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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Legal education plays a pompous role in promoting social justice.
Education or awareness of laws, characterize the lawyers as 'Social
engineers'. Legal education has an important role to play in the
establishment of law-abiding society. Excellence in legal education
and research is extremely important, because it will help shape the
quality of the rule of law. Imparting of legal education has always
been considered as one to the noblest profession.1
Legal education in Indian law schools has traditionally been confined
to classroom lectures; textbooks; the law journals and the library.
Labeled as a professional course by the universities, like any other
professional course, it is sought to prepare a class of professionals.
Expected outcome of the law schools is preparation; rather
grooming of students for the needs of legal profession. Yet there is
no denying the fact that there is a very wide gap between the law
schools teachings and the courts, i.e. the present school and the
expected future office of these students. Knowing fully well that the
maximum numbers of law students do enter the profession and that
this infact was the primary aim for even establishing the law
schools; the majority of Indian law schools fail to prepare
adequately the students for the needs and challenges of their future
offices. The focus currently is on doctrinal and theoretical issues to
the exclusion of those skills necessary for the competent practice of
law. Theory is necessary for understanding and for the expansion
and extension of analysis, but it is alone not sufficient. Proceeding
1
CLINICAL EDUCATION FOR THE LAW STUDENTS. RANGARAJAN Judge, Delhi High Court, Voice of Justice by A.R. Lakshmanan
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from the abstraction of theory without any validation in practice of
the propositions offered fails the test of improving the practice of
law2
(a) Importance of Legal Education
'Law is the cement of society and an essential medium of change'.
Its study promotes accuracy of the expression, facility in arguments
and skill in interpreting the written words, as well as some
understanding of social values. It is pivotal duty of everyone to
know the law. Ignorance of law is not innocence but a sin which
cannot be excused. Thus, legal education is imperative not only to
produce good lawyers but also to create cultured law abiding
citizens, who are inculcated with concepts of human values and
human rights. A well administered and socially relevant legal
education is a sine qua non for a proper dispensation of justice.
Giving legal education a human face would create cultured law
abiding citizens who are able to serve as professionals and not
merely as business men. The quality and standard of legal
education acquired at the law school is reflected through the
standard of Bar and Bench and consequently affects the legal
system. The primary focus of law schools should be to identify the
various skills that define a lawyer and then train and equip its
students with requirements of the field of law
(b) Regulation of Legal Education
Legal profession along with the medical and other professions also
falls under List III (Entry 26). However, the Union is empowered to
co-ordinate and determines standards in institutions for higher
education or research and scientific and technical institutions
2 Clinical Legal Education , By Poonam Saxena, Reader, Faculty of Law, D.U.,
Delhi, Legal Education in India in 21st
Century Problem and Prospects By R.K. Roy
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besides having exclusive power, inter alia, pertaining to educational
institutions of national importance, professional, vocational or
technical training and promotion of special studies or research.
Empowered by the Constitution to legislate in respect of legalprofession, Parliament enacted the Advocates Act, 1961, which
brought uniformity in the system of legal practitioners in the form of
Advocates Act and provided for setting up of the Bar Council of
India and State Bar Councils in the States.
The University Grants Commission has in the course of time evinced
interest in improving legal education and has taken various steps
towards that end, through adequate funding, creation of senior
posts and other means. As suggested by Honble Justice A.M.
Ahmadi in the Chief Justices Conference held in 1993, There
should be proper evaluation of papers in the examination. The
students should be trained to draft pleadings at the college level.
The standard of English should be improved.
Under Rule 9 (1) to (4) of Section A, Part-IV of The Bar Council of
India Rules (under The Advocates Act 1961) deals with the subjects
to be covered to complete the respective courses.
Section A, Rule 9 (4)
(4) Six Months of Practical Training be imparted and Practical
Training will include the following Compulsory Papers:
1. Moot Court, Pre-Trail Preparations and Participation in Trial
proceedings.
2. Drafting, Pleading and Conveyancing.
3. Professional Ethics, Accountancy for Lawyers and Bar Bench
Relations.
4. Public Interest Lawyering, Legal Aid and Para Legal Services.
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(c) Legal Education, towards modernization
Prior to the introduction of five year law course, most of the
students who performed well in their Intermediate Education
aspired to study medicine, engineering, computers, businessmanagement and accounting. Law as a profession and legal
education as a discipline was not a popular choice of the students.
Unlike India, the situation prevalent in England, America and in
many other developed countries is convincingly different. The
admissions to law schools in these parts of the world are highly
competitive. The end result is that the 'creams' among students opt
for law by choice and not as the last resort and thus richly
contribute their shares to the society as lawyers, judges, para-
legals and academicians. Though, five year law schools are doing
their bit to bring about a change; but more effectively the
perspective of prospective law students can be changed by a
healthy pre-legal education at the school level.
The conventional role of a lawyer is to step in after the event takes
place, in order to resolve dispute and dispense justice to the
aggrieved party. In the changed scenario, the additional roles
envisaged are that of policy planner, business advisor, negotiator
among interest groups, experts in articulation and communication
of ideas, mediator, lobbyist, law reformer etc. In this the era of
information capitalism, economic liberalization and WTO, legal
profession in India has to cater to the needs of a new brand of legal
consumer/client namely the foreign companies or collaborations.
The law colleges are required to make strategic plans that set out a
clear vision of justice delivery and also address the emerging
realities of the market. Goal of the law schools should be to build a
'system of legal education' that:-
1. Encourage Clinical training
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2. Promote an inter-disciplinary approach of law with other social
sciences.
3. Encourage proficiency in languages.
4. Personal Characteristics5. Promotes acquaintance with new technological means
6. Develop a critical outlook
Legal education is an investment which if wisely made will produce
most beneficial results for the nation and accelerate the pace of
development. Of late the role of a lawyer in a common law system
is more than a skilled legal mechanic; he acts as a harmonizer and
a reconciler. The legal education granted at the law schools should
be aligned to the conventional and contemporary needs of the legal
profession.3
The observations of the Gajendra Gadkar Committee on the
Reorganization of Legal Education in the University of Delhi are very
relevant in this context. According to the Committee, "the aims of
Legal Education would be to make the students of law good lawyers
who have absorbed and mastered the theory of law, its philosophy,
its functions and its role in a democratic society.4
3
http://www.123oye.com/job-articles/cyber-law/legal-education.htm4 Law as taught and law as practiced delivered at the B.H.U. at Varanasi on 5thNov. 2004,Academic Enlightment
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CHAPTER 2
CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION CONCEPT AND MEANING
In the past it was sufficient for those reading law to restrict their
knowledge to the theories of law, codes or decided cases. However,
in order to meet the new challenges of the present legal system, it
is imperative that the law schools provide clinical legal education.
Justice must become central to the law curriculum and community-
based learning must give the desired value orientation in the
making of a lawyer.
In most countries the teaching of law, like many academic
disciplines, does not require law teachers to undergo a pedagogical
skills training course. The result is that most new law teachers
simply adopt the habits and teaching methods of their former
teachers. This usually means adopting the lecture method
according to educational psychologists one of the most ineffective
ways of imparting knowledge to law students.
The age old practice of theoretical study basing on non-clinical and
para-clinical methods in the field of legal education is not complete,
if the law students are not imparted training in clinical legal
education. The traditional legal education was confined to class
room teaching with the aid of text books, journals, periodicals and
reported cases. Now importance is given to groom the students for
the need of legal profession.
