In my view if somebody is employed as professor, then the person shouldn’t be admitted to bar as per rules. Practically, I’ve seen they are not employed as full time professors but referred as guest faculty.

Kindly refer to Hon’ble Supreme Court of India’s decision in Satish Kumar Sharma v. Bar Council of H.P.[(2001) 2 SCC 365].

Also, two responses from Facebook:

Anand Upadhyay wrote: “yes its possible.. The only condition is that the teaching job should not be permanent one. There are few practising lawyers who are teaching in Allahabad University on temporary basis.”

Animesh Haji Ehsaan Singh wrote: “a person wIthout a permanent employment as a faculty can practIce. Th possIble way Is to, conduct classes as a guest faculty than an employed one under th unIversIty.”

One point worth making perhaps is, would the bar council ever actually crack down on this or enforce it? I understand the idea of wanting to do things by the book, but in my limited experience the BCI is also very laid back about enforcing in-house lawyers’ practising certificates, lawyers doing side businesses, etc.

Thank you all for your replies.

As a background, I am currently a professor of Computer Science, however I am enrolled in a L.L.B program and would like to practice law upon graduation. My primary motivation in studying law is in doing pro bono work. I believe that access to good legal representation has increasingly become a rich man’s privilege and I would like to do my part, however insignificant in correcting this state of affairs.

@kianganz regarding the actual enforcement of the rules, I agree its definitely possible that the Bar Council is not strict about enforcement, however what would be the result if, at a future time the Bar Council did crack down ? Would it result in permanent disbarment ?

As an aside, I find the ‘non salaried’ requirement absurd. Why on earth does the Bar Council care about what I do outside the courts ? I don’t buy the argument that if an advocate has alternative employment he or she cannot devote enough time to the profession. If an advocate is not capable, he or she will struggle to get clients regardless of the number of hours a day spent being an ‘advocate’. Conversely, a good advocate will have no lack of clients even if the time spent per day is 1 hours.

I think all of these archaic rules and regulations display the provincial nature of the BCI upper brass who are concerned first and foremost with maintaining their ‘authority’. Everything else is relegated to the rubbish heap. This attitude is directly observable in the parlous state of legal education in India, where apart from a handful of elite institutions, law schools are rigid, autocratic institutions promoting rote learning which churn out ‘lawyers’ who can’t even write a simple brief and find the AIBE to be a challenging exam!!

I agree with view of Anish, though I would elucidate it more. As per the rule 3 of 1979 rules, an advocate may, while practicing, take up teaching of law provided it is not for more than 3 hours daily. Now the important thing to notice herein is that it contemplates the words ‘Advocate’ first and then it says that an advocate may take up teaching of law. So basically this rule is applicable to persons who have already enrolled as an advocate before taking up teaching and not otherwise. If you are already into this profession, then in my view you cannot be enrolled as an advocate. Then again, this rule contemplates an advocate to take up teaching law and not any other subject. In my view, going through the BCI rules may not be sufficient and you should also go through the service rules governing your present job as a lecturer.

Ya it might be illegal but its not bad if someone do this for survival.

yes.

part time teaching of law subjects, but not more than 4 hrs. per day is permissible

as per BCI rules.

-amit mittal, advocate

mittal law associates (solicitors and advocates)

email: (amit_mittal381980[at-the-rate-of]yahoo[dot]co.in

) mobile: 09928321642

hello…my name is enrolled as an advocate and i do a teaching job in NGO as a English teacher …so is it legally?…PLZ HELP

Hello

I’m Andrew, yes part time teaching of law subjects but not more than 3 hrs.

Hi,

I also wanted to know at to whether a practicing Advocate can teach law on a part time basis in Private Coaching Institutes for CLAT or JMFC etc. Because the rule only mentions universities as defined under UGC Act

Moreover, what will happen if the faculty is being remunerated on the basis of number of students he will teach i.e. commission basis and not in form of fixed salary. Then whether it will be considered as business and not as part-time employment

[quote=“Varun Sridhar” post=12236]Hi,

I also wanted to know at to whether a practicing Advocate can teach law on a part time basis in Private Coaching Institutes for CLAT or JMFC etc. Because the rule only mentions universities as defined under UGC Act[/quote]