Inauguration of the SRM School of Law at its Kattankulathur campus .

The law school will offer three courses — a five-year B.A. LLB (honours), a five-year B.Com LLB (honours) and a three-year LLB (honours).

According to a press release, the focus of the School of Law will be on a holistic approach to the study of law and legal institutions. Classroom sessions and examinations aside, law and the development of legal institutions will be seen in the framework of the socio-economic-cultural developmental imperatives of India.

SRM Group of Institutions will have both domestic and international advisory boards drawn not only from the academia but also from the corporate world and research institutions.

The School of Law will insist that a student do internships in reputed law firms from the first year of study onward.

Lawyers can act as catalysts of change and act as voices for those who have none’.

This was the theme that ran through the speeches at the inauguration of the SRM School of Law here on 13th August. The 100-odd students of the SRM University, some of whom will study in the new law school, were treated to what was perhaps their first lesson — lawyers can act as agents of change and legal education is a must for any society. A lesson, delivered by a series of speakers, who included a judicial delegation from the State of Maryland, US, and several others from India.

Starting off with the example of the country’s very own Mahatma Gandhi, a lawyer, who went on to lead the freedom struggle, the First Lady of the State of Maryland Judge Catherine O’Malley declared that students should always remember what they can achieve. “Lawyers are agents of social change because they act as voices for people who otherwise would have none,” she said. Taking the theme further, the other dignitary presiding over the inauguration, Chief Judge of the Supreme Court of Maryland Mary Ellen Barbera said, “Legal education is an absolute necessity for any successful society. As I see it, it is a powerful tool. Both in achieving social change and in the proper administration of justice.”

According to her, law was so deeply entwined in the economic, political and social spheres of any society. She went on to give an example from US  history, where a young lawyer Thurgood Marshall achieved something that was a singularly important event in the fight for equality for African-Americans — the de-segregation of schools.

The function was also attended by former Advocate General R Krishnamurthy, SRM founder-Chancellor T R Pachamuthu and Vice-Chancellor T P Ganesan.

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