NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad

The National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) University of Law was set up in Hyderabad, India in 1998 to create a generation of able and competent lawyers who would join the Bar as well as the Bench. It was created by an Act of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Act 34 of 1998). The University is fully residential and conducts teaching in law and allied disciplines.

Location: Coordinates: 17°36'16"N 78°32'49"E

The Justice City campus of the NALSAR is located on the Hyderabad-Karimnagar highway at Shameerpet, 30 kilometres from the Hyderabad Airport. The campus is built on a sprawling 50 acre site, in a serene and unpolluted environment amidst hillocks, abutting the Shameerpet Lake.

The City office of the University is located within Hyderabad city at Barkatpura.

Courses and Curriculum

NALSAR currently offers 5 courses :-

* B.A., LL.B (Hons.) - Under Graduate

* LL.M

* Ph.D.

* Post Graduate Diploma Courses

* NALSAR Pro

The B.A. LL.B (Hons.) course is one of the most prestigious law degree programs in India.[citation needed] Approximately 6000 applicants from all over India write an entrance examination(held during the month of May) for a total of 60 seats (47 in the General Category and 13 in the SC/ST category). The rest of the seats (out of a total of 80) are reserved for Foreign Nationals. The Course Curriculum includes 50 credit courses having varying credit to be completed over a period of five years extendable to a maximum of seven years. NALSAR follows a semester system having two semesters in a year, viz. June - October, Jan - April,. Students get three and a half months off in a year to gain practical experience in the law by interning with various organisations, lawyers, law firms, judges etc.

The LLM program admissions are also carried out on the basis of a country-wide entrance examination. Presently LL.M is offered in the following specialisations:

* Intellectual Property Laws
* Corporate Laws
* Constitution Law

Infrastructure

NALSAR prides itself on its exceptional and outstanding architecture and infrastructure. The law school is currently divided into five distinct precincts. The first is the Administrative Block which is adjoining the Academic Block. The Academic Block broadly consists of the classrooms, conference halls, the library, the internet center, a full fledged moot court hall and the various research centres. The residential block consists of three separate hostels for boys and girls each. The sports complex including the 'stadium' forms the fourth while the law school dining hall forms the fifth.

Miscellaneous structures include the commemorative 'Keerthi Stambh' and a copy of 'The Thinker' by Auguste Rodin. Construction is on to build a 800 seater centrally air-conditioned auditorium, while the Teachers Convention Centre for conducting various training and orientation programs for faculty, with a capacity of 30 rooms, has been completed.

Library
The Law Resource Center is the hub of all library activities and aims at fulfilling the research and academic objectives of the University. Its rich collection of primary and secondary legal resources is accessible to all the users in the campus.

The web (OPAC) Online Public Access Catalogue is accessible from any terminal in and out of the campus. It is designed to provide online information on availability of titles, and to allow the patrons to request for items that are on loan, renewal of books, access to patron accounts and other information services.

Students can register themselves to become a member of the library and avail its services. Unlike the traditional OPACS which stimulate serendipity, each record is designed to provide extensive bibliographic information with hot links to table of contents pages, reviews, publishers' notes, and peer driven reviews and ratings.

The centre is also a depository of UN collections. A separate section houses all the proceedings of the significant organs of the United Nations. The print collection is augmented by online access

Research
NALSAR has been heavily involved with research since its inception 8 years ago. NALSAR is currently working on a project on Criminal Justice funded by the Ford Foundation. NALSAR has already completed research in various areas of the law relating to the environment, child labour, access to justice, Intellectual Property etc sanctioned by the Government of India and Andhra Pradesh as well as suo moto, independent research projects.

NALSAR's faculty is internationally known for their teaching and research skills and many have been involved with various programs of international organisations like United Nations, European Commission, World Bank, Ford Foundation etc. The disciplines like Disability Jurisprudence, Intellectual Property Laws and Arbitration Laws in NALSAR have gained international reputation and the expertise of the concerned faculty in these fields are being relied upon by various national and foreign agencies

NALSAR currently houses three exclusive research centres

1. M.K. Nambiyar SAARC Law Research Centre
2. Dr. N.C. Banerjee Centre for Intellectual Property Law Studies
3. Dr. S.P. Chatterjee Centre for Environmental Law Studies

As a part of a memorandum of understanding entered between the NALSAR and Microsoft India in September 2005, it is proposed to create the Microsoft Intellectual Property Scholarship programme, where three students, focussing on fundamental research in Intellectual Property, would be awarded scholarships. NALSAR is one of the very few Universities in the world, where Microsoft has established such a scholarship program

Extra-Curricular Activities

NALSAR promotes a healthy and vibrant extra-curricular atmosphere. The SBC regularly conducts various quizzes, writing competitions, debates and other cultural activities. Students also conduct various cultural festivals throughout the year.

