The pandemic accelerated digital adoption not just in the spheres of health, food services or travel, but the legal sector was also compelled to change its outlook.
However, while the dispute resolution and litigation processes have reportedly seen fundamental changes, a lot still needs to be done. As former Chief Justice of India SA Bobde noted in his farewell address,
“Access to justice now depends on access to technology.”
The legaltech sector is emerging as a crucial offshoot within the mainstream legal industry. Marrying technology with legal services, many new-age startups have entered the market to make the sector more efficient, effective, and accessible to everyone who needs it.
These startups offer a range of services to simplify the work of lawyers with tech-driven solutions.
YS has curated a list of five startups that are offering quick and quality legal services while leveraging technology:
Jupitice
Founded by Raman Aggarwal and Anju Aggarwal in 2019, Chandigarh-based has developed an end-to-end platform for private courts to facilitate Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms including assisted negotiations, conciliation, mediation, and arbitration – without filing physical paperwork or attending in-person meetings.
The startup calls itself a marketplace and aims to make receiving justice as simple as any retail online service.
It uses blockchain for storing confidential documents and an AI (artificial intelligence) tool to analyse disputes and determine the required mechanisms.
In December 2021, Jupitice raised $4 million in funding from ALMAS Capital in a Pre-Series A round.
SoOLEGAL
Founded by Manish Kaul in 2015, Delhi-based is an online discovery platform that allows users to seek lawyers and law firms for counsel.
Manish Kaul, COO, SoOLegal
It enables law firms and lawyers to align their practices more comprehensively with contemporary needs, both operationally and functionally.
The startup offers reputation management such as posting professional content, custom websites, comments, and a platform to review and practice management – such as time management, CRM, billing/payment systems, and document/knowledge management. It also enables professional development through conferences, seminars, e-learning, and workshops.
In October 2020, SoOLEGAL raised $4 million from private investors and family offices in India to introduce new solutions for lawyers to improve their legal practice and upgrade the user experience.
MikeLegal
Founded in 2017 by Tushar Bhargava and Anshul Gupta, Gurugram-based legaltech startup MikeLegal is an AI-powered legal assistant that helps legal teams automate tasks, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing the time spent.
With an AI algorithm, the startup claims that teams can make better data-driven decisions in under one-fourth of the time spent earlier.
The startup claims to work with over 100 companies, starting from various Tier I law firms and corporates such as Pidilite, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Finance, Reliance Industries, and Sun Pharmaceuticals, among others.
In April 2022, MikeLegal raised a seed round from SOSV and Artesian to ramp up its product and sales team, and scale its operations to other legal domains and geographies.
SpotDraft
, founded in 2017 by Shashank Bijapur, Madhav Bhagat, and Rohith Salim, offers an AI-based end-to-end legal technology solution that enables organisations of all sizes to review, draft, and manage contracts all from their platforms.
Madhav Bhagat (left) and Shashank Bijapur
It offers content creation that helps draft a contract; contract analysis, which analyses contracts and helps understand their elements; and finally, contract management, which helps understand the business aspect of a legal document and put it into action with zero human intervention.
The startup aims to simplify contract creation and management through lawyer-vetted templates. It helps users put businesses on autopilot.
In 2019, SpotDraft raised $1.5 million in a funding round led by Binny Bansal-backed 021 Capital, Girish Mathrubootham, and Peeyush Ranjan, among others, to expand its global footprints.
The startup is backed by VC firm 500 startups, Cube founder Satyen Kothari, and Japan’s Spiral Ventures.
LegalKart
Founded in 2019 by Arvind Singhatiya, Partha Sen, and Deepak Prajapati, Gurugram-based legal tech startup enables customers seeking legal advice to consult lawyers regarding their legal matters effortlessly and confidentially.
Dr Arvind Singhatiya, Founder and CEO, Legalkart
Powered by smart technology, the startup offers services such as helping lawyers to assign tasks and synchronise calendars. It also provides advanced features like financial management, client management, document, and team management.
Earlier, their services were only limited to audio-based consultations, however, LegalKart has also launched a video call feature to ensure superior call quality and provide a smoother user experience.
It also has an instant legal document review feature parallel to the video call functionality.
The startup has worked with clients such as Zoomcar, Shadowfax, OLA, SpringRole, and Rivigo, among others.
In 2019, LegalKart raised Rs 3.5 crore in seed round funding from angel investors.
