In a democratic welfare society, the significance of legal education cannot be overemphasized. In a democracy where essence of civil society is rule of law, law defends and promotes individual, the individual being the unit of society, social welfare is merely a short hand description of the welfare of the individuals who constitute the society. In such a society, law serves as an instrument to achieve socio-economic development. In the modern world, need is felt for legal order that explicitly relates legal rules, procedures and principles to the social and economic purpose. Today, law is viewed not merely as an instrument of social control but also as an instrument of social change. Lawyers have been characterized as social engineers. Like liberal education, legal education presupposes to serve the society by imparting law student general and cultural education making them disciplined law abiding citizens. Such education will instill into the students the significance and relevance of democratic culture. As a professional education, legal education equips law students for playing different roles in society and dischanzing various law jobs, the range and scope of which are always expanding in the modern democratic society. Acconiingly it is realized in modern India that legal education ought to have breadth, depth and wide perspective.
Law, legal education and development have become inter-related and inter-dependant concepts in modern developing sodeties which, are struggling to develop into social welfare state and are seeking to ameliorate the politico-socio-economic conditions of the people by peaceful means. The same is true in India. It is crucial function of legal education to provide lawyers with social vision and commitment to service of people in a developing country like India.
