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Kathmandu University School of LawNEWSLETTER1
NEWSLETTEREducation for leadership |||||Year 1|||||Issue 3|||||November 2014KUSL
Kathmandu University School of Law, KUSL
irst of all, I take this opportunity to congratulate the
Kathmandu University in Dhulikhel for taking a firm
initiative to establish the School of Law (KUSL) as its
seventh School. It was a very timely move, in view of
our pressing national requirement for quality legal
education, and the Kathmandu University was certainly
the best to think of it. The appointment of Dr Bipin
Adhikari, a senior constitutional expert, as the founding
law dean shows how serious the University is about
its commitment for quality legal education.
I would also like to congratulate the Kathmandu
University School of Law for launching a very important
course, BBM, LL.B (Bachelor of Business...(see page 3)
The keynote speech delivered at Kathmandu University during launching of the integrated Bachelor of Business
Management Bachelor of Law (BBM,LL.B) Programme of the School of Law (KUSL) on August 11, 2014.
Justice Kalyan Shrestha on the Prospect of Legal
Education in Nepal
F
Dr Bipin Adhikari (Dean, School of Law), Dr Bhola Thapa (Registrar, KU), Dr Suresh Raj Sharma (Former
VC, KU), Dr Ram Kantha Makaju Shrestha (VC, KU), Hon. Kalyan Shrestha (Justice, Supreme Court), Hari
Krishna Karki (V ice-chairperson Nepal Bar Council; Chairperson, Nepal Bar Association) Professor Tom
Ginsberg (University of Chicago Law School) and Sumit Bisarya (Constitution Building Programme, IIDEA,
Sweden) at the lunching ceremony of the BBM, LL.B programme on August 11, 2014. (from the left)
Kathmandu University School of Law 2
he five year, integrated Bachelor of Business Management, Bachelor of Law (BBM,LL.B) programme of the Kathmandu
University School of Law was launched in Dhulikhel today.
Launching the programme by lighting a ‘Panas,’ the Kathmandu University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Ram Kantha
Makaju Shrestha said this programme is a well thought-out intervention of the Kathmandu University to fulfill the
pressing requirements of the Nepalese society today.
While the guests of the launching programme were welcomed by Dean Dr Bipin Adhikari in the CV Raman Auditorium
of Kathmandu University, the launching of the programme was graced by the keynote speech of Honorable Justice
Kalyan Shrestha of the Supreme Court of Nepal on the prospects of legal education and the role of the Kathmandu
University School of Law in realizing its goals.
The programme was addressed by Professor (Dr) Suresh Raj Sharma, former Vice Chancellor and Coordinator of the
Kathmandu University School of Law Planning Advisory Committee. Emphasizing the importance of quality legal
education for Nepal, Dr Sharma said this programme has been picked up by the University keeping in view the problems
in the corporate sector in Nepal. He stated that it was initiated in order to create and train the necessary human
resources that will help find solutions to complex corporate legal problems.
On the occasion, representing Nepal Bar Association and Nepal Bar Council, Mr Hari Krishna Karki, who heads the
Association as the Chairperson and the Council as Vice Chairperson, emphasized the importance of a quality legal
education and expressed his hope that the Kathmandu University will do everything possible to meet the existing legal
challenges of the 21st century’s legal profession.
As for the two important foreign guest speakers who participated in the programme, Professor Tom Ginsberg of the
University of Chicago Law School spoke about the role of the Law in society, while Sumit Bisarya of the International
Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance discussed the topic of “Constitution Building Processes: the last mile
and the journey beyond promulgation.”
The programme was marked by the presence of leading legal luminaries of Nepal, including former Chief Justice
Govinda Bahadur Shrestha, Chief Secretary of Nepal Government Mr Lilamani Pokharel, the faculties of the Kathmandu
University, and the newly recruited students and their parents. g
BBM, LL.B (Bachelor of Business Management Bachelor of Law)
Programme of Kathmandu University School of Law launched
Former Supreme Court Justice Bharat Raj Uprety, National Law College Principal Dr Ramkrishna Timalsena, Chief
Secretary Lilamani Pokhrel, Former Chief Secretary & Senior Lawyer Tirthman Shakya & Nepali Congress Politician
Sunil Kumar Bhandari (from the left) at BBM, LL.B launching programme (August 11, 2014)
T
Kathmandu University School of LawNEWSLETTER3
...(cont. from Page 1) Management Bachelor of Law)
as its premier academic programme. The course is not
just first of its type in the country, it is also very well
designed. I believe this course is a beautiful marriage
between the two important spheres of the knowledge
system - management and law. The combination of the
two independent subjects creates some synergy which
helps in proving the whole as more than the sum of its
parts, as Gestalt phrased it.
