National law schools in India were established to reform legal education. Traditionally, law degrees were granted through general universities, but the Bar Council of India sought to improve standards. The first national law school was the National Law School of Bangalore, founded in 1987. It had an autonomous structure with a 5-year program and intensive legal training. Several other national law schools were later established across India based on this model to modernize legal education.

1. Kiran Varma - Indianslawinfo
All about national law
universities
By Kiran Varma - Indianslawinfo

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Table Of Contents
Introduction
History
Structure of National Law Schools
First National Law School
References

3. Kiran Varma - Indianslawinfo
Introduction
In India, autonomous law schools are the law schools founded pursuant to the
second-generation reforms for legal education sought to be implemented by the
Bar Council of India. The first such autonomous law school was the National Law
School, Bangalore which admitted its first batch in 1987. Since then a number of
other national law schools have been established all over India and various other
States are also considering options to establish such schools.

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History
● Traditionally legal education in India was conducted through the medium of non-
specialized universities of India which granted law degrees like any other graduate
degree. These Universities referred and taught the curriculum prescribed by the
Bar Council of India but since they were under the overall control and supervision
of the University Grants Commission and therefore it was not possible for the Bar
Council to effectively pursue reforms in legal education.
● This system continued for more than two decades with the overall legal education
supervision by the Bar Council, since its establishment in terms of the Advocates
Act, 1961. However, there were calls for reforms from all quarters of the country in
general because of the falling standards of the bar and there were mounting
pressures over the Bar Council of India to bring forth change in the way in which
legal education was imparted in India.

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Structure of National Law Schools
● Autonomous status of the law schools
● Five year law programme
● Integrated degrees
● Intensive legal education
● National status of law schools
● Involvement of legal luminaries

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First National Law School
● The first autonomous law school established to implement the reforms in legal
education in India was the National Law School of India University (popularly
"NLS") which was established in Bangalore in terms of the National Law
School of India Act, 1986 passed by the Legislative Assembly of the State of
Karnataka.
● The first batch to NLS was admitted in 1988 and the establishing Director
was Prof. N.R. Madhava Menon, who is considered as a jurist in his own right
(and who subsequently went on to be the founding Vice-Chancellor of the
premier National University of Juridical Sciences, Calcutta). While the first
batch of NLS passed out in 1993, it was only until the starting of the next
decade that legal education through the medium of national law schools got
popular.

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References
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Source Credits:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_law_schools_in_India
http://www.nls.ac.in/resources/NLSIU_Act.pdf
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