LawSikho, a Delhi-based legal ed-tech company, has partnered with Additional Skill Acquisition Programme (ASAP) Kerala, a Government of Kerala initiative, to roll out three legal courses for students in the State.
ASAP Kerala offers training in 56 National Skill Qualification Framework-aligned courses in 17 skill sectors, and has been perfecting modules and curriculums to build training programmes that increase employability.
Bachelors/Masters students
A spokesperson for LawSikho said the three new coursers are designed for students pursuing a bachelors or masters in Law as also for working professionals who have completed an undergraduate degree in law. These courses come blended with internship and placement support.
The programmes being launched are diploma in advanced contract drafting, negotiation and dispute resolution; diploma in cyber law, fintech regulations and technology contracts; and diploma in mergers and acquisitions and institutional finance and investment laws (PE and VC transactions).
The 520-hour-long courses, with batches of 30 students each, feature a foundational understanding of the components and structure of contracts, deal negotiation, regulation of emerging technology, fintech and e-commerce laws, deal structuring, due diligence and deal compliance for mergers and acquisitions and investment transactions.
More in the offing
The courses are exclusive to the students who sign up for them through the ASAP Kerala portal. There are three more courses in the pipeline that are expected to be launched by the end of March as a part of this collaboration, the spokesperson said.
These are diploma course in paralegal associateship; diploma in labour, employment, and industrial laws (including Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace (PoSH) Act for HR managers; and certificate course in introduction to legal drafting: contracts, petitions, opinions, and articles.
ASAP Kerala has till date skilled over one lakh youth in the State in over 20 skill sectors and 85 trades. Usha Titus, Chairperson and Managing Director, ASAP Kerala, said that with the advent of IR4.0 and advanced technology, there is a colossal demand for legal professionals and managers.
Colossal demand exists
The legal sector had until recently overlooked these aspects of acquiring skillsets in contemporary technology. This is where ASAP Kerala has stepped in to partner with LawSikho to provide hands-on skilling to students and professionals in this domain.
“We’ll also be assisting youth in securing placements in the ultra-competitive corporate world as professional lawyers and paralegals,” Titus said.
‘Pioneering initiative’
LawSikho has served over 16,000 learners from across the globe and is focussed on creating online legal training and enabling geo-arbitrage of legal talent and access to justice. Ramanuj Mukherjee, CEO, said that LawSikho is excited to work with a partner such as ASAP Kerala.
“This is a pioneering initiative in legal skill development and employability through a State Government initiative. The legal up-skilling and employability space is challenging, but we hope to make it just a little easier for the students, who already have so much on their plate.”