AI a challenge before legal education says, Vaijayanti Joshi, ILS Pune principal
Joshi has authored the book “Vrittapatra ani Kayada” (Newspapers and the Law) and specialises in family law, private international law and legal theory
On the occasion of Indian Law Society (ILS), Law College Pune’s 95th foundation day, that falls on June 20; Vaijayanti Joshi, principal, ILS, Law College Pune speaks to Dheeraj Bengrut on the milestones achieved by the college among othe topics in the past 95 years. Joshi has authored the book “Vrittapatra ani Kayada” (Newspapers and the Law) and specialises in family law, private international law and legal theory. She has also contributed to the draft of “Uniform Civil Code” bill. She has also been a member of the Legal Education Committee of the Bar Council of India.
Tell us about ILS Law College, Pune’s journey so far and about the milestones it has achieved in the past 95 years.
The ILS Law College Pune was founded on June 20, 1924, when it received sanction from the then University of Bombay (now Mumbai University) for a college of Law in Poona. In the 95 years since, we have contributed in nation building through our students, who are present in various fields across the country. Legal profession is the only field mentioned in the constitution. When the country was under the British regime, JR Gharpure and PB Singhe decided to kick-start work in the direction of a regularised system of imparting legal education in our country.
Three Chief Justices of India are alumni of the college. Some of our prominent students are Yashwantrao Chavan, first chief minister of Maharashtra; Prabha Atre,singer ; Gopinath Munde, politician; Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister of Maharashtra and many more. We are the first Indian Law College to start the ‘Legal Aid’ service in 1976. To encourage the women pursue careers in the field of law, we have also started the ‘ Women Study Centre’ under the guidelines of University Grants Commission (UGC).
What are your views on the system of legal education imparted in India?
There are many challenges posed in front of the current legal education system. We are stepping into a world where artificial intelligence (AI) has a major influence over a majority of sectors. In the next 10 years, the legal fraternity will also be affected by AI. For example, a lawyer makes various agreements for his/her client in order to earn his daily bread and butter. With AI all you need to do is feed information and the agreement will be readied. This will pose as a problem to lawyers in the future. We must focus on being able to overcome the same. Also there are many new tie ups done with international universities with universities and colleges in India, so a students can get international degree sitting in Pune. So it is also a big challenge before us to compete with these international universities.
What are your future plans in terms of the College?
In the next five years we will complete a century since establishment. There are various plans underway in terms of development and improvement. Our prime focus currently is to attain the ‘autonomous’ status before we complete the 100 years. Also we are continuously upgrading and improving our teaching methods and trying to give our students best possible quality of education.