student of Delhi Metropolitan Education
INTRODUCTION
The legal profession and having legal knowledge are some of the most reputed professions and knowledge in the world. Having legal education means having almost all law-related knowledge. The lawyer is a product of such education, being in this profession is considered as one of the blessings for the society, as this profession as a whole work for the welfare of the society, for the betterment of the society, and for bringing more justice and peace in the country. This profession fights about properly implementing fundamental rights and following the rules mentioned in the acts.
Legal education and its importance to create laws are still not given the importance that these fuels deserve. Though if we go through history many leaders like Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Sardar Vallbhai Patel, and many of the well-known leaders. The surprising fact about them is they are not doctors or engineers they are mastered in the field of law. They have a piece of good knowledge about laws and have a grip on their legal education.
In today’s tie, there are many private universities and 12 national universities in India providing legal education. These universities are approved by the Bar Council Of India (BCI). NO university is allowed to give legal education without the approval of BCI. BCI keeps checking on the legal information provided to the students as this education is used for the betterment of the country and there can not be taken any risks for that.
EVOLUTION OF LEGAL EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDIA
PRE- INDEPENDENCE ERA
As we all know India was under Britishers for a very long time (1858-1947). The idea of judicial proceedings was of Britishers only. Under British rule, the courts were established in 1600 for judicial proceedings. Mayor’s courts were established in the year 1723. The first court was introduced in Calcutta in 1774 by the act passed known as The Regulating Act of 1773. Warren Hastings, Corn Wallis, and Bentics were the governor-general who used to introduce judicial reforms in India. There was still no legal education in India. The barristers were still coming from London for pursuing the judicial reforms in India. Only the rich people of the country can afford the judicial reforms of the British barristers. The need for Indian advocates was highly in demand. Therefore in 1855, The Hindu College in Calcutta, Elphinstone College in Bombay, and Madras introduced law courses. Till the period of the nineteenth century, only males were allowed to study for legal education. Late in the starting of the twentieth-century females also enrolled for legal education.
Even after the system of legal education was not satisfactory. After 1947 the introduction for the learning of legal education took a progressive turn. After completing the legal education in India interested candidates can go to Europe for attaining the degree of “bar at law” which was higher than the degree of LLB. Even Gandhiji had a degree in the bar at law. This procedure was continued until 1961.
POST-INDEPENDENCE ERA
After independence, the literacy rate keeps on increasing in the legal fields also. There was the introduction of many scopes in the legal field like being appointed as a corporate lawyer in the company of chit funds and large finance companies. There were many jobs introduced since then like teaching law, judges, advocates, public prosecutors. There has been the establishment of many law colleges from 1947 till now.
AIMS OF LEGAL EDUCATION
Since the era of the Britishers, the aim to introduce legal education was to make the Indians familiar with the rules and regulations of the law. Legal education is a field that raises lawyers who are known as the pillars of society as they fight for the rights of the people.
The syllabus that was taught in the initial years of the post-independence era was not sufficient and was questioned by Radhakrishnan Committee (University Education Commission 1948-49), the Bombay Legal Education Committee (1949), and the Setalvad Committee (1954). These committees were not at all satisfied with the legal system taught at that time. therefore, there was Gajendragadkar Committee (1970) who gave the actual aim to legal education. They said that the intention of teaching legal studies should be making every student educated in the concept, philosophy and how the legal system works. They should have the knowledge to tackle the situation in both practical and theoretical ways.
PRESENT CONDITION OF LEGAL EDUCATION IN INDIA
As mentioned above the present condition of legal education is controlled by the bar council of India(BCI). Teaching legal studies is a very big responsibility. After all, the future of society depends on the lawyers who fight so that their rights do not get infringed. The pattern of teaching and the syllabus is set up by the BCI only licensed universities are allowed to teach law.
The degree of law is known as LLB which is three years course after completing the degree of the bachelorette. For eg. BA LLB, BBA LLB, B.sc LLB. There is an integrated course of five years in which both degrees run simultaneously. There are many vo
Legal education does not restrict to basic law subjects, its teaching is very vast covering taxation law, cyber law, business law, company law, etc. There is a part of the law in most of the fields like some of the computer courses discuss cyber laws
LEARNING AND APPLICATION OF LEGAL EDUCATION
The syllabus and the teaching of the law include everything except the practical approach. The books and the years of classes teach the number of sections, case laws, and precedents, but how to fight a case? No book teaches that. Yes, there may be mentioning of tips to fight the case ut it has to be done by the person by actually going to the court and fighting the case with the knowledge of every fact in the case.
Therefore, Chief Justice Burger in his address to the American College of Trial Lawyers in Columbia observed that the students who pass out from completing their LLB degree are poorly trained how to fight in court. After acknowledging this issue the internships were made mandatory to be done by every student pursuing law and the same was passed in India. So that if a student gets out of college he or she may have practical knowledge of how to fight the case in the courtroom. The manners written in the book are very different when it comes to their application.
CAREER IN LEGAL FIELD
Nowadays, having an education in the legal field and becoming a lawyer is not the only option. Many lines have opened in the legal field. One of the most common is pursuing further studies like opting for LLM and after that Ph.D. in the particular topic of law.
Choosing a particular attaining higher knowledge in that and then pursuing litigation is one option. Mediator for the process of mediation and negotiator for negotiation. Appointed as legal counselor for consultation in corporate firms. Document drafting lawyer specialized in drafting legal documents. These are the few options that are there in the legal field and with time there will be many more. Many legal firms have been opened which has many lawyers
CHALLENGES FACED BY LAWYERS
Law is said to be one of the most defamed professions as it needs a lot of court work but society needs to understand more about lawyers. Lawyers are the people who stand for society and help them to protect their rights. Another challenge that is faced by the legal education system is that the duration of the course is sad to be too long which is not at all justified this is what it takes to now the legal system of the country. The procedure of becoming a judge is long but in the end very fulfilling. There are many fields introduced under the law which broaden up the scopes.
CONCLUSION
The history of legal education has been very twisted. Firstly, at the time of the British era Indians were not even allowed to study law. In the 19th-century Indian men were allowed to study law and in the 20th century so were women. After independence till 1961, the legal education system was not enough and many changes were made in the same. Their Aim of legal education is to give legal knowledge to the students so they can know more about the legal status of the country. There were many universities established for teaching law. The syllabus that is taught by law was approved by the bar council of India (BCI). Bar council has a hold on the universities what should be taught in the legal education which includes everything in the law system of our country. Many fields have been introduced in law and many approaches have been made to teach the students both practical and theoretical knowledge of the law.
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