Techno Legal Skill Development In India

Indian has tremendous workforce but the same required a good practical training as well as skill development exercises. Various studies and research in India have suggested that out of the educated masses only 15 to 25% are fit for being absorbed at job places. This ratio equally applies to legal professionals in India perhaps with a much lower percentage.

The present legal educational system of India is in dire need of reforms. In the name of legal education reform the Bar Council of India (BCI) and Law Minister Veerappa Moily have imposed bar examination upon law graduates that has neither a scientific rationale nor a fair and reasonable handling on the part of both.

Legal education in India has to be at par with international norms and standards. Presently legal education of India is lagging far behind than the required benchmark. This is because India is concentrating too much upon academic studies and almost nothing upon practical training and skill development of lawyers and judges.

India needs urgent educational and legal reforms that must be undertaken as soon as possible. One such area that requires urgent attention is the amalgamation of legal education with information and communication technology (ICT). Presently, there are very few organisations that are using ICT for legal education in India.

Both BCI and Moily have failed to appreciate that legal education has now become techno legal where a legal professional must be aware of both technical as well as legal fields. However, there is a dearth of techno legal institutions that provide legal lifelong learning. One such institution that provides techno legal lifelong learning (TLLL) is managed by Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB).

At the same time there is also a dire need to have institutions that can provide good continuing legal education in India (CLE in India). PTLB covers both traditional legal fields as well as contemporary techno legal fields.

In short, India is running short of institutions that can impart good techno-legal skill development education, training and coaching. The BCI and Law Minister Moily must address these issues as soon as possible.

Legal System Of India Needs Reforms

By
Praveen Dalal

This is a “Guest Column” by Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law. In this opinion he has expressed his views regarding bringing qualitative changes in the legal education system of India.

Legal education is the base for a versatile and robust “Bar and Bench” in India. Unfortunately, the quality of law graduates is, by and large, not up to the mark. Those who dare to go for traditional litigation system are faced with tremendous difficulties. This is more so regarding first generation lawyers who have no god father to support them.

There is no doubt about the fact that face value plays an important role in Indian courts. Of course, we have many good judges who encourage young and fresh lawyers to argue and present their cases. This is a great inspiration as well as encouragement for young lawyers.

However, in this period of confusion and doldrums, the Law Minister of India and Bar Council of India (BCI) must take some urgent and immediate steps to rejuvenate Indian legal system. The call is for both HRD Minister Mr. Kapil Sibbal as well as for law Minister Mr. Veerappa Molly. While the former must inculcate qualitative legal education at the graduation level the latter must make it sure that Indian Legal and judicial Systems have a good pool of talented lawyers and judges.

Easy said than done. At the same time we also need proper management and collaborations to take legal and judicial standards of India to highest level. Time has come when all the concerned stakeholders must unite their expertise to improve the legal system of India.