Decoding the law

What are the problems and challenges of imparting legal education to students and how are universities revamping the curriculum reflecting on global trends.

With thousands of students aspiring to crack the national level law entrance exams such as the CLAT (Common Law Admission Test), conducted by NLUs (National Law Universities) on a rotational basis, and LSAT-India (Law School Admission Test) among others, it is clear that law is one of the most sought after career options in India after engineering and medical. At present, there are 19 NLUs spread across the country such as those in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata to name a few, bringing a paradigm shift in teaching methods and research in the field of law. While there have been quite a few government institutes such as the Government Law College, Mumbai, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, Delhi and ILS Law College, Pune, around, private players have also emerged in the past couple of years such as the Amity Law School, Noida, VIT School of Law, Chennai, and other who are changing the job scenario and are equipping students to be global leaders. At the same time, the conventional practice of law in the Supreme Court and High Courts of India has changed. Today, many budding lawyers can also be employed by the legal industry to work in-house for corporates. In addition to this, legal process outsourcing (LPO) firms have also received fair amount of attention in recent years. In our cover story, we have law students from institutes such as Symbiosis Law School, Symbiosis International University, Pune, O P Jindal Global Law School, O P Jindal Global University, Sonepat, and The School of Law, Galgotias University, Greater Noida among others, who share their experience on how these institutes have incorporated teaching-learning methodologies to train them. We also have experts talk about what specialisations students can opt for after their five-year course, what books are a must-read for aspirants, and how to prepare for their law entrance.

(By Harshita Das)

Amity Law School,

Amity University, Noida

www.amity.edu

Training future leaders the college focuses on holistic development of its students.

Pursuing law was never my first choice. But with passage of time, I have developed a strong liking for the subject, thanks to Amity Law School, Noida (ALSN). The first thing that would strike anyone visiting Amity University is the lush green campus and state-of the-art infrastructure. The institute pays undivided attention to academics by publishing the time table a week in advance and almost all classes take place regularly. Highly experienced faculty and their proactive approach makes teaching effective in the class rooms, and it extends beyond the classrooms during our industry internships. This helps us gain a broader perspec tive of what the legal profession is all about. Apart from regular lectures, presentations and open group discussions are also part of the teaching methodology at ALSN.

Maintaining a balance between curricular and co-curric ular activities, ALSN organises a number of moot court competitions, legal aid camps, mock parliaments and debate competitions every year. Judges of the Supreme and High Courts, prominent lawyers and social workers are invited to adjudicate these competitions, and that helps students interact with industry experts. The college also promotes healthy competition among the students through several clubs and societies such as the student bar forum, the debating society, legal aid society, legal entrepreneurship cell and fashion society. Being true to its spirit of being an internationally recognised university, students of ALSN get an opportunity to study abroad for a month during summer break under the summer internship programme. These programmes are organised in countries like the US, UK, Australia, Singapore and Dubai. The college even hosted the national rounds of the most prestigious international moot-Phillip C Jessup Moot Court Competition earlier this year.

Out-of-the-box

The curriculum of ALSN can be considered at par with the NLUs (National Law Universities). In addition to law-related theory subjects, the curriculum focuses on practical development of students through Non-Teaching Credit