1. Critically evaluate the objective of legal Education with reference in India?

Significance of clinical legal education contemporary?

1. Introduction
2. Objectives of legal education
a. Socialization objectives
b. Manpower objectives
c. Opportunity objectives
d. Research objectives
e. Administrative objectives
3. Constitutional provisions
4. Weakness of the Indian legal education
a. Outdated syllabus and curriculum
b. A search for excellence
c. Assessment of examination
d. Research and learning
e. No practical approach towards law
f. Medium of instruction
g. Exorbitant differences among law schools
h. Degradation of the word ‘Hons.’ (Honors)
i. International programs and experience
j. Easy access to legal education
k. Teaching facilities and techniques
l. The faulty examination system
m. A syllabus that isn’t relevant
n. A scarcity of skilled teachers
o. Placement issues
5. Challenges before legal education in India
a. Physical infrastructure and financial resources
b. Promotion of philanthropic efforts in the field of legal education
c. Qualified professors and research aptitude
d. Establishing a legal aid centre
e. Commercialization of legal education
f. The emergence of foreign universities and legal professionals in India
6. Ways to Improve the structure of legal education in India
a. Giving greater emphasis on practicality
b. Increase professional exposure
c. Collaboration with foreign law universities
d. Faculty and guest lecturers
e. Scope for extracurricular activities
f. Diversification
g. Development of law libraries
h. Connecting internships and post-degree placements
i. Classes by senior practitioners
j. Participation of seasoned lawyers, judges, and other legal
professionals
k. Key innovations
l. The negative impact of stratification of colleges has to be remedied
m. Phasing out colleges that provide fake law degree
n. Replication of unique aspect of legal education in the United States
7. Conclusion
Introduction
Education is crucial in bringing social change. It allows the best in the body, mind,
and spirit of child and man to be drawn forth as a potential instrument and a
powerful medium for creating changes in society. It gives a person the ability to
comprehend and reflect on knowledge and processes, as well as to behave
appropriately. The goal of education is to eradicate ignorance by imparting
knowledge. Ignorance is the root of all evil and unhappiness that we observe.
Education is a powerful tool for overcoming such adversity. People’s misfortunes
can be alleviated by proper education. Higher education serves a variety of goals. It
helps in a student’s growth and development, knowledge, discovery, refinement,
and community social impacts.
Without specialists, today’s complicated legal system would collapse. A lawyer is a
person who has mastered the study of law and has practical experience with its

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application. Lawyers are Court officers who assist judges in the administration of
justice in India. Effective and free legal assistance is not only a precondition for
proper equity organisation, but it is also a key fixer and underwriter of the manager
of law.

The rise of the new economy, globalisation, privatisation, and deregulation has
posed new difficulties to legal education around the world. The legal system must
evolve in response to the dramatic changes in information and communication
technology. Globalization and the state’s retreat from its traditional role have
produced new legal questions about how to safeguard the poor and marginalised
from deeper poverty. The whole nature of law, as well as legal institutions, is
undergoing a paradigm shift.

Objectives of legal education

Legal education may serve a variety of purposes in a growing democratic society
like India. They have been listed as follows:

Socialization objectives
The use of education is to improve perceptions and awareness of the environment,
both local and global; to grasp the challenges of one’s society; and to impact values
and attitudes.

Manpower objectives
The utilisation of the entire educational system to develop the types of skills and
knowledge required for societal duties.

Opportunity objectives
Education is used to widen opportunity and mobility in society, particularly among
those who have been historically disadvantaged or oppressed.

Research objectives
The use of educational facilities to create research that is beneficial to education
and society.

Administrative objectives
These include the use of planning in institutional governance, as well as more
sophisticated procedures for budgeting, managing, and assessing programmes.

Constitutional provisions
The Constitution of India essentially entrusted the responsibility of providing
education to the states by placing education in List II of the Seventh
Schedule. However, it is currently part of the process of giving the union and the
states concurrent legislative authority. List III includes the legal profession, as well
as the medical and other professions.

Even though there is no particular Article in Schedule VII of the Indian Constitution
dealing with legal education. As a result, the more generic elements referring to
higher education and eligibility to practise before courts are used to regulate legal
education requirements.

Entry 66 of List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India deals with the
coordination and determination of standards in higher education institutions. List III
entry 25 is likewise about education and reads as follows:
Subject to the rules of List I Entries 63, 64, 65, and 66, education, including
technical education, medical education, and universities; vocational and technical
training of labour.

