'Advocacy skills lacking among budding lawyers'

District and Sessions Court Judge C M Joshi lamented that the required skill for the advocacy was lacking among the young lawyers.

He was addressing the gathering after inaugurating the Shivaji Shetty Memorial National Moot Court-2019 held at Vaikunta Baliga Law College here, on Friday.

The judge said the young lawyers are ignorant about skills like drafting, presenting and cross examination. A lawyer needs to understand which question can not be posed during the cross examination.

The Judge asserted that legal profession is a noble profession.

“All well known leaders, including the freedom fighters, in India were lawyers who understood the pulse of society. They understood the pain of people and also the welfare of the society,” he said.

It is essential for a lawyer to be compassionate, Joshi stressed and added that the lack of quality in legal education had led to the creation of under-qualified lawyers.

He urged students to set targets for themselves and achieve goals in order to reach the top position.

Bengaluru C M R University, School of Legal Studies division Dean Prof T R Subramanya lamented that ‘Clinical Legal Education’, promoted in 1987, is becoming outdated as the attitude in the society is changing.

He said there was a need for re-orientation of legal education.

The lawyers are the conscience of the society and they should know the problems that exist in the society before responding, he added.

“Legal education is India is dominated by National Law Schools, Private Law Universities and the affiliated institutions, which produce a huge chunk of the lawyers.”

More than 80% to 85% of the lawyers in the country are from the affiliated institutions, which lack quality infrastructures and not so qualified teachers.

The clinical legal education which was recommend by the First Director of National Law School, Madhav Menon, now appears to be insufficient.

The clinical legal education emphasised on thinking, conduct and perform.

“The present day practitioner only think and act. They lag behind in conduct and perform, which is crucial to legal profession,” he stressed.