Every lawyer should guide at least 15 juniors: SC

Lamenting that the second line of lawyers who could take over seems to be “substantially missing”, the bench observed that at least a third of those coached by senior advocates would be able to make the grade.

Senior lawyers should take younger colleagues under their wing and train them in court craft so that a new generation was ready when the seniors hang up their boots, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday.

On Monday, the bench had remarked that the vacation benches in the top court were meant for young lawyers to learn the ropes, and not for senior counsel to continue appearing (Agenciesa)

“We want the young generation of this profession to be groomed so that by the time the older generation wants to quit, the young generation is ready. There is a gap,” said a bench of justices Ajay Rastogi and BV Nagarathna. Every senior lawyer should guide at least 15 junior lawyers, it said.

Lamenting that the second line of lawyers who could take over seems to be “substantially missing”, the bench observed that at least a third of those coached by senior advocates would be able to make the grade.

“Ultimately, the second line has to come up, which is substantially missing at present. This has to be filled up in a very short period. Some modalities where you can nurture the people has to be there,” the bench told senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was appearing in a case during the court’s summer vacation.

As soon as the matter began, the bench, for the second day in a row, underlined the significance of opportunities and guidance for junior lawyers in the top court, where senior lawyers rule the roost owing to the high stakes of the matters at hand and the finality of the proceedings.

On Monday, the bench had remarked that the vacation benches in the top court were meant for young lawyers to learn the ropes, and not for senior counsel to continue appearing, as it urged several veteran lawyers, including Singhvi, to exercise “self-restraint”. Starting May 23, the vacation benches in the apex court will sit till July 8.

When Singhvi showed up on Monday to argue a case, the court told him: “Vacation is not meant for seniors. It is only for juniors.” The counsel retorted that he agreed with the bench, but there should be a uniform rule in this regard applicable to all seniors.

“Self-restraint should be enough,” the court retorted. “Everything should not be regulated.”

Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, who was present in court for a separate case, joined the dialogue. She recounted her experience as a junior counsel.

“We have all been a beneficiary of that. When I came in, only juniors could mention (to get a date of hearing)…juniors must appear,” Arora said. “They would argue, but if they have difficulty, the bench would not dismiss the case, but it would give them opportunity to come back after the vacation, or on the next date.”

The bench agreed with Arora, observing that the court would not mete out injustice to anyone since a lawyer argues for a party and that it could consider such accommodations.

At this point, the bench suggested that the Bar Council of India could also organise lectures by those who have experience on various aspects of advocacy and court etiquette.

“You have so much experience before so many courts and so many judges. Why can’t you have a lecture series so that young members can imbibe from this, especially the court craft? Such lecture series would definitely be helpful,” it said.

In April, the Bar Council unveiled before the Supreme Court a raft of proposed reforms in the country’s legal education, including a proposition mandating senior lawyers to give space to at least five young lawyers in their chambers.

Based on scores obtained by young lawyers in an online legal aptitude test, they could be placed under lawyers designated as senior advocates, or those with 25 years of standing at the Bar, suggested the affidavit filed on April 11.

The Bar Council was responding to a flurry of questions from the court on March 15, when the bench implored the regulatory body to bring in a slew of reforms, starting from the standards being followed by law colleges to placement of young law graduates.

On April 24, a bench led by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul gave the Bar Council some time to examine the proposal while suggesting that the apex body to regulate the legal profession in India should also consider providing incentives to seniors who take in new law graduates.

The matter will be heard next in July.