Supreme Court makes three years’ legal practice mandatory to apply for judicial service

Supreme Court reinstates 3-year legal practice requirement for entry-level judicial service, emphasizing the importance of experience.

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday (May 20, 2025), restored three-year experience in legal practice as an advocate, a mandatory condition to apply for entry-level judicial service.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, in a judgment, concluded that infusion of fresh law graduates with zero experience in litigation was found to be detrimental.

“For the last 20 years, during which the recruitment of fresh law graduates have been appointed as judicial officers without a single day of practice at the bar has not been a successful experience… Judges, from the very day when they assume office, deal with the issues of life, liberty, property, and reputation of litigants. Neither knowledge based on law books nor pre-service training could be an adequate substitute to the first hand experience of the working of the court system and administration of justice,” Chief Justice Gavai read out from the judgment.

The period of legal practice would be reckoned from the date of provisional enrollment.

The judgment would be applicable prospectively.

Candidates need to only get their three-year experience certified by an advocate with a minimum 10-year experience and endorsed by a judicial officer or an officer designated by the court.

The functions of a judge were intricate and required knowledge of the working of the law on the ground, the court indicated.