This marriage may create among the undergraduate
students the capacity to understand the legal
perspective while taking a management decision, and
the managerial implications of a legal opinion, in the
absence of which business enterprises may suffer for
one or the other reason. The novel objective of this
course, I hope, should ultimately help in creating
lawyers who understand business management, and
managers who understand law. This helps lawyers
create favorable business environment. They will be
equipped with enhanced legal knowledge engineered
with the capacity of a risk manager who is schooled in
related disciplines and can provide multi-disciplinary
solutions to the business clients and corporate sectors.
This type of programme was much needed in Nepal.
One caution if I may add is that the course should be
oriented not only to promote the legal business market
through the profession, but should also be inspired by
the ethical considerations in the operation of business.
I understand ethics alone could not have prevented
many of the corporate malpractices that have occurred,
but ethical lapses certainly can escalate legal
violations. Therefore, in addition to law and
management, ethics too must be imparted in this type
of course. The course would certainly cater to the
needs felt by the market and not be overly commodified
in the name of marketing the course. In this context,
the role of a legal practitioner must be reinvented in
the light of existing limited contributions made by the
Profile
Justice Kalyan Shrestha
Justice Kalyan Shrestha, 63, is the senior-most sitting judge in Nepal’s
Supreme Court. A law graduate of 1976, from Tribhuvan University, he
became a District Court Judge in 1979, a Zonal Court Judge in 1985, a
Judge of the Court of Appeals in 1990 and a Judge of the Supreme
Court in 2005. He was the Chief Judge at the Appeals before he joined the
Supreme Court. Shrestha is a widely-read lawperson and has contributed immensely to legal academia. He
has put in many efforts in the judicial sector strategic plan and legal reforms processes. At present, he is
the chairperson of Judges Society Nepal, the SAARCLAW, and the Working Group of LAWASIA on
Administratively Independent Judiciary, among others. Shrestha is also a member of National Judicial
Academy. Considered a liberal in legal academia, Shrestha has many of the outstanding judgments that
the Supreme Court has delivered in recent years to his credit. Kathmandu University School of Law is
grateful to him for this keynote speech delivered at the BBM,LL.B Launching ceremony.
Kathmandu University School of Law 4
law and the legal profession in maintaining the
compliance culture of law.
Be that as it may. Now coming to the format and focus
of legal education, let me be honest that I may not be
the right person to speak about it. But as I am asked to
speak on the prospects of this new law school I will try
to present before you my fleeting thoughts on the issue
on the basis of my limited exposure to recent
development in international legal education and later
my associations with the professors and professionals.
As a sitting judge I am always concerned about the
quality of legal profession from where many make to
the Bench. The foundation on which the legal and
judicial system stand is no doubt the legal education.
Having a quality legal education in place is thus crucial
for maintaining and enhancing the quality of the legal
and judicial systems of the country.
For a long time legal education was considered a
specialized education. It is still considered so in many
parts of the world. It is as rigorous and meticulous as
the study of science, where very high
emphasis is given to research and
research-based education. But in our
part of the world, mainly owing to the
wind that blew in this sub-continental
plains in the 1950s, legal education
began to be considered as a liberal
education. Again, gradually, students
with poor grades started opting for
law courses. Legal education got
institutionalized as part-time
education. Many students enrolled in
night and morning shifts of law
colleges. Permission was also granted
to students to appear in law exams
as privately studying students. This
really affected the scenario of legal
education for nearly thirty years. I am glad the situation
now is changing. This School of Law can really show
the difference.
I start with
a popular
statement
that “law
schools
are great
not
because
of
teachers
but
because
of
students”.
Professor Rainer Arnold from Germany lecturing on international constitutional law
Kathmandu University School of LawNEWSLETTER5
I start with a popular statement that “law schools are
great not because of teachers but because of students”.
