This article on the fundamental right to adopt is written by Ahona Pal from Symbiosis Law School, Noida.

This article on copyright infringement on the internet is written by Salai Varun Isai Azhagan, a qualified Lawyer and an Advocate in the Madras High Court.

This article on the online presence of top 10 law firms in India is written by Debakinandan Kole, pursuing M.A. in business law from NUJS, Kolkata.

This article on CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND CORPORATE CRISIS IN CHINA is written by Chaminda Jayasundara,  pursuing M.A. in business law from NUJS, Kolkata.

This article on legal requisites for starting the import or export of pearls, precious and semi-precious stones is written by Lavanya Verma from RDVV, Jabalpur.

This article on IPR Laws is written by Bhargav Chetankumar Thakkar, pursuing M.A. in business law from NUJS, Kolkata.

In this article, Anubhav Kumar Pandey talks about advantages and disadvantages of practicing litigation in a big city over a small town.

Litigation has always been a popular choice among law students. The adrenaline rush of a courtroom, the sense of justice, these are the attraction for any young budding law student. Let us observe more closely different aspects of litigation.

The fundamental doubt which seeps into the mind of a young beginner in the field of litigation is where to start practicing. Big city or small town. Let us look at some advantages and disadvantages of practicing litigation in a big city over a small town.

Advantages of practicing litigation in a big city

Starting litigation in a big city is not an easy job. Though there will be ample amount of opportunities, one need not forget one fact. Because you are just a beginner, you will have to come across significant challenges. Litigating in a big city has its pros as well as cons too.

Opportunities

While you will be practicing litigation in a big city, multiple opportunities will knock at your doors. Consequently, one has to be ready all the time to grab that opportunity. Furthermore, you will get multiple chances to boost your contacts.

As the old saying in the legal profession goes, Your network is your net worth. In a big city, you can visit multiple courts and practice.

Let us take the example of Delhi. The most noteworthy especially relevant point is, there are many district courts, one High Court and the apex court of India, Supreme Court too. Therefore, if you are thinking of starting your practice in Delhi, get ready to put all your efforts which you can. It is only your preparedness which is required.

In small cities opportunities are limited. It is tough for a fresher to get a kick start. Small cities also have limited courts and tribunals. Big cities are equipped with Courts as well as tribunals.

Vibrant practice atmosphere

Since you are practicing litigation in a big city the work culture will be in direct proportion to the competition. Everyone will try to give their best, and amidst in this atmosphere, you will get to learn a lot. Because of the vibrant working environment, a work ethic might prosper in you.

As a legal professional, first of all, be prepared to put all the hard work which you can. Furthermore, you will have to put day in and day out to leave a mark. The pace is the key. M.C Chagla in Roses in December mentions, how as an advocate he had to work accurately with precision. Even one had to walk with certain pace inside the court premises otherwise, chances of adjournment was high.

Finally, practicing litigation in a big city will make you realise that working accurately along with precision is the key to success in the field of litigation.

Visit a district court in Delhi and any other small town district court, you will see a difference. The atmosphere in big cities is more vibrant when compare with small town district court. As a fresher one gets to learn more and experiment more when you are practicing litigation in a big city.

Lifestyle

The most noteworthy advantage of practicing litigation in a big city is the lifestyle which comes along with it. Almost all of us are aware of the lifestyle of big cities. But the point is, how can lifestyle be an advantage to you for practicing litigation in big cities? Almost all the people in big cities believe in technological advancement. If a businessman located in Delhi wants to hire a good lawyer, along with searching through his personal contacts, he will definitely google the query. This is a helpful way of increasing client base.

Wide area to practice

In addition to your preferred practice area, you might also get a chance to work on different areas of law. Therefore big cities help you in discovering multiple areas of law.

All the companies try to set their base in big cities. This eventually will boost the litigation practice. Therefore, if you are working only on divorce matters who knows you might also get one consumer dispute to fight.

In a small town, the area of litigation is quite narrow. Due to unavailability of industry, companies, litigation is mostly inclined towards customary litigation practice. Meanwhile in big cities disputes are between person and person as well as between natural and artificial persons. Therefore, litigating in a big city exposes a lawyer with multiple facets of law.

