The BCI has begun to implement a new verification process which will require all lawyers in India to re-submit their qualifications and board results for cross-checking with universities and relevant boards. It is hoped that the nation-wide verification drive will be completed by the end of 2016. Additionally, all lawyers who are found to have not practiced for the last five years or more will be allowed to remain advocates but banned from practice as lawyers. Last year, BCI chairman Manan Kumar Mishra suggested that the proportion of Indian lawyers who were practicing without valid qualifications may be as high as 20 per cent. Now, however, Mr Mishra has warned that current crackdown may prove that number even higher, possibly upwards of 30 per cent. Source: The Times of India