National Law University, Jodhpur (NLUJ) is a public law school and a National Law University established under the National Law University, Jodhpur, Act, 1999 enacted by the Rajasthan State Legislature. The university was established for the advancement of learning, teaching, research and diffusion of knowledge in the field of law. It is one of the autonomous law schools in India.

The university is recognised by the Bar Council of India, as well as the University Grants Commission under Section 12 (B) of the UGC Act, 1956, and is a member of the Association of Indian Universities.

History Vice-chancellors N.L. Mitra 2001-2004 A.K. Koul 2004-2008 N.N. Mathur 2008-2013 Poonam Pradhan Saxena 2013-2023 Harpreet Kaur 2023- The idea for the establishment of a National Law University in every state was recommended by Justice Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi in his 1994 committee report as a way to improve the standard and quality of legal education in India.

The recommendations were finally implemented and National Law University, Jodhpur was set up in November 1999 by the passing of the National Law University Act, 1999 by the State Legislature of Rajasthan under the leadership of N.L. Mitra the founding Vice-Chancellor.

Since the establishment, the university has seen four Vice-Chancellors, Dr. Harpreet Kaur, a professor and registrar of National Law University, Delhi being the latest, who took over charge from Dr. Poonam Pradhan Saxena in 2023 and has been the Vice-Chancellor ever since.

The first UG and PG batch of the university was admitted in 2001, with the Undergraduate batch passing out in 2006 and the first convocation of the university taking place in 2007, the same was attended by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat the then Vice-president of India and the then Governor of Rajasthan and former President of India Pratibha Patil.

Important Events

The university decided to stop offering the BSc LL.B. (Hons.) Undergraduate degree from the Academic Year 2016–17. The Rajasthan State Legislature in 2022 by amending the National Law University, Jodhpur Act, set a 2 Term maximum limit and a higher age limit of 70 for the position of the Vice-Chancellor,(whichever is earlier) and made it compulsory for the Registrar of the university to be an Indian Administrative Service or a Super time Scale Rajasthan Administrative Service Officer.

Response to the pandemic The University on 14 March 2020 decided to suspend all classes till 31 March 2020 because of the state directives, the same was extended indefinitely due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the nation and the classes shifted to an online medium. Unfortunately, one student succumbed to COVID-19 during this time, which led to student protests against the Vice-Chancellor and the university administration.

The university started conducting online classes for the first-year Undergraduate students immediately after the declaration of the CLAT results to make up for the time lost due to the late conduction of the entrance examination.

The 14th Convocation of the university happened virtually and was streamed on YouTube. The 15th Convocation of the university was cancelled entirely due to the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

The university after deferring the decision to reopen once finally decided on 17 February 2022 to reopen the university in a hybrid mode from 1 March 2022 for all the students, keeping in mind the Rajasthan Government guidelines and the COVID-19 situation.

Academics

Courses and curriculum NLUJ currently offers following courses:

B.B.A./B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) Flagship Integrated Undergraduate Law Degree Program (5 Years/10 Semesters) LL.M Master of Laws: Postgraduate Program (1 Year/2 Semesters) MBA: Post-Graduate Program (2 Year/ 4 Semesters) PGDM in Insurance Risk Management (1 Year/2 Semesters Diploma Program) PhD and LL.D: Doctorate Program

Undergraduate

B.A./B.B.A. LL.B (Hons.) The university offers its flagship five-year integrated undergraduate program in two streams B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) and B.B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) Both are five year ten-semester courses with six subjects taught every semester and are open to students only on a fully residential basis. Admission to these courses is through the Common Law Admission Test.

The intake capacity of the undergraduate degree program is 104 students + 16 NRI/NRI Sponsored students with 15% and 7.5% seats being reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively. 5% seats for Physically Handicapped students is also reserved in each category.

The Honors course is offered to fourth and fifth year students in the following streams:

Corporate Law Trade and Investment Law Criminal Law Intellectual Property Law Constitutional Law

Post-graduate

LLM The university offers a fully residential 1 Year (two-semester) LL.M. in Corporate Laws and Intellectual Property Rights. The selection for this program takes place through Common Law Admission Test (PG).

The intake capacity for the LL.M. program is 50 Students with 15%, 7.5% and 5% seats being reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Specially Abled Persons respectively.

MBA The university offers a four-semester fully residential M.B.A. program with specialisation in Insurance.

The intake capacity for the MBA program is 40 Students with 15%, 7.5% and 3% seats being reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Physically Handicapped candidates respectively.

The selection for this program happens based on two factors which are taken together to decide the merit.