Area of work in small town is very narrow. Lawyers are mostly involved in traditional criminal or civil practice. Take an example of Intellectual Property law. This is such an area of law which can only be found practiced in big cities.

Disadvantages in practicing litigation in a big city

Making an impact

Making an impact is an art which every lawyer must master. Practicing litigation in a big city will provide you with ample amount of opportunity, and it will be your duty to make an impact. Making an impact while practicing litigation in big cities in India is difficult. A lawyer might question, how to make an impact?

Here are few things which a High Court junior must do to make an impact.

Make yourself visible in the court

Almost every beginner struggle with getting cases. It might seem like going to court every day is a waste as you don’t have cases to work upon. This assumption is wrong. Probably, every junior who makes it a point to be in the court during working hours make it to the top in the field. Make it a point to be visible to seniors, working, putting your effort and you will get recognised.

Make Court library your best friend

Court libraries more often work as a waiting hall for lawyers waiting for their case. Make it a point to visit the court library and indulge yourself with some or the other book. This leaves an impact on the seniors that you are hard working and willing to give your best.

Make sure to be well aware of latest development in law

In addition to the above factors, make it sure that you are well versed with the latest development in the law. This will not only help you in your case but will also help to increase your reputation as an advocate in the eyes of your fellow counsels.

Financial disadvantages

The chances are high that you will be starting under a senior counsel first. Consequently, chances are you will be paid very little or no wage at all. In the midst of all these, you cannot even complain about it to your senior. This is the most difficult part due to which people prefer to leave litigation.

Most of all the financial instability is the prime reason for which people leave the field of litigation. Do not be afraid of the challenges. As the old saying goes, if your practice runs well, then the sky is the limit. Cost of living and doing business will be high. Be ready to deal with such situations.

Hope you found your solution in this article. Want to know about lawyers who made a future for themselves in the field of litigation? Here is a list of best lawyers in India. Tell us how do you go about practicing litigation in India. Comment below.

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This article discusses the possible legal remedies when your Contract Manufacturer becomes your competitor. It is written by Vivek Chandar,  pursuing M.A. in business law from NUJS, Kolkata.

This article on data privacy laws in India is written by Debapriya Majumder, pursuing M.A. in business law from NUJS, Kolkata.

We are living in a time when we are no longer required to stand in long queues in front of banks for banking services and can avail any product at our doorstep after placing an online order. This is the boon of information technology. In the last decade, Information Technology has grown by leaps and bounds. It has created a positive impact on the employment sector, education sector, banking sector, economy as well our day to day activities. With the evolution of the internet and its expansion in accessibility, we see a new world where there is better communication, accessibility, knowledge sharing and transparency. But as it is said, every good will have some disadvantage. Similarly, our increasing dependency on internet has increased illegal activities like cyber-crime, data piracy etc.

Data privacy refers to the authority or determination of the information holder as to what extent the data or information shall be made accessible to the third party. The majority of information is sensitive in nature. They include data of various nature, like economical, defense, medical, financial, educational etc. Information holders, who are generally organizations, have the major responsibility of protecting the data as there are chances that if it falls into wrong hands, they might be misused and cause harm to the owner of the information. The harm caused to the owner of the information may extend from the leakage of the bank details of an individual to causing threat to the security of a nation. This explains the importance of ensuring the privacy of sensitive data or information.

In this era of globalization, data privacy is a concern for various jurisdictions around the world. The United States have drafted their legislation on data privacy sectoral wise or based on the different sections of the population. The legislations majorly drafted are:

• The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, 1998 (COPPA) – This law protects the interest and misuse of information provided by children under 13 years of age on various websites while availing certain digital service.
• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act – This law protects the security health-care related data of any patient which includes health insurance details.
• Electronic Communications Privacy Act – Wiretapping or telephone tapping is accessing the data being transmitted between two persons without their permission. This Act was enacted to check on this offence and provide security on telephonic conversations.
• Video Privacy Protection Act – This law was enacted to ensure the privacy of the rental, purchase, or delivery of video tapes or similar audio visual materials.
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act  – This is also known as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999. It regulated the security that the financial institutions need to maintain regarding the financial information they are holding. They are also required to provide a written declaration to their customer ensuring that their data is secure in their hands.

