Nalsar Hyderabad has launched what it’s touting as India’s first ever masters of business administration (MBA) for court managers.
On 1 August 2013 the law school will begin classes for the two-year full time MBA, specialising in court management, corporate governance and financial services and capital markets after a 30 June entrance exam. Final selections will be made after group discussions and personal interviews but from next year students would be admitted through management school entrance exams CAT and GMAT.
The postgraduate degree course will be open to 60 graduates from any discipline who are less than 30 years old when classes begin.
Nalsar Hyderabad vice chancellor Faizan Mustafa said: “The [Nalsar] act says that Nalsar can offer courses in any discipline. One, it is talking of comprehensive legal education at all levels and then [it allows us] to organise advanced and total research in all branches of law, to establish specialised study centres and other units for research and instruction as are necessary in the opinion of the university.”
Mustafa told Legally India that while the Supreme Court had allowed colleges to conduct management courses without permission from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Nalsar would be applying for approval of the body nevertheless.
“We are not shying away from any assessment and accreditation,” he said. “AICTE mandates 85 credits to get an MBA degree, but [our courses] are having more than 120 credits. Our course is much heavier than what they demand.”
The law school would make around Rs 2 crores in revenues if the new course is fully subscribed, with individual fees ranging between Rs 3.25 lakhs and Rs 3.75 lakhs, plus additional expenses. Mustafa had said in March that Nalsar was facing a revenue shortage of around Rs 1 crore after several distance learning courses offered at the law school were shut down in 2012, as reported by Legally India.
He added that some existing faculty would teach the new courses, though more would be hired.
Mustafa said that work on the syllabi for the new course began six months ago. Nalsar stated in its press release:
“The University was already running two courses i.e. Masters in Business Law and Administration and Masters in Financial Services and Capital Markets. A review committee consisting of several management experts including professors of IIMs, Osmania University and JNTU University was appointed to review these courses. The committee suggested upgradation of the courses and accordingly Nalsar is launching a new MBA programme which is first of its kind in the country.
“All High Courts have been asked to recruit court managers. Accordingly, number of High Courts such as Madras, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bombay and Guwahati have recruited hundreds of court managers.
“No business school in India presently offers Court Management as a specialization in its MBA programme. Though various High Courts have recruited just M.B.As. but an ordinary MBA would not be able to contribute meaningfully to the justice management system unless he/she has a very thorough grounding in the justice system. Similarly adequate knowledge of core management areas is necessary to make judicial system efficient and effective.”
The notification inviting applications for the courses on Nalsar’s website states:
The University is inviting applications for Two Years full-time campus based M.B.A. Programme with major specialization in ‘Court Management’ or ‘Corporate Governance’ or ‘Financial Services and Capital Markets’ and minor specialization in ‘Marketing Management’ or ‘Human Resource Management’ or ‘Business Regulations’ with an objective of carving-out future managers having cutting edge knowledge and expertise in management and law.
With novel, and unique major-minor specialization system, the M.B.A. Programme is first of its kind in India as it helps in developing legal and management acumen to excel in highly competitive global business environment.
Upon successful completion of the programme graduates will not only be suitable for recruitment as Court Managers but would also excel in the Corporate Houses, Financial Markets, Insurance Companies, Banks, Law Firms, Consulting Firms, Industry, Government, Media Houses, NBFC, Public Sector Undertakings etc.
The syllabus structure for court management, as specified in the notification, includes: “Justice Jurisprudence, Introduction to Justice Management, Judicial Process and Court Structure, Leadership and Justice Delivery System, Case Flow Management, Judicial Responsiveness Management, e-Court Management, Judicial Reforms”
A body called the National Court Management Systems (NCMS) was established in May 2012 by an office order of then Chief Justice of India (CJI) SH Kapadia.
The office order stated that the NCMS, under the CJI, will set performance standards for Indian courts, monitor and enhance those performance standards, set up a system of case management, a national system of judicial statistics, a court development planning system, and a human resource development strategy.
NLU Jodhpur also offers an MBA in insurance, claiming that this is the first law school in India to offer an honours degree in business law, according to Business Today.
Comments
And that's why you want to start an MBA in Court Management. All the best. I am sure lawyers can mange the courts pretty well, why do you need lawyer+MBA who has specialised in HR, Marketing and capital markets to manage courts.
I wonder what they will be christened as.
"MABAAS"?
Wanted to know what is career growth in this field.
Any ideas.
no trolling please
Law with MBA is a good skill but it will, at best, provide an edge during recruitment. All other things remaining constant between two MBAs, the one with legal skills should get preference. If a candidate without law degree is a more qualified MBA (better B-school, better grades, with experience with some big corporate, etc), he will be preferred over candidate with MBA+law. You see, companies/ banks looking for MBAs will look at MBA skills first and if the candidate fits their criteria, they will hire him - at best, some additional points may be given for the legal experience (or not). The extent of advantage will also depend on what / where your friend has been practicing for 8 years. Law firms will hire a lawyer with an MBA (again, additional points for the MBA degree), provided the candidate has the right branding and experience in terms of law i.e. worked in a good firm / attended a good law school. Foreign recruiters think differently and they may give more points for diverse experience as they typically value life experience and diversity an asset.
