NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY

A Brief History

 

NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY

The NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY came into existence through a Notification under the NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY Act (Karnataka Act 22 of 1986). It signified the culmination of efforts by the Judiciary, the Bar Council of India, the Karnataka Bar Council, the Bangalore University and the Government of Karnataka to reform legal education and to establish a centre of excellence for legal education and research in India.

Thanks to the generosity of the Government of Karnataka and the Bangalore University, the Law School has a campus of its own, located in Nagarbhavi, about 10 kms from the City railway station and standing over twenty-three acres beside the Institute of Social and Economic Change. Since 1991, it is a fully residential university on one campus with three Halls of Residence for men, three Halls of Residence for women, two Hostels for post-graduate women students, three blocks for Faculty Quarters and two blocks for non-teaching staff Quarters besides the Academic  Block. The munificence of Mrs. Sudha Narayanamurthy of INFOSYS has enabled the Law School to have the Shri Melgiri Narayan Rao Memorial Library, named after her father, for providing up-to-date library facilities. The library was inaugurated by Mr. Justice R.C. Lahoti, the then Chief Justice of India, on 17th August, 2005.

The Chief Justice of India is the Chancellor of the University. The Chairman, Bar Council of India, is the Chairman of the General Council. These connections lend a stature and prestige to the School which is unparalleled in the history of legal education in India. The Karnataka Act confers complete administrative and academic autonomy which facilitates innovation and experimentation in the pursuit of excellence in legal education.

The first batch of students was selected through a National Entrance Test, and regular academic activities began on 1st July, 1988. It was a significant achievement that students from this batch won the Bar Council of India National Moot Court Competition in their very first year of legal education. Ever since, admissions to the Law School has been on the basis of performance at a National Entrance Test which has now, since 2008, graduated to a National Level Common Admission Test known as the Common Law Entrance Test (CLAT) and it operates to select candidates for all the National Law Schools in the country. Other law-teaching institutions are permitted to join in this method of selection of their candidates for admission to their law courses.

Eighteen batches have completed their studies here. Many students have pursued further studies in their chosen areas of Law in other prestigious Universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Michigan, York and other Universities abroad on prestigious scholarships like Rhodes and INLAKS. Many have joined practice of the law in India at various levels from trial courts to the High Courts and the Supreme Court; some have set up independent law practices alone or conjointly with other alumni of the Law School; many have joined corporate law firms both in India and abroad; some have joined work with national and international NGOs; some with UN organisations, the World Bank and the IMF; some have

joined the academic profession, teaching in this University, the NALSAR, Hyderabad, the NUJS, Kolkata, Cambridge, the LSE, East Anglia, the National University of Singapore, etc.; some have joined the Judiciary, and a few have joined the Civil Services.

The Law School has undertaken many research projects funded by the UGC, the Government of India, the Government of Karnataka, the Department of Women and Child Development, the UN agencies, the World Bank, HIVOS etc. These have served to strengthen research and teaching at the Law School.

The National Law School has exchange programmes with the National University of Singapore, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada and Buceuius Law School, Germany. Students from the Law School have spent a Semester in these Law Schools and their students have spent at least a Trimester here. This has facilitated exchange of ideas and culture between not only the law schools but also the countries. Faculty members of this University have gone to the Universities of Wales, Warwick and Nottingham and Faculty from these Universities have spent some time here doing teaching and research under the Exchange and Faculty Improvement Programmes facilitated by the British Council, Chennai. A number of professors and judges from the U.S.A., Canada, U.K., Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, South Africa, Malaysia and New Zealand have visited and interacted with, and even taught, at the Law School.

The Law School offers through its Distance Education Department a Master’s Degree programme in Business Laws, and Post-Graduate Diploma programmes in Human Rights Law, Environmental Law, Medical Law and Ethics, Intellectual Property Law and Child Rights Law. Many officers and working professionals have enrolled for these courses. Faculty members of the Law School are also involved in the organisation of programmes for and the teaching of officers belonging to the administrative, postal and other services.

In addition to reaching out with legal education informally to members of the society through these programmes, the Law School has had, from the very start, a Legal Services Clinic and a Centre for Women and the Law reaching out with legal aid and advice to women and others from the disadvantaged sections of the society, and mediation and negotiation for settlement of disputes. Faculty and students of  the Law School help in creating legal awareness mainly among women and girls through classes in colleges and schools in and around the city of Bangalore.

The Law School today has many research and extension centres and a number of Endowment Chairs.

