Alyanna Apacible

1) Who are you? Tell us about yourself!
My name is Alyanna Apacible. I’m a Tech Law and Policy LLM at Georgetown Law. Prior to coming to DC, I was a senior associate at a law firm in Manila, Philippines and a lecturer at the University of the Philippines where I taught business law subjects to undergrads. At Georgetown, I’m an RA at the Center for Privacy and Technology and an Editor at the Georgetown Law Technology Review. This spring, I am also interning at the Federal Trade Commission.

2) What drew you to Georgetown’s Tech LLM?
I was looking for a technology law LLM program but was also very interested in the policy aspect of the law. With this criteria in mind, I believed the Georgetown Law Tech LLM most closely aligned with what I was looking for.

3) What have you enjoyed most about your experience here?
I really love the wide array of classes to choose from. Technology law is so broad. There’s privacy, intellectual property, fintech, antitrust, etc. Georgetown offered classes in all these exciting subfields of tech law.

4) What are you looking forward to most about your ILPF Junior Fellowships?
I’m looking forward to connecting with individuals who are happy to geek out over the same things I love to geek out over. Additionally, since they come from all different kinds of backgrounds professionally and geographically, the diversity of experience and opinion is amazing and makes for some very interesting discussions.

5) What advice do you have for students who share your interests in tech law and policy?
It’s definitely a challenge to establish credibility in technology law, so I would recommend proactively applying to all kinds of opportunities. Luckily, there are plenty at Georgetown! For example, I think in my case, the opportunities I involved myself in during the fall semester surely helped me become a stronger candidate for the ILPF Fellowship. And I’m certain that the ILPF Fellowship, including the work I do and the connections I’m making, will make me a stronger candidate for future opportunities. They compound! Doors will open doors will open doors.

6) What other interests do you have outside of law?
I love non-fiction books (especially memoirs), traveling, and dogs. I also volunteer my time to good governance and anti-disinformation initiatives. Further, I have a general interest in tech and not just the legal side of things. I like learning about the business side of tech.

Raktima Roy

1) Who are you? Tell us about yourself!
I am a tech lawyer, previously Senior Associate at one of India’s leading law firms, currently back to school for an LLM in Tech Law and Policy from Georgetown Law, graduating in May 2023. For the past few years, I’ve worked as counsel for Big Tech companies, international nonprofits, start-ups with innovative tech and business models, as well as the Indian government. At Georgetown, I’m working on different projects relating to AI, privacy, disability, queer rights. In my free time, I feed people Indian food and run after squirrels in DC with a camera.

2) What drew you to Georgetown’s Tech LLM?
I like that it’s a relatively new program with enthusiastic investment from all the folks at the Tech Institute as a labor of love, and its focus on tech policy in addition to law. Being in DC is also a bonus, where you can discuss the politics of law-making at happy hours and hikes. It’s a two-way street where I learn from the kind of people whose work I’m interested in, and I am also able to bring in my own expertise in dealing with the same issues or the same companies from a different continent.

3) What have you enjoyed most about your experience here?
The diversity of learning opportunities. I learn in class about not only laws but different advocacy techniques in tech law policy from professors who have been there and done that, and I learn enormously outside of the classroom from my peers in the Tech Law and Policy LLM, especially other women from across the world who bring their diverse perspectives and resilience to their journey at Georgetown.

4) What are you looking forward to most about your ILPF Junior Fellowships?
I’m excited about the podcasts and writing opportunities which should allow me to explore tech policy and its intersection with various other interests I have, and platform marginalized voices in tech. The other ILPF Fellows are truly amazing and I’m so excited and humbled to have an opportunity to share this space with them.

5) What advice do you have for students who share your interests in tech law and policy?
Speaking as someone who worked for several years before taking a break to come back to school, your time as a student is simply invaluable in terms of getting to try everything you were ever curious about, without being directed solely by client instructions or billable hours. Enjoy this time and exploit this freedom. Talk to all the people you find interesting, go to all the conferences and tech policy happy hours, sit in for classes that are outside your credit limit or even outside law school (I have done this, it’s led to good things). This is a field where expertise is constantly evolving, which is good for students and newcomers.

6) What other interests do you have outside of law?
I like to meet new people, ideally over interesting food, hikes and board games. I am also a part of community organizing efforts both in India and in the US on various social issues and am generally interested in politics and technology even outside of their intersections with law.