The increase in the number of Law schools across the country is testimony to the rise in popularity of the legal profession. Within legal studies, there is enhanced interest in the integrated BBA-LLB programme, as it gives students a platform to understand complex industrial and corporate dynamics along with the intricate details of law and governance. This stream has also gained prominence with the booming start-up industry. While the BBA subjects provide insights into the working of a start-up ecosystem, legal knowledge plays a crucial role in aligning the business with relevant legal regulations. Given the steady growth of start-ups and the government’s continued support for entrepreneurship, a start-up lawyer’s role is significant in an era of global business.
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After a BBA-LLB degree, one could go on to do an MBA in Finance, which will provide them with a background to understand why individuals in businesses are pursuing transactions and commercial endeavours. This interdisciplinary learning opens doors to varied career avenues focused on management-specific roles such as investment banking or business development advisor. MBA graduates with legal knowledge are also required in areas such as marketing, sales, and supply chain management For instance, the law firm Allen and Overy emphasises the ‘commercial awareness’ aspect for their employees. Commercial awareness is the understanding of the business market, deals relevant to an area of the business sector and the ability to comprehend the implication of such deals to the firm as well as to the client.
In this era of technological growth, one also needs to understand the implications of and relevance of technology to one’s profession. Law schools are now focusing on understanding the regulatory aspects of technological use. While FinTech is popular, the RegTech space is not far behind. RegTech is the management of regulatory processes within businesses. Fraud prevention, consumer protection, asset liability management, anti-money laundering compliances, capital measurement, and tax/financial reporting are some of the common RegTech applications.
Law schools need to follow a multi-disciplinary approach, as mentioned in the National Education Policy 2020. The interdisciplinary understanding between Law, Management and Technology has inward and outward functions. First, the legal regulation of businesses and business-related technological developments shape how businesses are perceived from the stage of designing, manufacturing, and distributing goods and services. Second is the outward interface of how business interacts with society at large in its various forms and complexities. Therefore, an interdisciplinary curriculum equips students to appreciate the socioeconomic and political consequences of different legal regulations and their underlying philosophies and the role of emerging technologies necessary to make legal choices.
The writer is a Trustee and a part of the Board of Governors at Dayananda Sagar University, Bengaluru.