'Fortunate is the field of higher education which can test its
intellectual perceptions in the arena of real life: and which can, in
the process, use all the energies of its students and teachers-
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intellectual, emotional, and physical. Truly this is education, in the
real sense of the word.5
Clinical legal experience is fast becoming a common offering in lawschool programs. The teaching of law practice skills in a real life
context offers the opportunity for our law schools to do an even
better job of preparing students for their careers as lawyers.
Clinical legal education is the need of the hour. It is not simply a
pedagogical method but the philosophy about the role of lawyers in
the society. It is a liberal, radical and reformative method having
the programmes in the process of development. This method keeps
the legal system as a vehicle for change. This philosophy builds up
faith in the legal system as a means of reform. The clinical legal
education programmes provide a context for testing legal theories.
This method sensitizes the law students towards ethical and moral
responsibilities to perform pro bono public work so that they can
provide services to the communities through public interest
lawyering.
The present need is to let students do things rather than merely
hear things.6. The fact that studies have shown that traditional legal
studies result in a "dulling of student motivation and altruistic
values" clearly indicates a need to 'illuminate legal education'.7 One
method of doing this is to introduce clinical legal education methods
and the interactive forms of learning associated with it when
teaching substantive and procedural law to law students
5 William Pincus, educating the lawyer: Clinical Experince As an integral part of
Legal Education, DOMINICK R. VETRI Professor of Law, University of Oregon
6 and the same has been borne out by studies culminating in the 'Learning
Pyramid' The Learning Pyramid indicates that the rate of memory retentionincreases as more learner-centered interactive teaching methods are used.7 Krieger, 2002:114
http://lowery.tamu.edu/Teaming/Morgan1/sld023.htmhttp://lowery.tamu.edu/Teaming/Morgan1/sld023.htmhttp://lowery.tamu.edu/Teaming/Morgan1/sld023.htmhttp://lowery.tamu.edu/Teaming/Morgan1/sld023.htm -
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The term, "clinical legal education" was first used by Jerome Frank,
in 1933 in United States in his article, "Why not a Clinical Lawyer
School"8 and has since then been the focus of attention for
improvement of legal education and for creating a synthesisbetween the law schools and the legal profession.
Clinical legal education can be simply defined as experiential
learning whereby law students gain practical skills and deliver legal
services in a social justice environment. Clinical legal education
means education that is experience-based and focuses on
appropriate lawyer roles, legal institutions, professional
responsibility, and the theory or practice of legal representation or
dispute resolution. Clinical legal education is basically practical legal
training through moot-court, mock-trial, participation of the
students in ADR and in public legal education i.e. mass legal
awareness programmes, chamber practice with the lawyers,
counseling, participating in the conduct of life cases, short of
appearing in the courts. They are to be trained through Lok Adalats,
Legal aid clinic, Legal literacy project, direct representation of
clients before selected courts, tribunals and agencies. Other
activities, such as legislative drafting and community participation
can be chosen as well. Clinical legal education is learning through
doing, or by the experience of acting as a lawyer. Hence, this is
experiential learning.
The clinical legal education has gained a new momentum in the past
few years and capable of many definitions. In a very narrow sense
it means the involvement of law students in the representation of
actual clients as a part of their legal education. In a broader sense,
the term includes, more structured methods of instruction which
emphasized the learning of "practical skills" in addition to
8 81 UPA. L. Rev. 907 (1933)
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substantive and procedural rules of law, usually in ways which
involves students active participation beyond that normally found in
lecture classes and tutorials. In short the very concept of clinical
legal education is based on "learning by doing. It is described as aprogramme of great promise. The students gain exposure to actual
cases and to the lawyers problem in dealing with litigants.9
Clinical legal education merits separate treatment, for it is not
merely a methodology of teaching or learning, it is also providing
service to the people and, hence, more practical and noble. When
young students at the formative stage of their career are exposed
to community legal services, they get sensitized to the problems
and needs especially of the marginalized sections of the people, and
feel motivated to continue to work for them when they enter
professional life. Clinical Legal Education extends to all fields of law
which are taught in the law schools and universities.
Apart from lecturers and class-room discussions, CLE essentially
includes Moot-Court preparation and role enactments for the law
students. During the process students are confronted with real life
situations and play the role of lawyers to solve the problems. They
do this by interacting with clients or each other to identify and
resolve legal issues, and are subjected to critical review by their
teachers or peers. Clinical legal education enables law students to
play an active role in the learning process and to see how the law
operates in real life situations.10 Clinical legal education
programmes usually take the form of 'live client' or 'street law'
(legal literacy) type clinics.
9
Legal Aid and Legal Education in India By B.R. SHARMA*
10 Brayne, Duncan & Grimes, 1998:1
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Clinical legal education provides law students with the tools that lay
the foundations for their future careers as lawyers. While traditional
legal education tends to focus on the theoretical content of the law
and to be knowledge-based, clinical legal education goes furtherand provides law students with the necessary skills for legal
practice. It also inculcates values such as the duty of lawyers to
become involved in social justice issues in society, and to display
professional responsibility while practicing law. Many of these skills
and values can also be incorporated into the teaching of substantive
and procedural law. Thus, clinical legal education programme
encourages law schools to expand their educational objectives to
more completely serve the needs of their students and to provide
instruction about the knowledge, skills, and values that will enable
their students to become competent legal problem solvers,
This craft contemplates a range of skills and values commensurate
with the development of professionalism, such as the ability to solve
legal problems through various dispute resolution devises, the
provision of competent representation, the recognition and
resolution of ethical dilemmas, and the promotion of justice,
fairness and morality.
Clinical legal education requires students to take an active part in
the learning process. They assume a degree of control over their
own education and they see law in its real-life context. Learning by
doing exposes students to real or realistic settings in which both
basic concepts and substantive rules can be studied. At the same
time, students may address the practical, ethical and policy issues
surrounding a given problem. The clinical legal education
programme is providing a vehicle for the introduction to an
enhancement of skills relevant to the study and practice of law.
Students taking clinical courses are encouraged, as an explicit
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educational objective, to reflect critically on the content of the
experience and to redefine their needs and strategies in
consequence.
(a) CHARACTERSTICS OF CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION
The following are the characterstic features of the clinical legal
education.
(i) The students are to experience the impact of law on the life of
the people.
(ii) The students are to be exposed to the actual milieu in which
dispute arise and to enable them to develop a sense of social
responsibility in professional work.
(iii) The students are to be acquainted with the lawyering process
in general and the skills of advocacy in particular.
(iv) The students are to critically consume knowledge from outside
the traditional legal arena for better delivery of legal services.
(v) The students are to develop research aptitude, analytical
pursuits and communicating skills.
(vi) They are to understand the limit and limitations of the formal
legal system and to appreciate the relevance and the use of
alternate modes of lawyering.
(vii) They are to imbibe social and humanistic values in relation to
law and legal process while following the norms of
professional ethics.
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(b) OBJECTIVES OF CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION
The objective of clinical legal education is to develop the perception,
the attitudes, the responsibility and the skills to become a lawyer
after the completion of the course from the law schools. They arebeing given the training to acquire knowledge in the non-clinical
subjects like language, history, economics, political science,
sociology and philosophy. This would motivate a student of law to
undertake the responsibility to face the complicated problems and
to analyze the fact with the help of the study in literature, arts,
science, economics, commerce and other relevant subjects, The
objective of the clinical education is radical, reformative and
dynamic.
Clinical education has a broad range of impact upon law
students. The objectives of clinical work fall basically into five
areas:-
a) Legal skills development,
b) System operation knowledge,
c) Growth of professional responsibility,
d) Self-knowledge,
e) Human relations understanding.
