The National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) was established in 1998 by a statute of the State of Andhra Pradesh. Since its inception, the University has been home to vital conversations on law and justice. These conversations have acknowledged that questions of justice arise in all legal pursuits whether in the world of courts, corporations, education or administration. Using law as an instrument of social change the University has supported crusades for land rights, disability empowerment and against moral policing and hate speech. NALSAR is committed to the creation of an ethical legal culture, which protects and promotes the rule of law. The social justice agenda is no laughing matter but the University believes that the cause of building a rule of law society is a continuous enterprise, which is sustainable if it is undertaken with optimism and good cheer.
Academic ProgrammesÂ
The University has the mandate of providing comprehensive legal education at all levels and award degrees or diplomas to successful candidates. The undergraduate, post graduate and doctoral programs have been designed to enable students, depending on their inclination, to either opt for niche specializations or inter-disciplinary breadth. This is exemplified by the wide range of electives offered in the under-graduate program; the opportunity to obtain a general or specialized LLM degree; a law informed management course and a doctoral program which can be pursued by persons from any discipline provided the topic of research has a legal interface. In addition to these degrees, the University offers a range of highly specialized diploma courses.
B.A. LL.B. (Honours) Program
Till May 2012, our BA LLB (Honours) program was driven by mandatory courses, what with 47 of the 50 courses being mandatory. Upon re-evaluating the undergraduate course it was found that the one size fits all approach did not bring out the best in all students as many of the mandatory course did not interest them. Consequently, from June 2012 NALSAR moved to a credit based elective system, which requires students to earn 200 credits over a period of five years to earn the degree.
Admission to the 5-Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) Degree Programme is made strictly on merit, based on a Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) at different centres across the country. To be eligible for admission, a candidate should have passed the 10 + 2 or equivalent examination with not less than 45% marks in the aggregate (40% in case of reserved categories, i.e., S.C. / S.T./Persons with disability).
Master of Laws (LL.M.) program
Till 2012, Master of Laws program at NALSAR offered a range of specializations on strictly segregated basis. Students were required to opt for their specialized stream at the start of the course and then appeared for the various papers listed in the specialization. In 2012 it was decided to loosen the stranglehold of specialization by permitting students to opt for an optional paper from a stream different than their specialization.
In 2013, the one year LLM was introduced. Specializations were offered in a range of streams, however in a departure from the earlier system, it was decided that students would reach and not opt for a specialization. Thus if a student opted for four or more papers in a particular stream, then the student would be awarded a LLM degree in that specialization. However if that does not happen the student would be awarded a general LLM. A student not opting to go for any particular specialization would be awarded a general LL.M. by the end of the course. A large number of students in the current batch have opted for the general LLM.
Placements
At NALSAR we recognise the importance of internships and placements in shaping the careers of our students. We have partnered with both leading as well as upcoming organisations where legal skills developed in law school can be tested and honed by our students. In the previous years, top tier law firms and niche firms—both Indian and International—corporate houses, Public Sector Undertakings, regulatory bodies have regularly recruited from NALSAR. Our vision is not only about continuing and strengthening the relationship with our existing recruiters whilst striving to expand our recruitment base by also forging conversations with organisations and people who have not recruited before. In doing so, our aim is to cater to the diverse interests of our students by reaching out to not merely corporate entities and law firms but also to legal practitioners, law and policy research organisations and also various fellowships.
Library
The NALSAR Law Library is one of the largest law libraries in the country, not just in terms of the number of titles, but in terms of capacity as well. The library is a host to more than 30,000 titles covering various fields of study ranging from law to social sciences. Subscriptions have been made to more than 100 newspapers, magazines and journals.
The NALSAR Library is now part of the DELNET Network of Libraries. DELNET has been established with the prime objective of promoting resource sharing among the libraries through the development of a network of libraries. It aims to collect, store, and disseminate information besides offering computerised services to users, to coordinate efforts for suitable collection development and also to reduce unnecessary duplication wherever possible.
The eLibrary website has been updated to serve the students and faculty with easier ways to sort through the resources available. Sorting through the eDatabases has been made easier as sub-headings categorising the resources has been made, and the table of contents generation engine has been upgraded to ensure better performance.
Contact
NALSAR University of Law
Post Box No.1,
Justice City, Shameerpet, Medchal District,
Hyderabad – 500078, Telangana.
Fax: +91 40 23498385/8386
E-mail: admissions@nalsar.ac.in
