The first association of Advocates that was formed after liberation of Goa was the Goa , Daman & Diu Advocates Association in the year 1967. Goa was then still part of the Union Territory of Goa , Daman & Diu. The Goa, Daman & Diu Advocates Association was the representative of the Bar throughout the Union Territory. The establishment of the Goa Bench of the High Court of Bombay on 30th October, 1982 was a watershed event in the legal history of Goa. In less than five years thereafter came another defining moment in Goa’s history when on 30th May, 1987 , with the passing of the Goa Daman & Diu Re-Organization Act, 1987 the High Court of Bombay became the common High Court for the States of Maharashtra and Goa and the Union Territories of Dadra & Nagar Havli & Daman & Diu. The High Court Bar was growing in the intervening years and an Association to represent the High Court Bar exclusively became a felt necessity. Out of this was born the Goa High Court Bar Association on 11 February, 1988 when it was inaugurated after subscribing to the Memorandum of Association & Bye Laws on 11-01-1988. Senior Advocate Shri M. S. Usgaonkar was the first President of the Association.
For some years initially, the membership of the Association was restricted to those ordinarily practicing in the High Court of Bombay at Goa for a period of ten years. A subsequent amendment to the Constitution threw the membership of the Association open to all Advocates ordinarily practicing at the Goa seat of the Bombay High Court for three years. The Association has thus become more representative of the High Court Bar, more particularly its junior members. The Association has been striving over the years to defend the interests of the Bar, to take up issues concerning administration of justice and providing services to the High Court Bar , such as building a well stocked Bar library, supplemented in recent years by an e-library; periodically holding conferences and organizing lectures on legal subjects for the benefit of the Bar members generally and particularly for its junior members. The Association also strives to provide infrastructural facilities to its members of the Bar and also to the litigating public. With the recent inauguration of the new High Court complex at Porvorim a greater space and more facilities have become available to the Bar, the Association renews its resolve to expand its activities. On 26th November every year, the Association has been hosting annual Constitution Day lectures by distinguished counsels or legal scholars. The Association will be inaugurating its official website on this Year’s Constitution Day and will follow it up with regular publication of a law journal in print.
The Association is enthused by the co-operation it has been receiving from all section of Bar for all it endeavours, which it gratefully acknowledges and looks forward to such co-operation for all its future activities.