A Stare Decisis of Life in School of Legal Studies

The School of Legal Studies, CUSAT, is located in the heart of Cochin city. The department is accessible by metro & buses, the railway station is nearby & the airport is at a distance of 13 km. College bus facility is provided to the students living in & around Kochi. Hostels are properly maintained and are highly feasible. The infrastructure of the dept. is relatively old as it was established in the year 1962. The honorary courses offered are 5 years B.COM LLB(Hons.) & BBA LLB(Hons.) degree, each comprising 30 students. The department also offers a 3 year LLB program and a 1 year LLM program. The department has a handful of highly qualified faculty and remaining are guest faculty. Admissions are exclusively through the CUSAT CAT exam. The entrance exam is usually conducted in the month of April/May, but this year, the exams are scheduled on 27th July. CUSAT is one of the top-ranking universities in the country & I preferred SLS as it is a premier institution in the field of law in Kerala.

I chose this course, as this is a dual degree program, creating proficiency in 2 fields, namely commerce and law. The faculty comprises highly qualified subject experts with a doctorate degree in their area of law, but they often turn a blind eye to the holistic development of the student. Training for moots are rarely conducted and often the student is forced to start from scratch. The teaching method adopted by permanent faculty is apt, though the guest faculty hardly meet the standards. There are 13 permanent faculty for about 300 students which often forces the department to take in under-qualified guest faulty. The classes are usually conducted together for both the integrated courses, ie. B.COM LLB(Hons) & BBA LLB (Hons.), a batch comprises of 60 students and the students are separated only for the purpose of subjects exclusive to their choice of a bachelors degree. Exams are conducted timely and the question papers often deal with application-level questions followed by strict valuation

The college offers internship opportunity only in the final semester. Students usually apply for internship opportunity themselves. Students do their summer internships in the month of May and June. No assessment is done based on the internship except for the final semester viva voce and record. I have done three internships so far and I have had a great educational experience in all three of them. I was able to intern with notable names in the field.

The placement cell in the department is inactive, though efforts are being made to revamp it. A few companies approach the college under the recommendation of faculty and alumni, a few numbers of students are placed through these interviews. I intend to practice law under a senior lawyer or join a law firm, I have interned with.

The fee structure of CUSAT is nominal. The fee for a general candidate is around Rs. 25,000- 28,000/semester. Candidates with SC/ST reservation has a fee as low as Rs.100/200 per semester. OBC also has a very low fee structure. NRI candidate are bound to pay about Rs. 50000 per semester. Out of the 30 seats provided for each Integrated course, 18 are for general, 2-3 for NRIs and the remaining seats are reserved. The admission is exclusively through CUSAT CAT and the first 18 students in the rank list make it to the university. The hostels are really cheap and they have very basic facilities. All Government financial aids are provided in the college, there are no specific financial aids provided exclusively by the department. The placement cell in the campus is inactive, though efforts are being made to revamp it.

The Library is the best part about the college, the department has one of the best law libraries in the country, moreover, CUSAT is proud to have one of the largest libraries in Asia. The collection of books is vast and one can surely immerse themselves in the world of books. The infrastructure of the department is relatively old as it was established in the year 1962. The classrooms are equipped with a smart board and projector, though they are occasionally dysfunction. The department does not entertain any co-curricular or sports activities, but often the students manage to conduct a few events every year. The department sports fest is called Mudra, the university holds annual sports meet every year catering to all departments and every college under the university. An Arts fest is also conducted by the University, known as Sargam. A legal fest is coordinated by the students named Yukthi, once in two years or as and when possible, this fest is hosted and conducted solely by the students.

Till the year 2016, admission to the university was solely based on CUSAT CAT entrance exam, but recently they have started a GD and interview along with the entrance test. The GD is conducted on current affairs and the interview is based on 11th and 12th syllabus. But the chances of conducting GD and interview in 2020 is relatively low.