“Legal Discourse Must Be Understood by the Last Person on the Street”: Dr. Manoj Kumar Urges Ethics-Led and Industry-Aligned Legal Education Reform

New Delhi: The Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF), in collaboration with Sharda School of Law (SSOL), Sharda University and Law Teachers’ India, today inaugurated its Online Faculty Development Programme titled “From Academia to Practice: Understanding the Law Firm Ecosystem in India”, a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at fostering stronger engagement between legal academia and the legal profession.

Dr. Manoj Kumar, Additional Secretary, Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India, and Dr. Lalit Bhasin, President, SILF; Chairman, CII National Committee on Legal Services and Chairman, Indo Danish Business Council, graced the inaugural session based on the theme, “Legal Education Vs. Legal Practice: Bridging the Gap”.

Addressing the participants, Chief Guest Dr. Manoj Kumar said, “Legal education and legal practice must not be seen as opposing domains, but as part of a continuous and interconnected cycle of learning, application, reflection, and professional growth. Today, the challenge before legal education is not merely to teach what the law is, but to help students understand how law actually operates in practice. As technology, regulation, and market realities evolve at an unprecedented pace, law schools must move beyond theory-centric approaches and focus on creating practice-ready lawyers equipped with practical exposure, legal-tech literacy, business understanding, ethical grounding, communication skills, negotiation abilities, and plain-language drafting. The legal profession today increasingly values reliability, clarity, judgment, and practical competence alongside academic excellence.”

Emphasizing the need for deeper collaboration between academia and the profession, he added, “India’s legal ecosystem is becoming increasingly diverse, specialized, and technology-driven, requiring law schools and law firms to work together in co-designing learning experiences, practical training modules, live case-based exposure, and skill-development frameworks. Nearly 50–60% of law students today are first-generation lawyers, for whom ethics becomes a critical navigational compass in professional life. Legal discourse must evolve into language that the last person on the street can understand. There is also a pressing need for faculty fellowships with law firms, legal-tech labs, and stronger experiential learning models. It is time we retire the outdated notion of ‘legal education versus legal practice’ and instead build a virtuous cycle where education is illuminated by practice and practice elevated by scholarship.”

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Lalit Bhasin said, “Legal Education plays a very important role in the development of our system of administration of justice. It is therefore very important that the faculty in law schools should not only be duly and properly qualified, but they should be aware of contemporaneous developments taking place in the field of law globally.”

He further added, “SILF and Sharda University have initiated a unique interaction between experts from law firms and the faculty from law schools through this Faculty Development Programme. While this is the first step, the next phase would involve expanding such engagement with law schools across the country. SILF members are duly equipped to share their expertise in different branches of law with the faculty of law schools. SILF believes in giving back to society, and this initiative reflects that commitment.”

The 12-day programme, scheduled from May 25 to June 6, will feature leading legal luminaries and practitioners from some of India’s foremost law firms and institutions. Upcoming sessions will cover a wide range of themes including language of law, anatomy of law firms, core practice areas such as M&A, banking and finance, dispute resolution, competition law and ESG, lawyering skills, negotiation and client communication, professional ethics, workplace culture, legal technology and AI, and the future of legal practice. Distinguished speakers include Mr. Jyoti Sagar, Dr. Shardul S Shroff, Mr. Sudhir Mishra, Mr. Rajesh Narain Gupta, Mr. Manoj K Singh, Mr. Pravin Anand, Mr. Lomesh Kiran Nidumuri, Mr. Arush Khanna, Ms. Manjula Chawla, Ms. Shweta Bharti, Mr. V. Lakshmikumaran and Mr. Amit Kapur.

The initiative reflects SILF’s continued commitment towards strengthening institutional engagement between academia and the legal industry, while enabling faculty members to gain deeper insights into the functioning of law firms and contemporary developments shaping the legal profession in India.

As the legal ecosystem continues to undergo rapid transformation driven by technology, globalisation and evolving business needs, initiatives such as this Faculty Development Programme are expected to play a significant role in helping legal educators align classroom learning with practical realities, thereby contributing towards the development of a more industry-ready legal talent pool.