(a)Legal Skills Development:
Training is necessary for law students to develop skills in
writing and legal research. In the recent years the law schools
are giving much emphasis on legal writing, preparation of
memorandums, deeds, documents, appellate briefs, analysis
of problems and pleadings. The underlying rationale behind
these activities is the inculcation of good research and also to
develop writing skill during the early career of a law student.
This foundation would help him to be proficient in any branch
of law.
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(b)System Operation Knowledge:
The law students obtain the skill development benefits of
actual participation as well as they are prompted to
understand critically and systematically the mechanism ofoperation from the institution in which they are participating.
Institutional exposure enables the students to evaluate more
carefully about the recent literature concerning in the field of
legal institution. All the law schools are to develop a system to
enable the students to acquire knowledge through first hand
observation.
(c)Growth of professional Responsibility:
This course includes analysis of lawyers responsibilities in the
arena of social problem. But the courses on legal education
are incomplete without knowledge on ethical issues. Some
times the students complain of non-relevance of the course.
But new insights can be created through clinical programme
where students are engaged in actual cases rather than the
dramatic learning experience of classrooms. To find out a
solution to a problem forces the student to choose among
values, including his emotional consideration.
(d)Self-knowledge:
Learning about ones self is a continuous process. From
professional point of view, self-knowledge is important in
understanding ones abilities and limitations. In the clinical
programme, the students are encouraged to analyze, probe
and evaluate their performance in the real life they encounter.
Students can confront and accept, modify or reject or at least
recognize the existence of values that will guide their
professional lives and reactions to people and problems.
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(e)Human-Relations Understanding:
The practice of law can not be accomplished in isolation from
the interaction of the people. Although the practitioner knows
that the client is a significant factor in any legal problem. Thestudents are to be trained in order to develop their zeal for
logical purity and not to ignore the human aspect of legal
problems. Clinical legal education programme provides an
opportunity to prescribe remedy for this omission. Developing
keen lawyer client skills concomitantly results in gaining an
understanding of how human beings are inter-related.
Similarly, acquiring knowledge about ones self in the context
of law practices, involves learning about human relations11
(c) Clinical teaching methods
Although clinical legal education learning methods are traditionally
used to teach such lawyering skills as interviewing and counseling,
legal writing and drafting, fact finding, case analysis, trial
preparation and trial advocacy, they can also be used to teach
substantive and procedural law courses.
Depending on the nature of the law school's academic programme it
may not always be possible to replace lectures entirely with clinical
teaching methods. However, where there is scope for small group
work, such as tutorials or practical sessions, it is possible to
introduce a wide variety of interactive clinical legal education
teaching methods in order to illuminate the substantive and
procedural law curriculum for law students.
Some of the more common interactive learning methods include the
following:
11 EDUCATING THE LAWYER: CLINICAL EXPERIENCE AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF
LEGAL EDUCATIONDOMINICK R. VETRI Professor of Law, University of Oregon
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role plays simulations moots mock trials case studies small group discussions debates 'taking a stand' 'thinking on your feet' the PRES formula games triads 'fishbowls'12
This concept of justice education that is clinical education in the
field of legal education means that the law school curriculum should
entail certain programs like Lok Adalats, Legal Aid & Legal Literacy
and para-legal training. The complementary teaching methodology
of learning by doing and the conventional classroom teaching,
through the law school clinics, help in developing the advocacy skills
in the law students. 'Mock' trials and Moot court competitions,
structured as court trial; client interviewing and counseling
sessions; legal research; editing of law journals; legal drafting and
conveyancing; court visits etc. in the curriculum is one of the ideal
ways to facilitate performance based education. It is a means of
improving in students the basic skills such as the skills of critical
thinking, presentation skills, participation skills, the skills to work as
a team, the leadership quality, in addition to the boost in students
knowledge of law
(d) Significance Of Clinical Legal Education
12 ibid
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The question before us, is - is a student ready to face the world
after he graduates in 'Law. Unfortunately we find that he is
generally not able to cope with problems which face him. It is often
said that law in books and law in practice are quite different fromeach other. This in effect means that teachers are not equipping,
the students adequately to make them confident enough to face the
court straightaway after passing out.13 The proper place for training
the law students is neither the law school alone nor the courts
alone. They are to work together. Neither the theoretical teaching
alone nor the apprenticeship rule is desirable.
The problem of preventing inexperienced law graduates to enroll the
profession and at the same time without imposing an extra
academic year by insisting on an apprenticeship is very aptly
tackled with by the American law schools by inculcating and making
practical training as part of the three year law graduate programme.
This practical training is imparted with the help of clinical courses
and the establishment of clinics in the law school premises. The
clinical courses include a variety of courses like the client
interviewing to client counseling, professional responsibilities and
professional ethics; negotiations and mediation; the trial
techniques; preparation of cases and representation of clients by
the law students in the actual courts under the supervision of the
practicing attorneys who also happen to be law teachers.14
Hence for reorienting legal education and for making it suitable to
our needs, besides others the inclusion of clinical legal education in
LL.B. course is one necessary step. Clinical legal education denotes
13 Legal Education in India-A Point of View By Prof. T. Bhattacharya*, Journal ofthe Legal Studies
14 Supra note 2*
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the involvement of law students in the representation of the actual
clients as past of their legal education. The broader function
includes moots courses of trial advocacy, courses in legal drafting
all of which rely on orientation of lawyer client based education.15
Basic to this concept is ' learning by doing". Though classroom
method of legal education has taken prominence in majority but the
clinical legal education is not a rare example. Efforts have been
made in many countries to provide such training courses in the form
of post-graduate training course which provide training in advocacy,
drafting procedure, ethics and law office management in a class
room environment with heavy emphasis on stimulation. 16This can
be managed by the law schools themselves with the assistance of
the members of Bar and Bench. Such a course is prominent in
Canada, United States & Australia. Numerous internship programs
are functioning at American law schools involving students of local,
state and federal agencies charged with responsibilities for
consumer protection, environmental control and the enforcement of
anti-discrimination legislation.
What must be remembered is that whatever are the programmes
designed for imparting clinical training to the students, he must be
an active participant in it. He should not be a spectator or a glorified
peon. He must have a sense of professional identity and
responsibility, and must be actually involved in the activity rather
than watching it from a distance.
Clinical legal education is directed towards developing the
perceptions, the attitudes, the skills and the responsibilities which
15 Clinical Legal Education A Necessary Step, By Subhash Chandra Gupta", Legal
Education in India in 21st
Century Problem and Prospects By R.K. Roy
16 ibid
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the lawyer is expected to assume when he completes his education
in the law school. It can, therefore, be as broad and varied as the
law curriculum would allow or accommodate. It is certainly not
limited to ,the mere training in certain skills of advocacy, it haswider goals in enabling the students to understand and assimilate
responsibilities as a member of a public service in the
administration of the law, in the reform of the law, in the equitable
distribution of the legal services in society, the protection of
individual rights and public interests and in upholding the basic
elements or 'professionalism', clinical experience in law school,
therefore, is a unique opportunity ,for the students to learn under
supervision, many aspect of the curriculum essential for preparation
to think and act like a lawyer. In this connection, it is necessary to
clarify the proclaimed and ludden goals of the curriculum, of legal
education. As noted earlier, clinical teaching revolves around
student participation on legal projects, whether simulated or real.
The choice whether to base a clinical course or programme on a real
or simulated projects fundamental, and will, to a substantial degree,
be based on clinical methodology that should be used. At the same
time there are certain general principles that can guide clinical
teachers in implementing the clinical methodology for both real and
simulated projects. There is a certain richness that can be brought
to a clinical experience only by involving law students in real legal
projects as a central element of a clinical course or programme.
