Indian Legal Education Conclave

Rajiv Maheshwari speaks about inculcating curiosity, creativity and confidence in students as they prepare to enter legal practice, at the Indian Legal Education Conclave organised by Careers360.

The Conclave brought together vice chancellors and academic heads from notable law schools for a tête-à-tête on the challenges of evolving not just law curriculum but recognizing the demands of real world practice.

Aligning academia with industry realities is a theme gaining momentum with every passing batch of students under the impression that legal practice is formulaic and the right answer is as easily found as “turning to the end of the book”. Pervasive was discussion on not just changes to curriculum but, perhaps, changes also in pedagogical focus will equip students better to deal with the abstractness of real world practice.

Our education system, both at the school and college level, was birthed with the Renaissance. However, the disruptive world order calls for re-imagining our approach to education. The current academic system churns out students that find it challenging to adjust to the realities of the ‘real world’.

The information explosion coupled with much greater digital exposure for young children has materially altered the manner in which college students seek, absorb, retain, retrieve, process and present information.

The formal education system does not mark the end of learning, which can be nothing but a life-long process. We have institutionalized our learning program in the form of CLE 365^o, a holistic learning program that goes beyond the traditional full circle.

Bridging the gap between the law school output and the input expectations of the corporate world and law firms, we collaborated with Careers360 to create The Legal Apprentice Challenge. This helped create a microcosm of the real world to hone skills for contemporary lawyers.

The Indian Legal Educative Conclave 2017 was telecast on India Today TV at 3.30pm. on April 29th and 30th.