INTERVIEW: Mr. Vasishtan P, Assistant Professor at Tamil Nadu National Law University on From Advising Tech Start-ups to Academia

Interview conducted by Harish U as a part of his Campus Leaders Program.

From advising tech start-ups to academia, what inspired your transition?

I credit the fantastic Daksha Fellowship program where I received the opportunity to let myself into the world of Technology and Law while it was in its nascent stages both at regulatory and practice fronts. I had some of the most engaging internships and traineeships at Tier-1 firms in this practice where I found my niche in advising startups who enrolled with the Startup India program of the Indian Government.

Using contacts I built inside, I began independently assisting larger teams who were advising major tech companies, working with the Ministry or Government officials or coordinating with the Big 4 on the then newly released JPC Reports on Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, IT Rules, 2021, and the likes.

My transition to Academia was rather pleasantly accidental and caused by the second-wave lockdown. Since I could not engage with the firms or Ministries located in Delhi for my career, I took the opportunity to do an LL.M. in the same field. I appeared for CLAT and chose HNLU, Raipur that offered ‘Technology and Law’ specialisation.

My extensive contact with the subject prior to my LL.M. helped me to have a considerably easier time in pursuing the course. This meant, my experience guided me to receive the University Gold Medal. One for the cliché, I got carried in the wave of what every gold medalist would surf in or be advised to do – Entering the Academia.

Soon enough I cleared the UGC-NET that again indicated I should enter into academia. I still wonder to the day, how I never tried to control the wave that safely dropped me inside Academia, transitioning from practice and advisory. My alma mater TNNLU was kind enough to induct me into the role of Assistant Professor of Law and since it was the sole stable employment I held at that time, I accepted it. In academia, I am trying to offer all the tech law-centric subjects as electives, to groom the upcoming lawyers into the world, that carries a prodigious potential.

Can you share some memorable experiences from your law school days?

‘Law School Days’ is a highly experiential topic. As the third-ever batch of TNNLU, it acted as a soft-cushion for understanding my University life and to slowly gain traction into the professional field of law. TNNLU offered me with every resource and opportunity that I hold dear and grateful.

I made great friends, built contacts, received opportunity to build and be part of various Committees, Clubs, volunteer for events, take leadership roles, collaborate with inter-batch students, assist my Professors and Vice Chancellor for various programs, and the list extends to countless memories. All these experiences mean, I did not focus much on grades.

While there is nothing to hide the fact that I held a 6.23 CGPA, an average one indeed, the overall participatory experience helped me at various stages of internships, work, and meeting the reality outside law school, in decision-making and being a professional.

Despite stressing that good academic grades are important for one as an academician, I urge to all law students that grades solely do not constitute one’s identity when they will meet the reality beyond law school. Jack of all trades is no inferior to King of one.

You’ve both studied and now teach at TNNLU. What does it feel like to return as a faculty member, and how has your perspective on the university changed from student to professor?

I often feel I have unlocked the other perspective that always fell in my periphery as a student. The decisions of my professors that once raged me or puzzled me now feels absolutely necessary, essential and the ONLY right way to go about. I am all the more thankful to my professors, who are my friendly and cheering colleagues now, to have guided us all along as students, making difficult decisions at times and being there for us without announcing their angelic role in our lives.

Sometimes I wonder, how much they had protected us that we never had a clue of. As a faculty now, I am inspired to take the silent angelic role and work towards incrementing the result of what they built.

My professors and now-colleagues ensure I never feel odd or out of place. I came in with a lot of awkward moments with each professor being a playful, non-serious student. There are times of humour when I engage advising students on academics, projects and being serious at studies, that I myself was not a 100% in TNNLU.

I understand it all. It is all a pleasant experience and an honour to be in this side.

You’ve been part of a full-time residential fellowship and completed three postgraduate courses in law simultaneously. What kept you motivated, and what was the toughest moment during this phase?

I was just a clueless and lost sheep seeking a herd that didn’t exist. COVID and PG CLAT’s delay was every reason why I tried every other opportunity that was open for grabs. My final year’s coursework was postponed to August instead of the supposed May in 2020.

Other programs closed their admissions before July. So, it was an attempt of maximising what I can do, for the forthcoming year. One reason why I chose to pursue further degrees was my constant fear of failure in litigation and having no contacts inside to back my confidence.

Looking back at it all now, I think my existential crises with a will to prove that I can do better than my UG Law to myself was the sole motivator why I was able to complete these postgraduate courses. I would not endorse to anyone to stack PG courses as it gains nothing but a few titles behind your name, if one feels the need truly, options are open.

Film critique is a rare hobby for a law professor. How does your love for cinema influence your teaching?

