News Type: Event

NLSIU is launching a new conversation series by eminent speakers titled ‘Crafting Careers’ this week.  The first session in this series features Mr. Vikram Bhat, Director of the Bangalore International Centre on November 22, 2025 from 2 pm to 3 pm at the NLS campus.

Crafting Careers

Crafting Careers is a new conversation series at NLSIU for the BA (Hons) programme, designed to help students navigate the world of work. Each session in the series brings leading professionals from fields such as media, government, public policy, business, finance, and the creative arts to campus for candid conversations about their journeys. These experts will share insights and advice from their professional experiences and offer reflections on how social science majors may relate to different career pathways. These dialogues will offer students a chance to learn from diverse experiences, gain practical insights, and reflect on how to build careers that align with their own interests, skills, and values.

About the Speaker

Vikram Bhat, presently the Director of the Bangalore International Centre, is a passionate educator who has had previous successful careers in technology and finance. In Education, his areas of interest are educational equity, designing curricula for lifelong learning, and teacher training. He is particularly inspired by the potential of design thinking and an integrated Arts curriculum to transform educational systems.

Vikram most recently worked as an advisor in the Dy. CM’s office in Delhi where he was a key member of the Education task force which has transformed Delhi’s government schools. Before this, he served as the Vice Principal of an affordable private school in Central Bangalore prior to which he taught full-time at Parikrma, a unique NGO in Bengaluru that strives to provide high-quality education to slum children. He also held senior management positions at Dream a Dream & Teach For India, two of India’s most respected non-profits working in Education.

Prior to his career in Education, he was the Vice President of portfolio trading at Sanford Bernstein & Co., a pioneering equity research firm in New York, playing a key role in setting up their New York and London electronic trading operations.

He holds a B.E. in Electronics Engineering from the University of Mumbai, a Masters in Computer Science from New York University, and more recently, a Bachelor of Education from Christ University. He has also attended short-term courses at the d.school at Stanford University and Project Zero at Harvard University.

Vikram’s younger self is an avid long-distance runner having completed over 25 races, and is a passionate film and theatre buff.

 

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, and the Rajiv K. Luthra Foundation (RKLF) are jointly organising the First Rajiv K. Luthra Memorial Lecture. This inaugural lecture will be delivered by Professor Dev Gangjee, University of Oxford, on the topic ‘Tools or Partners? Hybrid Human-AI Creativity and the Boundaries of Copyright’ on November 29, 2025.

Abstract of the Lecture

While policymakers and courts around the world grapple with the legality of training Generative AI on copyrighted works, an equally important question remains largely unexplored: can the human-induced outputs of these Gen AI systems ever qualify as authorial works under copyright law? If we use prompts to create images, can we claim them as our property? Do detailed and iterative prompts reflect sufficient human creative direction to qualify for copyright? Or are we simply rolling the dice each time, unsure of the results onscreen? As a normative matter, should we embrace this form of democratised creativity, which allows anyone to produce art, literature or music? Or does it fundamentally erode the relational processes which underpin meaningful creative production, thereby diluting markets for creative works? Generative AI therefore holds up a mirror to copyright law. This lecture reviews why we value creativity and through comparative law, including the US, EU, UK, China and India, explores whether copyright law has appropriate legal tools and thresholds in place to meet this challenge.

About The Speaker

Dev Gangjee is Professor of Intellectual Property Law within the Law Faculty and a Law Fellow at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. Prior to joining Oxford, he was a senior lecturer at the London School of Economics (LSE). Dev is a graduate of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

About The Discussant

Eashan Ghosh is an advocate specialising in intellectual property law, in private practice since 2011. He is the IPR Chair Professor at National Law University (NLU) Delhi, where he also serves as the Programme Director of the WIPO Joint Masters in Intellectual Property Law & Management. He is the author of three book titles, the most recent of them being Imperfect Recollections: The Indian Supreme Court on Trade Mark Law (2024).

