INFORMATION BROCHURE
NATIONAL LAW SCHOOL OF INDIA UNIVERSITY (NLSIU), BENGALURU
About the University
The National Law School of India University was established in 1986 to pioneer legal education
reform and anchor the transformation of the Indian legal system through research and policy
interventions. NLSIU is dedicated to the creation of conditions necessary for the realization of
core constitutional values committed to freedom, equality and social justice.
The University rests on a unique collaboration between legal academics, the Bar, the Bench and
the State Government of Karnataka. This strong coalition has helped the University remain the
undoubted leader in the field of legal education in India for the last three decades.
This was clearly reflected in 2022 as NLSIU secured a No. 1 ranking on every significant
ranking study published. This includes the NIRF rankings of the HRD Ministry which has
ranked NLSIU as the top law school in the country for five consecutive years now.
Read more about our rankings here.
Nagarbhavi Campus
NLSIU began modestly at the Central College Campus of Bangalore University and in 1991
shifted to Nagarbhavi. The sprawling 23-acre campus comprises academic blocks with upgraded
classrooms, a state-of-the-art library, canteens, a health centre, faculty quarters and clean & well
maintained hostels for men and women. Sports facilities include a well-equipped gymnasium,
and facilities for football, tennis, and basketball among other spaces for academic and
community based activities.
The University offers high quality wireless connectivity throughout the campus which has been
upgraded in the last academic year. The University is redeveloping common and public spaces
on campus to ensure all students have access to safe communal spaces that enhance well-being.
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Measures taken to improve academic and campus life in 2021 and 2022:
Revamping of Programmes
● BA LLB (Hons) Programme - In Academic Year 2023-24, the University is increasing
the student intake for the undergraduate BA LLB (Hons) Programme from 180 to 240.1
Under the NLSIU Inclusion and Expansion Plan, the University had previously increased
the intake for the programme from 80 to 120 in AY 2020-21 and 120 to 180 in AY 2022-
23.
● LLM Programme - The LLM Programme has been restructured with the introduction of
new courses and new faculty. The University is increasing the student intake for the LLM
Programme from 75 to 100 in AY 2023-24. The University previously increased the
intake from 50 to 75 in AY 2022-23 under the NLSIU Inclusion and Expansion Plan.
● Elective Courses - In the previous academic year, the University offered a total of 78
elective courses including 17 intensive elective courses. These courses were delivered by
67 faculty involving as many as 55 external/ visiting faculty that included several
eminent personalities. In the current academic year, 62 elective courses have already been
offered over two trimesters. Our elective courses cover the widest range of enquiry in
law, public policy and the social sciences and we are glad to offer amongst the highest
number of elective course options of any Indian university. The University has reinvented
its experiential learning curriculum to include several new Clinical Courses (e.g.
Defending Capital Punishment Cases, Criminal Procedure - Investigations) and
Externships in collaboration with leading professional organizations. For more details,
visit our course catalogue.
NLSIU offers Intensive Elective Courses to connect students with eminent personalities
in law and academia who can provide a more practical knowledge of the law. These
courses involve 40 hours of classes over a period of 10 days, and allow students to
undergo an immersive deep dive into their chosen subject. The Elective courses are
taught by senior law practitioners, advocates, judges, and prominent members of
academia.
Faculty Recruitment
The University has a team of highly experienced faculty members which include Rhodes,
Commonwealth, and Chevening scholars. Many of our faculty are also alumni of universities
from across the globe such as Oxford University, University of Cambridge, Harvard Law School,
Columbia University, and Yale Law School among others. This has helped strengthen and
1
Subject to necessary approvals.
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further improve the University’s teaching and research initiatives. The University recruited 11
new faculty members during 2021 and 2022, and is in the process of recruiting over 20 new
faculty in 2022-23.
Learning Management System
The University has built and deployed an online learning management system that ensures a
structured syllabi for every course and the easy availability of reading materials. This learning
platform is integrated with video conferencing and the administrative platform to make online
learning a seamless experience.
Extra-curricular activities
Apart from the rigorous academic programmes, the University offers an environment that
encourages students to engage in several co-curricular and extra-curricular activities.
Mooting remains a core activity. In 1999, the University became the first Indian team to win the
prestigious Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition and has gone on to
secure more such wins. Teams from NLSIU have won several moot court competitions at the
national and international level including the Manfred Lachs Space Law International Moot and
the Oxford Price Moot.
Besides this, students organize key annual events including the NLS Open Debate, Strawberry
Fields Music Festival, Admit One Theatre Competition, and the Spiritus Sports Fest.
For student-related information and activities, visit our University web page here.
