Indian Legal Industry at the Cusp of Transformation A number of dynamic platforms are offering custom-designed services to both lawyers and general clients through websites and mobile apps
By Shant Berwal
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Change and transformation spare nothing in its march, and the legal industry, too, has begun to witness the reverberations of a silent revolution that is already underway in the legal services delivery domain. Major shifts have come in the manner people avail various services that were once available only through a specific channel and thus came with limited access.
Today, with the advent of electronic and technological innovation in all spheres of daily life, legal services have also been integrated with technology to conjure up a new system with a higher level of efficiency and potential. It allows you to consult a lawyer in your hometown even if you are located across a state border, a country border, or even continents apart.
Convenience and Flexibility led to Transformation
Several companies now operate in the legal services domain, offering a catena of services through online platforms including websites, mobile applications, and through phone or e-mail, to fit the requirements of clients who are willing to move through an intermediary to ensure quality services at affordable rates, and more importantly within the convenience of their homes or offices.
People being caught up either in situations where their access to law is denied or rendered difficult; or more often where busy schedules make it inconvenient for them to reach out to lawyers in person, intermediaries like online legal platforms come in to fill in the gap by playing the role of a much-needed personal legal assistant.
It takes away the need to track down lawyers suiting the specific requirement of area of law and with a given minimum of experience in dealing with similar cases, and additionally cuts down the costs considerably. A plethora of services may be availed using online platforms, including legal advice, pre-booked consultations with top lawyers in your vicinity, Contract Management, property document verification, Contract drafting and review, drafting of Legal Notices, and ancillary services as may be required. As with all online services, the elements of convenience and flexibility make it a more attractive option in comparison to personally going out looking for lawyers all over the city.
Several advantages that automatically follow are that it gives you the option to make an informed choice in deciding the lawyer you wish to consult/hire, based on a number of different parameters including the fees affordable for you, and you get to pick one from a list of the most eminent lawyers configured into a Lawyers Directory. Choice becomes a luxury or an impossibility in a conventional system of consulting lawyers, unless you are ready to pay again for the same services or advice subsequently from another lawyer. However, virtual legal platforms create a single window where you make payment for one service only once, and the system itself will strive to ensure that multiple lawyers answer your queries and provide you sound legal advice; affording you to refer your matter to different lawyers in a single payment.
Digitalization-led Pool of Services at Doorstep
In the era of digitalization there are many dynamic platforms that offer a plethora of services through their websites and mobile applications, custom-designed separately to cater to the requirements of lawyers and clients alike. The platforms offer all-round legal assistance, ranging from free legal advice, quotes from lawyers, pre-booked consultations with eminent lawyers in every major city, drafting and vetting of all legal documents, contract drafting and review, legal-notice drafting, online contract management, property document verification, etc.
The areas of law in which services are offered range from all major areas of law, including Marriage Counselling and Divorce, Employment and Service Matters, Cheque Bounce and Recovery, Insurance, Corporate and Commercial Laws, Intellectual Property Laws, Maintenance and Child Custody, special services to Start Ups, and so on.
The ripples of change in legal services industry are travelling far and wide, and the revolution is not silent anymore in its reach. More and people are taking to online services to fulfil their legal requirements ranging from simple queries to complex corporate requirements, since individuals and corporates alike have lately come to recognize the potential and benefits of the growing industry.
Legal services have mostly remained an area aloof from technological interference since the inception till the early 2000s when computers began to take over a part of Court proceedings and paperwork; and in the current scenario the transformation has found its way into all streams of service delivery, much to the benefit of clients. With the present situation, clients are enabled to avail all legal services irrespective of their location and time constraints, making it easier for them to gain access to legal services, and at the same time performing a greater social good.
Legal Counsel Being Constantly Available at Fingertips
Greek philosopher Heraclitus once stated,"Change is the only constant; nothing is permanent except change". The legal system around the world has witnessed massive transformations in pith and form and in the manner of execution, since the inception of civilizations based on social norms and systems; and the latest and most radical change is under way, slowly but constantly revolutionizing legal services delivery.
All agents, taking part in the transition, are not only tapping the business potential of a new evolving domain, but also doing their part to sustain a revamped system of justice delivery in the society. We have come a long way since the earliest notions of legal services in the historic era to the subsequent British formal system, and the post-independence reforms.
The legal system has underwent rapid changes to widen access to legal aid, beyond the constrictions of geographical and financial barriers; and legal platforms like LegalResolved are acting as torch bearers in taking the march ahead to eradicate the existing barriers further and ensure access to more people via internet facility. Legal counsel being made constantly available at your fingertips at all times and at easy access is the mission and vision of ventures of this nature, beyond commercial and business interests.