Our Search For a Leader

IDIA is looking for a dynamic and visionary leader to help direct its operations and catapult it to the next stage of growth.

By way of background, IDIA is a pan India project that seeks to enhance access to quality legal education in favour of underprivileged communities . IDIA is now institutionalised as a trust with four trustees including Justice Ruma Pal (Former Judge of the Supreme Court), Prof MP Singh (Former Vice Chancellor of NUJS and Current Chairman of Delhi Judicial Academy), Shishira Rudrappa (Founder of Spire Capital and Bar & Bench) and Prof Shamnad Basheer (MHRD Chair Prof of IP Law, NUJS).

The project is run by a team of highly dedicated student volunteers and other professionals. These volunteers represent the cream of the premier law Universities in India and travel in teams to various schools across the length and breadth of India,  identify underprivileged children with some aptitude for the study of law and then train them for CLAT (Common Law Admission Test).

All details of IDIA are available on its website.

In a short span of two years, IDIA managed to achieve some modest success. Last year, 14 of its scholars (the underprivileged children selected by IDIA for coaching) made it to the leading NLU’s. Their profiles are available on our website. This year, the number went up to 15.

IDIA scholars reflect a truly diverse mix, comprising candidates from various backgrounds (children of farmers, stone quarry workers, shopkeepers and clerks) and hailing from various states such as Karnataka, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkand, Rajasthan, Bihar, Manipur and Mizoram. Each one of them has a uniquely inspiring story.

Consider the story of Thangminlal Haokip (fondly called Lalcha), who hails from the village of L. Gamnom in Manipur. His father, Lhunthang Haokip runs a small general store in the village. At the tender age of eight, Lalcha came to Bangalore to stay in a home for Manipuri children. Since then, there has been no looking back. Pursuing his aim with single minded determination, Lalcha has gained admission to the National law School of India University, Bangalore, consistently ranked as the number one law school.

Or take Yugal Jain, a visually impaired student whose vision began deteriorating when he was a young child hails from a very poor family in Rajasthan. However, his visual impairment did nothing to douse the fire burning within. He studied hard and secured a seat in NALSAR, Hyderabad. A truly multifaceted personality, he is an avid chess player, having participated in a number of district, state and national level tournaments.

Our job does not end with these scholars gaining admission to these coveted National Law Universities. Our real work begins then! The key challenge is in helping these scholars navigate highly challenging law school ecosystems that are for the most part diversity unfriendly. Our aim is to offer the best possible legal education and opportunities for our scholars, such that they blossom to their full potential…becoming not just leading lawyers and luminaries, but also social engineers and community leaders, particularly for the communities that they represent.

We’re now at a stage where we need to professionalize rapidly and scale up to produce greater and more lasting impact. We’re therefore looking for a Managing Director who can lead the operations and take IDIA to the next level of growth. If you’re interested in applying for this leadership position, please send a copy of your resume, and a short statement of why you think you’d be an ideal fit to lead IDIA. And if you have any ideas on how you think you might take IDIA to the next level of growth, please feel free to express that too. Your tasks will involve the following:

1. Supervising and monitoring the various IDIA teams across India. As of now, we have more than 20 different teams across India. All of their details are available here.

2. Creating synergies with potential partners, particularly those in the education sector.

3. Working with institutions such as law schools to create more diversity friendly environments.

4. Establishing stronger links with the government and seeking more support and funding from them (both central and state).

5. Fund Raising from various donors, particularly institutional funding (from foundations etc)

6. Conceptualising and Executing new ideas for the future of IDIA, including new ways of selecting and training underprivileged scholars.

7. Evaluating the possibility of extending the concept underlying IDIA to other areas of higher education.

The above is merely a representative list and you are free to do much more and take IDIA in new directions.

Compensation would be comparable to the best in this sector. Place of work negotiable, though a Bangalore base would be preferable. It is a full time position and we require an undergraduate degree, at the very minimum. A law or management degree is preferable, though not essential. If interested, please drop us an email at info@idialaw.com.