There is nothing special about the NLUs that other universities cannot replicate. The key is to do it for an affordable price and make the entrance exam big enough to attract real talent from the potential students. Think of NLUD. It did the same thing without joining CLAT. If it had been called by some other name, it could still have done all of that. A good VC, decent faculty, updated curriculum and pedagogy and building industry connect. These are all that are needed.

Not really. Had NLUD not been a NLU, it would’ve ended up similar to IP’s law colleges or other Delhi colleges like Amity. At the very least, the student quality would’ve not been as good. The NLU tag helped set it apart and then of course the administration and student quality helped elevate it. And CLAT has nothing to do with it since before CLAT, places like NLS, NALSAR and all were still big names.

These are useless, even if a firm/company does not mention their preference for an NLU grad, they can anyone shortlist people from NLUs only. There is no point in arguing about how a recruiter advertises a position, they will anyway do what they prefer and that's fully justified.