Reflections on the 2nd ‘Equality and the Law Workshop’ | Organised by NLSIU and the University of Zurich

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru and the Faculty of Law at the University of Zurich (UZH) conducted its second workshop on Equality and the Law, at UZH’s City Campus on June 2 and 3, 2025, in Zurich. The first workshop had taken place on NLS’s Bengaluru campus in December 2024.

The intimate closed-door workshops form a part of a larger cooperation between NLS and UZH aimed at (a) fostering interdisciplinary engagement around problems of equality in the law and (b) catalysing collaboration between NLSIU and UZH early-career scholars.

These workshops were the result of prior collaborative work between Prof. (Dr.) Arun Thiruvengadam, NLSIU and Prof. (Dr.) Matthias Mahlmann, UZH.  The workshops were devised when Prof. Thiruvengadam was the Chair of NLS’ Doctoral Council (July 2023-July 2025) and were originally designed to enable PhD students in both institutions to complete their doctoral projects. Later, other early career scholars were added to the group after an open call. The funding for this workshop was secured by Prof. (Dr.) Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Vice-Chancellor, NLISU and Prof. Mahlmann, UZH during the latter’s visit to NLSIU in April 2024.

Theme

Equality is a foundational concept of legal systems. It is a bedrock principle of the rule of law. Equality before the law and the equal application of law are centrepieces of legal systems, and debates in legal theory.

There is wide-ranging, and in many aspects, controversial discussion about what equality means within this general legal framework and in the practice of law. It certainly encompasses formal equality but is usually understood to demand more than this formal equality, namely some form of substantive equality. What this means in detail is far from clear and is constantly renegotiated in legal systems. These questions are not only questions of legal theory but concern problems that have deep roots in the long reflection about what justice in ethics and politics actually means.

Workshop participants presented work from a wide range of legal and allied fields. For instance, Saheb Chowdhury, Pascal Meier, and Jai Brunner investigated the concept of equality through the lens of legal and political theory. By contrast, Corina Diem and Abhilasha Chattopadhyay adopted more critical approaches, using methods from literary criticism and anthropology, respectively.

The Alternative Law Forum also took part in the workshop. They presented some of their recent work relating to caste discrimination in the State of Karnataka.

Reflections

Prof. Arun Thiruvengadam: “The University of Zurich and NLS have a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) that has been in place for some years. This has, in the past, facilitated individual visits by Faculty members across the two institutions.  This two-part workshop has deepened that relationship and has enabled PhD candidates and early career scholars to be drawn into the collaborative loop. Prof. Sudhir Krishnaswamy is scheduled to visit the University of Zurich in October 2025 to deliver a public lecture. While in Zurich, he will seek to extend the MoU and to explore ways of continuing the series of workshops in the areas of international law and criminal law in later years. I was privileged, alongside Professor Mahlmann, to be a part of two very stimulating workshops where a number of scholars presented their ongoing work. The issues covered in these workshops are of vital importance, with some being timeless issues in equality jurisprudence and some being very critical topics in our contemporary era. The importance of intellectual work is even more pressing in the charged times we live in, where scholars and dispassionate researchers are under attack in many ways and because of the onslaught of many political and technological forces. I hope that we will be able to carry forward this tradition of scholarly reflection and robust but respectful debate in our continuing collaboration with the University of Zurich.”

Saheb Chowdhury, PhD Candidate: “Taking part in the workshop was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. As a PhD student at NLSIU working on a thesis that very closely overlaps with the workshop’s theme, I found it extremely rewarding to listen to a wide range of perspectives on equality as a right, its application across diverse areas and its practical implications in contexts as different as India and Switzerland. What made it even more meaningful was the chance to hear some sharp critiques of my own work. These critiques made me rethink and refine my own ideas, something that has been extremely valuable to me. Beyond the formal sessions, I also built friendships with fellow participants, and our conversations carried on even after the day’s discussions ended. It has been a truly transformative and unforgettable experience for me.”

Gaurav Dahiya, PhD Candidate: “The conference turned out to be even better than I imagined. Not only were we able to exchange ideas with our Swiss colleagues, many of whom presented updates to their previous work showcased in the Bangalore (Bengaluru) workshop, but we also got to experience the wonderful city of Zurich. The standout feature of the workshop was no doubt the perspective of Alternative Law Forum who shared ground-level realities on caste and equality as well as impact of policies in the social sphere.”

Pranav Verma, Assistant Professor: “The workshop at the University of Zurich seamlessly carried forward the conversations we began in Bengaluru last year. To present progress drafts before the same participants led to an unmissed sense of collegiality in the room. I personally saw in action how collegiality nurtures a rich academic discourse. The unique model of each participant leading discussions on an author’s draft further enriched the sense of shared purpose and contribution to the workshop agenda. Apart from its academic value, I am grateful for the lasting personal connections the workshop has enabled, and for the warm hospitality of our colleagues in UZH!”

Jai Brunner, Assistant Professor: “I had never before partaken in a workshop where the participants all interrogated the same concept through such a rich diversity of legal and non-legal methods. The exchange was immensely enriching as it allowed me to creatively (re)approach my research through novel perspectives. Looking back, what I cherish the most is that the workshop prioritised collaboration, rather than an output. Professors Mahlmann and Thiruvengadam cultivated an environment that inspired us to freely exchange ideas, in a relaxed yet rigorous way.”

Programme Schedule

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