Studying law at The NorthCap University: Towards a sustainable career

Why Study Law?

The overwhelming presence of law and its application in every field of knowledge is what the contemporary world strongly reflects. Law influences everything that involves personal, social, economic and political affairs. With the advent of globalisation, the interactions among the various legal systems of the world have gone up significantly in the last few years. This has given rise to emerging areas in law demanding more expertise from a law professional than what was expected from a very traditional approach to study of law. Studying law gives you the freedom and space to develop your own interest in almost everything. From state relations in international law, to medicine in tort law, from personal relations in family law to regulating the impact of information technology in cyber law – the list goes on to justify the study of law as an excellent way to develop a wide range of skills and explore many aspects of human life. Law, therefore, appeals to those who want to sharpen their mind in abstract thinking as well as keen problem-solving abilities, cultivate advanced communication skills and the capacity for independent thinking. Such skills enable law learners to adapt themselves efficiently in diverse situations or career transitions.

The scenario of legal education is becoming more and more specialised as was envisioned by the well-wishers of the legal profession. Achieving sustainability requires a conscious community well equipped to deal with complex, interacting and ever-changing realities as well as uncertain futures. Enabling a sustainable career in legal education is the need of the hour, and the same must be duly addressed by every institute imparting legal education today.

Why Law at NCU?

Established in 2010, School of Law, The NorthCap University, Gurugram has been able to find a place among the premier institutions of legal education in Northern India. With an objective of providing students with ample scope of clinical legal education and assist them in facing the new challenges and dimensions of the legal profession, School of Law has shown all-round progress and proved its credentials to be a force to be reckoned with in the field of legal education in the country. It has consistently been featured in top five in Northern India by surveys conducted by GHRDC and Career360.

School of Law at NCU facilitates legal study as an intellectual discipline, which involves creating an analytical mind, a logical thought process and drafting skills. NCU grooms its young budding lawyers for a wide range of professions, including social science, business and commerce, civil services and international relations apart from hardcore legal professions. One of the advantages of studying law at NCU is acquiring breadth and depth of knowledge. In addition to hardcore law courses, students are required to undertake foundation courses ranging from economics to accounting, financial management to marketing management, study of society to that of psychology and so on.

While choosing courses and academic experiences, the students at law school are given the flexibility to opt for a broad and expanded range of programme elective and open elective courses, thereby giving them the opportunity to face the challenges of the contemporary world. At the same time, the open elective courses offered by other departments add to their scope to have a multidisciplinary approach to law. They may also specialise in a particular area of law, such as constitutional law, corporate law, intellectual property rights or international law.

The curriculum has been revised regularly to respond to the demand for new skills and challenges facing law and legal education in the emerging global scenario. There has always been an effort to strengthen the core curriculum to ensure a strong all-round education for the students. Besides, the curriculum has been rationalised in such a way that by the time the students reach the final year, they could complete most of the core law and non-law courses. This is to facilitate more flexibility in the final year for the students to undergo practical training and internships beyond their class hours.

Additionally, clinical legal education in law school provides a unique opportunity for the students to learn not only about the professional skills used by lawyers but also about many other aspects of the curriculum essential for preparation to think and act like a lawyer.

School of law has a great advantage of being located in a university along with the School of Engineering and Technology and School of Management. It is able to offer courses with an inter-disciplinary approach such as cyber law and cyber forensics, Science, Technology and law, disaster management, and IT for decision making.

NCU also facilitates its students to develop their ability to think and write, to use and understand technical vocabulary, to apply the law to resolve difficult problems, and to analyse and engage with a wide variety of legal arguments. While an understanding of the current legal rules and principles is crucial to the study of law, School of Law at NCU also motivates the students to think beyond the black letters of the rules by exposing them to novel factual situations, evaluating the current state of the law in any given context, going into the background of the rules, and considering whether the law is in any need of reform. The faculty of law has identified the ways in which a young learner of law can acquire and develop certain transferable skills and attributes such as intellectual, communication, organisational and interpersonal skills throughout their stay in law school. An inclination towards research, computer literacy and foreign language skills are also highly encouraged among the students right from day one in law school. These skills, as well as enhancing academic performance, can be used beyond university and are highly valued by employers.

USPs of the School of Law

Amid significant growth in legal education across India, the NCU Law School, as a stakeholder, has already established itself as one of the preferred destinations of learning law not only within Delhi/NCR, but also in the rest of the country. The diverse community of students at Law School representing different parts of the country signifies the same. In its last one decade of presence as one of the premier law schools, it has imbibed some of the best practices, which may be summarised below:

• Designing of Law School Curriculum to keep students industry ready: The entire course structure is in strict compliance with the requirement of Bar Council of India. The curriculum is regularly reviewed and updated to keep pace with the fast-changing technology and skills, ensuring international competitiveness.
• Inter-disciplinary approach in Law: The Integrated Programme provides the students with an exposure to a wide range of courses having a combination of law, management and technology, which enhances their employability skills in the present scenario.
• Choice Based Electives: School of Law offers choice-based electives in the law programme. The students can choose from among a wide range of subjects to suit their areas of interests.
• Opportunity to learn Foreign Languages: The students are given an opportunity to learn various foreign languages as a part of their curriculum. This increases a law graduate’s ability to widen his/ her horizon in the legal profession at a global level.
• Teaching pedagogy: Use of audio-visual resources for classroom teaching, interactive sessions with experts, debates on current affairs, industrial visits and moot courts are some of the compulsory components in all the law courses.
• Learning management system: NCU holds the platform of a learning management system whereby students are provided with resources and assignments in addition to classroom activities.
• Blended learning experience through exposure to online MOOC courses and other online forum etc.
• Faculty with academic excellence from reputed National Law Universities (NLUs) and Central Universities.
• Regular Industry interactions and association with experts
• A vibrant Mooting Culture: Apart from maintaining a strong internal mooting structure, the Moot Court Society at NCU hosting annually, the NCU Law School National Moot Court Competition. Such activities culminate in honing the advocacy skills of young learners.
• Hands-on training on Client Consultation: Law School has imbibed an enriched culture of holding national client consultation competitions annually.
• Communication and Leadership Skills: In association with a dedicated Centre for Language Learning, the law students get a unique exposure to hone their communication and leadership skills through series of training programmes and workshops apart from courses on Effective Communication.
• Pro-Active Legal aid services in association with District Legal Services Authority
• Structured Internship Programme & Placement– NCU Facilitates internship right from working in the grass-root level through NGOs to law Firms, Courts and Tribunals. With a dedicated school of professional attachment in place, the students have made their presence in reputed law firms, public sector undertakings, litigation and international organisations  apart from being selected in reputed academic institutions across the world for pursuing higher studies.
• Strong Alumni connect. Having the advantage of a strong alumni network, the law students get the opportunity to learn and experience the challenges of contemporary legal professions through alumni
• Personalised Grooming with Mentor and Mentee Schemes
• Regular student counselling and career guidance
• Fee concessions, scholarships and other recognitions - NCU offers Fee-Concession and Scholarships to all meritorious students every year as well as students on Merit-cum-Means basis.
• Sophisticated infrastructure facilities – with well-equipped classrooms, sports and other infrastructural resources for co-curricular and extra-curricular activities.
• Integrating Co-curricular and extra-curricular activities for the overall growth of a student.

About the author

Dr Archana Sharma is an Associate Professor at The NorthCap University. She has worked as a Law Researcher at People’s Watch before joining academics. Dr Sarma completed her doctoral research in the area of computer forensics and the law from National Law University Delhi (NLUD), New Delhi. She has been teaching at The NorthCap University, since 2011.

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