The second edition of Finishing School for Law Students was held from September 10-12, 2010, at Ashir Bhavan, Kochi. The three-day residential course that was attended by 18 law students from across the country was conducted by ADR Centre. The course was inaugurated by Dr N R Madhava Menon, a noted legal luminary.
In his inaugural speech, he spoke on the topic, Legal Profession: Recovering from Self-inflicted Wounds and Search for Fresh Moorings, and said the legal profession had to adjust itself with the changing times.
“Finishing Schools can help those students that are not fortunate to get plum jobs in mega corporations. It can enable them earn a decent living on their own, while serving people meaningfully,” Dr Menon said.
The Finishing School for Law Students is a welcome development, he said, as it could impart essential skills and information that are not ordinarily taught in law schools. “There is no other country in the world that allows poorly educated law graduates to become professional lawyers without any kind of screening to test their basic competence to handle the rights of others,” he said, adding that the profession was on the threshold of huge changes, some of which were the consequences of technological developments and globalization.
The course was a combination of interactive and skill-building sessions, and group discussions. Day one saw sessions on Advocacy, Court Management, Etiquette, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Mock Mediation, and Language as a Tool for the Lawyer. The faculty for those sessions comprised of Helen Heeranandani, Professor Bhaskara Iyer and Advocate Sreelal Warrier. Sessions on Legal Entrepreneurship and Corporate Laws were held the next day. Students were also taken to Justice V R Krishna Iyer’s residence, where they were enlightened after interaction with him. It was followed by a boat ride on the back waters of Kochi.
The concluding day began with a session on ‘Involvement of the Media in the Judicial Process’ by Dr Sebastian Paul. Prasant VG conducted a session on ‘Changing Dimensions of Legal Profession and the Challenges Ahead’, while Zarine Habeeb discussed higher studies.
Students were awarded Course Certificates by Course Director Professor K C Abraham. The next Finishing School is slated to be held in the first half of 2011.
RESEARCH PROGRAMMES
Digital RTI Mission
Digital RTI Mission is a project by Centre for Public Policy Research which aims at making Kerala the first RTI digital state of India and later expanding it to the rest of India.
L3 (Law, Liberty & Livelihood) This project aims to study the livelihood regulations and entry level barriers for informal sectors in 63 Indian cities.The project is supported by Sri Dorabji Tata Trust and implemented in partnership with Centre for Civil Society (CCS). [read more]
India Development Indicators
India Development Indicators is an online platform that leverages existing investments in data by standardizing, harmonizing, and visualizing development data at various resolutions such as state, district, parliamentary constituency etc.
[read more] School Chain Index
A project supported by Fraser Institute, Canada to trace and analyse managements in India that handle more than three schools. [read more]
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
The Right to Information Campaign
CPPR is the leading organisation active in RTI Act Campaign across Kerala. The Centre has conducted numerous awareness sessions to increase the common man's access to the act through practical knowledge dissemination. [read more]
ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms are out of court settlements aimed at settling disputes in an amicable manner. CPPR has initiated a campaign to take the benefits of ADR to the common man to get timely and cost effective justice. [read more]
Externship Externship is a unique concept of CPPR to encourage research entrepreneur- ship among the youth of indegenous and rural communities and empower individuals to generate solutions to their problems. [read more]
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
Theatre Workshop
Rangsanskruti, an existing theatre group engages in conducting workshops designed to discover and enhance creative abilities and skills of participants. [read more]
Soft Skills Development Training
It aims to build up the competencies of the employees so that it compliments with the organization’s core strengths in maximizing productivity & profitability. [read more]
URBAN GOVERNANCE
Urban Research
This wing dwells into the importance for urban research as more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. Over 90 percent of urban growth is taking place in the developing world. Over 1 billion people live in slums worldwide. Aproximately 360 million people live in the low elevation coastal zone in urban areas.These increasing issues relating to traffic, transport and infrastructural set up in urban areas has led to a paradigm shift in the way we move forward. Urbanization is now considered a key element in promoting economic growth, if well managed. CPPR has taken up this initiative with the focus to help the corporation to find solutions to the urban problems in Kochi, recommend policy changes and to make sure that the policies are implemented on time.
The second edition of Finishing School for Law Students was held from September 10-12, 2010, at Ashir Bhavan, Kochi. The three-day residential course that was attended by 18 law students from across the country was conducted by ADR Centre. The course was inaugurated by Dr N R Madhava Menon, a noted legal luminary. 
ide on the back waters of Kochi.
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Theatre Workshop
