Just like any other course, law too has gone through its series of changes. National Law University (NLU) Delhi claims to have created holistic course work for legal in interdisciplinary domains to provide legal professionals and others with knowledge of fields like forensics, cyber law, climate change, criminal law, amongst others. “Legal studies, inherently, can never be insular. Effective legal education is one that is informed by global perspectives, critical thinking and awareness of contemporary issues. By focusing on internationalisation, designing multi-disciplinary courses for a wider student base and adopting unique methods of pedagogy, we at NLU Delhi are leading the way in making legal education distinctive, globalised and inclusive,” professor Srikrishna Deva Rao, vice-chancellor, NLU Delhi told FinancialExpress Online. 

NLU has launched three courses in March 2022 in forensic and technology law, namely Decoding Forensics for Legal Professionals (six weeks course), Forensic Mental Health and Criminal justice (four weeks course) in collaboration with Eleos Justice at Monash Law University, Australia and Technology Law and Policy Certificate (24 weeks course) curated by its centres Project39A and Centre for Communication Governance (CCG) respectively.

According to Rao, niche courses explore the interplay between conventional law and dynamic areas of forensics, mental health, copyright, and technology. In addition, the university plans to launch a course on Climate Justice and Climate Change Law and Policy this year called Joint Summer School on Climate Change in collaboration with the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), the University of London within a few months. “Our course on climate change and climate justice in collaboration with SOAS, University of London, will be equally unique and pave the way for other law schools to actively engage with contemporary themes and imperatives of climate change,” Rao added. 

Meanwhile, NLU already offers a 12-week course on copyright and copyright law called CopyrightX: NLUD in collaboration with Harvard Law School. Starting in 2014, initially, the course was opened to students from NLU Delhi, but in the past two years, it has been opened to students and professionals from Southeast Asian countries. “We usually receive 200 applications for each batch and shortlist 30 to 40 students maximum for one batch based on their CV and cover letter,” Arul Georgia Scaria, co-director Centre for Innovation, Intellectual Property and Competition (CIIPC), said. Moreover, CIIPC is also working on a course in pattern law with the same pedagogical approach.

According to Shreya Rastogi, head of forensics at Project39A, NLU, these courses have been created with an aim to build awareness about the use and limitations of different fields like forensics science in criminal law and the relevance of mental disability in the criminal justice system. Decoding Forensics for Legal Professionals and Forensic Mental Health and Criminal Justice is available online for free through the FutureLearn platform. So far, about 1,400 students have enrolled online for both the courses, she claimed.

Students and professionals from any domain can opt for any courses. The CopyrightX: NLUD and Technology Law and Policy Certificate courses are priced at Rs 50,000 all-inclusive.