NotJustLex Navigate the Ways of the Legal World

NotJustLex Education LLP (NJL) was founded by Abhishek Sinha in late 2019 with a vision to be the very first ‘finishing school’ for law students and professionals across the country. NJL is a platform for young lawyers and law students to learn, express and improve their skill set by laying impetus on participatory learning. With the onus of producing the future leaders in the legal world of tomorrow, the company is committed to provide accessible high-quality legal learning and aims to bridge the gap between theoretical learning and practical applicability.

The specialised moderated classroom training programmes and online sessions by NJL focus towards assisting students in enhancing their ability to meet on-the-job expectations set by law firms, corporates, and clients. NJL programs aim to provide its learners with a distinct professional edge in this competitive corporate environment. The exclusive range of courses offered at NJL include:

• Corporate Training Programmes: Specially curated for legal professionals working in law firms or Indian corporates.

• Advanced Course on Drafting & Negotiation of Investment Agreements

• Certificate Course On Understanding Private Equity Investments In India

• Certificate Course On Commercial Contracts in India

• Course On Sports Law in India

• Certificate Course On Finance for Legal Professionals

Apart from these, NJL hosts several webinars and training programs, across a wide range of legal and softer issues. They also have a dedicated legal blogging platform.

The organisation was established when Abhishek decided to do something regarding the huge gap that exists between what students learn at law colleges and what is actually expected from them in the real world. Making quality legal education accessible to all by bridging this gap was the primary motive behind the inception of NJL.

At NJL, all sessions are conducted by industry experts. Adding to NJL’s strength is a conducive learning environment buoyed by classroom-like training, ability to manage & clarify doubts real time. Further, all courses are based on ‘participatory learning approach’ which implies that learning is primarily through engagement with the participants. NJL intends to facilitate a process of collective analysis and learning. Therefore, the organisation has structured all sessions to be moderated through live video interactive streaming. They are live sessions, unlike the mundane, monologue-type recorded sessions. Not even a single session of NJL’s courses/programs are through a recorded video. During the ongoing pandemic, NJL offers all their basic programmes at zero cost for law students. If any learner is interested in pure learning, it comes at zero cost. NJL, however, will review this structure once the lockdown is completely over.

NJL keeps limited participants per batch for a better scope of interaction. The students will not need any prior reading for the sessions. Learning can be on the move as the sessions don’t require making notes. What is discussed is what is learnt. All discussions are moderated by subject experts. Assessment is based on participation in the sessions and completion of online assignments and the final tests. These are analytical tests and not memory-based assessments. The students also get a one-onone feedback session over a video call at the end of the course.

Bridging the gap between academia and industry is the basic determinant of development for the students of NJL. Apart from this, NJL also focuses on commercial awareness. It goes without saying that understanding the relevant laws, legal interpretation , market practice and market-trends also form a key aspect of the learning.

All the courses streams live on a popular interactive video meeting platform. Apart from this, NJL makes use of the latest technologies and platform for reaching out to the learners and for assessments. As NJL’s focus is on imparting quality legal education, all their lead instructors and operators spend a lot of time in preparing and researching for the sessions. This coupled with their vast experience in the legal sector makes the sessions interactive and interesting.

NJL is working towards building a student community which resonates with its vision and approach in relation to imparting legal education. To this end, they have launched a ‘Campus Ambassador’ programme. NJL presently has fifteen Campus Ambassadors from law colleges across India. Apart from this, they have collaborated with Vidhit Legal, a student’s organisation working towards sensitising everyone on human rights violations. NJL also does several webinars and panel discussions.

In addition, NJL organises weekly online meetings to discuss the entire week. Also, they keep in touch and discuss on a case to case basis. The idea is to provide complete flexibility to all the employees. Focus is on getting the work done and not on face value, office timings, in-time and out-time or posturing. All are focused towards real work. Apart from this, the team at NJL shares a similar vision and is passionate about what the organisation is trying to do. In short, the work culture at NJL is fun, solution oriented, practical and flexible.

NJL aims to grow organically. It is in the process of finalising collaborations with several law colleges, law firms and companies. NJL understands the need to be mindful that scaling up is something which depends on how mature the learning segment is to differentiate between a mere certificate provider and a platform which provides real & quality learning.

NJL has already started working hard to fulfil its vision to be the very first Indian ‘finishing law school’ for law students in India. NJL wants to create a student community which resonates with the vision of NotJustLex and reach out to a maximum number of learners and provide them with quality legal education. They are also in the process of partnering with several law firms and companies and running credit courses for colleges as a part of their regular curriculum and bringing in the construct of participatory learning in the forefront.

What Abhishek considers as a major achievement in his life, is having the courage to quit a highly rewarding and high paying role as an equity partner of a leading law firm of India to start something he is passionate about. Mr. Sinha wanted to do something that he truly believed in.NJL is a start-up in the legal education sector, which has been recognised by the Government of India, Startup India Programme. Abhishek Sinha, Founder CEO NotJustLex has been awarded 40 under 40 by LegalEra, for innovation and leadership in the legal education industry.

Though many people considered this as just the first step, to the Founder of NJL it was a huge step and now he is completely committed to work towards it. As it has been said: “The first step is always the most difficult step”, and having conquered that, NJL is sure to pave its own path to success.

Being Resourceful To The Business World

As part of holistic development, SSBF encourages and guides students to pursue industry-recognized certifications such as CFA, FRM, NISM, CCRA, and others. Field trips and financial literacy workshops are organised for people in nearby villages as part of experiential learning.