Akshay Saxena graduated from IMS Law College, Noida in 2015. Presently, he is an Associate at Seth Associates & Legal Consultants, Noida.
In this interview he talks to us about:
- His experience at IMS Law College.
- His remarkable experiences during the internships.
- A few tips on managing high grades.
- Status of cyber crime in present scenario.
Given that most of our readers belong to legal fraternity, how would you introduce yourself to them?
Hello to all the readers & viewers, I am Akshay Saxena. I graduated from IMS Law college, Noida in 2015 and I am an Associate at Seth Associates & Legal Consultants, Noida.
What motivated you to choose law as a career?
My Father is a lawyer and he is my Idol from the very first day. He did not put pressure on me to pursue anything. He set me free to choose whatever I wanted to do. I used to admire my father and his work, his skills and secondly I had no other plans after my 12th in my mind. I wanted to make my career in law so I started preparing for CLAT but eventually I couldn’t score much and as I did not want to waste my year so I took admission in IMS Law College.
How was your experience at IMS Law College? What were your hobbies during your tenure in law school?
First of all being a Non- NLU student it is very difficult to survive in the legal fraternity. I was a Non – NLU student and it was difficult for me to stabilize myself in this field. But I was aware from the fact that if I work hard and if I keep going without losing hope I will definitely achieve what I want. And coming back to the experience in my College, I used to be the student who was full of energy and was very active and quite known among the faculty. I started participating in debates, seminars, workshops etc. My hobbies were playing cricket and Pool/Snooker. I had a huge friend circle in my college and I used to spend my time with my friends.
What were your areas of interest during your graduation? How did you go about developing expertise and knowledge in these areas?
During my graduation I was very much fond of studying Arbitration & Conciliation, Indian Penal Code, Contract, Intellectual Property Rights. I started studying more and more about the core law subjects like Crpc, CPC, Evidence and IPR. When I started reading Arbitration & conciliation somehow I started developing interest in that area and used to study articles related to that. And then in the next semester I had the subject IPR after which I decided to focus on IPR and build my career as an IP lawyer preferably. I used to read books and articles on IPR and started gathering knowledge about this area. Talking about developing expertise and knowledge in these areas came when I realized that it is high time now for me get serious about my career and when I had to choose one area I chose IPR and Cyber.
What are your thoughts on activities like mooting and debating? What skills do law students acquire by engaging themselves in such activities?
Mooting and debating are the best platform for a young talent to show their skills in front of many people. Mooting is an experience of a lifetime. One gets immense exposure and experience about the court proceedings. I remember the day when I first started preparing for my first Moot which was “XI All Delhi-NCR Moot Court Competition 2013” in Delhi University, I was very much tensed as I had to research on various issues/Judgments and making memorial and compiling all the relevant things together and one has to prepare for & against as well because you never know on what stance you will be asked to argue in front of High Court Judges. As I was the Researcher in my first moot competition which doubled my worries but my mentor Ms. Surabhi Guleria who gave us confidence and self belief because of which my team ended up winning the Competition. That win gave me ample amount of confidence and then I participated in “1st National Moot Court Competition held in Sharda University 2014”and later my team was declared as winner. I was the speaker in that Moot competition. Mooting & debating gives a person a great confidence to brush up their skills and to acknowledge their positive points and negative points. Mooting and debating is an extra-curricular opportunity for a law student to practice their legal advocacy skills. Mooting and Debating develops group work skills, the skill of argument, the skill of making reasoned judgments and self confidence.
Any remarkable experiences during your internships that shaped your career?
First of all let me tell to all the readers and law students that internship plays a very vital role in gathering professional ethics, court proceedings, and the work environment in a law office/chamber. I remember the day when I got the opportunity to meet Mr. Salman Khurshid and I gave a brief to him about the case, plus during Internships every law student gets to see the lifestyle of a lawyer. I witnessed Mr. Harish Salve arguing in the Supreme Court on my first visit to the Supreme Court of India during my internship. During internship I got the opportunity to draft some PIL’s and legal notices which was very interesting and gave me a lot of knowledge and enhanced my research skills altogether. Internships gave me a slight insight of the working environment of a law firm & chambers, which eventually helped me after I joined the current firm as an Associate.
Share with our readers a few actionable tips on managing high grades.
