Introduction: The Context
Article 39A of the Constitution, sets down a major responsibility on the State to ensure that our
legal system promotes justice to all based on the rule of ‘equal opportunity’. In specific the
article in particular discussed about providing free legal aid to all citizens of the country,
irrespective of their economic disability or any disability that hinders them to seek access to
justice through enactment of suitable legislations or schemes. This has undoubtedly aligned to
legal education in the form of providing legal aid through law school legal aid clinics. The Bar
Council of India, through its Rules, have made it compulsory to establish legal aid clinics in
every institution imparting legal education in India.
At a time, when India is witnessing major transformations, the law school is called upon to
perform an active role in the development of the society and the nation at large. The role of the
students and the development of their skills and social responsibility has rather received fewer
opportunities of recognition in the entire gamut of legal education. It is in this context, that the
role of legal aid clinics that are established in the institutions that originate in fulfilling the
larger mandate of the Constitution. Through the efforts of Bar Council of India and the
members of the academia who were highly influenced by the Western philosophy envisioned
an active role of the law students in achieving this exalted purpose of social justice.
The philosophical chords of legal aid to fulfil this function is replete and evidenced through
literature –both Indian and Western, Commission Reports, Rules and Regulations of the BCI.
It is in this background, that there is a clarion call for the law schools legal aid clinics to work
with a twofold agenda. The agenda being, fulfilment of the social justice goals and training the
students with the necessary skills that are practical oriented. With a vast majority of the Indian
population that is secluded from legal institutions and denied access to these institutions, there
is an incumbent need for multiple organizations to work in tandem, Especially, the law schools.
The legal aid clinics provides the right manifesto in this regard.
Research Problem
With these notions, there have been vast studies that are conducted to report how effectively
the legal aid clinics are functioning. But there is a dearth of evidence based research of the
institutions legal aid clinics and its impact on teaching, research and extension activities. The
interplay between these aspects are seldom documented. The internal tensions of the law
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schools legal aid clinics and the impact of the external restraints are laid out in the present
research. In the background, of the above, the present research maps the state of aspiration, the
state of reality and presents the gaps that exist between the two to provide evidenced based
recommendations. In order to assess these external and internal tensions, Case study of four
different and unique types of institutions are taken as the case-in –point. The Research is
thoroughly backed by review of Indian and Western literature and an Ontological framework
has been prepared for not only identifying the research gaps. The framework that is a derivative
of the intensive study of the Law Commission Reports, Supreme Court Committee Reports and
BCI Rules, presents a unique framework for all institutions imparting legal education, which
is a unique contribution of the study.
Objectives
1. To understand the historical antecedents and evolution of legal aid education since
independence.
2. To explore institutional practices of legal aid as mandated by the Bar Council of India.
3. To examine the impact of legal aid education on teaching, learning and research.
4. Analyse the factors that impact effective learning amongst teachers and students in different
types of institutions.
Research Questions
1. How has legal aid education evolved since independence aligned to the major changes in legal
education
2. In what ways legal aid education extend and contribute towards securing the constitutiona l
mandate of social justice?
3. Why is legal aid education important to students and teachers in institutions offering legal
education?
4. What are the factors that affect or influence effective legal aid education?
Main Findings
The main findings of Objective 1 aligned to Research Question 1 can be summarized as
follows:
Mapping of the key documents of legal education in order to understand how legal aid has
evolved since India’s independence. Hence the key documents were identified (Table 1) in
order to map the key dimensions, elements and sub-elements of the Clinical legal education
and specifically legal aid education.
