Mitali Agarwal is a student of the founding batch of MNLU Mumbai. Her academic areas of interest are Criminal law and Economics. She is a judicial service aspirant. Sketching, cooking and poetry are her co-curricular interests.
From whining about eight people in the hostel room, bad mess food, the incessant bureaucracy of a state-run University, to endless struggle of a nascent University, we somehow grew a lot in three years to become a close-knit family of some 160 diverse bunch of students. Now merely two years remaining for the first batch to graduate, we as a University have come a very long way. Only yesterday did we have a humble beginning from a single classroom at the beautiful campus of distinguished TISS Mumbai, with eminent speakers from across the country interacting with the first batch of students within the very first week. Now having moved on to a bigger temporary campus of CETTM MTNL Mumbai, we have accomplished various milestones on the way.
Every time we have expressed our concerns about lack of seniors, an alumni base, a permanent campus, inadequate funding and even some basic facilities, we have been reminded constantly of the difficult journey of the sister NLUs especially NLSIU. The students are fondly called “The partners in the making of MNLU” by our founding Vice-Chancellor, Prof. (Dr.) Bhawani Prasad Panda; and from the very start, the students in synergy with the administration and faculty have put their best efforts in every endeavour. Nothing has been served to us on the silver platter in the last three years and it has been a relentless struggle at MNLU Mumbai. Our modest beginnings, however, did not impede us from exceeding all expectations and carve a niche for MNLU Mumbai. One of our Professors rightly says, “Hard learning is always the best learning”, and the challenges we face have only made us stronger and prepared for the ruthless world outside. The last academic year especially has been noteworthy in the progress of the University due to the remarkable efforts of all the three batches along with the support of the faculty and the administration.
The University has successfully organized two successive students exchange program with Berlin School of Economics and Law (BSEL) Germany in 2017 and 2018. The outreach of the University has substantially expanded with eminent legal luminaries from the academia, the bar and the bench, partners of major law firms visiting the University to interact with the students. The administration has been working tirelessly to secure best internships for the students and the students of the first batch are scheduled to intern with major law firms like Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, J Sagar, Khaitan, S&R Associates among few this summer. The students have been performing exceptionally well at national and international Moot Court and ADR Competitions this year. The major Moot Court Competition feats include –
- Runners Up trophy in the 7th RGNUL National Moot Court Competition;
- Best Researcher and Semi-Finalists consecutively in in the 16th and 17th Henry Dunant Moot Court Competition;
- Best Speaker and Best Researcher in NHRC-SGLC All India Moot Court Competition;
- Best Researcher in the 2nd Gurjeet Singh Memorial National Moot Court Competition;
- Runners-up in 7th RGNUL National Moot Court Competition;
- Quarter finalists of the ICC Moot Court Competition 2018 India National Rounds;
- Semi-finalist in 2nd Maharishi Markandeshwar National Moot Court Competition,
- 14th Nani Palkhivala Memorial National Taxation Moot Court Competition,
- Osmania University Moot Court Competition Hyderabad,
- 8th Paras Diwan Memorial International Energy Law Moot Court Competition UPES Dehradun and
- 3rd SK Puri Memorial National Moot Court Competition.
The University also secured three prestigious international representations in ADR competitions – MNLU Mumbai being one of the only two institutes from Asia and out of eleven institutions worldwide, selected in mediation category of IBA-VIAC CDRC Vienna Mediation and Negotiation Competition to be held in Vienna. Further, the students won both the negotiation and mediation competition of the Negotiation Mediation Client Counselling Competition (NLS NMC) 2018 and qualified to represent the University respectively at the International Rounds at Cardiff, Wales, 2018 and 14th ICC Mediation at Paris to be held in 2019. Further, the University also won the National Negotiation Competition at the 2nd VIPS Dispute Resolution and Client Consultation Competition, Delhi; Second runner-up, and the semi-finalist at the IV RMLNLU National Mediation Competition, 2018; Runner-up Mediator Lex Infinitum, 2018 and the Upcoming Negotiating Team Lex Infinitum, 2018.
A National conference on “Regulatory Challenges to Business in India” was also conducted successfully by the University. Further, A Training Program on Mediation and Negotiation was conducted in collaboration with Peace Keeping and Conflict Resolution Team (PACT). The University also hosted the South Asia-Pacific Rounds of The NILS Business & Human Rights Moot Court Competition 2018. The University also organised various roundtable discussions and workshops on “Establishment of the Centre of Excellence in Maritime Law and Allied Matters” in association with Directorate General of Shipping; “Challenges to Criminal Justice Administration in the State of Maharashtra”; “Implementation of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994” in association with The Regional and State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO-SOTTO) Western Region; “Transnational Crimes with Special Focus on Human Trafficking” in collaboration with International Justice Mission (IJM).
MNLU Mumbai is no exception when it comes to the struggles of a budding University. We have had our own shares of ups and downs like the students of any other University which shall continue for times to come as well. We have come a long way and certainly, there are miles to cover. As long as we are determined to grow irrespective of the logistical and administrative issues, even sky is not the limit.
