Oxford University

Three NLSIU Bangalore graduates - Lavanya Rajamani (1996 batch), Dev Gangjee (2000) and Tarunabh Khaitan (2004) - have been appointed to prestigious full professorships at Oxford University, and are very likely the first law professors with Indian undergraduate law degrees to have done so, at least in living memory.

For Rhodes 2017 scholars aiming for the Oxford University BCL, international criminal law and human rights law specialisations were top preferences, while honesty, self-reflection and passion were game clinchers.

NLSIU Bangalore and Nalsar Hyderabad final year LLB students Mansi Sood and Sanya Samtani are, respectively, among nearly 85 scholars selected by the Rhodes trust, for its Oxford University class of 2015.

A Delhi University sociology student and one economics student and one Bangalore medical student are the other Indians selected for the class. The five Indian's who have made it to this year's Rhodes class include four women.

Samtani’s profile on Oxford’s website states:

“Her primary area of interest lies at the intersection of public international law, constitutional law and critical theory. Having been a teaching assistant for public international law and constitutional law, she envisages a career in academia. Whilst in NALSAR, she served as senior editor of the NALSAR Student Law Review; editor of the Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Law, having edited a special issue on the Global South, and student editor of ILSA's International and Comparative Law Quarterly. Furthermore, she has been on the organizing committees of the NALSAR Film Festival and the NALSAR Inter Varsity Debating Championship.”

Sood's profile on the website states:

"Her interest lies in commercial law, with a primary focus on arbitration and intellectual property law. Currently serving as the Chief Editor of the National Law School of India Review, Mansi has helped in organising the Annual Symposium for the past three years. She has participated in several national and international moot court competitions and recently won the 5th International ADR Mooting Competition at Hong Kong. Besides mooting, Mansi also enjoys parliamentary debating and writing. A trained Kathak dancer, she likes to play sports, particularly badminton."

Last year law students from NLSIU and NUJS Kolkata won the Rhodes.

Hat-tip to Lawctopus for first breaking the news.

EDIT 1 December 2014: Due to an incomplete list of profiles uploaded earlier on the Rhodes class link, this story had erroneously stated that only three Indians - all women - were selected for the class of 2015. This has now been corrected.

The first Oxford India Moot was expected to become a prestigious new event in India’s busy mooting calendar. Instead, it ended with participants relieved at the end of the “torture”, in the words of one.

A statement from Oxford University said that it was “urgently investigating” the participants’ allegations of disorganisation and an assault that allegedly took place over the weekend at the alumni-organised Oxford India Moot.

Trilegal competition head Rahul Singh has left to Oxford University for a PhD but will continue to work part time as of counsel.

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Herbert Smith partner Chris Parsons and Oxford Professor and law faculty dean Timothy Endicott will kick off a now-annual lecture series at NLU Delhi followed by five days of lectures at NUJS Kolkata with plans to hit Nalsar Hyderabad next year.

Exclusive: Nalsar Hyderabad student Shreya Atrey and NLSIU Bangalore student Gautam Bhatia have won the prestigious 2011 Rhodes Scholarship as part of which they can study a law course for one year at the University of Oxford.

Two students from NLSIU Bangalore and NALSAR Hyderabad have won the prestigious Rhodes scholarship for 2010 that will enable them to pursue a law course of their choice at the University of Oxford.