Law Minister reveals plans to revolutionize legal education: Four law schools of excellence in the works

Oct 09, 2009

The Law Minister, Veerappa Moily (pictured), revealed plans to establish four new 'law schools of excellence' as part of the Law Ministry's drive to reform legal education in India. Speaking to reporters, the Minister, who was instrumental in founding the first National Law School in Bangalore remarked that in order to improve legal education, there was a need for "capacity building, and upgrading faculties." "There is no reason why the Information Technology success story can't be emulated in legal field," he observed.

However, the Minister's plans may find a stumbling block in the lack of talented faculty available in India. The Chief Justice has also previously expressed concern over the lack of talented faculty and the difficulty in attracting young law graduates towards academics.

The Minister refused to be drawn on the subject of Justice Dinakaran, or the entry of foreign law firms into the country. The law school proposal has been presented to the Planning Commission and is awaiting approval. India currently has over 1,000 law schools- will these schools of excellence aid the problem, or merely add to it?

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Comments(6)

1. "Spoken like a true politician.On one hand he talks about the need to build capacities and upgrade the facilities of the existing legal education infrastructure, on the other hand he talks about establishing "new law schools of excellence". Our country already has too many lawyers graduating every year! Starting new"er" law schools is hardly a solution at all. Apart from the 10 national law schools, most of which are still in their teething years, hundreds of other law schools will continue to doll out graduates - some of which may be of questionable qualification. The only solution is to focus on what we have created so far - build on and strengthen the existing law schools, bring the non-national law schools at par with the national law schools. starting new law schools may bring smiles to the voters, but not a compelling change in the legal industry.". Pranav, Delhi
2. "That is interesting, it really is. Look at what the NLSs (and their contemporary pvt law schools) have done to the legal education in India. Every year, anywhere upwards of 300 quality lawyers are added to the industry. But what change has this meant for the bulk of the legal departments in other universities? Nothing.Starting another 4 "super" law schools will only create another category of law students. I totally agree with the above post - true change can only come about if we can see a bulk change. The benefits of the policy should be targeted at the existing law students, most of which are in languishing legal departments of traditional universities.". Laweur, Mumbai
3. "I personally think that there is no need to open more National Law schools. In the last 4-5 years we have seen around 10 national law schools coming up. I feel that the supply is much more than the demand. Unlike engineering the demand for the lawyers be it in litigation or the corporate sector is not much. Ultimately this will lead to the depreciation in the charm and the value national law schools enjoy. They would be treated like just another law college. Its important that the entrance to these colleges is made strict and competitive.". Anonymous, Pune
4. "Instead of setting up new law schools, Law minister has to focus on improving the faculty quality of these law schools. Even the best law schools are suffering from low quality faculty. ". Faculty Debate, New York
5. "The Legal Education Faculties lack good teachers and the appointed teachers are mere theoratical.The concept of the moot court and renderting practical trainning is most important in order to make legal education more professionally oriented. A good perceentage of students do not opt for the profession as during college time they do not take the legal education seriously due to lack of practical training.It is a calamity that many lawyers leave the profession after 5 to 6 years of practice. I am of the view that the services of the senior lawyers who, can spare time should be taken. ". VIRENDRA KHANNA, VARANASI (uTTAR PRADESH )
6. "The new National Law Schools which have been started in the last two years still do not have infrastructural facilities, faculty, even proper libraries. Has the Law Minister ever bothered to check what is happening in these law schools? He has already bitten more apples than he can chew. If he can he should take a personal interest in the existing 13 National Law Schools, and visit the campus, check the faculty and the infra, interact wid the students. 13 is not a big number. Starting 4 other schools would only create more students like me typing such comments.". Sushree Pholgu, National Law University Orissa, Cuttack

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