JGLS Sonepat has convinced 10 senior advocates to each teach 10 separate eight-week online credit courses about various facets of litigation for up to 200 final year law students, as it has scheduled to start its first years from 1 September (see below).
The 10 eight-week courses, each of which is taught by a separate senior counsel via online webinars to class sizes of up to 20 students each, will carry one credit.
According to JGLS’ press release from last week, the 10 senior counsel who will teach the courses (along with their qualifications) are:
- Gourab Banerji, M.A. (Cambridge), Barrister at Law; Course: Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in India
- Sidharth Luthra, LL.B. (Delhi); MPhil. (Cambridge); Course: Policing to Prison—And the Gaps Within
- Gaurav Pachnanda, BCL (Oxford); LL.B. (Jammu); Course: Law and Practice of Commercial Litigation and Arbitration in India
- Mohan Parasaran, LL.B. (Delhi); LL.M. (Cambridge); Course: Equality - A Basic Feature Permeating throughout the Constitution
- Sajan Poovayya, B.A., LL.B. (NLSIU); LL.M. (LSE); Course: IT Law and Data Protection
- Ritin Rai, LL.B. (Delhi), BCL (Oxford); LL.M. (Harvard); Course: Commercial Dispute Practice in Specialized Tribunals: IBC—A Case Study
- Dr. Surat Singh, LL.B. & LL.M. (Delhi), BCL (Oxford), SJD (Harvard); Course: Lawyering in the Supreme Court
- Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, M.A., Ph.D. (Cambridge), PIL (Harvard); Course: Constitutional Jurisprudence in Supreme Court Litigation
- Parag Tripathi, LL.B. (Delhi); LL.M. (Harvard) with non-senior counsel advocate Neelima Tripathi; Course: Indian Supreme Court as a Constitutional Court: Law and Practice
- R. Venkataramani; Course: Supreme Court and Practice: Constitutional, Appellate & Other Jurisdictions
JGLS dean Prof Raj Kumar said that all of the seniors were undertaking this commitment without any remuneration: “It’s honorary… it’s their own commitment to the legal profession that they’re ready to do this [and a] commitment to legal education.”
It was also “an opportunity for them to be connected to academia” and young people about to enter the profession, he added.
Classes would be taught on every Saturdays for two hours from 5 September for eight weeks, with final year students being to apply via a competitive “bidding” process to get admission to one of the senior counsels’ courses, explained Kumar.
Out of those 10, while many had lectured at JGLS in the past, only one pairing of Parag and Neelima Tripathi had taught a full course at the university before, according to Kumar.
Some of the counsel even wanted to teach in person in Sonepat, said Kumar, though it was a prerequisite (and a sign of the times) that all courses would be held online.
Diversifying aspirations (for sound reasons)
The idea behind this course in particular was to tackle “one of the most neglected aspects of Indian legal education for last three decades”, said Kumar.
“It is a practitioner-oriented course. The vision of this entire […] programme is to enable the next generation of litigating lawyers and judges,” he said.
Traditionally, students (and universities’) near “single-minded focus” had been on joining a law firm where “there’s a steady high income immediately after they graduate”, explained Kumar. “There’s nothing wrong in that but we are diversifying the career aspirations of students.”
In part, diversifying the aspirations beyond corporate would also likely to also be a function of JGLS producing more than 600 law graduates from its undergraduate law degree courses alone every year.
Even in non-Covid years there may barely be that many fresher jobs available at all corporate Indian law firms, and that is before accounting for stiff competition for those few that are available from national and all the other law schools.
Therefore, finding homes for more of them in the courts is an aim that is hard to argue with.
Counsel’s academic workload
“I want to pay a lot of tribute to these people giving away time to an activity that is not remunerated or might have no direct relevance to their career,” said Kumar about the counsels who undertook the teaching programmes.
But while JGLS would be providing each of them with a teaching assistant and would handle all “administrative elements” for them (primarily the day-to-day communication with students, which can take up a lot of teacher time), counsel would also subject to quality control.
“They’ve all been very responsible about it,” said Kumar about whether their course proposals had been audited. “They’ve given course abstract, course outline, they’ll be preparing a course manual.”