The challenge for the Law School is to stay ahead especially in the context of globalisation. The Law School has the social responsibility of continuing to be a Centre of Excellence in the field of legal education, a position which it came to occupy within the first ten years itself due mainly to the dedicated efforts of the Faculty and students during those initial and formative years. Globalisation has thrown up new challenges, and the professional legal education has to cater to the growing demands for skilled legal professionals who can effectively function in the emerging legal order. The present challenge is to measure up to internationally acceptable levels of excellence. By its Resolution dated 26th August, 2006 the General Council of the Law School has reiterated that 

[T]his Law School was established with a view to cater to the requirements of the legal profession, law teaching and research, and judiciary and it is expected that the students who study in this School will eventually become legal practitioners, law teachers or engage in legal research or enter the judiciary in due course.

The Law School has made web-based legal education and interaction a reality in the areas of distance education programmes and for that purpose improved infrastructural facilities to answer the needs. It has facilitated the use of technological aids in classrooms and Conference Halls. The Law School is moving towards setting up a Digital Library of its collections as part of the Open Access Initiative, and efforts are on to provide open and world-wide access to all law related source documents.

Programes :

 

Undergraduate programs:

B.A. LL.B.(Hons.): A Five year IntegratedCourse

Post-graduate programmes:

LLM - Master of Laws

Research Degrees:
M.Phil (Master of Philosophy)
Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy
LL.D. - Doctor of Laws

Research Centres :

• Centre for Women & the Law (CWL)
•    
• CENTRE FOR CHILD AND THE LAW (CCL)
•    
• Centre for Environmental Education, Research and Advocacy (CEERA)
•    
• The Centre for Intellectual Property Research and Advocacy (CIPRA)
•    
• Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy(CSSEIP)
•    
• National Institute of Human Rights (NIHR)
•    
• The Institute of Law & Ethics in Medicine (TILEM)
•    
• National Institute for Alternate Disputes Resolution (NIADR)
•    
• CENTRE FOR OUTREACH PROGRAMMES (COP)
•    
• International Bar Association- Continuing Legal Education Centre (IBA-CLE)

Facilities:

IT Services

The National Law School strives to provide for a high quality, efficient and secure infrastructure that would enhance the productivity of all its users. To ensure this, the IT infrastructure and services is being constantly reviewed, maintained and updated by a separate IT Committee consisting of a few faculty members and technical staff. The technical staff is encouraged to constantly update their knowledge through periodic training programs.

The IT infrastructure has grown tremendously over the past few years. The bandwidth for Internet Services has been increased almost tenfold and is now 12 Mbps. This caters to the wireless network in the classrooms, academic block, library, hostels and faculty blocks. A relatively new computer lab is located at the library. The infrastructure has been recently overhauled to improve the quality of the internet facility.

All classrooms are equipped with computers and projectors. To further enhance the quality of classroom experience “E-Class” equipments are installed in a few classrooms. This will soon be extended to other classrooms.

A good video conferencing facility is also provided to enable students to benefit from faculty located in other places within and outside India.

A user policy has been formulated in order to encourage problem-free access to resources and minimise negative externalities.

In order to further improve access to education we hope to soon have online Learning Management Tools. Steps are also being undertaken to ensure greater security of the network.


THE HALLS OF RESIDENCE

 The National Law School campus with all its 500 odd students and the faculty residing in the same campus is a like a miniature India. With such interaction comes the greater need to adjust and share opinions, and to build an outlook necessary to become budding lawyers. Residing on campus enables students to widen their horizon and acquire important inter-personal skills.

There are three Halls of Residence for men known by the names Ganga, Cauvery and Himalaya and three Halls of Residence for women known as Nilgiris, Annexe and Mess Block. In addition there are two P.G. Women’s Hostels. Students of the first year are generally provided separate accommodation. While the first year students are allotted dormitories, from the second year onwards, they have the option of triple seater rooms, which are T-shaped and, once a curtain is drawn across the entrance, each becomes a private cubicle. Women students have a choice of twin seaters, in addition to the triple seater rooms. There are also a few single rooms available in both hostels. These are usually given to students in the final year.

Students are each provided with a cot, cupboard, chair and desk. They are advised to bring their own mattresses, curtains and bed-linen. Hostels have 24-hour running hot water facility. Laundry facilities are also made available on campus. As Bangalore experiences cold weather during November- January, students are advised to bring blankets and warm clothing.

Library

                        Library

The library is the ‘heart’ of any academic institution and plays an important role in all academic activities and, the more so, in law institutions. Known as Sri Narayana Rao Memorial National Law Library, its establishment was generously assisted through the munificence of Mrs. Sudha Narayanamurthy of INFOSYS. This is a three storied building of 30,000 sq.ft. built-up area with ample space for storage of books and for reading purposes. The library has been planned keeping in view the aims and objectives of the Law School, and is being operated by a team of professionally qualified library staff guided by the Library Council. It has a collection of over 40,000 volumes covering a wide range of general and special subjects, comprising of text books, reference books, back volumes of journals and reports etc., apart from current legal periodicals. The Library functions from 8.30 a.m till midnight on all days of the week, but closing hours will vary on Holidays.

