Young Lawyers Starting Offices Without Training Under Seniors Miss Learning 'Niceties' Of Legal Profession : Justice BV Nagarathna

Supreme Court Justice BV Nagarathna on Thursday said young lawyers who start independent practice immediately after obtaining their law degrees may not learn the “real skills of advocacy”, “soft skills” and the “niceties” of the legal profession without training under senior advocates.

“We know youngsters are ambitious nowadays. But unless you train with a senior, you will not know the niceties of the profession. That is how it is going from generation to generation. The niceties of the profession, the noble profession and the good practices are being transferred. But nowadays youngsters are so ambitious. 'Today I've got the degree, tomorrow I have established an office.' Very well, but where are the soft skills? You may have the hardware. Soft skills have to be developed every day from a senior. You have to sit in a court and observe,” she said.

The observations came during the hearing of a dispute between Puja Entertainment (India) Ltd. and Tips Industries Pvt. Ltd. over the songs “Chunnari Chunnari” and “Ishq Sona Hai”, featured in the Varun Dhawan-starrer “Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai”.

During the hearing, an exchange took place between the Senior Advocate appearing for Puja Entertainment and counsel appearing for Tips Industries over what had happened in proceedings before the Bombay High Court.

The counsel for Tips disputed the Senior Advocate's version, claiming that “completely wrong” facts had been presented. At one stage, the respondent's counsel said that he had not been given an opportunity to respond to the submissions.

Justice Nagarathna interrupted him and said, “Don't say you are not given an opportunity.”

When the counsel continued to dispute the submissions made by the petitioner's Senior Advocate, Justice Nagarathna pointed out that the Court had not passed any order against his client. She then turned to the conduct of young advocates.

“Our younger members of the Bar in their vehemence, in their eagerness, in their endeavours, should know what to speak, what not to speak in a court of law,” she said, pointing out that advocates appearing against each other in one matter could find themselves appearing on the same side in another matter in the future.

Justice Nagarathna then spoke about the importance of training under senior advocates.

“Today I am told that some youngsters are straight away starting their own office without any training. That is really not good at all. Unless you train with a senior, you will not know the real skills of advocacy, the real tricks of the trade,” she said.

She said the “niceties of the profession” and good practices are passed from one generation of lawyers to another. Justice Nagarathna also emphasised the need for young lawyers to develop soft skills.

She recalled that when she was a young lawyer, advocates would often have only one matter or mentioning and would then sit in court halls to observe proceedings.

She recalled that advocates would sometimes sit in courts presided over by “tough judges” to become familiar with their approach so that they would know how to answer questions and what to say when they appeared before them.

“We observed judges, we observed Chief Justices who came from outside the state, how their thinking was and how we should adapt all for the betterment of our clients,” Justice Nagarathna said.

The Senior Advocate appearing for Puja Entertainment agreed, saying that lawyers also learn through interaction with the registry. He recalled that when he was an advocate-on-record, he would tell lawyers aspiring to become AORs to be polite while dealing with the registry and learn from it.

Justice Nagarathna said seniors have an obligation to pass professional traditions to younger members of the Bar.

“It is the obligation of the seniors to pass it on to the younger members of the bar. They should be the torchbearers,” she said.

The observations were made in the course of the Supreme Court hearing Puja Entertainment's challenge arising from the parties' proceedings before the Bombay High Court.

The Bombay High Court had on June 3 declined to entertain an urgent plea by Puja Entertainment seeking relief against the release of “Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai” and the two songs. The Court passed the order two days before the film's scheduled release.

The High Court noted that Puja Entertainment had earlier filed a suit before a civil court in Katihar, Bihar, around April 27, seeking similar reliefs concerning the same film and songs. The civil court had passed an ex parte status quo order on May 6.

The civil court order was subsequently challenged before the Patna High Court and then before the Supreme Court. On May 22, the Supreme Court stayed the trial court's order while proceedings continued before the Patna High Court.

Puja Entertainment later sought permission from the Bihar court to withdraw the suit and pursue appropriate proceedings before the Bombay High Court. The Bombay High Court noted that although the application had been filed more than a week earlier, no order had been passed on it.

The High Court recorded that “no satisfactory explanation is also forthcoming” as to why permission to withdraw the Bihar proceedings had not been obtained.

The Bombay High Court declined to entertain the urgent application seeking relief against the film and the two songs. This order was challenged in the present case before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court did not enter into the merits of the dispute. Justice Nagarathna said that the Supreme Court was not concerned with the merits and that the parties could make their submissions before the Bombay High Court.

The Supreme Court disposed of the petition by requesting the Bombay High Court to consider the interim applications filed by the petitioner seeking interim relief in the suit “as expeditiously as possible” and in accordance with law, provided the defects in the applications had been removed.

Case no. – SLP(C) No. 31245/2026 Diary No. 51686/2026

Case Title – Puja Films, now known as M/S. Puja Entertainment (India) Ltd. v. Tips Industries Pvt. Limited, also known as Tips Music Limited