How a Singapore lawyer uses vanilla to stop the SME goose chase.
Mark Goh, Founder,VanillaLaw™ | Barrister (UK) I Advocate & Solicitor (Singapore) | Accredited Mediator(SIMI) | Negotiator(Oxford) and retired Army Captain in the Singapore Reserves.
In 1992 Mark set his own law firm upon returning from the UK to Singapore after studying law at the University of Buckingham.
LAW FIRM GOING DIGITAL
With the advent of the digital age, he began exploring ways to digitise Vanillalaw, observing that going digital could save the law firm's operational costs in a tremendous manner. Already experienced living overseas, he could also see the potential of the law firm expanding beyond the shores of the island nation of Singapore. So in 2011, he started transforming the law firm to go digital.
DEVELOPMENT OF VANILLALAW DOCS
By 2014, Mark had already been in practice for almost 20 years as an experienced dispute resolution lawyer. He was disheartened to observe that many (SME) business owners were often embroiled in disputes simply because they had no or poorly drafted contracts. The very thought of paying huge legal fees to consult a lawyer was (and still is) a big turn off.
Vanillalaw Docs was developed with the intent of mitigating the huge legal fees. Its an ecosystem developed by lawyers for the business owner to hands on preparing the first draft. The lawyers come in afterwards with the vetting process and advice. Today, Vanillalaw Docs has more than 850 subscribers and counting.
Mark has funded this himself, and recently launched GoSME.org
Indranee Rajah S.C., Senior Minister Of State For Law
(16 May 2017) of Singapore said,
"Tech for more productive interaction with clients: A good example is VanillaLaw™ Docs, an interactive web-based platform created by Singapore law firm, VanillaLaw™ LLC. VanillaLaw™ LLC developed their own online contract template which, when used together with this platform, allows their clients to insert relevant information to prepare the first draft of legal documents.
The law firm reviews this and focuses on issues requiring legal advice and drafting amendments. The end product is still cleared by qualified lawyers but this technology enabled process cuts down the need for multiple or long meetings to take instructions. This saves time and costs for firm and clients.
Mark then started a community called 'Go-SME to encourage Singapore SME's to take advantage of the opportunity in the wider world by using technology to distribute work processes and to find new clients. The community now has over 1,000 members in the network across Singapore, Japan and Australia.
http://gosme.biz
You can find Mark Goh on Linkedin
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