Terms & Conditions of Service & Advocate Partner Agreement

Welcome to Hire Your Vakeel (www.hireyourvakeel.in). Hire Your Vakeel operates as an independent legal-technology intermediary platform connecting users seeking legal advice with empanelled independent Advocates and lawyers across India.

Important Disclaimer: Hire Your Vakeel is a technology platform provided pursuant to Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Hire Your Vakeel is not a law firm, does not engage in the practice of law, and does not render direct legal opinions, court representation, or formal legal advice. All legal consultations, document drafting, and court filings are performed independently by licensed Advocates enrolled with their respective State Bar Councils under the Advocates Act, 1961.

By accessing or using the Hire Your Vakeel platform, website, or Android application (com.hireyourvakeel), users agree to abide by the following terms:

• Booking Consultations: Users can select from various consultation tiers (including ₹197, ₹220, or specialized service tiers) to receive an initial telephonic or virtual consultation with a verified Advocate.
• Accuracy of Information: Users are responsible for providing truthful, accurate, and complete factual details, case history, and supporting documents during their consultation requests.
• Privilege & Confidentiality: Initial consultation requests submitted via Hire Your Vakeel are kept strictly confidential and processed solely to match the user with an appropriate empanelled Advocate.
• Independent Advocate Discretion: The Advocate assigned to a consultation acts as an independent legal professional. Hire Your Vakeel does not dictate, modify, or guarantee specific legal outcomes or court decisions.

This section forms a binding legal agreement between Hire Your Vakeel and all Empanelled Advocates who accept client leads, consultation referrals, or registration on our portal or application.

When a client books an introductory legal consultation via Hire Your Vakeel (under the ₹220 consultation tier or ₹197 tier), Hire Your Vakeel routes the client lead, case brief, and contact details to the empanelled Advocate.

• Mandatory 10–15 Minute Call: Upon receiving a lead referral, the Advocate agrees to conduct a 10 to 15 minute preliminary consultation call with the client to understand their matter and advise on immediate legal steps.
• Advocate Fee Disbursement (₹200): Out of the total ₹220 paid by the client, Hire Your Vakeel disburses ₹200 directly to the Advocate as their fee for conducting the initial 10 to 15 minute preliminary consultation call.
• Platform Convenience & Facilitation Fee (₹20): The remaining ₹20 is retained by Hire Your Vakeel as a Platform Convenience & Technical Facilitation Fee for software hosting, lead generation, digital routing, and administrative support.
• Consultation Completion: If the client requires only preliminary advice during the 15-minute call, the consultation requirement is fulfilled and concluded.

If, following or during the preliminary consultation call, the client requests additional legal services—including legal notice drafting, agreement/contract drafting, petition/reply drafting, deed preparation, court representation, litigation, or ongoing legal retainership:

Scenario: Legal Notice Drafting Request
A client registers on Hire Your Vakeel under the ₹220 consultation tier seeking to send a legal notice.

• Step 1 (Consultation Call): The Advocate takes the initial 10 to 15 minute call. The client pays ₹220 (Advocate receives ₹200 for the consultation; platform retains ₹20 convenience fee).
• Step 2 (Drafting Engagement): The client requests the Advocate to draft and issue a formal Legal Notice according to their requirements. The Advocate sets their drafting fee independently at ₹2,500.
• Step 3 (20% Technology & Facilitation Fee): For providing document routing software, communication channels, and administrative support for this drafting project, the Advocate remits 20% (₹500) to Hire Your Vakeel as a technology and administrative facilitation fee, retaining ₹2,000.

To ensure quality control, transparency, client data protection, and dispute resolution, strict communication protocols govern all client-advocate interactions initiated via Hire Your Vakeel.

All communication, document exchanges, draft reviews, and status updates between the Advocate and the Client MUST be conducted exclusively through official Hire Your Vakeel channels:

• Official Hire Your Vakeel WhatsApp Group: Dedicated group created specifically for the client matter with Hire Your Vakeel coordinators present.
• Platform Dashboard / Communication Bridge: Hire Your Vakeel web and Android application messaging portals.
• No Direct Contact Solicitation: Advocates shall not share personal telephone numbers, personal emails, personal UPI IDs, or direct office addresses to encourage clients to communicate off-platform or bypass Hire Your Vakeel.

We recognize that in certain instances, a client may insist on direct communication or may feel uncomfortable sharing sensitive personal documents over platform channels. In such circumstances:

Empanelled Advocates agree to adhere to transparent financial reporting for all work derived from Hire Your Vakeel leads:

• Prompt Disclosure: Advocates must report any additional drafting or representation work quoted to a referred client within 48 hours of engagement.
• Remittance Schedule: The 20% technology & administrative fee must be remitted to Hire Your Vakeel within 5 business days of receiving fee payments from the client.
• Audits & Reconciliations: Hire Your Vakeel reserves the right to verify client status and fee statements. Concealment of fees or off-platform disintermediation constitutes a material breach resulting in immediate suspension and blacklisting from the network.

Hire Your Vakeel is structured in strict adherence to the Advocates Act, 1961 and the Bar Council of India (BCI) Rules (including Rule 36, Standards of Professional Conduct and Etiquette):

• No Fee-Splitting of Professional Legal Advice: Under BCI Rules, Advocates are prohibited from splitting legal practice fees with non-advocates. The 20% fee paid by Advocates to Hire Your Vakeel is legally classified as a commercial fee for software technology, cloud infrastructure hosting, client lead management tools, WhatsApp group coordination, and administrative facilitation services provided by Hire Your Vakeel, and is NOT a division or sharing of professional legal fees.
• Independent Fee Setting: Empanelled Advocates set their professional legal fees independently with their clients. Hire Your Vakeel does not fix or dictate legal fees.
• Absolute Professional Independence: Empanelled Advocates maintain sole responsibility and independence regarding legal advice, strategy, client advocacy, and professional duties. Hire Your Vakeel does not interfere with or influence legal strategy.
• Advocate-Client Privilege: Confidentiality under Section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act / Section 132 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 is strictly preserved.

All content, branding, trademarks, software code, databases, and platform features of Hire Your Vakeel are the exclusive intellectual property of Hire Your Vakeel. Advocates and users are prohibited from copying, reverse engineering, or exploiting platform assets.

Non-Circumvention Clause: Advocates agree not to bypass, solicit, or contract directly with Hire Your Vakeel clients for the purpose of avoiding the 20% platform commission fee. Any attempt to circumvent the platform shall render the Advocate liable for damages equivalent to double the platform fee lost, in addition to immediate profile deactivation.

These Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of India. Any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to these Terms, including operational compliance for Advocates, shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent courts in Uttar Pradesh / New Delhi, India.