Seven ways in which The NorthCap University’s Law School hones skills of budding lawyers

School of Law, The NorthCap University has a vibrant culture wherein the students are taught law through clinical methodology. Apart from conducting regular field visits, moot courts and guest lectures, one of the key feature of School of Law is functioning of Legal Aid Society.  It is believed that law students cannot be truly made advocates if they are lectured in towers away from social realities and the actual needs of the society. Instead they have to be demonstrated the needs and requirements of society from legal point of view. With this aim in mind, the culture of law school at The NorthCap University has developed significantly towards their orientation for socio-legal welfare of the needy. Thus, Legal Aid Society is designed with the concept of social engineering and learning by doing as its root. The students through the activities of legal aid learn a variety of skills which they do not inculcate otherwise through curriculum. There is always an extra advantage for students being acknowledged as “Advocates” by their community and neighborhood even before they graduate as Lawyers.

The society through Clinical Legal Education aims to achieve ‘Learning by Doing’ wherein student members participate and contribute to the well-being of the neighboring communities. There are two types of activities: regular activities and special camps. The annual camps are known as special camps, are held in a rural village or among marginalised section of the society.

Students are involved in following activities:

• Legal awareness programmes: The society organises literacy seminars, workshops and programs wherein resource persons (Senior Lawyers, Government Officers, Experts, etc.) are invited to discuss various issues prevalent in our society. The society works in coordination with NGOs, community workers and participate in awareness campaigns for the welfare of the people. Students also visits schools, juvenile homes, district jail and slums to conduct legal awareness talks on topics such as Plea Bargaining, Drug Abuse Prevention, Rights of Prisoners and Fundamental Duties.
• Street play/Nukad natak: Street play is an interesting way of spreading  awareness, they perform in the local language in public places where there is considerable audience to aware them on important issues such as Save Girl Child, Right to Information, Female Feticide and Swacch Bharat.
• Legal advice: Society also bridges the gap between the needy and District Legal Services Authority by connecting the needy to panel lawyers.
• Para-legal services: Members of the society render legal aid services such as assisting in entitlement rights and after conducting awareness on government run schemes, people are also assisted in having an access to those schemes.
• Public interest litigation: Students are exposed to real problems faced by the community and society at large, which encourages them to conduct deeper research on those issues and approach High Court and Supreme Court, which adds to the experiential learning in law.
• Law reforms: Students are encouraged to undertake research projects on various legislations and record their findings in form of report to submit to concerned authorities.
• Right to Information: Students are encouraged to file RTI’s on different social issues and further research is conducted to understand the problems at the root level.

All these activities strive to make access to justice a reality for common man and at the same time quip students in a way that they are trained with skills required of a lawyer. Above everything, students feel content and happy in doing legal aid activity which is a great contribution by a law student. School of Law is proud to transform students as more socially relevant citizens.

About Author:

Shikha Dahiya is Assistant Professor at The NorthCap University. Ms. Shiksha Dahiya is an alumnus of Jesus and Mary College, Delhi University, graduated in Law from Campus Law Centre, Delhi University along with her Post Graduation in Public Relations from Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, New Delhi and completed her LLM from Manav Bharti University, Himachal Pradesh. She has been awarded full scholarship by UNESCO for Summer Academy on women’s empowerment at KOC University. She is actively involved in legal literacy in rural areas in her personal capacity. She has authored 7 research papers in National and International Journals in the past four years.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha