Angela Wanjohi, founder of uwakili.com, an online legal service platform. PHOTO | diana ngila | NMG
Nairobi-based lawyer Angela Wanjohi had long watched with
concern as small businesses struggled to get even the most basic legal
documentation in order.
This was the inspiration
behind uwakili.com, an online legal service platform that she founded
which allows businesses and individuals to create basic legal documents.
Her platform allows individuals to create wills,
tenancy agreements, chama loan agreements and even domestic worker
contracts— for a fee.
Document templates are also
available to take businesses through the process of changing their
names; creating employment contracts; and filing annual returns.
The
value proposition for the site is speed and cost-efficiency. Since her
platform went live in April, she has received 1,000 registered customers
and processed about 350 documents.
“People are always
looking for faster legal services to fulfil their needs and uwakili.com
not only offers them cheaply, it offers them faster,” says the 30-year-
old advocate of the High Court.
Tech startups that
focus on the legal sector are blossoming in Kenya but they are yet to
become as common as those that focus on health, agriculture or even
education.
So Uwakili, and other businesses like it, are barely scratching the surface of the possibilities for innovation in law.
Tech’s
delay in “disrupting” the legal sector has been partly attributed to
the risk-averse nature and the strict regulatory framework of practising
law in Kenya and across the world.
Yet,
the Hague Institute for Innovation Law (HiiL) says that technology
could play a crucial role in reaching the estimated four billion people
that do not have access to justice across the world. The innovators who
have ventured into this area, HiiL says, are already making a
difference.
“Through technology, we’ve seen a
noteworthy rise in innovations that provide effective and efficient
legal help. Technology helps often justice entrepreneurs reach more
customers, in a shorter period of time, that would have otherwise been
possible,” the organisation told Digital Business in a statement.
While
the practice of law is conservative, there is no way the sector can
avoid the tide of technology, according to the Law Society of Kenya vice
president, Ms Faith Waigwa. She, however, insists that services
rendered through technology still need to adhere to the rules set out
for the industry.
“Of importance though is to ensure
that the legal services being rendered on the innovative platforms and
apps are paid for in accordance with the Advocates Remuneration order,”
she said.
With more prevalent mobile technology,
change is nigh in the legal sector especially if entrepreneurs can
demonstrate the advantages of automating processes.
For
instance, while ordinarily it would take a minimum of seven days to
have an employment contract drafted, uwakili.com allows the same
document to be created, signed and ready within minutes.
There
are other examples of legal tech innovations that have been launched in
Kenya recently. Kituo Cha Haki in June 2016 launched M-Haki, an
SMS-based legal advice service.
Bailoutbuddy is a
mobile application developed by Alex Murutu that works like an insurance
cover such that a traffic offender is guaranteed bail of an amount
payable under their selected plan.
But part of the
challenge for businesses is capital. HiiL tries to solve this puzzle
through the Innovating Justice Challenge through which it seeks out
startups it can accelerate and fund.
In 2016, HiiL
awarded Sh4.5 million in grants and provided expert membership to
businesses through the Innovating Justice Challenge. Among the Kenyan
startups supported were Sauti, a tool that gives businesses access to
information on trading procedure.
Famalia, another
application, provides information on succession cases through SMS
notifications. KnowAfrique is a mobile platform that archives legal
information while FarmingBay helps curb contract fraud in Limuru.
In
the 2017 chapter of the challenge, HiiL says it has received 600
applications from across the globe, 95 of which are from Kenya. The
awards will be given in December.
Interest in these
grants suggests that more investment, and perhaps greater buy-in from
the government and the legal professionals, will be needed if Kenyan
innovators are to disrupt justice as they have other parts of our daily
life.
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