Law not a career ladder for personal gain: CJI Surya Kant to Law Students

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant today warned that advocacy cannot become performance and be used only for personal gain.

In his convocation address at the National Law University (NLU), Jodhpur, the CJI said,

“When lawyers prioritise spectacle over substance, complexity over clarity, or convenience over conscience, they rebuild the very fortress mentality that democracy sought to transcend."

CJI underscored that in a constitutional democracy, law must behave less like a closed structure and more like a forum that stays open to participation and reason.

He flagged that the threat to openness can creep in through language “wrapped in complexity, guarded by jargon, accessible only to those who can afford its language.”

“In every generation, there is a risk that the law, having once liberated, may begin to distance itself again,” he added.

Thus, the CJI reminded the law students that their task is "not to make law more arcane, but more intelligible"

CJI also told the students that law is not merely a career ladder or a market commodity.

“The law is not private capital to be leveraged for personal gain. It is a public trust,” he said, adding that the credibility of courts depends as much on the Bar as on the Bench.