Prof NR Madhava Menon judged people by their questions, not by answers

Corporate law firms and corporate India are big beneficiaries of the foundation of deep thought and analysis Prof Menon laid in the institutions that he set up or inspired others to set up

“What is law?” was the question Prof Madhava Menon put to us on the first day of our college. A simple yet deep question to explore various theories of the jurisprudence of law. 

Prof Menon’s contribution to legal education and training of students, lawyers and judges is well known. His contribution to the building of corporate law firms has been profound. When he founded National Law School, Bangalore, it coincided with the liberalisation of the economy. With liberalisation, corporate and transactional lawyering saw exponential growth in India.

While students at National Law School were taught conventional legal subjects, they were absorbed by