Lawyered.in, Indian startup friendly lawyer network has helped over 500+ startups and small business solve their legal queries.
It all started back in sept 2015 when Shashank Tiwari was working on a project related to pre-IPO equity based investments in India. He faced difficulty finding a lawyer well versed on SEBI rule and investment guidelines in India. It was then that he felt the need of building a platform to connect business owners with corporate lawyers. With a vision of a world where every citizen has a personal legal advisor, Shashank, along with three engineer friends Gauri Bedekar, Raghav Shekhar and Lakshay Kamboj co-founded lawyered.in.
A problem worth solvingIt has been observed that Startups struggle to decide whether and when to hire a lawyer. Young entrepreneurs don't realise the importance of a legal professional while making important business decisions. It’s true that for any startup, it is really very difficult to figure out which lawyer to pick. Most of the early-stage founders think that they cannot afford a lawyer, and when they think they can, it’s usually too late for a lawyer to make any difference to the venture.
The team behind Lawyered is changing the way business owners interact with the legal industry. Lawyered is India’s first startup friendly lawyer network and the platform has been designed keeping in mind the financial dependencies of startups.
With Lawyered.in, business owners can submit their requirements to receive multiple quotes from qualified lawyers and can also book appointments with their preferred startup lawyer. The best part - It’s free. For all appointments booked through lawyered, the 1st hour of consultation is free of cost. Moreover, the platform takes no commission for transactions between lawyer and their clients. However, the team proactively helps businesses find the most suitable lawyer lawyers based on their requirements & budget constraints.
The Journey so farUnlike their competitor like lawrato & vakilsearch, lawyered.in is solving the niche problem faced by startups & SME’s. Moreover, the criteria for lawyers to be on the network has made sure that the platform is highly curated as per the needs of their target segment. To be on the lawyered network, a lawyer must hold an active bar license, minimum 3 years of practice experience, and a deep understanding of corporate/business law. The major revenue for the platform is the lawyer subscriptions that comes in a quarterly, half yearly and yearly plan.
The platform has over 70+ business lawyers, which include premium lawyer who have worked at top law firms like Luthra & Luthra, AZB, Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & co and well-known companies & startups such as Tata, Google, Zoomcar, Redbus, Swiggy, FashionTV, Pepperfry, bank4u, Cardekho, Tripoto, Edukart, to name a few.
Currently operational in Delhi NCR, Mumbai & Bengaluru, the platform has resolved over 1000+ queries and helped more than 300+ businesses find their lawyer. After successfully helping startups across these major hubs, lawyered is now expanding it's target to SME’s and industry specific businesses. For the same reason, a new feature of on-call legal advise has been introduced through which businesses can now take help of an industry expert lawyer at a flat fee of Rs.1500/- for 30 minutes. The new feature is expected to come very handy for HR, CIO, CXO, and decision makers working with young startups & early stage venture which cannot afford an in-house lawyer.
The Way AheadMoving ahead Lawyered is eyeing to become the ‘Practo for lawyers’. When asked about the future growth plans, C.E.O Shashank said, “We’re expected to onboard over 200+ business/startup lawyers in 10 major cities before year end. Moreover, for 2017 we’re targeting to add over 2000+ expert lawyers across various verticals related to business, corporate and personal legal issues.”
SME's & corporates related issues constitutes majority of legal market in India, however, the consumer legal market is still to reach it’s potential. When asked about how lawyered plans to disrupt the Indian legal market, Shashank added, "Information is the key. Educating consumers about various laws and eliminating the information asymmetry to help people find a lawyer that they can trust. Also, making legal services cost effective for common man. Most of the online legal service platforms take as much as 30% commission from transactions, which is, in a way paid by the consumers and not by lawyers. Such business models are designed to go down. To change this situation, the competitiveness among lawyers need to increase."
Indian legal market is roughly estimated around USD 10 billion and legal tech is still in it’s nascent stages; However, globalisation of Indian legal profession, entry of foreign law firms, and liberalisation in legal profession are few areas that the Government, Bar counsel of India and Ministry of commerce is actively working on. The Lawyered team also reported that they have been sharing ideas with legal associations to help government make a level playing field for Indian professionals and find ways in which technology can add value to the legal profession.
