What happens when an ordinary group of students come together to do the extra ordinary?
LawyersGoProbono- a product of the pandemic, was founded by Radhey Soundarya Ganesh, a final year law student, troubled by the inadequate spread of knowledge of the basic laws within the Indian community.
Radhey, studying at Gujarat National Law University, had always been inclined towards debates and MUN’s that pushed her to choose law as her profession. The ability to break down complex matters into simpler things is her biggest talent and putting it to use during a pandemic of this sort is her biggest virtue by far.
‘LawyersGoProbono’ was a mere idea baking in Radhey’s inquisitive mind before she called her batch mate, Megha Saha who then called Aathma Kumar before the word spread like wild fire. It all came to life by this young team of law students and legal professionals across the nation, coming together to lend a helping hand to the blindsided society. Radhey, recalls her drive of inspiration to LawyersGoProbono as the craving to help in some way during the pandemic. Instead of feeling powerless, she decided to put her ongoing education to use and help those in distress. As new problems like rent, eviction, hospital admission, etc, surfaced, the doubt of kick starting her idea changed to conformation and so she did.
Within a matter of months, from an idea it transformed into a full fledged national organization that provided free of charge consultation to any queries that required to be addressed. The team of LawyersGoProbono expanded to meet the high demand for their services to over 40 members, including students and lawyers from all walks of life.
This commendable team has addressed an assortment of queries, from cyber bullying to domestic violence to illegal eviction and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
With the wall of stereotypes and judgments that prevail in the Indian society, it often becomes difficult to reach out to a friend or a family member in trying times and so this group of young Indians describes themselves as, ‘the strangers with the right resources that you can trust.’
On branching out, LawyersGoProbono addressed over 150 queries within a short span of time and their growth has been one of a kind. The organization tackles the biggest issue the citizens of India face, i.e. lack of affordability and accessibility to basic legal aid. Providing a no procedure, no formality, free of cost query response system on their website- https://www.lawyersgoprobono.com/ has enabled them to reach out to those in helpless situations.
However, one might think, as youngsters, a monetary income is one of the biggest motivating factors in a startup but this isn’t the case for those at LawyersGoProbono.
The founder and president Radhey believes it is in fact the non monetary based system that gives everyone on her team a deep sense of fulfilment as everyone is on a voluntary basis. Megha, the PR head of the team voices her opinion on how the material she as a law student deals with is not your ordinary dinner table conversation and so being able to put the privilege of education to use and making someone’s life better is the true incentive behind the team of LawyersGoProbono.
Kartik Sundar, one of the lawyers on board recalls the time he decided to join forces with the organization. “I didn’t have to give it much of a thought. When my juniors, Radhey and Aathma contacted me regarding the same I jumped on the band wagon immediately. It is my basic duty to inform those in need about their basic legal aid and the ramifications of the situation they are in. However, one of the major challenges is to meet the expectations and make sure all the stakeholders understand and differentiate between what can be delivered and what can’t be.”
However, the challenges don’t end there. Aathma the Vice President of the organization puts forth her opinion on, as to how they deal with the hurricane before the sunshine, “It can get really overwhelming, given the fact that we already are juggling between other work and college. But we always take up for each other whenever anyone is overworked and anxiety and stress begin to creep up. Knowing that your team is there to back you up no matter what is sure a stress buster, isn’t it?
Legal literacy is in one of its worst states in India and so, this bunch of young Indians, hailing from the legal fraternity are doing everything in their power to tackle it. LawyersGoProbono, a credible and reliable source is more than just a need in India and this is just the beginning for them. From receiving queries from all strata’s of society to collaborating with universities and Ngo’s, the dedicated team has left no leaf unturned. What began as just a thought has transformed 100’s of lives with umpteen more to go and the sky, surely is pink for LawyersGoProbono.
