Please tell us about the business model of SoOLegal.
Our innovative business model goes beyond the simple formula of “selling” services and instead creates customer loyalty by providing value services and e-tools for their professional and personal growth. It is a mix of subscription fee, license fee, per user / participant basis or one time cost basis, depending on the service, solution or tool required by the client.
Our offerings specifically for higher education law schools, students, faculty and departments include:
- Online registration and admissions management of new students
- Dedicated Resource Centre for the institution to create, upload and share faculty research papers, course materials, class notes and assignments Simultaneously, law schools have the provision to upload, create and sell general legal documents, drafts, templates, college / department journals, and other institution specific copyright material on the public domain of SoOLEGAL’s Resource Centre
- Job portal (launching soon), that will provide internship and placement opportunities to students
- Online short-term courses certificate courses and training modules (launching soon) conducted by SoOLEGAL
- M-Star Learning Support Platform, an e-learning proprietary platform licensed from MGRM, global leaders in education e-governance technology solutions
- Online workshops via SoOLEGAL’s webinar platform, a live web-based video conference service
- On-campus workshops on professional development and all course disciplines for students and faculty
To lawyers, law firms, third party legal portals and legal event organisers, we offer:
- Proprietary tools such as Lawyer’s Fee and Case Manager
- Resource Centre for selling legal drafts and templates
- Online consultation service to interact with potential clients
- Events section for digital promotion, event registration and ticket sales by SoOLEGAL
- SoOLEGAL Enterprise Services, a complete intranet solution
- SoOLEGAL services such as Legal Research, Legal Translations, Judgement Synopsis, New Company Setups, Immigration services
- SL Connect, a technology framework developed exclusively for the legal domain, to create an ecosystem of connected websites and apps for ultimate user experience
What inspired you to start with this initiative?
Our research, prior to SoOLEGAL’s launch, showed that not only were e-legal services and legal technology solutions in their nascent stage, but also the available solutions were unable to completely address the professional requirements of legal fraternity or meet the growth requirements of the legal domain.
SoOLEGAL is not a miracle of the moment but a platform developed meticulously after more than five years of research in the legal and para-legal sectors. The research revealed the existing e-legal services and legal tech solutions were limited to mere information dissemination and at the most offered minimal interactions limited to download forms or feedback forms. There was a complete lack of e-legal services that would enable transactions and ultimately promote transformation for lawyers, citizens seeking legal services and for the legal domain itself!
To fill this stark gap and with a mission to set standards in the digital space for law SoOLEGAL e-governance legal tech platform was developed.
What are your strategies for expansion?
The platform already has 80,000 plus registered users, with more than 5000 international members. We are currently engaged in an aggressive marketing drive to connect with more lawyers across the global and achieve a target user base of 1 million by year end 2019.
We have launched our ‘One Domain, One Login’ services via SL Connect to expand our footprints in India and globally. The aim is to interconnect legal domain specific websites and apps, and offer a single login to users to access legal tech services.
In addition, we are adding new functionalities to the platform by launching the Job Portal on 26 January 2019 which will cater to the internships, employment and career enhancement needs of legal professionals.
How are you different from start-ups in this sector?
SoOLEGAL is the first and perhaps the only e-governance compliant legal technology platform. It is an all-encompassing platform that caters to the needs of lawyers, law firms, law students, law academicians, law books authors and publishers, retired judges and paralegal professionals with the aim to help them grow into complete personalities, professionally and personally.
In what ways do you help in bridging the industry and education gaps?
Job readiness, skills based training, professional development, workplace exposure through internships, faculty training, curriculum alignment to current industry trends and needs, are some of the core aspects to consider for effectively bridging the industry-academic gap.
At SoOLEGAL, we recognise that at the centre of these is a healthy mix of quality education and professional services that must focus on every individual student in a personalised manner to help them become productive and positive members of the industry and also the community.
Our services for law schools and students are specifically designed to help industry and academia come together and bridge the gap. Some of them are:
- M-Star Learning Support Platform – supports in professional development of students and faculty training
- Job Portal – eases the burden on law schools by bringing the industry at a click of a button
- SoOLEGAL webinars – enhances learning experience & expertise of students
- Resource Centre – improves learning outcome
- SoOLEGAL’s short term certificate programmes and online training modules – helps students get trained on finer nuances of the legal profession and build professional acumen
- SoOLEGAL’s ROAR – builds voice share in the digital community