However, it is not enough simply to put students into a real, law
related situation, and wait for them to learn. The real work of the
clinical methodology is to refine and structure the students clinical
experiences in order to maximize their effectiveness, and to
supplement the students clinical experiences with appropriate
instruction and supervision in order to create the maximum
opportunities for learning
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The students become familiar with the technicalities of court
procedure by taking part in pre-trial preparation under the proper
supervision of an experienced law-teacher and practitioner. The
clinical education enables a law student to contribute more tohuman perspective. Students contact with poor and indigent clients
through participation to legal service clinic can contribute to a more
human perspective. This also helps in removing suspicion or
mistrust from the mind of a client belonging to the weaker sections
of the community. Further this will help giving social-orientation to
law students, and ultimately help in creating an army of legal aiders
and thereby help in promotion of social justice.17
Clinical experience in Law College, therefore, is a unique
opportunity for a student to learn under supervision, many aspects
of the 'hidden curriculum' essential for preparation to think and act
like a lawyer.
Clinical legal education is a novel and one of the most appropriate
methods of imparting legal education. Just like the knowledge of the
engineer without training in a workshop is incomplete and just like a
doctor without a practical training in a hospital or clinic may be
harmful to the patients, similarly a lawyer without clinical
experiences may not be able to serve the society to the extent of
his personal capacity and capability as well as to the extent of his
social accountability. 18
(e) Goals of Clinical Education
Clinical legal experience programmes provide different and
complimentary training unknown to the basic classroom sessions in
17 Supra note 918
Gurjeet Singh * Pooja Dhir**Clinical Legal Education in India: Some Lessons from the National Law SchoolBangalore,
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law school. On the whole the programme is a mean to avail well
organized supervised and co-ordinated field experiences as part of
an educational process. This led the students to prepare themselves
more adequately for the professional role of the lawyer. Lawstudents generally understand law reform needs. They are capable
of proposing reforming majors, but are totally frustrated over the
process of implementation. They understand the complicating policy
choices and values that operate with regard to specific problem
areas, but are never forced to choose among them in a situation
that has significant impact on people.
Learning occurs at many levels. Cognitive learning is the basic goal
of our educational institution. But the learning process is in
complete until the student has synthesized substantive concepts
and methods into his actual performance in a real life context.
Developing that synthesis is a learning process that may be
appropriately guided during one's legal education. It is under the
supervision of an educator concerned with the development of the
clinical abilities that time and energy may be spent productively on
the method and style of performance. Clinical programme provide
the opportunity for a supervised synthesis process.19
(f) Types of Clinical Programme
Introduction of Law Practice - The law practice introduction
programme permits first year law students to sit in on conferences
with clients are made to witness, discussions 'of tactics, depositions,
negotiations, pre-trial conferences, trials, and in general any type of
activity that lawyers engage in including attendance at corporate
Board meetings. Each student is assigned to a co-operating
attorney who provides the student with an opportunity to see a
19 Clinical Legal Education, Sri R.K. Roy, Legal Education in India in 21st Century
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lawyer in action. The primary value of the programme is in exposing
students to the realities of law office practice.
Legal Aid Programme- Legal aid clinics in law schools can impart thefollowing unique educational experiences.
(i) Clinical work enables the law students to learn the practice of
law including the technique of interviewing, collection of facts,
critical decision-making, preparation of legal documents, and
appreciation of evidence, examination and cross-examination of
witnesses in real life situation.
(ii) The intricate and professionally significant lawyer-client
relationship can be learnt by the young student lawyer with ease
and confidence win the setting of a legal clinic.
(iii) Clinical legal education provides essential knowledge in the
operation of legal system and its functional relationships with social,
economic and political processes. It gives him a see through to
malfunctioning and injustice involved in the legal machinery and
helps him develop perspectives on law - social change relationship
and law - justice dilemma.
(iv) Clinical education has great potentialities to transform the dull
repetitive classroom lectures into hall going situations for the
creative spirit of young minds/Education will then become a truly
participatory experience between the teacher and the taught
promoting self - development and knowledge.
(v) Law study has become the professional course for the rejects,
the mediocre and the educated unemployed and law schools have
become the breeding centers of student revolt and unrest. It is
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submitted that law school clinic has a constructive alternative to
offer to this increasing wastage in university education.
(vi) The legal clinic can enrich the general law school curriculum bypotential feed - back through the field experience of teachers and
students gathered in the course of programme with empirical data
of social sciences.
(vii) Clinical experience is likely to instill an empirical dimension to
legal research. It links law and social sciences thereby informing the
legislative, administrative and judicial process of their essential links
in management of human affairs.
(viii) Law school legal aid clinics can make substantial contribution
in the matter of aid, advice and education to the weaker sections of
the community with relatively little investment and without
elaborate institutional structure.
(ix) The prospects of legal services clinics acting as field agencies
for initiating legal reform are also very bright and if properly
coordinated, they can develop into effective two-way channel of
communication between actors and consumers of the legal system.
No doubt the clinical legal education programme as a regular part of
the law school curriculum offer significant educational opportunities,
but the successful operation of such programme basically depends
upon some factors, namely -
(a) Students enrolled in this programme should have the benefit
from the new learning experience.
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(b) Clinical teachers should prepare significant and thoroughly
developed programme of clinical institution.
(c) The members of the Bench and Bar should understand theiremerging role in aiding perspective lawyers to develop practical
legal skills.
(d) Law school and university administrators should provide the
necessary manpower and funds for clinical programme.20
(g) Programme of great Promise
It is a sad thing that the Profession on which the responsibility
ultimately rests to improve its own professional performance, has
not yet adequately realized the need for such a program and
become aware of its usefulness, so necessary to make him take on
his professional responsibility at least within a reasonably short time
after he is called to the bar is so poor, despite all intense attempts
over a decade, to reform the curriculum it seems to me that there is
no other practical way of imparting that quality of legal education
except by supplementing the efforts we are otherwise making.21
20 ibid
21 Supra note 1
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CHAPTER 3
HISTORY OF CLINICAL LEGAL EDUCATION;
A WORLDWIDE OVERVIEW
(a) History of Clinical legal education in India
Although there is no record of formal training in law, the
dispensation of justice was to be done by the king on the basis of a
self-acquired training. Justice was also administered by the King
through his appointees who in turn were persons of known integrity
and reputation of being fair and impartial.
The pattern of legal education which is in vogue in India was
transplanted by the English, after the establishment of their rule in
India. In the early days of British settlement, the justice was
administered by non-lawyers, and there was also dearth of law
knowing solicitors, lawyers etc. This state of affairs continued up till
1773. With the establishment of Supreme Court at Calcutta in 1774,
practice in law, as a profession came to be recognized, for the first
time in India.
Formal legal education in India came into existence in 1855 when
the first professorship of law was established at the Government
Ephistone College. As majority of the population was rural and
illiterate, the need was felt to bridge the gap between the existing
law and the uneducated masses crying for justice, by rendering
importance to formal legal education. In the year 1857, legal
education was introduced as a subject for teaching in three
universities in the presidency towns of Calcutta, Madras and
Bombay. Thus, a beginning of the formal legal education was made
in the sub-continent. Initially, the study of the law was not exclusive
and could be coupled with the study of arts. The system of legal
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education, which was introduced, was simple in nature and hardly
any standards or test of aptitude.
For almost a century from 1857 to 1957, a stereotyped system ofteaching compulsory subjects under a straight lecture method and
the two year course continued. The need for upgrading legal
education has been felt for long. Numerous committees were set up
periodically to consider and propose reforms in legal education. The
first commission of legal education of 1902, endeavored to improve
legal education and recommended new methods to modernize it to
meet new challenges of the ever changing society. The commission
stated that legal education could be commenced only after passing
the degree examination in arts or science and the course was
reduced to two years instead of three.