Fortunate timetables
JGLS is starting its existing batches, including the final year batch eligible for the programme from 17 August, as many other law schools are.
JGLS was lucky / prescient enough to get its LSAT-India admissions test out of the way in early July via home-proctoring. So too has the Symbiosis Law Schools via their home-proctored SLAT exam, though the spectre of cheating certainly reared its head, Symbi’s proctoring artificial intelligence systems is understood to currently be in the process of investigating and disqualifying candidates.
In part those two were helped by having smaller numbers (just over 5,500 in LSAT’s case and 22,000 in the SLAT), resulting in less competitive pressure and also less cheating/gaming potential due to being early out of the gate.
By comparison, the national law universities’ (NLUs) Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) and All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) have not been so lucky, and have the added pressure in the former case of hosting a 77,000+ candidate national exam to taxpayer-funded institutions.
As such, JGLS is able to push ahead with first term for freshers of its five-year law degree from 1 September.
Complex fees calculus
Right now, the university had not yet decided whether those classes will be held offline or online. “We are following MHA restrictions and guidelines on how classes should happen,” said Kumar.
If classes would be held online, said Kumar, “we are not charging them food, accommodation and laundry fee” and not raising invoices for the periods until students move back onto campus.
Tuition fees would be charged as they were usually, he said.
Kumar noted that conceding fees was a “very difficult” issue for universities, since they all would still be incurring significant costs, such as salaries, electricity or service contracts, even if students were not physically on campus.
We understand from VC sources at NLUs that this has also been a topic of contention and hot debate at the CLAT consortium; so far, the VCs have not been able to agree on a uniform solution that could work across the board.
Due disclosure: JGLS is an advertiser on Legally India.
Comments
Ask whether your admin tried to get in touch with them and convince them to take lectures.
As far as I'm aware, JGLS scholarships are awarded based on the LSAT exam and so to assume it's just being the best in one batch is a very narrow way to look at it.
Interestingly, no ridiculous claim about JGLS was made above. The most ridiculous claim is assuming all the students in JGU are dunces who paid their way to the college, which was being discredited successfully.
As for all JGLS claims, actually, most of those are about how JGLS is the best in everything, often from people who work/study there. An average NLSIU student is certainly known to be better than an average JGLS student. And if JGLS is really providing the best of everything to its students, and then they are still behind, then the logical deduction is that average student quality is either bad, or most of JGLS claims about providing exceptional faculty services, research environment, excellent infra, foreign collaborations and luxurious residence etc. are hot air. You take your pick.
JGLS understands that they need to be noticed, and so they are making an effort.
If NLS wants to stay in limelight, irrespective of its tall standing, it needs to make an effort too.
You are just another armed chair critic. Why don't you coordinate with NLS SBA and send Kian an email. If Kian chooses to ignore that and still publish laurels of JGLS then it would be unfair.
Right now you are just being an entitled brat. If you want things done, get them done, instead of cribbing in the comments.
See here: https://www.nalsar.ac.in/pdf/Self%20Study%20Report.pdf
[...] Why go there when you can fill your quota from NLU?
Please tell very confused.
Jindal BA/BBALLB class has approx 20 percent students who are selected in one NLU or other.
Jindal receives requests/emails from existing NLU students even those in top 5 who seek lateral admission in 2nd or 3rd year of BALLB after spending a year or two in an NLU.
Jindal is in its own league and it doesn't need any comparison with any NLU. Better compare it with younger law schools of Singapore, Hong Kong, China and other parts of the world.
Till then kindly accept that JINDAL has questionable quality of students.
In any case, I am not from Jiggles and I do not personally know her. But I think that your argument that sees a law school as simply a means to some job, etc. is not fair. There’s a lot more at stake from having a meaningful undergraduate education.
Maybe some people prefer more comfort and luxury and if they have money, then they’re free to do as they please. Also, it’s a lot easier to study when the environment around you is comfortable and taken care off.
As regards your argument on life choices, it isn't as if NLU kids are doing anything drastically different or superior to those from non-NLUs or private law schools (except perhaps foreign law firms - which many of them eventually quit to return to India). In foreign universities and even in UPSC, there are plenty of non-NLU law graduates at top positions.