List I entries 77 and 78 relate, among other things, the right of people to practise
before the Supreme Court and the High Courts. The following are the entries:
 Entry 77- The Supreme Court’s constitution, organisation, jurisdiction, and
powers (including contempt of court) as well as the fees charged therein;
people qualified to practise before the Supreme Court.

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  Entry 78- High Courts’ constitution, organisation (including vacations),
and those entitled to practise before them, except for officers and
servants of the High Courts.

Weakness of the Indian legal education

The universities determine the course content for these courses based on guidelines
from the Bar Council of India. These courses, among other things, have the function
of promoting legal education and laying down standards of such education in
consultation with universities in India that provide such education. The Bar Council
of India’s Rules specifies which subjects are compulsory and which are optional in
the LL.B programme. Part 1 (obligatory) is divided into six subjects, as listed in
Rule (9) (1), Part 11 has 21 subjects listed in Rule 9 (2) (compulsory). Rule 9(3)
offers 15 (optional) subjects from which three must be chosen.

In 2000, the UGC formed a new Curriculum Development Committee, which created
a new UGC Model Curriculum that was distributed to individual universities for
revision of their law curricula. Despite steps and recommendations aimed at better
equipping Indian law graduates with professional skills, the threat posed by foreign
and cross-national institutions is impending. The following are some of the major
flaws in our legal education system:

Outdated syllabus and curriculum

The necessity of changing the curriculum has arisen. The current law school
curriculum has been chastised for failing to include issues that are critical in today’s
legal environment. Law schools are dealing with a bewildering array of opposing
requests for curriculum reform. The programme is still in its development stage,
with students being taught an outdated syllabus. Many private law schools provide
no or few alternatives or elective studies in addition to a core curriculum. Added to
that, law schools still encounter the problem of introducing new and contemporary
subjects at the cost of focusing on vital subjects.

Furthermore, the curriculum being followed incorporates a three-year course

syllabus, even though most institutions and law schools have switched to a five-
year degree. New and emerging law schools (particularly private institutions) limit
their focus to teaching and research on issues relating to Indian law.

Given the huge frequency of participation in international moot court competitions,

law student’s thirst for knowing international and comparative law has grown
tremendously during the past years. Students must be trained with a balanced
curriculum that shapes them into better lawyers by providing them with information
and training in Indian law, while also preparing them to face difficulties in the
outside world with both international and foreign legal systems.

A search for excellence

Another important issue that must be addressed is the quality of education
provided by law schools. Admission to the college, the curriculum, the manner of
examination, and the qualifications of the faculty members at the college all
contribute to the quality of legal education. Quality is not a virtue in and of itself.
The quality of education provided by National Law Universities and other law
schools varies vastly. The majority of private law schools are average, and settling
for a few outstanding colleges would be a grave error. Such law schools alone will
not be able to transform educational standards.

Other legal schools are unable to provide additional optional subjects while still
meeting the minimum requirements. It is past time for this issue to be taken into
account and rectified as soon as possible.

Assessment of examination
The true value of any curriculum can only be realised if the knowledge is put to the
test in a controlled environment. Law school examinations must be rigorous to
eliminate misconduct. The nature of the questions must be analytical, requiring
students to develop the law in the form of application rather than the duplication of
law and cases found in textbooks. This phase would ensure that students use their
critical thinking skills to respond to the questions.

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Research and learning
The law school for research and learning plays a critical role in the creation and
dissemination of knowledge. Faculty members should encourage students to
conduct research and write persuasive memos on projects allocated to them, and
they should place an embargo on plagiarised projects. Plagiarism has an impact on
academic writing quality. Due to the teacher’s lackadaisical approach toward
reviewing the projects, the majority of the projects submitted by students are
plagiarised. Professors frequently award top grades to all students, regardless of
whether or not the student finished the project assigned to him. This has given the
students who study hard and deliver their projects on time a negative perception.

No practical approach towards law

The majority of the college curriculum is built on theory, which students find
uninteresting. Most private universities teach primarily theoretical subjects
including the Indian Penal Code, 1860 Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Code of
Civil Procedure, 1908, Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and the Constitution of India,
1950. Students cannot be expected to excel in later stages if they have been taught
in a way that only piques their curiosity. Furthermore, professors’ internal
assessments (which account for a large portion of the overall percentage) are based
on the theory supplied to the subject professor.

Medium of instruction
Several private institutions govern education in regional languages. As a result,
several candidates in particular states get admitted to universities despite their
inability to communicate effectively in English. The majority of statutes, cases, law
texts and other legal materials are written in English. To address these issues,
there aren’t enough textbooks available in regional languages. Finally, the students
not only lack adequate knowledge of the subject but also lack the requisite
communication skills to adequately practise the job.

