Tech Lawyer of the Year—In Conversation with Puneet Bhasin, Founder, Cyberjure Legal Consulting—BW Legal World Global Legal Summit and Legal Leaders Awards 2020

Many Congratulations on winning the BW Legal World Global Legal Leaders Award for the year 2020. How was your experience interacting with the Jury and of the event? 

It was a very pleasant experience and a privilege to interact with such an eminent jury and the event was very well organised and planned.

Rewinding time: please allow us a peek into your illustrious journey in law. Where did this journey begin, who were your mentors, and are there any goals that remain to be achieved?  

My journey in cyber laws started when I joined law school and started studying this subject. It was then that I started reading up on it a lot and found it very interesting. At that time smartphones had not yet made their entry in India and only a few privileged owned a blackberry, The subject was new with not many precedents and starting practice in this field after law school was an even more enjoyable along with tough journey as there were no precedents and no set practice. Even the court to hear these matters was new. The law enforcement and many times even judges had to be explained what these crimes meant at that time. My mentors in life were my parents as they gave me a free hand to pursue whatever I wanted and their guidance has stood me in good stead in every situation of my life.

What would you say has helped you emerge as a leader in your industry and what advice would you have for others who want to set off in a similar direction?  

It's very important to take up a career you are genuinely interested in along with being good in it. Never follow the herd mentality or mindset that just because something seems to be an upcoming field it's better and with more opportunities. Law is a skill-based field and your success depends purely on your skill and not on the specialization of law being upcoming.

We have seen a spate of legislative changes in recent years that have been monumental in reforming India's legal framework across all sectors. Would you please highlight a recent development concerning your practice area that has positively impacted the industry? 

Information Technology Laws should be dynamic to keep pace with technological changes, unlike other laws which have relevance for hundreds of years. The legislature of late has started understanding this and the amendment to the Intermediary Guidelines earlier this year is a positive development where they are bringing into its ambit OTT platforms and social media platforms. Also, the data protection bill being deliberated as yet will change the way businesses market their products and services and it will be a major development in cyber laws.

How has the legal services industry transformed in the past year? What have been your key learnings from the year past and what are your predictions for the future?

Legal services have undergone a massive shift from physical to digital in the last year. Cover 19 made lawyers and courts adopt technology and today hearings are happening online, conference meetings with clients and legal consultations are also happening using video conferencing tools. This is going to stay as it has a lot of benefit in making legal services affordable, as a client does not have to bear expenses of travel and stay of advocates and reduces their expenses by a considerable amount. Also, for advocates, it has its benefits as they do not have to travel much and that saves a lot of time for them too.  

An experience, case or person that left a lasting impression on you.

There are many experiences and people who have left an impression on me. In the initial years of my practice, I had appeared in a divorce matter, only for the part where I had to get digital evidence of my client admitted, as courts did not have a favourable approach to such evidence back then. After the hearing and my arguments, I left the courtroom and the Client followed me and gave me a note saying that madam your argument was so good and irrespective of whether the judge admits the evidence, I am convinced I have given my best shot at it now.  I had kept that note with me as it was a reminder to me that its very important that as an advocate we give it our best shot every time and a client should be satisfied that the best has been done in his matter. 

Law firm practice of the future: LegalTech tools that are transforming the traditional methods of legal practice in India 

AI tools for legal research are being offered by many companies and may become the future of legal research, however, my firm is still traditional where it comes to using AI for research. Apart from using Legal search engines for case research, we still rely on human skill to understand and co-relate cases and precedents. Case management tools we have not used as yet and may use them in near future. 

What keeps you busy when you’re not working? Any favourite book or movie/series that you'd like to recommend to our readers. 

I love to read books of the Robin Cook series and I like cooking too and these are the two hobbies that occupy me when I am not working, however, if time permits and I have a longer break at hand, I like travelling to new countries and exploring new cultures and cuisines, as travel is not just leisure, but it also broadens one's horizons in life and perspectives. When I was in school, my father would say invest in life experiences and not things, and travel gives us experiences and memories to cherish for a lifetime.

Any other thoughts, message to our readers. What other than hard work is a mantra to success? 

Success is by the grace of God. Hard work yes is necessary, but handwork along with the right opportunities is purely God's grace. Having faith and patience is key along with being thankful for the higher power when you achieve any success, in failure pray for courage to reach heights of success and at all times remember that you are simply an instrument of God's grace. This understanding will keep you grounded and success or failure, you will be able to face both with equal strength.