Will Continuing Legal Education strengthen the legal profession in India?

How many law graduates can claim to retain everything they learnt in law school? Those who are not Mike Ross from Suits, may constantly find themselves poring through textbooks and case law, and attending lectures on different areas of law..This is essentially what Continuing Legal Education (CLE) is; the question, however, is whether India needs a formalized system of CLE..The Bar Council of Kerala certainly thinks so..The foundation stone of the MK Nambiar Academy for Continuing Legal Education, the first of its kind in India, was laid last week in Kochi. The event, which was attended by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur and Law Minister DVS Gowda, marks a new beginning in India for a concept designed to raise the standard of practicing lawyers..The academy is the first full-time training centre for lawyers, set up in association with the MK Nambiar Memorial Trust, which is headed by Supreme Court Senior Advocate KK Venugopal..Speaking to Bar & Bench, Chairman of the state bar council Joseph John said,.“The purpose is to train advocates and provide continuing legal education. They will have the opportunity to review and analyse the latest developments in various subjects of law. The members of the bar associations will be connected with the Academy and trained.”.The Academy has wasted little time in setting the wheels in motion. The day of the inauguration marked the first such programme titled Continuing Legal Education and Professional Development: A Colloquium. And Chief Justice of India TS Thakur has already given his blessing to the initiative. John said,.“This is the first in India. The Chief of Justice of India proposed that the Bar Council of India should have such programmes in other states also. We have chalked out 22 programmes to be conducted this year at different parts of India.”.Apart from MK Nambiar Academy, other institutions across India including NLSIU Bangalore, KIIT Law School Bhubaneshwar, Maharashtra National Law University and VM Salgaocar College of Law will play host to the 21 remaining programmes..The target audience is not restricted to lawyers. Law teachers are also invited to attend the programmes, which are ‘mostly free of charges (boarding and lodging provided)’..The concept of Continuing Legal Education has been around in the United States since the mid-1970s. In fact, CLE has been mandatory in most US states and some regions in Canada for decades now. In the UK and other common law jurisdictions, it assumes the form of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). For example, in England, all Solicitors are required to do a minimum of 16 hours CPD every year..Various studies have been undertaken to look into whether mandatory CLE actually makes a difference. However, a lack of empirical data means that the aforementioned studies have been inconclusive thus far..Interestingly, one of the studies even tried to analyse the co-relation between CLE and disciplinary records of the Bar. A study conducted among lawyers in Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois and New Jersey revealed the following –.“…the reduction of docketed cases is indicative that the number of attorneys being found to need investigation into being fit to practice law decreased after MCLE implementation.”.If these results are anything to go by, mandatory CLE might just be the answer to the Bar Council of India’s intentions of ‘cleaning up’ the legal profession in the country. In fact, John revealed that the concept of mandatory CLE in India is on the horizon..“A rule is being proposed that every junior advocate inducted into a bar council should undergo a preliminary training of at least three months. We [Bar Council of Kerala] have proposed the rule and it is up to the Bar Council of India to approve it.”.Of course, whether legal practitioners will consent to the mandatory form is an entirely different question. Madras High Court advocate Badri Natarajan feels that Indian lawyers will benefit from CLE/CPD. In this article, he writes,.“…but most of us needed the pressure of a deadline to get things done. And that’s what a formal, structured CPD system does. It improves the overall education and training of lawyers in a country by setting up a structured system that requires and encourages lawyers to do a certain minimum amount of regular training and development.”.In any case, the question as to whether CLE will benefit advocates and teachers is highly contingent on the manner in which the programmes will be conducted. After all, no one wants to relive those law school classes one sat through merely for the sake of attendance.