Thoughts on the need to form and develop Student Bar Associations in all Law schools/colleges

My thoughts, today, revolve around the need to form and develop a Student Bar Association(SBA) in each and every law school/college in the country, irrespective of whether they are in the Private or Public Sector.

The traditional classification of the legal fraternity in to the Bar and the Bench is well known. Even the Bar itself consists of the Senior Advocates and the Junior advocates, that is the new entrants to the legal profession and who are working under a senior. Bar associations, national or local in scope and jurisdiction, apart from being the interest group of lawyers, play a significant role in facilitating greater interaction and understanding amongst the legal fraternity and in strengthening the relationship between the Bar and the Bench, in turn building an environment conducive in effective administration of justice and maintenance of the sacrosanct principle of the 'Rule of Law'. This much is indeed well-known and the purpose of this paragraph is only to reinforce and develop my thesis of the immediate necessity of forming Student Bar Associations, a task which brooks no delay.

Where do the students of law, not even possessed of the qualifications to practice law, come in in to this discussion on Bar Associations? Is it not preposterous to even suggest the idea of forming student Bar Associations on the lines of the traditional Bar Associations functioning among the lawyers? My answer is a clear and resounding NO.

I conceive of the students studying law, as 'lawyers in the making' or  as occupying the third level on the pyramid after the Senior Advocates and the Juniors. It is in the interest of the legal fraternity itself that due care and attention be paid to the legal education system in the country, and especially  focus on the 'upbringing' of the students who, sooner rather than later are bound to step in to the portals of the court rooms. I presume that the seniors would most certainly be a happier lot if the quality of those entering the profession is a lot more better. This could most certainly be achieved by setting up SBA.

Membership of such Student Bar Associations would help the students in gaining a better understanding of the glorious profession they are going to become a part of after passing out. It would also teach them the basic tenets of a democratic style of functioning of a organization. When they pass out and are called to the Bar, and become a part of some Bar Association or the other, they will find it that much easier to become integrated in to such organizations with relative ease. Student Bar Associations with the active assistance of the members of the Faculty can very well strive to instill in the students, the need to observe scrupulously Professional ethics too, for which the right qualities of the head and heart can be developed even while the students are in law school/college.

 As I conceive it the following could be some of the chief objectives/purposes of a Student Bar Association:

1. To unify and bring together under one roof all the students of the law school/college and promote a greater understanding between the faculty, administration and the students;

2. To effectively formulate/promulgate the position of the Bar Association/Council on major issues affecting the students of the institution they are studying in; 

3. To serve as a forum for the discussion of academic and professional issues;

4. To serve as liaison between the students, the College administration, faculty, and the legal community.

5. To provide programs for professional training and advancement;

6. To promote a feeling of loyalty towards their law school/college and the profession;

7. To promote scholarship and legal research, drafting/convincing skills;

8. To develop an academic atmosphere in the campus conducive to learning law;

9. To develop in the students the qualities of the head and the heart required of a good, if not a great lawyer;

10. To strive to secure internships for students on the rolls of the Bar Association/Council (depending of course, on the individual merit and capacity of members) by liasioning with lawyers and law firms;

11. To co-ordinate with the college union (where there is one) in conducting activities related to promotion of welfare of the students in general and in particular, the activities of Moot Club and other co-curricular or extra-curricular activities;

"Law is a business to which my life is devoted, and I should show less than devotion if I did not do what in me  lies to improve it, and when I perceive what seems to me be the ideal of its future, if I hesitated to point it out and press toward it with all my heart."