In Conversation With Keyur Gandhi, Associate Director - Space Regulatory, Dhruva Space

Please throw light on what drove you towards the legal profession.

I honestly do not remember when exactly my fascination for the legal profession had turned into a stubborn choice of career, eventually making me the first-generation lawyer in my family. When I was 10 years-old, I was fascinated with any medium that told stories from courtrooms: novels, dramas, non-fiction books, news, movies. At that age, of course, I had limited understanding of the work, but the legal profession still held fascination for me.

Over the course of my formative years at school, I was surrounded by teachers, friends and mentors who encouraged me to go beyond the academic horizons which, coupled with my curiosity for the legal profession, made me only dwell deeper into anything and everything relating to law. 

As I explored more, I quickly realised that through my encounters with criminal, constitutional, labor, administrative, constitutional and intellectual property laws, this profession is as dynamic as human civilization itself. With this dynamism, I could be in any domain: policy-making, litigation, advisory, management, risk, finance, or even be a judge.

When it was the time to make a decision on my choice of degree, it was clear to me that I was going to be able to continue exploring further and probably without very strict boundaries. But what was even more clear and an obvious choice, is that I wanted to be a lawyer.
 

Tell us about your roles and responsibilities as Associate Director - Space Regulatory at Dhruva Space?

I started working at Dhruva Space in 2021, when the Space Policy, formation of IN-SPACe (Space Regulator) and the first mission of Dhruva Space was all underway. The company – headquartered in a 3,600 square-foot office complete with Electronics and Hardware labs, a full-fledge Cleanroom and a Mission Control Centre, which overlooks the hustle and bustle of Hyderabad – was also in formative and dynamic stages in terms of defining its strategic growth path. When I stepped into the office on my first day, I knew it was right for me.

I started off working in a multi faceted role of Legal, Regulatory and Business Development being a close aide of the Chief Executive Officer. This still continues to a large extent, but I can divide my roles and responsibilities in two clear parts now. 

Today, as the head for regulation & policy within the company, my primary role is to solve regulatory challenges, ensuring compliance and also driving policy efforts to ensure suitable market conditions for the business of the company and the space sector. It’s a multi-faceted role that sees me working across various disciplines and with different teams, be it engineering or procurement – safe to say, no two days are the same! If I were to sum up my role, here is a breakdown:

1. Domestic & Global Policy Advocacy to contribute and also drive efforts on regulatory readiness of target markets by working closely with Government stakeholders and policy forums / industry associations. This is especially crucial since space regulation is evolving in most jurisdictions.

2. Regulatory & Risk Management for Space Missions which involves dealing with spectrum coordination, licensing, trade controls, safety & sustainability  and all other authorisation related aspects working with different Government stakeholders from Space, Telecom, Defense, Trade, Security.

3. Building effective framework within the company to deal with legal, regulatory and commercial risk, which is in itself a huge task as there is very little mentoring or precedence to look up to. Balancing between the risk management approach while continuing to be frugal and scalable as a start-up is always a challenge.

4. Advising the company on approach on public procurements, commercial contracts, intellectual property while also working closely with external and internal stakeholders to drive decision making on risk sensitive areas.

I also continue to work closely with the CEO on a wide range of issues which are material to sustainable growth of the company, which often involves leading efforts on the commercialisation and partnership front. This is primarily driven by the strategic growth goals of the company which leads me to work on the revenue, valuation, security, sustainability, scalability and reputation-sensitive initiatives. 
 

What do you think about the future of Space Law, and how this landscape is evolving?

The landscape of Space Law is quite interesting and closely intertwined with defense considerations both domestically and internationally. Today, many space economies want to transition to being commercial space economies, as the global ecosystem is keen to depart from the ‘global space race’ era and usher in a new value chain of space for civil applications to improve life on Earth and beyond. 

The matter of space commerce will continue to be a high risk proposition even with the safest and the most advanced technologies, insurances, jurisprudence and investments for the foreseeable future. This will lead to a mass amplification of demand for enhanced policy clarity, skilled space lawyers, and regulatory professionals.

There is clear intent across the globe – both in developed and developing countries to adopt space technology and work in a globally cooperative environment where civil space is concerned. It is only a matter of time (hopefully by the end of the decade of 2020s) that Space Law in India and other emerging countries transforms into a much more clear and specific framework with detailed guidelines, rules and regulations. 

Well, on the evolution of jurisprudence, I believe that we are still a few years away from witnessing such litigation around issues involving Space Law where the core tenets of Space Law are challenged.
 

What is your success mantra and what advice would you give to others wanting to pursue their career as a space lawyer?
 

Well, I have myself become a Space Lawyer by chance which was soon after my graduation specialising in Business Law. To be honest, there is very little today that one can do to academically specialise in Space Law, given the lack of jurisprudence and evolution since the Outer Space Treaty. 

But, when it comes to Space Commerce, one needs to not just be familiar but also build expertise in Strategic Trade Controls, Spectrum Management, and other laws relating to Explosive Substances, Public Procurements, Contracts, International Trade, Taxation, etc.

Success in a career solely focused on space law will not come fast, since there is a lack of mentors resulting from the lack of a large private sector, lack of Court-driven dispute settlement and the level of secrecy with which professionals work in the sector for obvious reasons.

Therefore, my success mantra and advise are:

1. be clear in your understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks,

2. spend a lot of time understanding the space business and values chains

3. have the courage to fail and be open to learning everyday

4. do not compare your journey with your colleagues and others in the legal industry