In the year 1995, European Union adopted the Directive 95/46/EC, for regulating the security of private data. Directives of EU are like guidelines which paves a way or shows the direction to the member countries in order to frame their own law on any particular subject. In an electronic transaction, one provides sensitive details like bank account number, name, address etc. to a 3rd party. Personal data security ensures that they are being gathered under absolute security and with legitimate reasons. When there are variety of legislative laws on the same subject followed by different countries it becomes difficult for the businesses to comply with them and run business. Hence, EU has published directives, so that there is a standardized format of the data privacy laws followed by the member states.

Though proposed in January 2012, the first regulation and directive got published by the EU in the year 2016. The regulation is supposed to be effective from the year 2018. Comparing the data privacy law of US and EU, it can be concluded that in US the laws are framed keeping in mind the requirements of different sectors of the society. While in EU, there has been more emphasis on securing the personal data scattered over the electronic source. This is an aftermath effect of the second world war.

In India, data privacy is regulated by various legislations like Constitution of India, Contracts Act etc.

Under Constitution of India, data privacy is considered under the right to privacy. There has been several judgements given by the honorable courts, considering the data privacy under this fundamental right.

Under Contracts Act, the data security is included under the clause of the contract. When there is a transaction agreement between two or more parties, they include the clause of data privacy where it is mentioned how the person shall be compensated if there is any kind of leakage of the data. In addition to the compensation, it is also mentioned who is responsible to what extent in order to secure the data, what shall be the enforcement mechanism and what shall be the redressal mechanism.

In the year 2011, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has published the Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules, 2011, which is currently the guiding law of data privacy in India. Few important points from the Rules are as follows (the below content is as mentioned in the legislation):

• Sensitive personal data or information includes –

1. Password
2. Financial information such as Bank account or credit card or debit card or other payment instrument details
3. Physical, physiological and mental health condition
4. Sexual orientation
5. Medical records and history
6. Biometric information
7. Any detail relating to the above clauses as provided to body corporate for providing service
8. Any of the information received under above clauses by body corporate for processing, stored or processed under lawful contract or otherwise

• The body corporate or any person who on behalf of body corporate collects, receives, possess, stores, deals or handle information of provider of information, shall provide a privacy policy for handling of or dealing in personal information including sensitive personal data or information and ensure that the same are available for view by such providers of information who has provided such information under lawful contract.
• Body corporate or any person on its behalf shall obtain consent in writing through letter or fax or email from the provider of the sensitive personal data or information regarding purpose of usage before collection of such information.
• Body corporate or any person on its behalf holding sensitive personal data or information shall not retain that information for longer than is required for the purposes for which the information may lawfully be used or is otherwise required under any other law for the time being in force.
• Disclosure of sensitive personal data or information by body corporate to any third party shall require prior permission from the provider of such information, who has provided such information under lawful contract or otherwise, unless such disclosure has been agreed to in the contract between the body corporate and provider of information, or where the disclosure is necessary for compliance of a legal obligation.
• A body corporate or any person on its behalf may transfer sensitive personal data or information including any information, to any other body corporate or a person in India, or located in any other country, that ensures the same level of data protection that is adhered to by the body corporate as provided for under these Rules. The transfer may be allowed only if it is necessary for the performance of the lawful contract between the body corporate or any person on its behalf and provider of information or where such person has consented to data transfer.

Further, there are rules like “Information Technology (Intermediaries guidelines) Rules, 2011” which also guide in securing the data privacy in our country.

Cases on Data Privacy in India –

• In R. Rajagopal v. State of T.N.15, the Supreme Court held that the petitioners have a right to publish what they got as information regarding the concerned person, from the public records or public domain. This may be without his consent or authorisation. But if they go beyond that and publish his life story, they may be invading his right to privacy.
• In Sharda v. Dharmpal, the Supreme Court upheld that the right to personal liberty under Article 21.

Concluding, the assurance of data security is a concern for all jurisdiction around the world. Along with other benefits, strengthening the law in this sector shall help in the growth of domestic as well as international business

This article on POCSO Act 2012 is written by Aishwarya from Faculty of Law, The ICFAI University , Dehradun.