Supreme Court of India, Advocate-on-Record Examination Cell
How to become an Advocate-on-Record — the complete route to the Supreme Court examination
Only an Advocate-on-Record may file a matter and act for a party in the Supreme Court of India. The qualification is governed by Order IV of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013. The route has three parts that must happen in order: four years of continuous enrolment as an advocate, then one year of training under a practising Advocate-on-Record, then the examination itself, which has four papers.
Checked against the official sources on 22 September 2026. Always confirm dates and fees on the authority’s own site before you act.
Where this cycle stands right now
There was no AOR examination in 2026. The Supreme Court's Examination Cell notified on 30 April 2026 that, given the existing strength of Advocates-on-Record, the examination would not be conducted in 2026 and that the 2027 schedule would be notified in due course. As at 22 September 2026 no 2027 dates have been published. The training year is the long pole in this route, so candidates who want to sit in 2027 should be arranging or completing training now rather than waiting for the notification.
Key dates
- 2026 examination
- Not conducted — notified 30 April 2026
- 2027 examination
- Dates not yet notified by the Supreme Court
- Recent examination months
- June in recent cycles — 12 to 15 June 2023, 10, 11, 14 and 15 June 2024, and 16, 17, 20 and 21 June 2025, one paper per day
- Result timeline precedent
- The June 2024 examination results were declared on 23 January 2025
Fees
- Examination fee
- ₹750, payable through UCO Bank — unchanged across the 2023 and 2025 cycles
These are the authority’s own examination fees and are paid to the authority, not to ZELVU Education. Course fees are separate and are shown on the programme page.
Who can take it
- Four years of continuous enrolment as an advocate must be complete before the training year may begin.
- One further year of training under a practising Advocate-on-Record follows, so a candidate is effectively about five years into enrolment by the time of the examination.
- The training must be under a practising Advocate-on-Record. Order IV of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 requires an Advocate-on-Record to maintain a registered office within a ten-mile radius of the Supreme Court, with a registered clerk, which in practice means Delhi.
- A maximum of five chances is allowed. Failing all papers in an attempt exhausts that chance.
The steps, in order
- 1
Complete four years of continuous enrolment
Count from your enrolment with a State Bar Council. The four years must be continuous. Keep your enrolment certificate and any renewal or verification records together, because they are filed with the examination application later.
- 2
Find a practising Advocate-on-Record to train under
This is the step candidates underestimate. Your trainer must be a practising Advocate-on-Record with a registered Supreme Court office and a registered clerk. Start conversations early, because a training place has to be arranged before the year can even begin.
- 3
Give written intimation to the Supreme Court Registry before training starts
Prior written intimation of the commencement of training is filed with the Registry. Training that was never registered will not count, however genuine it was, so do not begin informally and regularise later.
- 4
Complete one year of training under the Advocate-on-Record
Use the year deliberately. The examination tests Supreme Court practice and procedure, drafting, advocacy and ethics, and the leading cases, so time spent on filings, defect curing, listing and drafting under supervision is directly examinable.
- 5
Obtain the training certificate
On completion, the Advocate-on-Record issues a training certificate under Regulation 6. It is filed with the examination application, so collect it as soon as the year ends rather than at the last moment.
- 6
Apply when the examination is notified
The application is made on the prescribed form with the enrolment certificate and the training certificate, filed at the Advocate-on-Record Examination Cell at Room 307, B-Block, or emailed with a hard copy to follow. The fee is ₹750, payable through UCO Bank.
- 7
Prepare the four papers
Paper I is Practice and Procedure of the Supreme Court. Paper II is Drafting. Paper III is Advocacy and Professional Ethics. Paper IV is Leading Cases. In recent cycles one paper was held per day.
- 8
Work through the leading-cases compilation for your cycle
A revised compilation is issued for each cycle — the 2025 cycle listed 86 judgments against the 64 cases in the standing study volumes. Headnotes are supplied in the examination hall for Paper IV and collected back afterwards, so your preparation must be about using the judgments, not memorising headnotes.
- 9
Meet the passing standard
Under Order IV of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 a candidate must score a minimum of 50 per cent in each paper and 60 per cent in the aggregate across all four papers. Both conditions must be met, so a strong aggregate does not rescue one weak paper.
Questions callers ask
Can I start the training year before completing four years of enrolment?
No. The training may begin only after four years of continuous enrolment as an advocate are complete. That is why the route takes around five years end to end.
Does my training have to be in Delhi?
Effectively yes. Order IV of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013 requires an Advocate-on-Record to keep a registered office within a ten-mile radius of the Supreme Court, and you train in that office.
How many attempts do I get?
A maximum of five chances. Failing all papers in an attempt exhausts that chance.
What is the passing standard?
A minimum of 50 per cent in each of the four papers and 60 per cent in the aggregate, under Order IV of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013.
Is it worth preparing now when the 2027 dates are not out?
The dates are the last thing that gets fixed and the training year is the longest. Paper I on practice and procedure, Paper II on drafting and Paper IV on leading cases are all stable year to year, so preparation started now is not wasted when the notification lands.
Not yet published by the authority
- The 2027 examination dates, application window and revised leading-cases compilation have not been notified. Watch the Supreme Court's Advocate-on-Record examination page.
- The minimum standing required of a training Advocate-on-Record, and the exact publication date of each cycle's leading-cases list, could not be confirmed from an official source and are deliberately left unstated here.
ZELVU Education does not invent examination dates. When the authority publishes, this page is updated and the date is shown above.
Official sources
- Supreme Court of India — AOR Examination
- Supreme Court — AOR examination notification, 2025 cycle
- Supreme Court — AOR examination notification, 2023 cycle
Preparing is the part we do.
Registration, fees and admission are between you and the authority. AOR Complete Programme covers the syllabus, the technique and the practice — taught lesson by lesson, with the reading material written out in full. Preparation support is not itself a qualification and no result is guaranteed.