FROM OBSOLETE TO OPERATIONAL: A CRITICAL STUDY OF REFORM NEEDS IN PAKISTAN’S LEGAL EDUCATION SYSTEM

Abstract

The legal education system in Pakistan sticks closely to outdated colonial rules because it produces graduates who are insufficient for contemporary legal practice and worldwide legal challenges. This study deeply investigates Pakistan’s legal education system to evaluate its pedagogical rigidity along with its outdated curriculums and regulator inefficiency as well as the mismatch between theoretical knowledge and practical applications. This research adopts doctrinal and comparative analysis through an examination of global benchmarking processes and country reform patterns in the United States and India plus the United Kingdom. The oversight bodies Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) face problems from their merging obligations and inactive reform efforts that limit new approaches for legal training development. This study acknowledges the requirements to build a practice-based education system that combines academics from various fields and operates within a global framework. Skilled learning delivery and legal ethics education along with technological integration suffer from major deficiencies because Pakistan stands at the bottom of worldwide tests of professional legal capabilities. Accreditation models that encourage reform combined with clinical training and interdisciplinary teaching develop superior legal service quality and enhance public trust in lawyers (Garth & Shafferr, 2022; Twining, 2009). The study establishes that Pakistan needs legal education reform for strengthening its democracy. The realization of significant change requires regulatory authorities to coordinate their structures and investment in faculty competencies as well as modern curriculum development with clinical legal education programs. A stage-wise policy intervention process built on successful international legal education reforms enables Pakistan to transform its outdated legal education structure into an operational one.

Keywords: Legal Education Reform, Clinical Legal Education (CLE), Curriculum Obsolescence, Legal Ethics Training, Higher Education Commission (HEC)