Alt: How to crack the Supreme Court AOR Exam?
One has to clear the AOR exam to be able to file cases, represent clients, and handle procedural matters in the Supreme Court. However, they can appoint regular advocates to argue cases. Advocates On Record are the only ones who can receive notices from the Supreme Court on behalf of the client.
In this article, we will cover how to crack the Supreme Court AOR exam and some excellent preparation tips for law graduates who aspire to become Advocate On Record in the Supreme Court one day.
Also read: Reasons Why Law Graduates Want to Become an Advocate On Record in the Supreme Court
Eligibility Criteria to Become an Advocate On Record
Alt: Eligibility Criteria to Become an Advocate On Record
Law graduates, who want to become an Advocate on Record (AOR) in the Supreme Court of India, need to meet a few requirements:
- Be a practising lawyer for at least four years and be registered with any state bar council in India.
- Complete a one-year training program with a senior AOR (and inform the Supreme Court about it before starting it).
- Crack the AOR exam conducted by the Supreme Court.
- After clearing the exam, register with the Supreme Court of India and receive the unique code.
- Set up an office in the Supreme Court of India premises or within 10 miles of the Supreme Court building.
Please note that those who were already registered as an AOR before September 8th, 1962 do not need to meet these requirements. Also, designated Senior Advocates are not eligible to sit for the AOR exam.
The exam is highly competitive. You need to be well-versed in topics like criminal law, civil law and procedural law to ace it. Let us now discuss how to crack the Supreme Court AOR exam.
Exam Format of the AOR Exam
Alt: Exam format of the AOR Exam
The exact exam pattern of the AOR exam may vary depending on SC’s policies and regulations. The written AOR exam is conducted in the offline mode over four days. In this period, aspiring lawyers sit for different papers:
- Drafting Skills,
- Supreme Court Procedures,
- Professional Ethics, and
- Leading and Landmark Cases.
Each of these papers consists of a total of 100 marks and has a duration of 3 hours. The questions asked may include MCQs (multiple-choice questions), short answer questions, and descriptive or essay-type. The AOR exam is conducted in English only.
The questions are mostly based on legal principles, case laws, and practical aspects of legal practice.
In Drafting Skills, candidates have to draft pleadings, affidavits, petitions, and other legal documents based on given scenarios. In Professional Ethics, candidates have to demonstrate their understanding of ethical considerations and professional conduct expected of advocates.
Candidates who achieve the minimum passing marks in each section of the AOR exam move on to the next step.
Those who crack the written exam have to appear for a viva voce exam where a panel of experienced judges assess candidates on their:
- communication skills,
- legal knowledge,
- reasoning ability, and
- their capacity to handle legal arguments and questions effectively.
Once candidates complete one year of required AOR training, they also undergo a Practical Training Assessment. They are assessed on their proficiency in filing, court procedures, client interaction, and other practical aspects of legal practice.
The final result of the AOR exam refers to the combined performance of a candidate in their written examination, viva voce, and practical training assessment.
Practical Preparation Tips for the Advocate On Record (AOR) Exam
Alt: Top Preparation Tips for the Advocate On Record Exam
To prepare for any competitive exam, the first step is to familiarise yourself with:
- the subjects you need to cover,
- detailed syllabus of each subject and the topics you need to study, and
- past years’ papers of the examination to understand the types of questions asked in the exam and their difficulty level.
When you go through the past years’ question papers for the AOR exam, you must prepare a list of all the topics asked frequently in the exam. This will allow you to have your list of important topics to which you can give a little more focus during your preparation.
Study materials play a crucial role in helping law graduates prepare for this exam. When law students ask us how to crack the Supreme Court AOR exam, we often ask them to go through the list of important cases and materials mentioned in the ‘Notices’ section of the official website of the Supreme Court.
The photocopiers in the Supreme Court can also provide you with most of the material you need to ace the exam. The study material for the AOR exam mainly consists of:
- landmark cases and relevant case laws,
- commentaries on these cases,
- formats of various drafts,
- procedures followed in the Supreme Court, and
- practice and materials on professional ethics.
Some of the most popular books to buy to help you with the preparation of different papers for the AOR exam are:
- Drafting: Supreme Court’s AOR Exam- Drafting by Jayprakash Bansilal Somani
- Judgements (For Leading Cases):
- Landmark Judgements by Universal, and
- Leading Cases For AOR Examination: Volume 1 by Prasoon Kumar Mishra
- Practice and Procedure:
- Supreme Court Practice and Procedure (Includes Supreme Court Rules AOR Exam Regulations, E-filing) by B.R. Agarwala, and
- Practice & Procedure – Paper I- AOR Examination of SC by Dr M.K. Ravi
- Professional Ethics: Professional Ethics for Advocates- Supreme Court Leading Case Laws by Jayprakash Bansilal Somani and assisted by Rachit Manchanda
You may also consider buying:
- The Ultimate Guide to Supreme Court AOR Examination by Kush Kalra and Surya Saxena
- The Supreme Court Rules, 2013 (Bare Act)
Conclusion
The path to becoming an Advocate on Record (AOR) is a prestigious one, granting law graduates the privilege of representing clients in the esteemed Supreme Court of India.
We hope that this article has been able to guide you on how to crack the Supreme Court AOR exam successfully and be ready to become an Advocate On Record one day.
Keep following our blog to learn more specific preparation tips for each paper of the AOR exam.
