Madras High Court's Landmark Decision: A Lifeline for Junior Lawyers

Madras High Court's Landmark Decision: A Lifeline for Junior Lawyers

Madras High Court Directs Bar Associations to Provide Monthly Stipend of ₹15k to ₹20k for Junior Lawyers

Recently in a decision, the Madras High Court has asked the bar associations and advocate bodies to give a monthly stipend to junior advocates from ₹15,000 to ₹20,000. This decision is taken to improve the financial stability of young advocates and aims to address long-standing issues of exploitation and inadequate compensation within the legal profession.

The Madras High Court on Wednesday has directed the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry to issue circulars to all bar associations in the State and the Union Territory of Puducherry regarding giving stipends to junior advocates.

The court fixed the stipend of ₹20,000 in main cities like Chennai, Madurai, and Coimbatore and a stipend of ₹15,000 in other districts of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. This amount is fixed taking into consideration the cost of living in the different cities.

The Bar Council is given the authority to decide who will qualify as a junior advocate to get this stipend.

“Why should young lawyers be forced to go through the struggles we faced? Let us come together and create a robust space for them. Suffering as a junior lawyer must not be a necessary part and parcel of this profession. To expect them to get used to not being paid and suffer is unacceptable and demeaning. Article 21, and one’s right to livelihood extends to young law graduates. Though they are here to learn, they must be paid. Their inability to make a living must not come in their way of learning,” the bench said.

Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice C Kumarappan gave this decision to give stipends to junior advocates. They said that this is essential to protect young advocates from exploitation as it is unacceptable to expect young lawyers to keep working without payment.