The Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi has suggested for taking away the responsibility to regulate the legal profession from the Bar Council of India.
He has rather asked for a national assessment body which is independent of the BCI or a separate broad-based group comprising academicians ,CJI, which should be created to regulate the legal profession.
Advocate Singhvi said that the BCI at present has immense responsibilities like law reform, disciplining lawyers, legal education, and the vicissitudes of electoral politics.
He pointed out that due to the wide range of these functions, there might be situations where compromises have to be made.
Dr Singhvi said that the elephant in the room must be addressed. He added that that sometimes there will be compromises in the discharge of these multiple functions.
Advocate Singhvi said that 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.
The Senior Advocate said thins while he was speaking on the topic Future of Legal Education: Glocalisation of Legal Profession?’ as part of the American Bar Association India Conference 2023.
Advocate Singhvi said that lack of focus on legal education in India 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.
In his speech,he also emphasised about the serious problem of the lack of law teachers . He suggested for the removal of financial caps and enabling teaching for minimum periods without leaving for greener pastures.
The advocate also said that there is a need for a national plan for placement, internship, and training to ensure senior experienced practitioners take a minimum number of classes.
Advocate Manu Singhvi also talked about the need for an organised computerised national plan for placement, internship and training.
Singhvi also touched points related to the issue of stratification of law schools, especially in States where universities become affiliation bodies for private law schools.
During his speech,he talked about Many colleges which do not have the requisite facilities and the number of law colleges which have increased rapidly without a corresponding increase in quality education.