As part of its plan to revamp the judicial system, the UPA government is considering bringing back one-year mandatory apprenticeship for lawyers, before they are enrolled as advocates. Only on Sunday, senior-most judge of the Supreme Court Justice S H Kapadia had urged the government and Bar Council of India to re-introduce pre-enrolment training for lawyers.

Earlier, the mandatory year-long apprenticeship under a senior advocate was a pre-requisite for enrolment as an advocate by the Bar Council under the Advocates Act. However, following a Supreme Court decision, it was abandoned as it found the same was not in line with the Act.

But realising the pressing need for specialised lawyers and judges to deal with lawsuits, raising crucial questions of not just law but economics and finance, Justice Kapadia, who is next in line to become the CJI, had said, “We need qualified judges to decide commercial cases. I would want (law) students to learn basics of economics and finance.”

Agreeing with his “request”, Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily today told The Indian Express that the government will take a fresh look at the Advocates Act, 1961and seriously consider bringing pre-enrolment training back. Even the Vision Statement, which was agreed upon after two-day deliberations stated: “The Advocates Act, 1961 may also need to be revisited in consultation with senior members of the Bar to consider re-introducing mandatory apprenticeship.”