Estonia, Good for Business, Internet, Legislation, Technology

At IT Law Conference held within Estonian ICT Week 2016, Avokaado.ee’s co-founder and CEO Siim Mägi said that similarly to other sectors the focus in legal services is moving from service provider to customer. „Traditional law firms have long enjoyed increasing profits but the focus has far too long been on these firms and their growth. Today it is no longer sufficient for a law firm to be economically prospering and highly rated by international publications. Clients now expect more-for-less and are not interested in paying for over-qualified workforce. Even legal know-how can be standardised and systemised. By combining legal knowledge with modern technologies we can offer clients quality service faster and at more affordable prices,“ said Mägi.

Mägi noted that another topic is the accessibility and affordability of legal aid. „According to latest studies, legal aid is not accessible to 90 per cent of people living in the USA and we suspect that in Estonia this number is even higher. We should not hold onto archaic methods and fear using technology. Instead we should give more people the opportunity to stand up to their rights more effectively,“ said Mägi.

Co-founder Mariana Hagström highlighted another reason behind creating Avokaado.ee – changing working habits. “It is expected that by year 2020, 100 million people more will be working as freelancers or remotely for businesses located in other countries. Providing services will become increasingly web based and digitalised. The employee of the new era wants fast and effective solution to legal questions which often concern the legal systems of different countries. They will not step into the traditional law firm,“ said Hagström.

Avokaado.ee is a unique e-service. „In some countries similar e-services are available but at a smaller scale. Avokaado is a community-based platform that allows to share and comment legal documents and find a lawyer for specific legal advice and that is unique. We are constantly working on developing the platform further and plan to expand our service to other countries,“ said Hagström.

Avokaado.ee is a self-service web portal, where you can create, share, negotiate, digitally sign and store all your legal documents. It is currently available in Estonian and English.

Avokaado.ee has been founded by experienced Estonian lawyers Mariana Hagström and Siim Mägi. Technical solution was created in cooperation with Estonia’s top developers and UX/UI team from Artify Ltd. Avocado has been tested for security level 2 that is higher than the usual online portals have. Before launching Avokaado.ee, Innovation Academy team joined as a mentor, who will help accelerate the development of the startup.