UPES collaborates with the University of Law (UK) for a Global Education Experience

UPES organized a legal conference in Delhi to announce the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the University of Law (ULaw). This tie-up is another step to provide students a world-class education and global exposure. The MoU was signed by Dr. Deependra Kumar Jha; Vice-Chancellor of UPES and Professor Andrea Nollent; Vice-Chancellor and CEO of ULaw. 

Professor Andrea Nollent, as part of the ULaw delegation, addressed the conference and shared her views on how ULaw is shaping the lawyers of future. Talking about the collaboration, she expressed her delight saying, “We are absolutely thrilled to be a part of this collaboration, we are very excited about how we can benefit each other as we are complementary, and we complement each other. UPES School of Law and the University of Law bring to this partnership different experiences and histories.”

She further explained why the current legal education wasn’t enough to equip students to be lawyers of the future. The primary reason is that traditional universities are slow to adapt to their well-established curriculum and this becomes a huge challenge since it is impossible to teach new skills using traditional methods. She continued by listing out the key attributes that have changed, which legal educators need to be adept at, and therefore, include in their courses. The changes were categorized into three categories.

1. The commoditization of legal services through technology, which removes the necessity for expensive, customized and bespoke solutions that are traditionally provided by a lawyer.
2. Leveraging the use of technological developments by law firms to reach new levels of productivity, efficiency, and innovation.
3. The break-up of the monopoly of the price of law by traditional law firms through technological advances such as chat boxes, alternative business structures, the de-regulation of the legal services and the rise in the number of in-house lawyers.

To be able to catch up to these changes in the legal field, Andrea elucidated how ULaw is constantly evolving their programs to nurture lawyers who are in sync with advancements in legal technology. Better known as T-shaped graduates, these lawyers are well versed with the traditional methods of legal services, adept at non-traditional skills and come with knowledge of other fields, making them a complete package to collaborate with others more efficiently.

She closed the session by discussing how ULaw has created three Tech hubs across the UK- in London, Leeds, and Nottingham – with more plans for expansion and growth in the future, as this area continues to grow and evolve. She concluded by further adding, “Law Tech is transforming legal practice. It would create greater consumer access to law and will free lawyers from some of the routine work involved in the practice. To continue to be relevant and to add value to our clients, lawyers will need to develop emotional intelligence, entrepreneurial and business skills, as well as understanding and embedding the golden thread of legal technology throughout our practice.”

The insightful session by Professor Andrea Nollent delved deep into the changing paradigms of legal practice and how this MoU would open doors of opportunities to law students by offering global exposure and hands-on knowledge about the various facets of law, including cybercrime and more.

The Chief Guest of the event was Honourable Justice Dipak Misra, former Chief Justice of India. Other notable personalities included Honourable Justice Swatanter Kumar, former Chairperson, National Green Tribunal, Professor Andrea from ULaw, Professor Joanna from PVC ULaw, Professor Vassilis, PVC International Development, ULaw, and Professor Tatiana, Director- International Partnerships, ULaw.

The panelists included Mrs. Sadhana Ramachandran, Advocate, Supreme Court, Sri Pavan Duggal, Advocate Supreme Court & President, Pavan Duggal & Associates, Mr. Rajat Mukherjee, Partner Khaitan & Company, and Ms. Poonam Verma from Jyoti Sagar & Associates. A representative of Uttarakhand State Bar Council, Mr. Vijay Bhatt, Justice Manju Goyal and Sri Rupinder Suri were also seen as attendees amongst other eminent lawyers and practitioners from the legal field. 

With this partnership, UPES aims to provide industry-relevant education to students who wish to excel in the law field. Now let us have a look at the benefits that the future lawyers and faculty members at both the institutes will get:

• Faculty and student exchange programs
• Online modules
• Scholarships for postgraduate programs
• Research collaboration
• Summer school programs
• Conference, moot courts, collaborative seminars, and student competitions