Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi bats for separate body independent of BCI to regulate legal profession

Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Saturday batted for divesting the Bar Council of India (BCI) of its responsibility to regulate the legal profession..Instead, a national assessment body independent of the BCI or a separate broad-based group of academicians including the CJI, should be created to regulate the legal profession, he said.This, he said, is because, the BCI currently has its hands full with umpteen responsibilities such as law reform, disciplining lawyers, legal education, and the vicissitudes of electoral politics and pointed out that due to the wide range of these functions, there might be situations where compromises have to be made. ."The elephant in the room must be addressed. It is big and powerful, it is the Bar Council. It has too many functions - law reform, disciplining lawyers, legal education and the vicissitudes of electoral politics. Sometimes there will be compromises in the discharge of these multiple functions. You can see I have used my words carefully. Either a separate broad based group of academicians including CJI should be set up, or a national assessment body independent of BCI needed to regulate the legal profession," he said..The Senior Advocate was speaking on the topic 'Future of Legal Education: Glocalisation of Legal Profession?' as part of the American Bar Association India Conference 2023..Singhvi highlighted the lack of focus on legal education in India which he said, was resulting in an ocean of mediocrity in the field. He stressed on the need for distributive equity and the implementation of a national unified simplified plan for legal education..The senior advocate also spoke about the serious problem of the lack of law teachers and depth in the field. He suggested removal of financial caps and enabling teaching for minimum periods without leaving for greener pastures. He further suggested the need for a national plan for placement, internship, and training to ensure senior experienced practitioners take a minimum number of classes."We need an organised computerised national plan for placement, internship and training. There is a jungle raj out there. A national scheme must ensure that senior experienced practitioners take a minimum number of classes," he said..Singhvi also addressed the issue of stratification of law schools, especially in States where universities become affiliation bodies for private law schools.Many such colleges do not have the requisite facilities and the number of law colleges has increased rapidly without a corresponding increase in quality education, he stated.Read what Justice Sanjay Karol said at the event here.