Preparing Lawyers for Global Legal Practice - A Road Map for Introducing Mandatory Continuing Legal Education in India

Abstract

Globalization has led to opportunities for legal professionals to engage beyond national boundaries in advising and representing their clients making legal practice a global affair. But the prospect of this global legal practice has met a strong protectionist counter as ‘Right to legal practice’ in a country has been conventionally right of its citizens only. To this extent the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of A.K Balaji v. Bar Council of India (2018) had held that right to practice of law in India including international law and matters concerning foreign laws should be exclusively limited to Indian citizens. However, some members of the legal and academic fraternity have expressed concerns about the competence of the Indian lawyers to meet the professional demands of global legal practice. It has also been widely canvassed that the restriction on foreign lawyers will cause a serious vacuum and strain on the legal system. In recent years the debate over entry of foreign lawyers have again come into prominence with the introduction of Bar Council of India Rules for Registration and Regulation of Foreign Lawyers and Foreign Law Firms in India, 2022 and the draft bill for amendment of the Advocates Act (2025). Correctness and feasibility of allowing entry of foreign lawyers in India is subject of a separate debate, but in this paper the objective is to analyse the opening up of opportunity for Indian lawyers to engage in the global legal practice and preparing them to encounter its challenges. Introduction of an effective and mandatory system of Continuing Professional Legal Education (CLE) has potential to make Indian lawyers partake this new professional role. CLE is a recognized tool for professional development of lawyers. Its objective is to augment the information, integrity and confidence of lawyer to enhance new skills, knowledge and competence to cope with the changes in the legal order. The paper recommends design of an effective CLE curriculum to strengthen the skills and competence of Indian lawyers for meeting the demands of global legal practice.