The Bar Council of India (BCI) has rejected applications to renew the licences of approximately 50 law colleges at its meetings over the past weeks, as part of chairman Gopal Subramanium’s stated aim to reduce the total number from more than 900 to less than 200.

Procedural delays were set to derail the discussions on the merits in the All India bar examination court challenges, as the Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing in the transfer petition to 20 October after ordering the issue of fresh notices to the respondents and the shifting of the case to the Delhi High Court was not mentioned.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has published the preparation materials and model questions and answers for the new all India bar exam that is proposed to take place on 5 December 2010.

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he Bar Council of India’s (BCI) ambitious weekend meeting decided to introduce draft lawyers’ ethics guidelines in two days and how to begin decreasing the number of law colleges in India. But due to time constraints the body had to postpone its decision on the entry of foreign law firms in respect of the Chennai writ petition, as well as Trilegal’s queries about converting to a limited liability partnership (LLP).

Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Gopal Subramanium said that the BCI would crack down on any recently enrolled lawyers who were practising law without having passed the proposed bar exam and that law colleges whose graduating law students did not take the bar exam could be derecognised.

The bar council of Maharashtra and Goa said today that it would oppose the proposed all India bar exam after a decision reached by 11 chairmen of different state bar councils on 31 July, although the body admitted that unless the Bar Council of India (BCI) or a court intervened the exam would go ahead.

The tentacles of the “pseudo-lawyers” have driven the bar to the wall, claims advocate and partner Elizabeth Seshadri. Is a bar exam enough to cure the setting rot or do we need a test that reaches far more deeply?

The Supreme Court today outright dismissed one public interest litigation (PIL) against the bar exam filed by a Delhi University law graduate and issued directions to combine the pending national high court writ petitions against the bar exam for hearing before the Delhi High Court, as Friday’s Bonnie FOI case hearing was adjourned.

Rodney Ryder has merged his practice with young start-up law firm ANM Global, spinning off his Scriboard company into a separate entity for legal education.

It appears there is just no winning in India for foreign law firms.

As though the opposition to them practising law here is not enough, the Indian Revenue Services (IRS) too are making their life hard.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has responded to common queries and concerns about the bar exam, explaining that the BCI is discussing options to ameliorate lot of 2010 batch graduates, that legal challenges will cause no shift in timetable, and that the Rs 1,300 test fee is reasonable, answering questions relating to Rainmaker’s appointment to assist in the exam.

A writ petition filed in the Madya Pradesh High Court by a final year student of University Institute of Law in Jabalpur has increased the tally of reported cases challenging the all India bar exam to at least 10.

A group of law graduates from Delhi University have invoked the Supreme Court’s writ jurisdiction under Article 32 of the Indian Constitution as two students of the NUALS Kochi have filed yet another petition before the Kerala High Court against the all India Bar Examinations.

A High Court bench in Maharashtra has ordered the petitioner students of Manikchand Pahade Law College to join the Bar Council of India vs Bonnie FOI Law College and Ors proceedings to set aside their grievances against the all india bar examin while it is understood that the BCI has written to the CJI to seek transfer of such pending petition to the Supreme Court (SC).

“I don’t think students are against the exam, only against the waiting period,” says solicitor general and Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Gopal Subramanium, who is the architect of the proposed all India bar exam. The exam remains controversial because this year’s final year students would not be able to practice law until 2011. Legally India asks the BCI chief some of the questions that have preoccupied students.

Allen & Overy’s (A&O) best friend Trilegal’s international finance course at NLSIU Bangalore has this year also invited 40 students from other national law schools and will be held at Nalsar Hyderabad next year, being set to rotate between law schools year-by-year.

The bar examination has faced further hurdles in a fourth court case by a Karnataka student, while a group of protesting final year students representing a number of law schools met law minister Veerappa Moily last Monday evening, calling the exam an unfortunate decision taken in haste that could cost jobs.

The Karnataka High Court has issued notices to NLSIU Bangalore and the state government after admitting a public interest litigation (PIL) that sought a reservation of seats in the national law school for students residing in the state, according to newspaper reports.

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.

Six law graduates have filed a writ petition challenging that the Bar Council of India’s (BCI) proposed all India bar exam should not prevent them from practising in courts.