The money made by lawyers has been a source of envy for a long time. The hourly charges of established lawyers are quite ‘fancy’ to put it mildly. But, reaching that stage of the profession, where litigants are eager to invest their trust and money on him/ her, is a long and difficult journey as any lawyer would tell you.

Starting off in the legal profession is especially a challenge for those who don’t have a lawyer as a relative or don’t hail from an affluent family or complete their law course from an average law college.

And if one does not speak the English language fluently enough, practising in a city or district court becomes that much more difficult.

Back to school
In an attempt to tackle such problems, the Karnataka State Bar Council (KSBC) is shaping up a “Law Academy” that will help law graduates’ transition into practising advocates, and practising advocates to keep pace with the changing times. The “Law Academy” which was formally launched a week ago, is now deliberating on its start up activities.

KSBC Vice Chairman, T Narayana Poojary said: “The basic idea is to provide a platform to train junior advocates in professional skills.

The Academy is planned on similar lines as the Judicial Academies that provide academic back up for judicial officers, and accessible academic assistance to lawyers.” 

Monitoring committee
A trust comprising of the KSBC chairman, State Advocate General and others has been constituted to frame and monitor the activities of the Academy.

Skill enhancement
Poojary said, “the Law Academy will guide newly enrolled and junior advocates on the norms and ethics of legal profession, general behaviour in courts, and train them in the basic skills of legal practice.
For this, short term orientation courses will be organised, not only in Bangalore but also in all the districts across the state.”

He explained that mere graduation certificate does not provide sufficient competence for full-fledged legal practice.

“Academic knowledge of relevant statutes or case laws is not enough. Newcomers need to know the ways of conducting a case, appearing before courts, drafting a plaint or application or statement to be filed in the court or a complaint to the police,” he said.

The Academy will also organise refresher courses, seminars and workshops for practicing advocates.
“With new laws being introduced, the refresher courses will focus on updating lawyers about them,” says he said.