Our generation sullied reputation of lawyers: Harish Salve

Senior Supreme Court lawyer and former Solicitor General of India Harish Salve today said that the reputation of lawyers has been lowered by his generation, but expressed hope that the new talent joining the legal system would help lift it.
"Reputation (of lawyers) has been sullied by our generation, I make no bones about saying this. If today, lawyers are looked at with a degree of suspicion, it is because my generation has let the profession down.
"But I have great faith in the kind of legal talent which I see joining the bar," Salve told freshers at Delhi University's Law Faculty.

He advised the students not to forget that lawyers are officers of the system who assist the court and, therefore, aggression in court should be shown with a "gentle humility".
He further said, "As a member of a learned profession, you are an elitist. The power of a lawyer is the power of his mind, his intellect, his rationality. It is the moral force of Justice, Truth and Right and that is not populist but by definition elitist."
He also advised the students about the need to "virtues of detailing", saying that "detail is the secret of success in a lawyer's career".

Additional Solicitor General of India, Pinky Anand, for her part, advised the students against taking shortcuts.
"You are rushing ahead as the youth of the world and want everything ASAP (as soon as possible). It is not necessary to rush because the urgency creates a tension, a stress, a deviation from what your virtues might be or should be," said Anand, who is also an alumni of the DU Law Faculty.
Ashwani Kumar Bansal, Head and Dean of Law Faculty, said in his keynote address that despite limited resources and infrastructure, the institute is committed to providing the best legal education to future lawyers.