Therefore, the lens through which the Bar Council and the Honourable Supreme Court have approached legal education must be changed immediately. It is more important to recognize that it is not for the courts to decide policy issues related to legal education. All political issues should be dealt with in more participatory and democratic spaces. Unfortunately, the Pakistan Bar Council has opted for a more assertive route through the courts. This was not a question of respect for fundamental rights, invoked under Article 184(3), but a question of policy which should have remained in this area. In most countries, the authorities that regulate the legal profession require students to take their own bar exams to qualify for licensure in their state, such as the New York Bar exam. These professional courses and examinations, which serve as entry into professional practice, are taken in addition to the Bachelor of Laws, LL.B degree and the role and purpose of these programs are different from the type of academic degree, which is LL.B. The LL.B degree as a basic undergraduate university degree prepares a student to continue their studies or specialize in the field of law. It offers students the opportunity to choose whether they want to follow the academic path and enroll in a master`s and then doctoral program, or if they want to change course from academia to practice and prefer to complete professional training in order to be “professionally ready” for a career in active legal practice, by preparing for and passing the bar exam. The desire to reform the curriculum and take a multidisciplinary approach by introducing professional elements such as “clinical legal education, advocacy, show trials, client interviews, negotiation, and mediation to give students insight into the practical requirements of legal practice” seems to be expected for a university degree to lead to an appropriate outcome for a professional course. But this was actually used as a basis for eliminating a three-year LL.B degree and replacing it with a five-year program to build a foundation in multidisciplinary fields.
This obviously led to an anomaly, as the external course continued to have a three-year duration, giving students enrolled in these programs an advantage over their local counterparts. At the same time, evening classes were perceived negatively by banks and bars as contributing to lower educational levels. While adherence to a code of conduct or basic educational standards taught at a college or university is not a problem in itself and may even be a necessary means of improving the standards of law schools and schools, it was certainly not sufficient to improve the standards of legal education, for which more substantial progress has been made in the curriculum. The quality of textbook content, research culture, and effective testing and analytical skills are required. For this reason, evening programs are not problematic and can even improve access to education for those who can have day jobs and need those jobs to support their homes and education. In Pakistan, you will often hear lawyers proclaim that law is a “professional degree,” and it is with the same narrow and largely false lens that they approach the field of legal education. As a result, this sense of “professional dominance”, the academic mainstream, is largely undermined and underutilized when it comes to legal or political issues affecting legal education – its role, purpose, future and progress in Pakistan. Let`s put that in context. In Pakistan, there is a general contempt for the fields of research and science.
But even more so in the legal field, where academics are not even counted as members of the Brotherhood and usually work in silos and echo chambers. Professionals and policy-makers within the profession almost never seek to benefit from researchers` research, analysis and comparative work. Members of academia often have no interest in these areas, where “active legal practice” dominates as a criterion for progress in law, such as appointment as a judge. Graduates of the Foundation`s partner law schools report that ADR skills have served them well in the legal profession. Yumna Kamran graduated from KCW and currently works as a lawyer. She found the practical part of ADR training to be particularly beneficial to her career. “The simulation exercises played a key role in developing my advocacy skills,” she says. “Thanks to vocational training, I am now able to cope with demanding tasks.” The young lawyer also sees ADR as an effective way to serve her clients. “The main duty of a lawyer is to achieve the best results for the client. ADR is often in the customer`s best interest and can save them time and money. In addition, it contributes to the administration of an efficient legal system.
The fact is, then, that when members of such a fraternity are asked to think about “improving legal education,” it is not surprising that they measure it from the same perspective of professional superiority over academic excellence. Increasingly urban and increasingly online, Pakistan`s economic landscape is changing rapidly and, with it, gender norms for women`s professions. The legal profession is a good example. In Pakistan, women still face unique challenges when practicing law, but their numbers in this profession continue to grow. In 2019, a conference of women judges co-organized by the Asia Foundation in Punjab province attracted about 400 women judges. At the same time, new avenues of access to justice for women are emerging. For example, a national system of special courts had been established to provide victims of gender-based violence with prompt and gender-sensitive justice.