Orientation 2025 | Welcoming Our New Cohorts for AY 2025-26!

We kickstarted the Academic Year 2025-26 with an orientation programme on June 30, 2025 for our new cohorts! This year, we welcome nearly 600 students from at least 20 states across our on-campus academic programmes. The orientation programme began with an address by the University Vice-Chancellor, Prof. (Dr.) Sudhir Krishnaswamy who spoke about the legacy of NLSIU, and the exciting new phase of the University’s growth. This was followed by an address by the University Registrar, Prof. (Dr.) N S Nigam, and later programme-specific sessions conducted by the respective Chairs and Vice Chairs.

These were followed by combined sessions on gender sensitisation, sexual harassment, campus and residence life orientation, code of conduct, disciplinary procedures and student life. More sessions will follow on July 2, 2025.

Inaugural Address | Vice-Chancellor, Prof. (Dr.) Sudhir Krishnaswamy:

Taking students through the legacy and journey of NLSIU since its commencement in 1988, the Vice-Chancellor alluded to popular artworks during his welcome address: these included Jamini Roy’s Santhal Woman; Souza’s The Elder; Rain, Steam and Speed by JMW Turner; The Poet (AKA The Thinker) by Rodin; and Mark Rothko’s No. 2. He compared the artworks and the emotions they elicit to the changing and growing nature of the University.

“This week at NLSIU, we welcome the 37th BA LLB, the 34th LLM, 11th MPP, and the 30th PhD cohorts. We also usher in our third batch of the 3-year LLB (Hons) and our very first cohort of the NLS BA (Hons). With almost 600 new students, this is the largest new batch of students in the University’s history. We also begin the year with close to 110 core faculty, the largest ever yet, and 1,400 returning students.”

On Change: “This new Academic Year, especially, marks a year of change. We launched our new BA (Hons) programme, expanding on our history of education in social sciences and the humanities. We also increased the number of admitted students in the 5-year BA LLB (Hons) programme. Five years ago, we admitted 220 students and engaged 25 faculty. The expansion plan that was initiated then has led to our reinforced numbers and strength. As we change and grow, we endeavour to be more diverse and inclusive. We are committed to nurture talent and excellence as always under a multidisciplinary lens – including the law, policy, social sciences and the humanities.

We hope the NLS community stands out in terms of our passion for knowledge, clear rigorous thought and the intensity of our experiences. We also wish to instill in our students a distinguished work ethic, an unfailing integrity and an alignment to the public good.”

Registrar’s Address | Prof. (Dr.) N S Nigam (Excerpts)

On Celebrating Differences: “The great lawyers of the previous generation disagreed vigorously with each other. But they made their positions plain and actually listened to each other. Their arguments were made in public, and the issues they discussed were sharpened and finessed in open light. Everyone, including the losers in their debates, was the richer for it.

Lawyers, humanities scholars, public policy intellectuals, and professionals are especially suited to addressing disagreements and seeking common ground. You will, in your classes, sessions, seminars, and lectures, learn to analyse different viewpoints and come to a resolution in each of your hosts. The world needs your skills, for the world has forgotten how to discern. People just shout across the board. You must stop this toxic discourse before it poisons the basis of our engagement with each other.”

On Leadership of Public Opinion: “What we lack today is leadership of public opinion. So, I hope I’m not asking too much of you when I say that I want you, future leaders of tomorrow, to lead the development of public opinion on the major debates of the day. Some people might tell you that the law, humanities, social sciences, and public policy are really only involved in a very peripheral fashion in most public debates. Why should lawyers play a role in city garbage disposal, or raising of taxes, or mobilisation of nuclear power? You must tell these people that in the public sphere, every question is also a moral and a constitutional question—a question of equal access and opportunity, and a question of due process.

As students who are studying at this law school, you can harness a combination of moral and political principles and state clearly, precisely, and accurately what these are. Your programmes, courses and your assessments are designed precisely towards these purposes. Now, this is a tremendously important skill that is extraordinarily hard to deal with.”

Orientation Address | Justice A S Oka

The Orientation Address was delivered by Justice Abhay S. Oka to our incoming students. Justice Oka was a former judge of the Supreme Court of India, former Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, and former judge of the Bombay High Court.

Justice Oka encouraged NLS students to give back to society, whether it is by litigating before traditional courts, joining the bench, teaching the law, or progressing legal research in the country. Speaking through his own experience, he said: “the work satisfaction you get as a judge cannot compare to that of being a lawyer. You get the satisfaction of rendering justice.”

He also interacted with the students through a question and answer session after his address.

Welcoming Our First Cohort of the NLS BA (Hons) Programme!

Dr. Atreyee Majumder Co-Chair of the NLS BA (Hons) began the session with a message for the very first cohort.

On Beginnings: “Beginnings are sacred times. They are points where we are least jaded, least afraid of the road ahead. Beginnings are also points where we assess, accept and decide on some forms of continuity as well as rupture from the road thus far, the past. That is exactly what legal constitutions across the 20th century have done. They have announced new journeys while being mindful of the journeys thus far. They committed energy and will to the project of envisioning a future.”

On Futures: “Futures are precious things. As is the case with all precious things like holding a newborn baby’s hands, futures are also deeply frightening. As I am sure you are all experiencing excitement and fear at the same time, at this time. Let us stand today holding each other’s commitment, energy and aspiration to envision vibrant futures of world building and self-construction simultaneously. I congratulate all of you today as you and I both, you and we both, stand at the beginning, as we chart out the journey of this new NLS BA programme into the long future with all the hope and strength that we can muster.”

The NLS BA (Hons): “In this academic programme, we have tried to build an exercise in growth and maturation of young people’s minds, so they come to be comfortable contemplating the near and far, the strange and the familiar, cultivating a temper of curiosity, wonder, appreciation, and finally critique. With that long journey of calm cultivation, let us remember today that great things require patience, require endurance and humility. I hope that we will all have the strength together, you and me and us, strength to cultivate these qualities to go on this long journey of teaching and learning.”

Students Speak

Academic Year 2025-26 begins with the infectious smiles of our new students! We heard the words “positive overwhelm” and “excitement” from the students as they set foot into the classrooms for the first time at the NLSIU campus.