Legal Education in Pakistan: Problems & Prospects in the Context of 21st Century

Abstract

Legal sector is the backbone of any country and role of lawyers in a society draws special attention. But, health of legal education in Pakistan appears to be taking its last sighs, due to lack of attention by universities as well as professional bodies. Some other reasons for this deteriorating state of legal education are lack of clear standard policy in respect of law degree curriculum, advanced teaching and examination methodologies and university accreditation. According to an estimate, there are about 100 law colleges affiliated with 20 universities in Pakistan and these numbers are still growing at an exponential rate in the Country. Yet, legal education has remained ignored and underfunded in state owned law institutes; whereas, private law schools have focused more on maximizing profits rather than to provide quality education. Due to lack of advanced teaching methodologies in law institutes and research in legal sector, the legal education standard has neither risen in the country nor has an environment of quality research in legal sector ever developed. In-fact, it has depleted the discourse on law, rights and justice nationally. Resultantly, society has never learned the value of legal academics and scholars. Thus, this is a high time to critically evaluate this situation and take measures to modernize legal education system by aligning it with global standards and making it more market driven. As, CPEC initiative also demands to familiarize legal researchers of both countries with each other’s legal system as China observes Civil law system, whereas, Pakistan follows English common law. This research paper is an effort to portray the current picture of legal education in Pakistan and the challenges it faces due to above cited reasons, as well as discusses the opportunities and reforms that can be introduced to strengthen the roots of this system.