Financial Assistance
The University follows the principle that no student once admitted shall ever have to discontinue
his/her studies on grounds of financial hardship. NLSIU aims to address financial concerns of
students by way of a comprehensive scholarship programme as well as the easy availability of
long-term and short-term loans for financial assistance.
Scholarships:
● Every year, scholarships are given to the students out of the endowments and from
University General funds. The University also supports students in availing a number of
external scholarship options. These include private scholarships as well as those offered
under the National Scholarship Portal and the State Government Scholarship Portal.
● Alumni Contributions: The NLS alumni community has extended support to both
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bursaries and endowments with generous contributions from different batches. With
alumni support, the University instituted scholarships in 2021-22 such as the Ajoy Halder
Memorial Scholarship, Col. Prakash Manik Bhat Memorial Scholarship, and the Shri Ray
Sharda Ranjan Prasad Scholarship.
Visit the University’s Financial Aid & Scholarship page here.
Research
NLSIU has actively developed and organised its research infrastructure to consolidate and
augment research output in terms of publications, projects, and contribution to policy
frameworks. Continuing our research efforts, NLSIU entered into a number of collaborations in
2021-22 both at the local and international level to produce innovative and relevant outcomes
through research. The University has identified five focus areas for its research and policy
development initiatives:
● Labour and Work
● Climate Justice
● State Capacity and Reform
● Access to Justice & Legal System Reform
● Law, Technology and Society
Recently, the University has incubated three fully funded multi-year research projects in the
fields of Labour Law Reform, Regulatory Governance, and Law and Social Transformation.
ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES:
I. FIVE-YEAR INTEGRATED B.A., LL.B. (HONS.) PROGRAMME:
The five-year integrated Undergraduate B.A., LL.B (Hons) Degree Programme is the flagship
degree at NLSIU that offers students training in a range of legal and non-legal subjects. The
University pioneered this five-year programme in India with an intention to provide a strong
foundation upon which students could choose to pursue professional options or further
academic opportunities.
Course Structure
● The programme is taught across three trimesters each academic year. In each
trimester, a student completes 4 courses and over 5 years, completes an intense
programme of 60 courses before they graduate. Once students complete their
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foundation courses in the first two years of the programme, they are permitted to
choose elective courses from the third year onwards.
● The programme is highly inter-disciplinary where students are equipped to develop
an understanding of law along with knowledge of humanities and social sciences. The
pedagogy is Socratic where students engage actively in debates along with learning
materials in the classroom.
● All students write a mandatory paper in almost every course in the programme and
present these materials to ensure that they develop research, writing and oral
presentation skills. Students also have to complete mandatory internships during the
programme.
Eligibility
A Pass in 10+2 or an equivalent examination with a minimum of:
(i) Forty Five per cent (45%) of marks or its equivalent grade in case of candidates belonging
to General/OBC/PWD/ EWS categories; and
(ii) Forty per cent (40%) of marks or equivalent in case of candidates belonging to SC/ST
categories.
Candidates appearing for the qualifying examination in the year of admission are also permitted
to take the Admission Test, but their admission to the course shall be subject to their fulfilling
the conditions stipulated in the Regulations and producing supporting documentary evidence at
the time of admission.
There is no upper age limit for the UG Programme.
The University reserves the right to cancel the admission of any candidate in accordance with the
Rules.
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Intake and Reservation
The total intake capacity shall be 240 (Two Hundred and Forty) seats2 for AY 2023-24 with the
following breakup:
Percentage
Category Total Seats
of Seats
Scheduled Caste 15.0% 36
Scheduled Tribe 7.5% 18
Other Backward Classes NCL 21.6% 52
Economically Weaker Section 8.0% 19
General N/A 115
TOTAL 240
(i) Twelve (12) seats comprising 5% of the total intake shall be reserved horizontally for
Persons with Disabilities (PWD).
(ii) Fifty Eight (58) seats comprising 24% of the total intake shall be reserved horizontally
for Women.
(iii) Sixty (60) seats comprising 25% of the total intake shall be reserved horizontally
(compartmentalised) for Karnataka Students*.
* Karnataka Students Category:
(i) Candidates who have studied for not less than 10 years in a recognized educational
institution in Karnataka shall be eligible to be considered as ‘Karnataka Students.’
(ii) Candidates who have not completed ten years of study in Karnataka shall be eligible to
apply under the Karnataka Students category if they fall under any of the below
categories:
1. Children of defence personnel/ ex-servicemen, who at the time of joining service,
have declared their hometown to be in the State of Karnataka, and who have
served or are serving outside Karnataka, corresponding to the candidate’s years of
study outside Karnataka.
2. Children of employees of the Karnataka State Government who have served or
are serving outside Karnataka corresponding to the candidate’s years of study
outside Karnataka.
