In Conversation With Akshat Singhal, Founder & CEO, Legistify

Tell us a bit about yourself and your days at BITS Pilani.  

I come from a small business family in Jaipur, Rajasthan. From my very childhood, I had a keen interest in sports, studies, and hands-on school projects on the side. When I got into BITS, it changed me completely. I was exposed to so many different cultures, ethics and people. Suddenly, the world was full of opportunities and there was so much to learn. Interactions with some of the entrepreneurial seniors cleared up my mind and gave me the ability to think about tech-driven solutions and the impact they could create in various industries. That is where I started working on something of my own and later went on to find Legistify.

Did you always have an entrepreneurial mindset? When did the idea of starting a tech-enabled, legal concierge platform come to your mind?

Coming from a business family, I have always been interested to build something on my own. Having seen my father run a small business, I had seen early on the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur. When I got through college, I was pretty clear that impact comes from technology. While in college, I was trying to work on a different startup and had to shut it down eventually after we could not recover some receivables. This is how the idea of making legal services accessible for all struck me and I started researching about this domain in my final year of college.

 If you could suggest one reform in the legal ecosystem, what would it be? 

One of the key challenges that exists in the legal ecosystem is limited access to information. This leads to trust and credibility issues amongst various stakeholders. I recommend a system wherein relevant authorities make data (such as court procedures, processes and updates) truly open source. We call this Unified Justice Infrastructure (UJI, similar to UPI). This would not just bring in transparency but would invite tech entrepreneurs like myself to be able to garner data-driven insights and help everyone involved in the process (courts, judges, officials and litigants).

Please tell us about the array of work you handle at your company.

At Legistify, I believe my biggest role is to manage work culture. We believe that every single member of our family is important to bring in this disruption we are aiming for in the legal space.

Many Congratulations on joining the BW Legal World Elite 30 Under 30 Club of Achievers 2021. What to your mind has helped you get to where you are and what advice would you have for others who want to set off in a similar direction?  

Personally, one of the only things that have been key to where we are is perseverance. My go-to mantra and advice to others, as the great Steve Jobs used to say—“People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do”.

What are the top three trends that are going to rule the legal sector for the next five years?
1. Transparent and open court data infrastructure (UJI)
2. Technology adoption by multiple stakeholders
3. Ability for global players (if allowed) to practice directly in the Indian jurisdiction

As a final note, would you please recommend to our readers your favourite book that left a lasting impression on you?

1. The hard thing about hard things by Ben Horowitz
2. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
3. A century is not enough by Sourav Ganguly