For those despairing to find easily accessible pocket-friendly online legal services, Spicy IP bears forth some long-overdue good news, in the form of Vakilsearch. A brainchild of Hrishikesh Datar, alumnus of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore, it takes a good shot to fill a lacuna that has been there for quite some time.
Among others of its unique features, it enables a person to find competent and reliable professional legal help in 10 cities across India, completely free of charge. Given the prohibition imposed on Indian lawyers to advertise, it has always been a problem for the general public to know the right person to go to when facing a legal conundrum. Now all one has to do is to fill in an online form at Vakilsearch and he will be subsequently connected to a reliable professional lawyer in his locality.
Business professionals, particularly those operating on a small and/or medium scale, will have the enviable option of their queries answered for a paltry sum of Rs. 399 by a team of experts on diverse matters of law, including Tax, Intellectual Property, Labour and Company laws. NRI-s too have a whole group of experts waiting to help them out with their specific legal queries. Other features include providing aid and guidance for preparation and drafting of legal documents such as rental agreements, wills and testimonies and legal notices for dishonor of cheques, at attractive prices starting from Rs. 299.
The website of Vakilsearch now offers a free registration for lawyers, with the provision of an optional feature termed Lawyers’ Case Management System, which is intuitive and very effective, and costs just Rs. 2499 per year. As the promoters of Vakilsearch describes the case management system, “It is now cheaper to organize your practice than to get that daily dose of coffee to cope with the chaos.” Certainly it looks like Vakilsearch will help removing several creases of worry from the foreheads of lawyers as well as their potential clients in times to come.
please clarify.
Will the above website be considered as “advertising” by the lawyers ?
is it allowed by the Bar council, or will it be in a grey area ?
Saurabh
Lawyer, Delhi
9871117538
Dear Saurabh,
I had a look at vakilsearch.com and think that it does not violate the Bar Council Rules. Lawyers do not pay to register (Free Signup) and clients do not pay for an appointment. It seems like SpicyIP is correct, it is a valuable service for India. Their documents feature is very unique also.
So whether lawyer pay or not is the only test for advertising?
I was more thinking that if the lawyer name is not popped out straight, then it is not advertising. In this case, the person has to express interest to find a lawyer. But I would love to see remark on this issue.