Meet the youthful attorney whose startup expects to fix legitimate problems and something else for business people

Shivanjali Malik began Dastawezz in February 2021. In under two years, she has amassed more than 150 clients across seven nations.

Shivanjali Malik started Dastawezz in February 2021. As a law student, when Shivanjali Malik interned with big lawyers and law firms, she felt a glaring gap in their services model. Who would help them with all their documentation, registration, and other processes,” wondered Shivanjal, Founder of Dastawezz, a legal services startup based in Delhi.

As she had just graduated from Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar, she was skeptical about whether she would be taken seriously enough, “In legal services, the older you are, the more seriously you are taken.” That’s how I built a network of lawyers from different specialist areas, law firms, individual practitioners, etc.,” says Shivanjali.

When she started working, Shivanjali was keen on serving individuals than startups, thinking it was easier to translate individuals into clients than approach companies and convince them to come on board. I hardly got any individual clients, and instead, a lot of startups started approaching me and I was able to understand what they were seeking,” says Shivanjali.

Besides legal services, early-stage startups were also on the lookout for services related to chartered accountancy and company secretaryship. This led Shivanjali to look for professional chartered accountants and company secretaries who would, through Dastawezz, be able to advise her clientele. In February 2021, with an established network of lawyers, CAs, and company secretaries, Shivanjali launched Dastawezz, meaning documents in Urdu.

More than legal services Shivanjali says nearly 90% of her clients are startups, but they also take up litigation cases. “We have about 200+ services, and we’ve served in about six to seven countries, apart from India,” she adds. When asked how she works around international law, she says her network of local lawyers comes in handy.”

“For instance, if an entrepreneur wants to incorporate his firm in the US, I have a network of lawyers there who can help. While the backend work is done by the India team, the physical filing of papers is done by the local lawyers there. We also have lawyers here in India who have a great experience with international matters,” she adds.

Shivanjali also has a bunch of interns who work on the legal nitty-gritty. Explaining how her startup works, she says a client’s first consultation call with Dastawezz is always free. “We take them through what can be done to solve their legal issues, and if they are comfortable moving forward, we prepare a scope of work for them and customize it to their service requirements.

Only once the scope of work is approved from their side do they have to pay their first fee,” says Shivanjali. She maintains that since a large part of her clientele is entrepreneurs who are just starting up, she makes sure they work on very affordable price ranges. According to Shivanjali, Dastawezz’s scope of work can be divided broadly into four-five verticals that are aimed at helping a startup see through its entire life cycle.

Shivanjali says Dastawezz has been lucky to work with startups across industries, “ranging from cryptocurrency and blockchain firms to skincare and real-estate companies to think tanks.” Next steps Currently bootstrapped, Shivanjali says since the company is profitable, she isn’t looking for fundraising at the moment.

For someone who started out conducting her groundwork through legal sessions on the social audio app Clubhouse during the peak pandemic period, Shivanjali has come a long way with her startup Dastawezz. “A lot of startup founders stumble across my LinkedIn posts and then reach out saying it was very informational. Being a founder myself, I am just trying to add value to a startup owner’s life through my work,” concludes Shivanjali.

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