Amity Law School, Noida: AIM 2011, Opening Ceremony

To provide budding lawyers an experience of clinical legal education which prepares them to face actual courtroom, Amity Law School, Noida started its three day annual “Amity International Moot Court Competition” from November 18 to 20 at Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Sector- 125, Noida. A wide array of International issues including the recent internal conflict and violence in Libya will be discussed and debated under “Amity International Moot Court Competition 2011”.

Welcoming the august gathering, Maj. Gen. Nilendra Kumar, Director, Amity Law School, Noida said that Moot Court is one of the primary modes to inculcate in law students a capacity to think while on feet. Their knowledge of facts and law is tested by the bench of 3 or more judges drawn from amongst senior judges, leading counsels, diplomats, media persons and academics who are invited to assess the teams. Maj Kumar shared that over 22 prestigious law colleges and institutes across India are participating in the competition and will display their advocacy skils while debating on International conflicts.

Inaugurating the International Moot Court Competition and sharing his views on the importance of Democracy, Mr. Ram Jethmalani, MP and Senior advocate said, “I believe in democracy and democracy of the most vigorous types. I know democracy has its odds but at the same time, I know that democracy is better than any other form of Government. It is only when you firmly believe that sovereignty should reside in the people at large then alone democracy can flourish. I believe in the sovereignty of the people. According to me, today, the United Nations is full of countries which do not practice democracy but they still have the pretence of having a declaration of human rights of 1948 and other two remarkable conventions of 1966 – the one dealing with political lives and other dealing with civil and economic lives. The question is how to remedy this grand situation which confronts the entire humanity today. There are only two solutions and I don’t know which solution India would stand for. Either you make a new United Nations consisting of only democratic countries or do manage to change present Non- Democratic countries into Good Thriving Democracies like great democracies of the West and even the great democracy of India. All dictators must go. The whole world should become democratic”.

Addressing the budding lawyers as to how they can become good lawyers, Hon’ble Mr. Salman Khurshid- Union Minister for Law and Justice said “If you want to become a good lawyer your ability with language, decision, ideas, thoughts, articulation and countering the arguments all that should be extremely polished and must be worked upon very hard and that is the reason why you have these wonderful Moot Court Competitions but essentially, what must be very clear to you is the quality of idea that you are going to present and that’s what law is all about. You should be able raise analysis to the highest point. Everything you will do or say needs a better analysis. The brighter you are, the greater is your analysis and your ability to be analytical. Your ability to be analytical should be giving you that special cutting edge that others don’t have. That’s what makes people great lawyers from ordinary lawyers. Another thing a lawyer needs to have is the ability to think alone and think fast, only profession in the world, almost only, where you are on your own to decide the complex situation is Law profession.”

Disagreeing with what Mr. Ram Jethmalani said about excluding Non- Democratic Countries from United Nations, Hon’ble Minister said, “It is so easy to agree with him but it is very difficult to disagree with him and if you don’t take up the difficult task you are not a good lawyer, you are just an ordinary lawyer, you are just a law clerk. To be a great lawyer you should start asking some fundamental questions. Mr. Jethmalani said you should not have bad or non- democratic countries in United Nations but ask yourself what is bad, what is non- democratic? In order to decide something that is non- democratic we have to first decide what democracy is. We in our own country, today, are facing with the challenge of what is democracy. When Anna Hazare brings 60, 000 people and sits in Delhi, he says I am democracy. When we sit inside Parliament elected by people of India, we say to them we are democracy. But we need to think- what is the democracy all about, who is democracy? Our ancestors agreed that democracy would be something as defined by the Constitution and Constitution is given a special status in our society, in our country because we say that the Constitution is sacred. Democracy is not a word or idea that somebody can give it to us, democracy is something that we should feel from within. Goodness and Badness we must feel from within. It is very important for you students to find answer to the fundamental question that is all morality to be made lawful and all violation of morality to be made unlawful”. He called upon the budding lawyers to continue the search of the answers till they find the right answer. They might not be able to find the answer but they will surely leave the foot steps which others can follow during their quest for right answers.

Expressing his heartfelt gratitude to the distinguished guests, Dr. Ashok K Chauhan- Founder President, Amity Group thanked the luminaries from the law who took out time from their busy schedule to enlighten the budding lawyers. Dwelling on the importance of Moot Court Competition, Dr. Ashok K Chauhan- Founder President, Amity Group said, “In order to become a successful lawyer it is essential for a student to know how to apply the law he has learnt to a fact situation and to have awareness of the rules and the etiquettes of the Court. Realizing this, the Amity Law School has been hosting a number of moot court competitions to test the mettle of the future lawyers of the country”.

Mr. P.H. Parekh, President Supreme Court Bar Association advised the budding lawyers to get into the field of litigation after completing their degrees rather than opting to enter corporate world as corporate lawyers. “the grinding of litigation is vey important, without which students cannot become a good lawyer. Joining corporate can only make law students Gloried clerks or Corporate Babus and not good lawyers.” Mr. Parekh asserted.

Also present during the inauguration were Mr. Atul Chauhan- Chancellor, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh and Maj. Gen. K J Singh- Vice Chancellor, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh.

Moot Court is one of the primary modes to inculcate in law students a capacity to think on feet. Their knowledge of facts and law is tested by the bench of 3 or more judges drawn from amongst senior judges, leading counsels, diplomats, media persons and academics who are invited to assess the teams. The event is being eagerly awaited by the leading law schools across the country for its innovative and stimulating topic of discussion which is based on an actual dispute involving issues relating to international law, armed aggression, human rights and law of war. It is being sponsored by Delhi High Court Bar Association and International Society for Military Law and the Law of War.