Gujarat High Court sets 45-year minimum age for Senior Advocate designation, bars mentioning by seniors

The Gujarat High Court has introduced minimum age criterion of 45 years to be eligible for Senior Advocate designation.

Pertinently, the High Court has also barred Senior Advocates from mentioning cases of seeking adjournments. The Rules also mandate that Senior Advocates should mentor and maintain at least 2 to 3 young lawyers who have less 3 years of experience at the bar.

The Court notified the ‘The High Court of Gujarat (Designation of Senior Advocates) Rules, 2025', thereby bringing these changes into effect.

As per the new Rules,

[He or she] shall neither appear for mentioning for any matters before the Court nor should he/she appear for getting adjournments. [They] shall mentor and maintain minimum 2 to 3 young lawyers with less than 3 years of experience.”

Notified on September 16, the Rules state that the aspiring candidates must possess at least 20 years of standing at the bar, ordinarily practising before the Gujarat High Court at Ahmedabad or before district courts and specialised tribunals to be eligible for the gown.

The Rules also state that the candidates should also have participated in the pro bono legal work and must possess “ability, legal acumen, special knowledge or distinction and reputation achieved in the practice of law”.

“[He or she] has not been convicted by a competent court of law and should not have been punished for an offence involving moral turpitude or contempt of court or should not have been punished by the Bar Council of Gujarat or by the Bar Council of India for any act of misconduct,” the Rules add. 

As per the new Rules, the process of designating Senior Advocates will be initiated at least once every year through a permanent Secretariat, constituted by the Chief Justice of the High Court. 

Each application requires endorsement by two Senior Advocates with at least ten years’ standing, and the lawyers practising before the High Court must submit 50 judgments from the past five years.

Details of applicants outside the High Court may be sought from judicial officers. Eligible applications will be placed before the Full Court, whose decision, by consensus or majority, will be final.

If an application is denied, a new application may only be made after 2 years.

Further, the Rules state that the Senior designation may be revoked for professional misconduct or other specified reasons by a full court decision.

[Read the Rules]