I am very interested in technology law. How can I develop my career in it?

Technology and the internet changed my life.

I should have been in a dead-end government job like my father. Safe, ordinary, no stress, and no growth. Go to the office at 12 noon, come back in the evening. Employee’s union took care of attendance and bonus.

Maybe I would have become a school teacher like my mother or several of my classmates. My instinct for teaching would have been stifled by a syllabus, straitjacket of bureaucracy, and unending politics and turf war with colleagues for nothing significant.

My parents wanted me to be a doctor, that was the best they could imagine. I will study medicine and open a clinic in the locality, drive a car. The best they could hope for.

But no, I became a lawyer, started working with a tier 1 law firm. That was still a job, they could understand that. Then I quit and started my own company. What? Why?

I started a blog in college 10 years back that was read by more than 1 cr people in the last 12 months alone. 

We have students in every tier 1 and tier 2 city in India and in lots of small towns, and they are taught by amazing lawyers from India and abroad.

We did over 850 webinars in 2020, watched over 18 lakh times.

10% of our students come from other countries, including countries like the USA, UK, Australia, China.

I started 3 companies that have generated revenues over 20 cr in the last 10 years.

I am a co-founder and CEO of a fast-growing edtech startup with close to 100 people working full time for it.

What made it possible?

Technology. The internet.

I grew up in an era when people used to gawk at a computer if they ever saw one. Technology has changed the world before my eyes. 

And it is still changing faster than ever. I am sure you can see the difference between your childhood and the childhood of the kids now. The difference is stark. 

We do all the things we used to do earlier using technology, and we do a lot of things today that did not exist in the pre-technology world.

Commerce has changed the most. Most of it is enabled by tech. As a result of this, the use of technology has given birth to a lot of important, new, and complex policy, ethical, logistical, and moral issues that require legislations to deal with them. Apart from laws, contracts and business practices have also developed to deal with a brave new world.

This is one area of law where expertise, knowledge, innovation, creativity really matters. More than settled questions, new issues arise that require further legal process.

And technology law today is the hottest, burgeoning, most in-demand specialisation for lawyers. 

Given that technology companies are rich and prosperous, it is profitable to work for them as lawyers, whether as in-house counsels or tech-focused private practice.

A lot of pathbreaking technology is on the way. AI, blockchain, cybersecurity, healthtech, telemedicine, nanotechnology, 3d printing, drones, fintech, synthetic food, autonomous transport, spacetech - there are entire industries growing that will keep tech lawyers very busy in the next decade.

If you are interested in technology, or if you are fascinated by the challenges of regulating technology, you may want to pursue Technology Law. You may want to pursue it simply because you realize the tremendous opportunity it represents.

However, where do you start? What skills do you have to learn? Where can you work? How do you get started? 

If these questions are on your mind, we are here to help. We are doing a 3-hour workshop on how you can build a career in technology law. 

What will we cover

• Why technology law has emerged as a top career choice
• What are the different focus areas in technology law - data protection and privacy, fintech, e-commerce, cyber crimes, AI and blockchain etc.
• International opportunities in tech law
• What kind of tech law skills are in high demand
• What are the important developments in the tech industry that will influence the rise of tech lawyers?
• What kind of jobs are available if you become a tech lawyer
• What is the kind of work that technology lawyers do?
• How to prepare yourself if you want to work as an in-house lawyer in tech companies
• What does it take to work for companies like Google, Facebook or Amazon as an in-house counsel
• Opportunities for working with tech startups and why it is a great idea 
• What are the top technology firms and how can you get into these?
• How to get internships related to tech law and what are the good options
• Opportunities for getting paralegal work in tech law
• What are the highest paying technology law contracts