The Centre for the Study of the Legal Profession (CSLP) at the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, has submitted comments to the Bar Council of India on the draft Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The submission, dated 31 July 2026, reviews nine key areas of the proposed reforms, including a steep 30-fold hike in enrollment fees, new welfare fund provisions, women’s representation in State Bar Councils, restructuring of the Legal Education Committee, mandatory professional development programmes for advocates, citizenship-based restrictions on legal practice, election tribunals, dispute resolution powers, gaps around junior advocates’ pay and mandatory election disclosures. While broadly supportive of updating a law that has seen no substantive change since 1993, CSLP calls for several revisions to ensure the amendments don’t create new barriers or ambiguities.

Among its most significant recommendations, CSLP urges the Bar Council of India to scale back the proposed enrollment fee increase (from ₹750 to ₹22,500) given its potential to shut out entry-level lawyers, and to drop a new “financial incapacity” requirement for fee concessions. It also calls for women’s reservation in State Bar Councils to be raised to a full 30%, and for co-option opportunities to be extended to other underrepresented groups such as persons with disabilities and members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and religious minorities. On the contentious citizenship provisions, CSLP recommends dropping the blanket restriction on foreign nationals practising law and instead adopting a tiered framework distinguishing OCIs, foreign law graduates of Indian institutions, and foreign lawyers operating on a fly-in, fly-out basis. The submission further proposes statutory minimum stipends for junior advocates and list of mandatory disclosures by State Bar Council election candidates.

These comments were submitted on behalf of the CSLP with contributions from Dr. Ashrita Prasad Kotha, Atishya Kumar, Chunthailiu Gonmei, Darshana Mitra, Manish, Vidisha Kumar, Chingya Luithui and Anirud Raghav.

Read the submission here:

Comments on the Proposed Amendments to the Advocates Act, 1961_CSLP_NLSIU