Higher Legal Education In India Needs Reforms

There is no second opinion about the fact that legal education in India needs urgent reforms. This is more so regarding higher legal education in India that is in really bad shape. Despite many suggested measures, higher legal education in India is still in a very poor state.

This is also the reason why continuing professional legal education in India has failed miserably. Further, this is also the reason why PhDs in India are almost extinct as far as legal education is concerned.

Naturally, higher legal education in India is in doldrums. Vast spread corruption has destabilised the higher education in India. These are serious issues that must be resolved by both the education minister and law minister of India.

Higher legal educational reforms in India must comprise of many essential elements. Transparency to support for higher legal research and education in India are essential components of the same.

These days news of international cooperation in the field of education between India and other nations is in abundance. However, that is just stressing upon the outer shell without curing the diseased inner core of decaying educational system of India.

India needs to urgently take care of the fallacies and deficiencies of its educational system that is not serving any purpose except brain drain. The sooner we do this the better Indian education system would be.

Legal Training Providers In India

Legal education and legal training are two different things. While the former is on the side of acquiring academic qualification the latter is more important as it provides workable skills to the manpower. In other words, legal training helps in the development of necessary skills that help in the growth of a person’s career and profession.

Legal training and skill development has not received much attention of Indian government in general and law ministry in particular. Of course, recently some good initiatives have been started by law minister Veerappa Moily but they are in their infancy stage and would take some time to materialise.

Information technology (IT) related legal research, education and training is still missing from India. Further, benefits of innovative methods like e-learning and online education are not utilised by law ministry. Traditional education and training methods must be supplemented by e-learning and online education methods.

At Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB) we recommend an active use of IT for providing legal education and training in India. We have been managing techno legal online legal research, education and training institutions that are providing techno legal trainings to lawyers, law graduates, judges, police officers, public prosecutors, etc.

Further, PTLB is also providing techno legal skill development education and trainings to various stakeholders.

Legal education of India needs urgent reforms as it is not producing qualitative lawyers and professionals. PTLB recommends that law ministry must pay more attention to education and training in the fields like cyber law, cyber forensics, e-courts, intellectual property rights (IPRs), international trade law, international treaties and conventions, etc.

Further, lawyers and judges must also consider using continuing legal education in India (CLE in India) and legal lifelong learning in India. Education and training is a continuous process and it must not be considered to be a one time phase.

We hope Indian government in general and law ministry in particular would consider these suggestions of PTLB and ensure that we have enough number of legal training providers in India.

Similarly, legal training providers of India also need to change their focus from traditional to contemporary topics and technology. The sooner they shift to the new paradigm, the better it would for all concerned.