Supreme Court reduces mandatory legal practice to one year for entry-level judicial service

Key facts

• The Supreme Court reduced the mandatory legal practice requirement for entry into judicial service from three years to one year.
• The majority judgment by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice A.G. Masih upheld the May 2025 judgment mandating legal practice for judicial service entry.
• Successful applicants with one year of legal practice will undergo one year of intensive training at the State judicial academy.
• This will be followed by a final year of law clerkship with senior judicial officers and High Court judges.
• The transitional arrangement for candidates who applied during the review period will be operative till March 31, 2027.
• The one-year prior legal practice rule will come into force in earnest from April 1, 2027.
• The scheme will run for five years, after which it will be reviewed.