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[LIVE NOW] First Professor. Shamnad Basheer Memorial Lecture: By Dr.Justice S Muralidhar https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/live-now-first-professor-shamnad-basheer-memorial-lecture-by-drjustice-s-muralidhar-162812
Dr Anup Surendranath starts the session by remembering Professor Shamnad Basheer, who he called a great teacher and academician.
Welcomes Dr. Justice S Muralidhar to the webinar.
@asurendranath
Welcomes Dr. Justice S Muralidhar to the webinar.
@asurendranath
Justice Muralidhar remembers Professor Shamnad as a person of 'positivity and vitality' who for students was a "provocative teacher".
@shamnad @IDIALaw
@shamnad @IDIALaw
Shamnad challenged young minds of legal education. His cherished dream was to make legal education inclusive. He was critical of the manner in which CLAT was conducted. He was of the view that it kept out a large section of young underprivileged students : J Muralidhar.
@IDIALaw
@IDIALaw
These concerns of Shamnad led to the formation of the remarkable initiative of IDIA @IDIALaw in 2010. Due to IDIA, a generation of daily wage workers, clerks etc would see the next generation clear CLAT and become legal professionals after 5 year education in NLUs: J Muralidhar.
Undoubtedly, IDIA will be viewed as Shamnad's pioneering transformative, and lasting contribution to legal education in India. It is great pity that Shamnad left us when he was at his peak : J Muralidhar.
@IDIALaw
@IDIALaw
Legal education has moved a considerable distance from 1958 when Law Commission reported that law education in India has deteriorated and lamented that portals of law colleges were open to teachers of mediocre abilities. That no longer may be true after 3 decades : J Muralidhar
What has remained unchanged is the control of legal education by the Bar Council of India @barcouncilindia and UGC @ugc_india. Law Commission in 184th report noted that overlap of functions of UGC and BCI ought to be resolved: J Muralidhar
A significant change in the last three decades has been the emergence of National Law Universities : J Muralidhar
A recent trend is the corporatization of legal education with business houses setting up private law universities: J Muralidhar.
There is a mushrooming of law colleges in India. Bar Council has proposed a moratorium on the opening of new law colleges in India for three years: J Muralidhar.
@barcouncilindia https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/bci-approves-3-year-moratorium-on-sanctioning-new-law-colleges-in-the-country-147124
@barcouncilindia https://www.livelaw.in/news-updates/bci-approves-3-year-moratorium-on-sanctioning-new-law-colleges-in-the-country-147124
Corporatization of legal education meant that students are gravitating towards electives which will help them secure a corporate job. Corporates are also financing chairs for research in areas of their interests: J Muralidhar quotes from study reports of legal scholars.
Graduates from law schools have set a new benchmark in litigation. As law researchers, they have made significant contributions to judges. Some of them have joined the judiciary, and some have branched out to other disciplines: J Muralidahr.
The legal profession has become increasingly competitive. It is estimated that 80% of the work is distributed among 20% of lawyers : J Muralidhar.
In major metropolises, the individual lawyer is a vanishing breed. Instead one is witnessing the growth of small and mid-size firms, aspiring to capture the work left over by large firms : J Muralidhar.
More than 80% of students of NLUs come from wealthy, urban, English-speaking backgrounds, J Muralidhar says referring to 2018-19 report of IDIA @IDIALaw .
The average course fee, including tuition and boarding expenses in NLU, range from Rs 15-18 lakhs per annum.
The average course fee, including tuition and boarding expenses in NLU, range from Rs 15-18 lakhs per annum.
85% of students of NLUs had enrolled for expensive coaching for CLAT. Over 80% received funding from their parents : J Muralidhar.
There is low representation of students from low-income groups. The remarkable thing which IDIA @IDIALaw did was to identify students with legal aptitude from underprivileged sections and aid their legal education : J Muralidhar.
IDIA's support does not end with the entry of the scholars to the NLUs. They take efforts to fund their education, help to arange internships to secure employment : J Muralidhar.
@IDIALaw
@IDIALaw
Less than 3% of NLU students are from rural areas studied in the vernacular medium. Less than 4% of the students are Muslims. There is abysmally low representation of students from North East : J Muralidhar.
Disturbingly, nearly 54% of students surveyed shared experiences of facing discrimination and insulting behavior on account of political & religious beliefs, socio-economic background, caste, appearance, language etc : J Muralidhar.
J Muralidhar recollects the shocking incident of the suicide of a student in NLU in Jabalpur allegedly over lack of proficiency in English.
About 50% of students said they experienced "culture shock". Social awkwardness, language barriers, lack of confidence are cited as reasons for not participating in co-curricular activities. A large number of students are unable to follow the curriculum : J Muralidhar
To help navigate its scholars, @IDIALaw has the program of selection of senior law students as mentors. It has also conceived of strategic programs to improve soft skills in scholars, and to build resilience in them to withstand hostile environments and isolation : J Muralidhar.
IDIA has been a successful experiment with encouraging results. Can this be scaled up by the State governments to reach thousands of law colleges across the country? : J Muralidhar.
@IDIALaw
@IDIALaw
How to make legal education socially relevant?
