The College also played a major role in formalising legal education in India. The esteemed "Perry Professorship" (A chair of Jurisprudence in University Of Mumbai) was set up at Elphinstone in 1855. One of the best known lawyers of the time, Barrister R. T. Reid (LL. B. Bar-at-Law) was appointed the first Perry Professor of Jurisprudence and the Government Law School was establishment. This institution later came to be known as the Government Law College, Mumbai. It is the oldest law school in Asia.