‘Who gets to become an advocate?’: Supreme Court’s suggestion to create Young Lawyers’ Professional Assistance Fund could improve access to justice

ON JUNE 19, 2026, a Division Bench in the Supreme Court passed a significant order in Sarita Tyagi v. Union of India, where it noted as follows:

“A young first-generation lawyer entering the Bar does not immediately inherit an office, a library, a stable clientele, or a predictable source of income … During this formative period, many junior advocates remain dependent upon modest stipends paid by their seniors, which are often insufficient to meet even their basic living expenses … It comes as no surprise that the challenge is particularly acute for first-generation lawyers and those belonging to economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds, who may be under immediate obligations, upon completion of their professional education, to assume charge as their family’s primary breadwinner… It, therefore, seems to us that a Young Lawyers’ Professional Assistance Fund must be created and should be established under the exclusive control of the jurisdictional High Courts or an autonomous body constituted by the Union of India and the State Governments.” 

Every year, thousands of students graduate from law colleges across India. Few join corporate law firms, others enter companies as in-house counsel and a miniscule few move into academia, policy or research. The large majority of law school graduates choose litigation. With jobs in corporate law, companies and universities predominantly cornered by graduates from affluent law schools and elite private law colleges, litigation is often the default choice for many. Of those who opt for litigation, a small section are able to secure offices with decent salaries and opportunities, which enables them to enter courtrooms, chambers and tribunals with the hope of building a practice, representing clients and in some cases, wanting to use the law for social reform. For the majority however, the opportunities that litigation offers are starkly different. For them the opportunities of growth are long-winded, the conditions of work, poor and the pay, extremely low. 

Litigation occupies a unique place in the pyramid of legal career paths. Unlike most other career pathways available to law graduates, it is still organised around a traditional apprenticeship model. A fresh law graduate does not generally enter a workplace with a defined role, predictable remuneration and institutional support. Often the initial years are spent learning under an experienced advocate, observing court craft, understanding procedure, building relationships and slowly developing an independent practice of their own. These opportunities are mediated by caste and class location, and are hard to come to those who are previously unconnected. The scope of growth is also limited for several advocates who work in 'smaller’ offices and continue to remain 'juniors' even after years of practice. A visit to any court reflects the social and class determinants in operation, regulating both access and opportunity.