Our Teams

1. Increasing Diversity By Increasing Access To Legal Education Introduction Openings We all know that Law School can be quite elitist, and homogeneous in terms of the backgrounds from which most students come from. As an institution which prides itself in creating ‘social engineers’, this elitist homogeneity in the student population can be quite problematic. Three major roadblocks (there are many more) for less privileged students to enter Law School are the exorbitant tuition fee, the lack of access to preparatory material for the Common Law Admission Test and lack of awareness about the Law as a viable career option. Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA) is a pan India project that seeks to enhance access to quality legal education in favour of disempowered students and their communities by helping them overcome the three major roadblocks. We are now looking for passionate and dynamic student volunteers to lead our various teams and catapult us to the next stage of growth. IDIA is formally structured as a Trust with four trustees including Justice Ruma Pal (Former Judge of the Supreme Court), Professor M.P. Singh (Former Vice Chancellor of NUJS and Chairman of Delhi Judicial Academy), ShishiraRudrappa (Founder of Spire Capital and Bar & Bench) and Dr ShamnadBasheer (IP Scholar and Academic). However, it is effectively run by some very passionate and dedicated student volunteers from various law schools across the length and breadth of India. These dynamic and hard-working volunteers collectively form the lifeblood of the IDIA movement. Little wonder then that, in a short span of three years, IDIA has managed to achieve some modest success, with 42 of its scholars (the disempowered children selected by IDIA for coaching) now studying at various NLU’s and other law schools around the country. Our diverse scholars include children of stone quarry workers, farmers, panipuri vendors, painters, drivers, clerks, shopkeepers and many others belonging to marginalized communities. Braving severe odds, they managed to make it to the leading law schools. In 2014, 8 of the IDIA scholars who appeared for CLAT 2014, made it to National Law Universities. For more details on IDIA and the profiles of our scholars, please visit our website: www.idialaw.com. Our job does not end with these scholars gaining admission to these coveted National Law Universities. Our real work begins then! The key challenge is in helping these scholars navigate highly challenging law school ecosystems that are for the most part diversity-unfriendly. Our aim is to offer the best possible legal education and opportunities to our scholars, such that they blossom to their full potential…becoming not just leading lawyers and luminaries, but also social engineers and community leaders, particularly for the communities that they represent. We are looking for Team Leaders /Deputy Team Leaders /Team Members for: Training and Material. Eligibility: Join us if you think you have the potential and dedication to change the lives of those who are less fortunate than you. They need your time, guidance and support to make it to the best law schools in the country and realize their dreams of empowering their community. What the job entails: You shall be the Team Leaders /Deputy Team Leaders /Team Members involved in operations and management of the IDIA Training and Material Vertical you will aid in its day to day functioning. The main processes that you will be involved is creating content for training the present IDIA Scholars, in the regional schools, and supervise the aptitude tests and the training of the shortlisted candidates from state chapter for the forth coming CLAT exams. How to apply: The CV, along with the statement of purpose (not more than 2000 words) highlighting why you are the best pick for the job should be sent to kranti@idialaw.com by midnight of September 6, 2014 CHART or PICTURE Incentives Incentives for team leaders and team members: IDIA is at present seeking arrangements with the law firms and corporate organizations that support IDIA’s cause to work out coveted internship opportunities for deserving team members/leaders.  In 2014, IDIA has nominated its best performing volunteers for internships at law firms like AMSS, JSA, Trilegal, Luthra and Luthra, AZB etc as well as corporates like GE, Microsoft, Thomson Reuters, LexisNexis etc. Cash awards for the best performing team leaders has also been instituted Mr. ManavNagaraja, Partner, Tatva Legal while 6 other extraordinary IDIA volunteers were nominated to attend a fully funded corporate law training course conducted by Partners from Herbert Smith Freehills, held at NLU Delhi in March 2014. There is also the opportunity of being recognized as an IDIA-Herbert Smith Fellow for selected team leaders delivering exemplary performance. We also have an internship programme with another top international law firm O’Melveny & Myers LLP (“OMM”), where exceptional IDIA team leader/deputy team leader gets an opportunity to spend four to six weeks working at OMM’s Singapore office. Our Teams Our Teams: From its inception in March, 2010 till today, passionate law students from various law schools have come together to build more than 20 different teams across India. It is the blood, sweat and tears of these dedicated students (called “IDIANS”) that have helped IDIA achieve significant impact in a short span of three years. We have state teams as well as All India Verticals as below. State Teams: Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Bengal, Sikkim, Mizoram, Nagaland, Assam (North East), Delhi, Mumbai, Chattishgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha (17 local teams). All India Verticals: Our All India Verticals consist of the RAP (Research and Policy), Admissions and Scholarship, Media and Publicity, Training and Materials, Media Networking and Social Policy (Website, blog and social networks), Disability Initiative, Fund Raising, Mentorship. All details of our teams are available here. More Info: You could also speak to our ex-team leaders/ volunteers to get a better sense of the work of a team leader and each team. Write to us at info@idialaw.com for more details and to be a part of this movement. Lastly, even if you do not wish to join a team specifically but are interested in being updated on IDIA activities, please feel free to join the IDIA email list, by dropping an email to info@idialaw.com indicating your interest in joining our list (where we discuss IDIA updates and important policy issues).