Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access

Last updated

Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to Legal Education
Founded2010
Founder Shamnad Basheer
TypeCommunity service
Focus Legal education
Location
Area served
India
MethodStudent sensitizations
Key people
Shishira Rudrappa, Mahendra Pal Singh, Ruma Pal
Website www.idialaw.org

Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access to Legal Education (IDIA) is a non-profit organisation working in India which aims to empower underprivileged children by giving them access to quality legal education. It was initially started by professor Shamnad Basheer in 2010 from West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences. [1] [2]

Contents

It is a pan-Indian, student-run movement to train underprivileged students and help them transform into leading lawyers and community advocates. It was institutionalised as a trust with original trustees as Mahendra Pal Singh, Ruma Pal, Shamnad Basheer and Shishira Rudrappa. [3] The managing trustee of the organisation is Shishira Rudrappa.

Activities

To ensure that the underprivileged communities can empower themselves through legal education, IDIA student volunteers conduct sensitisations across India to: [4]

Funding

IDIA is supported by top Indian law firms and legal luminaries from across India. [5] [6] Apart from individual donors, IDIA organises fundraising events in Indian metropolitan cities. [7] [3]

IDIA organises an annual football tournament in Mumbai to raise money from legal professionals and corporates. The tournament witnesses participation from top law firms in India and legal teams of corporates. [8] [9]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Law School of India University</span> Public Law School in India

National Law School of India University (NLSIU), or simply the National Law School(NLS), is a public law school in Bangalore, India. The school is one of the leading law schools in India, consistently ranked #1 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework for law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences</span> Law university in Kolkata, West Bengal, India

The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences is a National Law University (NLU) located in Bidhannagar, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. In 2023, it was ranked 4th among law colleges in India by National Institutional Ranking Framework and 2nd by India Today. It comes under the exclusive chancellorship and purview of the Chief Justice of India.

Justice Ruma Pal is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. She retired on 3 June 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Law University, Jodhpur</span> Law university in Rajasthan, India

National Law University, Jodhpur (NLUJ) is a public law school and a National Law University established under the National Law University, Jodhpur, Act, 1999 enacted by the Rajasthan State Legislature. The university was established for the advancement of learning, teaching, research and diffusion of knowledge in the field of law. It is one of the autonomous law schools in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NALSAR University of Law</span> Public law school

The National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), is a public law school and a National Law University located in Shamirpet, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, and is considered as one of the best law schools in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gujarat National Law University</span> Public law school

The Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) is an eminent public law school and a National Law University established under the Gujarat National Law University Act, 2003 in the state of Gujarat. The university is located at Gandhinagar, which is the capital of Gujarat and is located 23 kilometers north of the city of Ahmedabad. The statute provides for the Chief Justice of India or a Senior Supreme Court Judge to serve as the Visitor of the university. Gujarat National Law University – Silvassa Campus has been established by resolution of the Governing Bodies of Gujarat National Law University which has been empowered under the Gujarat National Law University Act, 2003 as amended by the Gujarat National Law University (Amendment) Act, 2022. GNLU – S is being provided with full support and co-operation by the Government of Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Law Universities</span> National Law University situated in Bengaluru

National Law Universities (NLU) are public law schools in India, founded pursuant to the second-generation reforms for legal education sought to be implemented by the Bar Council of India. The first NLU was the National Law School of India University aka NLS/NLU Bangalore which admitted its first batch in 1988. Since then, most of the states in India have NLUs. Currently there are 27 NLUs across the country out of which one is an off-centre campus of NLU Gandhinagar, GNLU SILVASSA Campus. Since the inception of NLUs, these law schools have continuously been ranked as India's most and world's one of the most prestigious and premier law schools by various agencies and are also referred as IITs of Legal Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hidayatullah National Law University</span> Public school and university in New Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India

Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU) is a public law school and a National Law University located in New Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India. It was named after the former Chief Justice of India, Mohammad Hidayatullah. It is one of the autonomous law schools in India and seventh in the series of such national law schools. It was established as a centre for legal excellence by the Government of Chhattisgarh under the Hidayatullah National University of Law, Chhattisgarh Act. The university offers a B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) integrated Program, an L.L.M. Program, and a PhD Course.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faculty of Law, University of Delhi</span> Law School of the University of Delhi

The Faculty of Law, University of Delhi is the law department of the University of Delhi. It has the unique distinction of producing the largest number of sitting judges of the Supreme Court of India, with many notable alumni's from various fields.

