Cracking the code

What you need to do to get started with a career in cyber law

January 07, 2018 06:00 pm | Updated 06:00 pm IST

Cybercrime is at an all-time high; the legal fraternity, judiciary and the investigating agencies are required to equip themselves with new skills to meet the challenge. As high profile data breaches such as those that hit Sony and JP Morgan continue to grab headlines, the demand for cyber lawyers is on the rise.

With dynamically changing technologies, the challenges for the cyber lawyers are also growing. There is a continuous need for cyber lawyers to update their technical knowledge.

In the U.S. and Europe, the cyber law field is dominated by technology lawyers and most of them enter this arena at the bachelor’s stage after acquiring a B.Tech, BCA or B.Sc in Computer Science, as well as an LLB. Specialised courses on various cyber forensic disciplines and cyber security are also available.

Demand

In India, the concept of cyber lawyer is completely misunderstood. The judiciary as well as investigating agencies are not trained to deal with cybercrime. Half-hearted efforts are being made to bridge the gaps. But due to huge demand, the gap is widening with each passing day, creating a large vacuum of techno-legal professionals. At present, there are lawyers who have acquired some qualifications in IT, have completed a PG diploma in cyber law. Or, there are technocrats who have completed LLB. But are these professionals competent to handle the complex issues of digital world?

Entry to the cyber law domain can be as early as on completion of secondary education. Aspirants can join five-year integrated course such as B.Tech-LLB or B.Sc.-LLB. Even those who are in B.A. or BBA-LLB programmes can develop their technical skills and make a career in cyber law. Along with the LLB, students can develop their skills in networking and different operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, mobile OS).

After an LLB, students can join specialised courses like a PG diploma or LLM in Cyber Law. In order to augment their skills, students can pick up computer forensics, and advanced network and mobile technologies. It may not be possible to acquire all these skills simultaneously; the best course of action will be to choose a particular segment first, such as computer forensics or network forensics. After acquiring expertise in one field, one can combine it with exposure to past IT cases.

The legal world identifies two broad domains, criminal law and civil law. Every case which is filed in a court of law falls into these two domains, including the cases involving cyber technologies. So, the technocrat moving into the legal field needs to undergo training to litigate criminal or civil trials, and acquire the skill of cross-examination. Otherwise, they may become ornamental lawyers.

Path

If you are new aspirant, you can go with B.Tech/B.Sc/BCA/LLB. In order to further your skills you can pursue an LLM in cyber law. If you are a practising advocate and do not have knowledge of technology, you can develop those skills by undergoing courses in networking or computer forensics. But developing legal skills and spending time in civil/criminal litigations is even more important than acquiring technical knowledge. The skills in the field of information technology as well as law have to be developed in parallel through consistent study, practice and exposure. The key to excel as a cyber lawyer is to become a perpetual student of law and technology.

The author is a legal expert specialising in cyber law, and a visiting faculty at various institutes.

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