Bar, Bench & Litigation
NLIU comes of age, gets first senior counsel in P&H with Gaurav Chopra (‘03 batch), more certain to follow
A 2003 graduate from NLIU Bhopal, Gaurav Chopra, has joined the still-tiny but fast-growing club of senior counsel from national law universities (NLUs) by getting bestowed the senior counsel’s gown by the Punjab & Haryana high court, in a round of 27 elevations.
Delhi HC designates 55 new seniors, including ex-law firmers Percy, Satvik Varma
BCI calls young judicial officers ‘incapable, inept, impolite’, vows to fight for 3-year-min practice before judges’ exam
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has announced its intention of banning fresh law graduates from joining the judicial services directly and instead making them slog it out in the courts for three years first.
Pro-liberalisation senior counsel Harish Salve picks up England’s equivalent QC tag after 6 years part-time in London
BCI: No SC access until 4 years trial & HC exp • Make CLE compulsory • Ban on electing ‘errant arrogant criminals’ to BCs
According to The Leaflet, the Bar Council of India (BCI) has made an announcement that it was “seriously considering” introducing reforms by 2020, which would require:
Senior counsel @Sanjayuvacha Hedge boosts open-source Twitter-rival Mastodon post legal notice over platform ban
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, who has been one of Twitter’s more prolific and active lawyers (with 37,330 tweets as of 2015 and 98,000 followers more recently), has been banned from the platform and has sent a legal notice to the social media giant, according to The Print.
GLC, DU, JGLS-grad lawyers’ phones hacked in prohibitively expensive cyber attacks
At least three Indian lawyers’ smartphones have allegedly been hacked since May 2019 with elite cyber-weapons sold to various governments and security services by Israeli company NSO Group, which has been sued by Facebook this week in a California court over NSO-connected hacking campaigns allegedly exploiting WhatsApp vulnerabilities against 1,400 activists gl(of whom at least 19 are based in India).
Fresh senior counsel Ritin Rai (DU ‘95) takes tenancy at UK barristers chambers 7KBW
Senior counsel and 1995 Delhi University law graduate Ritin Rai, who was bestowed the senior counsel title by the Supreme Court earlier this year, has joined London barristers’ chambers 7 King’s Bench Walk as a door tenant, according to its press release.
Ram Jethmalani, indomitable doyen of courtroom craft & drama, dies at 95
Legendary senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, one of the most outspoken and eloquent storytellers of the bar, passed away early this morning, according to the PTI at age 95, a week before his 96th birthday on 14 September.
NLS 96 grad Shekhar Bobby Saraf becomes Cal HC permanent judge
Shekhar Bobby Saraf, an NLSIU Bangalore 1996 graduate, has been one of five appointed as permanent judge of the Calcutta high court in the latest law ministry notification of judicial appointments.
S&R partner Rajat Sethi’s memories of Arun Jaitley: A remarkable man
Over the last several days, many have remembered Mr. Arun Jaitley as a politician, as a person, as a mentor, as a friend, as a colleague, and as a devoted family man.
NLU grad IRS officer arrested for allegedly taking Rs 2.5 lakh bribe
CNLU Patna 2011 graduate and CGST Department assistant commissioner Chandan Prakash Pandey has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly taking a Rs 2.5 lakh bribe to from the owner of a flour mill to correct tax records, according to PTI and other reports.
’We are not saying that rape is a good thing... but’: BCI’s MK Mishra explains ‘spirit of justice’ (for men)
Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra in an interview with ThePrint has elaborated on his latest campaign to fight for ‘men’s rights’.
‘We have great respect for our women but...’: BCI chief Mishra calls for ‘men too’ march for CJI fanboys, watering down of rape laws
Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra has apparently written yet another open letter calling for a lot of different things at once, reported Bar & Bench:
Young advocate Utsav Bains shares story of bribes, conspiracy to help bury CJI with complaint, makes case for due process even stronger
Advocate Utsav Bains, who is practising in Delhi and has previously appeared for a rape survivor in the ultimately successful conviction of Asaram Bapu, has written a public Facebook post alleging that an anonymous person, possibly a ‘fixer’, had offered him Rs 1.5 crores to represent the sexual harassment complainant against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, in order to force him to resign.
550+ lawyers don’t blindly jump to defence of CJI Gogoi, demand inquiry, unlike the bar’s usual suspects [UPDATE-1]
Not missing a beat after the press conference-cum-special bench-cum-non-order the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi had in a hurry constituted on Saturday to caution the media about reporting the sexual harassment allegations against him, functionaries of the bar had immediately jumped to his defense.
How SC turned back the clock & CJI discovered yet another worst possible way of dealing with sex harass complaint against him
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi has instituted a special bench this morning, at 10:30am in Court Number 1, headed by himself alongside justices Arun Mishra and Sanjeev Khanna, to vociferously refute sexual harassment allegations made against him by a complainant in a letter sent to all Supreme Court judges.
Supreme Court designates huge bunch of (also younger) lawyers to senior counsel (incl. at least 5 NLS grads)
The Supreme Court has elevated 38 lawyers to senior counsel status, a list that unusually also includes some bright up-and-comers and also several graduates of NLSIU Bangalore, which has become a semi-regular fixture in the senior counsel stakes.*
BCI misspells Justice ‘Chemeleshwar’ throughout lengthy post-retirement press release diatribe, on behalf of ‘99.9% of lawyers’
The Bar Council of India (BCI) has issued a press release slamming recently retired Justice J Chelameswar for speaking to the press after his retirement, explaining why he (and others) took the unprecedented step in January of calling a press conference criticising the conduct of their Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra.
3 months after 7-year-late election, Bihar confirms reelection of ex-BCI chair Manan Kumar Mishra + 24 to state bar council
Nearly three months after overdue elections were held on the Supreme Court’s order for the Bihar bar council on 27 March, the vote counting is now complete and has confirmed the 25 winning members, including the re-election of senior counsel and ex-Bar Council of India (BCI) chairman Manan Kumar Mishra.