In India, legal education has been traditionally offered as a three years
graduate degree. However the structure has been changed since 1987. Law degrees
in India are granted and conferred in terms of the Advocates Act, 1961, which is a
law passed by the Parliament both on the aspect of legal education and also
regulation of conduct of legal profession. 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.
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.
Traditionally the degrees that were conferred carried the title of LL.B. (Bachelor
of Laws) or B.L. (Bachelor of Law). The eligibility requirement for these degrees
was that the applicant already have a Bachelor's degree in any subject from a
recognized institution. Thereafter the LL.B. / B.L. course was for three years,
upon the successful completion of which the applicant was granted either degree.
However upon the suggestion by the Law Commission of India and also given the
prevailing cry for reform the Bar Council of India instituted upon an experiment
in terms of establishing specialized law universities solely devoted to legal
education and thus to raise the academic standards of legal profession in India.
This decision was taken somewhere in 1985 and thereafter the first law
University in India was set up in Bangalore which was named as the National Law
School of India University (popularly 'NLS'). These law universities were meant
to offer a multi-disciplinary and integrated approach to legal education. It was
therefore for the first time that a law degree other than LL.B. or B.L. was granted
in India. NLS offered a five years law course upon the successful completion of
which an integrated degree with the title of "B.A.,LL.B. (Honours)" would be
granted. Thereafter other law universities were set up, all offering five years
integrated law degree with different nomenclature. The next in line was NALSAR university of law set up in 1998. The National Law University, Jodhpur offered
for the first time in 2001 the integrated law degree of "B.B.A, LL.B. (Honours)"
which was preceded by the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences
offering the "B.Sc., LL.B. (Honours)" degree. The Prestigious M.S. University has
also started Baroda School of Legal Studies since 2005, which also offers 5 years
integrated law course. It has a uniqueness of having computer applications and
yoga & stress management as subjects. Another achievement in this field was the
setting up of National Law University,Delhi at New Delhi, the first national law
school of the capital.
However despite these specialized law universities, the traditional three year
degree continues to be offered in India by other institutions and are equally
recognized as eligible qualifications for practicing law in India. Another essential
difference that remains is that while the eligibility qualification for the three year
law degree is that the applicant must already be a holder of a Bachelor's degree, for
being eligible for the five years integrated law degree, the applicant must have
successfully completed Class XII from a recognized Boards of Education in India.
Both the holders of the three year degree and of the five year integrated degree are
eligible for enrollment with the Bar Council of India upon the fulfillment of
eligibility conditions and upon enrollment, may appear before any court in India.
The setting up of Karnataka State Law University has heralded a new era in
the law education. Shri J S Patil has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the
University. The Karnataka State Law University is sui generis (only one of its
kind). The university is the only Law University in the Globe! From now onwards,
all the law colleges of Karnataka will be functioning under the guidance of
Karnataka State Law University.
