Sumathi Chandrashekaran has an academic and professional background in law, public policy and journalism, and is particularly interested in how policy choices and decisions in IP are mediated and influenced within these frames of reference.

As a Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy scholar, she graduated cum laude with a dual degree in Public Affairs and Public Policy from Sciences Po Paris and the National University of Singapore. She also received first class honours in English from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, and graduated in Law from the Delhi University's Faculty of Law.

She is presently an IP lawyer in New Delhi. Prior to this, she was a consultant on IP policy affairs with a leading industry organisation. She has also worked as a journalist in Delhi with a national news agency, reporting extensively on the city courts and related governmental affairs. She has been on the editorial board of the Human Security Journal, a graduate-student academic publication of Sciences Po dedicated to the security discourse. She was also a founder-member of the Asian Journal of Public Affairs, a pioneering graduate-student academic initiative on public policy in the Asia-Pacific region published from Singapore.

She joined the SpicyIP team in October 2007 to combine her interests in IP, policy, and new media. She continues to look for innovative ways to engage in virtual conversations, and participate in collectively understanding issues that impact our lives.