Exorbitant differences among law schools

Even though India has several reputable National Law Universities, several private
law colleges readily provide degrees to students without even having to provide
sufficient education. This, in turn, has an impact on students graduating from
various law schools, with the quality of students graduating from different
institutions vastly different when compared to students graduating from other
private institutions due to the vast differences in the scope and type of education
they receive.

As variations across educational institutions have grown, a large divide has

emerged between “elite” education groups and the rest of the institutions. In terms
of student learning outcomes as well as behavioural growth of passed out
candidates, the culture and teaching-learning process of various law schools varied
greatly.

Degradation of the word ‘Hons.’ (Honors)

Many universities that provide a five-year legal curriculum with a ‘honours’ degree,
such as B.B.A. LLB (Hons.), B.Com LLB (Hons.), and so on, do not allow students to
take on a substantive subject of their choice or write a dissertation during their last
year of study. This inhibits individuals from pursuing higher education since they
are unable to identify their area of interest.

International programs and experience

Indian law schools and universities must think outside the box and give students
the best international programmes available. Most law schools do not send their
students to summer or semester abroad programmes that might improve their
skillset and assist them in the future. Law schools must provide the necessary
facilities to enable students to participate in such international programmes as
those offered by numerous foreign colleges.

Easy access to legal education

Legal education has recently developed as a potential business activity for law
institutions, which are primarily owned and operated by builders and industrialists.

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The key issue is the inspection team of the Bar Council and the university, which is
in charge of inspecting colleges that want to establish legal studies.
Teaching facilities and techniques
Law schools are still accustomed to the traditional style of lecturing in a classroom.
These proposals and recommendations given by the committees tasked with
improving education are ignored.

The faulty examination system

The classic examination pattern is used in law schools. Covering only a portion of
the necessary syllabus and the illusion of memorising the selected questions reign
supreme. Students’ grades are based on their ability to memorise a few topics
rather than their analytical and practical abilities.

A syllabus that isn’t relevant

Even though the UGC Committee and the Bar Council of India requested that the
syllabus of law courses be upgraded, there is still a lack of uniformity in the law
curriculum among universities. Furthermore, the overabundance of disciplines in
the curriculum has muddled the concept of teaching abilities and research direction.
The law school must become more relevant to the professions and their concerns.

A scarcity of skilled teachers

In general, law schools struggle to attract talented law professionals to teach at
their institutions. The obligation to requite NET qualified applicants as lecturers
have usually decreased the number of good professors who can be appointed. Also,
screening committees at various colleges are limited in their ability to make
independent assessments of instructor quality.

Placement issues
Typically, students finish their placement with a lawyer, a non-profit organisation,
or a corporation. Law students are supposed to learn how to read and maintain
case files, conduct legal research, create legal documents, and conduct client
interviews and counselling. Students must keep a diary of their visits to lawyer’s
chambers and courts, detailing the tasks they completed and the proceedings they
witnessed. Their learning from placement is reflected in their journals and
preparation for mock trial and moot court. Legal and clinic training, class-based
lectures and simulations, and external placement are some of the approaches used
at law schools to provide practical training.

Challenges before legal education in India

The rise of the new economy, globalisation, privatisation, and deregulation has
posed new difficulties to legal education around the world. The legal system must
evolve in response to the dramatic changes in information and communication
technology. Globalization and the state’s retreat from its traditional role have
produced new legal questions about how to safeguard the poor and marginalised
from deeper poverty. The whole nature of law, as well as legal institutions, is
undergoing a paradigm shift.

To meet the country’s and people’s expectations from law and legal services in the
next few years, the state must devise the best approach for strengthening
professional legal education while also promoting law as a liberal academic
discipline. This necessitates a suitable model for establishing a supervisory and
control system to ensure that professional law schools maintain high standards of
teaching, research, and extension activities. Unmet legal needs of various segments
of society, delays and costs in obtaining justice, the impact of globalisation on
equality and human rights, vast technological changes, particularly in information
and communication, the state’s relative incapacity due to market dominance, and
the role of professions in justice, peace, and development law and attorneys have a
critical role in facilitating, moderating, and controlling all of these changes.

The nature of institutions and procedures, as well as access to them, make justice
feasible. Lawyers will have to assist communities, interest groups, and
governments in designing institutions and procedures, particularly during times of
transition, while keeping equity, justice, and fairness in mind. The following are
some of the issues that legal education faces:

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Physical infrastructure and financial resources
India’s law schools must understand the importance of constructing strong physical
infrastructure and research projects, as well as taking steps to encourage faculty
members. Though the infrastructure of national law schools is superior to that of
traditional university legal departments, improvements should be made across the
board, including in universities. Law graduates should be motivated and educated
so that they can engage in critical thinking about the issues that face society.
Universities can only guarantee academic freedom to think and contribute if they
have the requisite physical infrastructure and financial resources.