I’m not sure about the rarity as we may not have the data in hand. Cinema has certainly boosted my confidence in how to approach a subject matter or to explain in simpler terms to cater to my audience. A greater credit to my language skills is due to the world Cinema. I understood my students love cinema.

Teaching Constitutional Law, Legal Methods, Law and Policy in Emerging Technology, etc., there are great movies that I can display to students as part of the curriculum and develop classroom communication that helps me reach my syllabus to them.

Being involved in so many committees, from ADR to Investment Laws. How do you manage diverse academic interests and Work-life balance?

Nothing like that. I just had the curiosity and TNNLU understood the same, granted me some of the Committees with trust and the Centre Heads or Deans trusted me enough to add me as a faculty member in their respective Committees/Centres. I work once at a time, and it does not look as hectic as it looks on paper, when working under understanding leaders.

Work-life balance is something I am working on as my personal time has gotten lesser but there is no lopsided twist to this as every experience is a learning expedition for me at this early stage of my career. Yet, I believe in a perfect work-life balance, and I hope to achieve it sooner.

If you were to redesign a law school curriculum from scratch, what would be your three must-have courses?

I would focus more on

1. Law and Policy in Emerging Technology.
2. Applied Problem-Solving and Legal Innovation
3. Global and Comparative Legal Studies (Not a rebranded Comparative Constitutional Law)

Besides, Technology-based courses and new electives that intersect with major and compulsory papers like Intellectual Property Law, Media Law, Constitutional Rights, Human Rights, Jurisprudence, Competition Law, Labour Law etc. would be present.

As Technology is your expertise, what role do you see AI playing in shaping the future of legal education and courtroom procedures in India?

AI is definitely disruptive, albeit in a good way, to our traditional methods of learning law. Other than Jurisprudence and the Constitution and how we obey to the Statutory laws, the methods have been impacted greatly by AI. While I am anxious about how students may be unaware victims of AI hallucinations, over generalisation/simplifications or self-concocted misguided falsities, that would kill the ingenuity of their personal arc, as educators, it is wise to embrace the technology and integrate them rather villainise or to ignore their impact.

I don’t consider myself competent enough to comment on AI’s impact in Courtroom procedures but there may be lawyers, who may pose a threat to confidentiality clauses by uploading confidential data to AI tools without ensuring prior privacy or any authorisation. The academia holds that duty to discourage any deviant practices at their law-school level.

You mentor students for law-school competitions. What’s the biggest mistake teams make while preparing for moot courts or ADR?

The students only aim to win with either written submissions or miraculous oral rounds’ luck and never often both together. Further, in ADR Competitions, as students mostly are individually marked and ranked in most competitions, they develop an internal habit of tacitly taking an edge over their own teammates during the in-round performances.

This silent negative intent is cannibalistic of team strategy, honesty and synergy. Another mistake most teams do is, not a lot of students self-volunteer to train the younger students with their experience. Whatever the University may undertake conducting strategising programs, self-volition to strengthen the community must evolve from the within.

Many students worry about not having it all figured out during law school. Looking back, was there a moment of uncertainty in your journey that actually led to something better?

My entire law school memory is me being filled with uncertainty. In my opinion, the only planning that went fruitful was applying for internships and LL.M. applications abroad. The constant fear of not having materialised what I learnt in my law school, constantly kept me aware and vigilant that helped me perform whenever it mattered.

It is again, an experiential topic that varies on basis of a student’s financial capacity, base knowledge, family backup, some luck, contacts they make, being at the right time and right place, etc.

One constant hope is, when you are sincere to your hobbies, academics and your internships, you are prepared more than you think you are, when the time to perform arrives. Be fluidic and be prepared for anything. Law school is many things at once. Life will turn fortunes for the better anytime. Be available with your carpe diem spirit.

If you weren’t a law professor today, what alternate career do you think you’d be pursuing and why?

Surprisingly what I earlier quoted was my biggest fear, I would love to be a Constitutional litigator in an Appellate Court. Despite all the fear I still have to the day, somewhere my inner soul tells me declamatorily that I will do well. Till the soul is alive, I will keep subscribing to this dream.

How has Lawctopus supported you in your Law school/career journey?

Lawctopus has greatly helped me in helping me locate the good publication opportunities and internships. I was and still am, an active subscriber to Lawctopus. Several of my publications that I have, the information came from subscribing to Lawctopus updates.

Their internship review corners helped me mentally prepare and plan my internships including food and lodging. It was precious to me. I hope a few of my reviews on internships that I undertook, is still present in the Lawctopus website.

Disclaimer: Interviews published on Lawctopus are not edited thoroughly so as to retain the voice of the interviewee.

This interview is a part of our Star Interview series, conducted by the Campus Leaders at Lawctopus. Stay tuned for more!