N. R. Madhava Menon Biography 
N. R. Madhava Menon was an Indian legal educator who hailed from Kerala. Menon is widely regarded as the father of modern legal education in India. For his overall contributions towards the field of education, especially law, Government of India honoured him with the fourth highest civilian honour - Padma Shri in 2003. He was the founder Director of the National Law School of India University and the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal and also the founder Vice Chancellor of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS). He passed away on May 8, 2019 in Thiruvananthapuram, aged 84. He was suffering from liver cancer.
N. R. Madhava Menon was born on May 4, 1935 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was the fourth child to Bhavani Amma and Ramakrishna Menon, and had 5 siblings. One of his younger brothers died in early childhood. His father was a revenue officer who passed away when Menon was only two years old. He was suffering from typhoid. His mother took up a job as a clerk at Travancore Corporation, where his father worked before, to bring up the children.
He studied law at Government Law College, Ernakulam followed by Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram and passed in 1953. He began his professional career in 1955 working under V. Nagappan Nair for 13 months. In 1956, he registered at the High Court of Kerala, in Ernakulam. He appeared for the Civil Services Examination and because of lower grade he finally he took up the job at the secretariat in New Delhi. In 1968, he joined the prestigious ALU as a professor of law and embarked on a new journey. He was the first director of the newly formed National Judicial Academy a training centre for judges. He was appointed by Supreme Court and worked in this position till his retirement in 2006.
Published: May 23, 2019
Updated: May 23, 2019