Practically law is entirely different from what we learn or read in our college. Whereas to score high marks and good grades one must acquire good knowledge of Sections/Articles/Case laws and everything becomes easy when you read a case related to a particular section. It is difficult to score high marks but not an impossible task. A law student should learn the basic concept rather than mugging up the whole Bare-Act. It becomes easy when a student knows the basics of the subject and if a student has doubts regarding anything he/she should consult his faculty. Read as much as you can, be aware of the latest amendments and pay attention in your class when your faculty teaches you something, well that helps a lot.
Please share your experience with Advocate Karnika Seth.
Well it is my pleasure to work with Adv. Karnika Seth. She is a well known cyber lawyer and a cyber expert. It has not been much time since I joined her office but in such a less time I have worked on various cases related to cyber crime and got to learn the basics. She is a great mentor and whenever she assigns some work to me she always make sure that I put my efforts in right direction and always keeps backing her associates which inspires and motivates us to work hard. She never scold or raise her voice if the work she assigned is not upto the mark, she would rather show the right direction and right way to deal with the problem. Working with the top cyber lawyer gave me an exposure and enhanced my skills. Since she has published numerous books on Cyber crimes/ child pornography etc, it becomes easy for us to consult anything and everything from her regarding any problem related to cyber law and a lot more she is very well versed of the fact that how to get quality work from her associates. She keeps sharing her experience with us and keeps encouraging the young/budding lawyers. So far my experience of working with Advocate Seth is tremendous and full of knowledge. As she also deals with IPR matters, she assigned me some Trademark cases and set me free to handle the case on my own and gave me the opportunity to appear in TMR hearings which drew my interest towards IPR and I am very much satisfied with the kind of work I am doing with her.
How did your appointment at Seth Associate and Legal Consultants take place?
Well Adv. Seth used to speak and give knowledge on the Cyber-laws at various different forums. So she was invited once in my college to give us some knowledge about the cyber laws and cyber crimes, so I knew her since then. It was my last semester and as my final year result came I sent across my CV to her email id and within three days I got the reply and she asked to present a synopsis on any legal topic of my choice and eventually I chose “Cyber crimes” and sent that synopsis to her and then she called me for personal interview and this is how my appointment at Seth Associates and Legal Consultants took place.
Many law students aspire to secure a job. What do you think most are doing wrong, from your observation?
As far as my observation is concerned the thing which many law students do wrong during their academics is not doing internships. I would suggest every aspiring law student to do as much internships as they can, in the same area in which they wish to start their career, because internships gives a very deep knowledge and experience to a law student. It becomes easy for a recruiter to appoint you in their firm if you had done internships in the same area as it won’t be difficult for the law students to start working in a firm. During college days every law student must choose their preferred area in which they wish to get expertise and then scrutinize the firm and start applying in the same. The law students should keep this in mind that failures and rejections are the part of a life, for a student rejections are basically the hurdles which makes or breaks the confidence, it is upto you whether you make it or break it. Do not lose hope keep trying and never give up.
And when you are interning somewhere keep asking for work from the concerned person as it will bring you in notice of the people working with the firm and try to intern with a same firm twice it will make you familiar with the associates and partners, it will help you get a PPO(May be).
Keep your resume short, simple and up to the mark. Mention your work experience; mention your qualities and your achievements.
What is the status of cyber crime in present scenario?
In present scenario the cyber crimes are increasing day by day. The world of Internet today has become a parallel form of life and living. Public are now capable of doing things which were not imaginable few years ago. The Internet is fast becoming a way of life for millions of people and also a way of living because of growing dependence on these machines. Cyber crimes have been reported across the world. It is now amongst the most important revenue sectors for global organized crime. After introducing the cyber law in our country the cyber crimes are becoming less but still some of the cases are their which changes the public mind about the people of our country. Through cyber law many people got arrested and they are now also behind the bar. After seeing so much safety the people are not creating much violence about this. Because of cyber crime many people had suffered and mainly the rich people and the girls. Therefore Cyber crime system requirements in India are being increasing day by day as per the crimes are increasing. At present there are so many cases of cyber crimes pending in the court and the people are waiting because of the lack of lawyers for cyber crime. So there is a need of cyber lawyers who can support the people and provide them a good assistance and status in the society. There are many cases of hacking other’s account, spreading virus in others system through email, etc. and through this many people are suffering from cyber crime. We as a lawyer need to take up the challenge against cyber crimes and help the people who have been suffering from such crimes. I am sure that our country will definitely come up with some more strict laws in accordance to stop the cyber crimes.
What should be your advice to our readers?
I would say keep up the good work, keep reading articles, keep learning and never lose hope. Everyone should believe in themselves and wait for the right moment.
“BE A LEARNER”