About the Sponsors

NLSIU is hosting the First Rajiv K. Luthra Memorial Lecture with the support provided by the Rajiv K. Luthra Foundation (RKLF) that is based in New Delhi. The RKLF has been established in the memory of Late Shri Rajiv K. Luthra, the Founder and Managing Partner of Luthra & Luthra Law Offices, which is one of India’s most well-known commercial law firms. The RKLF has also provided a generous grant to NLSIU for the redevelopment of one of its academic buildings. This inaugural lecture is being organised as part of an annual lecture series.

The JSW Centre for the Future of Law at NLSIU is organising an online discussion with Madhavi Singh, Deputy Director of the Thurman Arnold Project and a Resident Fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School on November 24, 2025 (6 pm). The discussion will revolve around the topic, ‘Competition Issues around Google’s AI Answers in Search’.

Ms. Singh will be discussing a forthcoming paper which examines the competition risks arising from the integration of AI features in Google’s search, and the potential leveraging of dominance in search to monopolise adjacent markets such as answer engines.

Dr. Vikas Kathuria, Director of Centre on Law, Regulation & Technology (CLRT) at BML Munjal University, will be the discussant.

This discussion is part of the Centre’s series of presentations by leading scholars on novel scholarship and ongoing work.

About the Speaker

Madhavi Singh is the Deputy Director of the Thurman Arnold Project and a Resident Fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale. Her research looks at antitrust regulation of digital markets, the economic and non-economic effects of monopoly power, and consolidation in the AI supply chain.

Her professional expertise lies in antitrust, encompassing enforcement cases, corporate regulations and economic policy frameworks. Madhavi read for the Bachelor of Civil Law (B.C.L.) from the University of Oxford as a Felix Scholar and received an LL.M. from Harvard Law School as a K.C. Mahindra Scholar.

Registration

Registration for the event is mandatory. To register for the event, fill out the form here.
Registrants will receive details for the webinar link to to activate the MS Teams webinar.

 

 

 

At this week’s faculty seminar, Mahima Balaji and Kaustav Saha, Assistant Professors of Law, NLSIU, presented their paper titled, ‘Codified but Not Constrained: Recasting Proprietary Estoppel under the Indian Transfer of Property Act, 1882.’

Abstract

This article revisits the foundations of proprietary estoppel under the Indian Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (TPA), by examining Sections 41, 43, and 53A. It argues that the prevailing interpretation of these codified forms remains unduly tethered to contract law.

The article advances two core claims. First, it distinguishes between contractual invalidity – where an agreement is void under the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (ICA); and proprietary invalidity – where the interest itself is incapable of transfer under the TPA. Preserving this distinction, it is argued, is essential to maintaining the doctrinal coherence and function of proprietary estoppel in Indian property law. Second, the article reconceptualises proprietary estoppel under the TPA as generating substantive secondary rights, independent of contractual enforceability. Taken together, these claims position proprietary estoppel not as a contractual adjunct but as a distinct mechanism for the creation of proprietary interests within Indian law.

Gallery

NLSIU’s Queer Archive for Memory Reflection and Activism (QAMRA) is launching the Maya Sharma–Indira Pathak (MSIP) Collection Online Catalogue, featuring a talk by Maya Sharma, on November 25, 2025, 5 to 7 PM at the Bangalore International Centre (BIC).

RSVP Here

About the Collection

Maya Sharma and Indira Pathak are feminist, queer, grassroots activists based in Vadodara, Gujarat. Maya Sharma is a journalist and worked with trade unions and the autonomous women’s movement before entering the queer movement. She is the author of the seminal book “Loving Women: Being Lesbian in Unprivileged India” and the more recent “Footprints of a Queer History: Life-Stories from Gujarat”. Indira Pathak previously worked with labour unions, the Mahila Samakhya programme and Nari Adalats in rural Gujarat before founding Vikalp Women’s Group. Their collection, built from their personal and organisational archives, documents the lives, struggles and everyday worlds of lesbians and trans men in Gujarat. It includes personal correspondence, photographs, crisis and legal case files, newsletters, ephemera, and organisational records that document decades of grassroots queer and feminist work. This collection forms an important part of Indian queer history, and QAMRA is honored to be able to steward it.