The University Education Commission was set up in 1948-49 and in
the year 1949, the Bombay Legal Education Committee was set up
to promote legal education. Later on the Bombay Legal Education
Committee,1949 recommended a three year law scheme of legal
studies which provided for two years at the university for a law
degree followed by the third year spent in the study of professional
examination ending with a professional examination conducted
either by the Bar Council or by the Council of Legal Education, the
'establishment of which was proposed by it.22
The Committee recommended that the Lecture method should be
supplemented by seminars or group discussions amongst a small
group of students and teachers on some particular topic which was
selected before hand and on which the students were expected to
have had done some reading .Further, the Committee states: "the
success of this method will depend on various factors, the
important of them being the size of the class, the number of
22 The Bombay Legal Education Committee Report,1949,p.37
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teachers in relation to the number of students, the time available to
the students and teachers, the number of lectures and the number
of subjects to taught. Group discussions should be held in each
subject amongst a group of twenty to twenty-five students
It was tried at Delhi university students but it failed because it was
divorced from other necessary elements of the system and worked
with a staff inadequate to the number of students. This system
could not yield any useful results because a proper ratio was not,
maintained between the students and the number of teachers
capable of stimulating a students interest. The committee also
suggested that moot courts and moot trials should be conducted
regularly for the future training of the lawyers.
In the year 1951 the need was felt for a unified All India Bar which
will facilitate a sense of unity among the legal professionals and the
same was the need of the hour .In furtherance of this much felt
need the All India Bar Committee was constituted by the end of
December 1951. The All India Bar Committee made certain
recommendations in 1951. Further this committee soon after
coming into operation submitted its report on March 30, 1953. It
recommended that the minimum qualification for admission to the
roll of advocates should be a law degree obtained after at least two
years study of law in the university after having first class
graduated in arts, science or commerce and a further apprentice
course of study for one year in practical subjects. The law students
were required to complete certain courses on procedural subjects
offered by the State Bar Councils and acquire practical training for
over a year under apprenticeship in the chamber of a senior lawyer
In 1954, XIVth Report of the Law Commission (Setalvad
Commission) of India discussed the status of legal education and
recognized the need for reform in the system of legal education. It
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depicted a very dismal picture of legal education. It was only from
1958, that many universities switched over to three year law degree
courses. In fact, in 1958, when the Law Commission voiced its
concern there were hardly 43 institutions preparing 20,519 studentsfor law examination. In 1959, the law commission of India
submitted a report about the state of legal education in India at that
time. The commission made a plethora of observations and
recommended that lectures should be supplemented by seminars or
group discussions. Further tutorial methods and American case
method of teaching should be adopted in India. Those who wish to
join the legal profession should be required to work with
experienced lawyers and maintain diaries and the apprentice course
should be of one year duration. Minimum attendance should be
strictly complied with and importance of moot courts and mock
trials was emphasized by the commission and stated that
apprentices should be subjected to a very stiff practical test.
Moreover bar council should arrange for lectures for the benefit of
students pursuing the course.
Empowered by the Constitution to legislate in respect of legal
profession, Parliament enacted the Advocates Act, 1961, both on
the aspect of legal education and also regulation of conduct of legal
profession and which brought uniformity in the system of legal
practitioners in the form of Advocates and provided for setting up of
the Bar Council of India and State Bar Councils in the States.
Under the Act, the Bar Council of India is the supreme regulatory
body to regulate the legal profession in India and also to ensure the
compliance of the laws and maintenance of professional standards
by the legal profession in the country. The Advocates Act, enacted
in 1961, became the Patriarch of the Legal Education system
presently in existence.
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After enactment of Advocates Act, 1961, it was noticed that there
was a mushroom growth of sub-standard law schools, with hardly
any regard to the quality of legal education. Admission to these lawschools was easy.
The Bar Council of India Rules, inducted under The Advocates Act
1961, lays down the curriculum for imparting Legal Education
throughout India and said Bar Council of India Rules have been
governing the procedural aspects of Legal Education, including, but
not restricted to the subjects to be taught, mode of examination to
be conducted, the various Degrees to be conferred on successful
students and the like. To this regard, the Bar Council of India
prescribes the minimum curriculum required to be taught in order
for an institution to be eligible for the grant of a law degree. The
Bar Council also carries on a period supervision of the institutions
conferring the degree and evaluates their teaching methodology
and curriculum and having determined that the institution meets
the required standards, recognizes the institution and the degree
conferred by it.23
During the later nineties it as felt that the apprenticeship system
was neither helping the profession nor the fresh lawyers but was
rather adding to the frustration of the lawyers. Thus it was
abolished in 1967 along with the bar examination. The abolition of
the apprenticeship system was justified as the arrangement was
unsatisfactory because of the lack of integration between the
University education in law and the practical training. The Bar
examination and the system of apprenticeship were not organized in
a manner to provide the best educational and professional
experiences to the new entrant to the Bar. The Bar Council of India
23 http://lawmin.nic.in/la/subord/bcipart4.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Council_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_degreehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_degreehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Council_of_India -
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in consultation with the universities devised a new curriculum
uniformly applicable throughout India under which the necessary
practical training was to be imparted by the universities themselves
in the course of the three year law education. But again theperformance was very unsatisfactory.
Under the scheme of legal education introduced in the late 1960s
practical training as such was not included as a compulsory part of
the law programme. Courses such as Civil Procedure, Criminal
Procedure, Evidence, Minor Acts, Conveyancing and Pleadings were
being taught mainly through the lecture method and examined
through annual written examinations like other courses. It was
possible that a practice- orientation was given to the teaching of
these subjects by the sheer accident of being taught by a
prasticizing lawyer employed as a part-time teacher. However, part-
time teachers also adopted generally the lecture method and the
student had no active, participatory obtaining in clinical courses.
There was hardly any exposure to legal research and legal writing.
In the absence of the case method of teaching and class discussion,
even opportunities for developing analytical faculties and reasoning
capabilities were inadequately provided in the curriculum. The term
clinical education was not even talked about in academic circles or
referred to in the literature pertaining to law study. Because of the
traditional separation between legal education and practical training
the first remaining with the universities and the second with the
Bar, it did not appear necessary for law teachers -to-develop a
clinical methodology and integrate it with the law curriculum. The
structure and status of legal education obtaining during this time
also did not permit the same to be taken as professional training for
the Bar.
It was only by 1967, that it became onerous task for the three year
law colleges to include procedural subjects into the curriculum of
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their law school. The monologue lecture scheme adopted in law
schools, where practical training is either totally neglected or
marginally implemented at the level of Moot Courts, Court visits and
legal research will not make good lawyers in todays scheme of legaleducation.
Nevertheless, some universities did make an honest effort to impart
clinical experiences to LL.B students by organizing moot courts,
mock trials, legal writing exercises, advocacy' courses and court
visits as optional, co-curricular activities.
Delhi University
In the mid 1960s, Delhi University introduced the case method of
teaching followed by a few other universities. In 1969, a legal
services clinic was set up by some teachers and students of Delhi
law Faculty as a purely voluntary activity mainly to provide legal
services to inmates of prisons and custodial institutions. The
programmes were developed on an ad hoc basis and faculty
supervision was marginal. The clinic acted more as an investigating
and referral agency rather than as a centre for delivery of services.
