Law | A case for excellence

No. 1: National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru

National Law School of India University (Bengaluru) has occupied the top position in legal education rankings for quite some time. According to Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr Sudhir Krishnaswamy, this happened “not by accident, but by design”. Of the faculty and studentry, he says, “When you bring together such a diverse group of talented people, the educational environment it creates has remarkable effects.”

The two main items on the agenda for making the institute grow even further are fixing infrastructural constraints and ideating initiatives that keep up with a changing legal profession.

Two new academic blocks will come up by the end of this year, according to Krishnaswamy, which are part of a phased overhaul targeted for completion in 2028. The expanded infrastructure, which will include new hostel buildings, will cater to nearly 3,000 students, a climb from the current headcount of 1,934 students on campus as of July 2026. Currently, 118 faculty members cater to these students.

“We are very excited to set a new benchmark not only for legal education but for what university education should aspire to be, in terms of open and inclusive spaces,” says Krishnaswamy.

On the academic front, NLSIU plans to begin extensive pilots using AI tutoring models. “There is a great deal of experimentation across the world in this field. I am glad to say that we, at NLSIU, are at its cutting edge. We have adopted and implemented AI platforms as effectively as anyone,” says Krishnaswamy. “This year, we are looking to embed the technology further into the university’s teaching and learning practices. As we close out the calendar year, we hope to have adequate evidence to roll out much larger initiatives,” he adds.

NLSIU will launch a new research centre this academic year, dedicated to promoting equity, inclusion and justice within India’s legal profession. The centre’s first project, the Women’s Inclusion and Leadership in Law (WILL) Initiative, will seek to highlight the structural barriers hindering women’s participation in the profession through evidence-based research.

Women comprise only 15 per cent of the 1.8 million enrolled advocates in the country, although they represent about 32 per cent of all law graduates annually in India. “We want to put our shoulder to the wheel and try to change this situation in as significant a way as we can. We are very excited about these initiatives,” says Krishnaswamy.

He recognises that NLSUI’s stature in national rankings is both a privilege and a responsibility. The mission, according to Krishnaswamy, is maintaining standards, establishing new ones and growing at every step.