In an unfortunate developement, Mr. NR Madhava Menon, the father of modern legal education who revolutionised legal education in India, pioneered legal aid clinics, been the strength behind the establishment of NUJS and NLSIU and a tremendous inspiration to NLU grads over the last 3 decades has passed away last night after having been diagnosed with liver cancer several months ago. Born on 4 May 1935 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala he graduated with a BSc in Zoology in 1953 and completed law at Government Law College Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram between 1953 and 1955. He then went on to practise in the Kerala High Court and then wrote the civil services exam. He was posted in Central Secretariat in Delhi as a result. He then secured an MA from Punjab University and completed his LLM and PhD from Aligarh Muslim University by 1965. In his time in NUJS, he fostered the mooting culture of the university and made the university leave a mark in international moot court competitions which had been described as "A series of significant and remarkable successes by NUJS students in international competitions, which earned several honours and accolades, a feat unprecedented in the history of law colleges in India" During this time some of the transformative changes he aided/brought to the university included- the Nature Committee/Club which conducted events in association with the WWF, the establishment of the Indian Journal of Juridical Sciences which had in its editorial Board- Mr. C. R. Irani, Editor-in-Chief, the Statesman and Justice A. M. Bhattacharjee, former Chief Justice of Calcutta and Bombay High Court and Mr. Menon himself and three student editors- Mr. Aditya Khanna, Ms. Uma Sud and Mr. Subhankar Dam who provided support and editorial assistance, the extablishment of the debating society, magazine committee, cyber committee, starting various research projects with the Ford Foundation, etc, among others. He was also behind the vibrant legal aid clinic at NUJS and pioneered the concept of law students being actively engaged in professional internships besides theoretical studies within classroom. Even after having left NUJS as the founding VC, he never lost touch with the university and its students and was always more than willing to provide guidance or advice when needed- which proved as a great asset to the students and faculty. His death is a great loss to the NUJS family. His absence shall leave a huge void in the lives of the students and members of the faculty alike. We pray for the departed soul and offer our condolences to his family through this testing time and at the same time are extremely grateful and forever indebted to his contribution that is the backbone to the greatness of our law school.
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