National Law School of India University
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| Motto | Dharmo Rakshati Rakshata (Those who protect Dharma are protected by Dharma) |
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| Established | 1987 |
| Type | National University |
| Vice-Chancellor | Dr. A. Jayagovind |
| Undergraduates | 400 |
| Postgraduates | 80 |
| Location | Bangalore, Karnataka, India |
| Campus | Urban, 18 acres |
| Website | http://www.nls.ac.in/ |
The National Law School of India University (NLSIU or NLS) is India's premier institution for under-graduate and graduate legal education. Based in Nagarbhavi, a quiet suburb in the western extremities of the city of Bangalore, the NLSIU was established in 1987 after a statute was enacted for that purpose by the Legislative Assembly of the State of Karnataka, and has officially existed since August 29 1987.
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[edit] Experiment in legal education
Historically legal education in India was open only to graduates and seen merely as professional training. Dismayed at the quality of legal education in conventional universities, several members of the legal fraternity debated a new system of legal education through the 1970s and 1980s. Set up as a "pace-setter and a testing ground for bold experiments in legal education", the NLSIU admits 80 students for its 5-year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) programme every year. Students are chosen on the basis of an all-India entrance exam held on the first Sunday in May each year. Foreign nationals are encouraged, with five seats being reserved for foreign nationals (preferably from SAARC countries).
While in most common law countries, law education is post-graduate ("graduate" in USA) education, the Bar Council of India decided to make the NLSIU law programme a five-year course, with courses in the liberal arts included in the first two years.
[edit] Early history
NLSIU was started in 1987 under the stewardship of its Founder-Director, Dr. N.R. Madhava Menon and has since had three other directors, including the present director (which post was designated as Vice-Chancellor in March 2006), Dr. A. Jayagovind. The first batch of students joined on July 1, 1988 in the integrated five-year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) course. The first courses commenced even before the college buildings had been built, and thus the NLSIU started functioning from the premises of the Central College, Bangalore University and remained there until 1992, when it eventually moved to its present location in Nagarbhavi.
In addition to the five-year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) under-graduate course, it also offers post-graduate courses in Business Laws and Human Rights, along with Distance Learning programmes. Plans are said to be underway to increase the number of courses on offer.
Previous Directors of the NLSIU include: Dr. N.R. Madhava Menon, Dr. N.L. Mitra and Dr. Mohan Gopal (2000-January 2003).
[edit] Legal research and student activities
NLSIU periodically conducts round-table conferences on contemporary socio-economic and legal issues, particularly in the context of challenges faced by a developing country. Furthermore, its faculty and research centres are often called upon to provide draft versions of legislations as well as to contribute to formulation of government policies.
The student body enjoys a great degree of autonomy and coordinates a wide range of activities. The Student Bar Association (SBA) is the umbrella body that coordinates all student activities, and all students are members of the SBA. The SBA has created various Activity-Based Committees (ABCs) which are in charge of specific student activities. The high level of student autonomy also runs to the various hostels, which are run by various hostel committees. Co- and extra-curricular activities promoted at NLSIU include debating, quizzing, music, dance, theatre and other literary and cultural activities. Students from the National Law School publish an informal literary magazine called Quirk since January 2005.
[edit] Student Life
[edit] Student Festivals
NLSIU hosts an inter-collegiate literary and cultural festival called Legala, along with Rampart, a fashion show and Strawberry Fields. Strawberry Fields is noted for having been a launching pad for the careers of a few bands such as Pin Drop Violence and Junkyard Groove and presents a host of different styles of music ranging from funk to death metal. Apart from that, it also hosts the National Law School Debate, a parliamentary-style debating championship which gets participation from countries around the SAARC region, as also Spiritus, which is the annual sports festival.
Boasting a line-up of over 50 bands and an expected crowd this year of 12,000-15,000, Strawberry Fields is one of the most anticipated events on India’s music calendar.
The event is held over three days, with the grand-finale on Sunday evening featuring 5 of the best participating bands, with a professional act as the headliner. The most recent headliner was Junkyard Groove and bands such as the Helborg and Lane duo have expressed an interest in playing here in the past.
[edit] a cappella
De Minimis is the contemporary a cappella group of the Law School set up in 2003, and consists entirely of undergraduate students. Members are selected by an audition process every July.
For the most part, De Minimis's repertoire consists of covers of popular songs. Since 2004, De Minimis has performed at the Glorious Festival of Harmony, an annual concert of choirs from across India, and also performs at inter-collegiate competitions and concerts around Bangalore.
[edit] Achievements
The main reason NLSIU has the stature it does is its record of 100% placement (i.e., all those who sit for the recruitment process get jobs). The recruitment process is managed by the student-run Recruitment Coordination Committee (RCC). Now, with the rise of other universities following the National Law School model, this seems to be a less exceptional feat.
Many students do not sit for the on-campus recruitment process, choosing to pursue further studies. Students from the National Law School managed to secure a Rhodes Scholarship (two scholarships in the years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2005) for study in Oxford in every single year from 1996 to 2005, out of the six scholarships allotted annually to India, which is a feat unmatched by any other college in India. Students have also secured a number of other prominent fellowships and can be found in the some of the top law faculties in the world.
The National Law School has been rated the number one law college in India by India Today from 1998, when the magazine started publishing its annual list, until the year 2004, and again in 2006.
[edit] Alumni
Despite being a young law school, its alumni have been making a name for themselves all over the world. They can be found in a wide range of fields, from law firms, to international organisations, to journalism and even modelling.
[edit] Criticism
As stated by a former director, one of the principle objectives in establishing the NLSIU was to increase the quality of the bar. However, it has been pointed out that most of those who graduate from NLSIU prefer a career in corporate litigation or as legal advisers to companies, instead of joining the bar. While this has been attributed to the increased presence of multinational corporations in India, along with the low salaries paid by advocates, no changes seem to have been made to combat this problem.
However NLS counters this criticism by saying that its contribution to the Bar should not only be measured by the number of students who join the Bar; rather the number of students from the NLS inspired institutions who join the Bar should be a pointer to the contribution of NLS to the legal scene in the country. Also, recent alumni surveys indicate an increasing number of alumnus who leave law firms in the mid career stage and move into litigation, social development and academia.
[edit] Journals published
- Indian Journal of Law and Technology [1]
- Socio-Legal Review [2]
- Student Bar Review [3]
[edit] External links
| Law Schools in India |
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| Gujarat National Law University • NLIU • National Law School of India University • National Law University, Jodhpur • West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences |
