Queensland-based Milan Gandhi – who was also the 2017 Australian Law Awards law student of the year – plans to use his scholarship to study a master of public policy and an MSc in public policy research or master of public affairs. 

“In addition to advancing my skills as a policy practitioner, I hope to investigate how we should design and implement policies that maximise the benefits and minimise the harms of new technologies,” he said.

“My current focus is the relationship between social media platforms and democracy. For as long as I can recall, I have been passionate about emergent questions at the intersection of technology and society, and resolving them in favour of peace, justice and social equality.

“I hope to gain advanced skills and knowledge as a policy practitioner. I aim to apply these in public service upon my return to Australia. I am equally motivated by the opportunity to learn from and work with my fellow John Monash scholars as well as the people I meet at university and along the way.”

Mr Gandhi has had a number of legal roles since completing his bachelor of laws in 2017 and is also the founder of The Legal Forecast, an organisation exploring the intersection between law and new technologies. 

“Through my work with The Legal Forecast, I have witnessed the extraordinary appetite that exists in pockets of the legal sector to engage with new technologies and ways of thinking. 

“Personally, I would like to see more innovative thinking around how we change the underpinning cultures, structures, and commercial practices that drive key challenges in the legal sector such as lawyer overwork and burnout,” he added. 

VIEW ALL

“Another challenge that requires serious effort and attention is access to justice and related issues such as the gratuitous complexity of certain laws (rendering them incomprehensible to most members of the public). Technology is only one ingredient in how we address these and other serious challenges.”

Mr Gandhi added that there were a number of emerging trends lawyers in this space should be aware of moving into 2022 – some of which he hopes to further investigate.

“Whether one believes the hype or not, I think lawyers and policymakers should keep an eye trained on Meta’s emerging vision for the metaverse. If the embodied internet truly does become the next phase of humankind’s online experience, we better hope that it advances, rather than undermines, our health and humanity,” he said.

“I am excited for the possibilities while remaining hopeful that the architecture of the metaverse and big technology companies’ monetisation strategies are designed in ways that do not exacerbate online harms. This is something I hope to investigate over the next few years.”