PRIME-Uniqueness of National Law Schools

How are National Law Schools Unique?

Over the last few years, the National Law Schools have pioneered reform in Indian legal education. They have demonstrated that legal education can be a realm of excellence attracting the brightest young minds. The course offered at National Law Schools is unique in several ways –

Academic Rigour

The course is of unparalleled intensity packed into 5 hardworking years. The programme usually spreads over 15 trimesters, involves some 4000 hours of classroom instruction, several clinical courses that teach skills, writing legal articles, participation in moots and debates, involvement in law reform and after research projects commissioned by national and international agencies, national roundtables and leadership and management of several University and student activities.

Contemporary Curriculum

Students work to a syllabus that is updated regularly to reflect the fast changing demand for legal knowledge and skills arising from globalisation. The programme provides a platform for specialised learning of cutting–edge areas of law. National Law School students were the first in the country to be taught and evaluated by leading international law professors, emerging with flying colours from this international benchmarking.

Focus on Practical Education

At the core of the National Law School programme is the unprecedented emphasis on practical and clinical education. Mandatorily from the third year on, students are placed with leading judges, law practitioners as well as agencies involved with the law. At these placements, students experience the living law. This experience infuses reality into their academic study in the classroom, prompting them to ask why the law they learn is not always implemented as intended and what should be done to improve its effectiveness. Placements provide students a special privilege of not only seeing the law in action but also seeing professional excellence at its best and learning from it. Often placements grow into long–term professional relationships.

Faculty

One of the greatest strengths of the National Law Schools is the excellent faculty they possess. The stature and prestige of the law schools attracts talented and dedicated faculty members, several of whom are recognised experts in their fields. Their guidance and inspiration transform the careers of most students.

Unique Pedagogy

The National Law Schools follow a unique teaching methodology where classes are mostly discussion sessions, when the student is encouraged to participate actively in the delineation of matter under study. The curriculum is geared towards self–learning through intellectually challenging assignments. The student is taught the intelligent use of library resources and the Internet. This is followed by a guidance for the project work which is essential for the student to learn the various approaches to problem solving techniques, gathering information, styles of legal writing, skills of argumentation and presentation and the study of law through cases. The student is then introduced to Moot courts, Mock trials, Court Visits and Legal Aid Support Services.