'Law schools must not only be sites of excellence but also of legal equity', J Muralidhar quotes from Prof Upendra Baxi.
'Law schools must not only be sites of excellence but also of legal equity', J Muralidhar quotes from Prof Upendra Baxi.
Law colleges must foster socially relevant legal education. They must lay foundation for the student in democratic practises, constitutional values of equality and non-discrimination, inclusivity and plurality in the broadest terms : J Muralidhar.
If a law schools cannot teach a student to respect difference and dissent, it would have failed in a very fundamental way : J Muralidhar.
Study of law must be based on its social and political context : J Muralidhar.
Study of law must provoke curiosity about lives of people, about processes and powers at work, whether be it of the State,corporates, civil society, mass movements. In addition, exposure to all kinds of politics would be essential : J Muralidhar.
Value of college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think, J Muralidhar quotes from Einstein.
J Muralidhar quotes from Harvard Professor Duncan Kennedy who said that law schools are intense political spaces and had asked if they are reproducing the existing legal hierarchies.
This needs to be analyzed and interrogated. What is being taught in law schools will shape how a person will approach legal issues later as a lawyer or an academician : J Muralidhar.
When I went through the list of compulsory readings in many law schools, I found translations of regional literature missing : J Muralidhar.
The lived experiences of marginalized communities and the accounts of subaltern engagements with law provide a rich source for law students to understand in what context the law functions : J Muralidhar.
In studying the law on untouchability, or manual scavenging, the students will have to listen to the voices of the affected communities : J Muralidhar.
Another perspective is, the law teachers must help the students to understand and analyze the language of law. Is it framed in the dominant voice? : J Muralidhar.
Legal education should focus not only on what lawyers do but also on what lawyers ought to do : J Muralidhar.
Indian society needs socially sensitive and community-oriented lawyers who in turn would require a curriculum which exposes them not only to legal processes but also to factors which affect a client and a lawyer : J Muralidhar.
'True education must correspond to the surrounding circumstances', J Muralidhar quotes Mahatma Gandhi to say that a law school must cater to its geographical location.
A law school as an institution would have to communicate with its environment both geographically and sociologically and account for the cultural specificities of its immediate surroundings : J Muralidhar.
For example, a law school in Ranchi would give opportunities for the students to interact with the area and mingle with its people, much of which is governed by the 5th schedule of the constitution (tribal autonomous region): J Muralidhar.
A law school in north-east should be able to give exposure to diverse and customary practises of laws in different tribal groups and help them understand the various tensions between the formal legal system and the informal legal system : J Muralidhar.
Another example, the issues related to taking over of natural resources under the pretext of development could be studied by students of colleges situated near the sites of such contestation: J Muralidhar.
This will help students to understand the local population and their resistances and to understand the cultural and spiritual standpoints of that population : J Muralidhar.
While teaching Olga Tellis case, would it not be profitable to take the students to a slum cluster for interaction with the inhabitants there to make the students understand the issue from their perspective : J Muralidhar.
J Muralidhar tells from his own experience of teaching credit courses on socio-economic rights that such interactions are much more effective than class room lectures.
This also brings up the issue of innovative teaching methods. This takes us to the idea mooted by Prof Baxi to set up a legal pedagogy institute : J Muralidhar.
Learning of law has to be continuous exercise for lawyers and judges: J Muralidhar.
According to J Muralidhar, if a law school serves its purpose if teaches its student to :
1. be open to new ways of thinking.
2. respect others' choices while not imposing one's own.
3. retain civility and dissent in the argument.
4. embrace difference, inclusivity and pluralism.
1. be open to new ways of thinking.
2. respect others' choices while not imposing one's own.
3. retain civility and dissent in the argument.
4. embrace difference, inclusivity and pluralism.
5. never abandon the constitutional values of liberty, freedom, equality and fraternity.
6. imbue constitutional morality as an uncompromising value of life.
7. question, confront, and challenge abuse of authority and power.
6. imbue constitutional morality as an uncompromising value of life.
7. question, confront, and challenge abuse of authority and power.
8. recognize the fight against injustice by lawful means.
9. to be ever open to change and learning.
If a law school teaches a student the above, such a law school would have served its purpose. : J Muralidhar ends his talk, thanking all for the patient listening.
9. to be ever open to change and learning.
If a law school teaches a student the above, such a law school would have served its purpose. : J Muralidhar ends his talk, thanking all for the patient listening.
In response to a query from @asurendranath as to what law schools should focus on, J Muralidhar replies that the understanding of a lawyer as a litigating lawyer is a limited one. Lawyers are evoling with different skills as negotiators, problem solvers etc.
Law schools must offer a wide spectrum for the students to choose as per this aptitude - whether to be a lawyer, judge or academic - and should be able to secure them opportunities without financial anxieites : J Muralidhar.
Bar Council needs to think more proactively, to see the wide spectrum of legal education. There needs to be active consultation on regular basis on syllabus and curriculum updation: J Muralidhar.
@barcouncilindia
@barcouncilindia
The present system of media houses ranking law schools based on parameters such as ability of passing out batch to secure placements in leading corporate houses can hardly be considered reliable. Unfortunately, this to a large extent determines the choice of NLUs : J Muralidhar.