The library has an open access system to facilitate readers to have easy access to the library resources. The NLSIU Library has also established links with other important libraries in and around Bangalore in order to provide inter-library access for the benefit of students and teachers of the Law School. To assist the students and Research Scholars in locating literature as well as information in their areas of research, general reference, current awareness and computerized catalogues have been introduced. An orientation programme is also organised for new students to help them acquaint themselves with the library system and services and for enabling maximum utilisation of the available resources.

The Law School has introduced computerised facilities for both housekeeping as well as information retrieval. Since it now has a leased line connection to the internet, it is possible to have easy access to information directly from all available computerized data bases all over the world, not only in the field of law but also in other disciplines.

Keeping in mind the vision to create an E-Law School, the University subscribes to many international online databases like WESTLAW, JSTOR, KLUWERONLINE, SPRINGERLINK etc. which contain enormous resources like International Case Reporters, Statutes, and Articles from Law Reviews, constituting an invaluable resource to a law school student. MANUPATRA.COM, INDLAW.COM and similar Indian databases have also been made available for both students and faculty. NLSIU is among the first of the legal educational institutions in India to subscribe to these online databases.

The Library has CD-ROMs search facilities and it has also acquired important CD-ROM databases such as SCC-Online and AIR etc. This year the Library has also subscribed to Hein Online Legal database as well as added e-books collections for the benefit of faculty/students.

With a computerised library system it is the aim of the library to establish a network of law libraries in India and also to establish a National Legal Information Centre, which will act as a clearing house of information in the field of law.

The Library has all state-of-the-art gadgets with Wi-Fi internet connection and highly modernized Audio-Visual equipments with tele-conferencing facility. Special arrangements have also been made for the physically challenged persons to access the library.

At present the library is housed in one portion of the Academic Complex. The building has all the modern state-of-the-art gadgets with wi-fi internet connection as well as highly modernized Audio-Visual equipments with teleconferencing facility etc. Special arrangements also have been made for the physically handicapped persons to make use of the library. This is a multi (three) storeyed building with ample space of 30,000 sq. ft. built area for storage of books and reading purposes. The building has been planned by well known Architects and with the financial assistance of the UGC and Mrs. Sudha Murthy.


 

Other Facilties:

INTERNATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE:

A well equipped International Training Centre, with residential facilities for organizing training programmes, was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Chief Justice Mr. Lahoti on 28th August, 2005. The Training Centre is under the supervision of a care taker who is responsible for providing the facilities at the Centre without any deficiency in service. Several Training Programmes have been successfully conducted at this premises.

 

SPORTS FACILITIES:

From its inception the School has taken efforts to build sports facilities for students. Currently the Law School has a basketball court, a tennis court and indoor facilities for table tennis at the hostels and in the Academic block. A couple of years ago, a new fitness centre with state-of-the-art equipments was also inaugurated. Arrangements have been made with the Sports Authority of India complex nearby for the use of their facilities. Plans for a multipurpose sports facility within the Law School campus, in the newly acquired 5 acres of land, is under way.

HEALTH CENTRE:

There is a Health Centre on Campus to attend to immediate necessities of health care. The college has institutional arrangement with S.K. Hospital, Nagarbhavi, situated close by, to provide hospital attention including in-hospital care where required. There is a qualified Nurse  at the Health Centre.

CANTEEN:
There is a canteen in the Academic Block which is open from 9.30 A.M. to midnight . One can find soft drinks, snacks, as well as regular meals. Another popular student eatery is the Just Food, the Cafetaria attached to the training centre. It serves highly subsidized meals for lunch and dinner.

GYMNASIUM:
A new fitness centre and Gym facilities with state of the art equipment was inaugurated. Arrangements have been made with the Sports Authority of India complex nearby for use of their facilities. We have plans to build a new football and track and field ground on additional land as and when acquired.

BANK FACILITIES:
The University accounts are with the Corporation Bank which has a branch on Campus functioning six days a week. The Corporation Bank also provides ATM facilities at Chandra Layout to students who have an account with them. There is also a branch of the SBI with ATM about 5 minutes walk from the campus where many students have accounts. Other Banks like ICICI, UTI, HDFC and Citibank have ATM counters in Vijayanagar which is 3 kms from the Law School .

CONTACT:

POSTAL ADDRESS
National Law School of India University
P.O. Bag 7201, Nagarbhavi,
Bangalore - 560 072
Karnnataka, India

Phone: UNIVERSITY EPABX
+91 80 2321 3160
+91 80 2316 0532
+91 80 2316 0533
+91 80 2316 0535

Fax
F: +91 80 23160534

EMAIL
registrar@nls.ac.in