Now when I see the attempts being made by great law
schools like Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge
etc in roping in bright students and offering attractive
packages, this sounds very true. Rigorous screening
of application, entrance examinations, and interviews
may help the school draw able students. I know that
Dean Adhikari and his team have already worked on it
from the very beginning.
Let me emphasize here that I myself have been sharing
my complaints with the working of our legal and judicial
structures for long. Currently I have been taking the
responsibility of implementing the Strategic Plan for
the integrated Judicial reforms in Nepal. In that process,
one of the daunting problems faced by our judiciary is
the lack of proper human resource.
One disappointing trend noticed these days is that the
Public Service Commission, which has a major role in
public sector appointments, is receiving far fewer
quality applications for the judicial service positions
than its vacancies announced. Law Schools are not
producing an adequate number of meritorious
graduates to meet the demands of the public and
private sectors. The declining interest of the
meritorious new graduates in joining the government’s
judicial service necessitates the review of the service
conditions, which in turn negatively affect the service
delivery capacity of the judiciary. The judiciary is largely
leaning on the untrained subordinate judicial staffs
who have limited orientation to the law.
Another most worrying factor for me at the moment is
that neither the Public Service Commission nor the
Ministry of General Administration, which administers
the civil service are concerned about it. I have hardly
sensed any communication between the faculty board
of law schools and the judiciary taking place in terms
of the appropriateness of a curriculum or course. That
demonstrates how mindlessly we are functioning in
terms of preparing the legal human resource. I believe,
the kind and quality of judicial services is bound to be
affected by the kind and quality of legal education that
prevails.
Currently, the junior officers in the judiciary do not often
have any opportunity to be specifically trained in law
before they join the service; this has happened
KUSL faculty members and visiting Professors: Bishal Khanal, Dr Surya Dhungel, Attorney Egbert Lindner, Dr Bipin Adhikari,
Bishweshwar P. Bhandari, Anup Acharya, Sombhojen Limbu and Administrative Officer Chetan Acharya (from the left)
Kathmandu University School of Law 6
particularly after the closure of the
certificate level course in law. I
believe the judicial service is not
just composed of the judges and
the judicial officers, but also the
lawyers and legal academics. If
one branch is uninformed about
what is happening to the other
branch, the whole health of a body
is bound to suffer. The potential of
complimentarity between various
justice sector actors is
conspicuously missing.
I call upon the Kathmandu
University School of Law to take
some initiative to continue a
dialogue among all justice sector
actors, including the other law
schools, the judiciary, the Bar
Council, the Judicial Council, the Nepal Bar Association,
the Public Service Commission and the Ministry of
General Administration, that alone can streamline the
contemporary needs of the different branches of the
legal system. The more we communicate and
cooperate with each others, the more we can create
tangible, mutual benefits, which
ultimately can enrich and standardize
the legal system - our principal
objective behind the creation of the
law school. I have a lot of expectation
from this bonafide partnership.
The other important issue for legal
education is the issue of faculty
development. I believe the law
schools should take this seriously.
This has been a bane in not just
Nepal but our part of the world as
well. Even though we know pretty
well that law teaching and law
practice are two different areas, we
like to forget it for a variety of
reasons. We come across advocates
taking classes in law schools and full-
time teachers practicing in courts.
Barring some situations, this kind of arrangement should
not be tolerated. Having said this, I equally emphasize
that law teachers should be handsomely paid, so that
they do not have any financial strain and are able to
use their time in research and writing.
One disappointing trend
noticed these days is that
the Public Service
Commission, which has a
major role in public sector
appointments, is receiving
far fewer quality
applications for the judicial
service positions than its
vacancies announced. Law
Schools are not producing
an adequate number of
meritorious graduates to
meet the demands of the
public and private sectors.
KUSL faculty Anup Kumar Acharya, former Dean of Tribhuvan University Law Faculty Professor (Dr) Amber Kumar
Pant, former Chief Justice Govinda Bahadur Shrestha and KU Founding Registrar Dr Sitaram Adhikari (from the left)
Kathmandu University School of LawNEWSLETTER7
I believe the Kathmandu University School of Law can
reinvent the role of law schools to vouchsafe ultimately
the legal and judicial system in the country. Apart from
the BBM,LL.B course that is just inaugurated, more
specialized courses of different nature can be offered.
