National Law University Odisha (NLUO) is a public law school and a National law University in India located at Cuttack, Odisha. It was established in 2008 (Act 4 of 2008) under the National Law University Odisha Act, commencing its first batch from July 2009. The institute offers undergraduate (integrated B.A./LL.B., BBA/LL.B., and post-graduate courses (L.L.M, M.Phil., PhD) in law.
The founding Vice Chancellor of NLUO was Faizan Mustafa. Prof. (Dr.) Ved Kumari is the present Vice-Chancellor of the university.
Campus
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This section does not cite any sources. (February 2021)
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NLUO was established under the National Law University Odisha NLUO Act of 2008. Since June 2012, NLUO has been functioning from its current campus amid rivers Mahanadi and Kathajodi at Naraj. The university is spread over a 50-acre (200,000 m2) campus sanctioned by the Odisha government with another 20 acres set to be allotted. The college is located at CDA Sector 13 in the Millennium city of Cuttack.
There are two boys’ hostels and two girls’ hostels (GH-2 is on its completion) with 60+ rooms on each floor. The amphitheater of NLUO can house the entire college at once and is functional during special fests and programs. The Academic Block houses different lecture halls, seminar hall, committee halls and the library. The library is divided into three sections: the E-Brary, which has computers for research and work; the Journal section; and the main library.
Academics
Admissions
For both the undergraduate and post-graduate programs, students are accepted through the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT). Just like any other NLU, admissions to NLU Odisha is known to be highly competitive, with only 180 students to be selected for undergraduate course from a pool of more than 70,000 students appearing for CLAT annually.
Undergraduate
The total intake of undergraduate students aiming to pursue either of the courses is 180. The lot is divided into 120 seats for B.A/LL.B and 60 seats for BBA/LL.B. Of the 120 B.A/L.L.B. seats, 14 are reserved for scheduled tribes, 10 for scheduled castes, 4 for the disabled, 4 for foreign nationals and 10 for NRI. The university also provides state domicile reservations for 40 seats i.e. 25% as approved by the state government. B-VOC (Bachelor of Vocation Degree) in Access To Justice is a UGC sponsored course, with a total intake of 50 seats and reservation as per Govt of India is applicable. The University Grant Commission approved the commencement of a B-Voc Degree course from 2018 to 2019.
Postgraduate
NLUO offers a 1 year long L.L.M course in Corporate & Commercial Law and Constitutional Law and has an intake of 50 students divided 25 each for the streams. Out of the 25 in each stream 03 are reserved for SC, 2 for ST, 1 for specially abled persons, 2 for NRI and 1 for foreign nationals respectively.
Rankings
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| Law – India | |
| NIRF (2020) | 14 |
| Outlook India (2019) | 17 |
| India Today (2020) | 6 |
National Law University Odisha was ranked 6th in 2020 by India Today and 17th by Outlook India. National Law University Odisha ranked 14th in India in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) law ranking in 2020.
Student life
Social Media Committee
The Social Media Committee looks over and manages all the official social media handles of the university.
International Maritime Arbitration Moot
Since 2014, NLUO has been conducting the NLUO International Maritime Arbitration Moot Court Competition (IMAM), a flagship event of The Moot Society (TMS) of NLUO. It is India’s first International Maritime Law Moot with a special focus on International Commercial Arbitration.
The 5th edition of IMAM was organised by The Moot Court Society in association with Eastern Book Company/ SCC Online Web Edition in March–April 2018. 24 teams from across the took part in this competition.
Mooting achievements
NLUO has been ranked 10 in the Mooting Premier League 7th edition which is decided on the basis of cumulative points earned in multiple moot court competitions. NLUO has recorded stellar performance in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, which is the oldest and the largest moot court competition in the world. For two consecutive years, 2016 and 2017, and also in 2019; NLUO has qualified for the international rounds of the moot court competition. While in 2016 it finished in the top 16, in 2017 NLUO was the semi-finalist in the world rounds and the winner of the National rounds. In 2019 it finished as runners-up in the Indian national rounds and was among the top 32 teams globally. It was also given various other awards.
NLUO also was declared the quarter-finalist of Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot, Vienna, 2021. The university was also given memorial awards.
The university has also performed well in the Price Media Law Moot Court Competition hosted by the University of Oxford. NLUO was the Runner-Up of South Asia Rounds and an Octo-Finalist in the International Rounds of the Competition in 2018 and 2019.
NLUO in 2017 was the winner of the 34th BCI Moot Court Competition among its other achievements. It also received the honorable mention for Runner Up in the category of Best Newcomer Team in the 18th International Maritime Law Arbitration Moot (2017) hosted by Murdoch University, Australia. In 2019, NLUO won the 11th Edition of the Prestigious NUJS Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) National Moot Court competition.