Overview
- Speaking at the inaugural N.R. Madhava Menon Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, CJI B.R. Gavai said law schools should shape citizens committed to liberty, equality and fraternity, not just train professionals.
- Gavai called for embedding ethics and constitutional values in pedagogy and urged a shift from teaching what courts held to examining why they held it.
- He pressed for widening access through technology, instruction in regional languages, stronger legal aid, and pathways for first-generation learners.
- Gavai cautioned that five-year integrated programmes and the National Law School model have steered many graduates toward corporate roles, weakening engagement with social justice.
- Delivering the lecture, Justice Surya Kant highlighted faculty shortages and the high cost of legal education and recommended interdisciplinary, digital-first curricula with compulsory legal-aid clinics.