Blame it on the Covid-19 pandemic, there is considerable unrest and instability in our work and personal lives. Employees are losing jobs, contracts are being terminated by companies and, not just professionals but, interpersonal relationships too are seeing a tough phase today; there has been a sudden rise in domestic violence cases in recent times.
A common problem faced by almost every person seeking legal aid is that they know they need advice, but they don’t know whom should they approach for the same. Towards this, LegalKart has introduced an innovative offering – Talk Now – on its website Legalkart.com for clients seeking any legal advice. Founded in 2018, this legal technology startup’s Talk Now feature empowers an individual to connect with a verified lawyer for matters ranging from job termination, consumer protection, money recovery, cheque bounce, divorce, domestic violence, property matters, corporate issues etc, says Arvind Singhatiya, founder and CEO, LegalKart. “This secure and private calling feature is available for individuals from any part of the country 24×7 on a real-time basis.”
In the last two months since the service was launched, LegalKart platform has witnessed a huge surge in the number of stressed calls from women and men related to family and marriage issues, and also young people losing jobs with unpaid salaries. Till now, LegalKart has served more than 4,000 legal advice to individuals from more than 300 cities from across the country. Its Talk Now feature is priced at an 80% discounted rate for a larger segment of the Indian population which is going through enormous stress. Originally priced at Rs 499 for a 15 minutes advisory session, it is now available only at Rs 99.
Keen to find out how law and technology could be combined to make the legal space more efficient and connected, Singhatiya devised the concept of legal practice management in the form of a mobile app for legal professionals and a legal management dashboard for all kinds of businesses. LegalKart app is the first product in the series to enable all legal professionals to manage their law offices and practice on it.
Last October, LegalKart received Rs 3.5 crore in funding. The angel investors who have invested in their personal capacity include Pranay Jivrajaka (CEO, FoodPanda), Mitesh Shah (CFO, BookMyShow), Sundeep Sahni (CCO, Rocket Internet), Pallav Singh (ex-COO, OlaCabs), Sudarshan Gangrade (CEO, Lo! Foods), besides high net worth individuals from Microsoft, Cognizant, Tata Motors, Metro Cash & Carry India, and Oracle, who are based in the USA, the UK, Japan, and the UAE.
“We at LegalKart would like to metamorphose into a self-sustaining legal-tech ecosystem and like today taxi means Ola, a few years down the line LegalKart should means reliable lawyer,” says Singhatiya. “In the short to medium term, we are pushing technology awareness and sensitisation among all the independent practising lawyers and investing our time and money in creating an access to a reliable legal professional for masses.” LegalKart aims to be present in more than 1,500 cities with more than 25,000 lawyers on its platform in the next two years.
