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A Brief History

The NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY came into existence through a Notification under the NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY Act (Karnataka Act 22 of 1986). It signified the culmination of efforts by the Judiciary, the Bar Council of India, the Karnataka Bar Council, the Bangalore University and the Government of Karnataka to reform legal education and to establish a centre of excellence for legal education and research in India.

Thanks to the generosity of the Government of Karnataka and the Bangalore University, the Law School has a campus of its own, located in Nagarbhavi, about 10 kms from the City railway station and standing over twenty-three acres beside the Institute of Social and Economic Change. Since 1991, it is a fully residential university on one campus with three Halls of Residence for men, three Halls of Residence for women, two Hostels for post-graduate women students, three blocks for Faculty Quarters and two blocks for non-teaching staff Quarters besides the Academic  Block. The munificence of Mrs. Sudha Narayanamurthy of INFOSYS has enabled the Law School to have the Shri Melgiri Narayan Rao Memorial Library, named after her father, for providing up-to-date library facilities. The library was inaugurated by Mr. Justice R.C. Lahoti, the then Chief Justice of India, on 17th August, 2005.

The Chief Justice of India is the Chancellor of the University. The Chairman, Bar Council of India, is the Chairman of the General Council. These connections lend a stature and prestige to the School which is unparalleled in the history of legal education in India. The Karnataka Act confers complete administrative and academic autonomy which facilitates innovation and experimentation in the pursuit of excellence in legal education.

The first batch of students was selected through a National Entrance Test, and regular academic activities began on 1st July, 1988. It was a significant achievement that students from this batch won the Bar Council of India National Moot Court Competition in their very first year of legal education. Ever since, admissions to the Law School has been on the basis of performance at a National Entrance Test which has now, since 2008, graduated to a National Level Common Admission Test known as the Common Law Entrance Test (CLAT) and it operates to select candidates for all the National Law Schools in the country. Other law-teaching institutions are permitted to join in this method of selection of their candidates for admission to their law courses.

Eighteen batches have completed their studies here. Many students have pursued further studies in their chosen areas of Law in other prestigious Universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Michigan, York and other Universities abroad on prestigious scholarships like Rhodes and INLAKS. Many have joined practice of the law in India at various levels from trial courts to the High Courts and the Supreme Court; some have set up independent law practices alone or conjointly with other alumni of the Law School; many have joined corporate law firms both in India and abroad; some have joined work with national and international NGOs; some with UN organisations, the World Bank and the IMF; some have

joined the academic profession, teaching in this University, the NALSAR, Hyderabad, the NUJS, Kolkata, Cambridge, the LSE, East Anglia, the National University of Singapore, etc.; some have joined the Judiciary, and a few have joined the Civil Services.

The Law School has undertaken many research projects funded by the UGC, the Government of India, the Government of Karnataka, the Department of Women and Child Development, the UN agencies, the World Bank, HIVOS etc. These have served to strengthen research and teaching at the Law School.

CONTACT
POSTAL ADDRESS
National Law School of India University 
P.O. Bag 7201, Nagarbhavi,
Bangalore - 560 072
Karnnataka, India

Phone: UNIVERSITY EPABX 
+91 80 2321 3160
+91 80 2316 0532
+91 80 2316 0533
+91 80 2316 0535 

Fax
+91 80 23160534

EMAIL
registrar@nls.ac.in