With the Supreme Court now asking for time at the Bar before the bench, law schools must build practice into the degree a blueprint for a practice-ready law graduate
By Dr. Pallab Das and Sonali Priyadarshini Biswal
A graduate may know the Constitution by heart, recite landmark cases and still score well in examinations. Yet the courtroom, the client meeting and the negotiating table ask for something more than a high CGPA and, after the Supreme Court’s latest ruling, so does the path to the bench.
The skill of being able to research complex issues, draft accurately, analyse information, communicate clearly with clients, resolve conflicts, and appreciate technology are all necessary in professional practice. Nothing is disparaging or negative about the old law school. In-depth knowledge of statute and constitutional principles continues to be the backbone of the profession. What matters is whether that alone is sufficient.
The profession is changing at great speed. AI is transforming legal research, and electronic evidence is transforming litigation. India has identified the need for broader reform, the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 emphasizes multidisciplinary learning and technology and professional skills. The challenge is how to make the policy a reality for a law student. There are lessons to be learned from other countries.
What the world is doing
United States. The American Bar Association requires law schools to set learning outcomes covering legal knowledge, analysis, research, reasoning, problem-solving, oral communication and professional skills. The focus moves from completing a course to demonstrating capability. Competency-based education does not replace doctrinal learning; it makes that learning visible and measurable.
United Kingdom. In England and Wales, the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE1 for knowledge and SQE2 for practical skills) is complemented by two years of Qualifying Work Experience, which can be obtained in law firms, placements, pro bono work or even as a paralegal. In India, however, the internship is only determined by the duration or by attendance. A meaningful system would record work undertaken, skills gained and competence demonstrated.
Singapore. Admission as an Advocate and Solicitor requires a 12-month practice training period, with defined practice areas, competency checklists and compulsory training in professional ethics. Students of the National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Management University (SMU) and the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) must also complete 20 hours of approved pro bono work to graduate. Clinical education and legal aid are treated as core, not peripheral.
Finland. The Faculty of Law at the University of Helsinki is a mix of lectures and case studies, and the master’s programme in Law and Contemporary Governance is an interdisciplinary study of law, focusing on social, economic, political and technological perspectives. Indian law schools may remain doctrinally strong and simultaneously teach the students the setting in which legal rules work in practice.
India’s gap: the Supreme Court moves practice to the front
The Supreme Court has addressed legal education before. In Bar Council of India v. Aparna Basu Mallick (1994) 2 SCC 102, it laid down standards for legal education and for graduates seeking enrolment. In V. Sudeer v. Bar Council of India (1999) 3 SCC 176, it considered the relationship between legal education, professional training and enrolment. India has never lacked regulation; what it lacks is a bridge between regulation and the student’s experience.
That bridge is now being built from the other end. In May 2025, in All India Judges Association v. Union of India, the Court restored a minimum of three years’ practice at the Bar for those wishing to become Civil Judges (Junior Division). Review petitions followed, with concern about the effect on women, persons with disabilities and first-generation lawyers. On 21 August 2026, in Bhumika Trust v. Union of India (2026 INSC 904), a three-judge Bench, by a 2:1 majority, modified the rule.
As reported, the position is now this. For recruitments advertised on or after 1 April 2027, a candidate needs one year of actual practice. Those selected must then complete a year of intensive training at the State Judicial Academy, followed by a year of structured law clerkship: six months with the district judiciary and six months with a High Court judge. For notifications issued up to 31 March 2027, fresh graduates may apply and are treated as having completed one year of practice. Time spent in higher legal education, such as an LL.M., does not count as practice.
The message to law schools is plain. The Court has changed the judicial preparation from a lecture hall to a courtroom, but nothing is in place to focus on that in the 5-year degree. A graduate who has to spend another year at the bar before sitting for the examination loses a year, and frequently money. That year should be integrated into the degree.
A 5-D model for law schools
Knowledge. Doctrinal law stays fundamental but must be applicable. Examinations should be supported by problem-based assignments on unfamiliar facts.
Internships. An internship must count for more than attendance. Students should keep structured portfolios recording research, drafting, client interaction, courtroom exposure and supervisor feedback.
Clinics. Legal-aid clinics, mediation exercises, client counselling and community legal education connect the university with society.
Technology. Legal technology must be a core competence: using AI-assisted research while verifying authorities, spotting fabricated citations, protecting confidentiality and upholding professional responsibility.
Interdisciplinary learning. A student examining an AI dispute should understand the technology, data, commercial and ethical issues as well as the legal provisions.
Three routes to a practice-ready graduate
Leading undergraduate law programmes in the West offer useful building blocks: Oxford’s tutorials and Cambridge’s supervisions for small-group argument; Legal Skills and Method in Cambridge’s first year and Legal System and Method at the London School of Economics; dissertations at LSE and University College London; and problem-based tutorials at Maastricht. (Details are indicative and should be checked against current prospectuses.) None of these, however, includes a built-in year at the Bar. India needs its own design. Three routes are possible, each subject to approval by the Bar Council of India (BCI), the University Grants Commission and the High Courts.
