Calling on young lawyers to look beyond courtroom victories, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Tuesday urged graduating law students to see themselves as “nation-builders” entrusted with strengthening India’s constitutional foundations and not merely as “case-builders” focused on winning disputes.
Delivering the convocation address at the Seventh Convocation Ceremony of the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL), Punjab, the Chief Justice said the legal profession occupies a pivotal role at a time when India is modernising faster than its institutions can comfortably adapt. “A case-builder concerns himself with the dispute of the day. A nation-builder is concerned with what today’s dispute does to tomorrow’s society,” he said, underlining the broader responsibility of lawyers in a constitutional democracy.
Describing the Constitution as an “unfinished blueprint” rather than a static monument, the Chief Justice observed that while courts interpret the law and institutions give it structure, it is young professionals who ultimately give constitutional values life through daily practice. Each generation, he said, inherits the Republic with the responsibility to shape what it becomes next.
The Chief Justice noted that contemporary legal disputes increasingly defy traditional categories, with contracts involving algorithms, property extending to digital assets, families spanning multiple jurisdictions, and environmental cases becoming races against time. In such a scenario, he said, lawyers are expected not only to argue cases but also to interpret social consequences, advise responsibly, innovate solutions, and humanise the law.
Emphasising that judicial reform cannot be driven from the Bench alone, the Chief Justice said that ideas such as mediation, court modernisation, and a unified judicial policy would remain theoretical unless carried forward by the younger generation. “Words spoken from the Bench acquire meaning only when young minds convert them into action,” he said, adding that students represent the judiciary’s most valuable human resource.
Drawing a clear ethical distinction, the Chief Justice warned against reducing legal practice to technical compliance. “A nation-builder asks what kind of system is being strengthened by the way a case is won,” he said, cautioning that procedural success without fairness risks eroding legitimacy and public trust in the justice system.
Outlining what he described as the foundations of a meaningful legal career, the Chief Justice identified three guiding pillars: integrity, compassion, and curiosity.
Integrity, he said, is not just a personal virtue but the institutional backbone of the justice system. He cautioned young lawyers about early-career moments when ethical shortcuts may appear procedurally permissible but morally unsettling. Such decisions, he said, shape not only individual reputations but also the credibility of the legal system itself. “Cunning may bring applause for a season, but integrity earns credibility for a lifetime,” he observed.
On compassion, the Chief Justice stressed that empathy is not antithetical to law but often essential to its proper functioning. Recalling experiences from both the Bar and the Bench, he said rigid adherence to procedure can sometimes prolong suffering, while timely sensitivity can preserve dignity without compromising principle. “The law exists for people, not paperwork,” he said, adding that unseen acts of fairness are what sustain faith in justice.
The third pillar, curiosity, was described as critical in a rapidly changing world where law increasingly intersects with technology, science, and public policy. Legal education, he said, must be viewed as a foundation rather than a finish line, warning that lawyers who stop learning quickly become irrelevant. He urged students to master technology while ensuring that human judgment remains central to justice delivery.
In a lighter moment, the Chief Justice reflected on campus life at RGNUL, recalling student rituals and informal traditions that form the emotional core of legal education. Such memories, he said, serve as reminders that law is ultimately a human enterprise rooted in lived experience.
Concluding his address, the Chief Justice urged graduates to build careers anchored in integrity, compassion, and curiosity, so that future generations may inherit a stronger and more trustworthy legal system.