One of India's elite national law schools, built on the five-year law degree model proposed and implemented by the Bar Council of India (BCI), The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS or popularly known as NUJS ) ) was established under the WBNUJS Act, 1999 (West Bengal Act IX, 1999).

In August 2004, the University received notification under clause (f) of Section 2 of the UGC Act, 1956, and was granted permanent affiliation by the Bar Council of India in July 2005. This institution is among the independent law schools in India. NUJS, Kolkata, along with GNLU and NLSIU, Bengaluru, remain the three national law schools whose Chancellor is the Honorable "Chief Justice of India".

NUJS is a prestigious public law school and a renowned national university, offering a wide range of courses including BA-LLB (Hons), BSc-LLB (Hons), LLM (Corporate and Commercial Law), M Phil, PhD and LLD . Along with this, the university also offers Diploma or PG Diploma courses in various specializations.