During my
recent visit to my home town ‘Indore’, I happened to meet one of my friends,
who runs a highly successful law college (among other colleges) in Indore.
While the
purpose of our meeting was something else, we also happened to discuss a few
statistics and a few other details on how the law education is shaping up
across the City, State and the Country. I was surprised to note, from a few
numbers thrown at me by my friend, that while a huge number of students appear
for national entrance exams like #CLAT, the number of drop-outs (Students not
choosing to go for any law college, if they do not secure any seat in National
Law Schools) is very high.
Over the
years during my professional pursuit, first as a practicing advocate and then
as a corporate lawyer I have had pleasure of meeting stakeholders from various
stakeholders from different law colleges, which included students, faculties,
placement cell representatives, alumni of some top notch law colleges etc.
The legal
profession has been indeed slowly (steadily at the same time) ticking upwards
and the students’ interest in law as a profession is very high, if not at all
time high level. Also there are a very few National Law Schools (NLS) and/or
equivalent colleges in the country and they are not sufficient to cater to the
needs of this ever increasing industry and hence it was really intriguing for
me as to why there would be high number of students not opting to go for law as
a career option if they fail to secure a seat in NLS or equivalent college.
My personal
analysis of the whole issue based on my industry understanding, understanding
of the law education (keeping NLS out of the discussions) in tier 2 and 3
colleges and the rapidly changing economic, business environment is summarized
in the article below.
I do not
claim that the Article covers every aspect of the legal education but is a
simple interpretation of what in my opinion can make a difference to the
preposition offered by the said tier 2 and 3 law colleges and thereby creating
a sense of confidence in the aspirants who intent to make a successful career
in law.
I will try
and address the following five areas in this article, which in my opinion play
a crucial role in shaping a student into a candidate who can be productive
within just a few days of getting into the industry after completing his law
education:
1. Academic Programme
2. Faculty
3. What does campus Offer other than
academic teaching
4. Industry Interaction
5. Pointed
and focused interventions during the academic programme
1. Academic Programme:
This
is one area where the tear 2 and 3 colleges, in coordination with Universities
they are affiliated to need to do a lot of work. In my opinion the curriculum
of 3 years, 5 years law Degrees needs to be reviewed on a regular basis to keep
it in line with what is currently going on in the outer world. For example a
select National Law Colleges have highly customized and focused degree programs
giving BA, LLB in degree and MBA, LLM with different fields of specializations at Masters’
level.
While
it’s a huge challenge to keep up with the pace at which outer world/industry is
changing/developing, it always helps if one puts in that extra effort to keep the
students relevant for the industry and thus ensuring their employability.
The
best way to achieve this is to have a layered structure within colleges and at
university level which interacts with the industry on a regular basis and
passes on the inputs to make those relevant changes in the curriculum on
regular basis.
The
colleges at their level may form focused committee consisting of students as
well as faculty representatives. Their primary job should be to interact with industry
and all related stakeholders on a regular basis and identify the areas in
curriculum that needs to be address with changing needs. They may also help the
colleges in identifying those additional practical skills that the students may
need to acquire. This exercise would serve twofold purposes of constant
improvement in the way things are taught to the students and allowing them
opportunity to go out there and see as to how do they need to implement their
acquired skills.
2. Faculty:
Faculties,
in my opinion are the most important limb of a college as they are the ones who
will be responsible to ensure that the students who pass through their expert
guidance are relevant and employable for the industry.
During
olden days when evening law colleges were pretty common thing they used to
employ a lot of practicing advocates (Sometimes senior advocates) as part-time
lecturers and that was in a way an advantage for the students. However, with
the advent of mandatory day colleges the option of recruiting advocates as part
time lecturers was no more available with the colleges.
The
Colleges now have to employ full time faculties who are in the profession of
teaching only.
It
would thus be useful for the colleges to pick-up a common practice from the
corporate world which is ‘Train the Trainer’ (TTT). I am not sure as to how
many colleges/institutions have realized that the faculties are their human
resources which need as much attention and training as its students. In order
to remain up the curve an institution must at all times take all possible
efforts to keep its faculty abreast of the changes and development in the
external world. Colleges would do well
to provide all possible professional support to its faculties be it in the
field of teaching techniques, up- gradation of their knowledge, usage of modern equipment/techniques etc.
Colleges
may even try and organize meets between its faculties and the industry experts
so that both can understand each others’ needs and address the same in most
appropriate manner, the results of which will surely be win-win for all the
stakeholders.
3. What does campus offer other than
academic teaching
A
usual campus would provide moot court, industry visits, certain extracurricular
activities including sports, intercollegiate competitions etc. While all these
do add a lot of value to a student, in my opinion in the light of changing
industry needs and growing sphere for legal professionals, there needs to be
change in thinking and making those subtle changes to the age old campus life
beyond academic teaching.
· Moot
Court (which is nothing but stimulated court rooms) can be either replaced or
further augmented by bringing in stimulated corporate environments (case
studies on which aspirants who want to be corporate counsel can work),
stimulated corporate law firm case studies, mock drills for legal advisory in
not-for profit environment etc. would give students ample opportunity to hone
their skills, required not just to become litigating advocates but for other
areas as well.
· Industry
visits can be made more specific where the students get opportunities to meet
real life corporate counsels, attorneys and legal teams which will help them in
understanding the real world of law;
· Intercollegiate
competitions can be allowed to be almost entirely managed by the students with
bare minimum supervision (only bare minimum guidance to be provided by
colleges) so that they understand how to utilize their skills in a practical
world
There
can be so many small changes which can be brought into play and which will
surely add value to the students.
4. Industry Interactions:
While
almost at all stages above, I have spoken about industry interaction, the same
can never be enough as it is where the actual future of a student lies.
Frequent interactions with industry bodies will help the colleges in
understanding as to where the efforts are required to be applied.
The
relationship between the colleges/institutions and the industry has to go far
beyond internship trainings and campus placements. This relationship has to
start at a much earlier stage where industry plays a role in shaping the
students in a form suitable for the industry. The industry can play this role
only for those colleges who take that initiative and start the interaction at
stages way before internships and placements.
This
is easier said than done but then industry would always want to invest time and
if required money, when they see results in terms of better talent pool for
future hiring.
5. Pointed
and focused interventions during the academic programme
It
is the responsibility of any law college to keep monitoring its students
through all the above steps during each academic year and provide adequate
support and course correction advice.
While
there can be several other things that can be thought and worked upon to make
modern day law education relevant, the same would require working closely with
colleges and understanding the environment from within.
This
assessment of mine is based on an external observation and limited interactions
that I have had with various stakeholders over a period of time.
I
remain excited to discuss suggestions, ideas and feedbacks.
