Women’s Inclusion and Leadership in Law (WILL) initiative focuses on making the Indian legal profession more gender-equitable by enabling early-career women litigators – especially those from marginalised communities—to enter, sustain, and rise to leadership within litigation practice.
WILL is the first project under the Centre for the Study of the Legal Profession at the National Law School of India University. The WILL initiative commences its research activities from the academic year 2026-27 as a five-year initiative.
Background
Women formally entered the profession in the country through the Legal Practitioners (Women) Act, 1923. Up until then, women could not practice law. The change in law was prompted by the experience of Regina Guha. After completing her law degree from Calcutta University, Regina Guha applied to be admitted to practice in the Alipore district court. However, her application was rejected on the ground that women were not “persons” who could be licensed to practice under the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879. Though the Act did not expressly exclude women from practicing law, the Calcutta High Court held that the Act did not intend “such a radical change in the constitution of the profession … as would be caused by the admission of women.” This was in 1916. It would take until 1923 for the legislature to pass the Legal Practitioners (Women) Act, allowing women to practice law in India. By then Regina Guha had passed away and never got to practice law only because she was a woman.
A century later, the profession still lacks adequate representation of women at all levels. While Indian women enrol for law and represent about 32% of total law graduates, they comprise only 15% of the total 1.8 million lawyers admitted to practice in the country. More worryingly, women’s representation falls even further in leadership and decision-making positions within the profession. Merely 3.4% of designated Senior Advocates in India are women. Only 9 out of 441 (2.04 %) elected posts across the state bar councils are held by women. Most stark is that the Bar Council of India does not have a single woman.
These numbers point to a sharp decline in representation from the point of entry into the profession to positions of leadership. The data highlights a central paradox: though trained in the law and presumed capable of defending rights, women remain subject to entrenched gendered norms that undermine their presence, participation, and progression in the profession. The attrition of women is not incidental—it is shaped by systemic, institutional, and cultural barriers that converge most severely during the early years of litigation practice.
Objective
Through evidence-based research, the WILL project seeks to highlight structural barriers hindering women’s participation and growth at different levels. Drawing from the research, the project will design and implement suitable collectivising and empowerment initiatives and engage with stakeholders to foreground systemic and policy reform.
These elements, we believe, will generate conditions for change-making efforts by women lawyers and galvanize a radical change in legal practice, interpretation, and justice delivery, especially for marginal communities.
The project is supported by a grant from the New Venture Fund, US.
Team
Dr Ashrita Prasad Kotha is the faculty lead for the initiative. She is the Director of the Centre for the Study of the Legal Profession.