National Legal Aid Innovation Competition 2026 at the 3rd NLUJ-LAAC Stakeholders' Summit, Jodhpur [Prizes Rs 65,000; Registration Rs 1,500 per Team]

The National Legal Aid Innovation Competition 2026 is run by the Legal Aid and Awareness Committee (LAAC) of National Law University, Jodhpur, as part of the 3rd NLUJ-LAAC Stakeholders' Summit on Strengthening Clinical Legal Education through Legal Aid Cells, held on 10 and 11 October 2026 at the NLUJ campus.

Participating teams are asked to identify a critical access-to-justice gap and propose an innovative, field-tested solution to it. The competition runs in stages: an online proposal, external screening, a full empirical report, and a live presentation before an expert panel at the Summit.

LAAC works under the aegis of NLU Jodhpur to provide free legal assistance to disadvantaged communities and to promote legal awareness. It runs flagship field projects including Project PRISM, Project Saahas, Smart Village, Project Unnati and Project CARE.

The Summit is one of the Committee's flagship initiatives. The inaugural 2024 edition marked ten years of NALSA v. Union of India with a workshop for para-legal volunteers and police personnel and a panel on transgender rights. The second edition, in 2025 with the Azim Premji Foundation, commemorated ten years of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act with a policy dialogue on probation and rehabilitation.

Law school clinics institutionalised under the NALSA Legal Services Clinics Scheme, 2013 have significant potential to widen access to justice. The Supreme Court's 2024 report on Legal Aid Through Law Schools nevertheless identified persistent problems: weak community outreach, language barriers, trust deficits, inadequate infrastructure and limited access to trained lawyers.

This edition invites stakeholders to take stock of that progress and those challenges, approaching the theme both empirically and doctrinally.

• Role of Legal Aid Clinics in connecting victims to the criminal justice system through DLSA and other institutions
• Role of Legal Aid Clinics in assisting juveniles, whether as children in conflict with law or as victims
• Role of Legal Aid Clinics in providing gender-inclusive legal aid
• Role of Legal Aid Clinics in data governance
• Role of Legal Aid Clinics in bridging the digital divide to ensure access to justice

• Open to students of UGC and BCI-recognised law schools
• Registration only through the participating institution's Legal Aid Clinic
• One team per institution
• Team size: 3 to 5 undergraduate law students
• Each team must be accompanied by one Faculty Coordinator
• Team members must belong to the same participating institution and be authorised as its sole representatives

Stage I - Proposal. An online proposal comprising two parts:

• Concept Note: identify the access-to-justice gap from the recommended themes, explain the research methodology, and give the basis for identifying the gap, including any secondary research or prior work by the Legal Aid Clinic. Outline objectives, implementation plan, feasibility analysis, beneficiaries, timeline, resources, partnerships and the roles of stakeholders.
• Video Presentation (maximum 2 minutes): briefly present the identified issue, the proposed intervention, its necessity and its feasibility.

Stage II - Report. Teams qualifying from Stage I submit a comprehensive report on the identified gap, incorporating empirical findings, doctrinal legal analysis, secondary literature and primary research such as field data, surveys and interviews, together with recommendations. The report must follow the prescribed format, word limit and submission timeline.

Stage III - Presentation. Shortlisted teams present their reports and proposed interventions before an Expert Evaluation Panel and key stakeholders during the Summit.

Proposals are screened by an Expert Independent External Committee. Evaluation is based on the identified access-to-justice gap, the quality of the Concept Note (including research methodology and feasibility analysis), and the Video Presentation. The Committee's decision is final and binding.

• Stage I - Competition application: Rs 1,500 per team, payable by all registering teams at the time of registration
• Stage II - Summit accommodation, boarding, food and internal travel (3 days): Rs 4,500 per team, payable by teams shortlisted for the report submission round on confirmation of qualification
• Faculty Coordinator registration: Rs 2,500 per Faculty Coordinator accompanying a qualified team, on confirmation of qualification

Stage II fees are payable only on qualifying for the Report Submission Round.

Interested institutions must complete the Google Form registration and pay the fee through the NLUJ payments portal. Registration is complete only on successful payment of the registration fee and submission of the duly filled form. The Organising Committee sends a confirmation email once the form and payment are verified, and that email is the official confirmation of the team's registration.

The registration window is 1 to 20 August 2026.

Beyond the prize money, the competition offers internship opportunities with select collaborators for the winning teams (subject to the competition Rules and SOP), publication of outstanding reports and videos on the LAAC website, mentorship from experts to develop and scale innovative legal aid projects, a place in a national conversation on legal aid through law schools, and attendance at the Summit's capacity-building and networking sessions.

Summit collaborators include the Margins to Access Project, Centre for Social Justice, India Justice Report, UNICEF, Nyaaya, Agami, Awaaz Leadership Labs and Outlawed India.