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My worry is simple, after 2-3 years of privacy compliance work in-house, can I realistically move to a law firm's TMT, privacy litigation teams? Or does in-house basically kill your chances with firms?
I get that in-house to law firm move is hard generally. But DPDP is creating a whole new regulatory and adjudicatory framework. The Data Protection Board will need representation. Firms will need people who understand how compliance actually works inside companies. So can this be different from the usual one way situation?
Would really appreciate hearing from anyone who's been in DP/privacy roles (in-house or firm side). Which firms are even serious about building privacy practices right now? Thanks.
As to your statement on "But DPDP is creating a whole new regulatory and adjudicatory framework. The Data Protection Board will need representation. Firms will need people who understand how compliance actually works inside companies. So can this be different from the usual one way situation?"
I understand the optimism that comes with the DPDP Act and its rules. However its pertinent to note that India is likely to not see a "privacy wave" as was seen in law firms when the GDPR was implemented in India. The GDPR only resulted in a huge wave because the EU was adamant in pushing the GDPR despite a huge Big-Tech pushback. The CJEU and the respective DPBs of every member state are extremely proactive in fining companies for privacy violations. Additionally, the GDPR is comprehensive and when I mean comprehensive, I mean extremely detailed to the extent that several gaps within the DPDP have solutions that can be found in the GDPR or privacy jurisprudence from the EU. This comprehensiveness and proactiveness essentially translates to the requirement of a workforce that can understand the GDPR and its recitals which ultimately resulted in the law firm privacy wave in the EU. In comparison, India's DPDP is pretty simple, its rules straightforward. In fact it seems so simple that people think it is vagueness that gives rise to this simplicity ( You can keep things short by not explaining stuff). Secondly, looking at how the specialised bodies such as the CCI and TRAI have operated in the past, there's no guarantee that the DPB in India would be proactive in its approach. What this translates to is unpredictable hiring. Law firms will only take Data privacy seriously if their clients took it seriously, the clients will take it seriously only when the Government takes data privacy seriously. Right now the DPDP isn't exactly operative, so there's no knowing how it would also progress in the years ahead. Don't play a hunch based on the DPDP. For now, owing to its infancy, data privacy forms a subset of Technology, Media, and Telecommunications. Explore other laws, fintech is growing well, there's slow but steady growth on AI mandates. Telecom is also a hard but lucrative field once you crack it.
Personally, I'd say you have a greater chance at shifting into a team that primarily does GC with TMT work on the side because that essentially what in house counsels do. All the best!!