Dragon Law Ltd
- HKGCC Membership No. :
- HKD0756
Automated Legal Services
Technology is transforming the way we live and work. It is also transforming how companies operate by raising their efficiency to levels that were previously unthinkable. Gains in efficiency in the retail and manufacturing sectors, among others, have been around for a while. For the legal sector, however, technology is only just starting to be embraced.
“When I worked as a lawyer, I saw how inefficient the work of law firms can be sometimes,” said Ryanne Lai, co-founder and Business and Product Director of Dragon Law. “My partners and I thought technology must be able to make the day-to-day work of law firms more efficient, which is how we came up with the idea for the business.”
Law firms in the United States have been exploring for some years how they can use technology to lower costs and raise productivity, which results in lower fees. Lai said a big concern that people often have about engaging a law firm is that they are not always sure how much they will be charged, as it is difficult to estimate the time and cost needed for each case.
“Drafting business contracts consists of many standard variations of terms,” she said. “This is why we want to introduce this idea to Hong Kong. We aim to provide easy access to legal services for all companies, regardless of their size, so that they can focus more on developing their business, rather than dealing with legal administration.”
Work of a Dragon
Founded in 2013, Dragon Law now employs 30 staff from different professional backgrounds, including legal services, technology and consulting. In the past three years, they have developed an online “Document Builder” that gives users access to around 100 types of legal documents, such as employment contracts and non-disclosure agreements. It operates a subscriber-based business model that its clients can use to create routine legal documents tailored to their specific needs.
Subscribers simply log on to the system and select the type of document that they need. The system will then ask them some questions to generate a legal document based on their needs. Subscribers can ask Dragon Law’s in-house legal team to read through the document to make sure they have properly completed the questions in the Document Builder.
“The system shortens the process of drafting legal documents to minutes instead of days. Our in-house legal team built the templates based on their experience as lawyers,” Lai added.
“If we receive regular requests from subscribers, such as adding or deleting certain clauses, we will incorporate these into our system so that the templates are constantly evolving and improving,” she said.
Lai is a great believer in listening to the feedback from customers to not just improve the services that the company offers, but to also win their trust. “We engage with our subscribers and try to answer their questions immediately. If we cannot provide an immediate answer, we will look into their question and find the solution. To build trust, we cannot rely just on our software; we still need the human touch.”
Legal challenges
Regular changes to Hong Kong’s regulatory landscape have posed challenges for the company, as they have to ensure they are up to date on all the laws. To deal with the changes, her team monitors consultations and bills.
Another challenge is the diversity of the law. Lai admits that they cannot cover all regulations and eventualities, so when one of their subscribers has to deal with complicated legal issues, they connect them to an appropriate lawyer who can also give a fixed quote.
Hong Kong has no shortage of legal talent, but Lai said as technology is at the core of their business, the lack of ICT talent in Hong Kong is a concern. “In Hong Kong, it is difficult to woo ICT talent away from stable, big companies or banks to join a start-up like us. Consequently, we have had to hire talent from overseas to fill the posts,” she said.
Tech future
Lai predicts that more and more tech-driven solutions will appear and may disrupt traditional industries, particularly those in the professional sectors. “In fact, we are already seeing changes in the education and medical sectors, and law-tech is also a big hit in Western countries. So the prediction is really that more solutions of these kinds will appear in the near future,” she said. “This development is positive, but it will also mean more competitors for us. This may not necessarily a bad thing, as it will also mean Hong Kong is taking advantage of various tech services, which will also mean more customers.”
Dragon Law Ltd
HKGCC Membership No.: HKD0756
Established: 2013
Website:
Telephone: (852) 5804 9889
