The Bar Council of India Trust (BCIT) and city-based Kalinga Institute of Industrial Training (KIIT) have come together to establish Indian Institute of Law (IIL), a first of its kind institute for continuous education for legal professionals in the country.
Foundation for establishment of the IIL was laid here with Supreme Court judges Justice U. U Lalit, Judge, Justice B. R. Gavai, and Justice V. Ramasubramanian hailing the initiative.
The KIIT would provide 1.5 lakh square feet area land for the institute and bear 40% of expense to be made on IIL’s infrastructure development. The Bar Council of India will operate the institute initially.
The IIL will have academic staff college, school of continuing education, training centre, centre for legal aid and bridge courses for foreign degree holders.
According to L. N. Mitra, senior member of the legal education committee of Bar Council of India, the institute is being established with purpose of developing young faculty, providing refreshers’ courses on ground of specialisation, and bringing legal education closer to the profession. This institute will ensure meaningful continuous legal education.
Addressing a ceremony to mark the occasion, Justice Lalit said, “Change is only constant in life and that the change, one has to imbibe in oneself. Continuous education is here to stay and it is part of everyone’s life and persona. This is a welcome step taken by BCIT with active participation by KIIT.”
“What we saw as the first step which was taken when Indian National Law University was founded in Bengaluru. That has now become the constant phenomenon. We have now more than 20 law universities. Perhaps this is that step which will again imbibe that culture when we will be having more and more such institutes and idea of continuing education taking root in everybody’s mind,” he said.
BCI chairman, Manan Kumar Mishra; KIIT founder, Achyut Samant; and Advocate General of Odisha, Ashok Parija, were among those who spoke on the occasion.
