Luminaries in the field of legal services including heads of law firms, practicing lawyers, and experts in corporate law have emphasized on the pressing need of bolstering the legal education system in the country if the legal industry wants to play a pivotal role in realizing the collective aim of making India a $5 trillion economy in next five years.

Speaking at Global Legal Summit and Legal Leaders Awards organized by BW Legal World, experts in the legal system said the fraternity needs to come together to effectively tackle the challenges of hierarchy, inclusivity, and the challenges to cope up with newer issues thrown up every day.

Tarun Nangia, Associate Editor, (Special Projects) NewsX said, “While currently being 2.5 trillion dollar economy, our law firms need protection from other foreign law firms to become a $5 trillion economy.”

Pratibha Jain, Partner, NDA said: “While in the 70s, research was the primary source to attract clients. Being a service provider, we at NDA still believe that good quality research can create an impact on the industry.” Jain says the legal community must come together to train the upcoming students pursuing law so that they can become better lawyers. "Law firms play a vital role wherein training the new generation of lawyers will help bring in fresh ideas and opportunities,” Jain adds.

But Sudhir Mishra, Founder & Managing Partner, Trustlegal, a leading law firm, put things in the perspective. “Law industry plays a minuscule part of the services industry which is just 65% of the economy,” says Mishra. Sharing memories from the 70s, Mishra recalled a lack of enough opportunities in those times.

The event was organized in the capital at "The Imperial".

Adding to the discussion, Anand Prasad, Founding Partner, Trilegal said it was in the 1970s when the law industry was "deeply rooted" and the businesses supported the industry immensely. “Back in the 70s when we started practicing and many adverse situations arose, the law industry, as compared to now, was deeply rooted in Indian business which further supported the industry immensely.” 

Jain suggested setting up a "committee of lawyers" to discuss issues arising out of judgments and orders that may be at times not rooted in ground realities. Jain said such a committee can put forth well-articulated suggestions to the top court in order to have a better connect with the ground realities, wherever required.