Because it has an impact when your future alumni are no longer as influential as they used to be. When you can’t make phone calls to powerful nepo kids for favours. It made a huge difference to NLSIU that the son of one of the most influential bureaucrats in Indian history went there. That the daughter of Vajpayee’s economic advisor (today its star alum) went there when Vajpayee was in power. That the nephew of one of the top lawyers (another star alum) went there. Numerous other examples. This is no longer happening now. Earlier it was just the children of Kapil Sibal and Zia Mody headed abroad for their LLB and JD. Now far more common. Forget the wealthy, even upper middle class families are sending their children abroad for their undergrad, following an IB school education. And now the kids of every single NLSIU alum are headed abroad for their undergrad. This applies equally to NALSAR, NLUD etc.

This is because of a combination of factors: rising incomes and aspirations, but also the realisation that India just doesn’t offer the same quality of education and job opportunities (stagnant growth and an economy with zero innovation). Plus, India is simply too overpopulated and chaotic, and kids don’t want to live here. Certainly not after an IB school education, and when all your batchmates are headed abroad.

So what is going to happen down the line is that the privileged kids will all be law alumni of Columbia, NYU, Chicago, Duke, Oxbridge, LSE, KCL, UCL etc. Even those who come back to India and become Senior Advocates, or take over their father’s law firms. And if and when foreign law firms enter India, their entire workforce could also be a big club of nepo kids from IB schools who did their undergrad abroad.

Should NLUs foresee problem and make bridge courses more attractive? Or offer dual degrees?