Innovative Methods of Teaching and Learning in Law

Legal education has undergone a great transformation over the years. Especially after the emergence of the National Law Schools, Legal education has acquired a place of prestige. There was a time when Legal education was not a very much preferred destination as best of students preferred to join medical, engineering, and management education etc. The first law school known as National Law School of India University Bangalore (NLSIU) was established in 1986. For 10 long years, no other Law School was established but it was found that a new kind of experimentation was done at NLSIU. The most important innovation in teaching was blending teaching with research as a lot of importance was given to research project writing. So, a unique culture of nurturing research at the initial level in the five-year law program was promoted. The results were phenomenal and very encouraging as the graduates were exceptionally skilled and good at research, with the result that many students were offered prestigious assignments in all fields of the legal profession. Many of the students also joined academia and prestigious law firms in countries like the US and UK. After the success of the NLSIU Bangalore experiment, in a meeting of law ministers of India chaired by the then law minister Dr HR Bhardwaj, a Resolution was passed that since the Bangalore experiment in Legal education is a great success such Law schools should be established in every State. With the result that in the year 1998, NALSAR Hyderabad and NLIU Bhopal were established. Today there are more than 25 Law schools along with some State Law universities are established in various parts of the country.