JGU Partners with US Ivy League University

New Delhi, December 11, 2017:  Jindal Global Law School (JGLS) of O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has signed a MoU with Cornell Law School, New York allowing the students of JGLS to pursue a dual degree programme.

A MoU to this effect was signed by the representatives of Cornell Law School and Jindal Global Law School in the presence of Justice Gita Mittal, Acting Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi; Professor Sital Kalantry of Cornell Law School and Professor Y. S. R. Murthy, Registrar, Jindal Global University. Earlier, Professor Eduardo M. Peñalver, Dean of Cornell Law School and (Dr) C Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, JGU had signed the MoU.


This is the first time in the history of the eight Ivy League law schools in the USA (Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Brown, Dartmouth, Princeton, Yale, and University of Pennsylvania) that an international partnership of this magnitude and significance has been established with any law school outside of Europe.


The dual degree programme opens up a number of exciting opportunities for JGLS students. This will enable students to get access to and learn from the top-notch and renowned law professors in Cornell University Law School. JGLS students securing a JD degree in Cornell University Law School will also be eligible to take the American Bar Exam as well as sit in for campus recruitments taking place in Cornell Law School.

The partnership comes to force with immediate effect and the first batch of JGLS students to Cornell Law School will be eligible to start in the Fall 2018. JGLS students who are in the fourth year of the five-year law programme and in the second year of the three-year LL.B. programme at JGLS are eligible to apply.

Professor (Dr) C Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, JGU and the Founding Dean of Jindal Global Law School speaking on the occasion said, “In a globalized world where legal practice and transaction are increasingly cross-border in nature, any first hand exposure to global high quality teaching and legal training would go a long way in shaping the careers of law school students. A higher education degree which helps build a strong foundation in academic fundamentals and at the same time provides the required skills and knowledge necessary to compete in a global marketplace is needed.”

Eduardo M. Peñalver, Dean of Cornell Law School said, “Cornell Law School is excited by this new collaboration with one of the finest law schools in the world’s largest democracy. We look forward to welcoming Jindal’s superb students to our JD program”.

Professor Sital Kalantry, Clinical Professor of Law, Cornell Law School said, “In today’s world the work of lawyers is increasingly transnationally.  The Cornell-Jindal program is training lawyers to be successful in an increasingly global world where transactions and disputes occurs across multiple boundaries. We look forward to providing an exciting learning experience to the students, significantly adding to their skills and positively shaping their law careers.”
Jindal Global University has a long association with Cornell Law School. In 2011 both the Universities came together to sign a MoU to establish a flexible framework for academic collaborations.


In the year 2012, A Case Study of the Citizen Participation Clinic was conducted jointly by Cornell International Human Rights Clinic and Jindal Good Rural Governance and Citizen Participation Clinic – This report encouraged the development of robust clinical legal education programs in India. It was a joint class taught by Professor Sital Kalantry via videoconference at Jindal Global Law School in Sonipat, India and Cornell Law School in Ithaca, N.Y. from January to April 2012.

Dean of Cornell Law School, Professor Eduardo Peñalver and Professor Sital Kalantry have been delivering lectures on several occasions at JGU. Professor Eduardo Peñalver spoke on ”Civil Rights and Exclusion in Property Law” at JGU campus in 2012. The robust relationship between two Universities saw many Student Exchange programmes, International Immersion Programmes and collaborative research projects being undertaken. In the year 2015, a policy paper on “India’s Human Trafficking Laws and Policies and the UN Trafficking Protocol: Achieving Clarity” was jointly carried under the aegis of Centre for Health Law, Ethics & Technology, Rights Clinic of Jindal Global Law School; International Human Rights Clinic of Cornell Law School and International Human Rights Clinic of the University of Chicago Law School.

Cornell Law School is based in the Cornell University, a private Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York. It is one of the eight Ivy League law schools and offers three law degree programs (J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D.) along with several dual-degree programs in conjunction with other professional schools at the university. Established in 1887 as Cornell’s Department of Law, the law school is ranked 13th in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.

O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU) has recently been ranked among the top 10 private institutions in India by QS University Rankings: BRICS 2018 edition. JGU became the youngest Indian University and also the first and only private university in Haryana to have been ranked in an international ranking.

JGU currently partners and works with over 200 universities and higher education institutions spread across over 50 countries in the world.

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