How The Mechanism For Training Lawyers Is Changing

As the legal discourse responds to growth and transformations in other fields – most obviously, in technology – here’s a look at how the mechanism for training lawyers is also changing.

As more laws are framed to govern different aspects of life in a transforming society, the system for training lawyers to litigate in these areas must grow as well. Take the impact of technology, especially the internet, for example. Two decades ago, there was no concept of a “digital space” that could also be governed by a law. Now there is.

Now there are more specific rights and guarantees that didn’t exist before. Privacy is now a right, data is being collected and shared on such a scale that a law for its protection is in the o ng. There are also new types of crimes.

India’s legal education system has mainly lurched into the new era and struggled to remain in step with the galloping pace of change in other sectors. There are over 1,400 institutions offering three-year course or five-year integrated programmes in law, yet the institutions offering specialised courses in the new areas of concern are so rare, they can still be counted on fingers.

Colleges and ranking

This is also one reason why the rankings remain largely static and institutions that came up within the last two decades trump far older institutions that have been built over generations.