“You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give”.-Winston Churchill’s words, but have we ever given it a second thought? Do we have the time to volunteer or give charity? Even when we ask ourselves these questions, how meaningful are our answers? In this rat race we often fail to notice who gets left behind. Today, we take a look at the lawyers who look out for people who fell behind in the rate race, or sometimes didn’t get a chance to run at all – the legal aid lawyers.

By a resolution dated September 26, 1980, the Government of India appointed a Committee for Implementing Legal Aid Schemes (CILAS) under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice P.N. Bhagwati. CILAS was meant to monitor and implement legal aid programs on a uniform basis in all the States and Union Territories. CILAS evolved a model scheme for legal aid applicable throughout the country by which several legal aid and advisory boards were set up in the States and Union Territories.

Bar & Bench takes a look at few of the Legal service clinics (LSC):

In the Delhi High Court Legal Aid Cell, Advocate R.P.Bansal, has voluntarily been advising the cell for the past 35 years and continues to do so with great gusto. Mind you, Mr. Bansal is not old. Speaking to Bar & Bench, he provides a view on the handful of lawyers who serve the cell for a few hours daily and give free advice. "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". According to Mr. Bansal, not many law students want to intern with the Legal Aid Cell as the top law firms tend to attract the cream of the talent. Further, law schools in India often do not sufficiently encourage their students to spend a summer training with a LSC or a NGO. The students themselves say that the fierce competition amongst them drives them to work with prestigious law firms or senior advocates in order to polish their resume.

Delhi High Court’s Legal Aid cell has delivered justice in cases relating to dowry, domestic violence, divorce etc. It’s an ongoing struggle which gives the lawyers concerned a unique sense of moral satisfaction at the end of the day.

The Next Generation: So we might ask ourselves, are we creating a robotic generation of lawyers motivated solely by profit who do not feel for others? The story at most law schools is, however, different. LSC is a part of the curriculum in law schools all over India, both under the National Law Universities (NLU) as well as under other Universities.

The LSC at the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, has traditionally been very active. Speaking to Bar & Bench, Bhargavi Mudakavi, a fourth year student and Joint Convener of the LSC, says that LSC serves three primary purposes: a) the provision of practical knowledge, training and development of skill sets, b) socially sensitising students, and c) the creation of low cost yet dependable legal counsel and an awareness of the law in socio-economically backward sections. In terms of successful representations, students have represented clients at consumer fora, have mediated disputes and brought about agreements. She says that student legal aid cells can be effective, but only in a limited manner. Constraints of time, limited experience and inability to represent clients often take away from their effectiveness.

But if we were to define success in terms of fulfilling their stated mandates, the LSC at NLSIU has been tremendously successful, albeit in a very small geographic area. The fact that it has helped raise awareness regarding the law, is itself a significant measure of success.

“In my last four years as a member, there has been a steady rise in the number of clients approaching us for legal advice and a rise in the number of legal literacy programmes conducted by us” says Bhargavi. Also, with the launch of its Handbook of Criminal Law, the first in a series of publications to be brought out by LSC and the launch of its website to create an online query system, we see an expansion of LSC’s reach and effectiveness.

Vaibhav Verma, a student of NLU, Cuttack, says that LSC is very much a part of their curriculum and they participate from the first year itself. As the students lack a sophisticated knowledge of the law in their initial year, they help by being a part of the LSC’s administration. Vaibhav’s school, NLU is part of the ‘Rural Litigation Empowerment Kendra (RLEK)’ at Dehradun, Uttarakhand and works with a United Nations Development Programme funded initiative for access to justice for villages in Orissa. RLEK works with the locals on issues relating to Fundamental Rights and domestic violence. RLEK volunteers stay with the villagers and also perform skits and presentations. Vaibhav talks about helping women affected by atrocities and of discussing provisions under the Legal Services Act. Cases which come to RLEK mostly deal with dowry, divorce, domestic violence and sexual harassment or rape.

The National Law Institute University, Bhopal has adopted the village Kesla, to provide legal assistance and create awareness of legal rights within tribal areas. The students of the university have been actively associated with the Narmada Bachao Andolan and have played an important role in helping to register the villagers’ grievances with the Grievance Redressal Authority (GRA). The university has to its name a partnership with the Bhopal District Courts in organizing Lok Adalats, in which students participate in settling disputes.

The LSC at ILS Law College, Pune (ILS), which is run inside the college premises, engages students with Marathi language skills. This is because the locals who are in need of help are usually only conversant with their mother tongue. Speaking to Bar & Bench, Kritika Vij a student at ILS says that “The curriculum gives an opportunity to the non-Marathi students to help by enacting skits and plays, thus serving a public message to the people in remote areas”. The professors at ILS play an important role in developing the script with their past experience and guide the students to present it in a manner which breaks the language barrier. Participation in the LSC is allowed in the third year, in both the five-year and three-year law courses. The college rewards the efforts of one student each year with the prestigious Legal Aid Award.

At Amity Law School (Amity), LSCs are organized by Amity’s own NGO, ‘Amity Humanity Foundation’ which organises camps in remote areas. Previously they have held camps for the welfare of the girl child, entitled ‘Amitasha’. Students at these clinics deal with real life situations which helps them develop their legal aptitude and their skills in applying the law. The school provides them with a team of experts who visit the camp along with the students to help in dealing with the issues at hand.

The success rate of these clinics is commendable as people seeking relief gather in big numbers to talk about their experiences. Bar & Bench understands that students from the National Law Schools get to be a part of the LSCs from the first year onwards, whereas only a few other law schools allow it before the third year.

Although language is often a barrier in law colleges across India, the manner you deal with it can also count. Some universities impose a barrier by allowing only students with local language skills to provide actual legal assistance but such schools often encourage all its other students to participate in skits and other activities. On the other hand National Law Schools overcome the language barrier by permitting their students to work at the administrative level of the Clinic from the first year itself. The selection process is the same all over and is based on an application and an interview.

Bar & Bench spoke to several students who talked about their summer internships and how they prefer to work with LSCs than law firms. Apparently, most students are generally in their first or second year of law when they join LSC. At this stage, they are legal novices and have little real-world experience. These internships make them feel useful and gives them the experience of providing legal and administrative services at a basic level. Working with the LSC is not just a resume builder, it is a serious job which affects the real rights and responsibilities of real people.  For many students who join LSCs, the only other comparable option is often working with a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) since NGOs are believed to provide a more work-oriented atmosphere  which emphasizes the serial accomplishment of goals or tasks.

NLSIU’s Bhargavi, however, provides a different story on the advantages of LSCs against NGOs. She points out that being a member of an LSC is a sustained activity since it is one of the few student bodies which functions all through the year. Such demands require serious commitment and an interest in the kind of work undertaken. Where interest wanes, it reflects on one’s performance in that year. Thus, in addition to all the help that it provides to the legally vulnerable across India, perhaps one of the LSC’s most important services is that it enables the growth of young lawyers. The creation of a confident generation of new lawyers imbued with the spirit of public service might be the LSC’s most significant contribution yet.

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