When Shreya Sharma, a 25-year-old lawyer from Pune, met a lady in her fifties who was going through a property dispute, she realised that there was nobody to advise her. The girl was clueless about which lawyer to strategy, what the process would entail, and this solely added to her worries.
There are numerous Indians who face related authorized conundrums, as authorized literacy stays poor. Recognising this hole, and to allow entry to the precise authorized data, Shreya began ‘Relaxation The Case’, a authorized aggregator platform in Pune.
She discovered her calling when she was engaged on a venture which concerned interviewing legal professionals as a scholar at Cardiff College. She looked for authorized data on-line, and located many credible web sites providing this, together with an inventory of legal professionals.
However was one thing like this accessible in India? The 25-year-old discovered that there wasn’t.
Relaxation The Case offers authorized data, from primary templates to reveal acts, authorized drafting, and an inventory of legal professionals. It has additionally created a community base for legal professionals of various specialisations to attach with purchasers. Greater than 1,200 legal professionals from throughout the nation are already part of it.
Whereas Shreya doesn’t cost something from purchasers, she has created completely different packages for legal professionals, making a income of Rs 1.25 crores within the 2022-23 monetary 12 months alone.
Her purpose, she shares with The Higher India, is to offer the precise authorized data with only a click on.
Simplifying authorized jargon
The benefit of entry when it got here to discovering authorized assist in the UK is what stayed with Shreya probably the most. “I discovered these web sites very fascinating as I had not seen one thing like this earlier than,” she provides.
When she appeared for related web sites in India, or a single web site which would supply a one-stop answer to all authorized questions, she was unable to search out one. She then determined to resolve this drawback by constructing the answer herself.
With preliminary funding from her father, Shreya employed just a few interns and constructed the web site for Relaxation The Case after returning to Pune, Maharashtra. She ensured that each data posted on the web site was written by a lawyer.
“My concept with Relaxation The Case is to offer vetted data underneath one roof, which the web doesn’t present. I’ve created one place the place you could find every little thing from primary data, the right way to file a case to which lawyer to decide on. We individually speak to purchasers earlier than sharing their data with legal professionals,” she provides.
The subsequent step was getting legal professionals onboard. The then 21-year-old would knock on their doorways and clarify her imaginative and prescient. Initially, many dismissed her or her concept as a mere ‘school venture’. However she continued and it paid off after she defined how this could be useful for everybody concerned.
“I might present the legal professionals our web site and provides them detailed explanations. Many have been sceptical and believed that this venture would shut down in just a few months, however it didn’t. Slowly however certainly, I onboarded about 30 legal professionals,” she explains.
A Yellow Pages for legal professionals
On the web site, one can discover legal professionals throughout 200 cities like Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Goa, Delhi, and extra, practising in several authorized issues. All one has to do is seek for a lawyer of their metropolis and the matter they need assistance with.
“You may see the lawyer’s profile, the place they practise, their expertise and get in contact with them. It’s also possible to guide an appointment with the lawyer you select,” Shreya explains.
The service is free for patrons. For individuals who want primary data, in addition they present data and FAQs.
“My preliminary concept behind beginning this platform was to teach individuals. Publicity to data and entry to primary legalities is sorely lacking right here. We offer you all the knowledge that you just want even earlier than visiting a lawyer. You wish to file an FIR? Right here’s a template which you simply have to fill in,” explains the younger lawyer.
As a part of the completely different packages that Relaxation the Case offers to legal professionals, they permit them to assist with leads and show their profile. In addition they present a Shopper Administration System (CMS) to assist the legal professionals handle and doc the information.
Siddhant Deshpande, a felony lawyer practising on the Bombay Excessive Courtroom, states that Relaxation The Case has helped him with over 10 leads to date, which is useful for younger legal professionals to achieve an excellent buyer base and deal with quite a lot of circumstances.
“I discovered the corporate by way of social media. What is exclusive about them is the truth that they provide you verified leads (purchasers) and assist you to with all of the background data. They offer you a reasonably whole lot and take into consideration the welfare of each the purchasers and the legal professionals,” says Siddhant.
So, how are the legal professionals vetted?
“Every lawyer’s data is cross checked with the bar council. We confirm their credentials by way of their bar council quantity,” states Shreya. The legal professionals utilizing the web site have an expertise of anyplace between three and twenty years, bringing in a visitors of about 200-300 prospects each month.
As per their examine, many of the purchasers on Relaxation The Case are utilizing help for both divorce or household regulation circumstances, or property disputes.
With a group of 15, the CEO is wanting to herald legal professionals from extra cities throughout India.
Whereas most individuals get frazzled in relation to issues of the courtroom, the benefit and one-on-one assist that the platform offers has grow to be their USP. “We’ve made entry to authorized data so simple as clicking a button,” provides the lawyer.
Why acceptable publicity issues
Belonging to a household of 10, Shreya grew up round entrepreneurial mindsets and conversations.
“I grew up in a joint household the place everyone works. My father runs instructional establishments and everybody has an incredible drive, working day in, time out. I’ve been visiting their workplaces since I used to be a child and I used to get pleasure from it. That’s how an acumen for enterprise was nearly ingrained in me,” smiles Shreya.
This coaching additionally helped the teen face challenges when individuals refused to take her critically. She even struggled to search out workers when she began off, however she made her work converse loud and clear, and located individuals who understood her imaginative and prescient.
Together with this, she additionally runs a podcast known as ‘Legally Talking With Relaxation The Case’ that discusses newest authorized developments and decodes the intricacies of regulation.
So, is there any authorized recommendation that she would give to everybody?
“One ought to concentrate on the legal guidelines that concern you. Authorized data is simply as vital as monetary schooling. As customers, being conscious of shopper rights is of paramount significance. Learn up on issues associated to you and your line of labor. Know your rights as a tenant or property proprietor,” she says.
(Edited by Padmashree Pande, Footage Courtesy Shreya Sharma)