“CONVICTION WITHOUT endurance is merely noise. And the work that truly lasts is almost always the work done without anyone watching. It is perhaps in that same spirit that many have begun to hope quietly but earnestly, that legal education in our country will increasingly mirror this ethic of apprenticeship, namely, that more law students will learn not merely about law, but within it. That they would engage with the profession not only through lectures and exams, but through sustained exposure to disciplines, its silences and responsibilities,” said Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant on Saturday.
The CJI, who was chief guest at the 16th convocation of Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) in Gandhinagar, added, “Your past eight months must have shown you that work done in chambers, law firms and corridors, is rarely observed, never celebrated. And, if 93 per cent of you are hijacked outside the gate of this university by corporate entities, then it increases my worry. Because, I presume, as a very selfish head of the Indian judiciary, that the national law schools will produce more and more members of the bar and bench.”
Here, CJI Kant was referring to Director Prof (Dr) S Shanthakumar’s speech earlier in the ceremony, when he presented the annual report of GNLU, wherein he stated that 137 of 150 students had received placements the previous year, with an average package of Rs 18 lakh per annum.
The CJI said, “Having said that, in college, feedback comes quickly. A victory was celebrated immediately and an argument in class was praised that same evening. The profession offers no such rhythm. Here, effort often proceeds recognition by years. Drafts are revised in silence, research notes are absorbed into judgements without attribution, and strategy is discussed in whispers rather than applause.”
Along with the Chief Justice of India, other guests included two other judges of the Supreme Court, including Justice NV Anjaria, who is the Visitor of GNLU, and Justice Aravind Kumar. Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal of the Gujarat High Court was also on the dais. Several other sitting judges of the Gujarat, Madras and Patna HCs were present at the occasion.
A total of 295 degrees were conferred on students, including 12 PhDs, 89 LLM and 194 LLB degrees. The guests also received a demonstration and inaugurated an AI-based virtual reality (VR) system to be used to train students in courtroom settings.
CJI Kant said, “I remember the early months of practice with a clarity that decades have not dulled. There is a particular disorientation in discovering that the law you studied so carefully bears only a partial resemblance to the actual profession. The text books gave you doctrine your senior now gives you deadlines. In moot courts, you are cocooned by your mentor but in real courtrooms, you are bound within constraints you do not choose and may not even agree with. This is not a failure of education, it is simply friction between learning the map and navigating the territory. This disorientation eases over time, not when the work gets easier but when you cease expecting it to resemble what came before.”
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He added, “The initial years of practice also teach you things no classroom ever could. You learn to read the mood of a bench before you have spoken a word, you figure out how to sit with an anxious client and say something useful before you have the answers. You discover how to disagree with a senior without damaging a relationship you will need the very next week and how to lose a case and still leave your client with an impression that the system hard him. No curriculum details any of this and only you can discover where within all of it, you truly belong.”
Urging students to find and concentrate on their specialities early in their career with a cricket analogy, CJI Kant said, “The discipline of knowing your game is extremely important. It is a question worth confronting early because it rarely rewards those who attempt everything equally. Some of you might be cricket followers and if you have been catching the T20 World Cup between (court) hearings, you may have noticed something relevant here. The teams that succeed are not built on the assumption that every player must excel at everything. No one expects Surya Kumar Yadav to bowl the death overs or Bumrah to anchor a chase. They are expected to do precisely what they do best. And the team is built around that clarity. The same principle, I would suggest, applies to your profession.”
On the trust and credibility of the justice system, CJI Kant said, “The legal profession has endured not because it is immune to criticism but because across generations lawyers have understood that credibility is not possessed; it is something you hold in trust. Courts continue to command confidence largely because those who appear before them know that their words carry weight beyond the immediate case. And that reputation is built gradually through consistency rather than fleeting success. Your generation inherits this at a moment of both strength and vulnerability. Public trust in the profession exists, but it is not guaranteed to last. When a client walks through your door they are not only relying on your ability they are also placing faith in the institution you represent. Every choice you make to prepare carefully, to speak truthfully, to resist the easier path, adds to or takes away from the credibility of the justice system itself.”
