The Rajiv Gandhi School for Intellectual Property Law at IIT Kharagpur — the first law school in any IIT set up — presents an eclectic mix of students drawn from engineering, medicine, MBA and PhDs of various disciplines of science. The first batch of students passing out in 2009, have expertise in both technical and legal domain and have been able to ward off recession — even if to some extent.

The students have been offered pay packets between Rs 6.5 lakh to Rs 9.5 lakh per annum at a time when the high paying companies have almost disappeared from the campus. Of the 33 students in the final year, 17 have been successfully placed so far.

“As many IT and financial companies are going through a difficult time they need services of legal people. So, they are hiring our law school students,” said BK Mathur, placement in-charge of IIT Kharagpur.

Among the companies that have come forward to offer jobs are Amarchand & Mangaldas, Remfry & Sagar, Khaitan & Co, some of the leading law firms and companies from the domain of technology like Infosys Technologies and Siemens. According to the placement cell of the law school more companies like Monsanto are expected on the campus.

The school offers a three year LLB course with specialisation in intellectual property law. The entry is restricted to engineers, post-graduates in science. The school set up in 2006 has also boosted the number of patents filed by IIT Kharagpur in recent past.

According to the officials of the IIT, the law school has provided a boost in the patent and IPR activities of the academic institution. “The students of the law school organise one stop patent clinic where the patents filed are screened by the law school students. This has received huge response with 19 patents filed in one day in the last year,” said P P Chakraborty, Dean, Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy, (SRIC) at IIT Kharagpur.

“I was doing my PhD in genetics and plant breeding, when I came to know about the opportunity at the law school. After the recent developments in international trade, we need people with technical knowledge and legal aspects,” said Surya Mani Tripathi a student of the law school.