CJI inaugurates law academy in state

Ranchi: Chief Justice of India T S Thakur along with Supreme Court judges Justice AK Sikri, Justice AR Dave, Justice R Banumathi, chief justice of Jharkhand high court Virendra Singh and several officials of the bar council laid the foundation stone of the lawyers' academy on Saturday. The academy is the second in the country after Kerala. He also inaugurated lawyers' training at the judicial academy.
Justice Thakur on Saturday also stressed on the need to set higher standards for allowing law graduates to become good lawyers at the national seminar on continuing legal education for lawyers and its benefits, organized by the Jharkhand state bar council and the Bar Council of India
While addressing the seminar the CJI said that in the marriage market the demand of lawyers is very low because anyone can become a lawyer.
"A doctor has a better market, an engineer has a better market, an IAS officer has a better market, and an IFS is a prized catch. You will find many IAS and IFS officers from Bihar who are well in demand. Why is it that the demand of lawyers in the marriage market is very low because it's so easy to become a lawyer. Anyone can have a legal degree and enter the profession," he said.
He said that there could be as many as two million lawyers in the country. "How many more do we require? How many could be accommodated? The lack of jobs leading to so many people entering the profession creates malpractice. Somebody has to sustain on bail, some depend on becoming oath commissioners, and others try to sustain themselves by becoming notaries. There are others who indulge in all sorts of brokering and other malpractices," he said.
Answering some of the questions raised by the chairman of the Bar Council of India, Manan Mishra, Justice Thakur asked the bar to be more strict and responsive .
"I think its time you set higher standards of professional and ethical conduct for the lawyers. If someone is found guilty of malpractice, punish him seriously. He should be thrown out of the profession instead of being suspended for six months or a year because few of these black sheep bring bad name to the entire profession," he cautioned.
The CJI also reminded the fraternity of the impending challenge of foreign law firms entering the country.
"Unless the lawyers are trained and become experts in their subject matter, they would simply vanish when foreign law firms come and start offering services," he said citing the analogy of fate of small shops after the advent of malls in big cities.