Your friend can get some inspiration from Bruce Wasserstein - a very successful lawyer-turned-businessman/banker.
Law with MBA is a good skill but it will, at best, provide an edge during recruitment. All other things remaining constant between two MBAs, the one with legal skills should get preference. If a candidate without law degree is a more qualified MBA (better B-school, better grades, with experience with some big corporate, etc), he will be preferred over candidate with MBA+law. You see, companies/ banks looking for MBAs will look at MBA skills first and if the candidate fits their criteria, they will hire him - at best, some additional points may be given for the legal experience (or not). The extent of advantage will also depend on what / where your friend has been practicing for 8 years. Law firms will hire a lawyer with an MBA (again, additional points for the MBA degree), provided the candidate has the right branding and experience in terms of law i.e. worked in a good firm / attended a good law school. Foreign recruiters think differently and they may give more points for diverse experience as they typically value life experience and diversity an asset.
Your friend can get some inspiration from Bruce Wasserstein - a very successful lawyer-turned-businessman/banker.[/quote]
Thank you for your kind words. The guy was into litigation, I think mostly trial court and high court in Delhi. I dont think he had a big law firm brand behind him.
He must have had some thought process before joining IIM, so maybe he had some clarity where he wants to go. I don't know.
The thing is, most of these comments are anonymous, so even if there is someone who would / can mentor,.... there is no follow up point.
In any case, will direct him to this page.
Thank you, again, for your kind words.
The same is true for LLB students with business experience. On campus, recruiters are looking for the brand and good grades. They do not usually look at other qualities, especially in India. They are not visiting campus to get a special talent. They are looking for a top graduate of the campus and other qualities can only provide an advantage.
The same is true for LLB students with business experience. On campus, recruiters are looking for the brand and good grades. They do not usually look at other qualities, especially in India. They are not visiting campus to get a special talent. They are looking for a top graduate of the campus and other qualities can only provide an advantage.[/quote]
[quote name="Idea"]Tell your friend that he should play his litigation experience to show that he understands commercial disputes and strategy to resolve them. Beyond that, litigation experience would not count for much, given that it was not gathered at a good law firm. Even law firm experience would not be a deciding factor, beyond providing an advantage, if other factors remained constant in relation to the competition. IIM is a good brand and your friend should focus on getting a good rank - a good job will follow :)
The same is true for LLB students with business experience. On campus, recruiters are looking for the brand and good grades. They do not usually look at other qualities, especially in India. They are not visiting campus to get a special talent. They are looking for a top graduate of the campus and other qualities can only provide an advantage.[/quote]
I was directed at these comments by a well wisher.
Idea Sir Ji,
thank you.
Just one thing. IIM has a grade non disclosure policy for some programmes. So recruiters will not know the grades. (merits/demerits of both, and the faculty here, brilliant as they are, must have put in some thought before they decided on this format)
Beyond that, yes, the strategy what you suggested is what I also thought of. Keeping firmly in mind that not many recruiters have traditionally come seeking candidates with backgrounds such as mine. So, a part of hunting/ looking for right opportunity, for me, will also have to be outside of the IIM system.
Right now, the focus is on academics though.
There was an HBR article regarding seeking mentors. I wonder if that would hold good here. How to be mentor magnet.... this is something I am working on, not much success so far. :-)
Bruce wasserstein reference was interesting to read.
warm regards
Saurbh
Conclusions in the HBR article will possibly not work because the parameters of our society is different. We are generally not a helpful bunch on recruitment and career development matters!
All the best.
And good wishes.
Saurabh
See its east to start a course but then again like in LLM orientation program the administration of nalsar clearly stated our priority is llb. where do the post grads go. so legallyindia kindly if you can then plz include articles about the sorry state of affairs of all the courses excluding BALLB in our so called law schools in India. I feel people are lured to these new courses to realize after getting admission that it was a mirage.
A faculty's job at the graduate level is only to act as a guide; help polish the roughness in a candidates research, teaching and writing skills. Sadly most people teaching at NALSAR are truly incapable of doing even this.
However, most graduate students who come to NALSAR (and other places) aren't quite at the level needed to wade through such a sad situation (refer para 2) without strong hands to guide them. One's that are good enough do go onto make something of themselves, even in the non under-grad courses.
No one offers MBA( Court Management) and since recruiters are going to be judges themselves, the course would sell like a hot cake. LLB graduates of several schools and colleges, instead of doing LL.M may opt for this MBA which would ensure placement with the judicial organ of the state.
Stop feeling jealous and don't worry about other bees making honey - mind your own business.
and whats your problem? Go and get a life!
ISB is one of the finest and focusses mainly on its MBA programme. NALSAR is not a biz school, if it is going to focus on MBA, it will have to spend a great deal on MBA programme. I doubt if the law school is going to do that.
for a law school starting an MBA programme is either very foolish or very brave. I doubt the latter.
[...]
NALSAR has provided us the best of faculty any other b-school could offer. We are being provided ideation labs, made to work in teams, and we have everyday evaluation. The whole batch is working as a team and we have landed up with internships at many of the best places. We are sure, we will continue in this manner and would get placements! ( If placement is the only thing asked for in Indian b-schools! sigh! ). We are sure the skills and knowledge that we have learned will go a long way with us! Hail CMS! Hail NALSAR!