Student participation was neither consistent nor was the
programme supported by the prescribed curriculum for the LL.B.
degree. There was no attempt to integrate the clinic with the
curriculum excepting perhaps some support derived through the
introduction of an optional course called Law and Poverty" in the
second year which carried a clinical orientation .The clinic continued
to attract some students every year and it diversified its
programmes creating a lively interest in clinical programmes
amongst an increasing number of faculty members and students.
Every year the clinic organizes a week-long orientation course
informing the students of the clinics' programmes and encouraging
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them to participate voluntarily. The programme continues to be
voluntary and extra-curricular even today.
Delhi Legal Aid Clinic despite being a purely extra-curricular activitydid accomplish some impressive results during the recent past.
Two Lok Adalats were organized in Delhi in 1985-86 by the clinic in
collaboration with Delhi Legal Aid and Advice Board. Over 150
students were involved in this project another set of students
assisted in reaching legal services to the victims of the Bhopal- gas-
tragedy .In collaboration with the Department of Adult and
Continuing Education, students and teachers of Campus Law Centre
now support legal literacy projects amongst the students of several
under-graduate colleges of Delhi University and through those
students in as many communities in the Union Territory. These
activities cannot be called clinical education as such. They are not
structured that way; nor are they included in the law curriculum.
Supervision is marginal. Though they do contribute to the learning
experiences of a few law students in a clinical setting, they lack the
academic frame-work for self-directed education. They are more
service-oriented programmes which desperately seek academic
recognition from the faculty and curricular planners.
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University introduced in its third-year LL.B. class a
course on "Advocacy" which introduces students to fact
investigation, legal research and writing, court procedures, litigation
strategies and issues of professional ethics. However, it does not go
far in introducing clinical methodology in terms of self -directed
learning on the part of students. In 1985-86, AMU organized few
legal aid camps and helped organize a Lok Adalat .A legal aid clinic
in the law school is said to be working with limited programmes.
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Banaras Hindu University
On the recommendation of a faculty Committee, Banaras Hindu
University Law School introduced an optional course of Clinical Legal
Education in the Vth and VIth semesters with credit for a maximumof 200 marks .The course is open for 30 students each year who are
selected on the basis of aptitude and performance in written tests.
The method of teaching is through lectures and fieldwork. Fieldwork
includes court visits, assignment in the law school legal aid clinic,
socio-legal surveying on specific problems and internship in the
chamber of lawyers. A faculty committee headed by the Dean
manages the clinical course and programmes. The Legal Aid Clinic
was set up in the law school under the supervision of a retired judge
who was taken as a part-time Professor of the school on a token
honorarium. Presently there is a faculty member designated as
director of the clinic. Funds for clinic activities initially came from
students' contribution, then from the National Service Scheme of
the University and later from the University itself. The University
Grants Commission provided a special grant for the clinic to expand
its legal aid activities to the neighboring rural areas. The clinic has
its own bus to transport students on fieldwork.
Students share the required time between the court, the field and
the legal aid clinics' office. Each week the students are expected to
spend at least one day in court and report at the office of the
assigned lawyer on two occasions.
Another day they are required to spend in the legal aid office doing
the work assigned by the teacher in charge. The students and
teachers associated with the clinical legal programme go to the
villages around the city and undertake programmes of legal literacy,
socio-legal surveys on the implementation of welfare legislation and
attempt conciliated settlement of disputes through legal aid camps.
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The students keep separate diaries in which they record their
experiences, do the written assignments and get the comments of
the teachers / lawyers. The court work is jointly evaluated by the
teacher and the lawyer for a maximum of 50 marks. The teacher incharge of the legal aid clinic grades the work of the students in the
clinic for a maximum of 50 marks.
It is interesting to note that clinical legal education at Banaras Law
School revolves almost entirely around the legal aid clinic and its
projects. Although it continues to function with some success it
reflects the troubles from which legal aid schemes generally suffer
and it does not receive full faculty support. Further, the clinical
opportunities provided are limited to a small section of final year
students.
During the nineteen seventies a report was prepared by the
committee on legal education headed by Chairman Mr. Justice
Ormrod which emphasized the need to combine the traditional legal
education with instructions in skills and techniques which are
essential to enable a person to follow a learned profession. Realizing
the error of largely relying upon the apprenticeship method,
ignoring the new situations which had developed over a period of
time it recommended that new ways and means should be evolved
to enable use of new facilities for educating the professional person
by supplementing them with training in professional skill and
technique. It emphasized the need for a synthesis between the
academic and professional and there integration into a coherent
whole noticing the isolation between both. It recommended three
stages of legal education, the academic stage, the professional
stage and the continuing education or training. This would enable
the individual not only to equip himself with the basic knowledge of
the law but also acquaint himself with the skills and techniques so
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essential to the practice of law. The idea of continuing education or
training would enable him to adapt himself to the ever changing
scenario in the field of law, so vital for career advancement.
Bar Councils' new pattern of Legal Education
The Bar Council of India gave a fresh look to legal education at an
All India Seminar held at Bombay in 1977 attended by the
Universities and State Bar Councils. On the basis of the
recommendations of this Seminar, a dialogue was initiated by the
Council with the Universities teaching law which eventually, in 1982,
resulted in a new 5-year integrated professional programme after
10+2 school education. Two important features of the new pattern
of legal education which was to come into force from the year
1987-88 are the introduction of a two-year Pre-law Study consisting
of several social science courses, and a six month intensive
compulsory clinical education (Practical training programme) in the
final two years comprising of course equivalent to four papers of
400 marks. The Rules framed by the Council suggested to the
universities that law schools and law colleges should provide
adequate teaching and examination on practical aspects of
lawyering. It recommended that these skills may be imparted
through exercises in pleadings and conveyancing, Legal Method
courses, Court visits and Moot Courts and through active
participation in Legal Aid Clinics. The Bar Council of India desired
every college of law imparting professional legal education to set up
a Legal Aid Clinic according to the model proposed by the
Committee for Implementing legal Aid Scheme (CILAS) of the
Government of India.
The Bar Council also introduced a course ofLaw and Poverty" as an
optional subject in the revised curriculum for which it took the
initiatives, in collaboration with CILAS, to put together teaching
materials.
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Committee for Implementing Legal Aid Schemes
While the Bar Council of India was in the process of restructuring
legal education giving a prominent place to "Practical Training",another parallel development on the legal aid front brought about
fresh thinking on the role of law school in the delivery of legal
services, particularly to the weaker sections of the community. Two
major reports on Legal Aid24 submitted by Government appointed
expert committees in 1973 and 1977 called for extensive
involvement of law teachers and students in the legal services
programmes outlined in them.
Both reports devote a full Chapter to "Legal Aid Clinics in Law
Schools" and have advanced convincing arguments on why law
students should be exposed to clinical methods of learning law in
order to impart better education and to develop better professional
services. The following observations25 extracted from these reports
make it clear beyond doubt that clinical methodology supported by
legal aid-related activities provide the most viable and effective
strategy for improving standards of professional legal education:
"There is a continuing controversy among legal educators in India
regarding the goal of legal education. One section holding it to be
strictly concerned with producing legal practitioners who are experts
in litigation oriented skills, while another section advocating a wider
role in which the lawyer is equipped with divergent skills,
perspectives and tools with a view to making him a policy maker,
administrator or social engineer. The latter group contends that with
the fast changing socio-economic structure and methods of social
ordering and conflict management, the traditional role of the lawyer
24 Processual Justice to the people: Report of the Expert committee on Legal Aid,
Govt. of India, May 197325 Report on National Juridicare, pp. 66-74.