If your only line of argument is that NLUs are cheaper (which they once were but currently aren't) than private law schools and the students made a mistake in preferring the latter, then the response to that is that not everyone makes it into a top NLU of their choice. I am from a top NLU myself, and I can easily admit that on a bad day in the entrance exam, my current situation could be drastically different and I don't take this for granted despite believing that I truly deserved my seat in my Uni.
I personally think that 5 years is a very long investment in terms of time and energy and if I have the money, I would choose a comfortable university where all the amenities are easily provided rather than one where accessibility might be difficult or where there are infrastructural or management deficits (some of the top NLUs like NUJS have these problems). Of course, the merit aspect of LSAT is questionable but then again, the students who do well at JGLS do so out of their own motivation and hard work and that's the same even in any top NLU.
1. The broad area can be specified instead of the course title (e.g. "Tax Law", instead of "Telecom Industry Taxation").
2. Instead of the name of the faculty, the broad bio can be shared (e.g. "a senior partner/in-house lawyer", or "a young alum teaching at another university").
If Kian is willing to accept this compromise, he can indicate this here. I am afraid we cannot go further than this as we cannot share trade secrets.
[img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c3/35/a0/c335a03bdb19376c1df3d2a0c4b61f78.jpg[/img]
1. Faculty quality and size: 330+ faculty members of JGLS vs. 30-50 faculty member in any NLU is no match. Publications, research output will vary substantially.
2. Student numbers and quality: JGLS has 3000 full-time law students. A typical NLU has 500-1000. Top 20% of JGLS are all those people who drop one or other NLU option to join JGLS and almost entire class comes from top schools of the country like Vasant Valley, Sanskriti, DPS RK Puram, Dhirubhai Ambani , Mayo College, Mallya Aditi, Bangalore International, etc.
3. Jindal is a multidisciplinary University with strong schools of international relations, public policy, business, liberal arts, journalism etc. It's a comprehensive social science university giving option to its student to cross register in other schools. That's impossible in any NLU which is mostly a standalone law faculty.
4. International collaborations: Jindal sends over 200 students to top Foreign Universities and law schools like Cornell, Oxford and Harvard for Semester abroad, Summer/winter school etc. It has Collaborations with over 250 foreign universities.
5. Internships and Placements: Every top law firm in India recruit Jindal graduates every year. Check CAM or Khaitan offices in Mumbai or any top law firm. Students intern in law firms in China, Australia, UAE, Singapore and even with USA Supreme Court.
6. Over 50 research centers function in JGU campus, half of them in law school. Every major area of law, there are committed researchers and professors.
Finally, NLUs and Jindal are two different kind of institutions. Both serving their purpose. Both are great in their own ways. No need to troll or abuse Universities and its people uselessly on these forums.
1. The faculty number at JGU is highest compared to any NLU. But the proportion of good faculty v. average or sub standard people isn't much different. Chiefly because apart from their marquee hires, at least JGLS if not JGU has little quality control in place when it comes to faculty intake. All that they insist on is a foreign LLM and there are plenty of people around with such a degree who have got little aptitude for teaching or research. This is not to say that there aren't excellent people working there, because there surely are.
2. The student number is also highest, but saying that it's a strength of a university isn't a very strong argument. The 20% claim is also not realistic at all. At least the number of students who would have left the first 7-8 NLUs and opted for JGLS instead is still pretty low. That number might or might not increase in the days to come as JGLS grows further and given how many NLUs are stagnating. However, it has not yet happened. There are only 5000 plus students sitting for LSAT as opposed to 60000 plus for CLAT. With such a disproportionate talent pool, the results can't be comparable ever.
3. The interdisciplinary part is true, but claiming that other wings of JGU are as well known or renowned is simply not true. It is also rather dubious whether in reality substantial number of law students from JGLS do regularly get cross registered keeping in consideration the scheduling conflicts etc. At least little visible improvement is there from that yet. On theory, it sounds good. Might even happen over the next decade.