This catalogue is QAMRA’s first searchable online catalogue. It marks the beginning of our efforts to make our archive more widely accessible online.

At this event, we will introduce the MSIP collection, talk about how it has been put together, and demonstrate how this new online catalogue can be used for research, teaching, and community work. We will also reflect on questions of access, privacy, and care in queer archival practice, in conversation with Maya Sharma about the histories, relationships, and movements reflected in the archive.

Radhika Chitkara, Assistant Professor of Law at NLSIU is moderating a book discussion on Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar’s recently published book ‘[In]complete Justice? The Supreme Court at 75,’ at the Bangalore International Centre (BIC) on Sunday, November 16, 2025. She will be in conversation with Dr. Justice S. Muralidhar, Former Chief Justice, High Court of Orissa; Justice N. Santosh Hegde, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India; and Dr. Aditya Sondhi, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India.

As the Supreme Court of India completes seventy-five years, how do we understand its role in shaping the country’s institutions and democratic ideals? Has it remained a counter-majoritarian voice, and how has it navigated questions of accountability, transparency and constitutional promise? The speakers will explore these questions and the intersections of law, legitimacy and justice in contemporary India.

If you are interested in attending the event, RSVP here.

The NLSIU Library Committee is organising a book talk titled ‘Whither a Textbook? Method & Value in Avtar Singh’s Company Law’, co-edited by Saranya Mishra, Dharmendra Chatur and Siddharth Raja. The talk will take place on November 19, 2025, at 5 pm in the NLS Library basement.

Panellists

• Mr. Siddharth Raja, Professor of Practice, NLSIU & Senior Partner, Vertices Partners
• Ms. Saranya Mishra, Senior Associate, Khaitan & Co
• Dr. Sudhanshu Kumar, Associate Professor of Law, NLSIU

This event is open to the public. Please note, registration for members outside of the NLSIU community is mandatory to attend the event. Visitors can register here.

Abstract

NLSIU is delighted to host Amlan Das Gupta, retired Professor of English at Jadavpur University and noted scholar of Classical Studies and English Renaissance literature, who will offer four online public lectures on select texts in Greek tragedy. The series, titled “Sites of Disruption: Actions and Consequences in Greek Tragedy,” will focus on Sophocles’ Antigone, Euripides’ Medea, and Aristotle’s Poetics.  Prof. Das Gupta has provided a handout for guided reading here.

The talks are scheduled on Saturdays, December 6, 13, 20, and 27, from 4 to 5:30 PM.

Please register your interest on this Google Form. Registered participants will receive updates and lecture links closer to the date.

About the Speaker

Prof. Amlan Das Gupta is a former Professor of English at Jadavpur University, where he taught for over two decades and played a central role in developing the university’s pioneering digital humanities and textual scholarship initiatives. A distinguished scholar of Classical and Biblical Studies, English Renaissance literature, and Miltonic thought, his research spans Greek tragedy, humanist traditions, and the intellectual history of the early modern period. He has published widely on Milton and Renaissance poetics, edited volumes on Renaissance culture, and contributed essays to major journals and anthologies. Prof. Das Gupta also headed the School of Cultural Texts and Records for nearly a decade, and founded the Archive of North Indian Classical Music, reflecting his deep engagement with textual, aural, and digital forms of scholarship.

Reading List

Texts

Sophocles, Antigone (Any translation; Richard Jebb, Richmond Lattimore and David Grene, and Robert Fagles are some well-known translators)

Euripides, Medea (Any translation; those by Philip Vellacott and Lattimore and Grene are popular)

Aristotle, The Poetics (Ancient Literary Criticism, ed. D.A. Russell and M. Winterbottom, Oxford, 1972) Chapters 1-15, pp 90-111.

Discussion

Martha Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, 1986.  Chapter 3, pp.51-84, Ch 12, particularly pp.373ff.

