| In all these years of the India Today-ORG-MARG survey, if there was one stream where the winner was taken for granted, it was law. An almost permanent fixture in the No. 1 slot, the Bangalore-based National Law School of India University (NLSIU) invariably hogged the limelight. This time, however, it has been elbowed out into second place by ILS Law College of Pune, a city that also has the distinction of producing the third ranker, the Symbiosis Society's Law College.  | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | CLASS ACT: It is a mix of moot courts and street theatre for ILS students | | To be fair, ILS' feat has been long overdue. Established in 1924, the institution, which has climbed up from its No. 3 position in the survey last year, is one of the oldest and most popular law colleges in the country. Its calibre can perhaps be judged by its alumni, a list that includes legal eagles like P.B. Gajendragadkar, Y.V. Chandrachud and E.S. Venkatramaiah, academics like S.P. Sathe and Dr Alice Jacob and politicians like Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. "The bills that I pushed in Parliament were thanks to the presentation and argumentation skills that I learnt in college," says former commerce minister Mohan Dharia, recollecting the days of moot courts and case studies in ILS. Grooming students for real-life situations is one of ILS' priorities. Apart from offering regular courses like LLB and master's in labour law and labour welfare, it offers one-year diploma courses in topics that have a contemporary relevance: cyber laws, corporate law, medical jurisprudence, human rights, investments and securities and intellectual property rights. "It is the teachers' ability to go beyond the syllabus and offer something extra that makes the institute a topper," says Principal V.G. Joshi. Significantly, 99 per cent of the faculty in the college are former students. The college also has scholars from foreign universities conducting courses on subjects like clinical and legal education, feminist legal theory and international environmental law. | RANKING OF COLLEGES
ON THEMES | |  | | | The moot courts and legal aid and literacy programmes undertaken by the college are also a big help for the students. Well-known alumni are roped in for the camps where the students get first-hand accounts of how complex cases were cracked. But it is not just moot courts and heavy law books for ILS students. They have organised street plays under the British Council's Higher Education Programme. In the nook and corners of rural Maharashtra, they talked and danced about issues like gender equality and prohibition of child marriage. The 175-acre campus has a swimming pool, cricket and football grounds, gymnasium and basketball courts. Students are also encouraged to take regular treks in the hilly ranges that border the campus. However, entry into the college is tough-the cut-off percentage for the 240 seats in the five-year LLB course is 85. This ensures that only the crème de la crème gets through. | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | MOOT POINT: When it comes to job offers NLSIU students have the edge | | In many premier law institutes in the country, there is a strong emphasis on social commitment. At NLSIU, for instance, they are planning to increase the number of outreach programmes. ILS has beaten the National School on most parameters but in job placements NLSIU scores. With several of its students winning Rhodes scholarships, many SAARC countries are keen to emulate the NLSIU model. At No 3, Symbiosis Society's Law College, Pune, has done well for itself moving up from the fifth position that it held for three years. Course upgradations and tie-ups with foreign universities have stood it in good stead. What is striking about the institute is its sparkling clean environs and its students in uniform. It is mandatory for them to don black and white. The pride that they wear on their faces, however, is a natural spin-off. Index
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