50% weightage for marks obtained in graduate program. 50% weightage for marks in various qualifying exams like CAT, CMAT or MAT based on a scale decided by the university.

PGDM The University offers a 1 Year/2 Semester Post-Graduate Diploma (PGDM) in Insurance Risk Management.

Doctorate The university offers LL.D. and PhD programs at a doctorate level.

The university conducts a National Level examination each year for the selection of candidates for the PhD program, which is followed by a personal interview, candidates who have qualified UGC-NET and JRF are exempt from the written exam.

Rankings

The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranked it 8th among law colleges in 2021.

Publications

The university with the help of students and faculty publishes many high quality academic journals, a full list of the various journals published by the NLUJ is here-under:

NLUJ Law Review: It is the flagship journal of the university. It is a bi-annual, double-blind student reviewed, and student-edited journal focusing on an inter-disciplinary approach towards legal writing. The Board of Editors consists of two faculty editors and a board of student editors at the university. Trade Law & Development: It is a student-run journal launched by the university in 2009. TL&D seeks to explore interdisciplinary perspectives on world trade, international law, environment and development. The Journal is published twice a year, both online and in print. Journal on Corporate Law and Governance The Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law Journal (ISSN: 2582-9807) ["CALJ"]: It is the flagship journal of the Centre for Constitutional Law and Administrative Law, published under the guidance of Prof. (Dr.) I.P Massey, Dean, Faculty of Law, National Law University Jodhpur. It is an open-access online journal published bi-annually, aiming to foster debate on contemporary issues in comparative constitutional law and administrative law, with a comparative perspective. The first issue of CALJ was published in 2013. The issues of CALJ are indexed on SCCOnline and Manupatra.

MOUs and Collaboration The university has signed many MOUs and collaborated with many different educational institutions and organisations, the list of various MOUs and Collaborations are:

Freiburg University, Germany School of Law, King's College London, UK Ural State Law Academy, Russia Beijing Union University China Institute of Management Technology-Centre for Distance Learning, Ghaziabad University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law University of Johannesburg (Faculty of Law), South Africa NLU-IIT-AIIMS (Knowledge Exchange Agreement): This agreement was signed on 4 April 2013. The University of New Hampshire School of Law NLUJ-MNLU Mumbai German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) US Education Foundation, New Delhi Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute, New Delhi Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver Construction Industry Arbitration Council, New Delhi NLUJ-Election Commission of India (IIIDEM) Bureau of Police Research and Development, New Delhi National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar

Endowments and Chairs

Reserve Bank of India: The regulatory body has granted the university a Corpus Fund of Rs. 40,00,000/- to help the Centre of Studies in Banking and Finance conduct research on various issues pertaining to the economy and contemporary financial issues. New India Assurance Co. Ltd: The public sector general insurance company has contributed Rs. 40,00,000/- to establish a chair at the university to encourage research. General Insurance Corporation: The Public Sector Reinsurance company has contributed Rs. 35,00,000/- to establish an insurance chair at the university. Dushyant Dave: The Supreme Court Senior Advocate has granted Rs. 10,00,000/- for the development of the University Library. Ministry of Human Resource Development: The Intellectual Property Rights chair was established by the Government of India in the university under the IPERPO scheme during the 11th Five Year Plan.

Foreign Funding

Eurasian Foundation: The Non-Profit Organization has sanctioned US$20,000/- to run a course in the university for its students and international scholars titled "Building Peace Communities in Asia".

Research National Law University, Jodhpur has established the following Centers with a view to facilitate students in understanding the intricacies of legal research, corporate work culture and develop insight in alternative forms of learning on academic and corporate subjects:

Centre for Advanced Research & Training in Arbitration Law – CARTAL Centre for Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law Centre for Research in Governance, Institutions, and Public Policy Centre of Risk Management and Derivatives (CRMD) Centre for Human Rights, Women Empowerment and Child Development Centre for Corporate Governance (CCG) Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Law & Policy Centre for IP Studies Centre for Human Resources Initiatives and Industrial Relations Studies (CHRIIRS) Centre for Human Welfare and Empowerment Centre for Tax Law (CTL) Centre for Studies in Capital Market Centre on Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation Centre for Policy & Research in International Law Centre for Human Rights of Children and Institutional Law Development (CHILD) Centre for Gender Studies Centre for Legal Theory Research Centre on Transactional Law (RECENT LAW) BRICS Law Institute Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Civilisational and Peace Study Centre for Family Law (CFL)

The university also conducts several short and medium-term orientations, training and refresher courses for NGOs, Government officials and public administrators, local self-Government, legal professionals including members of the bar and the bench, other administrative authorities and corporate officials.

Student life Moot Courts and Students' Achievements