Chief Justice of India B R Gavai on Wednesday stated legal education is not just about churning out professionals for the bar and the bench but also about developing citizens who are devoted to the values of liberty, equality and fraternity.
Opening the first Professor (Dr) N R Madhava Menon memorial lecture here on 'Legal and Justice Education @2047: An Agenda for 100 years of Independence', the CJI emphasized making access to law and justice not a privilege for some but a reality in everyday life for all citizens.
Supreme Court judge Justice Surya Kant, the speaker at the lecture, stated that the study of law should never be conducted in ivory towers, separated from the actual plight of society and it should rather be grounded in the experiences of people that it aims to serve.
Justice Kant stated that to democratize legal education, "we need to shatter the elitist barriers that have crept over time.".
Speaking at the gathering, the CJI added, "In my opinion, legal education is not just about creating professionals for the bar and the bench.
It is about raising citizens who are dedicated to the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity.".
" He added that the path to 2047 has to be anchored to the core values that over the years have shaped legal education, including professional competence, social justice, technological innovation and an unshakeable belief in the ideals of the Constitution.".
In the matter of access to law and legal education, CJI Gavai stated that for too long now, geographical, economic and linguistic divides have been formidable barriers, keeping vulnerable and marginalised citizens away from courts and legal institutions.
"Economic disadvantage usually results in even when there are legal remedies available, they become unaffordable to the ones who need them most," he said, going on to add that if law has to be really a tool of empowerment, then removing these barriers is necessary.
Legal education needs to be reimagined by increasing its reach through technology, encouraging teaching in regional languages, consolidating legal aid and developing entry points for first-generation learners, the CJI said.
"By doing so alone, we can guarantee that access to law and justice turns into a lived experience for all citizens of this Republic rather than being an exclusive privilege of the few," he stated.
The CJI, while drawing attention to the issue of ethics in legal education, stated that law schools have a significant responsibility to instill in each student a genuine respect for constitutional ideals.
He also emphasised creating research institutions to analyse the emerging area of law.
"Now, let me, however, add a note of caution.
The five-year integrated law programme and the National Law School model have undoubtedly been transformative and successful in many respects.
Yet, one of the recurring criticisms is that the model has, perhaps unintentionally, channelled a majority of its graduates towards careers in the corporate sector," CJI Gavai said.
"The voices and views of our subcontinent, informed by histories of colonialism, economic inequity and profound struggles for equality, cannot be at the periphery of global legal discussion," he added.
The CJI stated the real strength of a legal professional does not necessarily reside in a grasp of the law, but in the application of that knowledge in the service of justice, in the defense of democracy and in remaining unbendingly committed to constitutional values in adversity.
Addressing the lecture, Justice Kant discussed three core pillars -- legal education modernisation, instilling it with values and ethics, and democratising access to all.
"Our National Law Universities, which were once models of meritocracy and innovation, currently suffer from severe faculty deficiencies.
The vision of community lawyering and Gram Nyayalayas is still mostly a pipe dream.
And the exorbitant expense of legal education increasingly restricts access to a privileged minority undermining actual inclusivity," he said.
Justice Kant opined that law is not a subject to study; it is the actual foundation upon which society is established and nourished.
In the context of legal education modernization, he argued first and foremost that we need to do away with the old perception of law universities as enhanced high schools.
He urged including interdisciplinary learning into the very infrastructure of legal education.
Justice Kant averred that there should be an acceptance by the legal education of "digital-first" pedagogy, not convenience-driven, but as a necessary prerequisite for justice in the future.
"In the world today, all areas of the practice of law are being more and more involved with technology, but far too many law schools remain wedded to older approaches to learning, not responding to the new powers at hand that are already reshaping the profession," he said, and in 2047, the machine can help, but the human must respond.
Justice Kant stated that legal education modernisation calls for foresight and getting students ready to meet the future head on.
"Unfortunately, somewhere in the process, we have lost sight of this basic but profound reality that the study of law should never be conducted in ivory towers, out of touch with the real struggles of society.
It needs to be grounded instead in the lived realities of the people that it is trying to serve," he said.
He added legal aid clinics need to be made a necessary and mandatory component of every law school's curriculum.".
"Meanwhile, the expense of studying even the most well-known law schools is pricing out the dream of legal study from thousands of capable and enthusiastic students from poor backgrounds," Justice Kant added.
