Meet the Speaker: Dr. Aneesha Shams

We are pleased to feature Dr. Aneesha Shams, Professor and Dean at the School of Law, GD Goenka University. Dr. Shams’ career path is a testament to the powerful evolution of academic and multi-faceted legal leadership.

Beginning her foundational journey as a practicing lawyer handling high-stakes pro bono legal aid for women and children in the courts of Kerala, she made a strategic pivot that countless law students have since benefited from: choosing the classroom over the courtroom.

Over a distinguished career spanning more than two decades, she has served as a professor, researcher, principal, and dean. Today, she is at the absolute forefront of transforming legal education in India, actively bridging the gap between traditional legal theory and technological innovation. Under her leadership, initiatives like the AI Policy Lab have matured into core pillars of academic excellence, recently contributing critical policy frameworks directly to the Supreme Court of India's AI Committee.

Key Insights from the Conversation

You started your career in the courts of Kerala before moving fully into academia. What made you choose the classroom over the courtroom?

Dr. Shams describes her transition from the gritty, day-to-day litigation in Kottayam to full-time legal education as a deeply intentional choice. While the courtroom allowed her to impact individual lives through pro bono work, the classroom offered an exponential scale of influence. Choosing the classroom meant she could shape the mindset, ethics, and professional standards of thousands of future lawyers simultaneously, turning legal education into a powerful vehicle for systemic change.

Having taught across diverse regions in India, what regional differences or universal truths do you carry with you?

While regional educational ecosystems might differ in infrastructure or local industry focus, Dr. Shams notes that the fundamental aspiration of a law student remains completely universal: a desire for real-world relevance. The key learning she carries across regions is that the most effective legal pedagogy is never localized it must transcend regional boundaries to prepare students for a highly interconnected, cross-border corporate and digital landscape.

You have spent over two decades watching law students graduate. How has the modern student changed, and are they better prepared today?

The modern law student is radically different from the generations that came before. Today’s students are digital natives they are highly informed, entrepreneurial, and exposed to global legal trends at the click of a button. However, while they are arguably better informed, true professional preparedness requires moving past simple access to information. The challenge today isn't finding data; it's developing the deep patience, critical thinking, and ethical groundings required to synthesize it.

There is a persistent gap between what law schools teach and what real practice demands. How do we bridge this industry divide?

Bridging the gap requires a radical departure from siloed operations. Law schools cannot act as isolated academic islands, and the legal industry cannot function purely as a downstream consumer. Dr. Shams emphasizes a collaborative ecosystem where senior practitioners, corporate legal teams, and tech providers actively co-design curricula, lead practical clinical workshops, and embed long-term institutional mentorship directly into the academic journey.

From your vantage point as a Dean, are law schools genuinely keeping up with the rapid explosion of AI?

The legal sector is hitting a massive technological inflection point, and academia is responding with urgency. However, the approach must be highly strategic. Rather than treating AI as a passing trend or a threat to be banned, forward-looking law schools are rewriting the playbook. The goal is to move the conversation away from treating technology as an administrative afterthought and embedding it directly into the structural fabric of legal research and workflow analysis.

You advocate heavily for "Foundational AI Literacy." Why is skipping straight to the tools a significant risk for a student?

Many individuals treat AI like a turnkey shortcut, but skipping foundational literacy is incredibly dangerous. Dr. Shams warns that if a student uses automated tools without understanding data governance, bias vectors, and underlying legal data structures, they are practicing "blind reliance" rather than "informed reliance." Foundational literacy ensures that the technology remains a strategic partner, rather than an unverified crutch that compromises the integrity of legal work.

Legal Prompt Engineering is often discussed as a key tool. Should it be formally addressed in legal education?

Absolutely. Prompting a machine in a legal context is vastly different from casual conversational query generation. It requires a precise understanding of legal taxonomy, jurisdictional boundaries, and procedural frameworks. Dr. Shams believes formalizing this training within law schools moves students from simply asking questions to "thinking alongside the machine," ensuring they can extract legally sound, accurate, and highly contextualized intelligence.

Your view is that human legal reasoning and AI must co-exist. What does this look like for a junior lawyer today?

In practice, co-existence means an immediate elevation of the entry-level legal role. AI is exceptionally proficient at high-volume, predictable tasks like document parsing, contract sorting, and case discovery effectively handling the manual heavy lifting. For a junior lawyer, this means their value is no longer measured by how quickly they can find an answer, but by their ability to apply rigorous human judgment, critical reasoning, and emotional intelligence to build upon what the machine produces.

What does the ideal lawyer look like ten years from now?

The lawyer of 2036 will be a hybrid legal professional. They will seamlessly blend deep core competencies in jurisprudence and constitutional ethics with an advanced command of technology, commercial mechanics, and data analytics. This professional will not look at law as a standalone discipline, but as an integrated business enabler capable of navigating complex tech policy, corporate governance, and global regulatory compliance seamlessly.

AI-generated content is entering court filings globally. How should the judiciary and academia respond to this reality?

We are seeing historic shifts, such as the Supreme Court of India's recent draft regulations for AI in courts. Dr. Shams highlights the active role academia must play in these developments, referencing the AI Policy Lab’s recent submissions. The blueprint requires pairing mandatory disclosures with strict verification standards. We must uphold principles of human primacy and fairness, ensuring that technology serves to enhance judicial efficiency without compromising systemic accountability.

As graduates increasingly head into corporate roles and legal tech, what critical skills do they consistently lack?

While technical drafting and core legal knowledge remain strong, the consistent gaps lie in softer commercial skills and advanced financial literacy. To excel in a corporate ecosystem or an in-house legal team, a graduate cannot operate solely as a legal purist; they must possess the business acumen to understand financial documents, cross-functional roadmaps, and corporate risk metrics, allowing them to communicate legal risk in the language of business growth.

What is the single piece of advice you would give to a law student today that is not found on any syllabus?

The most critical asset you can build today is the psychological flexibility to learn, unlearn, and relearn continuously. The static knowledge inside a textbook will inevitably evolve, but your capacity for critical curiosity, ethical resilience, and adaptive thinking cannot be automated. Do not study simply to pass an exam or memorize a statute; study to understand human systems, business realities, and the evolving technological frameworks that govern them.

Rapid Fire Round

• One Word for AI in Law: Transformation.

• Biggest Myth About Legal Education in India: That it's purely about rote memorization.

• The One Subject Every Law Student Must Take Seriously: Jurisprudence.

• What You Wish Law Schools Taught But Mostly Do Not: Commercial and financial literacy.

• One Word to Describe Your Students: Energetic.

• If You Could Change One Thing About How India Trains Lawyers: Deepen the integration of day-one clinical practice.

• Courtroom or Classroom: Classroom.

• The One Thing AI Can Never Replace in a Lawyer: Empathy and human conscience.

• A Book That Shaped How You Think About Law: The Concept of Law by H.L.A. Hart.

• Your Success Mantra: Persist with purpose and absolute integrity.

About "The Counsel's Code" Podcast

"The Counsel’s Code" is your go-to podcast for exclusive interviews with top legal executives, academic visionaries, and legal tech innovators. Discover the strategies they've employed to cultivate their careers, excel in their positions, and emerge as true leaders in their organizations.

Throughout our discussions, we delve into the challenges of leadership and how these accomplished professionals manage the pressures that come with it. Our mission is to provide valuable insights and support for the legal ecosystem, fostering mutual growth and development.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this podcast are the speaker’s personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the podcast, Volody, Lawxy AI, or any current or former employers.