Mahendra Pal Singh, is a jurist and a scholar of constitutional law, administrative law and comparative law, and Professor Emeritus at University of Delhi. Presently, he serves as a research professor of law, Distinguished Scholar in Public Law & Comparative Law, Director – Centre for Comparative Law and Chairman of the Law School Doctoral Committee at Jindal Global Law School, OP Jindal Global University. He is best known amongst students of Constitution of India as the author of V.N. Shukla's Constitution of India a standard textbook for lawyers on Constitution of India. Internationally however, he is more famous amongst scholars of comparative law for his work, German Administrative Law in Common Law Perspective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common Law Admission Test</span> University entrance test in India

The Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) is a centralized national-level entrance test for admissions to the 25 out of 27 National Law Universities (NLU) except NLU Delhi and NLU Meghalaya. CLAT was first introduced in 2008 as a centralized entrance examination for admission to the National Law Schools/Universities in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chanakya National Law University</span> Law school in Bihar

Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) is a public law school and a National Law University in Patna, Bihar, India. It was established in 2006 by the Government of Bihar as a public university dedicated to the field of legal education. The Chief Justice of Patna High Court is the ex officio chancellor of the university. It is one of the autonomous law schools in India. The campus is situated right near the heart of the city in the Mithapur area and has an area of approximately 18 Acres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Law University Odisha</span> Law school in Odisha, India

National Law University Odisha (NLUO) is a public law school and a National law University in India located at Cuttack, Odisha. It was established in 2008 under the National Law University Odisha Act, commencing its first batch from July 2009. The institute offers undergraduate courses, and post-graduate courses in law. It is one among the 25 NLUs in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University</span> Law University in India

Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University (DSNLU) is a National Law University located at Sabbavaram, Anakapalli district, Andhra Pradesh, India constituted by the DSNLU Act, 2008. It offers 5 year integrated B.A LLB. (Hons.) course to eligible Undergraduate students based on the Common Law Admission Test centralized admission process. The University offers postgraduate courses also, including the one-year LL.M. programme and, PhD and LL.D. programmes. The university is housed at Nyayaprastha in Sabbavaram with 75.5 acres built up area in the first phase. The establishing Act of 2008 of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, had provided the main campus at Visakhapatnam. It is named after the second Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Damodaram Sanjivayya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National University of Study and Research in Law</span>

National University of Study and Research in Law (NUSRL) is a National Law University located in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. It was established by a legislative act, by the State of Jharkhand as the fourteenth National Law University of India. The statute provides for the Chief Justice of India or a Senior Supreme Court Judge to serve as the Visitor of the university.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O. P. Jindal Global University</span> Private university in Haryana, India

O.P. Jindal Global is a private deemed to be university located at Sonipat in Haryana, India, roughly 20 miles from New Delhi. It was established in 2009 as a philanthropic initiative of its founding chancellor, Naveen Jindal, in memory of his father, O.P. Jindal. The university offers 45 programmes in law, liberal arts, life sciences and business. In 2020, UGC named JGU as an Institute of Eminence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai</span> National Law University located at Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai is a National Law University located at Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Legal practice in India is governed by the Advocates Act 1961; an act passed by the Indian Parliament which provides for laws relating to legal practitioners in India and for the constitution of the Bar Council of India (BCI) and state bar councils. Under the powers granted in the Act, the BCI has made rules known as BCI rules which lay down rules for practice, legal education and professional ethics. Advocates Act 1961 replaced the earlier Indian Bar Councils Act, 1926.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shamnad Basheer</span> Indian jurist (1976–2019)

Shamnad Basheer was an Indian legal scholar and founder of the blog SpicyIP. He was also the founder of IDIA, a trust which works on making legal education accessible for underprivileged students. Basheer was a Ministry of Human Resource Development Chaired Professor of Intellectual Property Law at the WBNUJS, Kolkata, and the Frank H. Marks Visiting Associate Professor of Intellectual Property Law at the George Washington University Law School, and a research associate at the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Center (OIPRC). He founded several initiatives such as SpicyIP, IDIA, P-PIL and Lex Biosis. Basheer intervened in the landmark Novartis case, filed a number of other public interest litigations and took initiative to bring about changes in the IPR regime in India.

Madhumati Mitra is a former judge of the Calcutta High Court, in West Bengal, India. She briefly served as the registrar of the National University of Juridical Sciences as well as of the Calcutta High Court before being appointed as a judge at the High Court. During her tenure as a High Court judge, she adjudicated in a number of significant cases, including in litigation concerning the Saradha Group financial scandal.

References

  1. Aravind, Indulekha. "A Super 30 for Clat". The Economic Times. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  2. Ganz, Kian. "'Mass movement' for more diverse legal profession kicks off at NUJS" . Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  3. 1 2 "The Idea Behind IDIA: Creating CHAMPS from Underprivileged Communities, by Shamnad Basheer". Archived from the original on 10 September 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  4. "This Law Professor Has Created a Route for the Poor to Become Lawyers. And It's Ingenious!". 31 January 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  5. Ganz, Kian. "Trilegal, Krishnamurthy, Wadia Ghandy, two law schools, CLAT coach, Gov't join NUJS diversity project IDIA".
  6. Shrivastava, Prachi. "Ex-Luthra partner Madhu Mukherjee helps IDIA scale up, teaches, mulls 'strategic' move in no hurry" . Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  7. Ganz, Kian. "IDIA raises 72 Lakhs".
  8. Pathak, Gaurav. "Charity Football Tournament".
  9. "Star Lifts IDIA Football Trophy 2015, Khaitan lifts Plate".
  10. "Shamnad Basheer".
  11. "Innovative Practices 2016 on Education and ICT".
  12. "Society of Indian Law Firms and Menon Institute of Legal Advocacy Training honour Arun Jaitley".