THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
Goa is likely to become the country's hub for post-enrolment legal training, with the Bar Council of India (BCI) proposing to set up the National Legal Academy (NLA) at the India International University of Legal Education and Research (IIULER) campus.
BCI Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra announced the proposed move during IIULER's orientation program for the 2026 batch, which follows a recent Supreme Court direction asking the BCI to establish NLA on the lines of the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal.
“There was a judgment of the SC around two weeks back directing the BCI to establish NLA... This Academy will be situated in your own campus at Goa,” Mishra said, referring to the judgment authored by IIULER Chancellor and SC Justice P S Narasimha.
Mishra said the Academy would host compulsory 10-day to two-week training programs for newly enrolled lawyers from across the country, allowing IIULER students to interact with the apex court judges, senior advocates and eminent legal scholars.
He also revealed that a meeting has already been held with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Justice Narasimha and Advocate General Devidas Pangam for complete construction of IIULER's over-50-acre permanent campus at Dharbandora within two years.
Justice Narasimha has urged students to embrace multidisciplinary learning, saying the boundaries between academic disciplines were increasingly disappearing. He also advised students to use artificial intelligence cautiously and ensure technology did not replace independent thinking.
“BCI has been given this big responsibility... It will be compulsory training for all lawyers. It will be a 10-day or 2-week course. All the students of IIULER will also get the opportunity to interact with honourable judges, trainers, noted professors and senior advocates,” he said.
