For the first time in 3 years, the Madras High Court has designated 12 lawyers as senior advocates, reports TOI..Among those designated are Satish Parasaran, son of former Attorney General of India K Parasaran and brother of former Solicitor General of India Mohan Parasaran..The list also features R Vaigai, the sole woman advocate to be designated. She was convenor of the Forum for Judicial Accountability, the organisation that levelled allegations of impropriety against former Madras High Court judge Dinakaran J., whose elevation to the Supreme Court was subsequently blocked. Quite recently, she appeared on behalf of the advocates of the High Court who had been suspended for clashing with the CRPF security on the campus..S Prabhakaran, member of the Bar Council of India, has also been designated; he was recently embroiled in a controversy over the Chairmanship of the legal profession regulator with current Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra..The others on the list are NL Rajah, A Sirajudeen, Isaac Mohanlal, R Singaravelan, TP Manoharan, Veera Kathiravan, Karthik, Anand and Xavier Arulraj..This is the first time the High Court has made senior designations since October 2013, when it decided to change the norms of designation. The new norms prescribe 15 years’ experience practicing in the courts, an annual gross income of not less than Rs. 7 lakh for three preceding years, and at least 15 judgments in which the advocate has contributed to the growth of law.