Route A: “4 + 1”, five years with practice inside. The first four years are academic; the fifth is a full Practice Year of two semesters spent on supervised placement, with students provisionally enrolled with the State Bar Council. The total length does not change, so this is the easiest route to approve. The graduate leaves with a degree and a logged year of practice, and a future judicial aspirant can sit the examination on graduation instead of a year later.
Route B: “3 + 1”, a four-year accelerated degree. A three-term calendar replaces the two semesters and long vacations and removes duplication so that the doctrinal core fits into three academic years of about 36 months of teaching. The fourth year is the Practice Year. This saves a year but needs a change in BCI norms. It should begin as a pilot at a few institutions and be tested against outcomes before it spreads.
Route C: “2 + 1” for the three-year LL.B. For graduates entering law after another degree, two academic years are followed by a Practice Year, with placements arranged in rotation.
Because court, chamber and institutional seats are limited, the Practice Year may be split into two or three rotations of 16 to 18 weeks, so that no single placement has to take every student for a full year.
Where the Practice Year can be spent
Courts and chambers. District courts, High Courts and tribunals, under an advocate of sufficient standing, for example at least ten years at the Bar. Students aiming at the judiciary should spend their core months here, because actual court practice is what the Supreme Court’s framework contemplates.
Judges’ chambers. Work as a law clerk or research associate to a judge. The Supreme Court has recognised law-clerk service as practice for its purposes, and clerkship teaches issue-framing, judgment structure and court management better than any classroom.
Arbitral and mediation institutions. Case-management secretariats and panels, such as the Delhi International Arbitration Centre or the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration, where students assist with procedural orders, hearing logistics, document management and drafting, under counsel.
Professors and law schools. Research assistantships, legal-aid clinic supervision and teaching support, for those heading towards academia. This track builds research depth but should not be assumed to count as practice for judicial eligibility.
Legal aid and public bodies. District and State Legal Services Authorities, government and public-sector law departments, and statutory regulators.
Whether a given placement counts towards a judicial-service requirement is for the High Courts and the Bar to decide, so each student should check the rules of the State he or she is targeting before choosing a track.
The academic years: what to teach
Year 1 – Foundations. Legal Method and Writing; Constitutional Law; Contract; Torts; Criminal Law under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita; Critical Thinking. Weekly tutorials of 12 to 15 students and graded writing.
Year 2 – Doctrine, applied. Property; Family Law; Administrative Law; Jurisprudence; Legal Research and Drafting. Problem-based assessment on unseen facts, and a first four-week internship with a portfolio.
Year 3 – Procedure and practice skills. Civil Procedure; the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita; the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam; Professional Ethics; Arbitration and Mediation; Legal Aid Clinic I; trial advocacy and moots. The final term is a Practice-Readiness Module: client interviews, drafting pleadings, e-filing, courtroom conduct and a pre-placement assessment. In Route B, this is the last academic year.
Year 4 (Routes A and C) – Technology and specialisation. Law and Technology (AI-assisted research and citation verification), Data Protection, Corporate Law, Intellectual Property, Law and Economics, Legal Aid Clinic II, and a supervised dissertation, and, if planning to take the bar, a workshop in judgment-writing and evidence.
Assessment. Written examinations should carry a smaller share than at present, balanced by portfolios, problem-based tests, clinic work and the dissertation.
Safeguards that make it credible
A logbook, not a certificate of attendance. A matter-wise record signed monthly by the supervisor, with drafts, hearings attended and research notes attached.
Trained supervisors. Advocates, judges, institutional officers and professors should be accredited and briefed on what they must teach and report.
A stipend. Unpaid practice favours those who can afford it, which is the very concern raised about the practice rule. Universities, Bar associations and legal services authorities should share the cost of a minimum stipend.
Independent assessment. The supervisor’s evaluation plus a final viva before a panel of a judge or senior advocate, an academic and an institutional representative, with a university-issued Practice Certificate recognised by the BCI and the High Courts.
Questions for the whole profession
Students: Do we measure our knowledge by the grades we secure or by the professional problems we can solve?
Teachers: Are internships, clinics and technology programmes real learning experiences, or boxes to be ticked?
Practitioners and advocates: Are we ready to supervise and pay for the formation of the next generation?
Regulators and High Courts: Will a supervised Practice Year inside the degree be recognised, so that no graduate has to pay twice once in tuition and again in time?
Reform is not necessarily reflected in the number of requirements imposed but in the ability of the graduate to know, apply, analyse, communicate and use technology responsibly and to serve a client with integrity. The real test of law school isn’t done at the end of the syllabus, it’s done there.
If the practice of law has evolved, should the way we prepare lawyers remain unchanged?