Session Report
Aishwarya Dutta
LPPYF Law and Public Policy Youth Fellowship is an Online National Summer School Program, a Two- Month Online Immersive Legal Awareness & Action Research Certificate Training Course and Internship Program, from June-August 2023 by IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute. An informative and interactive panel discussion on “Careers in Law & Public Policy” was held by Advocate Sanchita Ain.
The session began with the welcome address of Nikita Bhardwaj, Researcher, Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi.
Introduction
Prof. Ain started with addressing the individuals attending the session asking them the field they are coming from. Nevertheless, she said the field one is coming from doesn’t matter, what matters is the knowledge one gains. She further continued whichever field a person is in, whether public and private, they need to know the law. There is a need to understand how effective governance is in our country, how the various departments of the government works and what implications they have for the common public.
Careers in Law & Public Policy
Law plays a vital role in policy making. Law informs policy. She also talked about the potential opportunities one gets when they are interested in Public Policy and simultaneously have a background in law. Law students have various options to look forward to. She advised law students on how to look for an internship. Law students should also follow the lawyers, the way they fight a case, the way they talk in court in front of the judge. The way they make points, the strategies they take up and also the language they use in petitions and everything else needs to be observed minutely.
The ability to grasp things is more when one is a student. So these things need to be done while one is enrolled in a law course. The ability to pick up the legal language is maximum when an individual is a student. One needs to identify one’s strength, understand it and then utilise it for a bigger purpose. People learn through trial and error and there is no harm in failing multiple times because that is the only way to learn.
From her personal experience she shared how she is not so potent in networking, never asked for help from anybody. Whatever she did was from her own potential. Set targets and clear goals always help in the long run. Contacting people as per needs and requirements of knowledge is something she started building up gradually according to the needs of time. But she warns that doing it superficially doesn’t really help. Introverts, specifically, face problems in reaching out to people in the outer world. She suggests they properly investigate and plan whom to reach out. Authenticity is important in this regard. One should not limit oneself in this regard.
She also shed a light on the controversy of Aadhar where there were so many controversial opinions, especially political opinions about the scheme of Aadhar and the question of privacy relating to it. Initially there was widespread opposition to the Aadhar scheme but gradually even people who were opposed to it started accepting it and had to apply for their cards as well because that has become a unique identification criteria for being a citizen of India. Apart from that even for the slightest of things Aadhar number is required throughout the various activities within the country itself.She further asserts that law is a career where one grows throughout their lives. People get better at their work with increasing experience.
Conclusion
In her closing remarks, Professor Vibhuti Patel shared her wonderful insights on law and public policy. She congratulated professor Ain on a successful session. The way legal awareness can bring about significant changes in our lives has been addressed by Professor Ain and further advocated by Prof Patel.
No matter wherever one wishes to work, in whichever field, the awareness about the laws of the land is important. During the covid-19 tests pandemic people could travel frequently by following the law. So laws keep changing with time and people need to be aware of them from time to time to keep up with the pace at which the government is functioning.
People also know the new laws and covenants through social media which has made our lives much easier. On the whole the general masses have more legal awareness in their day to day lives. As citizens we should be concerned with the safety and security of our community. Legal awareness, legal education and legal mindset is thus crucial these days. We need to overcome our phobia of the legal language.
There are various simpler versions to the legal language available these days which make it easier for the masses to understand the whereabouts. Also a very important point which has been highlighted by Prof Patel is that the understanding of the legal language should also be facilitated in the regional languages and should not be limited to English only.
Acknowledgement: Aishwarya is a Research Intern at IMPRI.
Youtube Video of Inaugural session for Law and Public Policy Youth Fellowship Programme: https://youtu.be/fT0XLKGJ6LY
Read more session reports for Law and Public Policy Youth Fellowship:
Ethics in Research: Field Work and Action Research
