Law students told to practise

Hyderabad: Union law minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Sunday said the best minds skip legal education in favour of engineering and medicine. He urged Nalsar students not to ‘run away’ from practicing in courts.

Mr Gowda was speaking at the 13th convocation of the Nalsar University of Law here on Sunday. Nalsar University of Law Chancellor, acting Chief Justice D.B. Bhosale, TS law minister A. Indrakaran Reddy, vice chancellor Prof. Faizan Mustafa, Registrar Prof. V. Balakista Reddy and others participated.

Mr Gowda said: “I have the impression that legal education in India always got a raw deal and to a large extent it continues even today. If you ask any student what they want to study, they talk about engineering, medicine and all other sectors and the law would be the last among them.” He praised the national law schools, such as Nalsar University of Law, for raising the reputation of the profession but said the quantum of graduates was still miniscule when compared to law colleges.

“The field is still over-shadowed by the products of other law colleges whose quality is yet to see any change,” Mr Gowda said.

He told students: “Most of you who pass out of these institutions straight away land up with corporates for greener pastures and have shied away from law practice before courts. If you don’t practice and you don’t serve the people, then I would say that this is a brain drain in the field of law.” He said the Centre was ready to take steps to improve legal education.

“I have already assured the Bar Council of India that whatever support it needs in the form of amendment of laws and changes, our government will be ready to take two steps for every step taken by the BCI,” he said. National law schools can be set up in other cities or exchange programmes could be organised, he said.