THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Additional Skill Acquisition Programme (ASAP), a state government company, will roll out three legal courses for students in the state this month in partnership with LawSikho, a Delhi-based legal ed-tech company.
Designed for students pursuing a bachelors or masters in law and working professionals who have completed an undergraduate degree in law, the courses come blended with internship and placement support.
The programmes being launched are Diploma in Advanced Contract Drafting, Negotiation & Dispute Resolution; Diploma in Cyber Law, FinTech Regulations & Technology Contracts; Diploma in M&A, Institutional Finance & Investment Laws (PE and VC transactions).
The 520-hour 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.
The courses are exclusive to students who sign up for them through the ASAP Kerala portal. ASAP Kerala, which offers training in 56 National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) aligned courses in 17 skill sectors, has been perfecting modules and curriculums to build training programmes that increase employability. ASAP has to date skilled over 1,00,000 youth of the state in over 20 skill sectors and 85 trades.
According to Usha Titus, Chairman and Managing Director of ASAP Kerala, the legal sector, until recently, had overlooked acquiring of skill-sets in contemporary technology. ASAP Kerala and LawSikho will 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.” she said.
While speaking of the tailor-made courses with internship and placement support and the collaboration with ASAP Kerala, Ramanuj Mukherjee, CEO of LawSikho, said it is a pioneering initiative in legal skill development and employability by a state government initiative.
Three more courses are expected to be launched by the end of March as a part of this collaboration - Diploma Course in Paralegal Associateship; Diploma in Labour, Employment, and Industrial Laws (including POSH) for HR Managers; and Certificate course in Introduction to Legal drafting: Contracts, Petitions, Opinions, and Articles.