A lab for law in Mangalore

To give hands on experience to law students, SDM Law College and Centre for Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Law has come out with a law laboratory, which is first of its kind in the country.

The lab will be beneficial not only for the law students but also for the general public. 

Speaking to presspersons here on Tuesday, Principal Dr B K Ravindra said the law students are taught theory in classrooms and are not exposed to practical aspects. In a bid to provide complete knowledge to the students, Prof Uday Kumar strove hard to develop the lab. 

The lab will be open on all the seven days in a week from 9 am to 7 pm for the general public as well. 

Dr Ravindra said the laboratory which is in its initial stage, has won accolades from the National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC), peer committee of Bar Council of India as well as National School of Law University (NLSU). 

In the classrooms, the students are given knowledge about the documents and how to write legal documents. The students face problem with regard to using these documents once they come out of the college and start practicing, he said. 

What’s in store?

In the lab, under civil category, there are details on hierarchy of court, document of legal notice, affidavit, plaint, written statement, issues and so on. In criminal category, there are details on hierarchy of courts, copy of old FIRs and new FIRs, old chargesheets, new chargesheets, warrants of arrest, summons to witness, vakaalat and cases under domestic violence act are neatly arranged.

Under Consumer Protection Act, there is a model of forms of notice, complaints, model of a will, gift deed, lease deed, format of single mortgage. Under the title of banking, there are documents like application forms, pass books, cheques, application for DD, pay slip and so on. In company law, there is share application form, draft memorandum of associations, vouchers, simple share certificates and original equity share certificate.

There are documents of various judgements by the Supreme Court and High Courts.

There are copies of handwritten, typed and computer generated judgments of Supreme Court and High Court. 

The legal documents related to insurance also find its place in the lab. In addition to these documents, the lab has charts pertaining to structure of courts in Mangalore, preamble of Indian Constitution, history of legal institutions, names of advocate general (past and present), names of high court and supreme court judges (past and present), details on cyber crime, Presidents of ICRC, works on Savigny, contents of Savigny’s theory and so on. The lab also has Kautilya Arthashastra in three volumes as well. 

Appreciation

National Law School of India University Registrar Prof V Nagaraj who was part of Bar Council of India’s peer team which visited the college and the lab on May 12, in a letter to the Principal said: “This is the first college to the best of my knowledge which has developed such a concept under your creative leadership. The laboratory has all the practical aspects of legal profession documented and classified. This will compliment the teaching of various subjects in their application to routine requirements. This will also contextualise the study and application of law, thereby making study of law interesting....” 

Copyright

Dr Ravindra said that the college will have a copyright for the lab. “Any law college can not just copy the format. They can make changes in the format and create their own lab.”

He said that principals of other law colleges, who visited the lab had asked photocopies of the legal and other documents which the college had displayed in the lab. “However, we have turned down their request.” SDM Law College is the first law college to have received ‘A’ grade after reaccreditation from NAAC.