How data privacy law in India will shape legal technology adoption

INDIA'S DATA PROTECTION AND DIGITAL PRIVACY ACT (DPDPA) IS TRANSFORMING THE WAY BUSINESSES HANDLE DATA PRIVACY AND ENGAGE WITH LEGAL TECHNOLOGY. IMPORTANTLY, NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THE DPDPA CAN LEAD TO PENALTIES RANGING FROM RS 10,000 TO RS 250 CRORE (OR TWO PER CENT OF GLOBAL ANNUAL TURNOVER, WHICHEVER IS HIGHER).

- Trish Chatterjee

For years, the understanding of legal technology in India has been limited to contract review, document automation, research, e-discovery and management. More recently, the Indian government's 'Digital Programme', and implementation of 'e-courts' and digital legal services are rapidly driving the adoption of broader categories of legal technology, and these initiatives are improving access to justice, particularly for marginalised communities. Although lawyers were initially hesitant to embrace these technologies, government adoption, private sector investment, and the service industry's incentivization of active compliance and accountability have reinforced the role legal technology plays in the Indian legal ecosystem.

Data privacy advisory and compliance automation

The DPDPA imposes obligations regarding the handling of personal data across the data lifecycle, from collection to storage and security, the purposes of processing, data subject rights and data breach notification. Compliance will require long-term strategy and improvements in systems and processes. Implementing these controls can seem overwhelming but legal technologies provide numerous solutions to enable compliance and minimise compliance costs, many of which have been tried and tested in jurisdictions that are further along in their privacy regulation journey.

Consent management