After reshaping his view of what it means to be a lawyer, Sashi K. “Kiran” Lingam (J.D.’06) built a career that combines law, technology and entrepreneurship.

When he graduated from Cornell University in 2002, he started working as a financial analyst. This experience in the workforce led him to the corporate side of the legal profession, ultimately pushing him to pursue his law degree.

“As I learned about the corporate track, I realized you didn’t have to be a litigator [to be a lawyer], and you didn’t have to go to court,” Lingam said. “I was very much into startups and tech, where you can collaborate and build and do deals, and [liked] that approach to being a lawyer.”

Originally from LaGrange, Georgia, Lingam was interested in returning to the Peach State for his legal education. After applying to both UGA Law and the Emory University School of Law, the environment at UGA drew him to Athens.

“After visiting both campuses, I was blown away by the culture, experience and just vibes at UGA. I ended up making the call based on that,” he said.

After starting law school, he enjoyed the courses that reflected his interest in the corporate side of law.

“I had Contracts with Professor [Anne] Dupre (J.D.’88), who’s now passed on; but she was a legend in her own right and was very rigorous. The rigor she brought was emblematic of the law firm experience,” Lingam said. “When you’re going to focus on a corporate background, [Contracts] is sort of the most important [class]. It was also treated with such rigor that I think it lived up to preparing me to go into that world.”

Unknowingly, he laid a building block for his future career by creating a network within the Georgia Law community, despite the intense workload that law school brings.

“You’re in the library – all day, every day – and grinding through all that, but that was also the most rewarding experience. You make the best friends,” he said. “I am still in touch with a lot of those people, and going through that experience together was probably one of the most fun times.”

Calling it a “side quest” that “carried on,” Lingam said he “set up a Google group for a class and was pretty involved in [developing a] little network within our class.”

After graduation, he spent some time working in law firms before joining SeedInvest as general counsel and as the company’s third employee. Lingam’s time with the equity crowdfunding platform was one of rapid personal growth.

“I knew the law and how to do deals, but didn’t know how to be general counsel at a startup, so I went looking for others like me,” he said.

The search led to the birth of TechGC, which originally was a networking enterprise focused exclusively on creating a safe space for idea exchange and support for general counsels of high-growth tech companies and venture capital funds. The company filled the “need of having peers who are struggling with the same issues at the same time to learn from,” he said.

Fast forward to today, TechGC has expanded to serve all in-house counsel under The L Suite and now has 6,000 members, 3,000 of which are general counsels.

“We have a highly exclusive program for GCs to connect with each other by company stage, size, industry, etc.,” he said. “We also have programs for their teams, a robust proprietary AI-based platform to facilitate connection, as well as 80 employees at the company focused on helping in-house counsel succeed in their careers.”

As the networking company expanded, Lingam stepped into the role of chief executive officer. “I think my biggest adjustment is to actively make that transition from somebody who is doing the work every day to someone who empowers others to lead and grow. That is, I think, my biggest learning curve,” he said.

With the added challenge of influencing such a large group of employees, Lingam hopes to leave a lasting impact. “I would love for people at our company to learn how to be entrepreneurs and to go on to do great things,” he said.

In a landscape of ever-changing technology that is transforming both the business and legal professions, especially with the integration of artificial intelligence, Lingam said it is important to focus on adapting early in order to achieve maximum growth.

“I think AI is going to allow lawyers to have far more impact, far more ability to focus on the most important things, like working with your clients, identifying the real problems and the interpersonal things,” he said.

For those who are looking to break out in their fields, Lingam has one piece of advice: “Become an AI expert. … Everybody is looking for that skill set. So for anybody who’s just starting, they will have a huge advantage if they can be early on that learning adoption curve.”

—Caroline L. Passaro