6th & 7th December 2019.
Venue: MDP Room, 8th Floor, Mithibai College Building.
Report on 2 day FDP on ‘Pedagogical Requirements for Achieving Excellence in Teaching, Internships and Placements etc.’ organised under the aegis of Dean Dr. Alok Misra on December 6-7, 2019, KPMSoL, NMIMS
Key-note Address by Prof. (Dr.) S. K. Singh First Session of the Faculty Development Programme (FDP) started with the key-note address by Prof. Dr. S.K. Singh, former Vice Chancellor of Bhoj Open University, Bhopal and present Dean of School of Law, Justice and Governance, Gautam Buddha University, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.
Prof. (Dr.) Singh spoke on the foundational aspects of teaching at law-school. In his own profound way, he presented before us many lessons through sharing his own experience as a law professor. First, he insisted that the law faculty member should be well-versed in her or his subject. This earns her/him respect of students he teaches and the institution she / he works for.
He insisted that as a teacher we should develop ourselves as good teachers. Wearing ethical code is very crucial for this teaching profession. And every teacher should care about her / his health as well. A Law teacher should know about every branch of law. To have a larger influence in class, a law teacher must develop good communication skills and should also make the topic interesting through some anecdotes. A Law teacher must be a good researcher as well as he considered that with good research you can not bring new and critical thinking dimensions to the topic you are teaching. A Law teacher, for Prof. Singh, should also be a good leader. Along with a teacher should also contribute in developing ‘curricula’ as well.
With regard to his advice to start Distance Educational Courses at KPMSoL, NMIMS, he welcomed the initiative and proposed his services if the institution deem fit in near future.
His session ended with remarks of our esteemed Dean Prof. (Dr.) Alok Misra.
Faculty members like the tips that he provided to excel in teaching profession, his style of conversation and especially the anecdote which involved ‘Barsati Daku’ in a criminal activity.
Day 1, Session II: Mr. Ashish Ahuja, Managing Partner, Wadia Ghandy and Co.
In this session, Mr. Ashish Ahuja, Managing Partner, Wadia Ghandy and Co. discussed the skill set required from the law graduates at the time of joining of the law firm. In order to prepare the law graduates for a career in law firms certain revisions in course curriculum and teaching methodology was suggested by Mr. Ahuja. He suggested introduction of the following courses/teaching exercises at the undergraduate level: 1) Legal issue spotting exercises to be conducted; 2) Learning how different statutes/legislation interact with each other and leaning how to look at interconnected laws holistically and not in isolation; 3) Courses on new and emerging laws; 4) Contract drafting depending on the needs of the industry; 4) Learning how to decipher obiter dicta and ration decidendi in a judgment and other nuances to understand a judgment better. The session was very insightful and helpful for faculty members to have a better understanding of the mechanism to be adopted to bridge the gap between the academic knowledge and practical application of the law.
Day 2, Session I
Speaker: Mr. Anish Mashruwala, Partner, J. Sagar & Associates
In this session, Mr. Anish Mashruwala, Partner, J. Sagar & Associates discussed the expectations of law firms from law graduates. He mentioned how interconnected legal learning will help the students in the long run.
Day 2, Session II
Speaker: Mr. Dharmesh Kotadia, Co-founder & Partner-Clove Legal.
An interesting and stimulating session was conducted by Mr. Dharmesh Kotadia on the second day of the Faculty Development Programme. A few points highlighted by the speaker are mentioned herein below:
1)Thinking very fast: The students are expected to have an ability to deliver result with efficiency and thus an important trait here is to think of solutions quickly.
2)Willingness to learn must be present in a fresher.
3)Research is of absolute importance to crystalize thoughts and have more clarity on ideas and concepts.
Day 2 Session III
Speaker: Ms. Mayurika Das Biswas
Ms. Mayurika Das Biswas made the faculty members undertake positive affirmation exercises and how to deal with workplace negativity. It was an enlightening session.
Day 2 Session IV
Speaker: Ayan Roy Chaudhury, Vice President Legal, Saregama India Ltd.
In this session the esteemed speaker mentioned how IPR is an extremely important facet of legal profession today. He also mentioned that application bases knowledge and learning new dimensions in law are very crucial in the way forward.
This was the valedictory session which ended with a Vote of Thanks by Asst. Prof. Sohini Shrivastav and distribution of certificates to all the participants.
