Photo Source: Babushahi Bureau

Chandigarh University hosts first of its kind ‘Law Conclave 2024’, bridging theory and practice

CU: ‘Serve the nation while fulfilling your professional duties’, urges Punjab- Haryana High Court Judge Pankaj Jain to law students

Babushahi Bureau

Mohali, October 26, 2024: Chandigarh University (CU) on Saturday organized first of its kind “Law Conclave 2024”, titled “Legal Pathways - A Conclave on Specialized Legal Practice and Theory", to provide a platform for legal luminaries, experts, and practitioners to share knowledge and discuss legal issues with law students.

While Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Pankaj Jain attended the Law Conclave, organized by CU’s University Institute of Legal Studies (UILS), as Chief Guest, the other dignitaries who participated in the event included Senior Advocate (High Court) Pawan Kumar Mutneja,  Senior Advocate (Supreme Court) Pradeep Rai who is Chairman of India Legal Research Foundation and India Legal Aid Centre Delhi, Raman Aggarwal, CEO and Founder of Jupitice Justice Technologies Private Limited,  Advocate Neelam Rathore, Vice President, Maadhyam, International Council for Conflict Resolution, Delhi and CU Vice-Chancellor Prof (Dr) Manpreet Singh Manna. 

In his keynote address to the law students of Chandigarh University in the inaugural session of the Law Conclave 2024, chief guest Justice Pankaj Jain said the legal profession is all about debate and the first quality a legal professional must possess is the calm mind. 

“In life, you will be faced with many professional or personal problems. Be prepared with a clam mind to face this battle. The second is clarity of thought. As a legal professional, always keep this in mind that the law that we are dealing with has a beautiful quality – it’s a living thing. So your view may not be upheld, but you should be clear in mind, you should not be confused. And the third, to succeed as a professional, be a creator. Challenge the norms, try to imbibe in yourself the challenger, the reasonable challenger who will have the guts, the power and the courage to challenge the norms. So be a creator,” he said addressing students.

“And last, being a professional, try to understand and fathom the kind of effect you can have on the society. There is one provision in the Constitution of India which you should always remember, the Article 51A on Fundamental Duties. So the most important or the most pertinent duty as per me in Article 51 A is in the ‘Clause J’ which says it is the duty of one ‘to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement’. So always make sure that whatever you are doing, wherever you are excelling, you are indeed serving the nation,” Justice Pankaj Jain added while urging law students to making best use of time at the university to prepare themselves for facing the world. 

In the Technical Session held as part of the Conclave covered various facets of legal education, role of technology in education, and emerging trends in the legal field were discussed by legal luminaries, experts, and practitioners. 

In his keynote address, Senior Advocate Mutneja, who is former additional Advocate General, Haryana, said law profession is not a service and the work of a lawyer is not easy.

He said the values inculcated in a law graduate at a law college matter the most in the legal professional. “Be clear in objective and chart your map to reach the destination. You have to do the hard work and show sincerity to client. You have to believe and stand-up for the client. As officer of the court, be bold but respectful. Sincerity of work will help you,” he told aspiring legal professionals.  

Sharing his insights on the use of technology in legal services, Raman Aggarwal, who is also CEO and Founder of Aeren IT Solutions Private Limited, and Aggarwal Raman & Associates Chartered Accountants said, “Students must explore the legal profession beyond the realm of litigation as well and delve into the emerging legal process outsourcing avenues. ADR is the future; alternate dispute resolution mechanisms in the form of arbitration and mediation will offer a host of opportunities in the coming time. There would be limitations to the number of courts and judges in the future. It would take another 300 or more years to resolve more than five crore pending cases in India. So make the ADR mechanism a career choice,”.

Pradeep Rai, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court, said, “Planning your career before practice is of utmost importance for students of law. You can decide whether you want to go in civil, criminal, arbitration or mediation among other domains of law and work towards it. There are a number of opportunities for students in National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), DRTs and IPR and also arbitration and mediation. But when you choose a specialization in one area; you need to break it further. You got to learn brick by brick. Apart from studying, you need to take part in other social activities in life to balance things,”. 

Advocate Neelam Rathore, Vice President, Maadhyam, International Council for Conflict Resolution, Delhi said, “The government is laying emphasis on making India International hub of arbitration and mediation. Joining an office is a must to get experiential learning. Private mediation is still to pick up in India. Institutional arbitration is picking up in a big way in India. More than 70 per cent of cases in Singapore arbitration centre go from India and the younger generation can change that. Apart from burning the midnight oil, mindset must change,”.