The National Law School of India University in Bengaluru is India's first National Law University and one of the institutions that transformed the structure of modern legal education in the country. The idea of a specialized autonomous law school emerged through collaboration among the Bar Council of India, the judiciary, legal academics and the Government of Karnataka. A foundation stone was laid in Bengaluru on 25 February 1984, and the university was established under the National Law School of India Act, Karnataka Act 22 of 1986. The Act was notified in the Karnataka Gazette on 29 August 1987 and granted the institution substantial academic and administrative autonomy. NLSIU admitted the first cohort of its five-year integrated B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) programme in 1988, helping establish a model that later influenced legal education across India. The programme deliberately integrated law with social sciences and emphasized discussion, case analysis, research, moot courts and project work rather than relying only on lecture-based instruction. From modest early facilities, the university developed a residential campus within the Bengaluru University area and expanded its library, classrooms, research centres, student residences and scholarly activity. NLSIU's academic profile now includes undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral and continuing legal education, together with research in public law, business law, criminal justice, policy, human rights and other interdisciplinary fields. Faculty, judges, advocates and visiting scholars have contributed to teaching and professional engagement, maintaining strong links between the university, Bar and Bench. Student journals, mooting, legal aid, research projects and public-policy work form part of campus life. The institution's influence extends beyond its own graduates because the integrated-law-school model it pioneered became a reference point for later National Law Universities. Its enduring identity rests on autonomy, intensive residential learning, legal scholarship and continuing experimentation with how law is taught and researched.