On Lawyering

The challenges of lawyering in India are quite tremendous. While the U.S. has the highest number of lawyers anywhere in the world (there are about a million lawyers), India has the second largest number of lawyers numbering about 700,000. In the U.S., the legal ratio is approximately 1 lawyer for every 300 persons. In India, it is 1 lawyer for every 1,125 persons.

Under the Legal Services Act of 1987, there is a right to civil legal services for certain classes of affected persons but as far as I can gather there isn't really the concept or functioning of a large public interest law firm. The court appoints respected advocates to serve as court appointed counsel pretty much on a pro bono basis. Most lawyers work independently or in very small size firms and rely upon securing fees from their clients as income. There are NGO's here and there that do engage in representing underserved populations but the largest and most reputable on I know of consists of 200 lawyers serving all of India. So, it's difficult to even describe to people here how lawyers can engage in legal representation for underserved and vulnerable populations and possess a decent income.

It's also challenging being a lawyer here because there is so much corruption in government institutions. In my own rudimentary understanding of Indian law, I see that there is often pretty good language in the statutes or what they call 'bare acts' but the law remains limp and unenforced because the mechanisms and institutions in place are inadequate and malfunctioning.
There was a panel assembled last week by the students in the legal aid cell who brought in 'advocates' (what we call practicing lawyers) to speak on some high-profile cases involving government officials charged with high profile crimes ranging from sexual assault to money laundering but who remain unpunished or inadequately punished because of judicial complacency/corruption. (One case was pending for 19 years!)

What's interesting/troubling to me is that it's common knowledge among students that judges are corrupt, the police are corrupt. Some students will even give you personal anecdotes of what they have encountered. The challenges students as young lawyers face is what role they will have in maintaining the status quo or challenging it. Challenging it means being honest and straightforward but that is not easy to do in the present environment.