Supreme Court reduces three-year mandatory legal practice to one year for the entry-level judicial exam
The Supreme Court of India has modified its previous ruling, reducing the mandatory legal practice requirement for entry-level judicial exams from three years to one year. Candidates will now undergo a structured one-year training and clerkship period instead of the previous practice requirement.
Why it matters
This decision significantly impacts the career path of young law graduates and the recruitment process for the Indian judiciary.
The Supreme Court on Friday (August 21, 2026) modified its May 2025 verdict by reducing to one year the earlier mandatory requirement of three years of legal practice for law graduates for taking entry level judicial service examinations.
However, the selected candidates will have to undergo training at the judicial academy and a further one-year clerkship, a Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices A.G. Masih and K. Vinod Chandran said in a split decision of 2:1 while dismissing the review petition.
The Bench said that candidates appearing in judicial exams notified between May 25, 2025 and March 31, 2027 are eligible regardless of prior experience.
It said such candidates, upon selection, will be appointed only as trainee judicial officers for one year, and they would have to undergo a further period of one year structured clerkship.
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