The Bar Council of India, through Circular BCI/D/4659/2026 dated 17.07.2026, directed all State Bar Councils and Centres of Legal Education to immediately implement its Circular on social media conduct, digital ethics, court decorum, confidentiality and professional responsibility for advocates, law students and interns. The Circular covers misuse of court premises, judicial and live-streamed proceedings, professional identity, client and chamber material, misleading legal content, AI-generated material, deepfakes, voice-cloned audio and other synthetic content. Centres of Legal Education have been directed to circulate the Circular, conduct sensitisation sessions, obtain prescribed undertakings from students at admission and before internships, incorporate the Circular into institutional guidelines, designate nodal officers or monitoring groups, and maintain implementation records. State Bar Councils have been directed to circulate the Circular to enrolled advocates and Bar Associations, require adoption of stakeholder declarations, implement prescribed affidavits or compliance acknowledgements for future enrolment and regulatory processes, establish Digital Ethics Committees or nodal mechanisms and complaint channels, and maintain implementation reports. The Circular states that implementation should remain educative, preventive, proportionate and consistent with the Advocates Act, 1961, the Bar Council of India Rules, applicable court rules and principles of natural justice, and should not be misused.
Bar Council of India
Immediate implementation of the Bar Council of India Circular concerning social media conduct, digital ethics, Court decorum, confidentiality and professional responsibility
BCI/D/4659/2026 Dated: 17.07.2026
To,
1. The Chairpersons and Secretaries of all State Bar Councils
2. The Vice-Chancellors, Registrars, Deans, Principals, Directors and Heads of all Centres of Legal Education
Sub: Forwarding and immediate implementation of the Bar Council of India Circular concerning social media conduct, digital ethics, Court decorum, confidentiality and professional responsibility
Sir’s/Ma’am’s,
I am forwarding herewith the Circular issued by the Bar Council of India concerning maintenance of dignity, restraint and professional ethics in the use of social media by Advocates, law students and interns, including the directions relating to misuse of Court premises, judicial proceedings, live-streamed proceedings, professional identity, client and chamber material, misleading legal content, artificial intelligence-generated material, deepfakes, voice-cloned audio and other synthetic or manipulated content.
The Circular has been issued for immediate awareness, adoption and implementation. It shall not be treated as a routine communication merely requiring circulation. Every concerned institution shall take effective and verifiable measures to ensure that its contents are brought to the individual notice of all persons falling within its regulatory or institutional jurisdiction.
Directions to all Centres of Legal Education
Every Centre of Legal Education shall immediately circulate the enclosed Circular among all members of its teaching and non-teaching faculty, students, research scholars, interns, faculty coordinators, internship cells, legal aid cells, placement cells and other persons connected with its academic and professional activities.
The Centre of Legal Education shall ensure that every student and every member of the faculty is properly sensitised regarding the obligations contained in the Circular. Mere uploading of the Circular on the institutional website or forwarding it through an electronic group shall not, by itself, be treated as sufficient compliance.
Every Centre of Legal Education shall accordingly
a. Conduct a formal sensitisation or orientation session explaining the Circular and the consequences of its breach;
b. Obtain the prescribed standalone undertaking from every student at the time of admission and a separate undertaking before commencement of every internship;
c. Incorporate the Circular into its admission, internship, legal aid, moot court, placement and institutional conduct guidelines;
d. Ensure that faculty members, internship coordinators and institutional representatives explain the applicable standards to students before they are sent to any Court, Tribunal, chamber, law firm, legal office, public authority or other internship institution;
e. Designate a responsible Nodal Officer or institutional monitoring group for implementation, sensitisation, preservation of complaints and first-level reporting; and
f. Maintain proper records of circulation, undertakings, orientation sessions and implementation measures for production before the Bar Council of India or the concerned State Bar Council whenever called for.
Directions to all State Bar Councils
Every State Bar Council shall immediately circulate the enclosed Circular individually to every Advocate enrolled on its State roll and separately to every recognised Bar Association functioning within its jurisdiction.
The State Bar Council shall ensure that each Bar Association circulates the Circular among all its members, displays it prominently on its notice board, website and official communication groups, and takes appropriate steps for its effective implementation. Mere general publication on the website of the State Bar Council shall not be treated as complete compliance unless reasonable measures are also taken to bring the Circular to the notice of every enrolled Advocate and every Bar Association.
Every State Bar Council shall further
a. Require all Bar Associations within its jurisdiction to adopt and implement the Circular and the stakeholder declaration annexed thereto;
b. Ensure that Advocates already enrolled are made aware of the applicable standards concerning digital ethics, advertisement and solicitation, confidentiality, Court decorum, legal misinformation and misuse of artificial intelligence or synthetic content;
c. Implement the prescribed standalone affidavit or compliance acknowledgement in relation to future enrolment and other regulatory processes, strictly in accordance with the terms and safeguards contained in the Circular;
d. Designate a Digital Ethics Committee, Nodal Group or Nodal Officer for receiving and examining complaints, preserving relevant material, counselling first-time violators and referring serious or repeated violations to the competent authority;
e. Establish a dedicated email address, complaint window or other accessible mechanism for reporting alleged violations; and
f. Call for and maintain implementation reports from all recognised Bar Associations within its jurisdiction.
All State Bar Councils and Centres of Legal Education shall ensure that implementation remains educative, preventive, proportionate and consistent with the Advocates Act, 1961, the Bar Council of India Rules, applicable Court rules and principles of natural justice. The Circular shall not be misused for personal rivalry, moral policing, suppression of lawful criticism or action on the basis of unverified allegations.
The Bar Council of India expects immediate and complete compliance.
Srimanto Sen
Principal Secretary
Bar Council of India
Encl.
Bar Council of India Circular concerning social media conduct, digital ethics, Court decorum, confidentiality and professional responsibility, together with its annexures.
