From theory to trial: Maharashtra unveils first-of-its-kind lawyer academy

India’s first dedicated academy for advocates is now functional on the outskirts of Navi Mumbai, in Maharashtra’s Thane district.

The Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa (BCMG) has formally opened the Bharatratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Advocate Training and Research Centre (BBATRC) at Taloja as a residential hub for training, research and mentoring of lawyers.

Inaugurated on January 31, the institution is being projected as a bridge between law colleges, the Bar and the Bench. 

While core facilities are operational, work on the hostel block is still in progress.

The BBATRC has been conceived as India’s first full‑fledged advocate academy dedicated to continuous legal education, skill‑building and research.

The complex houses a large main auditorium, a council boardroom, tiered lecture halls and artificial‑intelligence‑enabled classrooms.

The foyer showcases an illuminated copy of the Constitution of India beneath a garlanded bust of Dr Ambedkar, while the walls carry murals of Indian legal and social history.

Advocate Sangram Desai, Vice‑President of the Centre, said it currently has two fully AI-supported classrooms and an auditorium with a seating capacity of 252 participants. 

“We are constructing a residential complex which hopefully should be completed in the next eight months,” he added.

He also pointed out that the Centre intends to engage young lawyers with senior lawyers, former Supreme Court and High Court judges.

During a brief conversation with Bar & Bench, Desai explained that unlike a law college, the Taloja Centre will not hold enrolments for long‑term degree courses.

“Instead, it will host short and medium‑term workshops, lectures and symposiums for advocates on specific subjects and procedural training, including emerging areas such as cyber law, artificial intelligence in law, arbitration, mediation and professional ethics,” he said.

A key area of work will be coaching for judicial service examinations.

BBATRC President Advocate Jayant Jaibhave recalled how the Bar Council’s training work began.

He said that in 2012, then Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Mohit Shah had appealed that “the judiciary was not getting good judges from the Bar” and that the Bar Council must design a programme to address this.

“It was a perception that the Bar was restricting young lawyers from joining the Bench, so BCMG convinced the Bar, saying ‘unless there are good judges, good advocacy would hold no meaning,'” he said. 

From there, BCMG designed a programme under which they selected good candidates and trained them.

“As of today, 400 judicial officers are coming through this training process of the Bar Council. There are 28 ‘direct district judges’,” Jaibhave said.

He pointed out that BCMG now wants to take this forward through the new Centre.

The academy’s first programme has been designed around the latest notification for recruitment of 89 direct district judges and will be announced within 8 days, Jaibhave said during the inauguration function.

“From each district, we will select ‘A-medal’ candidates for rigorous coaching so they can succeed in the exam and interviews,” he said.

Apart from this, he said that every enrolled lawyer will come to this academy for a five‑day ‘basic legal education program’ (BLEP).

This programme will cover professional ethics, court procedures, Bombay High Court amendments and civil and criminal manuals, with at least 10,000 lawyers expected annually.

Former Chief Justice of India BR Gavai also recalled how the continuous legal education program (CLEP) and the judicial officers training program were started in every division of the High Court (Mumbai, Nagpur and Aurangabad) so that lawyers in smaller towns could access training. 

He also pointed out that this was the first time in Maharashtra that an “industrial development area” was given to an educational institute.

At the inaugural function, Bombay High Court Chief Justice Shree Chandrasekhar highlighted that apart from extending financial aid, the State government had leased the land to the Bar Council at a nominal rent.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis informed that the Maharashtra government has decided to allocate ₹10 crore to the academy, which will be disbursed after the State’s annual Budget.

The academy has already begun functioning as a venue for programmes, even as work continues on the residential block and landscaping around the approach roads. 

Once the hostel is ready, it is expected to offer relatively affordable lodging to lawyers and law students attending courses at the Centre, as well as to out‑station lawyers visiting nearby courts and requiring short‑term accommodation.

With the first batch of district‑judge aspirants scheduled to train here and plans for regular five‑day induction courses for new lawyers, the Bar Council is positioning the BBATRC as a permanent training ground for a more skilled and better‑prepared legal professionals.