Indian law schools are still training students for a profession that is rapidly evolving. The traditional assumption that a lawyer’s primary skill is remembering sections and precedents no longer holds in an age where artificial intelligence (AI) retrieves the law in seconds and disputes increasingly resolve through mediation and negotiation. If legal education is to remain relevant, it must move beyond lecture halls and embrace practice-oriented models of learning.
The legal profession itself is undergoing structural change. Mediation and arbitration are expanding rapidly. Negotiated settlements are often preferred over prolonged litigation. AI can retrieve statutes, precedents and commentary in seconds. In such an environment, testing students primarily on how well they remember provisions or case law makes little sense.
Lessons from architecture and design schools
Professional disciplines such as architecture and design recognised this challenge long ago. Architecture and design schools across the world rely on studio-based learning models where students spend most of their time solving practical problems rather than memorising theory.
Institutions such as CEPT University and the Schools of Planning and Architecture in India, along with leading international institutions such as MIT, the Harvard Graduate School of Design and ETH Zurich, emphasise design thinking, collaborative work and critique-based learning.
Theory is taught, but as supporting knowledge that informs practice rather than the centre of evaluation.
Legal education would benefit enormously from adopting a similar philosophy. Law, like architecture and design, is fundamentally a problem-solving profession. Yet, law schools continue to train students primarily in doctrinal recall rather than strategic thinking.