The University has excelled in mooting as well debating at the national level by being a consistent top-performer and winner.

Early in 2007, the young team of Third Year students were placed among the top 8 teams in the world, at the prestigious Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. The team also performed exceedingly well in the terms of the written memorial ranking (Ranked 3rd in the world). In addition to this, one oralist from the team, Mr. Vinay Kesari was adjudged the best speaker from a country other than United States and has been awarded a summer scholarship to Georgetown University.

This has followed the blistering start in 2006 with a previous team having got top honours at the national round of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition and the ILS Surana Moot. Most recently, NALSAR made it to the top 12 teams and competed in the International Finals of the 11th Annual Stetson Environmental Moot Court Competition held at Stetson University College of Law, Florida in NOvember 2006.

In February 2006, NALSAR was also placed second at the DM Harish Moot Court Competition and bagged the 'best-speaker' and 'second best speaker' prizes. The college also won India's oldest and most prestigious Parliamentary Debate at St. Stephens College, Delhi in December 2005. NALSAR was ranked amongst the top four in the world at the international rounds of the Philip C. Jessup Moot Court Competition 2006 at Washington D.C.[1] Nalsar has already made its impact felt in the debating circuit in 2007 with victories at the prestigious Annual Parliamentary Debate held at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in January (part of Saarang 2007)and at the Debate conducted by International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad in February.

Two cultural festivals are organised in a year. The intra-college festival known as Carpe Diem has a host of competitions spread over a three-day period and is generally held in the month of March. The immensely successful inter-collegiate cultural festival 'The Summons' attracts participants from all parts of the country to take part in a literary-cultural-sport extravanganza. This is generally held in the month of September.

Recent Academic Achievements: 2006-2007

The Rhodes Scholarship

Raghavendra P. Shankar, who has just completed his B.A.,LL.B(Hons.) Programme is one of the proud recipients from India of the Rhodes Scholarship, 2007. He is the second student, after Ms. Aarthi Anand to achieve this distinction from NALSAR within its short period of existence. He will be pursuing his higher studies at Oxford with a specialization in International Law.

The Microsoft Scholarship

Amidst representatives of ten top National Law Universities and Colleges and Universities, Microsoft extended the IP Scholarship Programme Scholarship to Ms Maheswari S, Ms Nandini R and Mr. Santhosh Krishnan, final year students of B.A.,LL.B(Hons.).

Criticism

NALSAR has often been blamed for falling into the same trap that it sought to remedy in its establishment. The hope in creating NALSAR was to encourage students to join the bar instead of more lucrative corporate jobs; a trend encountered in most law schools. However, owing to high fees and attractive job offers, few choose to join the Bar. Students, however, regularly pursue higher studies abroad and participate in welfare initiatives.

However, it must also be pointed out that most NALSAR students, a large number whom do not have a "legal background", believe that the Bar in India is a cesspool of corruption and nepotism, where legal argument and professional behaviour counts for less than favouritism and mindless politicking. Whatever illusions students have about the Bar are usually dispelled by their first visit to a Trial Courts. On the contrary, the corporate world (which includes law firms and MNCs) is seen to be meritocratic and open to entrants without connections. Even academia and civil society groups attract more law school students than the Bar and the Judiciary. Without addressing the rot that has set into legal profession in India, eminent jurists and members of the judiciary have been quick and harsh to blame law students, law schools, and even MNCs for the above situation.See here

While NALSAR has been exceedingly successful in terms of corporate recruitments, it has fallen well short of its avowed goals. Not surprisingly for an elite Indian institution, it remains an academic cipher. In spite of its trailblazing success in some of the most lucrative job markets in the world, faculty standards continue to be abysmal. While some of the blame must be shouldered by an allegedly nepotistic and corrupt administration which, most recently, stands accused in some circles of subverting the admissions process on a grand scale, the endemic failure of the Indian higher education system as a whole makes the situation appear mundane and, in fact, acceptable.

3-5-874/18, Adjacent to Apollo Hospital,
Hyderguda,
Hyderabad - 500029

Placements

The graduating students enjoyed an outstanding placement record. International and National Law Firms, Corporates, PSUs and Government Agencies came for Campus recruitments with highly attractive pay packages.

Though the pay packages offered by domestic law firms range from Rs. 7 lakhs to Rs. 15.5 lakhs p.a. and by foreign law firms Rs. 32 lakhs p.a. Job placement for all graduates who opted for it have been 100% yet 20 students took up litigation as a career which is highest number in the University‟s history. One of the NALSAR Alumnus topped the Haryana Judicial Services Examination and another got second position in the Delhi Judicial Services Examination.

NALSAR believes that learning is not only done in classroom alone but also at place of work. To give practical insight, the University has systematic student run winter and summer internship programmes.