4. International collaborations are indeed one claim that is solid. JGLS is way ahead than probably all the NLUs combined. Having said that, all of these summer schools etc. cost huge money. For JGLS students, that might not be an issue, but for majority of NLU students, it would still be. I won't argue about the actual innate value that students get out of it beyond CV padding, it differs from person to person, and I know people from both the camps.
5. This is a straightforward misrepresentation. JGLS students in terms internships and placements, be it law firms or otherwise, come nowhere near the top 7-8 NLUs. I won't say they get bad placements, especially considering their huge number, but there is no real comparison yet. Till the point they get a solid alumni base across organizations, that is unlikely to change. The hunger also makes a difference. That also is unlikely to change given the highly expensive nature of JGLS.
6. Sadly, JGLS has not produced quality research commensurate to the claims either you or they make. Especially given their huge resources and incentives and numbers in place. Admin can't be at fault though there, they provide as many opportunities as possible. However, unless your entry level filter is strong, you won't get enough good people for research. I know people who have been teaching there for a decade, and still mark Bar and Bench columns as part of their 'notable' publications. Same problem ails the NLUs too though. Apart from IIT KGP, there is no law school in India offering undergrad education that focuses on faculty research and publications full time. NLUD has got some good people, but again, the number is nowhere near adequate and certainly less than what outsiders believe.
I agree with your final statement though. They are very different institutions. The issue is that JGLS people actively try to berate NLUs and their practices while at the same time extolling their virtues (at times deliberate misrepresentation like being the top Indian law school in terms of placement fiasco), even if most of their own big names have got NLU backgrounds. They do this of course to poach good students and faculty, but it is nonetheless a practice that often seems crass, such as their attack on CLAT. I'm not referring to JGLS students or anon trolls, but their paid officials. That's just in plain bad taste.
1. You say Jindal faculty has not published enough. Show me one law school in India where Faculty publishes over 850 journal articles, book chapters and mostly in international journals. And note, this doesn't include Bar and Bench columns. That's not included in faculty publications even. Among all Indian law schools, Jindal is not just having largest number of publications but also in world's best journals including Oxford and Cambridge University Press and Springer etc. The journal Jindal Global Law Review or JGLR is highest ranked academic journal of any law school from India.
2. Re internships and placements, JGLS students are always in top 5 or top 4 law schools. Check Legally India story of 2014 which was first 5 year batch of JGLS. It was ranked 5th among all law colleges: https://www.legallyindia.com/lawschools/jgls-recruitment-2014-20141219-5443
3. I agree that selection ratio is better at NLUs due to high number of CLAT takers. But in Jindal you get 10 application for one seat in 5 year law and generally 60 percent of applicants don't get any admission offer. In 2019, over 250 students admitted in BALLB and BBALLB courses were above 90 percentile in LSAT. I think this is great.
Let's agree to disagree if you think Jindal is not as good as top 5 NLUs. But I have no doubt it's education and exposure are much superior than more than half of the NLUs and almost all private law schools of India. Thanks.
And this is just one eg - their credit course cell has really been doing well and has been getting some great people
Their students are currently being taught a topic in intl law from top practitioners in Geneva
And top law firm partners have also taken several courses there recently
These are just a FEW egs
Time to give credit where it’s due...........
