New Delhi, Aug. 21 -- Pritam Baruah was in Hong Kong on a sabbatical after two decades in legal education, but way past midnight on 14 August, he was still at his desk. The 2005 Nalsar graduate was busy coordinating with alumni across time zones on authoring a collective response against India's apex legal regulator.

The Bar Council of India (BCI) had on 13 August directed state bar councils to stop enrolling the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research's (Nalsar) entire 2026 graduating batch.

Many of those students had already secured jobs at law firms, positions with senior advocates, or judicial clerkships. Enrolment with a state bar council was the final formal step before they could enter legal practice.

"We were very scared...