My personal impression is that the legal education
currently is increasingly disoriented to the legal
philosophical overtones. Consequently the legal
profession is taken more as a bread-earning activity
than soul-searching, more tactical than logical, more
as mystifying than experiencing. We are standing amid
massive contradictions. The KUSL can help demystify
them. I welcome the School of Law to take this
challenge.
My firm belief is that the law cannot be understood
without understanding the context under which it might
have been enacted and in what situation it is being
applied. The contextual knowledge makes our
understanding of law more realistic. This underlies the
needs for multidisciplinary interface while studying the
law. I may submit that the interface between science
and law; law, economics and development, law and
poverty alleviation, law and management, law and
social change and the like could be taken up as an
advance area for research and study.
They can help us identify our roles in positively
steering the law in a manner that serves the society
in a better way. I believe, economically inefficient
laws should not form part of our good laws. An
obstructive litigation strategy that amounts to
increase of unreasonably high cost of the project,
making it unamenable for implementation cannot be
condoned as part of exercise of professional
autonomy. Development hindered should mean
development justice hindered. For me, the aim of legal
education should be to create the capacity among
people to enjoy their rights, inspire democratic
behavior and ultimately distribute equitably the
benefit of the law. Exposure of the student to the life,
liberties and opportunities for that becomes crucial.
I see it a great merit for the School of Law to have
network and linkages. By that I mean linkage with noted
law firms where law students work as apprentices,
linkage with professional organizations and civil
society organizations that are working in different fields
such as victim support, legal aid, and support to
marginalized groups such as women, Dalits, and
others, and also linkage with professional
organizations such as the judicial academies and even
the courts. Creating opportunities for meritorious
students to work as law clerk with judges enhance their
professional knowledge. I do understand that we, as
the professionals, should help law schools in acquiring
such openings, and I support your initiative in this
direction in future. I do believe that Dr. Adhikari is aware
of both the challenges and the prospects that this law
school possesses.
Another important issue could be the teaching method.
My only concern here is how to develop the legal
acumen among the students. Coming to pedagogy, as
the lecture method is not always encouraged now, law
schools have followed novel methodologies that
encourage learning. Instead of spoon-feeding their
students, law schools encourage self-study, intense
participation in the class, and usage of creativity right
from the beginning to the end of courses. Asking
students to write papers on given areas and creating
possibilities of peer evaluation and feedback on
presentations help students focus on sharpening their
S t u d e nts ta k i n g Ka t h m a n d u Un i vers i t y L aw
School Admission Test (KULSAT) in July, 2014
Kathmandu University School of Law 8
knowledge on the subject. Instead of concentrating on
final examinations, it is always better to divide the
score on a range of areas such as attendance,
participation, paper, and presentation. Sir Francis Bacon
was quite right when he said “reading makes a learned
man, conference a ready man and writing makes an
exact man”. Encouraging students to write more and
more brings handsome dividends to them.
It is very clear that law schools can play an instrumental
role right from the point of conceptualization of laws
to their implementation. Laws should be understood
in such a way that they be practically meant for clarity,
certainty, consistency, efficiency, effectiveness,
accountability, fairness and equality. The understanding
of law should promote entrepreneurship. It should
encourage creativity through motivation and incentive.
The confidence in law enhances when it is enforced.
How far we live up with their qualities determines how
correctly we are serving the cause of the rules of law.
Finally, I come to the ultimate objective of the law
schools. What should be the objective of the law
schools? Should they limit themselves to imparting
skills or have some social orientation of promoting
democratic governance, rule of law, human rights and
social justice? Should lawyers engage in resolving
social problems or promoting divisive tendencies and
social strife or just be involved in wealth maximization
without minding anything else? To my mind, legal
education should be guided by greater societal goals
of fair play, equity, justice, and democratic governance.
Otherwise there will be no difference between a law
school and a skill-imparting professional organization.
I am confident that the School of Law that Dr Adhikari
is leading will be unique in many respects and not be
just yet another law school in the crowd.
I offer my best wishes to the new law school.
I thank you all for your kind attention. g
Students at John Marshall Law Library