In Focus

Future of Indian legal profession

Adapted from Judge Chandrachud’s keynote address at the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession’s Delhi book launch of The Indian Legal Profession in the Age of Globalization: The Rise of the Corporate Legal Sector and its Impact on Lawyers and Society (Cambridge University Press, 2017) held on December 11, 2017. Transcript edited for style and length.


Let me begin by telling you that one of the most significant impacts of the last 20 years or so has been on legal education in India due to the increasing number of law graduates—particularly from the elite law schools—who chose to work in law firms. The prospect of high-paying corporate jobs at the end of the law course has changed who applies to law schools, the choice of law schools, the educational experience at law schools, and how much students are willing to pay for legal education.

I must tell you a story about Delhi University, when I was a law student. A very enterprising friend asked me, “What are you going to do after you graduate law school?” I said, “I am going to be a lawyer.” He said, “How are you going to earn your income?” I said, “From the practice of the law.” He said, “You belong to a legal family. Why don’t you, through your contacts, get a gas agency or a petroleum outlet?” I said, “What does that have to do with all our learning as lawyers?” He said, “That’s how you are going to make your income as a lawyer.”

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