Let’s say you want to give your wife the Power of Attorney. While you are fairly familiar with the
procedure, the exact wording may be a problem. Not any more. A little section called LexDrafts at
LexSite lets you download the complete form and then simply fill in the
details.
Or let’s say, God forbid, your marriage is on shaky ground. While divorce may be just a passing
thought, you want to check with the legal provisions in any case. LexSite hosts the Law of
Marriage, complete with relevant statutes, appeals and repeals, procedures and comment pieces.
There’s a glossary too, and it’s interesting to learn how an annulment is different from a divorce.
Ditto with a Will. Exhaustive information and resources on the Law of Wills could help you make
one, with little or no help from a lawyer.
But that’s about where free information for the layperson ends. Beyond this, you still could browse
around for the precise words to every Article of our Constitution; but you’ll literally have to scavenge
for it amidst loads of legalese and paid information.
The site’s own search engine only gives past cases or judgements involving whatever query one
types in. So, suppose you search for `Article 19 Indian Constitution', it won’t tell you what the
Article says, but will show you cases where it came into play. More specifically, it will only show
tax and commercial law cases because, as of now, the whole site is geared towards corporate
professionals, not lawyers.
Criminal lawyer Nelson Augustine finds the coverage of criminal law "nil." Even where civil
judgements are concerned, he says, "We’re usually looking online only for the latest judgements,
the text of which may not be published yet." Where these updates are concerned, the head of
content and services at LexSite.com, Srinivas Parthasarathy, admits, "We only report customs or
excise decisions coming from CEGAT and tax decisions coming from the Mumbai High Court and
the Mumbai branch of ITAT."
Civil lawyer Uday Bobde does find some useful resources at the site, but adds, "The forms and
formalities given here would particularly serve the legal needs of Chartered Accountants and
Company Secretaries." The focus is clearly on commercial law. Says Parthasarathy, "Our target
users are the legal departments of corporates, Income Tax professionals, individual accountants
and accounting firms. Once we are well settled in this niche, we will start catering to lawyers."
But while it makes for a valuable online source of information for lawyers too, a majority cringe at
the price tag. Most information of value at the site is available only to subscribers. An annual
subscription comes at a substantial sum of Rs 5,990 per each of the four sections -- viz. Corporate
Law, Foreign Exchange, Direct Tax and Indirect Tax. The update and analysis of the Companies
Amendment Act 2000 come at a more reasonable Rs 500 a year. "The rates are pretty reasonable
for corporates, whose legal needs the site serves well," justifies Venkat Iyer, Marketing Head,
Lexsite.
Subscribers have access mainly to the case laws, commentary and amendments in whichever of
the above four sections they have paid for, as well as to Infotech Law and all the Bare Acts.
Financial Laws are in special focus. The topics include Investing in India, Venture funds, Mutual
Funds and ESOPs, besides Corporate Governance, Immigration and Medicine laws.
Amongst the site’s services, LexEvents lists forthcoming seminars and conferences across the
country, providing contact details and a brief summary. LexPages form an elementary directory of
lawyers and chartered accountants in India.
The most helpful resources, though, are LexLists, LexDrafts and LexLinks.
LexLists are cause lists for the different High Courts, the Supreme Court and Tribunal Benches.
Tribunal cause lists are exclusive to the site, and make a great resource for those practising in
these courts.
LexDrafts provide downloadable forms for agreements ranging from Software and Arbitration, to
Property and Gift Deeds, Non-disclosure, Confidentiality, and so on. "These are very handy tools for
lawyers as well as laypersons," state both advocates, Augustine and Bobde.
LexLinks, which include links to relevant sites for Accounting Resources and Forex to
Environmental and Intellectual Property Laws, present the international scene. While law firms and
student Web sites linked here stretch across the US as well as India, some categories like Criminal
law provide only international links.
Above all, the site provides a cyber network for diverse legal professionals.
So the next time you have a legal issue on your hands, never mind the phone call to a lawyer, head
for that PC first.
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