1. Full list of faculty with up to date qualifications, bios and publications.
2. Full list of visiting lecturers with up to date bios.
3. Full list of electives taught by the visiting lecturers.
4. Faculty fellowships and awards.
5. Research reports and consultancy assignments by the faculty.
[b]"credit course" nlsiu linkedin[/b]
Many Linkedin profiles of NLSIU students will come up listing the credit courses they took and faculty names. Some examples I found:
1. Introduction to Sports Law in India
Credit course by Nandan Kamath (Founder and Principal Lawyer) - LawNK
2. Information Technology Act, 2000 and Related Laws
Credit course by Arun Prabhu (Partner) - Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
3. Corporate Governance by Professor V. Umakanth (National University of Singapore)
4. Corporate Transactions, by V. Umakanth (National University of Singapore) and Karan Singh (Founding Partner, Trilegal)
5. Data Privacy and Protection, by Malavika Jayaram (Fellow, Berkman Centre for Internet and Society, Harvard University)
6. Single Credit Course :Law and Popular Culture, by Lawrence Liang
7. Principles of legal drafting, by CK Nandakumar
8. Intellectual Property and the Luxury Goods Industry by Mr. Arpan Banerjee and Mr. Bharat Dube
9. Patents and Technology Standards Dr. S.K. Murthy, Patent Counsel for Intel India
10. “Philosophical Foundations of Criminal Law” offered by Prof. François Tanguay-Renaud of Osgoode Hall Law School
11. “Designing an Enduring Constitution” offered by Ms. Menaka Guruswamy Advocate, Supreme Court of India,
12. "From Discovery to Oil and Gas laws" organised by Total Professeurs Associes Michel Datcharry and Prof. Ariel Kaufman of Total University, France
13. "Special Business Contracts". organized by Allen & Overy, LLP
If this is a sample, then other NLUs also offer similar courses with similar faculty. Nothing special about NLSIU.
http://sja.nujs.edu/newsroom/2019/08/15/nujs-announces-a-credit-course-by-justice-retd-ruma-pal,-justice-retd-jasti-chelameswar-and-dr-arghya-sengupta
https://sja.nujs.edu/newsroom/2019/12/17/nujs-announces-credit-course-on-the-practice-and-procedure-of-international-commercial-arbitration
https://www.facebook.com/creditcoursecell/posts/532349990478950?__tn__=K-R
THE MUST READ JINDAL STORY:
https://jgu.edu.in/jglsbrochure/
Jindal has actually been ranked among the top 101-150 in the world among the 15000 plus law schools.
I don’t work at Jindal and never been there. But I can’t believe that the entire world is lying. Law students need to learn to understand facts and most importantly learn to separate it from fiction. The story of Jindal which is barely a decade old is indeed a phenomenal pride for the world of higher education and legal education. It has to become global case studies in successful institution-building!
Evidence:
https://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/spotlights/Jindal-Global-Law-School-Signs-Cooperation-Agreement-and-MOU.cfm
https://www.google.com/amp/s/wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/pti-stories/jgu-partners-with-us-ivy-league-university-117121000470_1.html
https://www.google.com/amp/s/indianexpress.com/article/india/education-news/indias-law-school-inks-deal-with-cornell-law-school/lite/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thehindu.com/education/colleges/harvard-signs-mou-with-jgu/article24489075.ece/amp/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indiatoday.in/amp/pti-feed/story/harvard-signs-mou-with-jindal-university-1290375-2018-07-19
https://www.financialexpress.com/archive/oxford-university-o-p-jindal-university-sign-mou-for-higher-studies/1207655/
http://www.law.umich.edu/Document%20Library/M_JU_Release.pdf
https://www.google.com/amp/s/wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/news-ians/how-jgu-law-professors-contributed-to-sc-s-377-ruling-118091200139_1.html
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thehindu.com/news/national/jindal-global-law-school-wins-prestigious-moot-court-competition/article5888993.ece/amp/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/pti-stories/5-jgls-students-selected-for-judicial-clerkship-at-supreme-court-of-hawaii-119031900601_1.html
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dnaindia.com/education/report-over-100-jgls-students-recruited-by-top-law-firms-corporates-2481814/amp
https://www.legallyindia.com/home/jindal-law-school-students-receive-global-legal-internships-sponsored-20170505-8495
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2019/may/16/offers-from-over-57-corporate-law-firms-jindal-global-law-school-breaks-new-ground-in-campus-placem-1977757.amp
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.hindustantimes.com/education/qs-ranks-jindal-global-law-school-as-india-s-no-1-law-school/story-tZZlatiCpDdkQp4vTMz3nK_amp.html
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ndtv.com/education/qs-world-university-subject-rankings-2020-jindal-global-law-school-national-law-school-of-india-univ-2189836/amp
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2020/mar/05/british-firm-qs-ranks-jindal-global-law-school-as-countrys-top-law-school--2112414.amp
https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.careers360.com/3-former-vcs-teach-law-at-op-jindal-global-university/amp
Please understand NLU trolls - your trolling of JGLS makes no difference neither to the institution nor the students. Students who spend upwards of 45 lakhs studying in JGLS would be least bothered about comments by trolls in LI.
