Inaugural Christ Law School moot kicks off Governor and Advocate General of Karnataka speak in favour of entry of foreign law firms amp Bar Exam

The inaugural edition of the School of Law, Christ University moot started on August 19, 2010 with the inaugural function. The Governor of Karnataka, H.R Bharadwaj and the Advocate General of the State, Ashok Haranahalli were the Chief Guest and Guest of Honour respectively..Twenty four teams from all across the country have participated in this national level moot court complete with names like NALSAR and GNLU also sending delegations. Udaya Holla, former Advocate General of Karnataka and Shanti Bhushan, Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court will be the judges of the final round..The moot court problem is related to the Indian Information Technology Act and Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution, the right to freedom of speech and expression. It talks about the regulation of content on the internet. Veerappa Moily, Union Law Minster will preside over the valedictory function which will be hosted on August 22, 2010..Former Union Law Minister and current Governor of Karnataka, H.R. Bharadwaj addressed the audience present at the moot and spoke on various topics from the entry of foreign law firms to the moral duty of lawyers..The Governor opened by telling the students that “Law is not a profession for making money” and referred to the old English lawyers of the Inns of Court in Westminster who defended their clients without charging any money as they thought it was a divine duty to help with the administration of justice..The Governor pointed out that, “The independence of the judiciary along with the independence of the Bar are ideals for all democracies.” He said that the, “Independence assured by lawyers helps in the running of democracies. “.He criticized the opposition from Indian lawyers to the entry of foreign law firms into the Indian legal market. Stating, “Leading law firms of the world should come to India; competition is going to be the future of the world.” He asked the Indian lawyers who said they are not prepared that, “If you’re not prepared after 63 years after independence when will you be prepared?”.He also said lawyers have a responsibility to build this republic and that he was disappointed with the way legal aid is being carried on in the country. He said lawyers of today were the successors of great lawyers like Gandhi, Nehru, Maulana Azad and B.R. Ambedkar. He told the students not to “think in petty terms of money” but realise that they had an important national duty to fulfil..Ashok Haranahalli, Advocate General of the State also spoke to the students gathered there and said, “Times have gone when law was the last resort for students”. He told the students to “develop a reputation” and that “litigation gives you good experience in life.”.Speaking to Bar & Bench, Ashok Haranahall said that he was in favour of the Bar Exam stating that “The Bar Exam is a good step because raw lawyers are entering the profession from various law school. “ He said that the Bar Council of India was not enforcing proper standards and because of these bad colleges “Ultimately the lawyers get a bad image.”