Promotion of philanthropic efforts in the field of legal education

Philanthropy in legal education is uncommon, and it is almost always a state-
sponsored project or a mediocre commercial venture with low academic standards.
To promote quality in legal education and research in the country, initiatives to
stimulate philanthropy are essential. Philanthropic contributions as a percentage of
total higher education spending have decreased in recent decades. All parties,
including law schools, the bar, the bench, law firms, and companies, should make
efforts to promote charitable projects in legal teaching and research.

Qualified professors and research aptitude

To encourage students and impart better legal education, particularly clinical legal
education, good teachers and researchers in law schools are also essential.
However, due to insufficient incentives, fresh talent does not desire to pursue a
career in teaching, and those who do are migrating to more profitable sectors.

Establishing a legal aid centre

The 2009 Bar Council resolution requires all law schools to establish a legal aid
centre to give low-cost, high-quality legal help to needy sections of society has
generally been ignored.

Commercialization of legal education

The privatisation of legal education has resulted in a proliferation of law colleges,
tarnishing India’s international reputation for legal education. It hasn’t helped to
raise academic standards, either in terms of staff and student quality or the
encouragement of research within institutions that have devolved into subpar
commercial endeavours.

The emergence of foreign universities and legal professionals in India

The emergence of foreign universities and legal professionals in India has posed a
serious problem for legal education. The question arises as to why a student would
study in Indian law schools when foreign degrees can be obtained for the same
cost. Similarly, international experts would be able to access legal professionals in
India. Our goal should be to generate lawyers who will be in high demand when
they travel to other nations. When international corporations set up shop in India,
they will need lawyers with the same level of expertise as the best in the world.

Furthermore, unique themes dealing with the corporate, taxation, and bankruptcy
laws of other countries should be taught in law schools around the country. The
curriculum should be designed to prepare students to deal with issues that span
multiple legal systems. Language skills and cultural familiarity should be combined
with intensive and direct legal training for the pupils. The advancement of internet
technology, along with globalisation, poses a greater threat to territorial
sovereignty than ever before. Even communicators, much alone the authorities of
the countries from which and to which the communication is aimed, find it
impossible to know whether their communications are genuinely crossing national
borders in the world of cyberspace.

Cyber torts, cyber racism, and cybercrime not only jeopardise our understanding of
the territorial state as the ultimate final authority within its borders, but they also
create a slew of concerns relating to offender prevention, investigation, and trial. As
a result, there is a need for reformulation in legal education in India in these

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conditions. Legal education in India was in poor shape before independence, and it
continued to deteriorate after independence. However, changes have occurred as a
result of the government’s and academicians’ ongoing and consistent efforts.

Quality legal education was aided by debates over teaching techniques, the
introduction of clinical legal education, and a focus on ongoing education, as well as
infrastructure improvements. However, removing a sense of comfort from society’s
thought process regarding the law as a career rather than a last resort has aided in
securing a high pedestal for legal education in India. Similar to the emergence of
doors for legal experts in numerous fields, the demand for the subject has grown.
Globalization and the shifting aspects of India’s economy and politics have posed
new governance issues.

Ways to Improve the structure of legal education in India

Giving greater emphasis on practicality

The law is supreme, and it must be confronted with boldness, certainty, and no
hesitation. It necessitates exceptional reading, thinking, and speaking abilities.
These elements could be incorporated into the course through regular debates and
discussions. Moot court (mock practice) develops competency and exhibits the
manner of argumentation, which is an important quality for a lawyer to possess.

Increase professional exposure

The emphasis in legal classes should be on practical learning rather than on
theoretical study. Professionalism is attained by increasing one’s knowledge of the
law and legal processes. Knowing how much law one understands from books isn’t
as important as knowing how that law is applied. It is critical to place a greater
emphasis on professional experience through internships and engaging in the law
student’s learning throughout his or her internships.

Collaboration with foreign law universities

Knowledge has no bounds. Law is a subject that necessitates an ever-increasing

amount of learning. Collaboration with international law schools to gain access to
their law reports, case laws, research papers, and other materials can help to
improve this proficiency. Law schools such as NLSIU Bangalore, NALSAR
Hyderabad, and NLU Delhi, among others, have collaborated on teaching, research,
and offering world-class legal education, and the results have been positive.

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