Alumni Assemble! All about NLSIU’s Annual Alumni Weekend 2023

In 2022, we had our first in-person post-pandemic alumni weekend at the NLS campus. This year, we were happy to see our alumni return to campus for the 2023 edition of the annual alumni weekend jointly organised by NLSIU and the NLS Alumni Association on 16-17 December.  Alumni from across batches including graduates of the Professional and Continuing Education programmes participated in this reunion.

On December 16, the day started with an interaction between the alumni and Prof. (Dr.) Nigam Nuggehalli, Registrar. This discussion largely focused on university updates such as faculty expansion in all areas of teaching, research processes and centres, expansion of programmes, rapid increase of executive programmes and the redevelopment of the campus and the ongoing work in the library precinct. This session also allowed our alumni to share their feedback and ideas on the University’s initiatives.

This session was followed by a football match between the alumni and the NLS student team. While the alumni brought some of their best players to the field (supplemented by some heckling from the sidelines), the current NLS students emerged as winners with a final score of 3-2! During the course of the day, a guided tour of some parts of the campus was also organised during which the alumni could weave through the campus’ cherished spots and also see the newer developments. Lunch was followed by a General Body Meeting of the Alumni Association. The day on campus wrapped up with a jamming session with NLS students and the alumni in attendance.

Alumni Speak

We spoke to some of our alumni during the weekender and here’s what they had to say:

Anindita Phukan, Senior Partner, Altum Law
NLS BA LLB ’96

“Coming back to campus, it is so different yet familiar. This is a place that made me who I am. So, it is always a pleasure to be back and to meet the youngsters who take part in all the activities. So I thank the University for making it so wonderful for us to return here again and again.”

Arun Kumar, Senior Advocate
NLS BA LLB ’94

“It is indeed nostalgic to come back. As a student in the 1990s, we got here to this campus in our third year, and we had only one small building, and no hostels at that point of time. Probably, the boys’ hostel was completed and the girls were living in Vijayanagar. Now, this campus has become a huge township. There is a lot of infrastructure which has come up. Many things as we knew then has changed. It was good to come back and play football with these students today. That was quite an eye-opener! We had a lovely time and the lunch too was really good!”

Arun Kumar C, Linde South Asia Services
NLS MBL 2023 (Master of Business Laws)

“I enrolled into the the MBL programme because I wanted to get some kind of proficiency on contract management and this course included a paper on contract law. I feel validated by this decision and I am immensely proud that I am through with this degree. Some of the good memories I have of this campus is to do with the greenery that greatly improves the air quality here. The library on campus was one of the best places where I spent a lot of time. During the programme, I also had the opportunity to meet professionals from other fields. Earlier today, we had a great session with the University’s Registrar who took us the future plans of the university, and later watched the match between the alumni and the current students. The day’s been a good experience!”

S. Srikrishna, Delivery Leader, Accenture
NLS PGDCLCF 2020 (PG Diploma in Cyber Law and Cyber Forensics) 

“It is a pleasant and overwhelming experience today to be here at NLSIU where we got to meet alumni from different fields and backgrounds. I am a techno-legal professional, and have been part of the IT industry for the last 23 years. I do a lot of mentoring of engineering students to help bridge the gap that exists between the market and campuses. I am glad that NLSIU too is conducting programmes on techno-legal perspectives. As an alumni of the University, we look forward to contribute to NLSIU in some way in the future. Our classroom sessions were a space where we saw professionals from multiple industries come together. I especially enjoyed being part of the classes of Prof. Nagaraj as well as Prof. Nagarathna.”

Off-Campus Events

Following the on-campus events at NLS, many of our alumni got together for an evening of laughter and merriment at the off-campus dinner organised by the Alumni Association in the city. This was an opportunity for several alumni to meet up with the others who had not been able to make it to the campus events earlier in the day.

The weekend concluded with some of our alumni attending the Justice E S Venkataramaiah Centennial Memorial Lecture by Hon’ble Dr Justice D. Y. Chandrachud, Chief Justice of India and NLSIU Chancellor on the morning of December 17.  The event took place at the Jnana Jyothi Auditorium, Bengaluru. Justice Venkataramaiah’s daughter Hon’ble Mrs. Justice B.V. Nagarathna, Judge of the Supreme Court of India, addressed the gathering on the occasion.

The video of the lecture is available here.