Key Points
Kerala HC calls for structured mentoring of young lawyers
Proposed five-year mandatory training credit system
Addressing lack of practical experience among new advocates
Responding to digital-age legal education challenges
The division bench of Justices A.K.Jayasankaran Nambiar and S. Easwaran asked Kerala High Court Advocates Association (KHCAA) President Yeshwanth Shenoy if the association can provide mentoring to the younger members of the Bar.
Justice Nambiar orally said: "Can you evolve a policy where junior members, if they have to continue membership, must mandatorily undergo training sessions... Make this a condition for continuing membership...As a condition for maintaining standards in the profession, you can make it a condition for the junior Bar for the first five years. To expect it beyond that will be unreasonable. But at least for the first five years, let them undergo some kind of mentoring."
"You organise these training sessions periodically and make it like earning credits for attending those. A junior member of the Bar for the first five years... he or she must get so many credit points every year for continued membership of the Association or they don't get the membership. Think of something like that because ultimately the object is noble."
The court observed that while junior advocates may possess adequate knowledge, they lack experience.
KHCAA President Shenoy was also concerned at the situation, pointing out that juniors are not continuing with a senior even for a period of three months, and rather rely on information that is available digitally.
Incidentally, with the turn of the century when the professional education sector was opened up, quite a few number of law colleges started in the private sector, while earlier, there were very few colleges offering courses in law.
Following this expansion, the number of lawyers enrolling for the bar also increased.
