The Legal Profession in J&K

The prospects of the legal profession in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) are many and have been quite encouraging. India has witnessed a rise in the number of national law universities showcasing a significant scope of legal education and therefore a good number of students from diverse backgrounds are interested in taking law as a career opportunity. Day by day, we are seeing a higher enrolment ratio in law courses in both University of Kashmir and Central University of Kashmir indicating a high popularity of the legal profession and high quality of teaching which offers a series of diverse career prospects after the degree completion. However, we do not see a complementarity between law institutes and their quality of education. Also, there should be a symbiotic relationship among diverse interrelated law and polity courses offered in various law institutes. It is unfortunate that there is a bad interface among different law courses offered in law institutes at J&K, especially between polity and economy courses. The fundamentals of polity and economy are weak among the students in the institutes and hence they cannot compete in the job market at both the national and international level.

Our educational institutions follow conventional tools and as a result there is a disconnection between academia and career choices. We are not provided with soft, life, and business skills, which is why we lag behind in every field. Accordingly, educational institutes in a generic form and law institutes in particular must look for opportunities to bridge the gap between academics and professions through various channels such as skill enhancing courses, bridge courses, seminars, workshops, career counselling, internships, value added courses, etc. We must acknowledge the fact that currently there exist huge gaps between the academia and legal profession in J&K. A major reason for the disconnect between the two has its roots in the lack of the faculty members’ knowledge of the procedural legal aspects and practical legal challenges faced by the people of J&K on the ground.