Does India's legal future belong to its youth?
The Bar Council of Maharashtra & Goa has finished its election and includes its youngest ever member, 27-year old Karan Bhosale. He hopes to bring the Bar Council to younger lawyers of whom most show only little interest in bar politics, particularly if working on the transactional side. And while Bhosale has worked in law firms for a number of years, full law firm representation eludes the Maharashtra Council unlike in Delhi: ALMT Legal partner Hitesh Jain did not make the cut to the Bar Council this time.
Young lawyers remain on tenterhooks about the bar exam, after BCI chairman and solicitor general Sobramaniam thought out loud about how the exam will be put on by December. For one, it will probably be an open book test, which should have brought comfort, although commenters are severely divided even on this. Even more contentious then is the proposal that only those who pass the bar exam will be allowed to practice in court, while law firm lawyers will be exempt.
Could this create a split in the profession along UK barrister/solicitor lines? Or could it go so far as to reject the theory behind the Lawyers Collective judgment that "legal practice" is indivisible, like an atom?
Meanwhile, getting on with it, seven lawyers have put generational and geographical differences aside and started a partnership to target second tier cities.
Luthra & Luthra reinforced its young Mumbai office this week with some Indo-UK corporate power, hiring former Clifford Chancer and Trilegal partner Sudipta Routh as a partner.
Luthra also won a double-whammy victory this week together with DLA Piper, clinching the competitive government tenders for the disinvestments in both Coal India and Engineers India Limited (EIL), fighting top international and domestic firms for the prize.
On the other hand youth has been an obstacle to some of the newer national law schools, such as HNLU Raipur. But a number of top firms have been picking off the best students from HNLU. A smart move, as the competition between candidates may be tamer in some quarters than the fight between law firms to get the top students from the same-old institutions.
Old-school connections that go way back were key in the sale of Bank of Rajasthan to ICICI Bank, however, with Paras Kuhad and Amarchand advising. Freshfields and Trilegal have been busy on the Godrej purchase of the Godrej Sara Lee joint venture.
Legal Pulse:
The Delhi High Court has stopped the creep of service tax over immovable property, reaffirming an earlier decision although questions remain.
Top blogs this week:
John2010 decodes what the prime minister really said about legal education and what he should have said. Good stuff.
LegalPoet with two poems this week, one of which is his best yet according to a reader: Dreams, the great leveller of Law Students and the roly-poly Chinese dog justice of the Civil Procedure Code.
Nandii Reywal gives advice on how to beat the recession blues - by losing his firm £2800 and being evil. (By the way, were we the last to notice that nandii reywal is an anagram?)
Anirban1 argues convincingly that holding a pan-India bar exam will be nigh on impossible considering the disparity between the top and bottom law schools in India. He also exposes the government's callousness where even basic schemes like the provision of mid-day meals to students have failed as feared by legendary scholar Tagore, who was wary of home grown oppressors. Plus: an exercise in ethics for the Bar Council of India, flaunting the RTI Act.
Allym on how Indian courts are chaotic, especially during vacations and "Let me" has returned with rhetoric against capital punishment in the context of Kasab.
And from newcomers: A short and personal story on the age-old boon/bane of reservations and friendship, the tragedy of witches and human rights in modern day India.
Drawing parallels between the epitome of evil of the mythological demon king Ravana and a modern day law professor.
A final year student wants to organise a grassroots campaign to oppose the "tyranny" of the Bar Council.
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if indira jaising doesn't want foreign law firms let her create job for young lawyers. she opposes the death penalty for afzal, which speaks volumes for how much she cares about the country.
I have happened to hear Ms. Jaisingh argue and she is brilliant. And I feel that their efforts to make sure the country isnt ruled by big companies and pseudo nationalists must be lauded. (By the way to the person above.. she is not the ASG)
Pseudo-defamatory? What about the things that Prashant Bhushan and Indira Jaising say about our judiciary (e.g. see the website of the campaign for judicial accountability). It's fine to suggest that the judges who sentenced afzal to death were being jingoistic, or that the judiciary is allegedly capitalist/imperialist/communal, but nobody can criticise these great intellectuals!! freedom of speech is a two-way street. Lawyers Collective, Prashant Bhushan, Arundhati Roy and their ilk are indeed harmful for India. India desperately needs faster economic development and only corporations can provide it, not leftist intellectuals and NGOs. The ppl who led the nandigram agitation cannot create jobs, only Mr Tata can.
And FYI some NGOs have been accused of receiving terrorist funding by our own government (e.g. gautam nawlakha and PUDR from the naxals). OK, I withdraw the word "probably", but I am justified in saying that the funding for a lot of these human rights organisations "possibly" emanates from anti-India elements and there is no reason why Lawyers Collective should not be probed. Maybe they are 99.9% likely to be innocent, but if Gautam Nawlakha is tainted, then they must be probed as they support similar causes.
I am also pretty certain that there is no impropriety in funding going on, contrary to beliefs in some quarters.
Read our feature from last year:
www.legallyindia.com/20090817134/Interviews/The-lawyer-who-fought-the-377-law-and-won-Anand-Grover
The reason the comments were not moderated is because they did not appear defamatory but were merely expressing an opinion and opened debate. Will tone down the initial comment, however, particularly in light of the authors later response.
Best,
Kian
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