The Japanese prover, “One day with a great teacher is better than a thousand days of diligent study is all true.” Vibes of it were felt on 5November 2019 at Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla where a special guest lecture was organised for its student advocates.
A one-day Special Lecture on “Legal Research Methodology” and “Introduction to Intellectual Property Rights: Practical Aspect” was organized by the Internship and placement Committee of Himachal Pradesh National Law University on 5 November 2019 in the University’s Lecture Hall. The lecture was addressed by the highly esteemed, eminent Legal scholar of India renowned Mr. Sumeet Malik,Director at Eastern Book Company, Editor Supreme Court Cases Online, Managing Editor Technology and Communication Cases and Advocate Supreme Court of India. He has made a mark of his own amongst the Legal Fraternity of India. He has graduated from India’s oldest National Law University, NLSIU, Bangalore. He then pursued an LL.M in Intellectual Property from Franklin Pierce, United States. He holds credit as author of four well acclaimed books namely, “Thus Spake their Lordships”, “Law Lexicon with Legal Maxims”, Intellectual Property Manual” and “Environmental Law”. He is also editor of various significant Law Books.
A total of 250 students attended the Lecture. The Lecture was divided into two sessions. First scheduled at 11:00 pm and the other at 2:00 pm. The student advocates were all the more excited to understand the nuances of Legal Research from a scholar who’s wore are all encompassing and who has been a source of inspiration for many a people in the Legal field. Mr. Sumeet Malik took two consecutive sessions.
The first session was scheduled exclusively for the IYear students, and dealt with Legal Research methodology, Legal Sources, and understanding legal texts. Mr. Sumeet Malik started his lecture by implanting the seeds of thought into the minds of the students that they will not be advocates 5 year down the line rather they will be social engineers.
As Socrates once said, Job of a teacher is not to teach anything but to make them think. His lecture was not laid before the student merely as some slides. But was carefully unfolded before the students as to make them think. His lecture was inclined towards making them acquainted with how a lawyer should think. He was imperative on the point that a lawyer must know to segregate a relevant fact from the story of his client. The second step, according to him was to know the law and the third step is to know where will he find the law. Going further, he provided students the sources where to find the law and the methodology to know the law. He also provided students clarity on some fundamental aspects such as importance of the right terminology in the Law. He explained to the students that clarity in the language of an advocate is way to clarity in his concept and a tool to put it across effectively in Court of law.
This was followed by a Lunch wherein the Faculty members of HPNLU, Shimla and Mr. Sumeet Malik interacted with one another.
The second session comprised of students from III and IV Year and LL.M Batch. This session dealt on the practical aspect of researching. It also dealt with the jurisprudence of Intellectual Property Rights in India, its application at ground level, and the nuances of such new areas of Laws in India. As Mr. Sumeet Malik is a man of immense experience, he had opportunity of working with Senior Advocate Mr. K.K. Venugopal, also he has been mentored by various learned academicians such as Late Professor Menon, and Professor Gopalakrishnan. He through his rich experience in the legal field explained the students with subtlety the jurisprudence of Intellectual Property rights to such diverse bunch of students. He further asked students not to learn the law but work with law. Last but not the least he provided students with certain legal issues to ponder upon and work out solution for.
The lectures were more like an interactive session between the students and Mr. Sumeet Malik. After the two consecutive rigorous sessions he was energized and generous enough to take up doubts, queries, and questions of students.
The session then concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr. Santosh Kumar, Faculty Convener, Internship and Placement Committee, Assistant Professor, HPNLU. And the University, also felicitated him with a “Himachali Cap and a Hiamchali Shawl” as a token of thanks for sparing his valuable time and for exposing his thoughts and knowledge with the students.
It was very informative and interactive that the students were able to know about the Legal research. True position of Laws relating to Intellectual rights in India in juxtaposition with the worldjurisprudence. The lecture was even more interesting with the examples he gave relating to each topic. And his real-life experiences in dealing with legal issues provided no less opportunity as on “how to think like a lawyer”. It was wonderful Knowledge sharing and gaining lecture regarding Legal Research Methodology and Intellectual Property Rights vis-a-vis Indian Jurisprudence.