New Delhi, Sept 19, 2025 — At the inaugural Professor N.R. Madhava Menon Memorial Lecture, Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and Supreme Court Justice Surya Kant delivered a powerful call for reimagining legal education in India, urging law schools to shift from elitism to inclusivity, and from theory to societal engagement.

Law Must Serve the People, Not Just the Profession

Chief Justice Gavai emphasised that legal education must go beyond producing lawyers and judges, and instead foster socially conscious citizens committed to the constitutional values of liberty, equality, and fraternity.

“Economic disadvantage means that even when legal remedies exist, they remain unaffordable to those who need them the most,” said Justice Gavai, adding that access to justice remains a privilege for many, hindered by geographical, linguistic, and financial barriers.

He proposed technology integration, regional language instruction, stronger legal aid systems, and support for first-generation law students as key strategies to democratise legal education.

Justice Cannot Be an Ivory Tower

Justice Surya Kant echoed these sentiments, warning that the dream of community-based lawyering and the effective rollout of Gram Nyayalayas (village courts) still remains far from reality. He raised alarm over faculty shortages in premier institutions like National Law Universities (NLUs) and the prohibitive costs of legal education, which he said are excluding talented students from marginalised communities.

“The study of law must never be carried out in ivory towers, detached from the real struggles of society,” Justice Kant stated. He called for an interdisciplinary curriculum, adoption of digital-first teaching methods, and compulsory legal aid clinics in law schools.

Ethics and Regional Voices Must Shape the Future

Addressing concerns over the increasing corporatisation of legal careers, Chief Justice Gavai called for law schools to instil ethics and constitutional values in students. While recognising the success of integrated five-year programmes and national law schools, he stressed the importance of preserving regional and historical perspectives within the global legal discourse.

“Voices shaped by colonial histories and economic struggles must not be sidelined,” Gavai said, underscoring the need to align legal education with social justice and grassroots empowerment.

A Wake-Up Call for Reform

The memorial lecture served as a wake-up call for legal academia, reinforcing the vision of Professor N.R. Madhava Menon, widely considered the architect of modern legal education in India. Both justices urged stakeholders—governments, universities, and civil society—to work together in building a more inclusive, accessible, and socially engaged legal education system.