The Hindu : Professionalise legal education: Chief Justice

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Sunday, Feb 08, 2004

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Professionalise legal education: Chief Justice

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, FEB. 7. The Chief Justice of India, Justice, V.N. Khare, has said that legal education should be given "due importance" as it has come a long way from being merely a course taught in classes to being an integrated skill acquisition programme for court-room practice.

Speaking after laying the foundation for M.K. Nambyar SAARC Law Centre for Advanced Legal Studies at NALSAR University of Law, near here, he said that a proper legal education has acquired prominence. "Legal education must be given the status of a professional course of study and like any other course its standards must be regulated."

He said: " If legal education is about producing lawyers, who will illuminate and interpret the factual position of contending views to help the Bench to decide what is just and fair, it is implicit that the knowledge and lawyers' skill should be sound and professional."

He said that in other fields such as medicine and engineering, subjects have become complex, necessitating specialisation.

The same was becoming true for lawyers and this trend could be seen in subjects such as biotechnology, cyberspace and intellectual property.

Mr. Khare said that the centre, which seeks to promote interaction within the SAARC region, had a rightful role in today's context. "It may be noted that many of the problems of SAARC region are common.

There may be geographical boundaries between people of various countries, but historically and culturally they are similar. There was much for us to learn from each other, and also we must work together to achieve a common purpose."

He wanted the legal community to play a "balancing role" so that our technological growth could continue to be beneficial to our people and nation.

Emphasising the importance of a comparative study of law, he said that globalisation, even though driven by economic considerations, was also having a profound impact on law and legal institutions.

He stressed the need for greater uniformity of laws across the world as the problems being faced by different countries were increasingly becoming similar.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, who inaugurated the administration and academic block, stressed the need for all to strive to ensure that NALSAR achieved higher standards of excellence and took its place among the best law schools in the world.

To achieve this goal, it was necessary for the students to keep themselves abreast of rapid changes in law, not only in India, but in other developed countries as well.

He said that Indian industries were fast emerging as global competitors and were aggressively making their presence felt in several countries, including those in the West. "Their ability to survive and successfully compete in global markets would largely depend on effective legal advice and assistance.

A premier law school such as NALSAR could, to a large, extent fill this void." He assured the State Government's continued support for the growth and development of NALSAR.

Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court, K.K. Venugopal, who donated Rs.1.5 crores for setting up the centre, said that this was the first international centre for legal education in the country.

It would impart training to young law graduates from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka in subjects such as WTO law, intellectual property right, international arbitration, FDI law and IT. It would also help build bridges and promote camaraderie among students of SAARC nations.

Mr. Naidu released a book "Hindu Law of Adoption: Principles and Precedents" by Vijender Kumar, who is on the faculty of NALSAR, while Mr. Khare released NALSAR Law Review.

The Supreme Court Judges, Justice A.R Lakshmanan, Justice P. Venkatarama Reddi, the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Justice Devinder Gupta, were among dignitaries from the legal fraternity who attended the function.

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