New Delhi: The Bar Council of India (BCI) has proposed to increase the statutory registration fee for aspiring lawyers from Rs 750 to Rs 22,500 under the draft Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which has been released for public consultation. The proposal also outlines a series of reforms covering legal education, lawyer training, institutional oversight and professional development.According to the draft, Section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961 will be amended and the registration fee payable to the relevant state Bar Council will be revised to Rs 18,000 and Rs 4,500 to be paid to the Bar Council of India. BCI has invited proposals from various stakeholders, including state bar committees, bar associations, law schools, legal education centers and law firms, with a deadline of 3 pm on July 31, 2026.Proposed fee revisions and concessionsAccording to the draft, the revised fee was proposed following the Supreme Court judgments in Gaurav Kumar v Union of India and Pankaj Sinha v Bar Council of India. BCI noted that existing statutory registration fees have remained unchanged since 1993, despite the expansion of institutional responsibilities related to advocate registration.The explanatory note states that the revised fees will support educational qualifications and identity verification, maintenance of physical and digital registration records, issuance of registration certificates, advocacy for welfare measures including insurance and medical claims, professional development programs, establishment of national law schools and other institutional services.The draft also proposes that candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Benchmark Disabled Persons need to pay only one-fourth of the stipulated registration fee.Wider Legal Education Reform recommendedThe draft bill seeks to authorize BCI to conduct entrance examinations for law degree courses, prescribe minimum admission qualifications, frame rules for all-India bar examinations and recognize legal educational institutions and foreign legal qualifications.It also recommended that the membership of the Legal Education Commission be expanded from 10 to 25 members. The restructured body will include representatives from the judiciary, government, universities, legal academia and the legal profession.Pay attention to continuing legal educationThe draft proposes to make continuing legal education a statutory function of the BCI and state bar councils. Professional development programs may include constitutional law, corporate and commercial law, arbitration, artificial intelligence, cyber law, taxation, insolvency, international legal practice, and trial and appellate advocacy.BCI said the programs are designed to strengthen advocates’ professional capabilities and expand learning opportunities without placing unnecessary burdens on practitioners.(Input from Bar and Bench)
