MUMBAI, Aug. 14 -- The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government and the Bar Council of India (BCI) to spell out the steps being taken or proposed to be taken to provide financial assistance to junior advocates, citing a Supreme Court order that described the first three years of practice as a "period of turmoil" that often forces capable and promising young advocates to leave the profession. "We would like to make a point to the Respondents not to take the same adversely but take it affirmatively to consider the larger interest of the community of young advocates who enrol themselves," a division bench of Justices Milind N Jadhav and Nandesh S Deshpande, sitting at the Kolhapur bench, said. The court was hearing a petition filed by 21 young advocates seeking financial assistance and welfare schemes for lawyers entering the profession. The petitioners relied on a circular issued by the BCI in 2024 pursuant to a Delhi High Court order, which recommended a minimum monthly stipend of Rs.20,000 for junior advocates in urban areas and Rs.15,000 for those in rural areas. However, the petitioners contended that the recommendation and the BCI's order "remain a paper tiger, without having any teeth for their implementation, thereby leading to large-scale unrest amongst junior lawyers". During the hearing on August 3, the petitioners argued that it is the "bounden duty of all stakeholders to ensure that young advocates find their feet and entrench their feet in the first two or three years of their practice so they do not wither away from the profession, specifically on account of financial constraints". "We understand the need, the necessity and the requirement for having such a legislation and also to further it, augment it and improve it, for the benefit of young advocates," the court observed. The bench also referred to Supreme Court rulings which noted that such attrition could lead to a form of professional "brain drain", diminishing the Bar's ability to attract and retain young and meritorious lawyers....