BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA (BCI)
Bar Council of India (BCI) is a statutory body established under section 4 of the Advocates Act 1961 that regulates the legal practice and legal education in India. BCI was established in the year 1961 and M. C. Setalvad and C. K. Daphtary were the first chairman and vice chairman respectively.
Bar Council of India (BCI) is a statutory body established under section 4 of the Advocates Act 1961 that regulates the legal practice and legal education in India. Its members are elected from amongst the lawyers in India and represent the Indian bar. It prescribes standards of professional conduct, etiquettes and exercises disciplinary jurisdiction over the bar. It also sets standards for legal education and grants recognition to universities whose law degrees will qualify students to enrol themselves as advocates upon graduation.
Section 7 of the Advocates Act, 1961 lays down the Bar Council's regulatory and representative mandate. The functions of the Bar Council are to:
● Lay down standards of professional conduct and etiquette for advocates.
● Lay down the procedure to be followed by disciplinary committees
● Safeguard the rights, privileges and interests of advocates
● Promote and support law reform
● Deal with and dispose of any matter which may be referred by a State Bar Council
● Promote legal education and lay down standards of legal education.
● Determine universities whose degree in law shall be a qualification for enrollment as an advocate.
● Conduct seminars on legal topics by eminent jurists and publish journals and papers of legal interest.
● Organize and provide legal aid to the poor.
● Recognize foreign qualifications in law obtained outside India for admission as an advocate.
● Manage and invest funds of the Bar Council.
● Provide for the election of its members who shall run the Bar Councils.
