Shri Gopal Subramanium, Solicitor General of India and Chairman, Bar Council of India (‘BCI’) today expressed deep concern regarding declining academic standards in legal education and the profession.

Indian academics and members of the Bar have, in the past, produced some of the best examples of legal literary work. A lack of appropriate standards in legal writing and education has however, unfortunately, resulted in a sharp decline in the production of good quality, original legal writing in the public space.

In furtherance of the Bar Council of India’s resolve to raise standards of academia within the legal profession, the Chairman stated that all legal writing must now necessarily be subject to rigorous academic standards and strict checks to ensure that legal writing meets international standards.

In this regard, the Bar Council of India has also expressed its willingness to support efforts by law colleges to run software that checks for plagiarism. The Bar Council would also like to extend its full support to the Judiciary, which is often at the fore of legal reform and emerging jurisprudential thought, by making such software available to their law clerks/offices.

Measures to stem plagiarism come on the heels of the announcement for a pan-India bar examination. The Chairman noted that the BCI remains deeply committed to the enhancement of academic standards and the infusion of rigour for law students, professors, and members of the legal profession. He suggested that the government needs to be equally cautious about plagiarism. The said concerns have been voiced by a large number of leading academics, lawyers and judges across the country.

The Bar Council of India requests all law colleges to take adequate steps to prevent plagiarism in any publications and academic writing in the public space.