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is of diminishing value and the new role of the lawyer in the society
calls for skills, knowledge and techniques far more diverse and
comprehensive than those possessed by the traditional lawyer. This
divergence in objectives is bound to produce difference in thecontent and methodology of legal education. But one thing is
certain, and there are no two opinions about it that there is need to
reform the system of legal education in the direction of making it
poverty oriented, multi-disciplinary and related to actual social
conditions. The introduction of legal service clinics in law schools as
part of curricular instruction in professional education is the natural
answer to the vexed question of building up a cadre of poverty
lawyers competent to run a nation-wide legal services programme.
The programme of student participation in the legal services clinics
would ordinarily involve interviewing applicants for legal aid,
preparing detailed reports on these interviews, research into legal
issues raised, drafting of pleadings and such further pre-trial
preparations as the programme director may think fit . The student
gains exposure to actual cases and to the lawyers' problems in
dealing with litigants. He gets the opportunity to develop skills of
interviewing and a critical analysis of legal problems. He becomes
familiar with the intricacies of court procedure and court-craft by
taking part in pre-trial preparations, such as drafting of pleadings
and watching actual conduct of cases. In addition, litigation
strategy, the crucial skills of examination and cross- examination of
witnesses, the handling of evidence, the skills of oral advocacy- all
these come within the scope of his education. It is true that these,
practical skills could also be learnt by him when he starts practice,
but that would be by a process of trial and error, and at the cost of
the litigant. But in a programme of clinical legal education in legal
services clinics, these skills are acquired by the law student under
proper supervision by experienced law teachers and practitioners
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whose primary task is to educate the law student while at the same
time guaranteeing that the clients served by the law student receive
the highest standard of professional service. The essence of a
clinical education programme is supervision so that the studentlearns and acquires the practical skills in a proper and satisfactory
manner. It is better that a law student should acquire the skills
necessary in the legal market place and also develop his personal
outlook towards his role as a lawyer while he is still a student when
he can draw upon the advice and experience of the law teachers
and practitioners in a relatively quiet and untroubled atmosphere,
instead of acquiring such skills and developing such outlook in the
market place under the pressures of economic necessity and
professional rivalry. The above excerpts from the National Juridicare
Report submitted by two eminent judges of the Indian Supreme
Court read like a memorandum prepared by a curriculum reform
committee of an Indian law school. The Report further presents
many persuasive arguments why and how clinical legal education
and student work on legal aid clinics can help develop a
professionally significant and socially relevant legal education. As
clinical legal education since 1977 (the year in which the National
Juridicare Report was submitted) has been influenced and patterned
on the lines recommended by the Report, it is appropriate to recall
some of the other observations26 of the Committee on clinical legal
education:
The legal services clinic would be able to develop social and
humanistic attitudes and motivations in the law student which
would equip him to be a better lawyer of the poor when he comes
out of the University. It would, therefore, be seen that the
establishment of legal services in law schools is absolutely
imperative both from the point of view of imparting. The clinical
legal education to the law students as also from the point of view of
26 National Juridicare Report, pp 67-70
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creating a service-oriented cadre of lawyers who will be dedicated
to the cause of juridicare. There has been almost unanimous
opinion in the country in favour of participation of law students in
the legal services programme through legal services clinics. We fullyendorse this opinion and strongly plead for establishment of legal
services clinics in law schools."
The Legal Aid not only canvassed for the establishment of clinics in
law schools but also recommended that funds be provided from the
State and Central Legal Aid Boards/Committees for the effective
functioning of law-school legal aid clinics. Funding law school clinics
was considered very much the function of the legal aid authority in
as much as it served a dual purpose of clinical legal education:
creating a socially sensitized cadre of lawyers and delivery of a
variety of legal and para-legal services to people who would
otherwise be denied the benefits of laws. The committee in this
regard was so impressed by the results of the few experiments
initiated at Delhi and Banaras law schools that it recommended the
amendment of the Advocates Act to allow senior students under
supervision to represent clients in courts in certain matters.
According to the Committee27
One of the important reasons for the quick expansion of the
student's legal services programme in the United States is the
statutory adoption of students Practice Rules in most of the States
enabling law students to appear in courts on behalf of poor clients.
Even in India suitable provision can be made in the Advocates Act
so that students of third year LL.B. class who are participating in
the activities of the legal services clinic and who have been certified
by the Dean or the Principal, shall be entitled to appear in any court
or tribunal on behalf of a poor person, provided, of course, that
such representation shall be under the supervision of lawyers
27 National Juridicare Report ,p.72
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associated with the legal services clinic and with the approval of the
judge in whose court the student appears. We feel that a provision,
somewhat on the following lines, may be added after Section 37 in
the Advocates Act:Section 37-A : Legal Aid by Law Teachers and Students-
Notwithstanding anything contained in the preceding section, the
following categories of persons may appear in any Court or tribunal
on behalf of an indigent person, if the person on whose behalf an
appearance is to be made has requested in writing to that effect :
(i) Teachers of a law school which provides full-time instruction for
the professional LL.B. degree and which maintains a legal aid clinic
as part of its teaching programme where poor persons receive free
legal aid, advice and related services:
(ii) Students of third year LL.B. class of law school as aforesaid who
are participating in the clinics activities and who have been certified
by the Dean/Principal of the law school under rules made therefore
by the law school:
Provided that such representation in the case of students shall be
under the supervision of lawyers associated with the said legal aid
clinic and with the approval of the judge in whose court the student
appears." The Report anticipated the need for a trained cadre of
clinical law teachers throughout the country and asked for crash
programmes for such training. For proper coordination and
maximization of the educational experience of law students the
Report recommended the creation of a National level council for
legal services clinics, preparation of a manual for law school clinics
and exchange of clinical law professors amongst different law
schools. The National Council would have consultative status with
the legal aid authority and would be financed by it. The Report also
made another proposal under which the law students may be
compulsorily required to do six months' internship in a legal aid
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organization on a monthly honorarium of Rs. 250 in order to be
eligible for enrollment as an Advocate.
The legal aid movement acted as a catalyst in the evolution of
clinical programmes as part of law school activity, and theBhagawati-Iyer Committee Report (National Juridicare Report,
1977) provided the desired legitimacy and institutional support. The
impact has been wide and decisive. Between 1979 and 1986 over
sixty Universities/Colleges teaching law have set up legal aid clinics,
some of them purely as voluntary, extra-curricular programmes and
some others as part of the curriculum.28
During the late ninety seventies The Bar Council Of India Trust was
created and the object of the trust in relation to the clinical legal
education is to organize seminars, symposia and extension, lectures
on various law subjects at different places in India and of the said
purpose to engage eminent jurists, advocates , teachers etc.
With a view to further achieve the goal of clinical legal education the
National Law School of India (NLSUI) was established in 1987 and
its one of the objective is to promote clinical legal education.
Rules on Legal Education have been amended from time to time
which were incorporated in the pre-existing regulations. There were
demands for a consolidated latest version of the Rules under Part IV
on standards of Legal Education and Recognition of Degrees in Law
for admission as Advocates from Universities and Colleges teaching
Law in the Country. In response to popular demand, the Bar Council
of India published the Rules in its final shape as applicable from 30-
11-1998.The minimum qualification for being an advocate is an LL.B
Degree, generally a three year course, which can be obtained after
graduation in other disciplines. A debate as to its efficacy in the
recent past led to a proposal of five years integrated course after
28 Clinical Legal Education By N.R. Madhavan Menon, pp. 238-240
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intermediate (10+2) examination. The three year course itself came
to be restructured into a semester system and several papers came
to be included and excluded as per the Bar Council Guidelines.
Hence, the Council today allows both the 3 year course and 5 yearcourse to continue.