E.R.Dodds, ‘Euripides the Irrationalist’, The Classical Review, 43 (03), 1929, pp.97-104

The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy, Edited by P. E. Easterling, Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Background

Bruno Snell, The Discovery of the Mind: The Greek Origins of European Thought, Harper & Row,  2013

J-P. Vernant, The Origins of Greek Thought, Cornell, 1982

Judith Butler, Antigone’s Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death, Columbia University Press 2000

The ICICI Professorial Chair on Business Laws at NLSIU is hosting an expert on corporate law, Mr. Neeraj Vyas (NLS BA LLB 2014), Partner at Saga Legal, as a guest speaker on November 12, 2025.

Mr. Vyas will have an interactive session with 3rd to 5th year students of the BA LLB (Hons), final year students of the LLB (Hons), and students of the LLM programmes on the topic ‘The Importance of Legal Due Diligence’. The session will be held from 3 pm to 4:30 pm at NAB 101, and is being coordinated by NLS faculty Dr. Garima Gupta and Ms. Varsha Aithala.

About the Speaker

Mr. Vyas is a law graduate from the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. He is a Partner at the law firm, Saga Legal, and is based out of their Bengaluru office. He comes with a professional experience of almost a decade of corporate transactional and advisory expertise in navigating intricate private equity and investment fund transactions, and includes general corporate advisory, M&A, and venture debt matters, and across various sectors such as technology (Edtech, Agritech), FnB, education, media and entertainment. He has been recognised as a ‘Key Lawyer’ within the ‘Private Equity and Investment Funds’ category by The Legal 500. Prior to joining Saga Legal, he worked with Samvād Partners, Indus Law, and ICICI Bank Limited.

About the Session

Legal due diligence (LDD) is one of the most foundational yet under-taught aspects of corporate legal practice. While students learn contract law, company law, and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) theory, the practical application of these concepts often begins with conducting due diligence. For most law firm associates, due diligence is the first major task assigned, and it sets the tone for how effectively they can operate in a transactional environment. This session aims to bridge the gap between law school learning and on-ground practice by demystifying what legal due diligence really involves, why it matters, and how young lawyers can add value through it.

Duration: 60 to 90 minutes
Format: Interactive talk with real examples and a sample red-flag exercise.
Q&A: Open discussion on how students can build skills relevant for transactional work.

Objectives

By the end of this session, students will:

• Understand what legal due diligence is and its relevance in corporate transactions.
• Learn how to approach a due diligence exercise methodically.
• Appreciate how due diligence findings influence deal negotiations and transaction documents.
• Gain insights into common mistakes and best practices for young associates.

Key Topics

1. What is Legal Due Diligence?
 Definition and purpose: “trust but verify.”
 Where LDD fits in the transaction lifecycle (pre-deal stage to closing).
 How it supports decision-making in mergers, acquisitions, investments, and financings.

2. Types and Scope of Legal Due Diligence
 Corporate due diligence: incorporation, shareholding, and capital structure.
 Contractual due diligence: key commercial contracts, termination clauses, change of control.
 Regulatory and compliance due diligence: licenses, approvals, ongoing obligations.
 Litigation and dispute due diligence: material proceedings, risk assessment.
 Employment and real estate due diligence: employee issues, property ownership, leases.

3. The Due Diligence Process
 Understanding the data room and how information is provided.
 Setting timelines and scoping the review (red flag vs. comprehensive review).
 How to use a diligence checklist effectively.
 Categorizing findings: critical, major, and minor.
 Drafting the diligence report: structure, tone, and clarity.

4. Practical Insights from Law Firm Practice
 What partners and clients expect from a good diligence memo.
 How young associates can stand out while doing diligence work.
 Real-life anecdotes: how a small finding changed a deal.
 Technology and AI tools now reshaping due diligence.

Why it matters

Due diligence is often the first real opportunity for young lawyers to understand how law intersects with business. It builds analytical discipline, attention to detail, and commercial awareness. Strong due diligence skills:

• Make you more valuable in deal teams.
• Help you think beyond documents: to business strategy and risk.
• Form the foundation for later responsibilities like drafting and negotiations.

This session is intended to make due diligence not just a “law firm chore,” but an intellectually engaging exercise in understanding how law safeguards commercial intent.