In Conversation With Tanuj Kalia, Founding CEO, Lawctopus

Tanuj, would you please walk us through your early years of education and the decision to become a media and education entrepreneur?

I was born and raised in Sundernagar, a small town in Himachal Pradesh. Our school was in an idyllic location and I learned from books, teachers, friends, as well as trees, animals, and hills. When I was around 8 or 9 I read a National Book Trust book which had a mouse which goes entrepreneurial. Perhaps, that was the seed of business that got implanted in me. Writing came to me naturally and I started writing poems when I was around 10 years of age. The poetry emerged spontaneously without effort or try. It surprised me at that time and it still does.

I was terrible at Maths and Engineering/Medicine were quickly discarded as potential career options thanks to supportive parents and the fact that language was something I was good at. The then NLSIU question paper used to have a lot of English and English writing and hence law was the right choice for me.

I prepared hard for CLAT in class 11 and 12. I was in a new place (Chandigarh) and didn’t have much to do except study. This thankful bore fruits and I made it to NUJS Kolkata. At NUJS Kolkata, I was surrounded by some very smart and ambitious people. They clearly argued better and I thought that I won’t be able to as good a litigator as them. Corporate law wasn’t considered as I had heard tales of long working hours and political games which wasn’t to my liking.

Lawctopus happened as my Chickenpox induced bed-rest met with my previous experience of freelance writing for legal news websites. Why not a website for law students, I thought. Lawctopus Law School happened during the Covid times, serendipititiously. We already had developed two very good courses on Contract Drafting and Legal Research and Writing and my instructional designer told me “This is the best time to start” and start we did.

Seeing growth, in myself or people around me, is inherently fulfilling for me. I also belong to a family of teachers with all the 6 people at my mom’s side of the family being teachers/professors.

In your opinion, what are the current gaps and challenges in the legal education system in India?

The current gaps and challenges are similar to the ones that plague the education system in general.

Lack of quality faculty members and good library resources means that students don’t grasp the first principles of law well enough. This can lead to disenchantment with the career itself. The Bar Council of India's internship structure is good in that it mandates an internship every year. Unfortunately, the demand far exceeds the supply. We used to have a good culture of practicing lawyers teaching law students during evenings. This is happening far less though the UGC mandated ‘professors of practice’ might shift a few things.

How do you see the future of ed-tech evolving in India, particularly in the legal education sector?

I see ed-tech getting institutionalised, that is, they become a in-built component of the law school. One cannot get great teachers in every part of the country. Recorded lectures of one great teacher can be listened by thousands, and then discussions/assignments can be facilitated by the local faculty. This model is not new and is similar to what Sal Khan, CEO, Khan Academy has been advocating since long.

Legal laboratories which teach students different types of drafting and filing through screen-share software (something which we do well at Lawctopus Law School) could become as common as moot court societies in law schools.

Lawctopus is India's go-to website for law students and young lawyers. What is your vision for your platform in the next five years?

We have always wanted Lawctopus to be a law student's friend, philosopher, and guide, and we are proud that we have achieved that vision. To continue doing that through more meaningful ways remains a challenge and something that needs to be done. We are currently doing it through education and we intend to do it through recruitments soon. International expansion of Lawctopus has always been on the cards and you should see a strong foray into the USA soon.