An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However,in Scottish,Manx,South African,Italian,French,Spanish,Portuguese,Scandinavian,Polish,Israeli,South Asian and South American jurisdictions,"advocate" indicates a lawyer of superior classification.
The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judicial authority and the highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also has the power of judicial review. The Supreme Court,which consists of the chief justice of India and a maximum of fellow 33 judges,has extensive powers in the form of original,appellate and advisory jurisdictions.
Gopal Subramanium is an Indian lawyer,international arbitrator,academic and Senior Advocate who practices primarily in the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court. He served as the Solicitor General of India 2009–2011 and Additional Solicitor General of India 2005–2009. He served as Chairman of the Bar Council of India 2010–2011.
Altamas Kabir was an Indian lawyer and judge who served as the 39th Chief Justice of India.
Rohinton Fali Nariman is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. Before being elevated as a judge,he practised as a senior counsel at the Supreme Court. He was appointed the Solicitor General of India on 23 July 2011. He also served as a member of the Bar Council of India. He was designated as a Senior Counsel by Chief Justice Manepalli Narayana Rao Venkatachaliah in 1993 at the early age of 37.
Kuttiyil Mathew Joseph is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India;he retired on 16 June 2023. He is former chief justice of the Uttarakhand High Court. Before his appointment as chief justice of the High Court of Uttarakhand on 31 July 2014,he had served as a judge of the Kerala High Court for more than nine years.
Sharad Arvind Bobde is an Indian judge who served as the 47th Chief Justice of India from 18 November 2019 to 23 April 2021.
Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana is a former Indian judge and journalist who served as the 48th Chief Justice of India.
Indu Malhotra is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India. Post retirement,she is practicing as a full-time arbitrator in international and domestic arbitrations. Prior to her elevation,she was practicing as a Senior Counsel in the Supreme Court of India,and various High Courts. In 2007,she was the second woman to be designated as a Senior Counsel by the Supreme Court,after more than three decades. In 2018,she was the first woman to be elevated directly from the Bar as a Judge of the Supreme Court of India. She demitted office in March 2021 on completion of her term. She has contributed significantly to arbitration jurisprudence,both as a Counsel and as a Judge.
Uday Umesh Lalit is an Indian lawyer and former Supreme Court Judge,who served as the 49th Chief Justice of India. Previously,he has served as a judge of Supreme Court of India. Prior to his elevation as a judge of the supreme court,he practised as a senior advocate at the Supreme Court. Justice Lalit is one of the eleven senior counsels who have been directly elevated to the Supreme Court. He is currently ‘Distinguished Visiting Professor’at Ashank Desai Centre for Policy Studies,Indian Institute of Technology,Bombay and Distinguished Visiting Professor at West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences.
The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) was a proposed body which would have been responsible for the recruitment,appointment and transfer of judicial officers,legal officers and legal employees under the government of India and in all state governments of India. The commission was established by amending the Constitution of India through the 99th constitution amendment with the Constitution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act,2014 or 99th Constitutional Amendment Act-2014 passed by the Lok Sabha on 13 August 2014 and by the Rajya Sabha on 14 August 2014. The NJAC would have replaced the collegium system for the appointment of judges as invoked by the Supreme Court via judicial fiat by a new system. Along with the Constitution Amendment Act,the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act,2014,was also passed by the Parliament of India to regulate the functions of the National Judicial Appointments Commission. The NJAC Bill and the Constitutional Amendment Bill,was ratified by 16 of the state legislatures in India,and subsequently assented by the President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 31 December 2014. The NJAC Act and the Constitutional Amendment Act came into force from 13 April 2015.
Lavu Nageswara Rao is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. He is the seventh person elevated directly from the bar to the Supreme Court and was sworn in on 13 May 2016. He was a senior advocate and a former Additional Solicitor General of India.
Vikram Nath is a judge of the Supreme Court of India. He is a former chief justice of the Gujarat High Court and former judge of the Allahabad High Court. He was earlier recommended as chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court but the centre disapproved the recommendations. He is the first chief justice of a High Court in India to live stream its proceedings on Youtube during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
V. Ramasubramanian is the incumbent chairperson of National Human Rights Commission of India and a former judge of Supreme Court of India. He is former chief justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court. He is also former judge of Madras High Court and Telangana High Court. Ramasubramanian retired from the supreme court on 29 June 2023.
Puligoru Venkata Sanjay Kumar is a judge of the Supreme Court of India. He is a former chief justice of the Manipur High Court. He has also served as a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and Telangana High Court.
Chudalayil Thevan Ravikumar is a judge of the Supreme Court of India. He is former judge of the Kerala High Court.
Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala is a judge of the Supreme Court of India since May 2022. He is a former judge of the Gujarat High Court.
Saurabh Kirpal is an Indian lawyer,author and a senior advocate at the Delhi High Court. He is also an LGBTQ rights activist.
Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri is an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court. Prior to her appointment,she was a politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Her selection engendered controversy after lawyers alleged her to have given hate speeches against religious minorities and unsuccessfully petitioned the Supreme Court of India to withdraw the appointment.
Kalpathy Venkataraman Viswanathan is a judge of the Supreme Court of India.
