BENGALURU: For Y Shiva Santosh Kumar, who has bagged 14 gold medals at the 23rd convocation of National Law School of India University (NLSIU), finding a corporate job is not difficult. Yet, he has opted out of this career path.
Santosh, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, wants to “create an impact in the society he lives in.” As a prelude to this, he has already started practising under the advocate general of his native state. “Even though I was offered work in prestigious law firms in both India and abroad, I rejected the offers so that I can practise in court,” he told Express.
The firms dealt with corporate issues, which did not interest him. “I want to work for social, economic and political justice in society,” he said.
Changing Trends
Unlike previous years, where almost all of the medal winners opted to join law firms, medallists this year said that practising law was their priority.
Among them was Mansi Sood from Delhi, who bagged seven medals at the convocation. She will shortly travel to England to do her Masters in law at the prestigious Oxford University. A Rhodes scholar, she said she will return to practise law in the country. Having planned to specialise in commercial law, Sood said she chose the stream as Indian economy was undergoing change.
Even though Santosh won the most medals, it was the soft-spoken Vansh Sharad Gupta who seemed most popular among the medallists. He received five gold medals to a rousing ovation from the students. Hailing from Ahmedabad, he is currently employed as a legal researcher to a judge at the Delhi High Court.
Vansh said he has accepted a job offer from a London law firm, where he will report for work from next March. Legal troubles experienced by his family had prompted him to take up law, he said. “I wanted to understand what it was all about,” he said.
The person who won the highest number of medals in LLM was Priyansha Singh from Lucknow. Having completed her graduation in the UP capital, she pursued her PG in business law and secured three medals. Singh said she plans to pursue a career in a PSU and was not keen on practising law.
Degrees
A total of 611 degrees were awarded. This included degrees for 221 post-graduates in business law, 69 LLB graduates, 49 LLM, four PhDs and one Doctor of Laws. The other candidates secured PG diploma.