Legal market services provider Rainmaker will run the proposed bar exam for the Bar Council of India (BCI) as the BCI is set to unveil its new website at 1pm today which was set up by the company.
It is understood from sources close to the matter that several weeks ago Rainmaker had approached the BCI to organise the carrying out of the exam and the instruction was confirmed today. [updated after confirmation of instruction]
The Hindustan Times reported today without citing any sources: “Rainmaker will also assist the council to create a database of lawyers across India and work out a common legal admission test for law schools across the country. As part of this initiative, Rainmaker has revamped BCI’s website which will be inaugurated on Wednesday by Union Law minister Veerappa Moily.
BCI chairman and solicitor general Gopal Subramanium will present the council’s vision document on what steps it will initiate to curb the mushrooming law colleges, without adequate infrastructure, in the country.”
Later today Legally India will report on the event, which will be followed by a press conference at 1pm.
Rainmaker was started up by several graduates from NLSIU Bangalore in 2007 but was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.
The bar exam is scheduled as an open book test to take place in December and will act as a prerequisite for graduating law students to practice at the bar, as revealed by Legally India on 14 May.
Picture by umjanedoan
Comments
Rainmaker is not a 'coaching center'.
It provides services in the legal education amongst others such as talent management, legal recruitment, knowledge services etc.
It makes sense to involve them to conduct this huge task well.
@3 dude do u wrk for rainmaker?????
get some perspective in life...TLD's? Thats all you can see in this?
i agree with 12 ppl like jethmalani/sorajee/daruwala etc etc shld hav bn included! sum1 mayb like justice srikrishna wld provide more associatn f meang 2 ths exam!
Without a competitive bidding, how can a govt. instrumentality spend large amounts of money?
Second - leaving aside the issue of rainmaker, i do feel that it is a good idea to have a private agency to run this. Experience dictates that something of this nature being undertaken by a governing body usually ends up being ineffective. Also, senior lawyers, retired judges, etc. sounds good on paper - but do they really have the time. A private agency brings some measure of professionalism to the whole thing.
If colleges are allowed to run their own syllabus in the first place then why not enforce a common syllabus the way it is done in Board exams (CBSE, ICSE, etc)- why have a 3rd party exam - I clearly see that this step is discriminatory because:
- it is proven fact that these kind of exams are unfair and biased gainst students from smaller towns. The band of NLSIU'ites who decided to force down the throast of everyone such an exam - have neither spent anytime in the countryside i.e Bharat - I see this onemore example of pitting the urban swaagger of India against Bharat.
- It is a proven fact that such exams are heavily biased against women - if you would please trace the history of competitive exams ( and we all what they test :-))- e.g. a published study in BITS Pilani when amdission was on merit the percent of women was over 45% of the admitted student body, the day they migrated to entrance exams the percent of woemn from that bacth fell to under 15% - I am not comparing engg with law - but at least have alrager debate Mr BCI.
- Rainmaker selection I am sure almost everyone has made their suspicion clear, if BCI stil insists on having the exam they shud invite public bidding or do something that happens in developed countries like reverse auction and deliver unimaginable cost advantages to the buyer.
[Works fine from here... Sounds like a troll comment? Please vote down if works fine for you. -Ed]
Isnt such a screening enough? if not then make such a screening more formal......do you have a second round of exams for engineers post their Btech? or a second round of exams for MBA's once they are through?
I dont understand the logic behind this test.....We have so many forums, umpteen no. of district courts where people argue in their vernacular language, variety of litigants with varying requirements....how will the needs be met if you're skimming just the crem de la creme to go ahead and appear in courts?? At present theres a place for everyone in the legal fraternity. One cant always aim to be a SC advocate right after passing out. You need to rough it out before you climb to the top....thats where you learn how to practically deal with law. Else we will have polished wannabe ally mc beals and alan shores straight out of law school wanting to implement their bookish knowledge without knowing the practical implications of what they learnt....
While im not in support of such a screening process,in the event that it is put in place, as far as rainmaker is concerned....i seriously think there should be some check in place....their sister concern LST trains kids to get into law school, RM provides jobs and at the same time they will now be incharge of who should be a practicing advocate and who shouldnt???? I think there should be a committee comprising of advocates and academecians who should, be incharge of such a task. Transparency will always be an issue with whatever venture any sort of agency undertakes, but when a private body is engaged for an activity as this, theres a lot at stake....im glad im a bc member already....god bless the rest!
how did this proposal got declded? who proposed - company or bar?
was there a tender to call for organisation to conduct?
why was any existing institution in India not considered, why a singapore based company chosen?
have we forgotten East India Company? just now an indian took it over, we want our law in the company of foreign company
[Correction: Rainmaker is not a Singaporean company as far as I am aware. -Ed]
how many of the 32 posters above have dealt with any of the bar councils in any detail? honestly. if you have, you will know how inefficient and incompetent they are in the most part. can you imagine them doing anything like managing an exam, when they can barely manage the process of registration and enrollment of lawyers? I mean, we've had all these wonderful bar councils around for years, and it takes a private company to come up with the idea of preparing a database of all practising lawyers in this country? doesn't say much, does it.
as for the general standard of lawyers in this country (call it India, call it 'Bharat', as one of the posters above has done) - whatever. we like to think of ourselves as noble protectors of justice; some of us actually are. but a majority are incompetent and, worse, corrupt; many lawyers think of themselves and the money they can earn ahead of the interests of their clients. just look at any survey on public perceptions of different professions. or speak to any of the hundreds of people who spend the day hanging around tehsil and district courts. a test that hopefully at least makes lawyers read and be aware of actual law as well as their duties can only be a good thing, i think.
#8 - the UK QLTT is run by private agencies. If you want to do well, study at BPP (not College of Law); BPP pretty much teaches you the format of answers required, right down to minute details.
#17 - pray elucidate on which government instrumentality is spending large amounts of money? from all the reports that i have seen, the BCI stands to make money, not spend any from its pocket.
#19- developed countries, reverse auctions, 'unimaginable' cost benefits to the buyers? what does any of that mean? please think about it before mindlessly regurgitating phrases that you have read somewhere else.
#27, 28 and many others - open tender? how many other companies/organisations can you think of who have legal knowledge/know the legal market and market participants/have contacts with lawyers, judges, legal educational institutions and law firms? if you do, please write to them and ask them why they were not organised and driven enough to try and do something new and useful.
#29 - interview to be enrolled? you obviously belong to a somewhat organised bar council!
#31 - Singapore based company? is your assertion based on the sole fact that Umakanth is studying in Sinagpore? seriously, you really need to work on your research skills, else you'll get chewed up if you were to argue before a court or negotiate against other lawyers!
on a more serious note - i agree that the process doesn't seem to have been transparent, and there doesn't seem to have been sufficient public debate on the need for (and the contents of) an exam. the whole thing could and should have been handled better.
however, to jump from that to allegations on cronysim/corruption is a stretch. i assume that all the people who've posted here are lawyers/law students. one request please. do try and organise your arguments in a rational and cogent manner, this will help you in your work and career. leave wild allegations and baseless comments to arnab, barkha and others.
if anyone is feeling left out, please write back, i shall try and come up with something to question your assumptions/insult you as well :-)