GLC students invite judges, lawyers to conduct lectures
Not entirely satisfied with some faculty members, students of Government Law College (GLC), Churchgate, have invited leading members of the bar and bench to conduct lectures in specialised fields of law this semester.
Not entirely satisfied with some faculty members, students of Government Law College (GLC), Churchgate, have invited leading members of the bar and bench to conduct lectures in specialised fields of law this semester. The initiative will also give students a chance to interact with the best in the field.
The eminent judges and lawyers invited are alumni of the 156-year-old college. One of the oldest and most distinguished law schools in the country, the college has seen rough times in the past decade and has had four principals in the past three years.
“We need extra help with certain subjects and the perspective from a senior practising lawyer or judge is very different from a textbook. We are approaching six to eight former judges and senior lawyers from the Bombay high court including Justice Srikrishna to give us lectures on specific subjects,” said a student who is part of the initiative. For the past month, students have been approaching people on their list. While GLC does have a tradition of lawyers teaching part time at the college, the lawyers are young and not as experienced.
“We wanted to learn from people with more experience. Many lawyers who come in to teach us are barely a few batches senior to us,” said the student.
Faculty members, too, are happy that students will be exposed to people who are active in the field. “It is essential for students to interact with lawyers to understand the practical aspect of the law. Such prominent judges and lawyers will enthuse students to the bar. Several students, including those from the National Law Schools, are opting high-paying corporate jobs where lawyers don’t even go to court,” said Kishu Daswani, a professor at the college.
Lawyers who have been approached are glad to take out time from the schedules and teach students. Senior counsel JP Cama who will give lectures in labour law said, “I would want to give back something to my college. I am not looking at the regular format of a lecture but more at a sit-down session with students to discuss the law. I don’t want to impose anything on them and frankly I love teaching,” said Cama. “I know several colleagues of mine who would love to do the same.”
On hearing of the initiative, even the in-charge principal of the college, Manjusha Molwane supported students. “This is a very good initiative. Students need to go beyond their books and understand contemporary cases and judgments and this can come from people in the courtroom,” said Molwane.