ILS Pune
The weekend of 3-5 March saw each of Amity Law School Delhi, NUJS Kolkata and NLU Jodhpur organize their flagship moots, with over 100 MPL points awarded to multiple law schools that battled it out for MPL glory.
Following the publication of India Today's theoretically irrelevant law school rankings last month, Outlook India's 2016 top 20 law school rankings have been released but do not included NUJS Kolkata, NLIU Bhopal or NLU Jodhpur.
NUJS Kolkata, GLC Mumbai and Symbiosis Pune trumped NLSIU Bangalore which was formerly Indian law firms’ favourite law school from which to internally promote partners.
NLU Jodhpur has extended its lead in the Mooting Premier League (MPL) 6 sponsored by Herbert Smith Freehills after winning 30 points at the Vis Vienna moot that saw strong Indian performances.
The weekend of three grand moots, including India’s best and India’s second-oldest moots, saw some law schools managing to upset the MPL 6 pecking order, while others held on steady to the top spots.
A Mumbai court yesterday sentenced the convict in lawyer Pallavi Purakayastha’s murder to life imprisonment, reported the ANI. The 25-year-old in house counsel and ILS Pune grad was stabbed in the throat in her Mumbai flat in August 2012 by her apartment complex' watchman.
The convict – 22-year-old Sajjad Ahmad Moghul – was sentenced to life for killing Pallavi, to ten years for beaking into her flat, and to four years for outraging her modesty. Purakayastha’s fiancé Avik Sengupta – a JSA associate at the time – had discovered her dead body and had been a crucial witness in the case, however he died of an illness on 14 November, according to the ANI report.
Also read: Detailed feature in the Indian Express on the tragic story of the two lawyers.
SC introduces online visitor sign-in: The Supreme Court has introduced an online system to sign in clients and other guests to the apex court via the so-called Supreme Court Visitor Management System (SCVMS). After signing in with details including the name of the court, case and advocate, visitors will receive an SMS or email, which can be used to enter the court. [Link: SCVMS]
ILS Pune suicide student’s scores change some: The re-evaluated scores of ILS Pune first-year student Saumitra Dhoble, who had on Saturday reportedly committed suicide an hour after his first semester exam results were declared, have not changed much. Two of Dhoble’s failing grades (zero marks in history and 40 in economics) were confirmed after re-evaluation but in English the grade was elevated to 28 marks from five [TOI]
Read PIL to get Kejriwal to take security: Advocate Anoop Prakash Awasthi filed a PIL in the Delhi high court seeking to force newly elected chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to accept a security detail [Full petition / Financial Express]
Karnan, the controverisal Madras HC judge: Madras HC judge has a knack for raising eyebrows, reports the New Indian Express, be it by storming into courtroom yesterday to intervene in a petition against the 12 name-recommendations for judgeships at the HC, or before that becoming the first judge to lodge a formal complaint of caste-based discrimination against him by brother judges, or in June when he delivered the progressive yet infamous “Sex equals marriage” judgement [Deccan Herald]
Jet-Etihad appeal: The Jet-Etihad combination approval by the CCI now faces a COMPAT appeal from Air India’s former executive director who asserts that due to the CCI’s failure to assess all competition issues, passengers are likely to be deprived of airline choices on key routes, pay higher prices and have fewer options on aircraft, timings and service quality [PTI]
Hauz Khas Village curse continues, as Green Tribunal orders closure of 12 restaurants in the hip Delhi ‘hood [NDTV]
Court orders cow DNA test: “Bizarre! But SO cool! Kerala court orders DNA test on cow to settle ownership dispute!” tweets @vakeel_saheba [NDTV]
ILS Pune first year student Saumitra Dhoble, aged 19, allegedly committed suicide on Saturday after declaration of exam results in which he failed two papers.
His body was discovered hanging from the ceiling fan in his room at his residence by his father, during vacations from the law school, reported the Indian Express.
Several students of the law school later complained to the principal Vaijyanti Joshi about the problem of repeated faulty evaluation of exam papers at Pune University.
NLSIU Bangalore, Delhi University (DU), GLC Mumbai and ILS Pune have given India’s biggest law firms more than three times as many partners than most other younger law schools since 2009.
ILS Pune beat NLSIU Bangalore in the finals of the fourth NLU Jodhpur Antitrust Law Moot Court Competition held last weekend between 8 and 10 March.
ILS Pune’s class of 2012 has reportedly seen only 20 placements so far for 105 total students, reported the Indian Express. The 131-strong batch of 2011 apparently secured 60 jobs, plummeting from 2008's 100% result.
Veteran ILS campus placements-visitor ONGC allegedly complained of a decline in students’ standards.
Principal Vaijayanti Joshi blames it on lack of the college’s autonomy and funds (being affiliated to Pune University), while students say it is due to lack of infrastructure and “exposure” when compared with the national law universities. [Express]
The law college was one of the five law schools felicitated by the Bar Council of India last month in its golden jubilee celebrations, for “outstanding contribution to legal education”, as first reported by Legally India.
In July 2012 Legally India reported on difficulties faced by several law schools to attract recruiters, amidst increased competition and a slowing economy.
ILS Pune fetched its first gold this season at the NLIU Juris Corp National Corporate Law Moot Court Competition and leapt up the Mooting Premier League (MPL) 4 ladder from 17th to seventh place. RGNUL Patiala was runner-up with a strong shoulder-to-shoulder performance that secured its second MPL silver.
NUJS Kolkata, NLU Delhi, ILS Pune and Nalsar Hyderabad, which represented India at the world rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot, made the country proud with two teams breaking into the last sixteen, six speakers finishing in the top 100 oralists and three teams winning top memorandum awards.
ILS Pune defeated Nalsar Hyderabad in the finals of the Surana & Surana South India rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot and won the best memorandum award for a whopping thirty points to boost ILS’ MPL ranking from sixteenth position to sixth.
ILS Pune defeated SOEL Chennai in the finals of the South India Rounds of the sixth Surana & Surana National Trial Advocacy Moot from the 24 to 26 September 2010, hosted by NUALS Kochi. Plus, the first ranking table after freezing of the scoring criteria at version 2.04.
Indian weekly magazines India Today and Outlook India have both ranked NLSIU Bangalore and Nalsar Hyderabad as India's top law schools, while NLIU Bhopal and ILS Pune occupied third place in each respective ranking and NUJS Kolkata found itself in sixth and fifth place.
Nalsar Hyderabad is the undisputed winner of the first season of the Mooting Premier League (MPL) sponsored by Clifford Chance, after Legally India has confirmed citations and honourable mentions in the season's final Tier 2 events winning further points for NLSIU Bangalore, NUJS Kolkata and GNLU Gandhinagar and shuffling up the final ranks.
This mooting weekend belonged to ILS Law College Pune, which scored back-to-back victories to propel it into fifth place of the Mooting Premier League (MPL). ILS Pune is now the top-ranked non-national law school, taking over the position from SOEL Chennai and overtaking NLIU Bhopal.
In the Tier 3 DM Harish moot Nalsar Hyderabad has drawn back to the tied top of the league table, while the young team from NLU Delhi won and made its debut in the rankings as Government Law College Mumbai broke into a strong sixth place.