Abstract: Advocacy in India is a very lucrative career as it is a very noble and prestigious profession. There are around 1700 law schools currently operative in India creating thousands of Lawyers and legal professionals every year. These young lawyers spread out in the country to various courts, tribunals, forums and offices dedicating themselves to shaping the country’s legal dynamics but what is disheartening at this juncture is that these young lawyers in the courts do not get paid a proper remuneration for their work and services and are meagerly paid.
For the past few months, especially after the end of the Covid pandemic, there has been an open debate among freshers / young lawyers, students in law schools like Cooch Behar Law College and several statements by personnel from the top-tier of the judicial system in India about the payment of decent wages to young lawyers who are pursuing litigation under the supervision of some senior (whether designated or otherwise) or working under the umbrella of some larger chamber.
Most law students do not want to practice litigation for a variety of reasons, the biggest of concerns being the amount of money they would make during their first 5-6 years of practice. The litigation field is a great opportunity for the young layers to learn and earn but this financial pullback that they face at the hands of senior advocates during the very initial years of their advocacy careers is a great demotivation for them. Due to these setbacks, a majority of para-lawyers divert from their dreams of becoming great advocates and are ready to settle with alternative career options like paralegal, academician and others on the list. Even for a young lawyer coming from a middle-class/upper-middle-class or wealthy background, when the remuneration is not proportional to the efforts put in, the young lawyer is generally entirely demotivated to work more.
This practice of less or no payments at all to the freshers / young lawyers is considered to be an age-old custom of exploitation metaphorically, which has been practised over years by generations and generations of lawyers. These young lawyers initially invest a good sum of money to get their law degrees from law schools and then when they finally turn into advocates after paying again for All India Bar Examinations and to their State Bar Associations for receiving their practising licences, they are rewarded with little or no wage for working day and night, shuffling between courts for the work under their seniors. The stand taken by most of the seniors is that they are teaching the juniors all the work which they could never learn in books which is althemore important and valuable than money.
Despite the challenges, law is clearly one of the most renowned professions that draws young brains due to its wide range of opportunities. With elders who are frequently unsupportive and low pay, they tend to shift to more profitable corporate, government, or public undertaking organizations. However, their challenges persist, as corporate positions with long working hours can be dull and lack innovation. Therefore, there must be a proper scheme for paying the junior lawyers at courts for their service so that students from law schools like Cooch Behar Law College continue to dream of becoming big and successful advocates with established legal careers.
