Rahul Matthan stands as a defining voice in India’s evolving legal and digital ecosystem. As a Partner at Trilegal—one of the country’s top-tier law firms—he has established himself at the intersection of technology, policy, and law. From Trilegal’s Bengaluru office, Matthan leads the firm’s Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) practice, spearheading discourse on critical subjects such as data protection, digital finance, cryptocurrencies, biotechnology, and beyond.
An alumnus of the prestigious National Law School of India University, Rahul brings a visionary legal perspective to emerging technologies. His philosophy is simple yet profound: the pace of legal innovation must match technological advancement. Not one to merely adapt to change, Rahul Matthan is actively shaping the regulatory frameworks of tomorrow—laying the legal foundations for a digital India.
“Startups must stop waiting for regulation to catch up and start building ethics into their technology from day one.”
— Rahul Matthan
A Technologist in Legal Robes
While most legal professionals approach tech regulation as an outsider, Rahul Matthan is an insider in both worlds. His passion for technology predated the legal complexities it would eventually raise. He immersed himself in the technical layers of innovation—reading, decoding, and understanding the machinery of digital tools.
This technical literacy became a superpower when governments began to regulate the digital world. Matthan recognized early on that without a solid understanding of how technology works, legal solutions would always lag behind the problems. He started aligning legal principles with the mechanics of innovation—making him a sought-after advisor not just in courtrooms but also in policy rooms.
Driving India’s Digital Legal Infrastructure
Matthan’s influence extends far beyond the boardrooms of startups and corporates. He has played a pivotal role in shaping India’s privacy laws, working closely with the government to develop a privacy framework that reflects the realities of a data-rich but economically developing nation.
Through his work with think tanks like the Takshashila Institution, he has proposed an alternative to the traditional “consent-based model” of data protection. According to him, placing the burden of understanding privacy risks on individuals is outdated. Instead, he champions a rights-based model, where data controllers must take accountability for how data is handled—regardless of whether users fully comprehend what they are consenting to.
Making Complex Laws Understandable
In a country where the digital literacy divide is significant, Matthan acknowledges the role of design in making law more accessible. As a speaker at the DesignUp 2022 conference, he emphasized how visual and UX design can make policy and legal frameworks easier for citizens to grasp. Instead of relying solely on legal jargon, he advocates for multi-disciplinary collaboration—bringing together designers, technologists, lawyers, and ethicists to co-create inclusive systems.
By engaging in open forums and discussions, Matthan believes the country can create a collective understanding of privacy, digital ethics, and accountability. His public engagements and thought leadership are central to building a digitally literate citizenry.
Empowering Startups with Legal Foresight
For tech entrepreneurs, Matthan offers compelling advice: get ahead of regulation. Instead of reacting to laws once they arrive, startups should proactively align their technologies with ethical and legal expectations. He urges early-stage companies to consider societal impact, and more importantly, to engage with diverse stakeholders—even those with conflicting views. This kind of multi-perspective strategy prepares startups for sustainable growth and regulatory resilience.
His insight underscores a critical shift in India’s startup ecosystem—moving from disruption to responsible innovation. By embedding regulatory foresight into product development, startups can reduce future compliance risks and improve user trust.
India’s Global Legal Footprint in Digital Infrastructure
Matthan is bullish on India’s potential to become a global trailblazer in digital public infrastructure. Unlike the US or China, where data governance is either privatized or heavily centralized, India is forging a new path—building open public digital platforms designed for inclusivity and scalability.
This model is being studied internationally, and Matthan believes India can become a thought leader in crafting a balanced, techno-legal ecosystem. With projects like India Stack and Aadhaar, the country is demonstrating how legal frameworks and digital tools can work in tandem to uplift communities.
Rethinking Privacy in a Data-Rich World
Rahul Matthan’s groundbreaking paper at Takshashila Institution questioned the long-standing model of data protection based on individual consent. He proposes a shift where the onus lies with data controllers, not users, thereby recalibrating the power dynamics in favor of individuals. His framework focuses on harm prevention, mandating remedies even when consent is previously given—thus addressing systemic flaws in current global privacy regimes.
In discussions on Aadhaar and the Right to Privacy, Matthan articulates a clear distinction between privacy as a constitutional right versus a common law right. The constitutional right, he explains, protects individuals from state surveillance and data misuse—an especially crucial safeguard in a time when government data collection raises public concerns.
“India is creating a third path in digital governance—one where public infrastructure is open, inclusive, and globally relevant.”
— Rahul Matthan
The Future of Tech Regulation
Rahul Matthan envisions a legal ecosystem that is anticipatory, ethical, and technologically fluent. As artificial intelligence and decentralized platforms continue to disrupt traditional systems, he believes the legal world must evolve just as quickly. His approach is not to resist technological evolution but to design laws that embrace innovation while protecting rights.
Matthan’s voice in India’s legal landscape is indispensable. By marrying technical expertise with legal insight, he is helping shape a society where innovation and regulation can coexist—fairly and transparently.
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