A Chennai advocate and a retired mechanical engineer from Ahmedabad have independently filed two further writ petitions claiming that the Bar Council of India (BCI) is violating the 1961 Advocates Act and India’s constitution by holding an all-India bar exam.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) is in talks with government agency Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) to automate BCI internal processes and design cost-effective or free anti-plagiarism software for law schools and other legal writers.

Graduating students can work as “trainee advocates” with advocates or law firms but will not be able to “practice” law until they pass the all-India bar exam, the Bar Council of India (BCI) said in a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) published today, noting also that seniority of practice would be unaffected.

There was a brief but heavy 4am pre-Monsoon shower in Mumbai on Tuesday morning but the real storm was faced by the Bar Council of India (BCI) this week.

There was a brief but heavy 4am pre-Monsoon shower in Mumbai on Tuesday morning but the real storm was faced by the Bar Council of India (BCI) this week.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has announced that it will carry out its all-India bar exam in association with legal market services provider Rainmaker as a multiple choice test of 100 questions on 5 December 2010 that will require a “basic amount of preparation” to pass, although the BCI admitted that graduating students would probably not be able to practice in courts until 31 December.

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.

The proposed bar exam will be an open book test exclusively giving litigating lawyers a “license to practice” but would not affect transactional lawyers, proposed solicitor general and Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Gopal Subramaniam on Saturday, noting that the exam could also apply retroactively to unenrolled graduates from past years.

Indian legal education finds itself at a pivotal time, with repercussions beyond just the student community. Yesterday, a number of NUJS Kolkata final year students led by professor Shamnad Basheer petitioned the Bar Council of India (BCI) to postpone the new bar exam until 2011, instead of holding it in August as originally envisaged.

Today, in a surprise U-turn, the BCI has agreed to push back the exam to December 2010.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has agreed to postpone the planned bar exam to December, BCI counsel KK Venugopal told the Supreme Court today in the case BCI v Bonnie FOI Law College & Ors, admitting the logistical challenge of holding the exam before September in a surprise U-turn.

The new bar exam for law graduates is understood to be held in late August with the Bar Council of India (BCI) set to announce the syllabus in a matter of days. Meanwhile, NUJS Kolkata final year students and Professor Shamnad Basheer have petitioned BCI chairman and solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam to postpone the exam until 2011 because they argue it prejudices students and is unconstitutional without amending the Advocates Act 1961.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has been pivotal in the debate on the entry of foreign law firms. The Solicitor general and newly elected BCI chairman Gopal Subramaniam tells Legally India about what has to happen before foreign lawyers can practice here.

Solicitor general and newly elected Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Gopal Subramaniam talks to Legally India about his top priorities and pushes for a bar exam and continuing legal education, in this first part of a two-part interview.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has a new chairman.

Unusually, this time the BCI did not select someone from amongst their elected midst but opted for ex-officio BCI member and solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam. The SG has ambitious plans such as the introduction of an Indian bar exam.

But for foreign firms hoping for a change in breeze with a new administration, the forecast remains uncomfortable. Much like Delhi and Mumbai’s heat at the moment.

Solicitor general of India and ex-officio Bar Council of India (BCI) member Gopal Subramanium was unanimously elected to serve as the BCI chairman for two years, following Suraj Narain Prasad Sinha in the position.

K K Sareen has been elected chairman and Jaiveer Nagar vice-chairman of the Delhi Bar Council while Rajinder Singh Rana has been declared member delegate for the Bar Council of India (BCI).

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that the Bar Councils of India too are subject to Right to Information Act (RTI), following hot on the heels of the Office of the Chief Justice of India last week falling under the Act last week . Various papers reported that the Bar Councils would ...

Calcutta University students are still waiting for their LLB exams as the University has not finalised its the new exams as required by the Bar Council of India (BCI). Local Kolkata paper the Telegraph wrote today that although exams were meant to be held in December 2009, the Calcutta University ha...

A quiet but happy revolution is taking place at the Indian Bar, argues Elizabeth Seshadri. But while the lethargic acceptance of the legal system’s decay is slowly being shaken off, the pace of change must increase drastically.

Law minister Veerappa Moily has weighed into the debate over who should regulate legal education, opposing Human Resources Development (HRD) minister Kapil Sibal’s wide-ranging plans to take control of the sector. The Times of India reported yesterday that Moily said: “So far as introducing an acade...