N. R. Madhava Menon

N. R. Madhava Menon
Menon at a speech at the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences
Born	(1935-05-04)4 May 1935 Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Occupation	Legal educator, lawyer
Years active	since 1956
Known for	Founding the National Law School of India University and West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences
Spouse(s)	Rama Devi
Parent(s)	Ramakrishna Menon Bhavani Amma
Awards	Padma Shri Living Legend of Law Plaque of Honour Rotary Club Award for Vocational Excellence

Neelakanta Ramakrishna Madhava Menon (born 4 May 1935) is an Indian legal educator, considered by many as the father of modern legal education in India. He is the founder Director of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) and the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal and the founder Vice Chancellor of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS). Menon was honored by the Government of India, in 2003, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.

Madhava Menon was born on 4 May 1935 at Thiruvananthapuram, in the South Indian state of Kerala in a Nair family to Bhavani Amma and Ramakrishna Menon as the fourth of their six children. His father, a law graduate and a Revenue Officer working for the Travancore Corporation, died succumbing to a typhoid attack, when Menon was only two years old and he was brought up by his mother, with the assistance of her brothers and sisters. His mother took up a job as a clerk at Travancore Corporation to bring up Appu, as he was known at home, and his three elder sisters and one younger brother; one of his younger brothers died in childhood.

Menon's schooling was at Sreemoolavilasam Government High School, Thiruvananthapuram from where he passed matriculation in 1949 and completed the Pre University course in 1950, when the erstwhile two-year course was realigned as a truncated one-year course. His graduate studies were at S. D. College, Alappuzha from where he passed BSc in Zoology in 1953. He also passed the Hindi Visharad course conducted by the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha simultaneously with his graduate studies. He continued his studies at Government Law College, Ernakulam, but shifted to Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram when the college was restarted in the capital city in 1953 and has been the Student Editor of the College magazine in 1954-55. He passed the law course (BL) in 1955.