NLSIU (National Law School of India University)

National Law School of India University (NLSIU), established in 1986 under the Karnataka Act No. 22 of 1986, is India's first and most consistently top-ranked national law university. Located at Gnana Bharathi Main Road, opposite NAAC, Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru, the 23-acre campus has been ranked #1 in Law by NIRF for four consecutive years (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025). It is accredited by NAAC (Grade A), recognised by UGC, and approved by the Bar Council of India (BCI). QS World Subject Rankings placed NLSIU in the #151-200 band for Law globally in 2026.

NLSIU offers the 5-year integrated BA LLB (Hons) programme — the first of its kind in India, launched in 1988. India's first 3-year LLB (Hons) at any National Law University was also launched by NLSIU in 2022. Other programmes include LLM (1-year), Master of Public Policy or MPP (2-year), and PhD in Law and interdisciplinary social sciences. The largest law library in India — Narayan Rao Melgiri Memorial National Law Library — is on campus, housing 50,000+ books and 20,000+ journals.

Admission is exclusively through CLAT (Common Law Admission Test) for BA LLB and LLM. There is no management quota at NLSIU. CLAT 2026 Round 2 closing rank for BA LLB General All India category: AIR 108. CLAT 2025 closing rank: AIR 112 (General). CLAT 2024 closing rank: AIR 102 — one of the most competitive years recorded. 25% of seats are reserved for Karnataka domicile students, who compete separately. BA LLB total fee for 2026-27: ₹4,51,000. LLM fee: ₹5,06,400.

Placements (NIRF 2026 data): BA LLB median salary ₹19 LPA; LLM median ₹7.20 LPA. In 2024-25, 83 BA LLB and 98 LLM students were placed. Recruiters include ICICI Bank, KPMG, Deutsche Bank, and top law firms. NLSIU is the only Indian institution to have won the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition — in 1999 and 2013. 25 NLSIU alumni have been Rhodes Scholars.

The university was conceived after decades of advocacy by Chief Justice Mohammad Hidayatullah, Ram Jethmalani, and legal scholar Upendra Baxi. The first undergraduate batch was enrolled on 1 July 1988. In 1995, NLSIU established the first UNHCR Chair for Refugee Law in Asia.