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Context: The Supreme Court has issued new regulations for conferring the status of senior advocate to lawyers practising in the apex court. The new rules stipulate that only lawyers who have at least 10 years of experience and are 45 years old or above can apply for the designation.

Details

• The Supreme Court has issued new guidelines for the designation of senior advocates in the country.
• The new guidelines are based on the recent judgment of the Supreme Court on May 12, which laid down uniform criteria for the selection and conferment of senior advocate status by the Supreme Court and the high courts. It aims to ensure transparency, objectivity and fairness in the process of senior advocate designation.
• The Advocates Act 1961 regulates the legal profession in India and divides lawyers into two groups – Advocates and Senior Advocates. The Act empowers the Supreme Court and the High Court to confer the status of Senior Advocate to an advocate who consents to it and who has demonstrated excellence, reputation or expertise in law.

Highlights of the new regulations

Age Criteria

• The new regulations specify that lawyers who have been practising for at least 10 years and who are 45 years old or above can apply for the designation.
• According to the new rules, there will be no age limit for candidates who are directly nominated by the Chief Justice of India or any other Supreme Court judge. Moreover, candidates who have either practised law for 10 years or have a combined experience of 10 years as a lawyer and a judicial officer or a judicial member in a tribunal can apply for the designation.
• The guidelines also acknowledge that some lawyers may have expertise in specific areas of law and practice before specialized Tribunals. Such lawyers will be given some relaxation in terms of the number of appearances they need to have in the Supreme Court.

Process of Selection

• The guidelines state that the lawyers should demonstrate their competence and contribution in the field of law by providing a list of judgments where they have argued and advanced the legal principles.
• The permanent secretariat will issue a notification for inviting applications once every year. The applicants will have to submit their details and achievements in the prescribed format along with the required documents and fees.
• A committee consisting of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), two senior judges, the Attorney General and a bar representative will examine the applications when they assemble twice a year and will have the discretion to waive the age requirement.
• The process of selecting senior advocates has been revised with new guidelines that assign different weightage to various criteria. The most important criterion is the quality and quantity of judgments delivered by the applicants, which can earn them up to 50 points.

 The new guidelines aim to ensure transparency, objectivity, and meritocracy in the selection of senior advocates.

Must-Read Articles:

Senior Advocates: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/senior-advocates#:~:text=According%20to%20the%202018%20guidelines,the%20chair%20and%20other%20members.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/top-court-revises-guidelinesto-designate-senior-advocates-101689622351761.html

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