06 May 2021
Law as a discipline has a wide variety of practice areas to offer. It starts with traditionally known domains namely civil and criminal but extends to more specific and detailed spaces like arbitration, cyber space, organized crimes, corporate, banking, finance, competition law etc. It can be understood from these stretches that everything we perform comes under the radar of legal discipline.
We, as a nation, are growing rapidly, which is a result of technological advancements, pooling of scientific resources, scaling high on globalization parameters and proliferation of global markets. This has caused myriad opportunities for new anti-social activities to grow and impact human existence. Of late, it has become quite a challenge to combat the changed dynamics of crime and criminality. The ordinary criminal commits crimes which are direct and involve physical action such as beating, use of force, removal of property etc. which can be easily identified and detected. With the change in social structures, the nature, cause, manner, rate and impact of crime has also completely changed. In the commercial world, crimes are being committed by privileged groups of persons in an indirect, anonymous, impersonal and difficult to detect ways.
Famous criminologists like Emily Durkheim have expressed their opinions regarding the universal nature of crime and its ever-present phenomenon since the inception of society and even before. So, even though crime has been affecting human life, property and liberty since the origin of state, society or laws, it has relentlessly evolved and adapted itself. For the last two decades, organized crimes including corruption, drug trafficking, terror financing have been primary areas of concern; other modes of criminal activities are now gradually emerging like environmental crimes, narco terrorism, cybercrimes, consumer financial frauds, identity theft, hacking, data- privacy, cyber- bullying , e-shopping frauds, online blackmail, e-banking frauds etc.
The convenience brought by information technology has also opened gates for grave threats and the internet has changed the face of crime. The unprecedented growth in the rate of crime due to digital connectivity via the internet has cropped up various legal issues. The crime related litigation has grown exponentially in many dimensions and has become extremely competitive and highly lucrative in contemporary times. The interplay of civil and criminal procedures with cyber frauds, telemarketing frauds, tax frauds, securities fraud opens vistas of opportunities for new generation lawyers to be experts of these disciplines.
One may wonder how to build a career in one of these dynamic and thrusting areas. A lawyer needs a basic skill set consisting of flair communication, logical thinking, augmentation and analytical ability, knack of reasoning and competence of a researcher. In addition, to champion the challenges thrown by modern day crimes, the legal fraternity is required to comprehend itself with knowledge of new technologies and investigation techniques.
Here are a few skills one may gather in order to become an expert of this niche area of cyber law and make their career successful.
Thus, the field of cyber law and cyber securities offers tremendous possibilities for the future. The practice in this domain will surely be a challenging venture. There is a need to develop parallel skills for both law and technology through exposure, practice and study. It is a multi- dimensional industry with international potential which would undoubtedly prepare a cyber-law expert to be a true global professional.
Written By :- Ms. Pooja Trehan, Assistant. Professor, Faculty of Law, MRU