The U.G.C has in the course of time evinced interest in improving
legal education and has taken various steps towards that end,
through adequate funding, creation of senior posts and other
means. Further the report of the UGC's Curriculum Development
Centre in Law further helped in the evolution of clinical legal
education. As we can see from above falling standards of legal
education and legal profession and making legal education more
'modern' and 'contemporary' to make it 'socially relevant have been
the subjects of concern for long. The principal 'moments' or trends
have been summed up in the Report of the UGC's Curriculum
Development Centre in Law (CDC) as follows:
In the first phase (roughly 1950-65), the principal theme was how
best to transform legal education away from the colonial heritage,
and in a way to Indianise it: in the second phase (roughly 1965-75)
the emphasis was on sound reorganization of curricula and
pedagogy towards professional legal education; in the third phase
(1976-88) the focus shifted to 'modernization' of law curricula so as
to make these increasingly relevant to the problems of a society
and state in deep those of transition.
The CDC suggested a course on Practical Training in Law in addition
to other twelve core courses. While the Report contains detailed
contents of all the other twelve courses, the details of Practical
Training were absent. But in its additional report the CDC had
pointed out what a course on practical training had to integrate
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However, it was felt that an adequate programme for practical
training can only be formulated after a social audit of the present
programmes is undertaken to enable it to identify specific remedial
measures to bring the programme in line with its objectives. Itadopts the assessment of existing programmes as a priority task for
its continued further activities.
Furthermore the Ahmadi Committee Report further provided for
modernization of legal education. The Ahmadi Committee Report
which contains extracts of letters of the Chairman, Bar Council of
India and Chairman, University Grants Commission, and views of
Chief Justices of various High Courts in the matter of Legal
education. Various suggestions were given regarding the courses of
study, attendance, entrance examination, final examination, the
lecture method, case method, problem method, constitution of
committees and membership, and need for apprenticeship and Bar
examination.
The Ahmadi Committee Report dealt elaborately with the methods
of teaching. It referred to the case method" introduced by Prof.
Langdell of Harvard University and to the problem method"
pioneered by Prof. Carl Llewellyn and Judge Jerome Frank and the
Notre Dame Law School.
Though the scheme of apprenticeship was struck down by the
Supreme Court as ultra vires the rule making power of the Bar
Council of India under the Advocates Act. This was held in the case
of V. Sudeer vs. Bar Council of India and another.29
The question was whether, having regard to the legislative history
which revealed that the Training was part of the mandate in the Act,
the same could not be reintroduced by way of a Rule by the Bar
Council of India.
29 JT 1999 (2) SC 141 at 171
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The court held that once the relevant statutory provisions in sec.
24(1)( d) or in the proviso thereto were deleted and also when the
subject of Training which was one of the items enumerated in
clause (b) of subsection (2) of sec. 28, (sec. 28 being the sectionrelating to rule making), was deleted in 1973, the Bar Council of
India could not have made any rule regarding Training and such a
condition had to be introduced only by an Act by the Legislature. It
was also held that it was for the State Bar Councils to introduce
training and that the Bar Council of India could not by itself
introduce the Training.
It must be noted that the Supreme Court in V. Sudheer's_case
merely considered whether the new Rules were ultra vires of the
provisions of the Act. It did not say anywhere that Training was not
necessary. On the other hand, it expressly endorsed the need for
reintroducing training and accepted the recommendations of the
Ahmadi committee
As suggested by Honble Justice A.M. Ahmadi in the Chief Justices
Conference held in 1993, There should be proper evaluation of
papers in the examination. The students should be trained to draft
pleadings at the college level. The standard of English should be
improved.
Under Rule 9 (1) to (4) of Section A, Part-IV of The Bar Council of
India Rules (under The Advocates Act 1961) deals with the subjects
to be covered to complete the respective courses.
Section A, Rule 9 (4)
(4) Six Months of Practical Training be imparted and Practical
Training will include the following Compulsory Papers:
1. Moot Court, Pre-Trail Preparations and Participation in Trial
proceedings.
2.Drafting, Pleading and Conveyancing.
3. Professional Ethics, Accountancy for Lawyers and Bar Bench
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Relations.
4. Public Interest Lawyering, Legal Aid and Para Legal Services.
In India the clinical legal education has been introduced in thecourses of studies of all the National Law Universities and Law
Colleges from the academic session, 1995-1996. This clinical course
is classified in to two categories; (a) Foundation clinical course and
(b) Optional clinical course. The foundation clinical course is
compulsory for all the students of law where as the students are to
opt for any two optional clinical courses as per the courses of
studies of the University. The foundation clinical course is to provide
training on client counseling, client interview, mediation, negotiation
and trial advocacy. They are also to be trained in alternative dispute
resolution mechanism and case planning. In the optional clinical
legal education a student has to visit the courts and other dispute
resolution bodies.
Furthermore in 2002 the Law commission in its 184th
Report on
The Legal Education & Professional Training and Proposals for
Amendments to the Advocates Act, 1961 and the University Grants
Commission Act, 1956 recommended the following provisions:-
The Bar Council of India (BCI), under Section 7 (1) (h) of the
Advocates Act, 1961, is empowered to promote legal education and
lay down standards of such education in consultation with theUniversities imparting such education. In this Report, the
Commission has proposed that the University Grants Commission
should constitute its Legal Education Committee consisting of
various specified faculty members
The Commission is also of the view that training of Alternative
Dispute Resolution system should be given to law students, lawyers
and judges, in view of the recent amendments to the Code of Civil
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Procedure, 1908 (Sec.89) and observations of the Honble Supreme
Court in Salem Advocates Bar Association v Union of India30 for
following the mandatory procedure.
The Commission is of the view that there is an overwhelming needto reintroduce appointment of adjunct teachers from lawyers and
retired Judges on part-time basis.
In view of the Commission, it is necessary to impart professional
training to the law teachers apart from the existing refresh course
conducted by the UGC. Accordingly, the Commission has suggested
establishment of at least four colleges by the UGC or by the Central
Government in consultation with BCI, in the four corners of the
country.
The commission stated that several efforts have been made from
time to time, to improve standards of legal education. The 14th
Report of the Law Commission headed by Sri M.C. Setalvad is one
of the best and elaborate reports on Legal education aspects and we
propose to lay emphasis on Legal Skills and Values as adumbrated
in the Mac Crate Report of USA.31
There are 10 chapters in the Mac Crate Report in Parts I to III.
Chapter 5 of the Report refers to the Statement of Fundamental
Lawyers Skills and Professional Values, Under chapter V(A)
thereof, the legal skills referred are (1) legal research, (2) factualinvestigation, (3) communication, (4) counselling, (5) negotiation,
(6) skills required to employ or to advise a client about the options
of litigation and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, (7) the
skill to identify the administrative skills necessary to organize and
30 2002 (8) SCALE 14631Mac Crate Report of USA (1992) which is the Report of the Task Force on Law
Schools and the Profession: Narrowing the Gap, prepared by the American BarAssociation
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manage legal work effectively and (8) finally, the skill of analyzing
the skills involved in recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas.
Professional values, according to the Mac Crate Report, include
training in professional responsibilities and involve more than justthe specifics of the Code of Professional Responsibility and the
Model Rules of Professional Conduct; they should encompass the
values of the profession, including the obligations and
accountability of a professional dealing with the lives and affairs of
clients. These values are many, such as, (1) the value of
competent representation, analyzing the ideals to which a lawyer
should be committed as a member of a profession dedicated to the
service of clients, (2) the value of striving to promote justice,
fairness and morality; the ideals to which a lawyer should be
committed as a member of a profession that bears special
responsibilities for the quality of justice, (3) the value of striving to
improve the profession; explore the ideals to which a lawyer should