This is not an isolated incident; it fits a wider trend. However, for Indians, it is an eye-opener as the Indian Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 contains no such right against automated decision-making or even a basic right to explanation. This is where the profession's obligation now lies. Modern lawyers will have to play a crucial role in policy-making rather than the strict traditional role of going by the word of law, once enacted, or challenging it thereafter. Law schools teach students to argue a law that exists, not a rule that is yet to be written. However, the digital era is shifting the role of lawyers from reactive interpreters to proactive architects.

From opinions to action

A decade ago, data protection was a niche field of law with relatively few cases, but numbers now tell a different story. Between January 2025 and January 2026, average daily breach notifications in Europe rose by 22%, from 363 to 443, with each incident becoming more costly. Aggregate penalties under GDPR from 25 May 2018 to 10 January 2026 now stand at €7.1 billion.

The growth of data-driven and automated decision-making has broadened the ambit of legal issues beyond traditional privacy concerns to issues of cybersecurity, human oversight, transparency, accountability, and individual rights. Data-protecting lawyering has therefore become a central area. Demand for data privacy lawyers is growing as fast as the law.

People are now suing companies over privacy laws more than ever. Nearly 4,000 online privacy cases were filed in the US in 2024, up from just 200 in 2023, and the trend continues. This is arguably the biggest “future of lawyering” shift, moving from an advisory framework to active defence litigation. Professionals dealing with both AI governance and privacy are earning a median of over $169,700,surpassing those focused solely on AI governance ($151,800 median) or privacy ($123,000 median).

A multi-polar regulatory environment

With time, the regulatory patchwork is getting broader and more tangled. As 2026 began, the privacy compliance domain across the world underwent a significant turn: Indiana, Kentucky, and Rhode Island introduced comprehensive privacy laws into force on 1 January 2026; the EU AI Act's transparency obligations (Article 50) came into effect on 2 August 2026, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, 2025 converted a largely declaratory statute into a dated compliance calendar, with substantive obligations of the Act commencing on 14 May 2027.

Though these laws share structural similarities, they differ in the rights conferred, obligations, and exemptions granted, meaning businesses operating worldwide must navigate a multifaceted regulatory environment, once treated as predictable. In fact, the traditional assumption of designing laws that, once written, would continue till eternity has lost its significance; rather, rules calibrated in 2018 are being rewritten just eight years later; thus, in the digital era, durability is no longer a feature of good law; adaptability is.

Increasing reliance on AI tools might eliminate the role of young lawyers

Lawyers are now using AI themselves to research faster, summarize contracts, or draft documents. Thomson Reuters' 2026 Future of Professionals Report finds that AI is disrupting conventional pathways through which professionals, especially lawyers, develop independent expertise and judgment. It also identifies an underlying issue: if AI is routinely used in the legal profession, then there might be fewer opportunities for early-career/junior lawyers, as there would be fewer junior professional roles.

Capabilities expected of a future data protection lawyer

As organizations deploy AI tools at scale, they have an impending obligation to ensure that AI doesn't make unfair automated decisions or misuse people's data. Privacy lawyers would be the natural choice for the job since they already possess the expertise this role demands: familiarity with risk assessments, data flows, accountability frameworks, and consent mechanisms.

These challenges demand a wider set of professional capabilities involving technical literacy and understanding the basics of machine learning, working across jurisdictions, crisis response under pressure, ethical judgment, and privacy by design. Even in their own practice, lawyers resorting to AI tools must protect client privilege and confidentiality.

The lawyers who will excel in the digital age will not be those with legal acumen or mastery over laws but those who combine it with technical fluency, innovation, and commercial judgment. Their role will extend beyond applying existing laws to interpreting complex digital problems, identifying emerging technological risks, and developing appropriate legal responses.

Author is an Academic Fellow (Law and Technology) at National Law University Delhi and Ph.D. Scholar at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law. Views are personal.