- If you look at the examples given in comment #20, the courses are a mix of "hard law" practical courses and "soft law" theoretical courses (such as the ones taught by Lawrence Liang and the Osgoode Hall professors). In most NLUs, this balance is missing.
- There is a tendency in other NLUs to have only pure corporate law electives. However, the electives in the list have subjects like sports law, oil and gas law, IP law etc. Thus, students are being prepared for a diversity of roles in business law practice, going beyond just pure corporate law.
- The people teaching are a mix of Indian and foreign visitors.
Just found this. In Fall 2019, JGLS or its parent University offered 202 electives in total.
This is latest one. 289 electives offered in current semester starting August 2020. Majority is law school it seems.
David Ignantius seems to be right.
However, if the list is only of external people offering credit courses, then that's quite impressive. 200 credit courses over around 10 months in a year mean more than every day something would be going on.
I think this list of 289 electives are all offered by full-time permanent faculty of Jindal, may be except a few.
Name of these 10 electives of senior advocates are not added, at least I could not see.
Jindal is doing a good job in legal education much better than many NLUs where VCs fighting sexual harassment and corruption cases. Many NLUs have become examples of maladministration and victim of one man show. Many new NLU are unfit to be called a University running in rented space and 10-15 faculties.
I'm a parent who studied law 25 years back. I don't see any law school comparable to Jindal today except NLS, Nalsar and NLU Delhi.
Tuition Fee of Top Law schools in
US Dollars (Mostly Private)
UC-Davis 55000 (Public)
Michigan 50000
Chicago 48000
Harvard 49000
NYU 49000
Stanford 50000
UC-Berkeley 55000 (Public)
UPenn 50000
Yale 53000
Columbia 53000
Cornell 53000
JINDAL = US$ 7,600 (Private)
The problem is when people like you start claiming that everything that Jindal provides is world-class and second best to none. Obviously it begs the question that if you are providing that much extra, why aren't your students far ahead of the others? There is not a single metric where Jindal students are ahead of students from NLSIU, NALSAR, NUJS, NLUD etc.
A lot of stats cited on behalf of Jindal in these comments section is also very fudged. As someone said before, there's nothing uncommon in 200 electives being offered when you have 300 teachers offering it for 2400 students! It's a matter of scale. If NLUs start taking 10 times what they do right now, then they would also have take in more teachers and offer more electives. Currently what they are doing given the number of teachers and students are perfectly adequate at least for the NLUs that I mentioned. Jindal takes 800 students but they don't take the responsibility of those students after graduation, which is why not sufficient internships and jobs. Similarly, the claim about 800 plus quality publications from Jindal faculty every year is absolutely rubbish. Even Harvard doesn't publish 800 quality publications every year. Jindal's faculty quality is also very uneven, much like the NLUs. Some are good, some excellent, some average, some bad. Unlike the NLUs, chances of all students getting at least all the good faculty is also not there. Plenty of students don't get to learn from their marquee faculty at all. Their journal, Jindal Global Law Review, is not a bad one, but far from the best in the country as claimed above. Law reviews of NLSIU, NUJS, NALSAR are all considered of better quality by everyone other than those in the payroll of JGLS.
Having said that, Jindal does do a lot of good things, including the support provided to faculty in terms of research, actively looking out for good faculty to recruit, competitive payscale, several good workplace practices that I've heard. I would indeed give credit where it is do. There are a lot of things that NLUs can learn from Jindal. Yet, the model has its own flaws and isn't one that can be adopted wholesale in the country. And it gets irksome when people keep saying it's the best possible thing and make random claims. Because it is not. And the university should actually focus on improving its student quality and ensure how to properly filter its faculty intake at the lower level other than the big names.
"Jindal does a much better job to make education more accessible" - this is priceless! Kian, you should really start paying this guy for providing comic relief. But then again, your sponsors are paying him anyway!
https://www.barandbench.com/news/lawschools/nlu-delhi-professor-demoted-to-associate-professor-guilty-of-misconduct
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/nlud-prof-demoted-over-stalking/articleshow/77534674.cms
About courses, perhaps both law schools are at par with each other.
Facility-wise JGLS has an advantage but that doesnt necessarily makes its students better.