3. Children of serving or retired employees belonging to the Karnataka cadre of the
All India Services (IAS/IFS/IPS), who have served or are serving outside
Karnataka corresponding to the candidate’s years of study outside Karnataka.
2
Subject to necessary approvals.
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4. Children of working or retired employees in the Central Armed Police Force
service, who upon joining service declared their hometown to be in the State of
Karnataka, and who have served or are serving outside Karnataka, corresponding
to the candidate’s years of study outside Karnataka.
Illustration: If the candidate has studied in Karnataka for three (3) years, they
must prove that their parent/s were serving outside Karnataka for at least seven
(7) years corresponding to their own period of study outside Karnataka.
If the candidate has not studied in Karnataka continuously for at least one (1)
year, they must prove that their parent/s were serving outside Karnataka for at
least ten (10) years corresponding to their own period of study outside Karnataka.
(iii) Eligible candidates must keep their Study Certificates issued by their School/s and other
relevant documents ready to be submitted at the time of counselling/ admission.
Fee Structure - B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) Programme
Total fee (including refundable deposits)
a) General Category: Rs. 3,27,815.00
b) SC/ST Category: Rs. 3,23,815.00
(Note: Subject to revision in AY 2023-24)
II. LL.M. (Master of Laws) Degree Programme
NLSIU offers a one-year LL.M. degree programme. Like the B.A., LL.B. (Hons) programme,
the LL.M. programme is organized around three trimesters every academic year. The programme
will admit 100 students in AY 2023-24.
Course Structure
In 2021, the University re-designed the structure of the LL.M. programme. In previous years,
students were divided into two specialization-based streams and offered courses only within
those streams. In the current structure of the programme, there is no division of streams and
students have been provided greater flexibility in choosing courses. The objective is to provide
more opportunities to students to pursue courses from a wide array of over 35 electives offered at
the University. Besides this, students will have to write a mandatory dissertation in the third and
last trimester.
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The University will be offering two additional core courses, which students compulsorily have to
study in addition to the three that the UGC mandates. These two courses add to the UGC courses
in deepening the students’ conceptual understanding of core areas of law. They will equip
students to pursue careers in academia, research, legal practice, and judicial services. The
courses are as follows:
Core Courses: Foundations of Private Law, Law and Society, Research Methodology, Law and
Justice in a Globalizing World, and Comparative Public Law.
Faculty: The LLM Programme is taught by highly experienced and skilled faculty including
NLSIU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Registrar Prof. N S Nigam, Prof. Arun K
Thiruvengadam, Prof. Mrinal Satish, Prof. Aparna Chandra and Prof. T Ramakrishna. More
details of our faculty members can be found here.
Note: LLM students may be offered residence options on campus subject to availability.
Eligibility
An LL.B. Degree or an equivalent examination with a minimum of:
(i) fifty per cent (50%) of marks or its equivalent grade in case of candidates belonging to
General/OBC/PWD/ EWS categories;
(ii) forty five per cent (45%) of marks or its equivalent grade in case of candidates
belonging to SC/ST categories.
Candidates appearing for the qualifying examination in the year of admission are also permitted
to take the Admission Test, but their admission to the course shall be subject to fulfilling the
conditions stipulated in the Regulations, and producing supporting documentary evidence at the
time of admission.
There is no upper age limit for the PG programme in CLAT.
Intake and Reservation
The total intake capacity shall be 100 (One Hundred) seats for AY 2023-24 with the following
breakup:
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Percentage of Total number
Category
seats of seats
Scheduled Caste 15.0% 15
Scheduled Tribe 7.5% 8
Other Backward Classes NCL 21.6% 23
Economically Weaker Section 8.0% 8
General Category N/A 46
TOTAL 100
a. Five (5) seats comprising 5% of the total intake shall be reserved horizontally for
Persons with Disabilities (PWD).
b. Twenty Four (24) seats comprising 24% of the total intake shall be reserved
horizontally for Women.
c. Twenty Five (25) seats comprising 25% of the total intake shall be reserved
horizontally (compartmentalised) for Karnataka Students.
NOTE: Details pertaining to the ‘Karnataka Students Category’ mentioned under the BA LLB
(Hons) programme on pages 6-7 is applicable to the LLM programme as well.
Fee Structure - LL.M. Programme
Total fee (including refundable deposits)
a) General Category: Rs. 3,27,815.00
b) SC/ST Category: Rs. 3,23,815.00
(Note: Subject to revision in AY 2023-24)
Please note the fees/ charges as applicable to both B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) and LL.M. Programmes
may be revised by the University, and duly notified.
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For further details, please visit our website www.nls.ac.in or
Contact:
The Registrar,
National Law School of India University,
Nagarbhavi Bangalore – 560 072
Karnataka, India
Tel: 91-80-23010000/ 23213160
Email: registrar@nls.ac.in
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