Onwards To A Lawyer’s Academy
Introduction:
An officer in the Indian Administrative Service is trained for 2 years at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, to administer a District. He discharges administrative and quasi-judicial functions when it comes to the execution of various state and central acts. The training of Munsiff and Magistrates is undertaken in the Judicial Academy, and the duration of the training is less than one year. The candidates for the Munsiff-Magistrate Selection, do not require any experience the the Bar, and yet they start to discharge judicial functions after the training. Then why does a lawyer need a longer incubation period? The simple answer is a lack of training infrastructure and opportunities.
The Golden Hour and the Guardian Angel
Let us now admit that there is a Golden Hour in the life of a young lawyer. The period of two years from the date of graduation may be identified as the Hour. We call this the ‘Golden Hour’, for most drops happen during this period, primarily because the Guardian Angel did not come to touch their life.
The Guardian Angel does not have any particular qualifications. He can be a person or institution. What is expected of the Angel is just a pat on the back of the young lawyer, and to say “ALL IS WELL”. The pat needs to be confident, which could motivate him to pass through the golden hour.
Such confident pats often come from immediate relatives and therefore, the second generation lawyers thrive high, while the first generation struggles. The lack of a Guardian Angel and a pat on the back, may not be the only things that fresh graduates and young lawyers, may need. They may need effective training, preparation, and plenty of opportunities.
Preparation of lawyers – the present scenario
Is the training imparted in some law colleges sufficient to prepare practice-ready lawyers? No may be the possible answer. The curriculum has been revised several times, under the guidance of experts, but still, we find that many of the graduates are unable to meet, the challenges posed to them during the initial days in the profession.
One of the often-heard complaints is the indifference to clinical legal education. Medicine and Law, have several similarities and one of them is the focus on the clinical study. During the clinical study, a student of medicine learns the basic techniques of diagnosis. The law student on the other hand finds the law applicable to particular facts in the legal aid clinics. However, both these streams adopt different standards, in promoting clinical study. When the regulators of the former have made such study mandatory, the latter is largely ceremonial and voluntary.
Legal Aid Clinics
The National Legal Service Authority (NLSA) has formulated Schemes under the Legal Service Authorities Act 1987 for establishing legal aid clinics. These schemes are being formulated to achieve the constitutional goal contained in Article 39 A, to provide legal aid to the poor. A 2010 scheme, provided for the setting up of legal aid clinics in all the panchayats, municipalities, and corporations, while a 2013 Scheme provided for establishing such clinics in law universities, law schools, and colleges.
The schemes formulated by NLSA have provisions for funding the clinics as well as its operations. The undergraduates and lawyers are expected to man the clinics. When some of the law colleges have taken such legal aid clinics, seriously, others have neglected them. The faculties and the regulators need to understand the importance of such institutions, in preparing the future lawyers and judges.
Project Complete Lawyer
Project Complete Lawyer was started as a tribute to the late Prof. Dr N R Madhava Menon, the father of modern legal education. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Country for his contributions to the development of legal education. The idea behind the Project can be traced from the writings and speeches of Prof Menon. The project proposes to prepare ‘complete lawyers’, within two years of graduation
A complete lawyer is defined as a young lawyer, who has a basic understanding of the jurisdiction of all the legal institutions in the country and is capable of approaching such institutions, for suitable remedies. The test is whether by the end of the period, he is capable of paying all his bills, without the assistance of his immediate family
The Project Complete Lawyer Foundation
A first batch of 25 final-year students were prepared to become practice-ready. Most of those trained are practicing in different District Centers in Kerala. The performances of those trained are phenomenal and suggest that training a complete lawyer within two years is not an impossible task.
Several Judges, Lawyers, Law Teachers, and other stakeholders of the rule of law have participated in the training having a duration of 1 year. Following the success of season one of the program, the organizers have decided to create a separate entity, by promoting a not-for-profit company. Currently, the incorporation of the company under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013 is in progress. And hopefully, the Foundation will have a corporate structure soon.
Promotion of Clinical Legal Education
The Foundation proposes to promote clinical legal education and prepare practice-ready lawyers. This objective is attempted to be achieved by revitalizing the legal aid clinics, established under the various scheme of NLSA. The proposal is on the understanding that in a law college, any undergraduate learns some of the basic laws of our country, even though some of the skills are lacking.
The missing element is the training application of the law to a set of particular facts and in interpreting the law, to suit the needs of a given client. The undergraduates may undergo this process of training, in the clinics under the guidance of veterans in the profession. The clinics operated by the students may be networked and the mentors be assigned to them. Necessary protocols may have to be prepared for the working of these networked clinics, so that all the stakeholders may know the do’s and don’t in their operations.
Study of Legal Institutions
An undergraduate enrolled with the Foundation may also be provided with training in the various legal institutions functioning to dispense justice. Such institutions include the Supreme Court, the various High Courts, the District Judiciary, and Tribunals.
The approach would be to understand the jurisdiction of such institutions, case management techniques being adopted, and procedures for approaching these institutions for various remedies. An understanding of the concept of the rule of law may enable the trainees to gain confidence, that such institutions do not travel beyond the four corners of the daily roaster published by them, and the legal jurisdiction assigned to them. The training may then concentrate on the most popular type of cases being filed before such institutions. Because the object behind the training is to make him independent, financial, and otherwise.
Assuring opportunities
There is a popular saying that a successful lawyer has more clients, and not an academically brilliant one. Therefore, a trained graduate needs to get the taste of clientele, for him to sustain in the profession. Assisting them in creating the clientele, may be one other thing that is expected of the Foundation.
The Foundation therefore proposes to engage the trained fresh graduates, as community lawyers. Such a lawyer does not demand the qualification of a law degree, therefore undergraduates can also render such service. The legal aid clinics will operate as the center for discharging such community service.
Normally the function of a clinic is to provide legal advice, but here the community lawyers move a step forward. They may identify the needs of a particular individual approaching the clinic and find out whether any of the welfare schemes offered by the central or the state government would be suitable for them. If found suitable, they will offer legal services needed for availing such benefits.
The services of a community lawyer, do not stop in creating the asset or investment, but they may continue to offer protection to them. The result, among other things, a lawyer-client relationship is generated. The relationship would be long-lasting, for the reason that the client will never forget the person who has touched his life, during the difficult hours of his life.
Conference on Clinical Legal Education
The Foundation proposes to convene a conference, on the topic in Kochi, Kerala by the end of this year. The purpose is to collate the views of academicians and professionals on the concept now being placed in the public domain. The concept today is in an abstract form, which may need fine-tuning. There is a need to hear the views of the other stakeholders involved. Based on the inputs received the road map may be finalized.
Legal professionals, law teachers, students, and other organizations are welcome to the program. A detailed concept note for the conference will be prepared and circulated shortly. The conference is likely to bear some result, rather than ending up as a mere meeting of people.
Conclusion
The demand for legal services in this country is tremendous. The constitutional mission as of this date would be to render justice – Social, Economic, and Political to a massive population of 1.4 Billion. This need is not likely to die down in the immediate future. The lawyers and judges available in the rolls cannot even imagine meeting such justice demands.
Therefore, we need to devise suitable alternatives, including preparing practice-ready lawyers trained through the medium of clinical legal education. This would encourage the fresh graduates to pass through Golden Hour, with confidence. A pat for the Foundation, as their ‘Guardian Angel,’ may make a lot of difference in their lives. A Lawyer’s Academy promoted by the Foundation may possibly be an institutional form of an angel. .