Preparing Future Global Lawyers
Law is one of the greatest intellectual professions which demands unique education and guidance beyond the four walls of the classroom. A Law School and a teacher contribute towards making great judges, eminent Lawyers, and able leaders in different fields. SRM University – School of Legal Studies is one such education hub that is making the best use of resources to train their students, imparting legal education to equip young lawyers with the digital world and rapidly changing legal environment at global level. With an aim to create a diverse community campus that inspires freedom and innovation, SRM University promotes excellence in educational and skill development processes, cultivating an exciting and rigorous research environment, yielding future legal professionals of the country.
The focus of the school is on emerging as a leading world-class university that creates and disseminates knowledge upholding the highest standards of instructions, a holistic approach to the study of law, taught in the context of the socio-economic-cultural developments in India. Functioning out of an education-friendly environment in Delhi-NCR, the university has air-conditioned classrooms with the facility for powerpoint presentations and a library with both textbooks and online journals. The campus also has a moot court hall and a legal aid center along with that the students will follow a dress code similar to practising lawyers. The curriculum and the pedagogy at SRM University has been restructured to fill the gap between theory and the latest developments in the field of law. The curriculum puts strong emphasis on the foundational knowledge of the subjects, interdisciplinary approach as per the New Education Policy and skill enhancement courses to increase the employability of the courses.
With the rise of e-courts, video-conferencing and virtual appearances, it is imperative that the lawyers of today are well-versed with the changing technological landscape. To make sure that the students are up-to-date with the latest in technology, the University has specific subjects such as IT skills as well as skill enhancement classes conducted by the placement cell. The University believes that ‘digital’ is the future of the legal profession, and it is equipping the students to take on this future. At SRM University, the mentors for the lawyers of tomorrow are dynamic and aware of the needs of the changing legal vista. The Faculty of Law, SRMUH has specific mentors for each batch to guide and counsel the students and also mentors the students to realize their full potential. To this end, the faculty members are engaged in constant research and they also participate in webinars discussing the latest in the field of law. Faculty Development Programmes are organized by the University on a regular basis and also promotes interdisciplinary research and engagement through interaction of faculties of various departments.
A Holistic Approach to Legal Education
Each student has a different learning style hence the faculty aims to recognize the same and impart learning through different pedagogical methods. At SRM it is ensured that no one gets left behind, each student and their progress is monitored in faculty meetings. Remedial classes, doubt clearing sessions and one on one engagement with the respective faculty member follows such monitoring, in case it is needed. The University follows the ‘guru – shishya parampara’. Talking about the infrastructure facilities at the university Dr. Paramjit S. Jaswal, Vice Chancellor,states- “During the pandemic we conducted the online classes on the Cisco WebEx platform seamlessly. We also have IT enabled classrooms with projectors, LAN connections and wireless internet.”
In addition to the above statement, Dr. Jaswal shares- Our library is well equipped and it also has access to e-journals. The Faculty of Law has a state-of-the-art moot court, legal drafting lab, computer lab and an active legal aid cell. SRM University possesses a strong culture of research.” The faculties are encouraged to undertake research projects and the students are assigned live projects/projects/research papers in every subject and these count towards the final assessment. The B.B.A LL.B. stream at SRM university has a strong focus on entrepreneurship subjects. The legal field is ripe for dynamism and change and hence, there is a lot of scope for entrepreneurial opportunities. The university boasts of two students of the Faculty of Law having their own legal start-ups with constant full encouragement and guidance from the Law department.
The University aims to ensure global employability for the students. The curriculum of the university provides the edge to the students as it is constantly being updated to meet the changing needs of the industry and the New Education Policy. SRM strives to ensure holistic development of the students while making them socially conscious. The curriculum is beautifully designed by experts from industry and academia. SRM University focuses on providing counseling, training, regular expert lectures, live projects, internships, field visits and case studies. To help students to become more employable, the school will put emphasis on internships from the first year of study.Internships expose the students to real life applications of their course work and teaches them to work in a collaborative environment. The internship gives students the vital experience needed to adapt quickly to careers in industry. A dedicated Placement Department looks after the interest of the students and the employers by providing them the necessary platform.
Professor (Dr.) Paramjit S. Jaswal
With 31 years of experience in teaching and 41 years of experience in research, Dr. Paramjit S. Jaswal is the vice-chancellor of SRM university, Delhi-NCR, Sonepat. Dr. Jaswal is a gold medalist in B.L and LL.M. along with that he has also completed his LL.B. and Ph.D. His area of specialization is Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and Human Rights and Environmental Law. Dr. Paramjit has also authored/ edited forty four books and his reviewed sixty four research papers have been published in reputed National and International Journals/Books. He has been awarded the Nehru-Centenary British Fellowship Award for the year 1991-92 for doing post-doctoral research in the Department of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London (U.K.), Career-Award-1994 for Young Talented Teachers by the UGC, Bharat Jyoti Award in 2006. He is also a recipient of the Eminent Great Personality of India award by the Shaheed Memorial Sewa Society, Ludhiana in 2011.
