Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas announces the launch of the second cohort of Prarambh, India's First LegalTech Incubator

India's leading law firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, today announced the launch of the second cohort of India's first LegalTech incubator - Prarambh.

Launched in February 2019 as a part of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas' focus on innovation and technology, Prarambh is recognised for supporting the domestic talent in developing quality LegalTech products, and significantly enhancing the interest in adoption of technology amongst the legal fraternity.

"Extraordinary times call for great innovations. For businesses, this year is a story to tell, partly because how businesses have realised the need for transformation, especially with respect to use of technology. Riding on this learning is the second innings of Prarambh. The first cohort of Prarambh concluded on a high note and we believe second edition of Prarambh will lay foundation for development of LegalTech solutions for India's legal sector that is set for a huge technology led transformation," said Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner, CAM, while announcing the launch of the Prarambh Cohort 2.

Prarambh Cohort 2 Highlights

Applications open: 12 October, 2020

Applications close: 25 October, 2020

Duration of the cohort: 10 weeks

Eligibility: Startups in the "development and/or ready to scale stage."

Key Focus Areas:

Improving Access to Justice

Increasing Transactional Efficiencies

Improving Law firm operations

Improving Litigation Competencies

Accessing government programs and reforms

Enabling remote workforce operations

Other

Prarambh Cohort I Winners:

Leegality

LegalMind

JRTC Intern

Important Links:

CAM Innovation Lab

FAQs

Keeping with the times, Prarambh Cohort 2 is designed as a 10-weeks virtual incubation programme, with focus on mentoring existing startups in the LegalTech space, to develop solutions that align with the practical requirements of law firms, corporate legal departments, judiciary and independent practitioners.

Hence, the applications are invited from startups that are in the 'development and/or ready to scale stage' for the 10-weeks virtual incubation programme. 3-4 high potential startups will be selected basis a comprehensive evaluation process, and they will be mentored by a panel of leading international innovators, industry experts, and lawyers from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

"Innovation is one of the cornerstones of CAM's foundation and we believe it is key to success in the post-COVID world. With remote working emerging as the new normal, it has become integral for legal industry along with other industries to take a step towards technological upgradation and innovation. After implementing methods that use artificial intelligence and machine learning, we are already halfway through and will only go forward from here," said Shroff, while talking about Firm's focus on Innovation.

The focus of this cohort is to build technology-driven business solutions that are relevant for the post-COVID world and will improve access to justice, law firm operations, litigation competencies, increase transactional efficiencies, access to government programs and reforms, and enable smooth functioning of remote workforce.

The experts will work closely with the startups in enhancing and testing their products and will also focus on other skills which will help them sharpen their business acumen.

"As we move along in the COVID era, the workplaces are going to be increasingly digitally enabled, involving expanding scope and role of technology. COVID was a wake-up call for many law firms and corporations. With the courts themselves going online, the Indian legal sector is realising the need to embrace technology to improve how law firms and corporate legal teams operate. With our detailed program, vision, and expertise, we hope to mentor these startups to become problem solvers for the Industry. It makes us proud to be leading this revolution to transform the law industry for better," said Rishabh Shroff, Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

Leegality, LegalMind, and JRTC Intern formed a part of Prarambh' s first cohort that concluded on April 30, 2020. These startups were housed at CAM's Delhi office.

"Prarambh is a result of a noble vision and intention. We have spent significant hours in deliberating and planning a detailed incubation programme for entrepreneurs that are working on long term sustainable and impactful ideas. The first cohort received a record 51 applications. We are expecting a similar response in the second cohort with the increase in awareness and encouragement the domestic LegalTech market has received since the launch of Prarambh," said Komal Gupta, Head of Innovation, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, while talking about Prarambh.

With the second cohort being virtual, we hope to reach out to a larger number of startups across the country, enable them to perfect their products in the ten weeks at Prarambh and empower them to transform the legal industry. Our Firm has been focused on innovation and is a leader in adopting and implementing technology. We therefore want to contribute and give back to the fraternity by sharing our learnings and experience."

India's Leading Law Firm, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas was founded on May 11, 2015 and takes forward the values going back 103 years, of the erstwhile Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A. Shroff & Co. Tracing its professional lineage to 1917, the Firm has over 750 lawyers, including 137 partners, and offices in India's key business centres at Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad.

The Firm advises a large, and varied client base that includes domestic and foreign commercial enterprises, financial institutions, private equity funds, venture capital funds, startups and governmental and regulatory bodies.

The Firm received "Law Firm of the Year" award at the Asian Legal Business (ALB) India Law Awards 2020 and "Law Firm of the Year, India" at the Asialaw Regional Awards 2020. The firm was also named as the "Most Innovative National Law Firm of the Year - India for 2020" at the IFLR Asia Awards and voted as the "Employer of Choice for 2020" from India, by the Asian Legal Business.

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( With inputs from ANI )