Student Focus: Nikhil Naren (Trainee Advocate at Scriboard )

Mr. Nikhil Naren is a Trainee Advocate at Scriboard [Advcoates and Legal Consultants], New Delhi. He is also the Publishing Editor, Metacept | InfoTech and IP Laws and has co-authored a book at the age of twenty three with Shri Rodney D. Ryder. He will be graduating this summer with a B.A.LL.B degree from Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA. He holds a diploma in Cyber Laws from Government Law College, Mumbai and Asian School of Cyber Laws, Pune, certification in Intellectual Property Laws and Competition Law from Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry [FICCI], New Delhi, and a certification in ‘Blockchain and the Law’ from Enhelion Knowledge Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

We managed him to ask him following questions:

How would you like to introduce yourself to our readers?

My sincere greetings to the readers and team Juscholars. I am Nikhil Naren, a final year learner of law at Symbiosis Law School, NOIDA. I’ve been working in and exploring the area of Information Technology and Intellectual Property Laws for the past four years. Apart from my interest in Learning the Law, I have a keen interest in Photography, Cricket, Cars, Music, Travelling and Food [in no particular order].

How was your experience at Symbiosis?

A lot of credit goes to Symbiosis in building and making me the person I am today. The most important lesson I’ve learnt in my law school is that of being disciplined. Being disciplined not only with respect to academics but with respect to anything and everything one signs up for. I’ve tried to imbibe and spread the concept of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ [the world is one family]. I often say that we should learn together and grow together.

Tell us about your law school life.

I tried my level best to follow my heart and intuition during the journey of my law school. But, planning was an essential aspect too. At the end I feel that it is all about planning and putting your heart out in achieving it. I can say that I was decent on the grades and academic front and majority of my learning has happened outside the classroom. Moots, Mock Trials and researching has put a lot of things in shape for me. My interest in technology law came after I started reading about it, then came diploma in cyber laws followed by more of research and writing. Hence, I thought it was very essential for me to follow the ‘trial and error’ method as soon as possible in order for me to take important decisions with respect to the way forwards.

What are your views on career choices after law?

It is very subjective and depends on one’s interest and ambitions. A law graduate has a lot of options to choose from after getting their degrees. One can choose to litigate, or work with a law-firm or as an in-house counsel. Those who want to pursue a career in academics could go for an LL.M, but it is very important for a person to opt for a subject they really want to study while pursuing LL.M. Cracking the judicial services examination is another important career path for law graduates. In this case, the student should be focussed and clear with the procedural as well as few substantive laws. However, it will be best that the career choice opted by the law graduate is more by willingness than compulsion.

How do you like working with Scriboard and Metacept?

Amazing. I’ve a go-to person and my guru, Shri Rodney D. Ryder supporting me throughout. Since, I was inclined towards technology law, receiving a Pre-Placement from Scriboard in the seventh semester of law school provided me with the industry exposure at a very nascent stage of my career. I am glad to assist leading e-commerce and social networking platforms on privacy, data protection, intermediary guidelines, inter alia with a year left for my graduation. The work culture, work ethics and the support and understanding amongst my colleagues is something which one cannot find easily.

Coming to Metacept, I am slowly and gradually shaping it and with a dedicated team alongside me, I am sure we’ll able to create a space for ourselves in the domain of Intellectual Property and Information Technology Laws in the coming times. I would really want people to visit http://www.metacept.com and let me know their feedbacks.

Tell us something about your recent book.

Internet Law: Regulating Cyberspace and Emerging Technologies is aimed to provide the readers with a holistic view of the Information Technology Law in India. I would like to specially thank the twelve Research Associates who played an important role in the coming together of the book. The book has been written and structured in the simplest of the way which will make the users of the internet aware of the risks, challenges, solutions and the basics. We laid special emphasis on the chapterization of the book and we initially started off with twelve chapters in December 2018.

We thought of adding three more chapters around August 2019 namely, Privacy Policy, Digital Brand Management, and the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill, 2019. These chapters are completely practical in nature and useful for body corporates. The chapter on privacy policy apart from being a guide on the drafting of privacy policies and the compliance’s one needs to take care of also contains a questionnaire to conduct an IT audit in an organization. The chapter on digital brand management helps entrepreneurs in promoting their brands in the online space. The chapter on the PDP bill discusses the sections of the proposed bill which is surrounded by a lot of discussions and debates over it.

Apart from this, the book extensively discusses the legislation i.e. the Information Technology Act, 2000, and takes a deep dive into cybercrimes, internet security, privacy, electronic evidence, interception and monitoring of electronic communication, freedom of expression in cyberspace, e-governance, e- commerce, social media and the relation of intellectual property and information technology. The readers can witness a detailed table of contents (running down to fifteen pages), a gist of the chapter at the beginning of each chapter and lots of tables and graphical representations for their ease.

How to make yourself employable?

I believe that one should have a clear approach towards his/her interest area by the time they are done with 5 semesters at the Law School. Till then you can go by the trial and error method. That’s the time when one should take up new things and analyse if it interest’s that person. This could only be achieved by the means of internships. Initial internships should be done at the District Courts to get hold of the procedural laws followed by High Courts/Supreme Court. I guess, fourth semester would be the correct time to intern at boutique law firms if one does not want to go for litigation. Lastly, what one should keep in their mind is to build their CV in a way that the CV speaks of their interest in front of the recruiter and not their mouth. Diploma and Certifications also helps in gaining deep insights on various subjects especially those which are not taught in the law schools.

Parting Advise for law aspirants.

I would like to instead suggest the aspirants of this ‘noble profession’ to not sit for the law school entrances and end up pursuing law as an alternative career choice. Please join a law school only if you love the study of law and are really interested in it. My best wishes are always with you!