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| Different Types of Lawyers in India | | |
Advocate Praveen Kapahi
India has one of the largest legal profession systems in the world, that has stood the test of time and facilitated the existence of one of the largest democracy of the world. The legal profession as we know it today is only a recent phenomenon that was shaped inform by the earlier British legal system.
Overview of the legal profession in India
India is one of those rare countries which can boast a crude form of recorded legal history starting from the Vedic age and the Indus Valley Civilization. But the modern legal system in India dates back to 1672 when the first British Court was established by Governor Aungier in erstwhile Bombay.
This was followed by the establishment of the courts in Madras and Calcutta’s presidency towns. But at that point in time, there were no particular provisions for the qualifications of persons who would be eligible to practice in these courts. These matters were regulated by these courts by a matter of practice.
The first major regulation that enabled the professionalization of the legal system was the Indian Bar Council Act of 1926. This Act provided for the incorporation, constitution and regulation of Bar Councils in British India.
The modern-day legal system and profession that we know, is unified in character, thanks to the unified bar as laid down by the Constitution of India. With one of the largest legal systems in the world, India has an estimated legal market size of USD 1.3 billion as of 2018.
Different Classes of Law
Individuals
Under this, the advocates are mainly classified into Advocates & Senior Advocates, who can be designated by the Supreme Court or any of the 21 High Courts by virtue of their exemplary standing at the Bar or knowledge and special experience. Only 1% of the lawyers constitute the Senior Advocate group of senior lawyers who wield a wide influence in this profession. A senior advocate designated by one court is a senior in other courts also, and have a seniority register roll maintained by the Bar Council of India. As per the rules, a Senior Advocate is not allowed to accept any brief directly from a client in order to allow exposure to the younger advocates. It also gives the senior advocates enough time for research and academic pursuits.
Corporate Law Firms
There are law firms in every city of India but at the time of independence, these were mainly restricted to metropolitan areas like Bombay and Madras. The law firms have been highly impacted by globalization and the opening of the economy and have seen tremendous growth, contributing highly to transactional and litigation work. These corporate law firms also attract the best talent from law schools in India.
Litigation Lawyers
India’s fast burgeoning population has ensured that India does not have enough litigation lawyers to fulfill the demands, despite a number of law schools that have come up in various parts of the country. In this class of lawyers, mostly individual practice is seen and concentrated towards the cases in the home court. Nowadays, litigation lawyers practice is expanding in Tier-1 and Tier-2 towns, unlike the earlier era when litigation lawyers practiced primarily in the metropolitans. This class of lawyers has another challenge to deal with – the remuneration is not as attractive when compared to corporate lawyers but the demand is huge, which gives an attractive opportunity to young India to tap into this demand.
Different Types of Lawyers in India
Law as a profession is very diverse in essence as well as practice – it impacts almost everyone out there right from individuals, corporates, governments, and the list goes on.
So, it is only natural that the profession will be diverse in all practicality. Here are the main types of lawyers in India, depending upon the nature of their practice or role:
Private lawyers – These are the lawyers who work for private firms and do not work for any government or nonprofit organizations. They have had a higher remu. |
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