Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai

About College:

The group of institutions collectively known as the National Law Universities (NLUs) now number over twenty. Most of them recruit students using the CLAT (Common Law Admission Test) scores. This is considered the flagship exam, which gives entry to some of the finest Law colleges in the country. The competition for this is immense. The test includes 200 objective type multiple choice questions to be answered within a maximum time limit of 120 minutes. These 200 questions are divided into Legal Aptitude and GK hogging half the total share with 50 questions each. English and Reasoning are worth 40 each while math which is quite elementary is worth 20. For every wrong answer, a fourth of negative marks gets deducted. Success in this exam, opens the door towards some of the best national law colleges (NLUs). In spite of the ‘national’ tag associated with the NLUs, they remain state universities. CLAT is also one of the few law entrances that were conducted on online mode, but has now reverted to the offline avatar. 

For long, law lagged behind several other professional and degree courses when it came to prestige and career opportunities, but now, thanks to the NLUs, it is considered a top career choice. With the opening up of the economy, law grads can now take up careers in corporate law, international agencies, NGOs, Legal Process Outsourcing (LPOs) firms and academics, besides the conventional careers centres around litigation and the judiciary. This was the reason for the launch of the five- year integrated programmes by the NLUs which can be taken up by students immediately after completion of their school. 

The Maharashtra National Law University in Mumbai (MNLUM) was established in the year 2014, making it one of the youngest NLUs in the country. It is one of the three NLUs in the state of Maharashtra, with the other two being in Nagpur and Aurangabad. The decision to start them off was almost simultaneous. The Mumbai centre was sharing space with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) but now located in another place with 21 acres allotted to them. It will soon move to its permanent 60- acre campus. It will be replete with a full- fledged residential block and academic buildings. A meditation centre will be one of the highlights here. Even though this is one of the youngest NLUs, it has already been attracting some of the finest talent and students in the country. This is due to its prime location in the country’s commercial capital. 

Courses are available here at the MNLU Mumbai right from the UG till doctoral levels. At the UG level, the flagship five- year integrated programme BA LLB is offered. The LLB of course is the standard degree offered to Common Law countries’ legal study graduates. At the master’s level, the one- year LLM is offered here. It is offered in two major specializations which are- Corporate Law and Commercial Law. Doctoral programmes may also be pursued from here. To facilitate the development of the students, a German language course has also been started off here. The purpose is to enable students to work in a global environment as is the norm at present. 

The MNLU Mumbai also conducts its Mentorship Programme. The idea of this is to identify the talents among the students by their respective mentor. This will enable these students to further hone the talents they already possess. Students from the institute have already participated in a number of competitions nationwide. Most prominently, they have coughed up awards in moot court contests, debates and quizzes. The library here is one of the best stocked within the region. Besides the physical books on display, it also provides digital access to en number of international academic journals for research and academic purposes. Some special lectures are also conducted here on a periodic basis. All this has led to favourable reviews across rating platforms. The Careers 360 magazine for instance has rated the MNLU Mumbai at AAA category. The institute has not yet been able to participate in any formal survey as no single BA LLB batch has graduated yet.