Hong Kong’s Dragon Law offers quick fixes online for start-ups’ legal paperwork, uses tech to offer huge savings

A Hong Kong start-up that found success by offering cheap legal services online for routine matters is now going after big corporate clients as its top executives harbour dreams of changing the way small businesses in Asia operate.

Launched at the turn of the year, Dragon Law provides on-demand contracts for companies in Hong Kong that cannot afford the large sums lawyers typically charge. The company expanded to Singapore in June.

A professional subscription to the site starts from HK$8,000 (US$1,030) a year. This gives start-ups access to basic legal documents they can fill in themselves online with some help from software and automated prompts. 

As lawyers in the city can easily charge HK$40,000 per document, many start-ups try to do the work themselves, the company said. The results can be mixed.

“We bring clients who are not in the market today,” said Emmanuel Pitsilis, a board director and angel investor in Dragon Law, which claims 700 subscribers.

“Many of these clients, as they stand, they basically call their friends. They Google everything, they look for whatever they can find, and they try to edit it.” 

New users to the site can download two tailor-made documents for free, or take out a subscription that fits their requirements.